The SGA Countdown: The Minor Characters

[kaaatie]

Monday: The first reason why I love SGA – The minor characters.

Day one of my countdown is dedicated to some of those minor characters, who enhance my love of Stargate Atlantis! I don't think that I've ever watched a TV show where I loved the minor characters quite so much! Obviously I want our main characters to have as much screen time as possible, but I also adore seeing all of the fabulous minor ones – in fact, I really hope that "the powers that be" give them more screen time in season 3.

Unlike some TV shows, where the minor characters seem to be simply "filler", in SGA, they tend to have individual personalities, from the "bacon guys" who so sadly died in "The Storm", to Miko, the delightful little Rodney fangirl!

I also have to talk about Chuck, the cute Canadian technician, who hasn't even been given a name on the show, but has still managed to find a place in our hearts! My favourite scene with "Chuck" would have to be when Rodney simply pushed his chair out of the way! The poor guy puts up with so much!



Next, there’s Radek Zelenka. Despite being only a minor character, he’s one of my favourites. From the first moment, when he asked Elizabeth to "stop talking please" he’s been great! He’s smart, funny, sweet and loyal, but also has a very fierce temper at times.



I love the way he swears in Czech, and I adore the ‘banter’ between him and Rodney, particularly their scenes together in "The Storm".

Zelenka: "You know, you’re not pleasant when you’re like this, McKay."
McKay: "I’m always like this"
Zelenka: "My point exactly"



He’s also incredibly brave - in "Grace Under Pressure", despite being terrified of going out in the water, he did everything in his power to save Rodney. And the poor guy always seems to be the one that reports that Hive ships are on their way!



Although I adored basically every scene that Zelenka was in, I believe that my love for him was secured during his scenes in "Letters From Pegasus", during his description of the rising of the city. Without knowing a word of Czech, I could tell exactly what he was saying! All in all, I love Zelenka, and just wish they’d give him more screen time!



A description of the wonderful minor characters would be incomplete without talking about Major Lorne. Even though he hasn’t been given a first name yet, he’s another well loved character (I personally like the first name "Marcus" for him).



I have to admit that one of my main reasons for liking Lorne is that Kavan Smith is very nice to look at! However, Lorne also seems to have a great personality, and from what we’ve seen, he appears to have a really dry sense of humour, which I just love. The scenes between him and Rodney in "Runner" were pure GOLD!

McKay: "I may have to forgo reproducing"
Lorne: "Yeah, that’s funny. I was just thinking that might be wise"



Some of the other wonderful minor characters, who deserve a mention, include Peter Grodin (who is still strongly missed), Novak (with her cute nervous hiccups – I loved the bit in "Critical Mass" when she accidentally called Weir "Sir"!!) and Lt Laura Cadman (the tap-dancing-bomb-expert, who still manages to get under Rodney’s skin!).



And finally, even though I personally hate him, I must mention Kavanagh – the annoying ponytailed prat - the very fact that I hate him so much shows just how well developed his character is.


(I just want to slap him!)

Anyway, they’re just a few of my thoughts on why I love the minor characters in SGA. So, my fellow SGA lovers, why do you love the minor characters in SGA?? Is there anyone I’ve missed?? Anything that I really should have mentioned?!? Feel free to comment with opinions, pictures or anything else relating to the wonderful minor characters on SGA!

Oh, and don’t forgot to vote for your other favourites. Looks like tomorrow will be all about why I love Rodney McKay!

Comments

[claudiasharon.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Lovely. :)

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

*grins* thanks! I manage to amuse myself!! :D

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

Oh, please. Nicholas Lorne.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Nicholas Lorne... *says it a few times to see how it rolls off the tongue*

Yeah, that's quite nice... I like that too. I like Marcus and Nicholas, but I don't like Mark or Nick.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

I can see Nick more than Marcus of Mark though.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Marcus works for me, but definitely not Mark.

It'll be interesting to see whether they give him a first name this season... Hopefully it's not something terrible like Nigel or something!

[natacup82.livejournal.com]

Oh my beloved Lorne, I even get a thrill when Kavan Smith pops up on the 4400 :)

Also, after Critical Mass I just can't hate Kavanaugh, I still want to smack him but that's never gonna change.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

I hope Lorne will be in lots of Season 3 episodes! I've never watched 4400, but I'll have to track down Kavan's episodes and watch those! :)

Kavanaugh does need to be smacked! It's such a shame that Ronon didn't get a chance to torture him before he fainted! :)

[natacup82.livejournal.com]

the 4400 is a good show and Kavan's been in quite a few eps.

As for Kavanaugh, I figure if he had been tortured I would have officially lost all my respect for Weir (as if stands it hangs on a teeny, tiny thread), she would have been as bad as the Genii which is just not cool.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Cool, I'll have to look out for Kavan in the 4400 then!

And you're right about Weir. As much as I would have liked to see that smug grin wiped off Kavanaugh's face, I don't think that Weir could have continued leading if she approved the torture of an innocent man.

