AFT SG-1: General O'Neill briefs the new president about the Stargate programme

[dieastra]

Today was a very special day for my homecity Dresden: US president Barack Obama came for a quick visit. It was a great honor for all of us.


I want to show you some action figure theater: General Jack O'Neill is briefing the new president about the Stargate programme. Because of the lenght of the story I put most of it behind an LJ cut. Enjoy!

A huge Thank you goes to lolmac for the beta of the English dialogue!

Aus diesem Anlass möchte ich Euch eine weitere Actionfigurentheater-Geschichte präsentieren: General O'Neill weiht den neuen Präsidenten in das Stargate-Programm ein. Weil die Story so lang ist, habe ich einen Teil hinter einem Link versteckt. Viel Spaß damit!

Jack: [knocking] Knock, knock. Do you have a minute, Mister President?



Obama: [inviting] General O’Neill! Sure, come on in. How’s the fishing?



Jack: [jovial] I’m just on my way. But there are important matters I have to discuss with you first, Sir. I’m here to officially brief you on the Stargate programme.



Obama: Star- what?





English conclusion:

Jack: The Stargate, sir. It’s an alien doohickey, a kind of round spinny thing, which…

Obama: Round spinny thing? Is that a technical term?

Jack: [shrugging] Not exactly. Carter could explain it so much better than I.

Obama: [wondering] Well, then why didn’t you bring her with you?

Jack: [wincing] Actually, I did, sir. If you please could help me with the backpack?



Sam: Colonel Samantha Carter reporting, sir!



Obama: [gaping]



Sam: [apologizing] Sorry, Mister President. There was an accident in Dr. Lee’s laboratory, which resulted in a massive case of…

Jack: [interrupting] He shrunk Carter.

Sam: [annoyed] I’m sure we’ll soon be able to reverse it. Anyway, this is a model of the Stargate. It’s made of naquadah, measuring roughly 22 feet in diameter and weighing about 64,000 pounds. It breaks down matter into patterns of energy and then…



Jack: [zoning out and only hearing technobabble naquadah technobabble subspace technobabble vortex technobabble Event Horizon technobabble wormhole]

Obama: [wondering] What is a wormhole?

Sam: It’s called a wormhole because…



Jack: [piping up] Oh please, not the analogy with the apple again!

Sam: [glaring] … it goes through space like a worm through an apple. It’s controlled with a DHD – that’s short for a Dial Home Device



Jack: By the way, Mister President, I have a present for you. It’s called a GDO. If you ever happen to be on the wrong side of the Stargate, just punch those numbers, and we’ll open the door for you.

Obama: Thank you, Jack, but I don’t think that will be necessary. How could I end up on the wrong side of the Stargate anyway?



Jack: [mumbling] Thor, old buddy, this is your signal. Take him for a ride!

Obama: [vanishing]



Jack: [suspicious] Just what else do you have in that bag of yours, Carter?



Sam: [blushing] Um, nothing, sir.

Jack: [insisting] Lemme see!



Jack: You have a doll? Of ME?!?



Sam: [trying to find a rabbit hole]

Jack: [bemused] I wonder if her getting smaller has been an accident after all.

End of story

Related links:

I'm famous *thud*

Pictures of Obama in Dresden part 1

Pictures of Obama in Dresden part 2




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Comments

[a-loquita.livejournal.com]

*laughs and laughs*

The mini!Sam in the backpack just kills me! Hahaha. Brilliant! :)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Glad to make you laugh! I had to work around the limitations of there not being any 12" Sam, so mini!Sam was born ;)

[colej55.livejournal.com]

You crack me up! This was brilliant!!!

I'm glad you had the honor of having Mr. Obama visit. It must have been very exciting! I've never seen him "live", although I originally come from his home state of Illinois. It kind of creeps me out to think that one man is looked to as the "leader of the free world". That's far too much power and responsibility for one person!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I didn't get to see him "live" either, the whole area was closed down for security measures. But we had a party nearby, with video screen, and the place was full of people. I guess I'm going to do an extra post with some pictures and impressions. I got filmed and interviewed by a lot of camera teams and photoreporters because I had the little figure with me LOL

I agree what you say about the leader of the free world. It must be a heavy burden to carry.

