Duchess of Evil

Wow, so apparently I am nominated for the 2007 Stargate Fan Awards.  To whoever nominated my Shep/Weir fic Dark Reflections, thank-you so much!  I have no idea how long voting is open for, given that it's February now, but you can still go read and vote now, from what I can tell.  I'm in the SGA ship category of Drama, but you should be able to click the banner and go to the appropriate page.

Thanks to voleuse for the link - hth_the_first has an excellent, excellent episode analysis of the latest SGA ep, in which ITA with pretty much everthing she said. I couldn't quite pinpoint why I found the idea of Ronon/Keller both adorable and kind of "Hmmm", until I read her take on it.

Which all comes down to the philosophy: Whatever Ronon wants, Ronon gets! Because Ronon usually gets tortured and abused and never anything happy, really, and if he thinks Keller is pretty and smells nice, damn it, sign me up! I will ship it!

Yes. Absolutely. I may even write fic for it, just because. Well, and because fic!Keller could be more interesting and have better backstory than show!Keller.

I just realized I forgot to post about The Return. 

I'm totally supposed to be working editing The North Wind (which, by the by, I re-read through the edited stuff last night, and it is so smooth now and I am thoroughly impressed with how well it sucked me in, even knowing what happens next.  It's encouraging, because the editing process had pretty much convinced me that we suck, and it sucked, etc, etc.  But it doesn't, and we don't!) 

Then I went and read mspooh's recap of Sateda this morning.

...

...so I'm writing fic, instead.  Yeah.  I'm a bad person with no self-control whatsoever.  I blame pooh's hilarious recap of SGA goodness snarkiness goodness.  I wanted more SGA hilarity.  See, Elizabeth's just gotten to the point where she accidentally goes through the quantum mirror, and winds up in an alternate reality in which John is a pirate.  Or maybe just a villain.  But I'm seriously leaning toward pirate.  (Space pirate, obviously.)

I just need to figure out how everyone else fits into the alternate reality.  Well, obviously as John's pirate crew, right? 

I have not yet seen Friday's SGA.  I am avoiding the various episode reviews on the f-list to avoid spoilers, but have come across enough interesting vague mentionings to make me very excited to watch!

I am strong.  I don't want to be spoiled.  I don't need to click on the cut tags.  *repeat mantra*

Oh, I have some high hopes that this ep is going to kick start the end of that mspooh - fic I'm working on.

I really, really missed this show during hiatus.  I know I've mentioned before how SGA is like my new Trek - I don't expect great things from it or awesome writing, just empty entertainment.  But episode 3x1 actually impressed me!

Feel free to pimp this and/or link it elsewhere. Just drop me a comment to let me know. I'm too new to the fandom to know where to link it, and frankly, some of the places I ran into this weekend were a bit frightening (i.e. my post earlier today.)

Title: Provocation
Author: Rhien Elleth
Fandom: SGA
Pairing: Ronon/Teyla
Rating: Hard R, perhaps bordering on NC-17 in one spot
Disclaimer: Don't own them, yadda, yadda, you know the drill.
Spoilers: Up to Trinity, S2.
Words: 4,500
Summary: Possible consequences arise from the events on Belka in Trinity.
Thanks go to amphetamine_47 for the amazingly fast beta. :)
( Provocation )

And yes, a sequel is planned.

So, given my newfound obsession love for SGA, I did some web surfing this weekend. Some of it research, some of it for fun. In the process, I ran across a certain forum, which shall remain nameless (but which I'm sure you all can figure out if you think really hard). In it was a conversation regarding the character of Teyla, by supposed fans of said character.

And it was almost the most negative thread I've ever read in fandom, barring some of the more spectacular fandom explosions in the various Alias years. These are some of the things they were saying, and my gut response to them. You should know that while I'm paraphrasing, I am in no way exaggerating the opinions of these so-called 'Teyla fans':

- Teyla would be a great character, if only TPTB and RL didn't write/act her so woodenly.

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but she is supposed to be speaking English or whatever as a second language, right? Not her native tongue? Have you ever heard anyone born in a foreign country but now living in the US speak our language? They are so much more precise and formal than, say, me. I don't find her wooden at all. RL does a fabulous job with very natural facial expressions and body language, and yes, her speech is slightly stilted and formal. So what? It should be different from McKay's, or Sheppard's, or anyone else's.

- Telya's character only exists on the show as a sex object for Shep and whatever other male characters they (TPTB) decide.

Really? She does? Ooooooh, right. Because there's so much sex going on, all the time! Makes perfect sense. I mean really, Sheppard only speaks to her so he has an excuse to check out her ass. Sure, I've noticed that tons of times in my short time watching. <-sarcasm, in case anyone missed it.

Let's see, so far this season, we've seen Teyla be a diplomat, a warrior, a team leader, a Wraith-sensor...but I guess she's only really there as a sex object.

- Now that Ronon's on board, Teyla's character serves no real purpose. She was just their Wraith-expert, and Ronon knows more than she does, plus he's a better fighter.

Ok, so yes, I think it's pretty obvious that Ronon is the best fighter on the team. He's the resident 'muscle'. So what? I don't think Teyla really filled that role before. I mean, yes, she can fight well, she's training John or whatever, but she was never 'the muscle' that I saw. As for Wraith-expert, I bet she still knows a few things Ronon doesn't, plus she has that all-important ability to sense them. Can Ronon do that? Don't think so. Not to mention the fact that she's pretty much the only diplomat they have. John can talk the talk, but when it comes down to it, he's still a military man. Teyla is definitely the most negotiation-friendly of the bunch. I hardly think Ronon has usurped her position.

- If only they'd quit dressing her in those outfits, she wouldn't be just a sex object anymore.

Dudes, did you watch Star Trek? Any of the incarnations? Poor Jolene Blalock practically had her outfits painted on. Oh, you mean that bit of midriff they like Teyla to show? Considering the ugly-ass pants they constantly put her in, I figure the midriff baring is the only way they have to show that no, she doesn't really have a weight problem. (I'm serious, those pants they put her in are soooooo the wrong fit for her. They make her look like...me, trying to wear those.)

- Why is it that the non-white female actresses always get stuck playing the hot alien chick in these shows, and are only there to be a sex symbol?

Um, where do I start? That's such a huge generalization. Voyager - 7 of 9 was definitely white, and I think it's pretty darn fair to say that she was the hot sex symbol, while B'Elanna Torres got to kick butt as the Chief Engineer, in the same outfits the rest of the crew wore. I'm pretty sure that the character of Zoey on Firefly wasn't there as a sex symbol (not to say that she wasn't sexy, mind you.) Nichelle Nichols I suppose might have been a sex symbol of the ST the original series, but she wore the same thing every other female crew member wore. I believe it was more a commentary on that decade's view of women in general than on women of race.

Besides, see my response to "she's only there as a sex symbol" above. I think that entire viewpoint is erroneous.

I just can't even believe that supposed fans of the character and the actress playing her would pick her apart like this. Is this an example of what I can expect from most of the fandom? I hope not. Wow.

Ok, so I'm stilling missing two of the six episodes that have already aired this season, but I've seen four so far. (For those interested, 2x01, 2x04, 2x05 & 2x06. And I've read recaps of 2x03.) And I saw a scattering of episodes last season, though never in one consecutive order. Still, I feel fully entrenched in the show now, recording every week, etc, etc, and I thought I'd post my reactions to it/impressions of it as a whole. In case anyone at all is even remotely interested. :)

( Cut for length, possible spoilers though I'm sure everyone who cares has already seen up through episode 6. )