With the things they've done, they've already crossed that "line" a few times, but torturing one of their own would make them as bad as the enemy. It also would have been far too predictable for Kavanaugh to be the bad guy in that ep - so I'm glad he was innocent. (I still want to slap him though!)

[dr-dredd.livejournal.com]

There was one scene in "Coup D'Etat" that turned me into a Lorne fangirl:

SHEPPARD: Major. Boys.
LORNE: Colonel.
SHEPPARD: Way to be alive.
LORNE: Thanks, sir! So, uh, have you come to rescue us?
SHEPPARD: Well, until about a moment ago I thought were dead, but now that I see you
speaking and breathing, yeah, I’m thinkin’ about it.
LORNE: Well, good! Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help, huh?

You can tell that Lorne's had such a bad day, yet he still can't resist the martini-dry humor!

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I loved that interaction too! Sheppard's "way to be alive" was just hilarious, and even though I knew that Lorne couldn't possibly be dead, I was so happy to see him again! :)

[krabbypatty.livejournal.com]

I also think SGA has some of the best minor characters and makes a nice use of them. Lorne is my favorite though. I saw that you might like to catch Kavan Smith on The 4400 and I just happened to make a post about the newest episode (http://community.livejournal.com/stargate_tv/2379.html) that had him and when it repeats. :) And if you want to download the eps he is in, they are listed here (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808902/filmoseries#tt0389564).

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

I agree that SGA makes nice use of the minor characters. Lorne and Zelenka are both favourites of mine!

Thanks for the info about Kavan Smith in The 4400. I actually live in Australia, so I they're showing different episodes, but I'll probably be able to download them from "somewhere"! Cheers! :)

[krabbypatty.livejournal.com]

Oh! Sorry, I should have looked that info up before posting, huh? In my defense, it was really late when I commented. :p

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

It was still useful info! Thanks again! :D

[ria-kukalaka.livejournal.com]

Oh you were doing so well, right until the end :p LOL!

Why do you hate Kavanagh so much? Sure he's arrogant and a little self-centered....wait that reminds me of someone...that's right...Rodney! I think the only real difference between them is that we get to see Rodney's good side too, whereas we haven't enough time with Kavanagh to develop that. But in 38 mins, he voiced an opinion, that he thought was for the good of the city and Weir slapped him down. I'd be a little pissed after that too. In the end, he did come up with the solution.

In Critical Mass, he did absolutely nothing wrong, other than tell Weir some home truths and she responded by ordering to have him tortured without any evidence of his guilt. I never liked Weir, but that switched me from indifference to active dislike; she's the one I want to slap.

And as much as I love to rant about Kav, I've made myself late for work so I should go *g* Still I liked all the others, I'm glad you mentioned Grodin too, I still love him lots. :)

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Sorry for making you late for work with your rant!

You're right that Kavanagh does have a lot of similarities to Rodney - but as you said, we've seen Rodney's good side. I actually hated Rodney when we first saw him in SG1 in 48 Hours - I thought he was a rude jerk, and it wasn't until SGA showed that good side of him that I started really liking him.

In 38 minutes, I thought Kavanagh was too quick to give up on the members trapped in the puddle jumper (which is actually similiar to Rodney being so quick to give up on Teal'c in SG1).

In Letters from Pegasus, although I actually agreed with a lot of what Kav said, his recording was obnoxious (which again, is similar to Rodney in 48 Hours - I agreed with a lot of the issues that Rodney had with Sam's work and theories, but he was really obnoxious in the way he said it).

I also agree with you about Weir - I spend quite a lot of time wanting to slap her too!

So anyway, I guess the point is that I could possibly learn to like Kavanagh, but not until the writing proves that he has a good side! :)

[ria-kukalaka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what I'm worried about though, is we'll never see him again. So I just like to imagine his good side :D

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

I hope they don't just forget about his character. I would like to see more of him, and maybe see that 'good side'!! :D

And you need a character like Kav, to show that a lot of what Weir is doing is completely morally wrong...

[diluvian.livejournal.com]

But in 38 mins, he voiced an opinion, that he thought was for the good of the city and Weir slapped him down. I'd be a little pissed after that too.

See, my dislike for him didn't spring from his scientific opinion of the possible explodey-ness. It's based on him wasting Weir's time after the group meeting. Everyone knows they've got -- what? -- twenty minutes (?) until kablooie time, and he's blithering about her management style.

I can totally understand that (most of) what he says is valid. He was totally right to be cautious and to tell everyone about it. But I get the feeling that in the meeting he was stuck on that issue and wouldn't let it drop so they could go on to consider other (less deadly) options, and we *see* that he pigeonholes Weir afterward to discuss something that was not time-critical. In the midst of a countdown he's wasting time.

Is he Rodney-lite? Yep. Do the writers (and the actor!) do a great job of making him detestible? Yep.

Do I think Weir in Critical Mass had her head firmly up her ass? Yep.

[ria-kukalaka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ok, I'll agree he shouldn't have whined to Weir instead of working but to me it seemed like he did that because she didn't listen to his concerns in the first place.

