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Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay — we love ’em, and we love the actors who bring the characters of Stargate to life. We welcome them into our homes, cheer for them at conventions, and thank them for inspiring us. But just how big a role do the actors play in creating the characters we love? Do we, as fans of Stargate or any television show, not give the writers enough credit for conceiving the character, writing the dialogue, and sending him or her on adventures?
That’s this week’s discussion topic on the podcast, as David and Darren consider the role of the actor, the role of the writer, and what goes into making some of our favorite TV characters who they are.
SHOW NOTES
Discussion – Misdirected Emotion?
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Related Episodes:
“48 Hours” (SG-1 Season Five)
“Redemption” (SG-1 Season Six)
“Chimera” (SG-1 Season Seven)
“Red Sky” (SG-1 Season Five)
“Jolinar’s Memories” (SG-1 Season Three)
“The Shrine” (Atlantis Season Five)
“Letters From Pegasus” (Atlantis Season One)
“The Intruder” (Atlantis Season Two)
“McKay and Mrs. Miller” (Atlantis Season Three)
| This Week’s Listener Question: What is your favorite episode from Stargate Atlantis Season Two, and why do you love it? |
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Next Episode: Atlantis Season Two. Call the podcast hotline or e-mail us an audio recording by Monday to share your thoughts for next week’s show!
Thanks for another good podcast.
I don’t think I agree with a fair amount of what you said, and the Lost references were “lost” on me as I gave it up after the second season.
But thanks nonetheless, I always look forward to the podcasts.
You can have the best writers in the world, the director can be great, the set production top notice but if your actors suck it is all for nothing. And vice verse. If all the elements are not there it just won’t work. Actors get mad love because they are the face we can see, but you only need to look at the fan love given to Lucas, Roddenberry, Abrams and others to see that fans care for and adore the production team!
I admit that I go for the actors and their chemistry first, the writing is secondary to that. Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett carried me through the most horrendeous, most stilted SGA episodes (Brain Storm, Irresistible, Trio etc.). If I didn’t love them first, some of the writing would have turned me off pretty fast.
The writers and producers don’t get a lot of credit because most of the Atlantis cast wanted more from their characters and were regularly shot down when trying to work with the writers. The actors did the best with what they had and have been always polite and generous to the fans.
I have to go with Imitation Tofu above. Look what happened to poor Tori Higgenson. She practically begged TPTB for more of just about everything from her character. More lines, more backstory, more involvement, etc. What did she get for her troubles? She was unceremoniously let go from the show! Who’s idea was it to kill off Paul McGillion’s beloved Dr. Beckett? Only after fierce fan clamoring did the producers reluctantly agree to bring him back. Jewel Staite expressed an interest for having her character, Dr. Keller establish a relatinship with Jason Momoa’s character, Ronon Dex. This began to develop… Read more »
Just remember, there are two sides to every story. Don’t take one person’s word over another’s just because you’ve seen that person on screen and think you know the content of their character. Pardon the pun.
@David Read Read what you say is true. However, I submit that it is also true that if you are getting the story from someone you have a good working relationship with, they will also shade the facts to work in their favor. And you will tend to believe them because you do like them.
No one will ever know the real story, except the involved parties, and even then I’m sure each side feels justified in their positions and does not understand how the other side can be so shortsighted.
Just human nature.
I didn’t get a chance to listen to the podcast, but my attention was caught by the title of this post.
I would think that sometimes the writers are forgotten and sometimes the writers make actors stars. For example, the Whedon fan base and all the new blood they introduced to entertainment.
That’s a good example, and for some reason we didn’t end up talking about those writer-producers who are just as big of “superstars” as many actors — Joss Whedon, JJ Abrams, etc. It’s interesting to me that it differs from writer (or producer) to writer. Some are beloved by fans of their shows, while others are demonized (e.g. Berman and Braga).
obviously its not the writers as they have mostly the same people for sga sg1 and sgu
sg1 and sga are great while sgu sucks