Thought of the Day for TPTB
The Thing About Super Powers by Lex
I've always had this problem with Superman. Don't get me wrong, I like the concept. The comics were great when I was a kid; the films were pretty good back then, too. Superman was a hero, he would always save the day. In the simplistic world of a child, that was wonderful. But as I grew up I couldn't relate to him any longer. I could never be Superman (or should I say Supergirl) because I don't have those powers. I'm not invincible, I can't fly, I don't use my x-ray vision on a daily basis.
When I discovered Sam Carter - a blonde woman I could look to as a real person who was actually smart, rather than the cliched 'dumb and pretty' - I liked her. I could relate to her. Here was a woman who could be a soldier, a smart cookie and still be feminine. And then she started being able to fix everything and she knew everything. She got superpowers. At that point I lost interest. She's smart, but not that smart. When I first got to know her she didn't have a degree in every branch of science known to woman.
I liked that Daniel knew languages and archaeology. After all, that was what he'd studied. I liked that he was someone without superpowers, and I could relate to him. I liked that Teal'c used his knowledge of the Goa'uld and their behaviour, but he didn't understand their technology. He was a Jaffa, they didn't get to learn about stuff like that. I also liked that Jack was a good leader, knew about tactics and fighting and had a pretty good grasp of the realities of politics. All these characters were real to me - they were people I could relate to.
And here's confession time. I wanted to give season six a chance, so I watched Redemption. I saw Jonas in his new environment. And guess what - he seems to have superpowers. Jonas can learn anything really quickly. He's probably the smartest guy on the planet these days, eclipsing even our beloved Sam. Jonas didn't know anything about technology, yet in the space of maybe a day (could have been less, who the heck could tell?), he managed to learn enough about engineering, physics, reactors and who knows what else to be able to tell Hammond that their nice new spacecraft wasn't going to work. Not only can he read really fast, he can understand everything he reads. Having spent four years studying for a degree in engineering, I know how utterly inhuman that is. The boy's a genius. Go to the top of the class. Someone give him a gold star.
But of course, now that he's Superman I don't need to watch any more episodes of the new season. Why? Because Superman always wins. Superman has superpowers, and no matter who goes up against him, he'll come out on top. I used to like watching Sam or Daniel try to figure out a puzzle and manage to come up with the answer just in time. I liked it when Jack thought up some great military tactic to save the day. I knew these things took effort. But I don't need to worry about the team taxing their brains like us normal folk any more, because all they have to do in future is download the appropriate information into Jonas's brain and he'll come up with the answer.
Which is all well and good for the new style season, but I *liked* the struggle. I could relate to people I could have been if I'd followed a different path. So, the one thing that's going to keep me from ever relating to this new character is that he *couldn't* be me. I don't have superpowers and I never will. There's nothing to get me involved, nothing to draw me into the story because I know ahead of time that Jonas will have all the answers.
And frankly, I'm not all that fond of know-it-alls.
By Lex
9th June 2002
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