Samantha Carter, Did Atlantis destroy her character?

[RaymondJames]

A few months back at imdb.com I started a thread on this very exact subject stating my opinion that the writers, and producers made a bad move by having Amanda come onm for a season, I love her and her character to death but my problem was/is the Sam we all knew and loved for ten years on SG-1 was not the same Carter who was head of Atlantis this past season. Sure there are many reasons and exsucuses such as, she couldn't be too much like Rodney or Sheppard or that she was in command, so she had to change.

To me though there was damage done.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

She seemed to me like she was the same character as ever. The problem is that after ten years of zero development, any character would get annoying and boring. If Stargate doesn't do character development, then they need to set the termination date for characters at 7 or 8 seasons, max. Kill them, promote them, turn them into Wraiths, whatever.

 

[Jax]

She seemed to me like she was the same character as ever. The problem is that after ten years of zero development, any character would get annoying and boring.

Your saying in 10 years Carter was the same character as from the pilot What the frell were you watching.

I have to admit the writers did the biggest mistake of there reign so far by removing Weir.

 

[HIj'Qa]

I think being Head of the Atlantis Mission is a career-end move. The show is action-adventure. Shep and his team are the focus. The Head of Atlantis takes their reports of dire threats and sits at the head of the table offering guidance and advice.

If Atlantis were a show about making contact with new civilizations, Weir, as a diplomat, would have been given more to do. Samantha Carter, as a Stargate Team Leader, was a logical choice to guide the various Atlantis teams, but the focus for the show should remain on the actions of the teams. I would have liked Sam more if she was leading a team. An active character became a desk jockey, and now we know why promotion is to be avoided at all costs!

There could have been more character interaction with Rodney. Sam, coming in new to Atlantis could have provided a spark to re-energize the premise. I think there were some missed opportunities.

Woolsey, I'm giving him his three episodes, but really, that role is not important to the show.

 

[bigdaddy]

I think the fact they dumbed Sam down in season seven and eight of SG-1 destroyed the character. She had that lame boyfriend, and let RepiSam onto a base, she was just stupid.

On Atlantis she was just useless.

 

[Gertch]

No, I don't think the stint damaged the character. Didn't do her any favors either. Other than one episode she had 3 lines and 45 seconds on camera. Not really but pretty close. So if you blink you don't even know she was there.

 

[RaymondJames]

She seemed to me like she was the same character as ever. The problem is that after ten years of zero development, any character would get annoying and boring.

Sorry but im going to diagree, she was proably one of themost evolved SG-1 characters. She started out as the shadow of O'neill, Sg-1's #2 in charge, Jacks wing man. The scientit military tomboy. She became so much more than that. She was a warrior, a women who could hold her own in a massive shoot out, a fan favorite. She was also real, she had a huge crush on her commanding officer and try as she might, she couldn't ignore those feelings and did her damn best not to show her cards to Jack or look weak. She was also a daughter who had to keep a secret life for quite aometime from the father who barley acknowledged her existance because she was a disapoinment. She loved her dad despite his not being proud of her, and when he was sick and nearing death she did something to help him, to save him and this showed her secret life to the man she wanted to own up to and in return he was proud. She was a friend to everyone without losing strength.

Woolsey, I'm giving him his three episodes, but really, that role is not important to the show.

He was great. I hate that character but the actor is great, and some how he and the writers were able to make his character understandable, no matter how much of an a hole he is. i agree with you on most of what you said though as far as, Her character had so much to bring to Atlantis and they under used her.

If carter had any flaws it was the Sg-1 writers making her fly through the ranks. She started as a Captain and she jumped to Major fast. By the later seasons she had just got promoted to Lt.Colonel when Jack bcame theleader of SGC. and then when she comes to atlantis she is a Full bird Colonel.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Your saying in 10 years Carter was the same character as from the pilot

Yep. Not much change I ever noticed. She was always a competent person, and may have had more work assignments as the years went by, but her persona never budged from where she started in the premiere. The biggest change was the go-nowhere crush she had on Jack. That came and went, but wasn't particularly interesting.

But my standards for what constitutes genuine character development vs. changes of window dressing may be higher than some. Stargate does not do character development for anyone. Learning to use a gun is not my idea of "character development."

 

[Brikar99]

My problem with Carter is that she was just sort of there, and I didn't feel like she was bringing anything special to the show by being there. When she was a guest star, or when Rodney was on SG-1 they had these great scenes with the two of them working together and they had great chemistry, but none of that translated over when Carter became head of Atlantis. She was just too far removed from what was going on, didn't appear for entire episodes and when she did she rarely had anything meaty to do. The episode with her, McKay and Keller trapped in that collapsing room underground was pretty much the only time in the entire season that it felt like she was more than a guest star.

