#such an incredible rodney episode

[sga-owns-my-soul]

whoops more thoughts about tao of rodney? time to Share Them

i just realized the parallels between tao of rodney and the shrine. in both episodes, something is altering his mind in a way that will eventually lead to his death, and in both episodes he becomes… nicer.

in tao of rodney he goes around with a gesture for everyone (a heartfelt apology to radek, the tea ceremony for teyla, healing ronon’s scars, elizabeth’s book, etc) and every time they’re shocked that rodney is being so generous and thoughtful and caring because… that’s not their rodney

and in shrine keller says that she didn’t notice the symptoms in time bc she was so taken with the new rodney mckay, bc he was so nice. he was charming and nice but this time, instead of becoming a super genius and fixing everyone’s problems, he was losing his mind. and i can’t help but wonder how hard it was for john and ronon and teyla the watch rodney die from his mind being altered again and knowing this time rodney wouldn’t even be capable of coming up with a last minute plan to save himself.

[rosadellic]

the shrine simultaneously makes me cry at david hewlett's incredible acting and then pisses me off by forcing a het romance that nobody wanted towards the end after rodney spends the majority of the episode literally yelling and calling out for john, getting held and comforted by john, john giving him his leather jacket, trying not to break down and cry, ect ect ect

[thebroccolination]

OW, GRACE UNDER PRESSURE, OW

So I'm in the middle of rewatching "Grace Under Pressure" for the first time since maaaybe? university? many years ago and I'm losing it because I fully forgot that one of the reasons this episode is so beloved is not only because it's Rodney all alone with a head injury, it's also Rodney trying to convince himself that anyone cares enough about him to try and save him.

Meanwhile: EVERYONE IS TRYING TO SAVE HIM.

ESPECIALLY JOHN SHEPPARD.

CARTER: Look, I hear what you're saying and I'm telling you -- you're wrong. You have some very smart, very motivated people on the surface, and the only thing any of them are working on right now is rescuing you. McKAY: Oh, come on! They are planning my memorial service. CARTER: If your plan fails -- and it probably will -- you could jeopardise their plans. [GateWorld - "Grace Under Pressure" Transcript]

I completely forgot the whole Atlantis portion of the episode over the years and basically only retained how incredible of an actor David Hewlett was in it.

MEANWHILE! John is all, "I will absolutely order that scientist to risk his life to save my scientist, and I will pretend I have any authority to do so because my scientist is in danger and I am prepared to make all kinds of unethical decisions for his sake," and now I'm ensconced in all the mcshep feelings of my past.

SHEPPARD: Well, Doctors Moore and McNab are here to study the ocean on M8R-1229, which happens to be under a thick sheet of ice, so they brought a thousand-foot cable and a pretty powerful winch to lower their instruments. WEIR: OK. SHEPPARD (gesturing to a nearby scientist): And Edgar over here is responsible for the magnetic grapple designed to lower the F-302s into our Jumper Bay. WEIR: And you intend to put the two together. SHEPPARD: Like chocolate and peanut butter.

It's absurdly emotion-fueling that John's really not a social person, but look at him assembling his own li'l team of people to go save his shouty nerd boyfriend. :')

McKAY: Well, we'll never be able to stop it. CARTER: I'm not saying that we could -- we're just trying to buy time here. McKAY: In order to make death as long and as drawn-out as possible, huh?! CARTER: Just max it out, McKay.

I'M NOT OKAY! JUST! RODNEY DOWN THERE ALL ALONE TRYING TO TELL HIMSELF OVER AND OVER THAT THE PEOPLE HE CARES ABOUT, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HIS EXTENDED FOUND FAMILY WHOMST HE'S SAVED OVER AND OVER, WON'T JUST WASH THEIR HANDS OF HIM BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO SAVE HIM.

SHEPPARD (over radio): All you have to do is open your door and walk to my Jumper. (Sam smiles.) CARTER: I told you they'd come up with something.

NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I'M GOING TO GO REREAD WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS AND CRY MYSELF INTO OBLIVION

[stargayatlantis]

stargate atlantis episodes 1x10 and 1x11, a non-comprehensive multimedia essay

first off, tell me i'm wrong:

ANYHOW

Sheppard Reaction Cam when Kolya threatens to murder Rodney:

(and McKay's reaction when he hears John is still alive????):

also "what would McKay do?" says John who immediately realizes what McKay would do.

AND FINALLY

Kolya: if you don't cooperate I will kill this incredibly irritating scientist. Sheppard: or how about *literally kills 60 people*

thank you for attending i will be accepting all forms of praise and zero criticism at this time.

[sheppardsmckay]

I’ve finally finished the incredible show that is Stargate Atlantis and I. Have. Thoughts.

