~ the storytellers' tales ~ -

Mar. 13th, 2005

11:03 PM

I'm really, really fed up with the whole Kavanagh bashing everywhere. In "Thirty-eight minutes", he just pointed out his (reasonable) concerns about the safety of all of Atlantis, and had to suffer the worst kind of character assassination from (an evidently PMS-ing) Weir -- and as a result, from fandom as a whole. Kavanagh never said anything about being scared for his own life; he just acted according to Spock's axiom everyone praises to high heavens: "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few... or the one."

Well, the 'jumper's crew was the few. The many were the rest of the Atlanteans. That the 'jumper didn't blow (and therefore the gate), was just a stroke of pure luck.

Hence, this icon:

Comments

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kriski.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 13th, 2005 10:22 pm (UTC)

i don't think it's so much "38 minutes", rather it's "letters" that settled his fate as fandom's number one whipping boy. also, the bit with weir in the hallway, that was NOT about pointing out a risk, it was about his ego only. but i agree with you, he is getting more than his fair share of character bashing.

i'm trying to come up with a voice for him for my next piece in that story thing that just jumped on me and is holdin me hostage... a voice that makes him a little more sympathetic. giving him reasons and a sense of both honour and duty that not necessarily overlap with anybody else's. it's not easy, given what canon footage of him we have...

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allaire.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 13th, 2005 11:55 pm (UTC)

I don't see the scene in the hallway in "Thirty-eight minutes" in quite the same way. After the dressing-down from Weir, Kavanagh must have felt that whatever solution he came up with, no one would listen to him unless he got "overruled" by his own assistants. Simpson et al were his research team... and Weir effectively put them in charge when she disregarded his concerns and listened to them instead, while cutting his legs out from under him in front of them when she point-blank accused him of self-serving motivations.

So... why should he concentrate on the scientific problem, if everyone was sure they knew better than him anyway?

He wanted to regain his standing, and thereby get back a working team. We didn't see enough of Simpson and the others while they were working on solving the problem, but I suppose they almost certainly fought among themselves, fractions forming, Kavanagh-supporters and -adversaries yelling at each other... I can imagine it only too well.

I read a fic a short while ago in which Weir publicly asked him for forgiveness, so that the apology would be as public as the dressing-down. I just wish canon-Weir had done the same thing when everything had cooled down a little.

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http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/ wrote:

Mar. 14th, 2005 05:19 am (UTC)

He wanted to regain his standing, and thereby get back a working team.

It didn't look to me as if he had a working team in the first place.

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http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/ wrote:

Mar. 13th, 2005 10:39 pm (UTC)

kriski pointed out, the part in the hallway was about his ego. Instead of running after Weir he could have used the time to come up with a solution, they were on a limited timetable after all. He still could have gone to Weir after it was over. And in "Letters From Pegasus" it looks more like he's out for revenge than anything else.

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allaire.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 14th, 2005 12:00 am (UTC)

I sincerely cannot blame him for his actions in "Letters from Pegasus", just for his stupidity in allowing Ford to tape it with the Lieutenant present.

Frankly, Weir and Sheppard have had their own share of questionable decisions, and anyone bold enough to point that out is someone I applaud. After all, Kavanagh could hardly step into Jack O'Neill's office and ask him to consider to his complaints, now could he?

Weir made him into a pariah, and I'm sure everyone in the scientific community of Atlantis has made him feel how far he's "fallen from grace".

I feel sorry for him. He didn't deserve it.

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http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/ wrote:

Mar. 14th, 2005 05:18 am (UTC)

Of course Weir and Sheppard had their own share of questionable decisions, I know that. And when I first saw the episode I was torn, because on the one hand it was high time that someone said something about Weirs "ability" to make decisions, to lead the Atlantis expedition, but on the other hand the way he did it, made him look, as they say, quite wanky.

I'm sure everyone in the scientific community of Atlantis has made him feel how far he's "fallen from grace".

We don't know that.

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