So as we all know, Ben and Claudia have become castmembers of Stargate SG1.

I just have to say, I vehemently disagree with the people who are saying that Ben Browder is playing the same character on Stargate SG1 as he did on Farscape. About all they have in common is the fact that both are pilots (and for Crichton, piloting was secondary to other skills) and have contact with aliens.

Cameron Mitchell is first and foremost a soldier, and is actually a pretty laid back guy. In fact, he's sometimes almost too laidback, as he's not always interesting to me. John Crichton? Scientist first and foremost, and a big, giant SPAZZ and occaisional drama queen. I don't know. Maybe the differences are too 'subtle' for anyone to see. (snork)

I've heard that "the reason people say that is because Ben Browder will always be Ben Browder. That there's so much of him in his parts that it's easy for people to see them as the same. The character details that make them quite different are background noise when compared to the presentation of "IT'S BEN BROWDER!" that he puts forward. (quote from pseudopagan at LJ)

I disagree.

I do think the IBB!F (It's Ben Browder! Factor) may have influenced early estimations of the character, but after a time I was able to settle into accepting him as Mitchell. But as such, I immediately was established with the understanding that Cam isn't John and John isn't Cam, purely from the nuances of performance, especially in terms of line delivery.

The dynamic of how he works with Claudia in the context of scenes on Stargate fascinates me as well. Their connection is to intense and immediate even when they have her character paired off with Daniel. They have one particular exchange in 'Crusade' where for a minute the intensity (though NOT the characterization) of John and Aeryn was in the moment for me.

HA! Funny that two people came up with this and started on the same topic.

This was my take:

Browder and Black are currently working on Stargate:SG-1.

Which of these statements most applies to you?
A.) Ugh! I love Stargate and RDA is the man and alway will be!!
B.) Ugh! I love Farscape and can't believe two amazing actors are on this....show.
C.) This is the real world and in the real world actors need to work.

Discuss.


Glark, please delete the other one.

I reported the other one to the Forum Traffic Court. Also, I choose C. I love the actors. Hopefully, the show will rise a little more to the occasion.

If it means anything, I saw Gigi Edgely last week at a con. She's stateside now, and hopefully soon will show up more on American screens. She seems to have had a pretty good career in Australia - I hope for more of the same here.

I choose C as well, although there's a hearty helping of B on the side. I tried to watch "Stargate" again after BB and CB joined the cast, but I find it so frelling boring. Not even the chance to see them working together can induce me to watch it.

That being said, I'm happy that they're getting work. It's a tough business, and you've gotta work when you have the opportunity. I'd love to see Gigi in something stateside, definitely. Does anyone know if Virginia Hey has any projects in the works? IMDb doesn't show anything.

I pick option C.

I'll be the first to admit I experienced some dissonance. I settled into Claudia as Vala more easily then I did John as Cam, but I think that might be because of how the casting worked. Claudia started off as a "special guest star" so she was brought in sort of like a treat, and you could ease the idea of her into the show. But Cam was a new permanent cast character, which meant you had to wrap your brain around him for the long haul. PLUS, adding in how the chemistry between those two actors just snaps in place so naturally and how the SG creative team would have to cope with that makes it a bit initially off-putting.

Thanks, cutecouple.

I choose "C". Work's work. Mortgages must be paid, children fed, good will with casting directors and producers need to be maintained and faces need to be seen to be remembered for future parts.

And I started a topic for Cast and Crew in real life called Cast/Crew in Real Life. I crazy creative like that.

Claudia has decent chemistry with Michael Shanks though.

Decent, yes. I'd even call it cute. But it's not the near to scary chemistry that Claudia and Ben have, which the creative forces of the Stargate productions have been very smart to try and minimize.

However, this edges into some thoughts that go better in the RL thread, and I may bring them up over there.

D: I enjoy Claudia as Vala when I can stand to watch the show long enough to get to her scenes, but in a general sense even she can't overcome the pit of suck that is SG1.

Browder's character is so underwritten (from what I've seen) I usually forget he's even on the show. I find the original cast to be unutterably boring, so...I'm glad Ben and Claudia have work, I just wish it was elsewhere.

True. It think that's a combo of good acting (on both parts) and the fact that Shanks really seems to be having fun these days.

I always see Stargate as The Show they cancelled Farscape for. Plus I'm never home Fridays anyways, so I rarely see it. When I do, I get into my "Farscape cancellation rant" and Ben and Claudia are just salt in the wound. But hey, they have to eat too. So, C.