And yes Ben Cotton is fantastic, and has really pretty hair :D

[sg1padawan.livejournal.com]

*cheers you on* That was great. Looking forward to tomorrows. :)

I'm such a Lorne fangirl it's not funny. How can I not have any Lorne icons?!?! *makes plans to remedy this immediately* Also, you appear to NOT be the only one who likes the name 'Marcus Lorne'. The amount of times I've seen that pop up in fics in the last, oh, 2 weeks, I honestly thought it was canon and I'd missed something. LOL!!

BTW, also seconding the love for Zelenka. I loves the Czech! *heart*

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I'll post the "Why I love Rodney McKay" one later today.

Lorne is great. Everyone should have at least one Lorne icon. I've read Marcus in fanfic too... I'll be interesting to see what Canon name they give him. Maybe he'll never be given a first name.

Zelenka is love! :D

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

Oh, Zelenka is definitely my fav minor character. The guy that plays him is a wonderful actor and the character is so very funny and sweet. I love how he and Rodney play off each other. More screen time? I say yeah! Go gadget go!!

Also love Major Lorne. Yum. And Kavanagh boils my blood something rotton. He's such a bastard. I HATE him!! And that makes me love him. I'm really looking forward to where they take his character becasue I think they could do some really interesting things with him. Slimy git.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yep, Rodney and Zelenka play off each other so well!

In one of the audio commentaries, they were talking about how they hadn't planned to make Zelenka a recurring character, but they couldn't possibly have Rodney saying everything all the time, so they bought Zelenka in to break things up a little... then they saw the wonderful chemistry between them, and decided to keep Zelenka around.

I'm really hoping for lots of screen time for Zelenka and Lorne.

And I hope that they show more of Kavanagh - He's definitely a slimy git, but its good to have a character like that around... particularly if they show more levels of him.

[atlantis-fan.livejournal.com]

What I like the most about Zelenka is that he can get Rodney to listen to him when it's necessary. He's fully willing to tell Rodney that he's wrong about something and puts up with everything Rodney throws at him. Plus the muttering in Cezch is cool too. :O)

Lorne is great too. He needs to be given a canon first name though!! :O)

I have to agree with what someone else said about Kavanagh - I just wish the writers would give us some more information about him. If we are supposed to hate him they need to stop having the other characters overreacting to everything he does - it just makes the other characters look bad, not him.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really enjoy the interaction between Rodney and Zelenka too - Zelenka knows that Rodney is brilliant, but he isn't intimidated by him, and is still willing to 'tell him off' when he's making bad decisions.

Fingers crossed that Lorne will be given a good first name this season!

And I hope to see more of Kavanagh this season as well. I think he's mostly a prat at the moment, but they could do some interesting things with his character... And you're right that at the moment the other characters (particularly Weir) do wildly overreact to a lot of things he does. He definitely makes Weir look bad.

[atlantis-fan.livejournal.com]

I totally did not mean to leave Grodin, and Chuck out of my first reply!

Loved Grodin and I wish they hadn't killed him off. However at the same time I loved his last few scenes. I thought they were great.

Chuck has the potental to be cool and I hope he stickes around and becomes the Atlantis version of Walter (The gateroom tech at the SGC - don't know if you watch Stargate as well).

Cadman... see the more I think about one scene in Duet more uncomfortable I get about her ... so I don't know exactly how I to feel about her. I did like her in Critical Mass but there's still the Duet stuff that comes to mind.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

I loved Grodin too - his accent was great, and he died so bravely *is still sad*

Yep, I love SG1 too, and I reckon that Chuck could become as great as Walter! I wonder whether they'll give "Chuck" a name this season!

I keep changing my mind about Cadman too, but I think they could do some interesting things with her character, so it'll be good to see what happens. Which scene in Duet is it that makes you uncomfortable?

[atlantis-fan.livejournal.com]

The scene where Rodney wakes up naked and realizes Cadman was running around in his body without him knowing the night before. Think about what the reaction of the fans would have been if the situation had been reversed (Rodney in Cadmans head and him doing the same to her body). Outrage instead of laughter right?

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're right - if it was Rodney in Cadman's body, I would have been outraged.

[atlantis-fan.livejournal.com]

*nods* and Rodney is obviously upset in that scene but it is just turned into a big joke in a lot of the fan fic... and that's enough from me on that subject.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Cadman is obviously a strong character, and you can understand how she'd feel constrained by not having any control, but she was doing what she wanted with his body and pretending to be him, and he was right to be upset by that. It'll be interesting to see what they do with her character this season...

But anyway, you're right, that's enough about Cadman!

Lorne and Zelenka are love! :)

[milenaa.livejournal.com]

Your countdown's a great idea! And the screencaps are great :)

Zelenka is adorably scruffy and his scenes with Rodney are gold.
And Chuck! I hope he's going to be in lots of s3 episodes. It makes me grin just to see him in the background, working on his console :D

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the countdown! I'll be posting the reasons why I love Rodney later today.

I wonder whether they'll give Chuck a name this season! I think they should stick with Chuck! (Or as they've called him on one of the commentaries, 'Chuck-nician') :D