completely overreacting

[xparrot]

This post contains spoilers for the SGA finale, concerning a promo pic for the finale posted here.

I didn't look at most of the pics because for the most part I don't want spoilers - so please, please don't mention anything like plot points for future eps in the comments? - but the top pic I had to look at, because it really looks like it might be the final shot of the series...

And yeah, I know I'm overreacting horribly. But yeah. This is exactly what I was dreading we were going to get. This is why I've been freaking out about the McKeller, this is the thing I didn't want to see more than anything else - that in the very end, in the final shot, in the very last image I will ever get of the show itself, Rodney is with Keller apart from his team, that the team bond that I watch this show for in the end doesn't matter as much as the romance.

ARGGGGGH.

The finale's gonna break me already; that I won't be able to watch the final scene without wanting to throw things at my monitor isn't going to help.

Stupid writers! *pouts*

Comments

[lysambre.livejournal.com]

And here I was hoping they would resolve the problem instead of keeping going at it :'(. Darn, 7am and already a bad news :(.

[trystings.livejournal.com]

Crap.

Apart from releasing huge spoilery promo pics like that. Crap Crap Crap.

[severedscythe.livejournal.com]

*makes various upset noises* God damn it. Rodney's a part of the team. D:

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

This is why I've been freaking out about the McKeller, this is the thing I didn't want to see more than anything else - that in the very end, in the final shot, in the very last image I will ever get of the show itself, Rodney is with Keller apart from his team, that the team bond that I watch this show for in the end doesn't matter as much as the romance.

What you said. :(

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I knoooooow...bad enough the show is ending, they keep kicking us when we're down :(

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I have a teeny, tiny hope that they wouldn't actually release a spoiler pic of the last shot - that this is an image of the final scene, but the very last show will be different. But I doubt it, because the writers don't seem to care if Rodney's part of the team, as long as he gets the girl...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

He IS! always! no matter what the writers think! rrraargh!

ETA: Icon love!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I really have been dreading that this is what the McKeller has been heading toward, I should've been braced for it, but still, to see it is awful annoying... :(

[severedscythe.livejournal.com]

XDD The icon is totally gankable. downloadstone made it for me because she is WONDERFUL.

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

asjdka;lsdjkl;sd THAT GIANT GAP IN BETWEEN THEM, GOOD GOD.

Seriously, would it have killed them to move Rodney six inches to the right? How horribly symbolic! ;_; It's been a long time since I was emotionally invested in SGA but I'm really quite miffed. XD;;

I think I blame those two new showrunners you mentioned, Mallozzi and what's-his-face. Oh yes, I'm so in the loop and I make such informed decisions. I just want someone to yell at. *g*

[lysambre.livejournal.com]

The thing is they've been trying to woo those elusive white 15 years old males, and what best than to give the geek the stupid blond ? But in doing so they forgot their 5 years old (or as the case is for me 12 years old) audience, and in the long run this will hurt them.
So far I still have not bought the season 4 DVD (when I usually pre-order) and I'm beginning to wonder if I will in fact buy season 5, and to be honest, given that Mullie and Malozzi, the 2 most *insecure in their manhood* writers are writing the movie, I'm wondering if it'll even be worth to watch or if I'm going to need a bucket to puke in.
After BSG ended, they were probably told to try and write SGA more as a Space opera, except they can't read and understood Soap opera.
They are ruining my show, they are ruining my enjoyment of the show. Right now I hate them.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I decided not to let the whole McKeller thing rill me up. I also took a huge step back from the show itself, not from the fics, just from the show. It's the only way for me to handle its cancellation without throwing another major hissy fit. So, I watch the eps, nod and re-watch my favorite parts and that's it. Or at least that's what I try to do :P

[argosy.livejournal.com]

He's next to Teyla. Can't we all just be a little happy and say that Keller is with the team *too*, instead of Rodney is apart from them? (And yes, I realize he's like a foot away from Teyla, but I think we can blame that on DH being right handed.) I just want some happiness and can't-we-all-just-get-alongs at the end and glass-half-fulls at the end. *pollyannas*

[trystings.livejournal.com]

I know I shouldn't let a tv show upset me like this (you wouldn't BELIEVE the mood I'm in right now. I'm actually laughing at myself) and it's not like we didn't have plenty of warning, what with Keller's disproportional amount of screentime this season, Rodney's declaration of love and Mallozzi's irritated responses to anyone who questioned Keller's excessive amount of screentime and lack of Sheppard centric episodes this season, but still. I would have so liked an open ending.