I watched Vegas and Enemy at the Gates together (on the advice of my sga leader @lightthewaybackhome) and I’m so happy I did.

So Vegas feels like a different show entirely, from the filming to the characters. Sheppard does not seem like Sheppard nor does anyone else. They’re all darker, more broken versions. My heart was just broken the whole time, but I didn’t cry until I saw Rodney though. This is the Rodney without his Sheppard to guide him and help him. This is the Rodney who lets Keller pass him by. This is the Rodney that lets Sheppard go alone. This is Rodney without a Sheppard that lit up Atlantis (this is honestly worse than last man but it’s a good parallel).

This is the Sheppard that goes alone on yet another suicide mission because he’s lost everything anyway…and then he dies. While Johnny Cash’s “Solitary Man” plays. Because that’s who Sheppard is, not the man in black saving the world with his people, but the solitary man who is alone without a home and no chance to be healed. And yet still he sacrifices himself and is brave and dies saving the world. Sheppard becomes the action hero at the end of the movie that goes out guns blazing and, while it’s usually cool to see, this one just breaks our hearts.

And then we move to the finale and…oh! Sheppard is Sheppard again, and Rodney is Rodney and everyone is okay.

And we see the parallels between the Vegas world and ours throughout the episode. Sheppard about to go on a suicide mission stops right at the last moment because Rodney’s voice breaks through the radio. The team is about to die blowing up the hive ship but stops because Atlantis is there in time to save them. Atlantis is lit up because of Sheppard. And then we see them all at the end. They’re happy, and alive and not broken.

And even though they aren’t fully healed, cause who ever is in this life, they’re on the path to healing. There’s hope, there’s light that has broken through the darkness (the way the show ends with the light piercing through the clouds is so beautiful in a literal and metaphorical sense like I’m sobbing).

There’s a couple lines from songs that my Sheppard told me about that is forever linked with SGA now. Ghosts That We Knew has a beautiful line, “So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light”. Throughout the show there’s so much darkness and pain, but we stick through it with the team because there’s hope that it’ll be okay. There’s hope because John is there, because they’re all there right where they should be. It’s a beautiful metaphor for life.

And then there’s a song called Hospital for Souls. It’s mainly a Sheppard song, as he lets himself burn for his family, but it’s also how Atlantis is a hospital for all the broken souls and brings them together. It’s why Sam didn’t stay there long and Woolsey came on board. It’s why Ronon says at the end that he is home. It’s why Teyla chooses to stay and raise her son in Atlantis instead of her home world. Why Rodney waits 48000 years for Sheppard and why Sheppard realizes finally that he doesn’t have to die to be redeemed, that living and healing is possible for even him.

It’s been a wonderful journey watching this show, it’s changed me, helped me grow and made me realize that healing is possible for even me. That a family is what you make it and they can be your hospital for your soul no matter how weary, broken or hurt.

I just love this show. I’m immediately gonna start rewatching it from the beginning because this. This is my family, my home. I’ve found myself in the darkness of Sheppard and the outlierness of Rodney. In the fierce love of Ronon and sisterly bond of Teyla.

I’m ever so grateful my friend got me to watch this, so happy that I went through the darkness into the light with my team, through tears and shouts of joy. I always said Supernatural would be the only show with this kind of life-changing, life-saving impact. But Stargate Atlantis now holds that honor too, this little, cheesy, ridiculously funny and terribly sad series has changed my life, helped me be the person I wanted to be for so many years but always struggled with (yeah I’m louder, complain more and am maybe a bit more annoying but gosh it’s more fun) and just generally helped me with so many endless things. And I’ve found some great friends and got closer to one of my best friends, aka my Sheppard lol.

Anyway, all this to say that this show is beautiful and incredible and please do yourself the honor of watching it but definitely bring tissues. Don’t worry too much about why they wear sneakers for like two seasons or their military tactics are off, but just enjoy the friendship, the humor, and how wonderful it shows that it doesn’t matter how messed up you are. How dark you’ve gotten or how many pieces of your soul you’ve sacrificed for others. You can be redeemed and healed and made whole. You can find people who love you despite your flaws and shortcomings. And you can find the light no matter how dark the world has become. You too can be home.

