It seems so odd to me that SG-1, the writers seemed to have and "Ick! Ptooey!" reaction to Daniel being featured, because scientists were boring and only good for technobabble to explain things. Unless they were also hot blonde soldiers.
Part of that may be because SG-1 was conceived of as a vehicle centered around RDA. Early on there was talk of him being cast as Daniel, but he felt it was too similar to his role in MacGyver, so he wanted to do something different.
With SGA, they flipflopped, featuring a scientist more than the soldier. While I'm certainly a fan of Rodney McKay, it does seem like Sheppard has been shortchanged. Flanigan and Hewlitt have great chemistry and Flanigan was cast as the male lead, but sometimes it's difficult to see it. I wouldn't have minded it being more of a "buddy show" because they definitely could have carried it off well.
I wonder if some of the difference is because Flanigan challenged TPTB, much as Shanks did about Daniel, so whether consciously or not, they minimized his character. McKay is also probably much more fun to write because he can say whatever he wants, while Sheppard is still somewhat restrained by military rules.
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Date: 2008-12-11 03:43 pm (UTC)Part of that may be because SG-1 was conceived of as a vehicle centered around RDA. Early on there was talk of him being cast as Daniel, but he felt it was too similar to his role in MacGyver, so he wanted to do something different.
With SGA, they flipflopped, featuring a scientist more than the soldier. While I'm certainly a fan of Rodney McKay, it does seem like Sheppard has been shortchanged. Flanigan and Hewlitt have great chemistry and Flanigan was cast as the male lead, but sometimes it's difficult to see it. I wouldn't have minded it being more of a "buddy show" because they definitely could have carried it off well.
I wonder if some of the difference is because Flanigan challenged TPTB, much as Shanks did about Daniel, so whether consciously or not, they minimized his character. McKay is also probably much more fun to write because he can say whatever he wants, while Sheppard is still somewhat restrained by military rules.