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Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 07:25 pm
Whew! I go away (mostly) for just over a week and find you've all been busy while I'm gone.

First of all, a belated happy birthday to [personal profile] moonshayde, whose birthday was last week! Would you like a birthday ficlet, even at such a late date? Your tastes are so wonderfully diverse that you'll have to give me a prompt for what you'd like. :) Keep to classic SG-1, if you don't mind; I don't like seasons 9-10 enough to be able to give Vala or Mitchell a good voice.

In other news, I am utterly squeeful about my [profile] sd_ficathon assignment! About the whole ficathon, really. I had no time to sit down at the keyboard until today, but I finally got the first part written. I know they're going to face an ethical dilemma in the second half of the story, and I'm not sure which way to go. I think I'll just get there, and let Sam and Daniel decide for themselves. The characters usually know better than I do, anyway.

I've been thinking about my least favorite thread in SG-1 canon lately: the NID and its rampant abuse of power. While that's a subject worthy of an entire essay - and one that I really hope to write someday - I do find myself wondering why the SGC was so vulnerable, especially at budget-time. If they have naquadah reactors to spare any time a team 'Gates to a planet without a DHD - and already in S3, that was so routine that they actually suggested it as a reasonable option to going to a planet that they knew didn't have a DHD, in New Ground - then why don't they have the entire building hooked up to one or two naquadah reactors, to supply themselves with all power they need? And why isn't the technology they've brought back factored into the budget, giving them enough debit to keep going from one year to the next? I'm pretty sure there's a canon reference to it costing a million dollars just to turn the lights on, or something. If that's the case, why aren't they using the technology they have to offset the costs?

I know the real answer is, "Either the writers didn't think of it, or it was easier to write conspiracy storylines than utilize actual sense." But I would love to have an in-story explanation that would actually work.
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 08:36 pm (UTC)
Well, judging by Barrett, I always felt there were more good NID people, we just don't see them because they don't cause problems. (Um, is Woolsey NID or something else...IOA? because I think he's mostly good...um...)

Yes! I remember an interview with David Hewlett where he points out that one Stargate's strengths is that it's people like us going out there, exploring, saving the universe - reacting like we would. And I agree - the ships work much better in SGA than they do in SG-1, but especially in SG-1 they give a very different, very future sci-fi feel the show doesn't otherwise have.

Maybe later on they are using Naquadah reactors...or...we're smarter than the show creators who never thought of it?
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 12:01 pm (UTC)
Woolsey was never NID. We first meet him in Heroes, where they kind of automatically gave him some skeletons in his closet because the writers seem to think that's an absolute requirement for anyone who isn't automatically best buds with the SGC. I think the next time we see him is in the S7 clip show which I never actually watched, where he's kinda sorta redeemed. Or something.

As far as I can tell, Woolsey is the official face of bureaucracy - not likeable, but not eeeevil. Which is ever so much more interesting than the NID could ever have hoped to be.

I don't follow SGA, but I strongly dislike the proliferation of ships in SG-1. The scene in Lost City, when regular fighter planes go head-to-head with Goa'uld fighter ships? That was amazingly wonderful. Routine zipping from planet to planet INSTEAD OF USING THE THING IN THE TITLE and "beam me up Scotty"? Yawn. Not my show. And not what I want to watch.

Oh, fanfic writers are always smarter than the show writers. It's a general rule, or something. ;)
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 03:16 pm (UTC)
Okay. I get the agencies mixed up. I had issues with Woolsey in Heroes because I already knew him from SGA and knew he was generally "good" - supporting of the Stargate program compared to many, so when I saw him being supposedly on the "bad politician" side of things and couldn't believe it - just waited for the other shoe to drop. He has some fantastic scenes in season 3 of SGA - stranded with Jack in enemy territory. But, yeah, he is much better than the NID - he seems good at being more impartial - expecting SGC to own up to things, but not automatically deeming them bad or deserving of being shut down.

Yep. "Lost City" was great but episodes like "Grace" just felt weird. I felt like I was watching Star Trek which...well, I love Star Trek, but this is a different show and one of the charms is the lack of ships. It stops making it feel modern day, like it could be me and it could be real. I think by the end of season 8 I started shouting at the screen "see that big giant metal ring in front of you? the one that spins and flushes sideways and you can go through to visit other planets? USE IT!"

I think the ships work better in SGA because it's more removed from Earth - being in another galaxy already gives it a stronger sci-fi feel and, even then, they don't have ships all that often.

We are definitely smarter than the show writers. Also, way more attentive to details. It's a little sad.