God, I'm actually starting to look forward to SGU, how's that for off the wall marketing. I need coffee. Way to ruin The Shrine for me Mallozzi.

(NCIS. NCIS is a great show! *switches loyalties*)

[ariadne83]

Huh. Y'know, I saw a close-up of That Pic and Rodney looks uncomfortable. So I'm going to go with that *deploys tinhat* Here's an image I like to call "The face of McKeller":


Don't you think he looks happy?

[kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com]

Sadness, it continues :( I just...it's the last show of the series and we're being handed that.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh I have been in SUCH a bitter mood all day. Not fun.
Stupid show. Stupid M&M!! I hate them so much right now. I hate that they destroyed my happy place...I'm actually wishing it had been canceled last season, because as painful as that would've been, I think this is worse. I don't know if even "The Shrine" makes up for it.

I actually am wondering now if maybe the reason Brad Wright pulled out and headed for SGU was because he saw M&M going in this direction, and didn't want to go, and rather than bring SGA further down thought a new show was a better way to go...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

YESSSSS I don't know why they couldn't have put Rodney at least closer to the team. That space is so freakin' symbolic...it sucks to be an art history major, right about now...

Mallozzi & Mullie, oh yes, I am aiming pretty much all my hate at them. (actually at Mullie, since he's the writer of the finale, and one of the bigger McKeller supporters. Mallozzi defends the character, but oddly enough rarely writes her at all...)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh I wish I could ignore the McKeller so easily...the problem is that I'm a Rodney fan first, much as I love the team, and it looks like we're never gonna get Rodney & Team again, because they have to do Rodney & Daniel and Rodney & Carson and Rodney & KELLER KELLER KELLER.

Argh!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

*edited out whining*

I hadn't been to your lj in a while - I am so sorry about your news. And gaaah I'm so sorry if my pathetic whining over a TV show brought you down any, I'm so glad that SGA's still a happy place for you!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Of course he looks happy. Because their love is EVERYTHING! Forget the team, why do they matter, when Rodney might someday get sex from a blonde girl!!!

...ummm. I might be a little bitter right now? ^^;;;

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

...I'm seriously starting to wish that the show had just ended last season. I've been dreading this the entire season, that this is where they were going, but subconsciously I was thinking that the show would, in the end, still be about team and family and friends, not romance. But it's not to be. At least not for Rodney...everyone else has their friends, but with Rodney, it's more important that he gets the girl.

Gahh, so bitter!!!

[sp23.livejournal.com]

This reminds me so much of the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when all I wanted was one lousy kiss between Spike and Buffy before he died. And instead, freakin Joss Whedon gives me, "I love you." "No, you don't, but thanks for saying it."

Arrrrrgh!!!!!!

Yeah, show writers suck. I haven't even watched last week's episode, and I really just can't dig up the enthusiasm to watch much more of this show. Screw them.

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

As a McKeller supporter (sorry!) I wouldn't mind the pic with a little bit of modification. Move Teyla over to the other side of Ronon and push Rodney and Keller over so that they're by John, and I'd be perfectly happy. But as it is, I'm not so happy with the pic for the reasons you've mentioned. I don't want the show ending with Rodney separated from his team (or if we were to get more specific, from John). Yeah, it's a minor thing, but....my love of the John and Rodney friendship outweighs my like of McKeller. John and Rodney have been the core of the show since the beginning, and I really really wanted the show to end with them side by side. :(

To be perfectly honest, I haven't watched the show since Tracker. I keep buying the downloads, and thinking I'll get around to watching it, but somehow I just can't bring myself to. It's not been any one thing - just a buildup of my continuing disappointment with the show I guess. John and Rodney and all the wonderful scenes with them was what kept me watching the show last season, but this season, except for The Shrine, there's been a definite lack. And without that...I just am not motivated to watch anymore. :( Anyway - I'll quit whining now - sorry!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, shows can be awful annoying. Though I think this is worse in a way than a 'ship breaking up (though damn that can hurt) because it's just a total change from the entire show before...

Last ep didn't have Keller, at least! And there's a couple more eps I have hopes for. But, yeah...this show used to be my happy place, what I looked forward to, and now I'm dreading it, and arrrrgh, I hate that.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ah-ah, never apologize for liking a 'ship here! I'm a crazy OTPer myself, if you like a pairing, say it proudly. XD I'm happy some fans are enjoying this thing, much as I hate it.