[ronon-dex]

really not sure how I feel about the ending to travelers, or the show as a whole. it has such a fascinating concept and builds an incredibly rich world off of that, but there are so many pitfalls to how it's constructed. I've never seen such a rollercoaster of quality that's SO rapid. i'm talking 10 to 1 in the space of a minute and back again, over three entire seasons. insane. LONG POST INCOMING

good stuff:

the direction is amazing. visually, the show is beautiful, and sets up shots that are consistently creative and designed to depict the emotion the scene is supposed to evoke, which I've never seen done so artistically. we'll see half of marcy's face when she's lying. we'll see kathryn filtered through soft light when maclaren looks at her. blood and sunlight is shown in stark contrast. action scenes have moments of intense stillness in the middle, which make the violence so much more shocking. philip's addictive eye-drop medication is always shown dripping down his face like tears. standout eps for stuff like this are '17 Minutes', and 'Protocol 3'.

fairly anti-copaganda for the most part. it's rare to see.

the acting is wonderful. jared abrahamson (trevor), reilly dolman (philip) and jennifer spence (grace) especially blew me away. trevor's dual energy of sprightly teenager and wise old man had to be very difficult to get right, but it was done perfectly. when he stares down his host's abuser in 'Update' his eyes were nearly black; you could imagine a 400 year old man and the rage he must have accumulated through centuries of hardened existence. philip was a character who wasn't allowed to live up to his potential, and I will be repeating this, but the scenes he had were devoured. he had an addiction to multiple substances, he was mostly ignored by his team despite being the most crucial member, and he had not a single friend outside of his fellow travelers. the agony of all of this was portrayed to perfection. grace fulfilled a role that is normally given to a paunchy white guy, an annoying genius who gets away with inappropriate behaviour because they're clever. [the rodney mckay effect, one of many stargate echoes in this show, thank you brad wright.] she was absolutely hilarious and brought light to a very grim show at times.

the traveler missions were excellent. the pacing in these scenes was great, the plots were generally airtight, and the awareness of the audience's intelligence was thrilling to witness. i figured out mysteries exactly when I was supposed to, a few minutes before the fallout - so you see how the dominoes will fall, and you see how nobody could have caught them. SO on theme for this show. the one moment that did catch me off guard was maclaren's birthday party in s1. oh my god I was so mad at the gotcha jumpscare, it annoyed the hell out of me lmao

bad stuff:

my main gripe. this show is called travelers. this show spends only about 50% of its runtime with solely travelers. the rest of the time is spent with david (marcy's boyfriend who doesn't know she is from the future and possessing the real marcy's body), kathryn (who also doesn't know her husband, maclaren, is not her husband) and jeff (an abusive alcoholic who consistently tries to beat up his ex girlfriend, who is also now a traveler.) these people completely take over the show. they have multi-season arcs and entire episodes revolving around their problems with marcy/maclaren/carly, often domestic. attempts to give philip and trevor stories outside traveler missions are abandoned sometime around s2. when these civilian characters were abducted together in s2 I literally started calling them the Avengers of Being Annoying. I've said it before but imagine how awful the show leverage would've been if 20 minutes out of every episode sophie, nate and eliot left to talk to their individual spouses about their relationship problems.

there wasn't even a serious confrontation about the consent issues surrounding the takeover of someone's life - especially assuming a sexual or emotional relationship with that person's loved ones. like that should have been a huge ethical dilemma removed from simply possessing a previously dying body. like why are you now fucking your host's wife like it's ok??? you're not him and she doesn't know you????

it was grim. it was also very clear that david was a favourite, some writer had a crush on marcy's actress, and some other writer was apologising to his wife through the maclaren/kathryn storyline. or maybe I'm just a hater. idk

this show had an amazingly compelling narrative, but it sacrificed a great deal when it comes to character stories. these characters were established very well, and built up over season 1 to have great depth and rich histories... and then we never explored most of it. we don't know the original genders of philip, maclaren or marcy. we don't know about the families of philip or maclaren. we don't know if the main 5 knew each other well or just trained before coming to the past. the future is almost a complete mystery and that was what made it cool in season 1; by the finale? fucking annoying.

these characters' most emotional moments and deepest relationships happened with the 21st century people they emotionally abducted. idk why. maclaren had no reason to stay with his host's wife. trevor could have freed himself from high school sooner. carly (with philip's help) could have gotten rid of jeff very quickly. I don't know why they insisted on this aspect of the show when the main cast were so underdeveloped and remained so for 3 seasons. this, more than anything, made the finale seem very hollow. the main 5 were coworkers, and apart from philip, and occasionally trevor, marcy and carly, they weren't that invested in each other's wellbeing outside of their efficiency as agents. this was not the found family I signed up for.

basically:

7/10 show for me. very visually gorgeous, as mentioned, and besides the kathryn and david of it all, very tightly written. thanks for saving the world, I suppose. I'm going to go look at the sky.

[lightthewaybackhome]

I would definitely view this as a more filler episode. It's incredibly difficult to watch post-Sunday. The Carson-shaped hollow is still raw and seeing his face in the opening credits always hurts.

