STARGATE ATLANTIS || “The Game" 3.15

Stargate-Atlantis S3: E10 The Return

When the Ancients return.

It's all good and fun when the Ancients return until they kick you out of your house. Ronon hugging John. Teyla and John saying goodbye. Carson tearing up. 🥺

Then, back on earth, McKay calls Sheppard because he's lonely. This hits me because Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, and probably even Teyla are lonely people who finally had a home and a family, and now they've been forced apart and away. Just sad. Elizabeth is a woman kicked from her home and lost without her family.

Sheppard even says he misses McKay on his team.

But then, they all head back!

"I need you because you're part of our team." - might be the best line in the show.

Sometimes I think about the fact that the SGA writers genuinely thought that an episode where the main emotional core is "Rodney gets sick and starts losing his memory and the only thing he remembers is John while John rushes to prepare for Rodney's death, find some way to save him, and keep him calm and comforted all at the same time" was a whole ass heterosexual episode leading into a heterosexual romance with a character whose screen time in the episode is very limited in favor of the above emotional roller coaster with John and I wonder like..... how they thought that???

Stargate Atlantis | Tao of Rodney S3.Ep14

These two deserve the warmest of hugs.

Angel S04E01 "Deep Down" (2002) & Stargate Atlantis S05E01 "Search and Rescue" (2008)

DS9's "Second Skin" once again shaming the Stargate Atlantis writing team by doing an episode they wrote but over 10 years earlier and 50 times better. I went on a rant about "Sunday" vs "Lessons" a couple years ago, but watching "Second Skin" is like seeing what "Michael" could have been if written by people who understood drama instead of only being acted by people who did. There are definitely differences, like we start out having a relationship with Kira which we don't with Lt Kenmore, but with the whole fake identity plot having the person's actual parent there makes it sooooooo much more emotional. (This is what I wanted from "Michael"!! Not just handing him a stock photo that literally looks like it came with the frame and telling him "These are your parents." But an actual emotional connection, any tie for him to cling to to believe your bullshit and not just Teyla being quietly agreeable like whoring her out is the only way you can sell your lies. Because, here in DS9 as well, the lies are so obviously bullshit.) But making it a double blind also, where you lied to the parent as well to make sure you manipulated that honest emotional connection into existing, fantastic, exquisite, Stargate wishes. And in the end the point of the episode is different, as Lt Kenmore is the focus of his episode and Kira is really just the excuse to expose the Legate by having him try to protect his "daughter," but (and as much as I love "Michael") the emotional content here is so much deeper and sweeter. Maybe SGA writers are allergic to honest emotions, or maybe the writers were trying to hedge their bets with not portraying their main cast as being as evil as the Obsidian Order... though if you're going to go with the war crimes go whole hog with the war crimes come on.

For the new year fanfic asks 8? 😊

Since I got this one from two of you, I'll do it in one 😁

There is actually a Stargate Atlantis one, a canon-divergent Todd x Sheppard AU that's been kicking around my head for probably a couple years now. The basic idea is that after they escape the Genii prison, it's Todd's Wraith who find them instead of Sheppard's Atlantis people (and then things get nicely fucked up from there 😏 if I do ever write it, it will be a dumping ground for ALL my JohnTodd Feels and the working title will be "human pet Sheppard" or something to that effect).

To actually do the entire idea justice though, it would be a pretty huge undertaking, and one I haven't had the oomph to attempt yet-- a multichapter longfic, lining up with major canon events from S3 and onwards and poking at how things would go differently for Atlantis, the Wraith power struggle, and the Pegasus galaxy in general. I've sorta been keeping it in my back pocket for potentially doing NaNoWriMo again, though that's very dependent on time, energy, and whether or not I actually remember to take notes on Todd episodes in particular during this SGA rewatch with dd 😅

So, maybe this is the year! But if not, I like thinking about the concept on a regular basis anyway 😇

-

(The asks list)

My confession, I am beyond excited for Challengers but from the tidbit I’ve seen of the Dune apart 2 trailer, I don’t know if it’s the story, the acting, or all of it, but it really isn’t doing it for me personally. And another confession, as someone who’s watched Euphoria and thinks Z delivers a masterclass in acting (and is the only positive note in that absolute mess of a show), I’m actively hoping the show gets cancelled or S3 is delayed so much because of the SGA strikes or just plain Sam hasn’t written the scripts that it makes sense for people like Z to drop out for bigger and better stuff. Like that show needs Z, she doesn’t need it anymore.