That being said, yeah...it's not just the McKeller, it's that Rodney's separate from the team. I wouldn't even need him next to John, just put him close enough that he's standing with the team. This way, he & Keller are their own unit, and Teyla & John & Ronon are a separate unit, and that hurts.

Actually "First Contact" had a cute John/Rodney scene, and some fantastic John-worry, and was simply a delightful ep - but "The Lost Tribe" wasn't, so that was a disappointment. There's a couple eps coming up that I have hopes for, but no, I can't blame you for the lack of motivation. Siiiiiigh.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was moping all yesterday after seeing that picture :( And, unfortunatley, I'm at the same place, being glad it's cancelled so they can't FUCK with us anymore, and that's a sad place to be because I LOVE SGA. *cries with you*

I'm still watching, but I'm just hoping for lots and lots and lots of FIX IT fics.

I'm also posting my displeasure at Malozzi blog every so often. Have you been? I've been polite, but I want him to know that not everyone is fawning over this choice, and to NOT put it in the movie.

Goes to watch the Shrine again and be in my happy place.

[dovil.livejournal.com]

I've found not watching season five has done wonders for my enjoyment for the four years that came before. :) I doubt it's the final shot, but on the bright side if you do want to keep watching, you already know what's going to be happening so at least you wont get blindsided. Eh, I know.

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

"The Lost Tribe" was very frustrating to me. I was both angry and sad and bitter. But over the next couple of days I tried to come to terms with it and just tried to accept that the show has turned from being about a team going through the stargate to being the epic love story of Jennifer and Rodney.

Apparently, my acceptance hasn't worked in full because when I saw this pic my eyes teared up again. I just cannot believe that in the end Rodney will not be by John's side. It's just wrong.

Maybe I just should have stopped watching the show after Rodney woke up with Jeannie at his side in "The Shrine". Although I know I won't stop watching and I'll buy the DVD. They managed 10 + 4 seasons of Stargate without romance taking over. Why, oh why couldn't they have kept it at that for another season?

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

he & Keller are their own unit, and Teyla & John & Ronon are a separate unit, and that hurts.

Yeah, I don't like that either, even more so because the John/Teyla/Ronon OT3 thing really annoys me (as in the belief that Teyla and Ronon are John's only real friends and the only ones who he really trusts).

I don't know - I've just been disappointed with the season. It started out pretty well, but Ronon has really been getting on my nerves (I'm not sure how much of that is reaction to the Momoa interview and how much is how they're writing him this year), Teyla's development has been a huge disappointment, and I cannot figure out what in the world is going on with John. So....yeah. Discouraged. :( Maybe I'll pick it up eventually - like you, there's a couple of episodes I have hope for later in the season, but.... *sigh* I'm still crossing my fingers that the movie is a John & Rodney extravaganza, but I'm not holding my breath. :)

[calcitrix.livejournal.com]

OMG that icon made me laugh so super hard that now my nostrils hurt. Please pass on my appreciation.

[calcitrix.livejournal.com]

I watched the first two and some seasons completely oblivious to all pairings (late, after they were out on DVD), and then started adding more people to my flist who tended to be McSheppers. Then I re-watched eps, and for a while I thought, "Oh, yeah, I can see where they could kinda pick up on that" and then as I caught up and watched more and re-watched and read more, it turned to, "Oh, yeah, well, that's pretty obvious right there," and then to, "Oh, how did I not see that all along?" Now it seems pretty blatant, and not only obvious but right and I actually started watching episodes specifically looking forward to potential McShep moments.

Then they threw in Keller, and at first I thought it was funny because they were so off together it was painful, and I was sure they would pair her with Ronon anyway. Now I kind of want to Photoshop her out of that scene.

[severedscythe.livejournal.com]

XD I'll tell her!

[d_odyssey.livejournal.com]

I was so depressed and angry upon seeing that picture. Talk about a double whammy - not only is McKay with Keller, but the god-awful twosome, with the chemistry of wet cardboard, is separating Rodney from the team. In my head I knew this was coming, but it still felt like a punch to the gut when I saw the picture. I just felt sick and so, so sad. How can that be the last shot? How can they end the show without the team, without John by Rodney? I feel cheated, ripped off, shortchanged. And mad as hell.