There's a lot of Rodney being Rodney-both the good and the bad sides-which is always great, but the part that always gets to me is when the "red shirt" scientist is screaming at Sheppard to save him and Sheppard can't get to him. There is nothing worse for the kind of man Sheppard is than not being able to get to someone who needs him.

I of course love when the Queen is trying to control him and his face switches from pain to intensity when he sees Ronon. I love that he doesn't doubt Teyla for a moment. If she senses Wraith, then there are Wraith.

This is a fun episode that I always enjoy watching, but I also always start it with just a bit of resentment because Carson just died. Why are we exploring? Why are we not crying still?

[adricthemindnimon]

Ok, the time has come for me to write out the whole thesis that’s been bubbling away in my head for years about how deeply uncomfortable I have always been about elements of how Rodney McKay was handled as a character.

I’m sure there’s more I should say, and everything will be off the top of my head, cuz I’m not looking up episodes or plot points today. But here goes

McKay is introduced as an arrogant, deeply unpleasant man, who basically exists to clash with Sam, cause drama and tension, (and also make Sam look good). Then Atlantis started, and he became a main character. I think that was a really interesting choice, and overall a very good one, because it’s sets up an incredible character arc. A regular leading character (who is one of the “good guys”) cannot be as universally hateable as Rodney was when he was just a one (or two)-off character. But you can’t just scrap who he was when you introduced him, so how do you give him the kind of growth that makes him interesting and someone people want to root for? 

In many ways Atlantis did a great job of that. The show took him way out of his comfort zone, and put him under great stress, so that he had to up his game. It isolated him long term with a limited number of people, so he had to learn some basic people skills. And in doing both those things, it pushed him to the edge and showed us (and him) that McKay had bravery and a good heart and love for his friends and the willingness to risk himself for others. He’d covered all that over with an incredibly thick layer of ego and cowardice and boorish behaviour, but when against the wall, that awfulness could be broken through and the nobler side of him could start to come out. And that was primarily made possible because the show surrounded him with people who called him on his bullshit. For the first few years especially, all the main characters held him to account and made him behave and become better.

So given that I’ve praised him so much, why am I so uncomfortable with McKay?

Two reasons. There are a few important areas we did not see him grow significantly, and at a certain point the show stopped challenging his behaviour to the same extent.

First point first: ways he kept being horrible. 

He was a ghastly boss/coworker to the science team throughout. From the first episode to the last, he refused to learn his people’s names, he belittled them and mocked their ideas and used them as scapegoats when things went badly but never gave them credit when things went well. Occasionally he feels bad about that, but usually only after someone he treated badly has died a horrible death. The show clearly wants us to feel bad for these people - especially poor Zelenka - but Rodney’s never held to account for it, and never improves. Zelenka complains about his treatment, Rodney makes a snarky joke, and we move on, feeling the scientists’ frustration, but clearly just supposed to roll our eyes and be ok with it. The overall message sent is that it’s ok that Rodney treats people badly because he’s brilliant and he’ll save the day. It’d be nice if he’d treat people better, but we have to make allowances somewhere. Honestly, Atlantis probably would have been better off without Rodney, because with him there you have one really smart person getting things done but crushing everyone around him in the process, whereas with him gone you might not have that individual star, but you’d have a lot more very smart people who could actually work properly and achieve things as a team.

The other thing that never changes is his treatment of women - he’s a serial sexual harasser. He sexually harasses Sam the first time he appears on SG-1, and it’s gross, but he’s meant to be gross then. But he keeps doing it through every single season of Atlantis. Sam alone gets harassed by him so many times - even when she’s his boss! In the sunken jumper episode he hallucinates up Sam dressed a way she would never dress, behaving a way she would never behave, and the way he talks to her makes my skin crawl. And yes I know she’s not really there, and he has a head injury, but his creepiness is played for laughs. And then Sam takes over as commander of Atlantis, and then there’s the episode where they fall down the hole. First he tells Sam to flash the boys to bribe them to help - gross - and then he tries to convince Sam and Dr. Keller to strip under the pretense of making a rope out of their clothes. Again, it’s played for laughs, and it’s just fucking gross. Sam is his BOSS. Dr. Keller is his coworker. And all three of them are in extreme danger. And he is sexually harassing both women. 