I'll go with option D ... I enjoy both shows and I'm glad BB and CB are gainfully employed. I'm a scifi fan and I'll take my fix where I can get it. SG-1 wasn't responsible for Farscape's cancellation, except maybe veerrrrry indirectly. I blame Bonnie Hammer and the suits at Skiffy.

As for Ben and Claudia on the show ... they are both different characters from their Farscape days. There may be some subtle similarities between John Crichton and Cam Mitchell, but they're only subtle ones. As for Vala and Aeryn Sun? Sheesh, they're as different as night and day.

AnnieF, I believe we ordered the same dish. :)

As long as Ben and Claudia are happy and getting exposure, I can live with it. The problem, really, is the writers. If that improves then it might be less of an ordeal.

I choose B.
I see it that exact same way and don't watch the show for that reason, and because I find it boring. I absolutely agree with C as well, though. Gotta work and pay those bills.

Of course, I think Claudia could do a scene with an actual granite statue, and we'd think, "Damn, she and that statue are hot together."

I think RiverThames has hit on a lost opportunity from Look at the Princess. CB did an amazing job in TWWW, as evidence for her talent for empathizing with inanimate objects.

People have always said they'd listen to Claudia read the phone book. Well, with "Crusade" she's proven that she can keep my attention by essentially telling a story, so, yeah, I'd say she and that statue would be hot together ;)

Are you comparing Shanks to granite ;)?

As for choices, I go with C as well. Mortgages, kids...we all do stuff we'd rather not do. But Ben and Claudia both manage to look and sound like they're having a jolly good time of it.

I totally don't get Stargate at all, but I have been turning it on every Saturday in the vain hope of seeing Claudia in it. Finally, after three months, my persistance paid off and I see the first Vala ep last night. My first thought was 'damn, she looks good' and my second thought was 'I would sell my soul to have hair like that.' My third thought was 'You know, I still don't particularly like Stargate, so now that my curiosity has been satisfied, I can stop watching.'

The premise of Stargate is a good one. But the execution feels very 1950's Buck Rogers movie serial, if you get my drift.

There is amazing potential for depth of story (usually unrealized) and many people love the current structure. I watched all the previous seasons after I learned Browder was joining the cast and I can say that the first seasons (the Showtime ones) had a different feel to them (there's some business about one of the original producers being ousted or quitting around season three and that changed the tone, but I don't know that whole dillio).

There are interesting episodes in every season with an interesting story or something that allows the actors to really get into some emotion. I like the arc shows the best but the show is set up for stand alone episodes so they're not in the majority. Usually, one of the shows written or directed by a cast member is pretty darn good.

I feel like Stargate is put together using a Mad Libs template. The team goes to plant (insert alpha-numeric gook) and learns that (pick an allied group or innocent indiginous people) are in trouble. The trouble involves (technobabble or season big bad - bonus points for big bad using technobabble) and the team uses their predetermined strengths to figure out the ramifications of the problem: O'Neill uses sarcasm, Carter uses technobabble, Daniel reads something, T'ealc shoots something. The team encounters resistance from (powerful locals, government flunkies or the big bad). One of the team discovers the key to the problem and a solution. Another member of the team reveals why that solution won't work. O'Neill makes a decision based on (a gut instinct, information the audience hasn't seen yet, his unspoken love for Sam, his unspoken love for Daniel) and the immediate problem is solved. This problem will not be seen or talked about again until (it makes a convient out in a later episode or the season finale.) Add final hero shot and O'Neill snarky comment and you have 85% of Stargate episodes.

One of the reasons I love Claudia playing Vala is she FINALLY adds a different ingredient to the mix. Now they've made her all sympathetic to a guy and pregnant. Great. Let's dull that edge. The only way the pregnancy thing works for me is that in my mind, she's carrying Daniel's baby and when the war is over and she leaves to go be a mercenary again the baby will be raised by Daniel and O'Neill.

Which brings up another point - if you're inclined to the HoYay, Stargate is a good vehicle for you to write your own in-between scenes and dialog for your chosen pair thereby making it more patatible. I watch SG:Atlanitis just for the love between Rodney MacKay and John Shepard. They're always going on about trust issues and bravery and "you expect too much from me" and generally bickering. But Shepard will always save his boy MacKay. Because he loves his little geek.

I'm a little worried about admitting this, but I like Stargate MORE than Farscape. I'm not knocking Farscape, it just isn't really my thing. I think I like my sci fi a little more shallow and slightly cheesy.

