So we did Voyager now Stargate Atlantis

[The Borgified Corpse]

Dr Lee on the other hand is kind of the franchise's Anti-Rodney. He's amiable, with a kind of well intentioned bumbling incompetence. I forget, were these two ever put together in a scene? If not that's some wasted comic potential right there.

I feel sure that they would have been at some point but probably in an earlier episode when Dr. Lee's idiocy hadn't quite been completely established yet.

I was very disappointed that, when McKay guest starred on SGU, he didn't have any scenes together with Rush. (Turns out that, in sufficient quantities, Destiny can use ego as a fuel source. With McKay & Rush on board at the same time, Destiny makes it back to the Milky Way in 2 days!)

Could do. Though who would be the pick for compassionate incompetent? I thought maybe Volker, but that seems a little harsh. Brody perhaps?

There's also Felger & Coombs.

Top middle for compassionate competent would be Jeannie Miller.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Bottom middle is probably the hardest. Competent gobshite. Hmmmmm.... Maybe Michael? Nirrti? That fat Goa'uld from Season 9?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Michael the Wraith should have been a regular cast member, it would have been neat to have a Wraith on the team.

 

[Reverend]

OK, this is what I got so far...still can't think of a good candidate for that top left slot though.

There's also Felger & Coombs.

I guess, though I'm more inclined to go with fairly memorable ones, not someone casual viewers wouldn't recognise on sight and have to look up.

Top middle for compassionate competent would be Jeannie Miller.

Jeannie I'd place as a compassionate genius. The only reason she doesn't have Rodney's job is because she doesn't want it. In lieu of a better option I'd maybe put Daniel in that spot?

Bottom middle is probably the hardest. Competent gobshite. Hmmmmm.... Maybe Michael? Nirrti? That fat Goa'uld from Season 9?

I've actually reconsidered and think Rush would be a nice fit for that. He's very clever, but not a Sam/McKay/Eli level genius. The only reason he's anywhere near them is because he works his arse off to get there, while the others have to come to them much more naturally.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I was going to complain that Rush & McKay should be swapped but you've convinced me.

 

[DonIago]

It's hard for me to understand how Kavanaugh ended up on the Atlantis team to begin with if he's so incompetent though...

I tended to feel that he was bringing up concerns that weren't entirely invalid, but he did so poorly and wasn't going to be taken seriously because his name wasn't in the opening credits. I would have liked Weir in particular to be a bit more receptive, at least initially. She is a diplomat after all...

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Weir is frozen in time and later becomes Commander Delaney Truffault of the Mikkei Combine after they wipe her memory of her former life....

I think your chart is about right but who to put in top left I do not know

 

[tomalak301]

Michael the Wraith should have been a regular cast member, it would have been neat to have a Wraith on the team.

I liked the Michael story line and yeah I think he would have been a great cast member. Of course I like Conner Trennier as Trip, so seeing him in another series would have been cool too.

 

[Reverend]

It's hard for me to understand how Kavanaugh ended up on the Atlantis team to begin with if he's so incompetent though...

Incompetent people can be astonishingly successful. Some even wind up running whole countries.
In the case of Kavanaugh, I think it's a case of him being good at the very specific thing he does, but he has zero people skills and no decision making ability. So he's the sort of person you hire because they can do the work, but make sure they're never put in a position of any real responsibility. Which is probably why he ended up at Midway Station.

I tended to feel that he was bringing up concerns that weren't entirely invalid, but he did so poorly and wasn't going to be taken seriously because his name wasn't in the opening credits. I would have liked Weir in particular to be a bit more receptive, at least initially. She is a diplomat after all...

The problem wasn't the concerns he was raising, but the way in which he was raising them. Showing up to a recording session for what's supposed to be (potentially) the only chance they'll get to send personal messages home with an over prepared, highly detailed itemised list of complaints and grievances tells you two things: 1) He is astronomically petty and has no self awareness. 2) Nobody back home misses him.

 

[DonIago]

I did say he expressed his concerns poorly.

If he really is unmissed though, maybe the guy deserves a bit of pity. Even people who claim they're fine without friends aren't usually really fine about it, and it's probably part of a vicious cycle feeding his general obnoxiousness. I don't know whether he ever met with the psychiatrist(?) Atlantis had (for a while?), but I would have been curious to see how that might have gone.

Kavanaugh is essentially what McKay could have been under different circumstances, and as his superior, it might have been interesting to see McKay recognize that and try to help him...even if he got shut down, he would have made the effort.

As for his message home...it was his time to say what he wanted to say, and if that's how he wanted to spend it because he really felt his concerns about the mission were that significant, I say let him have his time in the spotlight. He never seemed to be lying about anything, just expressing adverse opinions.

TL;DR I wonder how much of the hate toward Kavanaugh is a product of TPTB not especially wanting us to like the character in any case, as I saw it.

 

[Reverend]

Well all these characters are fictional, so literally everything they do is a result of "TPTB" one way or another.

As for pitying the guy...pity is for victims of circumstance. It's a little hard to muster pity for self inflicted misery.

 

[DonIago]

I'm not sure we know enough about Kavanaugh to say for certain how much of his misery is self-inflicted. We're not given a great deal of insight into his character.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

They significantly toned McKay down in Atlantis from his first appearance. In 24 Hours he was aggressively a jerk whereas in Atlantis he was more like a Big Bang Theory style science nerd.

Interesting going from Voyager to Atlantis. A spinoff immediately following a more popular show in which characters got stranded far away.

 

[DonIago]

^I think it's 48 hours, not 24?

But yeah, especially in light of McKay's earlier appearances, I feel like Kavanaugh was somewhat of a dark reflection of what he could have been, and while I don't think Kavanaugh's opinions were necessarily worthy of discussion, I would have liked to have seen the character himself treated with a bit more dignity.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Weir is frozen in time and later becomes Commander Delaney Truffault of the Mikkei Combine after they wipe her memory of her former life....

As someone who just finished watching Dark Matter, I heartily approve!

I think your chart is about right but who to put in top left I do not know

I still say Felger. He appeared in nearly as many episodes as Kavanaugh and was the central guest star in both of them. Plus, the actor who played him is quite well known for his work on The Red Green Show, so much so that they made sure to have him holding a roll of duct tape in one of his SG-1 scenes as an homage.

Kavanaugh is essentially what McKay could have been under different circumstances, and as his superior, it might have been interesting to see McKay recognize that and try to help him...even if he got shut down, he would have made the effort.

Yeah. Come on, McKay! Leadership!

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well old Rodney could rave on for hours and hours if given enough encouragement, which isn't much. Him and the Doctor from Voyager doing a presentation would take 5 days or more.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

For compassionate incompetent you could take your pick of almost every doctor or scientist to disagree with any main or major recurring character.