That story is also my big example of how the show starts letting him off the hook. In that episode, Rodney repeatedly sexually harasses every woman in sight. He’s so desperate to puff his ego that insists he is more competent at something he has never done before than Sam the professional soldier who does things like that every day and actively sidelines her. In doing so, he also further endangers them, starting a gas fire (that Sam has to risk injury to put out), and pulling in more dirt when Sam tells him to stop. He repeatedly tries to get out of doing the actual hard work of saving them and instead spends his time being snarky and trying to prove how smart he is. And after all that, the narrative rewards him. He’s the hero, because he got rope burn but didn’t leave Sam to die. People admire him. He gets a date with Dr. Keller. We’re just supposed to shake our heads affectionately at all of his grossness and go “Oh McKay...” 

In summary, the narrative bought into the idea of making allowances for exceptional men. He’s dreadful to his coworkers, but he’s a genius who saves the day so we’ll let him get away with that. He gets pushback for treating the main Atlantis team like that, but his non-field colleagues are apparently fair game. He’s a serial sexual harasser - and here nobody is safe, not even the main characters or the soldiers or the [insert category here], because we are consistently meant to find his sexual harassment funny, or at worst an irritation on the level of bad breath. And it’s not. And finally, while the show did a good job of calling him out for the first few seasons, after that it started letting him off the hook, and buying into the glorification of Rodney McKay, no longer treating his unpleasant attributes as things to be worked on as part of a long character arc, but instead merely quirks that should be accepted. 

A deeply flawed character like McKay is an interesting challenge, and when they write him well I really enjoy him. But I can never overlook or forget about these really gross decisions that were made in writing him.

[the-woomyverse]

A Random Supernatural Pahkitew Island AU

Beardo: Can warp reality with his sound effects. The best example of this? When he narrowly wins a challenge for his team by pointing at the opposing team and making a rewind sound, reversing time for the opposing team so they were back at the beginning of the race, while his team stayed near the end, giving his team more than enough time to get the win.

Leonard: Actual wizard. Enough said.

Amy and Sammy: Amy can see a person’s past (and uses it to blackmail a person on the opposing team who I have not decided upon yet). Meanwhile, Sammy can see the future.

Rodney: Fledgling incubus. (Irony is fun!) He uses his powers to manipulate the girls on the opposing team into losing the challenges, and avoid getting voted off when his team does lose.

Jasmine: When Rome took over Greece, the Amazons fled to a faraway land, one that was near impossible for the Romans to locate… and that land was Australia. Jasmine is a descendant of the Amazons, thus her giant size and incredible strength.

Shawn: A monster hunter, who is incredibly skilled in most of the things that the show requires the contestants to do… but he refuses to work with everyone once he learns that not everyone in the cast is human. This closed-mindedness and his repeated slander of the non-humans both competing in and helping with the show, leads him to be the first one voted out.

Ella: A literal princess, but not of any human country. Ella is an elven princess, which gives her the power to communicate with animals. Not nearly as strong as some previous elven contestants (yes, I mean Dawn), but it’s still there.

Sky: A wind spirit, hence her incredible acrobatic skills (and her name). She’s also got storm powers, but that only comes out when she’s angry.

Dave: The Normal Guy is still a normal guy in this AU. Enough said.

Sugar: A voodoo queen from New Orleans who wins pageants by making bargains with dark powers, and sacrificing the souls of the losers of said pageants to the dark powers to fulfill her end of the deal. She considers the show a pageant, and is determined to win. After all, what could be more satisfying to the dark powers she bargains with than the souls of supernatural beings?

Topher: A mimic who chooses to take on human form, despite his sharp teeth and slit pupil eyes immediately giving away his non human status.

Scarlett: Her power is mushroom based. Have you ever heard of what the fungus cordyceps does to ants? It’s like that, except the mushrooms aren’t lethal, and they can be destroyed.

Max: He has the most evil powers- mind reading and telekinesis. The telekinesis is not exactly the best, but his mind reading means he can tell his opponents’ powers, and what they’re trying to do.

ELIMINATION ORDER

Episode 1: Shawn (voted off because of his species ist thinking and his refusal to help)

Episode 2: Leonard (he tried to make the hog levitate over the wall, but accidentally made the hog explode, costing his team the challenge)

Episode 3: Amy (Rodney convinced Max to make Amy think she had persuaded her teammates to get rid of Sammy, when in reality, it was just a false memory that Max implanted in her head)

Episode 4: Sugar (accidentally revealed her plans to sacrifice all the contestants, and Chris, to the dark powers once she won, which resulted in her automatic elimination)

Episode 5: Sky (got a little overzealous with her wind powers, accidentally causing her team to lose the challenge)

Episode 6: Dave (asked his teammates to vote him out)

Episode 7: Beardo (voted himself out, out of guilt for 'cheating' to win the challenge)

Episode 8: Topher (same action in canon, except he didn't want to replace Chris, he wanted to host his won game show)

Episode 9: Ella (voted herself out)

Episode 10: Scarlett, Max (Scarlett for the same reason in canon, Max because he knew someone would need to monitor her and his powers made him immune to Scarlett's spores)

Episode 11: Jasmine (she refused to participate in Sammy's challenge, costing her the win)

Final Two: Rodney, Sammy

[lexinoctura]

Right back at ya!

