another Stargate plot question
13 May 2014 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I'm just curious how people have dealt with the discrepancies between the movie, SG-1 and Atlantis.
I'm pretty sure, canonwise, the movie doesn't really count in SG-1 other than what is specified in the show. But as writers, do you try and mesh them together as best you can or ignore a lot of the movie?
What about Atlantis. In the finale it's sitting in San Francisco Bay, right? I haven't read any of the books so I'm discounting them entirely (they aren't canon). How would you approach that in a story? Would you leave them there or have them back in Pegasus either ignoring the SGA finale or them finding some other way to get Atlantis home.
(I have a throw away line in one fic where Jack mentions Atlantis and the woman he's talking to replies with, "as in The Lost City of-" Then Jack says, "I guess it isn't really lost any more, although it does go missing occasionally.")
Another question: How do you, as a writer, deal with what happens after SG-1 ends; or as a reader, what do you like to see happen.
I've written fics that pretty much ignore anything after the end of SG-1 and others that only elude to stuff happening during SGU in the context of the SG-1 characters.
So if I was writing a fic that takes place in 2010 (when SGU ended) and is only slightly AU how would I deal with it all? Or how would you?
So far in my story Jack mentions his main pressing issue is finding a way to bring back the Destiny crew, but otherwise the galaxy is calm with the Lucian Alliance occasionally poking their noses where they don't belong. The Goa'uld are dead, the Ori are dead, the replicators are destroyed. What else is there?
Oh, and another AU plot bunny. I know this scenario has been done before (because I've read one or two). But suppose it was Mark that followed his father into the Air Force and Sam has had a thing against the military ever since she was a kid. (role reversal AU)
My plot has her married to Jonas Hanson (who never joined the military but is still a completely controlling prick). Sam escapes the abuse to go stay with her brother who is in Colorado Springs and is a member of SG-1. She eventually meets Jack and instantly there are sparks, mostly because she can't stand him and he has to be an ass and push her buttons.
At some point, though, I need something catastrophic to happen to pull Sam into the world of the SGC, but I can't figure out what it is. I don't really want to use a plot point from the show, but it has to be something Rodney McKay can't solve on his own so he's willing to squash his ego long enough to recommend Sam who he only knows through a paper she published 10 years earlier before she disappeared from academia. Any suggestions? My mind is blanking on this.
I'm pretty sure, canonwise, the movie doesn't really count in SG-1 other than what is specified in the show. But as writers, do you try and mesh them together as best you can or ignore a lot of the movie?
What about Atlantis. In the finale it's sitting in San Francisco Bay, right? I haven't read any of the books so I'm discounting them entirely (they aren't canon). How would you approach that in a story? Would you leave them there or have them back in Pegasus either ignoring the SGA finale or them finding some other way to get Atlantis home.
(I have a throw away line in one fic where Jack mentions Atlantis and the woman he's talking to replies with, "as in The Lost City of-" Then Jack says, "I guess it isn't really lost any more, although it does go missing occasionally.")
Another question: How do you, as a writer, deal with what happens after SG-1 ends; or as a reader, what do you like to see happen.
I've written fics that pretty much ignore anything after the end of SG-1 and others that only elude to stuff happening during SGU in the context of the SG-1 characters.
So if I was writing a fic that takes place in 2010 (when SGU ended) and is only slightly AU how would I deal with it all? Or how would you?
So far in my story Jack mentions his main pressing issue is finding a way to bring back the Destiny crew, but otherwise the galaxy is calm with the Lucian Alliance occasionally poking their noses where they don't belong. The Goa'uld are dead, the Ori are dead, the replicators are destroyed. What else is there?
Oh, and another AU plot bunny. I know this scenario has been done before (because I've read one or two). But suppose it was Mark that followed his father into the Air Force and Sam has had a thing against the military ever since she was a kid. (role reversal AU)
My plot has her married to Jonas Hanson (who never joined the military but is still a completely controlling prick). Sam escapes the abuse to go stay with her brother who is in Colorado Springs and is a member of SG-1. She eventually meets Jack and instantly there are sparks, mostly because she can't stand him and he has to be an ass and push her buttons.
At some point, though, I need something catastrophic to happen to pull Sam into the world of the SGC, but I can't figure out what it is. I don't really want to use a plot point from the show, but it has to be something Rodney McKay can't solve on his own so he's willing to squash his ego long enough to recommend Sam who he only knows through a paper she published 10 years earlier before she disappeared from academia. Any suggestions? My mind is blanking on this.
RE: another #Stargate plot question
Date: 14 May 2014 06:35 am (UTC)Mesh 'em. I like the movie :)
> Would you leave them there or have them back in Pegasus either ignoring the SGA finale or them finding some other way to get Atlantis home.
Absolutely have them in San Francisco Bay BECAUSE THAT'S AWESOME. Although bear in mind, the script for the SGA movie which never got made (co-written by Joe Mallozzi) had the city return to the Pegasus Galaxy by the end of it. Also, John & Teyla hooked up after Kanaan got killed or died somehow :P So it's OK to have SGA stuff set in either place depending on your post-series timeline.
