Joe Mallozzi is the executive producer and a writer for the popular series “Stargate: Atlantis.” This Vancouver, British Columbia resident was also a prominent writer for Atlantis’ parent show, “Stargate: SG-1,” the longest running U.S. sci-fi program in television history. Mallozzi was one of the writer’s responsible for SG-1’s highly praised and fan-popular episode, “Window of Opportunity,” that famous tribute to “Groundhog Day,” set in the Gate-verse.
Right before the Christmas holiday our roving reporter Linda Craddock sat down with Joe and the two of them talked about the upcoming continuation of Season 4 of SGA and some of the things we can expect for Season 5. We hope you enjoy this end of year interview with one of Slice of SciFi’s favorite writers and producers, Joe Mallozzi.
Linda Craddock (SoSF): First let me congratulate you on Peoples Choice Awards Nomination
Joe Mallozzi (JM): Well thank you.
SoSF: And, the return of “Stargate Atlantis” for a Season 5.
JM: Yes, all good news.
SoSF: So how is the Screenwriters strike affecting “Stargate Atlantis”?
JM: Well, it’s not something we really want to go into to be honest we haven’t really discussed it. Carl is a WGA member and he’s on strike so we are impatiently waiting for it to be resolved. From day to day, it looks promising but to the other side it doesn’t look promising so as WGC members, we’re hoping this settles quickly.
SoSF: We have seen where some shows bow out gracefully while the run is still in good standings and not necessarily is canceled. Are you hoping SGA will run as long as SG-1?
JM: Well, for the people involved, I would love for Atlantis to go 10 seasons. I mean there’s no reason why it shouldn’t just from a creative standpoint, the talent, the expertise, and the people working in front and behind the camera. That said I don’t know if I’d want to be working on ‘Stargate Atlantis’ for ten years (chuckle). I’ve already worked 8 on just the ‘Stargate’ franchise in general and ‘Atlantis’ is a lot of fun, but at some point you want to move on to something new but right now that time has not come and we are looking forward to a 5th season but I don’t know if another 5 years of Stargate is in the cards for us. We’ll have to just play it by ear I guess.
SoSF: What aspect of Atlantis, do you think it will sustain a long run, gate travel to different worlds, more Wraith, and so forth?
JM: To me it’s always really come down to the characters and I think that the fans would agree. You tell interesting stories about characters that the audience could respond to and that was frankly the case with ‘SG-1’. We had a core of 4 very interesting characters. The core was somewhat shaken in the end but the characters always remained very interesting. As Paul and I sat down with the actors when we took over the show in season 4 and we said ok this is what we want to do, we want to focus on the characters and their relationships. We still wanted to continue to tell the fun stories we told in the first 3 seasons, but focus more on who these characters are and create maybe a little conflict there as well, maybe explore a relationship that we hadn’t explored in the past. This is all stuff we set out to do and our experience has been successful in Season 4 and what we’d like to continue to do in Season 5.
SoSF: Speaking of character development, which character do you think really shined this season and which one has changed the most?
JM: Well, second question first. I think Teyla for obvious reasons. The character is pregnant and I mentioned in other interviews we had originally set out to do a dark Teyla turn, the mystery of the missing Athosians kicks off, I guess sort of a decent for her character with more of an edge. We saw a bit of it in ‘Missing’, but ultimately wouldn’t be able to pursue because of the pregnancy and the fact that the pregnancy story took precedence, so that played through Season 4 with the missing Athosians and the mystery with what’s up with Teyla, then we find out in the back half, or the team finds out, she’s pregnant and they all react somewhat differently to the news and as the back half of the season progresses, this pregnancy actually dove tails into a couple of story lines. Teyla’s story and pregnancy take a bit of a dark turn at the end of Season 4, then ultimately have the baby and that will impact the character and is something for Season 5. So with reference to which character changes, she is definitely the character that changes the most in Season 4 and sorry the first half of the question was which character…
SoSF: Shines the most.