Who would be the other two: Teal’c, Ronon Dex or Teyla?

Who would you pick: Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Cameron Mitchell, Jonas Quinn or Ronon Dex?

Who is the best head of SG (SGC or SGA): George Hammond, Hank Landry, Elisabeth Weir, Sam Carter or Richard Woolsey?

Who is the best enemy: Goa’uld, Replicators, Ori or Wraith?

If you could pick three characters (no matter if dead or alive) to create a team, who would they be?

Where would you be rather stationed: SGC or Atlantis?

What’s your favourite ship (canon or not) from each show?

What rare/alien species did you like the best?

.Who is your favourite Alien (person/creature not from Earth).

And last but not least: Favourite male character of each show and favourite female character of each show?

Bonus question: Least favourite male and female character from each show?

Okay, lets see…

Who would be the other two: Teal’c, Ronon Dex or Teyla? -> Hmm… Teyla beats Ronon, but either ends up in a tie with Teal'c or manages to beat him by like… one second; She is really fast and while T has the tactical skills as well as the muscles, he is not as fast, and does not rely that much on his skills to dodge or keep his whole body protected

Who would you pick: Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Cameron Mitchell, Jonas Quinn or Ronon Dex? -> As a buddy? Sheppard (love his humor); as a leader? O'Neill (has great skills in that area and is rather loose in his interactions)

Who is the best head of SG (SGC or SGA): George Hammond, Hank Landry, Elisabeth Weir, Sam Carter or Richard Woolsey? -> Let's kill Landry, Woolsey and Weir before we even start that question; Neither of them had my liking, and the first two were basically just replacements because the others died/didnt want to anymore I would say Carter. She knows what its like to be in the field, so she has a better understanding of how and why her people react the way they do; AND(!) she goes with on missions and does not just sit in a comfy chair

Who is the best enemy: Goa’uld, Replicators, Ori or Wraith? -> Wraith for me. I like the whole concept of it, where they are (mostly/often) evil, but not out of their greed for power, but because they are hungry; And I love Todd 😂

If you could pick three characters (no matter if dead or alive) to create a team, who would they be? -> Sheppard as a leader (because i would like to interact with him more, and he is more same-level than jack is), Teyla as the negotiator and Dani as the smart boy

Where would you be rather stationed: SGC or Atlantis? -> Atlantis, for sure! Tho only with a ZPM or the intergalacti gatebridge in order, because while I dont need to see my familiy and friends every week, I do not want to spent 3 weeks (one way!) to get to Earth; And I would really like to meet more of the cultures they show there

What’s your favourite ship (canon or not) from each show? -> Jack/Sam in SG-1, and Sheppard/Teyla in SG-A; Never watched SG-U and dont intend to either 😂

What rare/alien species did you like the best? -> The Unas 😂 Damn, I love that episode where Daniel meets Chaka, and has to learn that just because he is more animalistic, that doesnt mean that he is uncultivated or dumb

Who is your favourite Alien (person/creature not from Earth). -> Ronon Dex :D I mean: "You've gotta see this guy in action. He is an incredible shot, none of my guys can beat him in a fight, and he's ex-military."

And last but not least: Favourite male character of each show and favourite female character of each show? -> SG-1: Sam and Daniel; SG-A: John and Teyla :D

Bonus question: Least favourite male and female character from each show? -> SG-1: Hathor (stupid snakehead) and Landry (never really liked him, he was too… blablabla); SG-A: Princess Harmony (the one that constantly lied to Sheppard and then portrait Rodney as her hero; spoiled little brat!) and Woolsey (I mean… he is IOA!) *I mean, even in my notes for a possible Teyla/Sheppard fanFic, I explicitly stated the following: Princess Harmony (S4) -> DOES NOT EXIST!

This is fun, thank you!! :D

[sga-owns-my-soul]

okay the thing about tao of rodney that always gets to me is the way rodney just. accepts that he’s gonna die and decides instead of using his new powers to save himself he’s gonna use the time he has left to make as many improvements for the people he’s leaving behind as possible. not even just his team and atlantis but the whole of human civilization. the team never stops looking for a solution and the only reason rodney goes along with any of that stuff is for their sake. he’s already accepted his fate but he’s willing to do anything for the people he loves and i just. idk i think it’s such an incredible episode to showcase rodney’s character growth.

