"Spicing" Stargate

[Nora]

This is just an idea of mine but I wish the show was a little more adult. Now I don't mean R or NC or pornographic stuff but hey, it's shown at 10 and how many small kids really watch it? It is not like Star Wars with cuddly Ewoks and R2-D2s. Besides most kids nowdays are exposed to a lot on tv and movies. There is a lot of inuendo on tv series like Friends.

I thought about it when I was watching Attila, which was not out of this world but I like historical bios. There was this bathhouse scene with a little bit of sex. And I remember when I first read about SG1 visiting a Goaul'd pleasure palace....mmm. And then the Light, which I liked by the way, nothing extraordinary but enjoyable but it was a let down in terms of not being THAT pleasure palace I imagined. Again, I repeat nothing a X just a little bit more adult (and I dont' mean in the usual content).

I feel the show would be more realistic if topics such as rape (in a responsble way) were addressed. After all Sam is a beautiful woman and do you really mean none of those goaul'ds at least would threaten her with it? I keep thinking the time Apophis had SG1 in his power and nothing happened. Again, I DON'T want her to get raped but it could at least be mentioned.

There are some fan fictions out there that are very good on matters such as these. I am thinking of The Wine of Dyonisious (wrong spelling, I am sure) by ELG.

I guess the producers don't want to get into these troubled waters but the majority of fans are adults, I am sure. Again I repeat, I don't mean anything explicit or degrading or nudity but just a little bit more adult/realistic.

It's just my opinion. I enjoy the show as it is, it just that the stories sometimes seem repeated and simplistic. And some of the fan stories out there are extraordinary.

 

[ponyperson]

Well, they certainly could spice things up a bit, but i think they want to keep things family oriented.. i mean, they havent even begun to revisit the explicit nudity of COTG (which i personally thought was a little gratuitous - i dont mind nudity, but didnt really see the point in that ep..)), and when you're dealig with latenight premium TV, they usually have the freedom to do more.. so i would guess they want it to stay really user friendly..
also, i think that since they are writing each ep without a continuity theme to it, that anything to "R", would logically need to get played out in a few ep's (esp. rape/attempted rape... has long term emotional affects obviously..).. and i dont think they want todo that...

 

[MythingLink]

You have to remember that the show comes up in syndication as well and that there are younger children who watch it. My son loves the show and he's 12.

Cheers,

 

[skydiver]

there is also the fact that stargate is destined for the secondary market of broadcast tv, which is held to a higher standard than cable.
if they upped the content a bit, then there would have to be more editing before it could be broadcast.
anyone watch x-files? remember the eps...can't pull out the name right now, it's the one with the 3 brothers that kept their mother on a board under the bed, starts with kids finding a baby in the field...anyway that one got a m rating, which is the tv equivalent of r becuase it dealt with very adult matters(incest, the brothers bashin the sheriff to death, their booby trapped house). it is sorta like some eps of nypd blue which some stations didn't want to air because they were graphic.
the fcc has extremely explicit guidelines to what is 'proper' for broadcast tv.
i don't know them exactly but...well they're behind geroge carlin's 7 dirty words. there were words you couldn't say on tv. i think only 3 of htem still apply now.
there is an eps of trek where they go to commercial with kirk kissing a girl and come back with him putting on his boots, assuming they got 'friendly' in the mean time. they had to sneak that by the censors.
in the lucy show, when she got pregnant with little ricky, they couldn't say the word 'pregnant' on tv. it wasn't permitted.
maried couples had to be shown in separate beds.
the list goes on. the point is the fcc still regulated what is shown and those regulations carry on with what is the content of a show. you'll never see beggers & choosers on broadcast. but since showtime wants stargate to be aired on boradcast they need to bear that in mind when they decide how gory or explicit to be.
to me it is a fact of life that sam's virtue may be threatened at some point. then again so might the guys. but i doubt they'll ever deal with it.
just like there should be times when sg-1 has to shoot their way out...and we're not likely to ever really see it either.
stargate likes to keep its pg to pg-13 rating.

 

[ponyperson]

I have to admit, sometimes i'm amazed at what they consider appropriate for PG/PG 13 these days...
have you seen some of the cartoons?... wow.. more violent than stargate!..