JM: Shines the most? You know at the beginning of Season 4 we really attempted to have a story for each character on the front half and allow them to take center stage at some point. In terms of shines, I don’t know if any one character outshines any other. In previous seasons we’ve always had a lot of heavy McKay stories, but we’ve tried to rectify that. He’s still front and center, but we’ve added a little back story for Sheppard in an episode like ‘Outcast’ which is in the back half of the season and he’s flying solo in an episode like ‘Travelers’. We’ve seen a bit of Ronon’s past in ‘Reunion’ so in terms of shining, I don’t think any one character out shines any other, although in the fact that she’s new, the inclusion of Samantha Carter on Atlantis in Season 4 certainly commanded a fair amount of attention, both on screen and off, obviously.
SoSF: There was an interview with Jason Momoa pursuing perhaps the dark side of Ronon, is that a plan for Season 5?
JM: Well, he came in and pitched the story where he had an idea, well, actually it came about because he was having trouble with his dreads and they were getting heavy and they were tearing out at the roots. He didn’t touch them and they would tear out of the scalp and he wanted to come up with an idea in line with ‘Apocalypse Now’, a dark side Ronon he suggested he’s furious at Sheppard, he thinks he’s abandoned him and the I.O.A. wouldn’t allow a rescue mission and he’s been captured by Michael. I like the idea of dark side Ronon, I mean I just like the idea of dark side characters in general, but the idea that Ronon would hold Sheppard responsible for not coming to his rescue in a timely manner was something that I thought was really not in character for Ronon. There is a story I’ve been wanting to do in the back half of the season, which is a Ronon story which essentially is the sequel to ‘Reunion’, just because the stories that needed telling in the back half of Season 4 and we never got around to making it, the sequel that I would like to do in Season 5 and it would afford us the opportunity to see a little of Ronon’s dark side so in response to that Jason will get the opportunity to go to the dark side whether he wants to loose the hair or not is the question for him.
When he pushed out the idea about cutting his hair we said “Well, that’s kind of problematic because we end on a cliff hanger and the Ronon we see at the end of Season 4 has got to be the same Ronon we see at the beginning of Season 5 and he can’t have gotten a hair cut.” So we discussed it and there’s a woman who actually does his hair in Vancouver and he said apparently they can cut off the dreads and if I keep the hair long enough, we can reattach the dreads and it will look exactly like before then a couple of episodes down the line, if we want to cut them off then we can do that. We talked to this woman and she said yes, it’s a laborious process that will take two full days to do which means he will be sitting in a chair for two days while she painstakingly reattaches the dreads and at that point I think he would reconsider cutting them off. If he’s going to sit in a chair for two days he might not be so quick to want to cut them off. But we’ll see. That’s a story for Season 5 that we have to sit down and talk to Jason about and whether he wants to loose the hair or not. It will be interesting to see how the fans react because they are so used to seeing him with dreads.
SoSF: We make the comparison, well, not exactly a comparison, but we know that SGA is a spin off from SG-1 and there are a lot of similarities. How do you as a writer face the challenge of retelling the same kind of story for a different show and what do you look for to make SGA unique?
JM: Well, again, it always comes back to the characters. There will always be people who point out there is something similar to something you did on SG-1, or this story is very similar to something that was on ‘Star Trek’. The fact that we did over 200 episodes of SG-1 and God knows how many episodes they did of ‘Star Trek’, it’s very hard not to do something that’s already been done. The key is and, I’ve thought of this example before, is not so much to point and say “oh, this is similar” but worry less about the similarities and concentrate more on what makes this story unique to our character and the example I gave is one of our first scripts, a ‘Window of Opportunity’, when we first came on with Stargate. We pitched out a story that was actually very dark, very unlike the ‘Window of Opportunity’ that we saw as a finished episode. Robert gave us notes that said “no, no, you guys need to be more of this, do this, and wanted to be more comedic” and, I said “this is just ‘Groundhog Day'”, and he goes — “exactly” — and at the time I said why would you want to do ‘Groundhog Day’? — and, yet in writing the script, you realize yes it is the same basic premise as ‘Groundhog Day’ but what makes it so much fun is the fact that it’s our characters, O’Neill and Teal’c caught in a loop and you’ve got them juggling and trying to learn the science. The two characters who in most episodes do not save the day by using let’s say science, had to actually learn the science to save the day in this case and that what was fun about that episode and the fans agreed and it turned out to be one of the top ten episodes of SG-1. So, in answer to your question, again it always comes down to the characters which is what makes the story special to them and if you can, whenever possible, obviously find a way to reveal a bit about the character within the body of the best stories.