> How do you, as a writer, deal with what happens after SG-1 ends; or as a reader, what do you like to see happen.
DANIEL AND VALA HOOK UP ALWAYS YES YES YES
> So if I was writing a fic that takes place in 2010 (when SGU ended) and is only slightly AU how would I deal with it all? Or how would you?
Sam's commander of the USS Hammond. Jack's Head of Homeworld Security, and gives Daniel A BIG HONKIN SLR CAMERA. heh heh heh unless Jack's retired, so he can marry Sam. Or Daniel. Teal'c's got a grandkid. Jonas Quinn survives the Ori invasion of Langara.
> The Goa'uld are dead, the Ori are dead, the replicators are destroyed. What else is there?
There are so many damn unfinished loose ends from 10 seasons of SG-1 that you'll spawn endless plotbunnies just from rewatching episodes. Any old episode, really. There's probably a Ba'al clone still out there. WTF happened to Enzyme Aiden Ford?
> Any suggestions?
Honey, your Dr. Sam AU sounds like the backstory behind the Season 3 quantum mirror episode "Point of View". Also remember Rodney needed his sister Jeanie to help him build a bridge between parallel space-times for a funky zero-point energy raid.
Re: another #Stargate plot question
Date: 14 May 2014 06:42 am (UTC)Rodney is so reluctant to share the limelight that I need something really insane that he would even suggest bringing someone else in. He only knows her as Samantha Hanson. Mark right away says he isn't getting his sister involved and doesn't think she'd do it anyway because of the military.
But Sam is Sam and can't pass up the mystery (plus Jack kind of convinces her). I really have no main plot yet, just some random ideas.
I've been thinking of a lot of AU stories lately doing the whole "what if" thing.
Re: another #Stargate plot question
Date: 14 May 2014 07:04 am (UTC)Re: another #Stargate plot question
Date: 15 May 2014 11:32 pm (UTC)I don't have a timeline either. I was thinking it would far enough along the timeline of the program that SG-1 is well established as friends (at least season 4ish timewise), but I didn't want to really try and redo episodes, you know.
no subject
Date: 14 May 2014 06:58 am (UTC)I haven't written a lot of Stargate fic, but I do have my preferences... I like a movie/show mash-up, although with some of the discrepancies, I favour show canon over movie canon. My preference for Atlantis is that they find some reason & way to get the city back to Pegasus (although I dislike the canned movie plot that kills Kanaan in order to open up John/Teyla). As for SGU, I never really got into it and between my dislike & unfamiliarity, am more than willing to handwave/ignore it entirely, but that's just me.
Post SG-1, while the goa'uld, replicators, & Ori are fairly much dealt with, there are always the chances for run-ins with an isolated goa'uld, or a Baal clone, maybe a pocket of converted Ori worshippers who need a bigger kick to drop that B.S., plus you could alway explore a new race/threat, or the origins of the Furlings as there is next to nothing about them in canon.
With the civilian Sam AU, maybe the way to introduce her to the program is for her to somehow catch a glimpse of McKay's work & correct a problem, which brings her to his attention, and between that and her brother's involvement, they push for her inclusion (nepotism is totally a valid plot point). Alternately, McKay gets injured/kidnapped/temporarily disabled, and Mark knows Sam has kept abreast of physics stuff without being close-minded by academia that she can provide the unique POV to figure out his work in order to save the day?
no subject
Date: 16 May 2014 12:15 am (UTC)Destiny can pretty much be ignored because there isn't much they can do back on Earth and if you follow along at the end of SGU everyone is in stasis and in between galaxies or something.
PS: I love your icon.
no subject
Date: 16 May 2014 05:25 am (UTC)Your AU sounds like fun! Hmm... maybe you could do something like in SGA, where McKay's sister gets involved? Sam could do some 'theoretical' math that attracts attention. Or maybe Mark just goes, "we need somebody to do these calculations" and gets the smartest person he knows- Sam. (I'm assuming she's still an astrophysicist, in this reality.)
no subject
Date: 16 May 2014 05:10 pm (UTC)The scene I imagined had McKay only knowing her by her married name just before she disappeared from the academic scene. He doesn't realize that the person he's talking about is Mark's sister.
I'm thinking, though, that Mark is against getting Sam involved because he wants to protect her. He also thinks Sam will be against it because of her dislike of the military. She's only staying with Mark because of her separation. They don't really get along and the rest of SG-1 hang around a lot. She gets along with Daniel, but can't stand Jack.
I think in the end SG-1 will have to talk Mark into who will have to talk Sam into it.
This is all in my head at the moment as I sort things out. I have way too many other stories I'm working on right now. Part of what I liked about it was getting to use Mark. I'm trying to broaden my horizons by using less known characters who have less backstory. I mean, all we really know about Mark is that he's married with a couple kids, lives in San Diego and doesn't get along with Jacob.