Thanks for your confession Anon 😊

Re: "Dune: Part 2"

That's fair! I know a lot of fans who feel like you do. Some just don't like Sci-Fi movies just in general, and I kind of feel like you have to sorta be at least a little bit into the Sci-Fi genre to really enjoy the movie. Jmho.

I've heard the books are CRAZY to read, and kind of hard to read (just what I've heard), so I can see how not having a background of the books, and also not really understanding the story can make it hard to really enjoy the film franchise.

I know when I first saw "Dune: Part 1" I was so LOST.... 😳 It was probably the weirdest movie I'd ever seen rofl 🤣

But when I saw it again, I actually understood the movie MUCH better, and it made more sense to me.

I already joked with another Anon that she and I are probably the only ones in the Z/Tomdaya fandom actually looking fwd to "Dune: Part 2" rofl 🤣 So you're def not alone in your sentiment Anon.

Re: "Challengers"

I'm SO looking fwd to this also Anon!! 😁I'm really excited! I def think this film will be smthg where we will get up see a LOT more of Zendaya's range on the big screen, because there seems to be comedy, satire, drama, and a slightly "villainous" Zendaya and I for one cannot WAIT!! 😂👏🏾

Re: Euphoria....

You know, it's so FUNNY you mention this, because I mentioned this YEARS ago on my blog, but anons jumped down my throat for even uttering this sentiment... 👀

I agree... At this point, the show needs HER more than she personally needs the show IMO. I feel like it's given her loads of great acting experience (don't get me wrong), but it's good to switch it up from time to time.

My biggest gripe with the show is honestly just Sam, the drama surrounding Sam and the cast, and the time that it takes to film one season. If it weren't for those two things, I honestly wouldn't care if Zendaya did that show until her 80s rofl 🤣

The cast seems a mess, Sam seems a mess, like.... idk... I just get bad vibes, and I want my girl out of it lol 😆

But hey, she obviously LOVES the show and loves Rue, so I'm not going to say she has to quit smthg she loves. 🤷🏾‍♀️ It's HER life, not mine lol 😆

It's just so funny to hear someone else say this, when I said this YEARS ago and was attacked for even suggesting it. 👀

okay I agree, like s2 of SGA was so tight; the writing, the cast, the sets were just amazing. the show was at its peak during s2 to mid-s3.

yesss I feel like that's the exact way to put it, I think the writing in sga was just tighter than in sg1! Although I'll be honest, there is so much sg1 that I only vaguely remember the last 5 seasons. I just remember the ending of sga was super underwhelming.

fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. let’s spread the self-love 🤍✨

I have this tendency for my favorite fics to be "whatever's most recent," just because it's still lighting up my brain -- but actually I don't have a lot of Most Recent Fic, so this is a great time for me to go back and think about stuff I loved that's in danger of being Lost to Time.

Fourteen Years (Stargate Atlantis) There's technically a pairing to this story (Sheppard/Ronon), but the vast majority of it is just character and worldbuilding around Ronon and his trauma, which is the thing I wrote most about in this fandom, because SGA did the TV Trauma thing where they were like "this guy's neat backstory is that he underwent the most horrifying agony imaginable for seven years and now he's tough and badass!" When like. That is not what it would do! Being isolated from human contact and hunted like an animal for years on end would make you very super fucked up actually! So accidentally, by forgetting his whole backstory and just making him a fun, laid-back badass, the show created this really interesting black box of a character, because how *is* he coping with *anything* actually? Anyway, I wrote several versions of answers to that question, but this is probably my favorite.