SoSF: The 100th episode will, of course, arrive at the end of Season 5. Do you have anything in mind and will you do something like the 200th for SG-1, the tribute to the fans.
JM: No, the 200th fell right in the middle of the season. It was momentous that it was the 200th episode, but we could afford to be comedic. Atlantis’ 100th episode is essentially the season finale so we have some serious idea in mind and it won’t be a comic episode. Fans have asked if it will be comedy but no doubt there will be flashes of humor as in most episodes but no we’re not planning a comedic episode.
SoSF: Well, you mentioned a lot of character development, obviously with the filming of a new Season 5 coming up in a couple of months, how much of Season 4 will you pursue as a continuation of the existing story arc and what challenges are imminent?
JM: We ended Season 4 on a cliff hanger and didn’t know if it would be picked up or not, but it was a decision we made very early on that we would end it on a cliff hanger and if need be continue potentially with a movie, but we got the 5th season pick up so that’s great. I can’t really get into details simply because the back half of Season 4 has not played out and a fair amount of the development of Season 4 will carry into the beginning of Season 5. I sort of left off with a hint of the premiere and the title is ‘Search and Rescue’. Who exactly is doing the searching and who is in need of rescuing is a question for another time, probably later this season, once the rest of Season 4 airs. There definitely will be carry over in terms of certain relationships, character and big story arcs.
SoSF: I know it’s early but do you have any plans that you know of for any reprisal appearances for guest stars or prior regular cast members for the new season?
JM: It’s still up in the air and hopefully we’ll have an announcement in a week or so but, again, I can’t give away too [much] because the back half of Season 4 hasn’t aired yet, and the back half of Season 4 will reveal the fate of some of our recurring characters so not much in terms of details for guest cast.
SoSF: In the 1st half Season 4 finale, we see the further development of a division in ranks among the Replicators as we have with the Wraith, the conflict. How will duplicating the team with nanites affect future episodes or character arcs?
JM: Again, I can’t really reveal too much about that, again simply because it may spoil an up coming episode. So I guess by not commenting I have commented (laughter).
SoSF: Every fan of SGA wants to know if you guys plan to further develop the relationship between Sheppard and Teyla beyond [a platonic] friendship?
JM: I can answer that one directly. There are no plans to pursue either a Teyla/Sheppard or a Teyla/Ronon romantic relationship. We find that very early on that the father of Teyla’s baby is neither of them. Teyla will be attached, shall we say.
SoSF: Oh, ok.
JM: Yeah, sorry about that.
SoSF: We know in ‘Missing’ she makes mention of a new beau but we also know from the prior three seasons there’s been this teasing between Sheppard and Teyla.
JM: True. I would say for the time being, she will be attached at least for Season 4, but obviously her beau is in absentia. One thing the fans might be interested in seeing or read into it… what they will… what is Sheppard’s reaction to the news she’s pregnant?
SoSF: You mentioned that this season was one of the best that you and the writers have had to devote your time and energy to Stargate Atlantis. Are you pleased with the response from the fans and viewers for Season 4, or was there something that surprised you?