 

[Harvey]

Carter never had much of a character on SG-1. She fit a generic archetype, and had decent chemistry with her teammates, but that was about it.

However, and I can only judge from the first two episodes of season four (I'm slowly watching on DVD), at least she got to DO SOMETHING on SG-1.

 

[The Wormhole]

Destroy her character? They didn't even use her character. Not once during Atlantis S4 did I think this was the same Samantha Carter I'd watched for 10 years on SG-1. Hell, she was barely in most episodes of the season, and even when she was there, she didn't do anything other than sit in on briefings, give orders, and other generic leader stuff. Hell, they should have just used a new character as Atlantis's new commander, and kept them as a recurring character. Though I suspected they used Carter as a lead character as stunt casting to gain ratings.

 

[RoJoHen]

I understand that contractual obligations that brought Carter onto Atlantis, but I honestly don't think she needed to be the leader of the expedition. I really enjoyed her in the first few episodes where she and Dr. Lee were trying to locate Atlantis. At least in that circumstance she was doing what Sam Carter likes to do: solving impossible problems with her nerdy braaaaaaaaaiiiiiin!

I think it would have made more sense to give her character a specific purpose in Season 4, a mission or a problem or...something...to make her presence seem necessary. As the "leader," she was given too vague a role that was never really utilized.

I don't think it ruined her character. I mostly enjoyed the scenes she was in. But she could have just as easily not been there.

 

[bigdaddy]

I understand that contractual obligations that brought Carter onto Atlantis, but I honestly don't think she needed to be the leader of the expedition.

She didn't need to, nor did she want to, be on the show. Her contract stated that if SG-1 was canceled that they could pick her contract up and use it on Atlantis. There was nothing in the contract that said she had to be on a show. She even did an interview that she went "It's in my contract, it's fine" and she didn't seem happy to be going to Atlantis.

 

[RoJoHen]

^Odd, because all I've ever read was that she loved playing Carter and was happy to continue doing so.

Either way, her contract is what brought her there, whether it was her decision or the producers.

 

[cultcross]

Stargate does not do character development for anyone. Learning to use a gun is not my idea of "character development."

I have to ask, and I don't mean this to sound snippy, but why do you watch this show? You rarely have much positive to say on it.
Genuine question I'm interested.

 

[RaymondJames]

Personally if they wanted to bring Carter on as arting boost, i wouldn't of made her the Commander of Atlantis, i would of gave her a position of leading an off world team (oviously not Sheppards) she could of been on from time to time and her team and Sheppards could work togather on those huge wraith missions like they use Lorne from time to time. or in SG-1 there was all the other SG teams.

 

[RoJoHen]

Personally if they wanted to bring Carter on as arting boost, i wouldn't of made her the Commander of Atlantis, i would of gave her a position of leading an off world team (oviously not Sheppards) she could of been on from time to time and her team and Sheppards could work togather on those huge wraith missions like they use Lorne from time to time. or in SG-1 there was all the other SG teams.

Your grammar is appalling, but I agree.

The Leader of Atlantis was a bad idea. They could have given her a role that better fit the character.

 

[MNM]

I think if anything "destroyed" her character during her time on Atlantis, it was the actors terribly phoned in and apathetic performances.

 

[RaymondJames]

Personally if they wanted to bring Carter on as arting boost, i wouldn't of made her the Commander of Atlantis, i would of gave her a position of leading an off world team (oviously not Sheppards) she could of been on from time to time and her team and Sheppards could work togather on those huge wraith missions like they use Lorne from time to time. or in SG-1 there was all the other SG teams.

Your grammar is appalling, but I agree.

The Leader of Atlantis was a bad idea. They could have given her a role that better fit the character.

Thank you. That is what happens when I try to post after midnight.

 

[Kpnuts]

I think the fact they dumbed Sam down in season seven and eight of SG-1 destroyed the character. She had that lame boyfriend, and let RepiSam onto a base, she was just stupid.

On Atlantis she was just useless.

Exactly.

And the same is true of Jack, who became sarcastic and dumb to CRINGE-WORTHY levels in the last few seasons of SG-1. Seasons 1-6 he was always goofy, but knew when to be serious, they threw that out the window i the later seasons.

The same is also true of Daniel, who they made Jack-Lite. Dumbed down, sarcastic, once again completely ruining his character.

One of many reasons why the quality of SG went down from those years on.