1001 (Schitt's Creek) This is actually the middle part of a three-fic series, but I don't see why you couldn't read it alone. I know coming-out stories are played out, but there is something really rich and lovely to me about people realizing in adulthood that they're not at all who they assumed they were, and obviously you should not read anything at all into that, please do not perceive me. This is a pretty short one, and I think it's well balanced between Patrick's experience of trying to understand himself and Patrick's experience falling hard for a first love. David is probably OOC here, although in my defense managing Patrick's emotions *is* the one thing in canon he tends to be level-headed about, so I'm letting myself have this one.

Orleans (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) You *cannot* give me an alternate universe in canon and expect me not to write fic in the alternate universe. So this is set in the Wish-verse created in s3, and it's written in second person, which is -- terrible, it's a very dubious choice that I do not recommend to anyone, but I was Trying Things back then, and I tried it. And I would never do it again, but for some reason I like this story, idk. I feel like this hits a lot of the beats that make it feel like a very archetypal Thing That Milo Writes -- weariness, regret, queer horniness, mortality, religious trauma. I actually like a lot of my old BtVS fic, looking back; there's definitely a rawness to the writing, but that gives it a certain charm. If this one works for you, you should definitely also read Witness and Pink Ladies.

And Watch What Happens (Supernatural) This is kind of weird one, existing in some kind of liminal zone between Canon AU and Just Plain AU -- it's got the same "coffeeshop AU without the coffeeshop" vibe that much of my Magicians fic has, but -- well, it's hard to explain how it intersects with canon and also not spoil the fic. All is not what it seems! I genuinely love this version of Cass, who was the most fun character I ever got to create right up until PGY Eliot, and not to overstate things, but I do think that spending most of 2018 writing from his POV sort of unlocked the Gender Achievement for me, like, oh huh, I think this might be the person I want to be! So, special place in the heart and all that.

All the Comforts of Home (The Magicians) My favorite Magicians fic is, of course, All of Them, even the ones that aren't good. But I'm having a renaissance with this one lately. It's got drama, it's got comedy, it's got philosophy, it's got full-tilt romance and it's got It's Complicated, it's got food porn and porn-porn and parenthood and like, the beauty of all life or some such shit. I devote most of one whole chapter to shitposting about The Sound of Music. I just really like it.

This was fun! I don't know who else has been tagged, but I'll pick @stormscoming and @nellie-elizabeth and @allegria23 and honestly anyone! Anyone who sees this should do it!

Spooktober 2: Electric Boogaloo!

Starting in 10 minutes!

By popular vote, tonight’s special Halloween watch party episode will be "Submersion" (3x18)!

Download ahead of time or stream along here: https://uofi.box.com/v/sga-S3-Submersion Pass is Spooktober

Hope to see you there!

“Thank you…for everything you meant to say.“

Stargate Atlantis S3: E12 Echoes

So many sibling moments. Ronon is grumpy and is basically sent outside to play with swords with his big sister (Have I ever wallopped my brothers to change their attitudes??? Guess.) The moment Rodney uses military hand signals and Sheppard gives him the grumpiest brother glare. I love it.

This is a bit of a filler episode, but I love that Caldwell doesn't hesitate to put the Dedalus between the sun and Atlantis, I love the whales, I love the softly playing theme when Sheppard's plan works, I love Sheppard carrying Elizabeth and Beckett's gentle pat on her head before he goes to work, and I love Ronon asking Sheppard if he has a plan and trusting he does.

So filler but good filler.

Elizabeth Weir @xenantis

Stargate Atlantis | Tao of Rodney S3.Ep14

We love you Rodney.

@carsonsweebabyturtles & @leiasighwalker asked: Ronon Dex or Teyla Emmagan