JM: No, not really surprised. The fans sort of went in with an open mind and looking forward to the show or were even uncertain about the show but decided to tune in and check it out. For the most part we’re very happy. One of the things they did mention is the character development. They really appreciated it, which is what we set out to do. Obviously there are fans that are unhappy with the fact that [Dr.] Beckett was killed off at the end of Season 3 and a lot of Weir fans were unhappy with the fact that Carter is on the show and will not be happy. Fans of Carter, who maybe liked her in SG-1 who don’t want her on Stargate Atlantis, and there are fans who resent [Dr.] Keller’s presence in place of Beckett. All that has obviously soured certain fans towards [the show] and when certain fans are unhappy they will be very vocal. At the end of the day you write a show that in your mind and in the minds of some of the writers, the best show that tells the best stories and I’ve always said that at the end of the day we could just basically start from scratch at the beginning of every episode you know, just have the team go off world and come back and there’s no growth in their relationships, no growth in the story arcs and in the long run it doesn’t make for very interesting stories as a whole just because there’s no progress within the characters themselves and there’s no progress within the relationships, no progress in terms of the big picture. So change happens and they may disagree with some of the changes and frankly, we’re seven writers when you factor in Brad and Robert who are not as hands on with Atlantis but will occasionally sit in on story sessions, read scripts and outlines. I, Martin Gero and Carl Binder and Alan McCullough all pitch in ideas. We help fashion scripts and story arcs and even at the end of the day we might not agree on some of the creative decisions made but overall we are pleased with the progress we’ve created, in Season 4 in particular.
SoSF: Here is a subject I am particularly interested in, new visual effects or any additional changes in the physical aspect of the show for Season 5?
JM: We haven’t really looked at any real physical changes. You’ll see in the ‘Be All My Sins Remember’d’ [episode], I think one of the best visual effects sequence we’ve done on the show. I love that space jump in ‘Adrift’ where Zelanka and Sheppard kind of leap over the chasms. In this case ‘Be All My Sins Remember’d’ , and that’s all Mark Savela and his team, and they did a fantastic job in Season 4. You kind of worry after seeing Season 4, how we’re going to top that in Season 5 but I’m sure he’ll find a way. I think every year the looks for the visual effects have improved so we expect to see that improvement again in Season 5. It will be interesting to see the fan reaction to ‘Be All My Sins Remember’d ‘ when we come back, I think in early January. This is one of the shortest layovers for the show in terms of the mid season break. We were only off for like 2 or 3 weeks which is great, maybe like a month.
SoSF: Is that because you premiered in September versus…?
JM: Yeah….
SoSF: Ok.
JM: …on the one hand, it’s good for the fans in that it gives them that uninterrupted flow for the show’s 4th season. Arguably you could say it’s not as great for us to be going up against the network shows because during the summer the better the numbers just in terms of whom you’re up against. In terms of the time slot, I think we’ve done very well with the 10:00 p.m. Friday night time slot in the fall when you factor in DVR and such and the bleed-off viewers across the board and I think Atlantis is one of the top ten shows downloaded or certainly one of the top 10 DVR shows on television. For the ratings it becomes trickier and trickier and more confusing the gage but once we see the bottom line numbers, we’re actually heartened by them.
SoSF: What sets Atlantis apart from SG-1 obviously is the Wraith. In Season 3 you steered away from them and this season you are actually making them allies with Atlantis. Will you refocus on the Wraith in Season 5?
JM: Yes! The Wraith will always be a presence and a threat. In Season 3 we attempted to not necessarily shift focus but to introduce another villain in the form of the Replicators. One of the things I always like about villains is personality and I mentioned Lord Yu and Ba’al [from SG-1]. The system lords were always great to work with as individuals but I’ve always had kind of a problem working with the Ori as a threat, kind of a nebulous entity so we introduced Adria who had a bit of a personality, which I liked and it was kind of the same thing with the Wraith. They were left without any real identity and what we tried to do in Season 4 is inject a little personality into the Wraith by creating this individual who shall become to be known as Todd, who not necessarily befriends us, but becomes an unlikely ally simply because this individual becoming an ally doesn’t make the Wraith as a whole, allies. Thrown together by circumstances because we figured in the Wraith/Replicator War and it worked great for us in the beginning especially in the ranks of the Wraith and in the end, it ended up working a little too well, as they [the Replicators] ended up getting the upper hand by targeting their [the Wraith’s] food supply — human worlds, and then we had to realize holy crap!, we have to help the Wraith out or the Replicators are going to exterminate both human and Wraith alike. That puts in the scenario we find ourselves in the ‘Be All My Sins Remember’d ‘. As we get into Season 4, the back half we will refocus a little more on the Wraith into Season 5.