Selannia, your mad libs is completely accurate, and completely hilarious. The only thing you missed was (Daniel touches something and everything goes haywire. Again.)

Anyway, I like Stargate, I like Ben and Claudia, I like Ben and Claudia ON Stargate. There's just one point I've been wondering about. What was Claudia doing in Canada in the first place? It's a long way from Australia.

I mock the Startgate, but I still watch it if a good repeat is on. Especially if it's an early episode when Daniel had the long hair. He's the only character that has changed much since the early episodes. He goes from being Daniel the Doofy Archeologist Guy to Ass-Kicking Archeologist with Gun.

This topic is going to be very Browder-centric because we in the states haven't seen much of the television work from Simcoe or Gigi. Or Pygram. Browder's been the good bit in some stinky movies (A Killer Within, I'm looking at you). But what about the others?

Anyone have any input about the other work of the rest of the cast?

How many people are also aware that BB has also played Lee Majors (alongside Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica as Farrah Fawcett, no less!) in a tv movie about the making of Charlie's Angels?

Ben in sideburns is an utter trip.

Kind of but not really.

What helped get me into FS in the first place was how much of the cast I already knew from watching shows lensed in Aus, especially the Lost World.

Gigi was memorable in her LW episode about a giant man-eating plant run amok.

Lani Tupu (Crais, Pilot) made several appearances in LW from the pilot episode as a guide, and the one about a giant where he plays the 'genie' role.

The evil aide in FS "Dream a Little Dream," played a crazy, zombie-queen in LW.

That's all I got cause there is a lot of latex in both shows and I prolly wouldn't recognize anyone if they were sitting on my nose. Sorry those are not current roles but they were enjoyable past ones. I like that the shows shot in Aus use a lot of local actors.

Wasn't Claudia in something called Water Rats? IMDB.com says she was in an episode, but I thought she was a regular.

And Virginia was in All Saints. Anyone ever seen this?

Is there an equivilent to Amazon in Australia?

Yes, but it went on for years, I believe, and I only saw the first season or so, so I never saw Virginia Hey in it.

I did see her in that prison show, though. The one that went on for years and years and years and became cult among a lot of my friends as it was on every night at one or two. I didnt' follow it myself, but I did catch a few eps on sleepless nights, and was lucky enough to see a few of the eps when VH was guesting on it.

Quite a few of the cast members guest-starred in Water Rats. Raelee Hill, however, was the one who was a regular. There's actually a whole slew of Australian or Australian-produced shows that several of the cast members of shown up in.

Heh. "Queen of the Damned" is on skiffy right now. I've only caught the last hour of it, so unless she had something more to do during the beginning, I feel bad for Claudia Black! Nothin' to do but stand around sportin' vampire teeth in this one.

I have caught a few glimpses of her as Vala on "SG-1", and it's quite a switch from Aeryn. (Of course, I'm only on season 1 of the 'Scape, so it's possible I don't know what I'm talking about.)


*lol* I've seen a clip of that. Priceless.

I would so love to see that, I wish they'd put it out on DVD. If people are looking to buy Australian DVDs http://www.ezydvd.com.au/ has a pretty good range. Though a lot of the stuff the main Australian cast have done on TV isn't that interesting. Claudia Karvan, who was the Praying Mantis-looking babe in the LGM trilogy just did a surprisingly good series though, Love My Way.

She was also in an older series, Secret Life of Us, that Gigi guested on. I was shocked when I figured out which one she was - she is much sexier grey.

It was so cute on the Inside Sci-Fi special last July when Tricia Helfer visited the Stargate set to say hello to Ben.

Whoa. She was? So long ago, I have no idea anymore.

I sad to say I can actually remember Raelee Hill from Neighbours cos she had a cool name (Serendipity- or Ren as she was known) and she was some wierd hippy chick (I think).

I've seen a few episodes of the Australian sitcom Kath and Kim, which features Magda Szubanski (Furlow) as a long-suffering best friend - sort of a less glamorous Ethel Mertz. The show is pretty funny and kind of reminscent of AbFab.

I also caught Tammy McIntosh in a truly dreadful TV adventure series for kids. I've blotted out the name.

I SO want to see that Charlie's Angels movie.

Mary Mara (Lyneea, the astronomer in "I, E.T.") was on this week's episode of "Bones," playing a social worker. She looked great, with very pretty hair. I saw her name in the credits, so I was looking for her, but even if I hadn't noticed her name, I would have known it was her -- she's got a very distinctive voice.