[thebroccolination]

I've Been Revisiting Stargate Atlantis…

Because my broken foot is still healing, so I'm trying to rest at home as much as I can, and SkyReplay airs it pretty regularly.

It's also because I love revisiting my favorite fandoms. Especially the fandoms I was in as a teenager. Hours upon hours spent reading these incredible fics written by people whose talent just made them feel heroic to me as a younger writer. When I rewatch these episodes, I remember my life as it was then. Fandom as it was then.

When I first watched Stargate Atlantis, I was in my third year of high school. I still posted my fics to FFN. I hadn't even heard of LiveJournal yet. I took a laptop and a book everywhere. I hadn't realized my queerness. I had few friends. And I was years away from leaving the States to live in another country where I'd finally stop trying to find the perfect way to change myself to impress my family. I'd find out that living like that would have chipped away at my heart and, ultimately, slowly erase the person I am now.

I was a lurker in most fandoms since the age of nine. I wrote fic and posted it sometimes, but I didn't engage in many forums. I rarely talked to anyone online at all, and I didn't really make fandom friends, either. Whenever I found a fandom with a huge amount of fics, I didn't bother writing anything myself. I just read as much as I could, the longer the fic, the better.

I knew fandom as a mainly adult space, and I was excited to be part of it. These fan-written stories felt more familiar to me than the media they were based on, especially with queer romance instead of heterosexual. And while there were famous episodes of Drama and Fandom Wank, fandom was, in general, my safe space.

Online fandom insulated me from all the school and family strife that I couldn't avoid offline while Being a Teenager. Fandom was a treehouse I could climb into. Pull the ladder up behind me, sprawl on some pillows, feel the cool breeze and the sun pouring in through the windows. Safe and alone with my imagination and the stories shared in a little-known community where no one who felt unsafe could find me.

And the fandom of Stargate Atlantis was an extra special escape. The fic was phenomenal, and the meta was incredible, and the show was ridiculous sometimes but fun and full of potential to explore in fic.

I just rewatched "Trinity" and reread Time in a Bottle by @astolat today, and all those feelings are still where I left them, only now I'm older and more experienced. And I'm so much happier than I was then. It's like revisiting the treehouse and finding everything right where I left it, untouched by time or weather or discovery.

Fandom has changed. Even back then, fandom wasn't a treehouse for everyone. But when I think about what it was for me, when I look back on how much it saved me and made my life worth living and celebrating in the darkest moments, I think, That's what I know to pass on now. I can't give my experience to anyone else, but I can make treehouses. I can create communities where people feel safe in their joy.

That is, in a way, what AO3 is. The big treehouse. Where our stories are safe.

And I think that's what we're here for, in the big What Are We Here For? sense.

To soak in the sun together when we can, then build cover from the rain. Protecting our peace and each other's so we can use our breathtakingly short time to share stories by a fire.

There's a moment in Astolat's fic that made me cry when I was in high school. It won't have the same impact without the rest of the fic, so please read it first, but it's this:

[John] had one wild moment just standing there, and then he flung himself on the bed, scrabbling at Rodney's shoulders, hauling him up against his body to hold him tight tight tight, and Rodney shuddered awake and grabbed him back. John said, "Rodney, Jesus God, don't—don't—" and Rodney gasped, "John, John, John," and clung to him.

Rereading it today, it still made me emotional. The fic is just as beautiful as I remembered it. It's just as important to me as it was then.

And I genuinely believe it's fics like that that have had the greatest influence on my writing. That soul-deep emotion. A character thinking they've lost their person only to get them back. That excerpt is only two sentences, and I've remembered them for years. I must have read this fic when I was in my last year of high school, and I must have read it on my laptop in my bedroom, sitting on my bed with the pillows against my back. Back before I read that you should keep your bed for sleeping only. I read so many fics on my computer in bed. I don't remember where I was exactly, if it was there or elsewhere, but I do remember crying.

And I never forgot that scene. It left a comforting stitch in my mind with a precious memory underneath.

And how beautiful are we when we do this? That we found a way to tell untold numbers of people these sincere, heartfelt stories that not only stay with us for years afterward but also thread themselves into the core of who we are and maybe even change how we see the world and what we think life could be?

If we're alive for anything, I think it's to do that: to press our fingerprints together and leave a bit of golden light on someone who needs it.