 

[skydiver]

yeah...it's ok for little kids to watch wilee coyotee get smashed into the ground but not more then 1.2 seconds of a close-up of a gunshot.

go figure...

then again...looked at the popular video games lately?

 

[MythingLink]

I'm going to say something that a lot of people have difficulty with - either accepting or believing. I've even caught myself wondering what kind of a hypocrit I am at times.

Cartoons: Some of this stems from the fact that it is animation. The big argument was that kids know that if you bash your brother over the head with a frying pan, you aren't going to see little birdies and stars circling around his head and his eyes are going to roll around in circles.

Violence in everyday TV: One big argument for leaving well enough alone was "I'd rather have my kids watch a TV show where the bad guys get caught and punished at the end, rather than have them watch the news where they don't.". Of course the other side of the coin was "Violence on TV begets violence in real life.".

Spicy scenes on TV: With the philosphies of those that think that kids do what they see, it's no wonder that these types of scenes continue to remain taboo. Except I have to wonder about an episode of Boston Common (I think that's the name of it.). I watched a preview for an episode that was about a cheerleading skit that was raising eyebrows and indignation.

However it still doesn't answer the question as to why we allow our children to watch violence on TV or in the movies, but when it comes to scenes with any sexual inuendo we get all nervous. I don't know the answer to that one. I know my son watches almost the same things that I do. He knows it's all make believe and that people will die if they are shot or beat up too badly. I think part of it stems from his seeing the same actor 'dead' one day and 'alive' the next. Also we've tried very hard to make sure he knows that it's all fake.

I'm starting to talk in circles with no point.

I remember doing Romeo and Juliet several years ago. The university always did at least one Shakespeare every year and special matinees were done for the high schools. That particular year we had an 'epidemic' of high school suicides. The superintendent of the school district was considering not allowing the high schools to attend these matinees, but finally allowed for special assemblies at each of the high schools before the kids were allowed to attend to warn them of what they were going to see and how to cope with it. Thankfully after the play, there were no suicides.

I still don't know if it's eduation and parent's involvement that help to avoid a lot of these misconceptions about violence vs. sex on TV. It's going to take someone with a lot more smarts than I to figure it out.

Cheers,

 

[jsc]

I have been very lucky with my almost 14 year old, Asgard. He very early picked up the difference between real and on the screen violence. He knows the difference between news, how it is manipulated by the news people and what actually happens. We talk about it. I let him listen to eminem and he hasen't committed murder, suicide or matricide... yet. He even saw the Stargate SG-1 the R rated one. Perhaps because he is sensitive and intelligent and we talk about everything that helps him. Perhaps it was living in both South Central LA and at my parents home in a much calmer area helped him. I don't know. Some people never seperate out the violence on screen and off. Sex should be kept between concenting adults but it isn't. I try and help him with that also. We can only do our best and hope and pray.

I guess I agree with MythingLink!

 

[shiloh]

Another aspect of this boils down to money, plain and simple.

If they spice it up (raise the ante on the violence, language, nudity, etc), when it gets sold to the syndication market, it'll have to be edited. That costs money. In lots of markets, in syndication, it's being shown at much earlier times. Here in L.A. it's on at 6pm on a Saturday night, prime kid-vieweing hour. Some cable shows do shoot scenes twice (once for cable with nudity, language, etc, and once for syndication market all cleaned up) but that's expensive. I gotta agree with skydiver, here, it's the bottom line of syndication sales and FCC regs.

 

[sarahksg1]

sg1 needs spicing up!!!!

k well ive been reading wat uve all been saying, but stargate need soicing up!!!!
k the violence can come up a tad more, i mean sg1 is nothing !!! (in terms of violence) compared to anime cartooons like dragon ball z!!! i mean in dbz people are cutting each other in half and yet (in nz) its on at 4pm!!! The worst kind of stuff that happens in sg1 is a staff weapon killing someone, or a zat knocking someone down!! now that can be spiced up!!!
k then theres the boy/girl factor, k now who reckons sam and jack need to get together??? and i dont mean a kiss from jack that sam isnt even gonna remember!!!
k sg1 can come up a level there!!! i mean in divide and conquer sam and jack tell each other their in love with each other, if they are sooo i love wont they get sick of not baing able to act on that??? i mean they shouldnt be running rpound having hot and steamy sex, but they should act like their in love!!!!