Thursday, April 12th, 2007 04:24 pm (UTC)
I'm always fascinated by the evolution of characters, and how different one's perspective can be when meeting a character from the wrong direction, so to speak. Imagine someone first seeing Daniel in Avatar, for example, and then trying to recognize him as the same guy in COTG!

"see that big giant metal ring in front of you? the one that spins and flushes sideways and you can go through to visit other planets? USE IT!"

Hee! S8 was really, really bad about that. Have you read [livejournal.com profile] nialla42's hilarious Breadbox Editions? She brings that up constantly. I not only miss the Gate, but I hate that they dumped the regular wormhole effect in the last two seasons and saddled us with SGA's effect instead. I miss the mind-bending original one. :(

We are definitely smarter than the show writers. Also, way more attentive to details. It's a little sad.

To be fair do we have to be?, we write out of love, not for a paycheck. And without any deadline except those of our making. And we don't have to worry about money for special effects, or guest stars, and so on.

But still... Yes. Sad.
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 05:15 pm (UTC)
(first - I saw the comment you left on the Sam fic I recced today and...she writes a lot of pairings, but as for gen, I highly recommend you look at this fic: http://minervacat.livejournal.com/975955.html#cutid1 by the same author. I think you might like it. I know it made me fall in love with Daniel all over again)

It definitely changes. Since I watched SGA first - I fell in love with Sam through Rodney's adoration (and hallucination) of her before I met the SG-1 Sam...and got to know General Jack before Colonel Jack. And Landry before Hammond. And, as I've said, the 3 minutes of Daniel in SGA's pilot made me fall for him (seriously, when he was begging Jack to let him go I was begging Jack to agree because I wanted more of him - I don't know why it took me several more months to realize there was a way to get more).

I know! When they finally WENT OFFWORLD AS A TEAM in "It's Good To Be King" I was jumping up and down excited. No...I haven't seen these breadbox editions. I also, um, didn't notice the wormhole effect changed or, actually, that they're different on the two series. *is bad fan*

I would argue that if you write for a paycheck, it's even more important that you be internally consistent. SGA is worse than SG-1, but there's so many cases of sudden changes in how things work or character background or a hundred things that are just sloppy. With enough employees and continuity checkers or whatever, you'd think you could handle it. I mean, I get that fans are obsessive, but there is no excuse to suddenly change how your technology works to suit your plot.

Um. I love them anyway.

Thursday, April 12th, 2007 05:41 pm (UTC)
Oh, yes! Just finished breathlessly rushing through that one. AMAZING. I thought only Redbyrd could write such wonderful OCs. Such an amazing look at not only SG-1 but also the SGC... Hope I end up with gen next month, so I can rec it! :)

The wormhole effect changed in S9. And I miss the one we had, I do. Mind-bending instead of just tunneling.

check out the Breadbox Editions! I think you'll like the snark. :)

When I was working on a series of books - fifteen or so years ago, I think - the first thing I got was what they called a "bible." This girl has so many brothers, this girl has blue eyes, and so on. It's crucial to have internal consistency, and SG-1 doesn't... But, oh, who cares? We love 'em anyway, as you say!
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 05:53 pm (UTC)
Isn't it? I love when outsider PoV's are done really well and that fic just hits the spot and, like I said, Daniel in it just made me melt.
I actually asked to sometime rec "original characters" as an "other character" category - and had this fic on my list. See if it gets approved as a reccing category...

Oh! I get what you mean by the wormhole effect. I guess, since I got used to the SGA one first, and I'm pretty sure SG-1 has changed before (season one's effect is different, at least early on) I didn't even notice.

Yep. I'll bitch and moan about lack of internal consistency, especially since I'm so picky about making my fanfic consistent, but I'll love them anyway. (hell, I started out in M*A*S*H fandom, so I really can't complain about the lack of consistency in other shows)
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 06:57 pm (UTC)
The effect doesn't change, but it is shortened after the first few eps of S1. Except for during The Fifth Race, which I loved - a longer journey, so a longer effect.

Those were the days... ::happy sigh::

I'm pretty sure "original character" is actually included in the "character" genres. Take a look. But if I get gen next month, I'm reccing it FIRST!! :)
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 07:03 pm (UTC)
Point. (SGA does that too - longer for when they go between galaxies - so smart of them).

You're right, they do have it! I looked for it under "character" heading and didn't see it - should have tried genre. Silly me.

So...we're going to be breathlessly waiting for midnight to see who gets to rec first, are we? Though...I think you get midnight before I do. *curses time zones*
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 07:09 pm (UTC)
::snickers::

Let's be fair - it's perfectly all right to rec the same fic in two different categories. We're both being childish.

(still going first, though) ;)