[hetchdrive]

completely wild that the sga episodes "Sanctuary", whose only meaningful contributions to the show are John's first inter-species romance and the knowledge that Rodney is an incredibly jealous person, is immediately followed up by "Before I Sleep", which is a beautiful and moving character analysis of Elizabeth which emotionally positions Atlantis as hers in a way that informs my perception of the entire show

[theadgrodcast]

1/1/2023 Adgrodcast: New Years throwback episode from Season 3

THIS WEEK!! We are starting off season 6 with a reissue of one of Adam's favorite episodes, a bonus episode from Season 3 featuring a then-very-lonely Rodney talking to his best friends: his furniture, also, Berserker Llama Syndrome (which is a real thing! WHAT?!) and finally a love song to Emilio Estevez (incredibly cleverly) called Estevez For The Rest Of Us. Honestly, one of the all-time greats from Rodney. 

Since this episode came out, Rodney is no longer lonely, Llamas still freak the fuck out with too much exposure to humans, and Emilio Estevez still keeps his nose clean *in the right way*. Otherwise, we haven't evolved one bit as a band, and you know what? That's okay. We didn't need to. You didn't need us to. The world is essentially a heaping pile of smelly garbage, and we like to think of ourselves as a perpetually pleasant fever dream you get from the stench. A way to zone out and forget things for about 20 minutes. 

So, enjoy your smelly fever dream, and welcome to Season Six of THE ADGRODCAST!!!!!!! (new episodes starting next week) 

DO ENJOY!

[aceofwands]

I posted 9,706 times in 2022

That's 5,221 more posts than 2021!

12 posts created (0%)

9,694 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mandaloriandy

@snoozingcat

@sunriseseance

@tinsnip

I tagged 1,766 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 358 posts

#the orville - 205 posts

#steddie - 196 posts

#cackles - 157 posts

#spoilers - 127 posts

#ds9 - 112 posts

#goncharov - 101 posts

#unreality - 88 posts

#wheeze - 47 posts

#leverage - 46 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#also the authors notes where the characters would 'talk' to the author and complain about what they were being made to do in the story

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I unironically love that in the span of a few weeks we've gone from a cringe revival designed to ward off Twitter refugees, to genuine welcoming posts teaching them the ins and outs of reblogging/tagging/the etiquette, to creating a batshit faux film complete with poster and a goddamn musical theme for a meme (Goncharov) that's spreading across our dashes like a fucking virus. If that doesn't just sum this place up 😂

14 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#4

I started this after I 'finished' Don't Give Up On Me (the McShep vid that I shared last week) and didn't get super far with it back then, but was inspired to go back to it and have basically spent the whole week working on it. No one's more surprised than me that it's done :'D

Anyway, I've described this as Rodney according to Rodney - so everyone who enjoys his manic little bastard energy is gonna have a blast with this :'D

Feel free to give it a kudos on AO3 here.

22 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

#3

The Orville season 3 is now on Disney+

If any of you have thought, hmmm, what on earth is that wacky Seth McFarlane sci-fi show everyone's been raving about for the past 10 weeks? (the first two seasons were already on there)

First of all, it's not Family Guy in space, I promise. It's like contemporary 90s era Star Trek with a sprinkle of workplace dramedy (though it was originally billed as a comedy by Fox). The cast of characters are all delightful and lovable. The SFX for both makeup and the CG is fucking spectacular. But most importantly, the writing is clever and the stories are well told - the characters and their dialogue are relatable and believable, and the stories deal with so many contemporary issues - everything from religious fanaticism to social media, slavery to suicide, populist leaders to trans rights.

This is a world in which humans still enjoy getting hammered and know pop culture - but also one which is completely committed to the idea of a world without capitalism, where Earth came together with other alien worlds to form a planetary Union for shared advancement and protection and cultural exchange. (And unlike Trek which is often handwavey about it, they actually go into this lore properly!)

It's optimistic, goofy, funny, but also not afraid to pull any punches and made us all cry at least once an episode in season 3.

Season 3 was the best season yet, but each of those episodes was built onto the foundation established in the first two seasons. So please, give it a chance - go in knowing you're getting goofy Star Trek that starts a bit too comedic and needs a bit of time to find its space legs. But I promise, if you stick with it, you're in for a hell of a ride and some absolutely incredible sci-fi.

In conclusion: do you love found family? Do you love optimistic space explorers? Do you love wacky adventures?

Watch The Orville!

24 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#2

seen some folks suggesting Goncharov is the latest escalation to ward the Twitter refugees away, but I gotta respectfully disagree

Goncharov is the equivalent of you and your cousins putting on a 'play' for all your parents when you were 8

we're just trying to show off for our new audience

could your old social media site do this??? I don't think so! [pulls a fully formed fake 1973 Scorsese film out of someone's knock off boots like a magician wielding a bouquet of fake flowers]

26 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Finally finished the McShep vid I started back in June during my SGA rewatch. Can't believe it's taken this long for me to make a vid about my two favourite idiots in love <3

Feel free to give it a kudos on AO3 here.

93 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

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