[supplyship.livejournal.com]

Mini Carter in the backpack, hahahaha!!! I think that might be Jack's dream-come-true: to have a pocket-sized Carter he can take with him everywhere. :D

I love that you have an Obama figure! (And yay that he visited your home city!)

The last frame is hilarious!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

... and Sam has the pocket-sized Jack ;)

You can have an Obama figure yourself, if you google "Obama actionfigure" and have enough money ;)

I guess I'm going to do an extra post with some pictures and impressions of this visit. I got filmed and interviewed by a lot of camera teams and photoreporters because I had the little Obama figure with me LOL

Bragging a little

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Please forgive me for doing so, just wanted to share the joy with you!

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/4234.html

[ziparumpazoo]

*laughing and laughing*
Oh this is just amazing. (and love Thor's beam-out light - I have no idea what the technical term is). And Tiny!Sam with even tinier!jack.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to make you laugh! And I'm pretty sure that beam-out light is the right technical term - at least if Jack O'Neill was the one to name it ;)

A little bit of bragging

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Sorry, did not know whether that also fits with the community (although it has puppets!) but maybe you want to know what else came out of that Obama figure:

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/4234.html

[mrspollifax.livejournal.com]

*giggles madly*

That is fabulous. Jack would explain the Stargate program exactly like that. Look, Mr. President! It spins! Hee.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I got the idea from the 200th episode with the puppets - General Hammond wanting it to spin. Glad to make you giggle!

[(Anonymous)]

Astra, das ist genial. Aber das sind wir ja gewöhnt.

LG AngiAngus

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Danke Angi! *rotwerd*

Mit Euch zusammen macht es trotzdem mehr Spaß als allein.

General O'Neill briefs the new president about the Stargate programme

[billieo2.livejournal.com]

Hi dieastra:

Hahahahaha! Thank you!

Was having a terrible day and you have made me laugh....Thanks again!

....and as always....
Have A Very Stargate Day!

Best,
Billie

Re: General O'Neill briefs the new president about the Stargate programme

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Sorry for your terrible day and happy that I made it better! And I have a Stargate Day everyday. Ordinary life is just too boring.

Thanks for the laugh!

[immerrda.livejournal.com]

I laughed until there were tears running down my face, Astra! I love the way you explained the reason Sam is smaller. The Obama figure was a surprise for sure! The apple analogy was funny as was Jack's reaction to the apple and then blocking out the technobabble. Best of all was the extra item "little" Sam packed for the trip! This really made my day!

I'm still LOL!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the tears - not! ;)

I had to work around the limitations of there not being any 12" Sam. So I came up with the "shrinkage". And also Jack not listening to the technobabble - no way I was able to write a serious explanation from Carter, so this was a cheap way out ;)

With that little Jack (it is a pewter figure) I have now Jacks in three different sizes.

[lolmac]

Great to finally see the finished story! What fun! Just makes sure Thor gives Obama back, okay? We're gonna need him.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

(Third time is the charm... have always to delete before I can change mistakes)

As soon as I saw this reply of yours I went *headdesk* because I remembered I had forgotten giving credit to you for the beta of the dialogue. Fixed it now! So thanks again.

As for Obama, I am not so sure whether I want to give him back - having him in Dresden was so great! But I think there will be a follow up story with Thor. Just have to wait for Jack's dress uniform to arrive. Really, what did he think, going to the White House in his BDUs?

[amycat1959.livejournal.com]

Yep, it definitely needs a sequel, otherwise the Seret Service will have Jack in lock-up for abducting the President!

And you're right: he should've worn his Class A uniform for any meeting with the President!

[sharp2799.livejournal.com]

OMG this was hysterical!!! I loved it!!!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I certainly had fun making it, too. But reading all the comments is the icing on the cake!

[rdamel.livejournal.com]

This was so good! Thank you for your creativity, and for sharing it with us!

Melissa M.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Hi Melissa! Thank you for commenting! I'm glad when I can make people laugh, it is all the payment I need.

[stargatesg1971.livejournal.com]

Nice work, Astra! Good story concept with a nice blend of humor. I loved how Carter was in the rucksack with a doll of Jack LOL. Thanks for sharing.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

That rucksack seemed to be bottomless, like the bag of Mary Poppins ;)

This was the first time I first wrote the dialogue and then tried to make matching pictures. So far we did it the other way around - first making silly pictures, and then coming up with a story to go with them. Usually I do it with friends, so everyone shares his input, but this story is mine all alone. So it is great that you all like my kind of humour!

[tina-fandom.livejournal.com]

As always, adorable, it made me smile and laugh! I was especially impressed by the creative use of a shoebox as door and corridor. I would never have thought of such a simple solution, but the angle the picture is taken from makes it work. The first picture of mini-Sam was actually positioned and angled so that it almost looked like they were the same size, but still the further posts and the explanation were great! Also, the creative use of a spot of light was good! ( I accidentally created a "sun" with a flashlight when I took those crappy laptop pics, and I'm going to keep it in the final product because I liked it. ) Mini-Sam having a mini-Jack is adorable! ( I actually have Sean Bean in four sizes, mostly Boromir but also a 12-inch Alec Trevelyan. )

As for how my project is going... I had a lot of fun for hours and pretty much photographed and planned out the whole story... but then when I transferred the photos to my computer, it turned out that they were all blurry. Seems I can't hold the camera steady and have to find something to place it on, at just the right height for every scene. I kind of lost my inspiration after that setback... and then my parents needed their camera. I have all of Sheppard's team now anyway, including a headswapped Field Ops Rodney ( sadly the shaving messed up his face a bit ) and the Pegasus gate ( a kind forum member sent me Weir's piece ) and making a stand for it shouldn't be too hard I hope!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting on the shoebox! So it was recognizable as one, yes? Tried to photograph it without any writings to be shown.
I like that kind of simple solutions. Just buying stuff is easy, but I like to be creative. I always look around like MacGyver and find different usage for things. I recently saw somebody using a brown beautycase as a desk for her Elizabet Weir. Love such things!

I think you need somebody to hold the light for you. Just tell me when I shall come over ;)

Sorry to hear about the set back with your project. I understand you don't want to post blurry pictures, but I would be interested in seeing them anyway, just to get an idea what you had planned. If you like to send them by e-mail to me.
As for the blurry - it also could be you forgot to set the button for close-ups? When photographing that near to an object it must be set, otherwise the picture gets blurry. Just an idea? My button shows some flower pictogramme.

Also sorry to hear that Rodney's face suffered because of the shaving. Did you put a band aid on him? LOL

Thanks for the comment! Did you see the other post I made regarding the Obama figure, the "I'm famous" one?

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/4234.html

[tina-fandom.livejournal.com]

Yes, I tried with the closeup button thingie too, but it says in the manual that it's only for when the distance to the object is like 10 centimetres, and that's too little. I tried placing the camera on another bookshelf and took a picture, and that turned out ok, so now I have to set up something to place the camera on, at the exact height and angle, for every picture. And I take them all over my apartment. I've also realized that I need to rewrite the "plot" so the pictures I took aren't the right scenes anymore. But I'll send them over to you anyway, I had far too much fun with them. I've borrowed my parents' camera again this weekend, but I have a couple of other projects I need to catch up with first.

[tina-fandom.livejournal.com]

By the way, I've changed my Gateworld user name to "Tinah", that capital "J" at the end was beginning to annoy me!

[kirsty841.livejournal.com]

LMAO!! Teeny Sam in the backpack is hilarious!! And Lee shrunk her! LOL! I bet he was secretly delighted that an accident really did result in miniturisation for once! Heh.

I love all your props. The GDO, the DHD, the mini-Stargate. And awesome visual effects when Obama disappeared! *g*

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I guess that backpack is a bit like the bag of Mary Poppins - I mean, the many things Sam had in there ;)

What do you mean "for once"? *confused* You're trying to tell me that Dr. Lee indeed did experiment on that? I didn't even know! LOL

The GDO came with the 12" Jack figure. It even has an elastic band so that you can put it around the wrist. Love it! The DHD I made myself some time ago, and I used it because it only shall be a model. I do have the real DHD that comes with the 6" figures, but of course Sam would not own one of those. And the little Stargate is just the bottom on which pewter Jack stood in his box.

It was not easy doing the visual effect and photographing at the same time! Usually I have a whole team for camera, background and lighting, but here I had to do it all on my own..

Thank you for commenting!

[kirsty841.livejournal.com]

What do you mean "for once"? *confused* You're trying to tell me that Dr. Lee indeed did experiment on that? I didn't even know! LOL - LOL Not exactly. In Arthur's Mantle when Sam and Cam are out of phase he thinks they've accidentally shrunk themselves! It's so funny. He sets up a cordon around the area they could've travelled in on "tiny little legs" and has all this equipment trying to find them. Heh.

Usually I have a whole team for camera, background and lighting, - You have your own crew?! Rockstar! Heh.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think I remember now. And as for the team - I have to ask whether I can post their pictures in here officially, but I'm going to send them to you by e-mail!

[amycat1959.livejournal.com]

I'm envious... YOUR Obama-doll is MUCH nicer than mine! :-}

I got one that's supposedly in-scale with the smaller (6") action figures, but his head's too big in proportion to his body so he looks like Anime!Obama next to the SG-1 folks. However, he only cost US$5 (wholesale). I decided not to order the bigger, nicer Obama-doll you got 'cause he was much more pricey... (I bought 100 Obama "Hope" buttons for our local campaign for what the action figure would've cost me.)

Love your explanation for Mini!Sam! :-)

One thing that might get the Stargate program in trouble: I bet the Secret Service don't much approve of Thor right now...

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've seen those big head Obamas. Didn't like them. I stumbled about mine while I was searching for GI Joe stuff for my Jack... couldn't resist. Got it a bit cheaper from ebay, but shipping costs from America are quite high.

A lot of people at that special day asked me where I bought it! I could have sold quite a few of them if I had more. If you are interested reading about my "fame" just follow the tag
Obama in Dresden (http://dieastra.livejournal.com/tag/obama+in+dresden) . I also posted some pictures there. It was an huge honor since usually we get not such visitors in my corner.

Thanks for the feedback! Not sure what you refer to regarding Thor, though. Could you please enlighten me? What did I miss?

Thor

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Of course it would help if I just remembered my own story... sorry ;) I'm sure Thor will bring him back save and sound. As lolmac stated: We're gonna need him.

[normaltrouble.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

Poor Carter, getting shrunk and all! I hope she gets unshrunk ;)

But she's a good soldier, maintained her dignity and poise, of course, throughout the meeting with the President.

I hope President Obama enjoys the tour of the galaxy with Thor, and of course, 2 Secret Service folk were included- right? Or Thor's gonna have some explaining to do!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Hi! Thank you for that long feedback! Glad you liked the story.

Yeah, about Carter's shrinkage... I actually once started a story about both Jack and Sam getting shrunk, and Jack found Felger's Barbie dolls in a drawer. Must dig out that one and finish it!

But Carter's always a pro, shrunk or not. Couldn't help writing her glares onto Jack in it ;)

And I also have to think up a conclusion with the President and Thor, a lot of people requested it. Unfortunately I don't have any puppets that could serve as Secret Service guys - unless you count Dr. Who? A friend will visit me with him, so maybe there will be crossover AFT.