Michael is still a threat out there and we haven’t heard from him in Season 4 — yet. He’s another character we like with personality and Connor is terrific. He’s a character that will probably be back and is always nice to have, the big baddie which will always be the Wraith but it’s also nice to have these sort of rouge elements like Michael, like this Todd character who you don’t know what to expect from them.
SoSF: When do you guys begin shooting Season 5, if I may ask?
JM: Late February.
SoSF: With the Season 5 premiere, are you going to follow the September schedule or is that going to be SCI FI Channel’s decision,… not sure how that works.
JM: SCI FI Channel’s decision. Whatever they decide, like I said I think the long layover hurt us a bit, the mid-season break between the front half of Season 3 and the back half of Season 3, then the long wait for Season 4 to begin but we’re back at it whether they want to put us on in September or even earlier, we’ll be ready to go.
SoSF: Joe we appreciate you taking the time for this interview.
JM: Hey no problem.
SoSF: We are looking forward to the second half of Season 4 this January.
JM: Great, when we’re further into Season 5 production we can talk again.
SoSF: That sounds great and you have a happy holiday.
JM: Thanks and have a Happy New Year Linda.
hand of atlantis says
Uh, you guys need to use your spell check before you post. It’s “Sheppard”, with TWO P’s, not “Shepard” with one P. You got it right once, but the rest of the time, it was spelled wrong.
And the fans who are angry about Beckett and Weir are having a lot more of an effect than Mallozzi would have people believe. They’ve already bowed to fan pressure to bring back Beckett for two episodes in the second half (“The Kindred, Parts 1 and 2”). As for Weir, “This Mortal Coil” scored the highest ratings of the season yet. SciFi heavily promoted the episode as “the return of Weir”, not even bothering to mention it was the mid-season finale. So it’s pretty obvious that the ratings bump was due to people tuning in because they wanted to see Weir again.
If Mallozzi is smart, they’ll get Torri Higginson and Paul McGillion back on the show full-time for Season 5. In the event that the Screen Actors Guild makes good on their threat to go on strike in the summer of 2008 (right in the middle of filming Season 5), Joe Flanigan and Jason Momoa (the only two Americans on the cast) will have to walk off the set, leaving the show with only three regular cast members (Luttrell, Hewlett and Tapping, who are Canadian and thus unaffected by a SAG strike). They’ll need Higginson and McGillion (also both Canadian) back in order to pick up the slack.
RP says
This fan doesn’t want anything between Shep/Teyla so it’s not every fan. Shep/Teyla shippers are in the minority. Other than that interesting interview.
Sam says
Spell checker only knows one kind of Sheppard and that’s shepherd….but it has been corrected. 😉
Les Ferris says
“They’ve already bowed to fan pressure to bring back Beckett for two episodes in the second half (â€ÂThe Kindred, Parts 1 and 2″).”
Hm… I’m not so sure. IMO, they always planned to bring Carson back. That hint to his return at the end of 3×19 ‘Vengeance’ kind of backs that up.
I am loving the 4th season, there was only one episode out of the first ten that I thought was ‘meh’, and I have loved the rest. I don’t think a season of a TV show I’ve enjoyed has ever had that ratio.
Ellis says
I agree with RP. The Sheppard/Weir fans vastly outnumber the Sheppard/Teyla fans. And if you saw a lot of teasing between Sheppard and Teyla for the last 3.5 seasons, we must not be watching the same show. I must say this decision to not pursue that relationship has made my day. Roll on season 5.