Yay! Bones is starting up here soonish, I just saw a trailer for it today. Are you in season which?

I mean, which season are you in? (Sheesh. A little tired, and word order gets the boot.)

It's nearing the end of its first season.

Kanel, I've got some "Bones" things to say in the Meet Market :)

Someone that hasn't been mentioned is Alyssa-Jane Cook (Gilina from season 1). She was in the Australian soap 'Home and Away' for a bit a couple of years ago. She wasn't a main character but was (I think and I could be wrong) a single mother dating one of the male characters. I think I annoyed all my family by pointing out she was on Farscape every time she came on screen.

I'm sure I saw Raelee Hill in Neighbours too as I remember her looking very familiar the first time she appeared on Farscape.

I've seen Mary Mara on Monk. She also played a social worker in that episode. (Hmmmm..coincidence? Or typecasting?) And Bianca Chiminello (Genavian in the Look At The Princess trilogy) also had a small role on Monk. Bianca also had a small role on a recent episode of Charmed.

People can see Anthony in an Australian movie called "The Castle". It's available on DVD (region 1).

Several of Ben Browder's earlier movies were recently aired on Lifetime Movie Network, including the Charlie's Angels one. I must say that he made those cheesy 70's fashions actually look good. (Or to put it another way, if you want to see why everyone thought those fashions looked cool back then, take a look at Ben in that movie.) And those sideburns SLAYED me!

As for the poll at the beginning of this thread, you can also put me down for "C" with a healthy dose of "B" on the side. SG-1 is stupefyingly boring, and the only reason I'm going to watch next season (well, apart from getting my Browder fix) is to see how TPTB deal with that powerfully potent chemistry between Ben and Claudia.
a) Will they ignore it and pretend it isn't there?
b) Will they try to minimize the appearance of both of them in the same frame??
C) Will they increasingly exagerate the silly business between between Daniel and Vala in hopes that no one else notices that the real action is with Cam and Vala???
TUNE IN next season and find out!!

I'll be heretical and vote for "A" with a hefty slice of "C" on the side. BB is doing his level best, but the writing for his character has been all over the place. He's generally not well-used and you almost wouldn't know it's the same actor from Farscape. CB gets to unleash a ton of bravura that must have been tamped down under Aeryn Sun all those years, but in the process her character has been allowed to run amuck, which is A Big Problem on an ensemble show. Her role really needs to either be an occasional Very Special Guest Star or the protagonist around whom a show is written. What they've got now is neither fish nor fowl.

I suspect that this odd hybrid has been concocted as some crack-brained, condescending sop to Farscape fans: "OK, so we took away the show you loved. We'll graft some Farscape elements onto this other show and let you have that one to play with instead." Consequently, they've managed to further piss off a lot of Stargate and Farscape fans alike. At last! A cause in which Gaters and Scapers can unite: "The Skiffy F-ed Over My Favorite Show."

Thank for your opinion Idiotboy.

Hey all! Wayne Pygram will be appearing in LOST April 12th! A chance to see Wayne act without the Scorpy makeup. ;)

I just hope that Wayne's character will meet Locke. That could be very interesting.

Man, just when I had finally given up on watching Lost, now I'll have to watch it again to see Wayne. I've never seen him in any roles other than Scorpius, so that'll be interesting to see.

Dr. Lara from Casualty was in the first episode as a random Peacekeeper and I think at some point Crais kills her. Was rewatching it and spent ages trying to figure out why she was familiar. I think she was also in a later series of Cutting It.

I fail to see the need for sarcasm, thank you very kindly.

Actually I was just being polite.

Idiotboy, we love ourselves some heretics! Don't take it the wrong way. :)

Do you mean Lt. Teeg? I liked her for the short time she was on the show.

Yep Shroom, thats her. I didnt catch her name before.

Water Rats is airing in Canada and we caught Claudia guest staring as Beth Williams, a woman suspected of murdering her husband. There’s an infamous scene where Beth tells the detectives that her much older husband had a “gorgeous penis”. This clip ran 8-9 times a day Australian tv. :)

Ralee Hill is a regular on Water Rats and it’s fun too see her as a wet-behind- the-ears rookie.

Hee, I've seen a clip of that scene! Claudia's a hoot, especially the look she gives the detective after she says the penis line. You can get the clip from here.

Spew! That is so cheeky. The way Claudia flashes her eyes just so slightly after the line.... *snicker*