 

[ysm]

:coolorang
Now this is what I was talking about on one of the other threads. Stargate needs spicing up. Ok, not in words like on the Sopranos, but more action. On some shows there's not even a shoot em up! I like the cerebral stuff, but every now and then I crave ACTION! There could be more controversial subjects as well. Don't ya think? :aliengray

 

[PTeppic]

In a way, the question that must be asked by the exec's at MGM/SciFi etc. is "Who is the target audience".

In the UK S1 was originally shown at 5pm-ish, and I believe that the (first showing) of S3 will be at that sort of time. I am not aware of when it goes out on satellite feed, but I would guess around 6-9pm, which is prime "family" viewing for perhaps 12+ ages.

Again in the UK, the COTG episode on video was cut, and published as PG rated (which for non-UK people is lower than 12, but higher than U). On the other hand the DVD is 18, and nothing seems to be cut! Many of the other DVDs are 12 or the odd 15, thogh others are PG... this is inconsistent, and certainly implies that the UK branch of MGM who market the DVDs have no idea who they are aiming at!

 

[imported_Sandman]

i haven't totally decided if the ratings system is more ore less lenient in this day. i mean yes, we can get away with more profanity for the same rating (listen to what's on tv nowadays) but on the other hand the rating for a violent movie seems to have been upped. look at the original Planet of the Apes. in 1968 in was given a PG rating for violence. have you all seen that movie? i'm not saying it's particularly violent or that i don't completely love it, but stargate sg-1 with its family oriented writing is only pg, too. it just surprised me quite a bit.
just an observation

stargate sg-1 could stand a little spicing. it does get rather ridiculous to see them surrounded by armed jaffa but walk away with barely a scratch (and often not even that!). i'm not saying i want to see alot of blood and gore but i do think that the show could benifit by a bit more realism.

 

[PTeppic]

I think it is a general feature of fictional drama, particularly serials such as SG-1, that the only real injuries that occur are a plot device for some action in the infirmary, or to remove that character for a few scenes.

Okay, in COTG when Apophis attacks they manage to kill or disable most of the half-dozen in the gate-room. Yet these same, highly trained, and frequently exercised Jaffa, when ordered to kill 50 unarmed people are totally incapable of injury ANY of those who get weapons when one of their own betryas them. Not a single member of SG-1, or teal'c - for goodness sake, if someone has a weapon and is firing back, to you shoot them or the totally unarmed civillans 20 feet away? Similarly, what are their reaction times - in Bloodlines Bra'tac shows the power of the staff weapon in trained hands for rapid firing - imagine if that technique were used in the Chulak prison....

Errrr... rant ending.... So yes, not enough realism in a war scenario, which also then relates to other aspects of life such as language and smoochy stuff and the abuses of power in war or battle scenario.

 

[ShelbyS]

I think the spicy stuff is better left in the fan fiction galaxy. That way you always have a choice about what you want to see and not want to see.

 

[PTeppic]

Then again, we do go get some romance (rather than more physical stuff) in several episodes, though generally this is as a result of some mental instability: Hathor, Need, 100 Days etc.

And there is always the simmering stuff between Jack and Sam, which is highlighted, in a way, when the alternate Sam crosses over.

 

[Nora]

Originally posted by MythingLink
You have to remember that the show comes up in syndication as well and that there are younger children who watch it. My son loves the show and he's 12.

Cheers,

Well, they show Xena at 4:00 pm here in Miami and that show has got a lot of inuendo. I know it borders on camp but any way... I just wish they would make it more "real". Not these last minutes resurrections (Daniel dead and waking up in the Light, etc., all those situations solved in the last minute). It dilutes the impact of whatever happened.

 

[PTeppic]

It wouldn't be an SG-1 episode without poor Daniel being killed and having to wake up in a sarcophagus at the last minute...

[PS. Don't bother to correct me here re. the Light, since I have not seen the ep.]