Now let’s just hope this new wave of intelligence continues and they bring back Weir full time.
Cielito says
Very interesting interview. I wasn’t aware of a couple of things here, so it’s good to read something slightly new.
There’s is definetely some changes in Season 4, from missing Carson and Weir, to the additions of Carter and Keller.
The team is a bit off as well so far, but I have to see the rest of the season to really make an educated opinion.
And yes, the tension between John and Teyla for the past three and half seasons is very palpable and apparent. These two characters are so significant to Atlantis, Earth and to the Pegasus.
Looking forward to the rest of Season 4 and how it continues onto Season 5.
hand of atlantis says
Definitely agree with RP and Ellis about Sheppard/Teyla. Flanigan and Luttrell have absolutely zero romantic/sexual chemistry on-screen, and four years on the show together has not changed that. Every Sheppard/Teyla scene where the script is hinting at something more between the two characters seems so forced and unnatural because the actors simply do not have the rapport necessary to make those scenes believable for the audience.
Sheppard/Weir scenes, on the other hand, always seemed so much more natural and believable because of the fantastic chemistry between Flanigan and Higginson. A great light went out of SGA when Higginson was axed from the show, and even the critics are starting to notice. There have been an increasing number of bad reviews for the show in recent weeks, and nearly all of them cite Higginson’s absence (as well as McGillion’s) as a big reason for why the show has lost its sparkle this season.
Re: Les Ferris’s comment: “Hm… I’m not so sure. IMO, they always planned to bring Carson back. That hint to his return at the end of 3×19 ‘Vengeance’ kind of backs that up.”
Clearly you didn’t hear about how Joe Mallozzi actually challenged fans on his blog to get on the Today Show with signs of support for Carson to get him back. The fans got on Today, and now Carson’s coming back. Cause = effect.
Oh, and fans have noticed that a line attributed to Mallozzi: “We’re running through the show to a point where Weir comes back in a full time capacity.” was deleted from the reposted version of the article. If there was a misunderstanding about the phrasing and what Mallozzi meant to say, it should have been pointed out and corrected, but not deleted entirely without a public explanation. Deleting it now has only started another round of conspiracy theories among fans about the chaos going on behind the scenes.
Sarah says
There are a large number of fans that enjoy Shep/Teyla, as there are a large number of fans that enjoy Shep/Weir. But keep your stupid ship wars agendas out of this. This Shep/Teyla fan is highly annoyed to see S/W fans once again using every possible opportunity they can find to bash something that doesn’t cater to their own beliefs. How many fans enjoy S/W has absolutely nothing to do with this article. JM confirms that there is teasing between J/T. Not outright romance, as he has said many times before, but says “true” to the fact that there is teasing between them. Teasing between J/T, not between J/W. Those are the facts. Get over it.
Ocean says
How predictable to see the usual nasty posts by Shep/Weir fans. They seem to lack any class whatsoever and the first thing they do is start to gloat at another fandoms misfortune. Season four has been great so far and I am one fan who doesn’t miss Weir in the slightest. Carson on the other hand I will be happy to see again but I think the PTB had always planned to bring him back anyway. But I have to roll my eyes when I read the rediculous statements by Weir fans as to Weirs importance to the show. If she is so amazing then why didnt the ratings sky rocket for the 3 episodes she was in. With all the advertising that went on for This Mortal Coil and Weir, it made absolutely no difference to the ratings. If you want to talk about bad reviews you can find way more that are very happy with the show.
Blogger fan says
Joe’s mentioned this interview on his blog. Seems you’ve misquoted him. He’s made the corrections there and you can see them at josephmallozzi.wordpress.com
April says
This was a good interview. I love the fact that Samantha Carter is on SGA. I love Weir/Torri; but, I enjoy Sam/Amanda as well. After watching SG-1 and all the crazy things they did there (like kill Janet); you kind of expect the same thing. And, it is only a show (albeit, a terrific show). I am looking forward to the rest of season 4 and the new season 5. It would be great to see some of SG-1 characters make an appearance on SGA, as well.
