I was ready to dislike the change in cast. I grew with the team and they are family. I don’t want outsiders messing it up.
What worked well is that Mitchell was brought in and had the same feeling of betrayal. The team left?! I have to get them back together. I felt better because he was us.
Mitchell’s wise-cracking is like O’Neill’s but I do feel the writer’s giving him his own personality. I especially liked him yelling at Teal’c - “Hey, bullets bounce” and Teal’c smiles.
Vala is grating. She seems like a cheap attempt at sex appeal to a demographic, but there is a glimmer that she is playing the proper part of a snake-oil-saleswoman. Dress to seduce the suckers and use every advantage to get what you want. I do like her ascerbic sarcasm.
General Landry I worried about. But he id’d Mitchell and handled Vala well. And his chemistry with O’Neill made me feel he was taking care of the team.
I felt the writer’s spent time developing each existing and new character. A good catchup on what had happened. This story is a simple puzzle but the main focus is getting us to know the characters and getting them to know each other and I like that.
I like what Claudia Black’s doing with Vala. It helps that I absolutely adored her in Farscape – she brings a very funny, sarcastic bent to a show that was getting overly serious lately. Her comment about Daniel and Mitchell face-to-face (something about an interesting, if limited, gene pool) absolutely cracked me up, and so did some of her throwaway lines (“Didn’t we, boys?”).
I’m with you on Col Mitchell. I was unaware that everyone in the old cast would basically have moved on to other positions within the SGC or research areas, and I liked the way they used him to pull some of them back together.
Believe it or not, I think what bugged me the most was the new opening credits – they butchered the theme and made it one of those “5 second” thingies!
Seconded.
It’s so much fun seeing her and Ben on screen together again! And I like the way that her character plays off Daniel.
It’s really great to see Ben Browder and Claudia Black again, but I could do without Beau Bridges. Stargate: Atlantis has added Mitch Pileggi to its cast. I wish they’d put him in Stargate: SG-1 instead. I can’t buy Beau Bridges as a commanding officer.
I have to say I’m overall pleased, waiting to be knocked out.
Beau Bridges: “Everyone here is good. But I like to yell at people.”
Browder’s character definitely takes the lead in a new direction.
Varla (?) is a huge addition.
This is taking a martini and turning it into a gimlet. (I have no idea if this is right - what I mean is the show is really taking a turn, and it could be a great one.)
Face it, folks. Another year of the same could have killed this show. The bold changes made now could give it another 8 years.
I didn’t take to Stargate (TV) at first, and gave it a miss for many years, until Sci-fi Friday roped me back into it. I caught all of last season, and I’m slowly catching up on backstory with Sci-fi’s daily installment and their Stargate Monday.
So I caught all of last season, and I must say, I’m lovin’ the new season already (being a mildly rabid Farscape fan helps).
Seeing Claudia Black playing significantly different role than Aeryn Sun has jacked up my respect for her a notch.
Beau Bridges’ “Gen Landry” may be worlds apart personality-wise from Don Davis’ “Gen Hammond,” but he still nailed the “General-grade Officer” archetype well.
StargateSG1.com Official Synopsis: Lt. Col. Mitchell , the newest member of the SG-1 team, sets out on a mission with Daniel Jackson, Teal’c and Vala to uncover a stash of ancient riches.
Personal: Gen. Landry feels good as the wise general who can size up people. Mitchell felt good because he, like I, felt betrayed that SG-1 team members moved on to other opportunities and he went to talk them back onto the team. I felt he made himself an extension of the audience. His personality is wise-cracking like O’Neill’s but more an eager, unjaded puppy type than O’Neill. Vala is loved by Farscape fans, but I haven’t seen enough to have developed a rapport. [sub]( FYI, don’t tell anyone, but I haven’t seen FireFly at all, either ) [/sub]As long as they play Vala as a con artist who is using that skin tight outfit as intimidation and not as an appeal to a demographic, I think she can evolve into a complex character. The plot is “visiting what the other characters are doing now”, and “solving a puzzle related to the Arthurian legends”. It’s a nice intro into how the characters relate to one another. I like Mitchell’s enthusiasm, but worried that too much eargerness would get old. However when Teal’c tried to shoot out a door and Mitchell responded, “Woah, woah, bullets bounce!” I could see that his boyish character could be tempered by a realistic evaluation of the situation. Since he leads the team he can wise-crack, but he must make smart decisions and be a credible leader.
My old roommate and fellow Farscape addict called me last Saturday to let me know that Ben Browder and Claudia Black were on Stargate now.
A day late.
:smack:
So I’m watching it this week. I have no idea what’s going on, but my husband gets a glimpse into my love of Ben Browder and Claudia Black - regardless of what characters they play.
I’ve heard good things about Stargate, so I look forward to adding a Sci-Fi show back to my lineup.
And hey, anything that gets Claudia Black into the U.S. is a good thing. (I tried to convince a friend to hire her for his show, but he didn’t seem as enthralled by her or Farscape as my roommate and I were…:D).
) [/sub]As long as they play Vala as a con artist who is using that skin tight outfit as intimidation and not as an appeal to a demographic, I think she can evolve into a complex character. The plot is “visiting what the other characters are doing now”, and “solving a puzzle related to the Arthurian legends”. It’s a nice intro into how the characters relate to one another. I like Mitchell’s enthusiasm, but worried that too much eargerness would get old. However when Teal’c tried to shoot out a door and Mitchell responded, “Woah, woah, bullets bounce!” I could see that his boyish character could be tempered by a realistic evaluation of the situation. Since he leads the team he can wise-crack, but he must make smart decisions and be a credible leader.