"Ahhhh I have been in SUCH a bitter mood all day. Not fun.
Stupid show. Stupid M&M!! I hate them so much right now. I hate that they destroyed my happy place...I'm actually wishing it had been canceled last season, because as painful as that would've been, I think this is worse. I don't know if even "The Shrine" makes up for it."

"I actually am wondering now if maybe the reason Brad Wright pulled out and headed for SGU was because he saw M&M going in this direction, and didn't want to go, and rather than bring SGA further down thought a new show was a better way to go..."

Word! I feel the same. A quick death would have been better than this slow lingering torture they are putting us through. I hate Keller. I hate the writers for doing this to us: For pandering to their own sick fantasies and to what they want to see. Maybe part of this is Brad Wright's idea - a kind of forerunner to SGU, after all he wrote The Shrine and put in that horrible, jarring, nonsensical last 20 seconds. I just wish there was one person in that writer's room that would have stood up to the spirit and truth of what Atlantis was supposed to be - Sheppard, McKay, Ronon and Teyla - finding adventures, troubles, fun and craziness in the Pegasus Galaxy. Not a friggin' bad soap opera centered around two characters that have absolutely no chemistry together whatsoever.

At this point, there are only a couple of episodes I am actually looking forward to and others that I will watch and probably wince at parts. The movie, I just don't know. I can't trust the writers to pen a team movie rather than a continuation of the love story. As has been said earlier, I will happily live in the land of fanfic and hope and pray that talented people keep writing the lives and loves of McShep. That will be the only truly happy place left after M&M destroy the show I've loved for the past 4 years. Thanks for letting me vent, it does help to have others to commiserate with. Solidarity!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

This season has just been...blargh. It started out so strongly, too, the first few eps were SO Team, and then they just...petered out. And there's been less John/Rodney than any other season (...seriously, Gnine & I were doing stats last night. ^^;) I mean, yeah, "The Shrine," but that's the only McSheppy ep we've gotten, and it was also McKeller, and there's no others lined up from what few spoilers I have...it's sad-making, especially after last season, which didn't have as much team as I'd like but was fantastic about the McShep.

...and I'm still holding a grudge about "Tracker," because I've wanted a good Rodney-Ronon romp for SEASONS, and that...didn't count. Where was the love? The affection under the teasing? Argh!!!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I don't post on Mallozzi's blog because I don't see what good it really does, he'll just snark back if he replies at all. He doesn't give a damn what fangirls think, far as I can tell. Still, I'm getting tempted. Maybe I'll just leave an anonymous "thanks for ruining my show!" *bitter bitter*

Yes, we need more fix-its! The fandom's been too quiet of late...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not sure if this will be the final shot, but I'm telling myself it is so I won't get disappointed. It can't get much worse, at least, and if it's better, that will be great!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

"The Lost Tribe" was so frustrating to me because I positively loved "First Contact," and to have the second part not follow through kind of wrecked the first part for me. Siiigh!

They managed 10 + 4 seasons of Stargate without romance taking over. Why, oh why couldn't they have kept it at that for another season?

I KNOW. Gah. Is it too much to ask for ONE SHOW that doesn't make it all about romance? One show? It's not like romance fans don't get their fill in every other show on TV...one of the reasons I've always liked SG is because it's one of the few havens for a gen fan (...yeah, I'm a slasher in fanon, but in canon I tend to prefer gen friendship and subtext and endure textual romance). I'm actually feeling kinda betrayed here...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

*laughs* That's pretty much how I went, too - I got into the show a year ago, mainlined s1-3 in a matter of weeks, but I didn't even really see the John-Rodney friendship until s3, and didn't see the slash until s4. Now, retrospectively, I can see it everywhere, but it only really seemed blatant to me in the last seasons.

Oh well. To me, the slash is still more on John's side (I think Rodney would come around, he's just oblivious at the moment) and at least McKeller hasn't changed that - the little jealous!John we've gotten doesn't make it all better, but it helps...! Really, though, I'm a gen fan first, and that we've gotten less John-Rodney friendship moments this season is killing me worse than the McKeller...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I am still hoping - probably a faint one - that this isn't the last shot, that they'll rearrange positions by the end. Because, yeah, I don't like the McKeller, but what's hurting me is the denial of Team, is putting Rodney so far apart. I don't know why they're doing it - because the writers apparently think McKeller is more important than Team, and that's just...OUCH.