Sam says
As professionals here there are no intentional misquotes in the interview, but a near verbatim transcription of a typical phone quality audio. I listened to the interview over and over and tried to convey what Joe stated as best was possible, however, as Joe indicated in his own blog, transcription of a less than optimal telephone reception can be difficult even under the best of circumstances. I totally eliminated the statement he made concerning Weir, because after 5 hearings it was still hard to understand what he was actually saying. Also, no matter how many times I listened to the interview the word he indicates as show in his blog, still comes across as Joe, and we assumed he was speaking of himself in the third person as it related to fan concerns over changes made to the cast.
As far as the meandering goes, well, we can only transcribe what is said when few pauses are made. My word processor went nuts continuously telling me that a sentence was too long or a fragment was too lengthy, however, that is what was given and so, in order to try and keep the same tone and flow of the actual conversation, I did my best to do just that.
The interview was actually a very good one and Joe is a very enjoyable man to talk with. Linda had fun talking with him and if you were able to hear the recording, Joe himself seemed to be enjoying the segment. If Joe is willing, we hope to do this again with him later in the year either with another text interview, or on the show itself, which will allow our listeners to get to hear Joe first-hand.
As far as pictures are concerned, if the guest being interviewed doesn’t provide one then we are forced to go with whatever is available. As is the case with most people behind the camera, there are few good ones to pick from out there, so we try to find the best possible and go with that. Hell, even my pic on Slice About Us page isn’t the most flattering.
[ NOTE: After reading Joe’s blog I have made appropriate changes to the text. Like him, I prefer email interviews because it allows the one being interviewed to type out exactly what it is they are trying to say. It also makes my job as an editor a hell of a lot easier as well. 🙂 ]
RP says
Sorry Shep/Teyla fans but I’m not a Shep/Weir shipper, I like Shep/Mckay(it will never happen, I admit) and I still don’t see the so called great chemistry or hints for Shep/Teyla. I was just stating that in fandom Shep/Teyla is not as popular as Shep/Mckay, Shep/Weir and possible Teyla/Ronon.
I for one am glad that there will be no Shep/Teyla at all or even Teyla/Ronon. Aside from the fact that Shep/Teyla lacks chemistry, or hardly interacted in seasons 1-3, it would ruin the team dynamic that tptb love so much.
Dana says
The Sheppard/Weir fans vastly outnumber the Sheppard/Teyla fans. No no no… the Sheppard/Teyla fans are the winners. No wait…it’s the Ronon/Sheppard fans..or is it the Sheppard/Mckay fans?
Sheppard is going to need superhuman stamina just to satisfy every shipper group, never mind about doing his job and fighting the Wraith.
Enough already. The anti-shipper fans are the growing majority, and it’s because ships always tend to be ruined by the petty sniping of their supporters. Just let the actors do their jobs and enjoy the characters whatever stories may be involved.
Agent K says
I’m just curious but why is it that shippers and other fan sub-groups within the SG fandom need to jump down each others throats? My reading of the various boards and blogs leaves me … what can only described as bemused.
When ever someone mentions that they don’t like or see a Shep/Teyla pairing they’re automatically labelled as Shep/Weir fans even though they are just as likely to be anti-shippers, slashers, Ronon/Teyla, McKay/Teyla, etc etc Shep/themagicroundabout or whatever.
When ever someone mentions that they don’t like Carter on the show they are automatically labelled a “Weir fan” ? Ignoring the fact that there are many Weir fan’s who also love Carter and some Carter SG1 fans who just don’t want to see her on SGA etc etc. Why do some fans seem so quick to jump to such preconceived and what can only be described as prejudiced views?
And I say this as a non-shipper (as in, neutral one way or another on the topic; not necessarily anti-ship) and while I enjoy Weir as much as Teyla and Ronon etc, John and McKay are easily my favourites.
Anyway, interesting interview (taking into account the JoeM corrections here).