Stargate: Atlantis: Season 2, eps 9-12

[meganbmoore]

2.9: Aurora:

Wow. They almost let Elizabeth have a scene with chit chat there with Ronon. Then they remembered she’s not allowed to have human contact without talking about work.

It seems everyone forgot what happened the last time McKay had a bright idea regarding ancient technology. Not to mention all the talk about how he had to regain trust after that. Now, please excuse me while I barf over his “the only one who understands the technology has to go into the program because only Sheppard and I are allowed to do anything heroic and/or important” speech.

Also, such pleasure to note that the sole female Ancient is Evil.

2.10: Lost Boys:

They made Ford a drug dealer.

THEY MADE FORD A DRUG DEALER.

RONON! THIS WAS THE TOKEN MINORITY MALE BEFORE YOU! RUN WHILE YOU CAN! And take Teyla with you and form your own team and you can be Huntress and Black Canary to Elizabeth’s Oracle.

Oh yes, and the 2 team members displaying the violent drug addict tendencies were the minority ones. The white male was just fine.

2.11: The Hive:

We approve of Ronon having an endless supply of knives hidden.

Oh, look. Drugs make the cowardly white male strong and brave and badass. They make the non-whites crazy and violent and short tempered.

HOW COULD THEY NOT SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS ON PAPER!!!

And let us not forget that Token Female Guest Star is an Evil Wraith Spy, this time using her Evil Feminine Wiles to try to trick Sheppard into betraying Earth, but he is too Manly and Heroic to be tricked.

I’m sure we’ll never see Ford again. In my world, he is off killing Wraith and getting things done while Sheppard and McKay keep trying to think of ways to top waking up the alien vampires who want to eat the galaxy.

2.12: Epiphany:

One day, there will be a race who goes “Screw you, Ancients. You’re stuck up, abandoned us, and you suck.”

Also, Ronon finally used that sword he’s always toting around. I HAVE SIMPLE, EASILY CATERED TO NEEDS, AND THE SHOW HAS BEEN WAVING THEM IN MY FACE BUT NOT FOLLOWING UP ON IT!

Beyond that, my brain is too fried from the Ford arc for me to have much to say.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I think Jason Momoa is one of the most beautiful men in the world. But even he (as Ronon, who does cater to various kinks of mine) was not enough to make me sit through these episodes of SG:A when they first aired on SciFi.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ronon caters to all sorts of fictional kinks. If I were watching this on TV, I likely would have long since bailed. But since it's DVD, there's a NEED to finish the season.

And if I thought for half a second the show would deliver, I'd be all over Teyla/Ronon.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Your posts just make me boggle at how big the fandom for this show is.. I get the feeling these things are very noticeable in the show, and you don't have to pay special attention to gender/race politics to see what's going on.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

But why would McKay/Sheppard shippers pay any attention to anything else in the show?

Although in all honesty, as someone who watched from the beginning, it isn't as easy to point out unless you're looking for it/someone's pointed out XYZ to you.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

This is true. Watching SG-1, which is far from perfect, but actually tries (and, you know, likes all the characters) in a little over a year also helps.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think most fans of the show who don't make posts like this are too busy admiring Sheppard and McKay (all the show wants to you do) to notice all the crap it pulls.

I mean, seriously, I do not LOOK for the race and gender problems, I look for entertainment, the show just has the issues in 20 foot letters.

[havocthecat]

Oh, it's Atlantis. If there's a place for skanky race issues that you think they won't go? They'll go there. While waving banners and blowing horns so you know they've gone there. (Not to mention the skanky gender issues. WHICH ONLY GET WORSE. Remind me some time to link you to my "men get heredity (i.e., the ATA gene) to get cool powers, women get rape-metaphored to get cool powers" essay/rant some time when you get further into the series. There's spoilery stuff for third season in it.

*sigh* I don't even know why I love this show so much. It's mostly for the potential of what all the characters COULD BE, because the really frustrating thing is that there are glimmers of awesome underneath all the crap.

No, scratch that. I don't love the show that much. I love the individual characters and their potential. I love what things could be. The show itself can bite me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Oh, go ahead and link me. At this point, I doubt I'll make it to S3.

And yes, the frustrating part is you can see how easy it would be for the show to be great. I mean, I know I'd like Sheppard and McKay if they were written in a way I could stomach.

[havocthecat]

I tend to like those two as they exist in revised form in my mind, rather than how they exist on the screen. Mostly. The problem is that when you get me in front of a TV, I start wanting to smack them.

I think one time we developed the theory that Elizabeth sends her head scientist and military commander out on missions in order to get them killed off so she can have Lorne and Zelenka instead.

Here's the essay: The Supposed Genetic Superiority of ATA Gene Carriers. Given that I make the point that the white men are the ones who get to be super-special with no drawbacks whatsoever, I filtered that. (And now you're added to the filter. Um. It's where I get bitchy.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I'm very interested in that essay. May I be added to the filter?

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Why are you doing this to yourself, exactly?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I don't know. But no one will stop me...

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

HOW COULD THEY NOT SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS ON PAPER!!!

I suspect it goes something like this: "Well, we can't have our star characters look bad, so we'll give the supporting characters the bad effects, and the stars the positive ones. It's JUST COINCIDENCE that the star characters are white men, and the supporting characters are not."

Just don't ask why the star characters always have to be the white men.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

And yet, the star character always come across incredibly bad and largely unlikable in general...

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Sure, to you (and me). 'Cause we're not white male Americans, which is the only audience that's important.

Oh, American entertainment industry, how I hate you sometimes.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

We are not white male Americans or Slash fans(in the context of the dominant slash fans in fandoms like this and Supernatural and a lot of shounen, where the more vocal and dominant parts of the fandoms will focus primarily on the Ho Yay so they can go "look, slash." Not the slash fans who like the idea of boys kissing(and more) but not at the expense of other things.)

(Sheppard/McKay actually passes my test in that, if one were a woman-as I don't really care about shipping unless I just really like a canon pairing, and I'm much more interested in relationships of any variety that involve at least one female, I do that if everyone goes "slash slash slash" and I don't see it, if this makes sense-I would interpret some of their scenes as potential pairing coding, I just dislike both as written too much to care.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

QUIT THIS SHOW! QUIT IT!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I ONLY HAVE FIVE MORE EPISODES!!!

ONE EPISODE WAS A HORRIBLE RIPOFF OF AN EXCELLENT SG1 EP!!! AND I COULDN'T IGNORE IT BECAUSE IT HAD AMANDA TAPPING!!!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

THANK GOD IT'S ONLY ANOTHER 200 MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE!