Irreconcilable Differences

By: Dana Jeanne Norris

I first saw "Stargate: The Movie" in a packed theater sitting shoulder to elbow to knee with fellow Science Fiction fans. My friends and I had been waiting with bated breath for the movie to come out; it seemed to be made especially for us, filled with Egyptology, fantasy, mythology, outer-space exploration and James Spader.

Before Monday morning rolled around, I'd seen it six times. Did I mention James Spader?

The instant Jack stepped back home through the wormhole I wanted a sequel. There was simply no possible way it could be left like that; Jack and Daniel were now friends, what happened next? Daniel had not only physically saved Jack's life by stepping in front of that staff weapon blast, but he'd done it literally, convincing him that living was more important than dying.

As far as I was concerned then, and now, Stargate is All About Daniel's Journey. It's about the great friendship between Jack and Daniel that started in the movie and moved on. It's about exploration, mythology, and hope. There simply had to be more than just one movie. How could Devlin and Emmerich not make a sequel?

Three years later Showtime announced a new TV series based on the movie Stargate. It would be called "Stargate: SG-1" and would star Richard Dean Anderson in the Kurt Russell part of Col. Jack O'Neill. MacGyver as Jack? Okaaaaaay. I could wait and see on that one. The question for me was: who was going to play Daniel Jackson?

I couldn't believe my eyes when the first team photos came out; who was that boy in the glasses and blonde hair looking like he was supposed to be Dr. Jackson? He didn't look old enough to shave yet, and he was the one chosen to fill James Spader's boots?

My hopes plummeted.

Watching the first episode, "Children of the Gods," was an eye-opener. The new Jack was going to take some getting used to since the attitude change between characters was so large. Captain Carter had to improve; will anyone ever forget the infamous line about her reproductive organs being on the inside rather than the outside?

And then we went to Abydos and met the new Daniel. I perked up in the cartouche room when Daniel and MajorDoctor Carter started in on their science talk. Okay, this kid I'd never heard of seemed to know how to be James Spader being Daniel, but I wasn't sure he could carry it off week after week.

The final scene between Daniel and the Abydonians; remember it? They've surrounded Daniel, he's telling them he has to leave; they're confused, scared, grieving, and Daniel is barely able to force the words out, trying to be strong as the tears fall from his eyes. I realized then that not only would young Michael Shanks have no problem filling James Spader's boots, he would be outgrowing them before anyone realized it.

However, I still had doubts about his ability to grow facial hair.

~~~~

In those first couple of years, the show kept the themes from the movie alive: mythology, exploration, the growing friendship between Jack and Daniel. Adding to the feast were the new characters: Teal'c of Chulak, Captain Carter, General Hammond, Dr. Janet Frasier and the others who appeared semi-regularly.

Very soon, they were as well known as family. I was there without fail every Friday night, excited beyond belief to find out what was happening to the team this week. The friendship between Jack and Daniel, their quick back-and-forth bantering and teasing, even their disagreements were wonderful to watch. The two actors both had a remarkable sense of timing and a chemistry together that almost made speech unnecessary. It was ... magic.

So what happened? Sometime between the third and fourth season something... changed. The President of MGM Television Entertainment went to a different job and his position was taken over by Hank Cohen. Jonathon Glassner, one of the two men who created the series left the show, leaving Brad Wright in sole charge. Two new writers came on board, Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, and the producers stopped taking scripts from outside the studio writing team.

All of a sudden—no, it was not a slow change—the characters began acting out of character (The Other Side, Scorched Earth for example). Major Carter developed a crush on her commanding officer, and suddenly had the answers to every problem that the SGC and SG-1 ran into. Nothing was too difficult for the character who became known in fandom as Super!Sam. Colonel O'Neill, who in turn began to appear bored with life—and Carter—took great satisfaction in seeing how many inappropriate one-liners he could spew per episode, gradually losing that credibility as the military leader of the team upon which the more fantastic elements of the show were grounded. Teal'c became quieter and more invisible.

And Daniel? It seemed the writers had forgotten exactly who he was, what he represented and how important he was to the show. From being an important, integral, member of the team and Jack's best friend, he starting backsliding into "geekhood," and was shoved further and further away from the rest of SG-1. The dialogue between Jack and Daniel, once so much of a joy to see and hear, became painful as their conversations degenerated into bitter confrontation.

Recurring characters began to die-unsatisfactorily. Robert Rothman, fellow archaeologist and friend to Daniel, was killed in "The First Ones" because Brad Wright, according to an interview, wanted to "shock people." Martouf, a very popular character, was destroyed in the unpopular "Divide and Conquer," presumably to make way for the Big Romance between O'Neill and Carter. The Goa'uld, once strong and scary, almost overnight developed weaknesses that hadn't been apparent before and were easily destroyed. Gradually, every recurring character that had been introduced in the first three seasons was either killed off or simply disappeared.

As Major Carter was being pushed to the forefront next to O'Neill, Daniel was fast disappearing into the background, until eventually he was left helping Teal'c hang curtains as they propped up the walls. A show that began with a movie about Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill had suddenly become the Jack and Sam Hour.

The mythology was barely there by the end of season five, exploration had pretty much gone by the wayside, and the four members of SG-1 appeared to no longer know who they were, what they were doing or even what planet they were on. The episodes, once so full of character development, strong plots and thought-provoking themes, changed to stories filled with plot holes, big explosions, and no character development at all. In fact, many weeks saw episodes that could be filled with Any Four Actors, rather than the ones who'd been there up till then.

One of the new writers mentioned how they'd written their episodes without ever seeing the show itself, and seemed to take pride in that fact.

Michael Shanks, wanting to keep the integrity of Daniel Jackson intact, left the series.

Daniel Jackson, after what has to be the most painful, hideous death any writer could concoct for a character, "ascended" to a higher plane of existence, leaving behind a supposed best friend who, after all those years, could only tell the dying man "I think... I might... have grown to admire you a little."

There was a sixth season with a new character that couldn't fill anyone's slippers, let alone the boots Michael Shanks left in Daniel's locker.

Fan outcry brought Shanks and Daniel back.

I had high hopes. I believed the writers, producers, SciFi and MGM when they said the show would once again be about mythology, exploration, the stuff we enjoyed in the first three years. Even after all the nastiness and accusations that flew back and forth during the Save Daniel Jackson campaign, I believed that these people would do what they said they would.

Fast forward to April, 2004, and we've reached the end of Season 7.

Yes, Daniel is back. But contrary to the promise made by Sci-Fi and Bridge Studios, the show has not gone back to its roots. Mythology is still pretty much invisible. There's little exploration, less team interaction than ever before, and Jack seems to have a terminal case of "Daniel who?"

The Jack and Sam "Ship" agenda reared its illegal, ugly head in episode after episode after episode, causing scenes that would normally seem perfectly innocent to take on a sluttish slant. The more Sam and Jack were pushed together, the more the team grew apart.

Episodes became more and more military and hackneyed, with episodes and characters being created in "homage" to Star Trek and Star Wars, but only succeeding in looking old, tired and boring.

With a few exceptions, the writing reached a new low; production values took a dip. Mistakes that would never have appeared on screen in the early years suddenly began popping up in episode after episode. The speed with which these 22 episodes went rushing through production turned what could have been good episodes into mediocrities.

The new big, bad Goa'uld came bouncing on to the show, his mouth filled with the most ridiculous, clichéd words imaginable. He wouldn't scare a kitten, let alone a human. How could he? He had no face for us to connect to. He was a ludicrous copy of-at least to this Star Wars fan-the original Emperor with his black robes and chilling demeanor. Now that was a true Bad Guy!

Major Carter has developed into a character that is so over-the-top unbelievable that some fans have actually stopped watching the show entirely. Colonel O'Neill has gone from a tactically smart leader to a man who appears bored with life and only opens his eyes in order to spit out silly one-liners that are meant to be funny. Teal'c appears regularly only in episodes penned by his actor, Christopher Judge, or Peter de Luise.

And Daniel? He seems to spend most of his time with original guest characters of the week or else alone, separated from his team. Once again, as in seasons four and five, most of the writers don't seem to know what to do with him.

I'm expecting Season 8 to run along the same lines as Season 7. I've given up on ever seeing the great Jack and Daniel friendship scenes I so loved in the past and that hooked me in the beginning. I'm resigned to the fact that a show I loved so much for it's uniqueness and inventiveness has degenerated into a clichéd science fiction show with spaceships and explosions and complete lack of character development.

And then you have "Stargate: Atlantis," the highly touted spinoff, that reads like a badly penned horror flick, complete with Blue Meanies that suck out your brains. The creators of this "new" show, while trading heavily on the already well-known "Stargate" name and using the popularity of the original show to sell their spin-off, are busily and very obviously showing most of the Original Fan Base that they neither care about what we like or even want us around anymore.

I'm extremely disappointed that something I fell in love with ten years ago is now in the process of divorcing me.

Posted by Dana Jeanne at April 29, 2004 06:07 PM