I am starting to give up and stop caring. I'm upset about that, though, because while SGA was never a very good show, it's been a show I've really enjoyed watching, something I've looked forward to. That they're taking that from me, that they're making me *dread* upcoming eps instead of wanting to see them - that burns!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

...I gotta stop clicking the link, because every time I see the picture I just get all het up again. I hate Keller's simpering position, and Rodney's stiffness, it's so terribly fake...(and I hate that I look at the way she's trying to snuggle against him and hate her just for that, because I don't like hating female characters just for having girly curves and girly stances. But that there's so little to Keller's character now except that she's Rodney's love-muffin - that everyone else is standing there all proud and strong and she's simpering and snuggling and her only point in being there is that Rodney got the blonde chick - wow, that grates on me.)

My one hope, faint as it is, is that we don't know for sure this is the final scene; there might be more. At the very least, maybe it will be shot at a different angle, one that doesn't have such a distinct divide between Rodney and his team.

I don't want to blame Brad Wright for this, though. Wright himself *said* at Comicon that he felt the scene most emblematic of what SGA meant to him was the John-Rodney pier scene in "The Shrine" - I'm almost inclined to consider that episode as a diss on McKeller...because yeah, it ended with Rodney's "love confession", but if you look at the ep, it really is making the point that Rodney can *say* he loves Keller all he likes, but it's John whose room he goes to, John whose name he calls when he's forgotten everything else. Maybe Wright didn't have any idea what he was doing (Mullie sure didn't when he wrote "The Last Man," which is superficially McKeller but truly McShep until the end of TIME, or at least 48,000 years) but he's a decent writer, I wonder...I think Wright likes friendship more than romance, and that's how he wrote "The Shrine," that Rodney can love a girl, but John's his most important person.

But, yeah. Still am so bitter with M&M, because for all SGA's flaws, it used to be a show I loved to watch, and I hate that I'm starting to dread rather than look forward to episodes...

[d_odyssey.livejournal.com]

That picture and just thinking about it upsets me. You are so right, the pose is unnatural. Rodney standing stiffly with a strange faraway look, his head angled away from her and your are right, her trying to lean into him with a smug look on her face. I am convinced that she was brought in solely for Rodney, the writers alter ego, to get the hot chick. She certainly doesn't have the personality to attract anyone with half a brain, but an interesting, well developed fallible personality was not required so was passed over. Just make her a Mary Sue. practically perfect in every way, and stick her with Rodney, doesn't matter that there is no sexual tension or chemistry between the two, throw in a "love you" out of the blue and your (writing) job is done. It is a wretched, horrible, selfish way to end the series. Just wrong that Rodney is not with the team. It should be just the team out on the balcony. I feel cheated.

I do agree with your analysis of Brad Wright - they certainly didn't screw up SG1 like this. Jeez, after all the teasing, they didn't and still haven't satisfied the Sam and Jack shippers - of which there are a helluva lot more then McKeller fans. Plus, with the writing team, it could have been someone else like Gero or Mullie who wanted that horrible ending. I did read that Wright thought the pier scene was the best part of The Shrine. So yes, John is the most important one to Rodney. I guess I am still sensitive about Wright's decision to ax SGA in favor of SGU. Right now, that is not looking so bad with what is happening this season. I couldn't stomach a season 6 with the central theme of the cardboard couple. I hate feeling like this and that episodes I would normally look forward to, I dread that they will stick McKeller in every ep. Why did they do this, why?

[valoryhope.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned, Season 5 of SGA ended just before the last few minutes of The Shrine. To me, that was the perfect way to end the series, with the team love, and the John/Rodney love (whether you view it as McShep or as a beautiful platonic friendship). Oh, I'll still watch the show, but, with the way they're going this season, I refuse to take anything else as canon (unless, maybe, if they shock us with a rejection of McKeller and a McShep declaration of love in the finale). Usually I feel obligated to accept the aired episodes as canon, trying desperately to rationalize what either strikes me as OOC (a lot, with the SGA writers) or which jars my personal universe too much. But there's a limit. From now on, I intend to view the scripts as I would any fanfiction which I may find interesting but which doesn't jive with my conception of the characters. But, whether or not I like individual stories (or episodes, for that matter), I hope the fandom will live on. John & Rodney have become too much a part of my life for me to relinquish them. And, even though the writers introduced them to us, I can't believe that they still have a window on the SGA universe. So let them spin their stories; they're no longer making canon for me.