I've been thinking about the concept of 'vision'.  How once upon the time it was the source, impetus and guiding centre of the creative endeavours which have most captured our imaginations over the years.  And how now it seems everything has changed, and not for the better.

Over thirty years ago a man named Gene Roddenberry started all of this because he had a vision virtually no one believed in but him about a better, brighter future and the type of people he imagined we could become.  We all know the story, it's become the stuff of legends how one man stuck to his guns and bucked all the 'powers that be' who hated it and said it would never work and brought it to us anyway and let US decide.

It more than 'worked', it created an entire new genre of entertainment and fired the imaginations of millions of people over the years.  The creative 'torch' was carried forward by more 'men of vision' - George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, JMS to name but a few, all men who dared to believe in their dreams and had the conviction to fight and persist without compromise until those visions also became a reality and a part of our dreams as well. And we're all that much richer for it.

In 1994 two men named Devlin and Emmerich gave us a movie called Stargate whose central character was an unlikely hero named Daniel Jackson.  He was the last one we were expecting to BE the hero, sure, he was smart and had this 'little boy lost' thing going for him as well as being the underdog and the outsider, which we love, but he was - well, he was a geek and a bit of a loser to boot, and once they got through the gate, well then the stone-faced colonel was going to rise to the occasion, do the standard 'man of action thing' and save the day (and probably the geek as well, several times before the story ended) - we all knew where this was going.

Only, that's not the way it turned out at all.  We thought we had the geek's number and then he blew us all away - by getting himself blown away protecting the colonel.  We lose him, then get him back and once again we find ourselves severely revising our assessment of this man as we watch him stand up to Ra with a coolness and aplomb any self respecting action hero would be envious of.

By the time we see him defy Ra's will yet again and save EVERYONE - including the colonel by turning the staff weapon on Ra himself  - we're cheering and yelling 'you go, boy!' and basically saying 'Colonel Who'?

It was brilliant.  While the red herring 'action hero' spends most of the movie sulking and feeling sorry for himself the 'ringer' casts off his 'geek' clothing and shows us how any one of us - if we have the courage to find it within us - can be a hero.  Daniel Jackson is just a man.  A very bright, man, granted, but he's got no special powers, no hidden abilities, he doesn't even have any training for the situation he finds himself in the middle of.  He's an archaeologist. An academic.  A geek.  A loser.  No different from any of us, just an ordinary joe, oftentimes despised, discounted, drummed out of his own profession, even.  Yet when the situation demands it of him he becomes something extraordinary.  A true hero.

Yeah, the colonel finally gets it together in the final reel, but by the time the movie ends it's Daniel who's captured our hearts and imaginations, and Daniel we want to know more about.  Having to leave him behind is wrenching and unsatisfying.  I know I'm far from the only one who felt the ending of the movie was only the beginning of Daniel's true story and journey.  Now that Daniel had 'become' what he truly was, revealed his essential, fascinating, compelling essence we more than wanted, we NEEDED to see more.  We were not ready to say good-bye to this character even though the movie was over. 

Three years later, it seemed we didn't have to.  Daniel and the colonel were coming back, and on the way they'd picked up a couple of 'friends'. 

All right, it seemed as if the original 'vision' had been altered a bit.  We had a new 'star' and two new supporting characters which took some getting used to, but Daniel was still there (although initially far too much in the background to suit me) and the actual premise - the potential of the Stargate itself had been vastly expanded to allow the new team of SG-1 access to virtually the entire universe of possibilities.   

In 1997 Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner had the following things to say about the new series Stargate SG-1:

"This show taps into our society's ongoing fascination with the idea that life exists elsewhere in the universe and the concept of alternate realities," says Glassner. "The series will explore the premise that human beings were once transported from Earth to other planets and now live in varying stages of advancement, from primitive to highly-evolved. The SG-1 team will explore these places through the Stargate."

Says Brad Wright, "Stargate is our ticket to experiencing other worlds. Through the adventures of SG-1 we will learn more about what it means to be human and how unlimited the future is. The show is intentionally complex, and presents mysteries that will be answered in subsequent episodes. It will also address some of the perplexing questions that were raised in the film."

Okay, this was pretty exciting.  And as 'visions' go, not too shabby.  I could get into this.  And I did.  For three wonderful, magical seasons.  As long as Stargate stayed true to its original vision it was unique, engaging and inspiring.  The stuff of dreams, well on its way to making not only history, but becoming as influential and legendary as Star Trek.

So what happened?  From what I can see Stargate fell victim to the same sort of thinking which is unfortunately pervasive in the entertainment industry at the moment.

'Creativity' - if you can call it that, as far as the mass media is concerned, is no longer about 'vision'.  It isn't even about originality any more.  It's about 're-imagining' the visions of others, about reworking and repackaging and 'improving' upon that which has been successful before and resubmitting it for our further approval and consumption.

It's about 'hey, if they liked ONE alien they'll like THREE even better' kind of thinking.  While the products in question are being constantly 'retooled' to incorporate the latest, newest, hottest trends in other shows in a never ending, ultimately self-defeating attempt to get in EVERYTHING that works everywhere else in a vain hope the resulting diluted and unoriginal mess will appeal to the broadest possible spectrum of the audience.  

If Gene Roddenberry had applied the current 'formula for success' being used to drive Stargate into the ground to Star Trek, what do you think we would have ended up with?

I can see it now:  'We're really excited about the new story direction.  We know the fans are going to love the new conspiracy to overthrow the federation storyline and watching Kirk fight to get the Enterprise back since he's been relieved of his command.  Most of next season's stories are consequently going to be Earthbased, but we'll get to see a lot of how the Earth in the 23rd century works and of course all the cool conspiracy plots and machinations  and it will also allow him to put together a new crew while he's uncovering the plot that robbed him of his command. 

Yeah, we know the fans miss Scotty, Chekov, Bones and Sulu and we're really sorry we had to kill them off, but it was necessary to the story.  You're gonna love the new guys and in the interim Uhura has been just great, hasn't she?  I mean, what a gal!  She's going to be right at Kirk's side - when she isn't out there single-handedly saving the universe - and yes, they are in love but you understand, they have to be professional so they can't  ever consummate their relationship - but we'll come up with a couple of stories where they lose their memories or are in alternate universes or something else with a reset button so we can let them have a little happiness before they have to go back to denying their undying passion for each other because we know you want it and hey - who DOESN'T want to see them get together eventually -  and - what?  

Spock?  Oh, oh him.  Well, the character didn't really fit in with the new direction and he wasn't all that important to the show anyway so we sent him to Vulcan.  He's gonna do something - diplomatic - there, or something.  We don't know. It's not important.   But we didn't kill him off, he's not dead, so if we need him he can come back.  For sure he'll be the best man at Kirk and Uhura's wedding.  Trust us, it'll be great.  We're the professionals.  We know what we're doing. We've done the research.  We know what everyone out there wants.  And I do mean everyone.   Shut up and watch.

I'm going to stop now.  I'm scaring myself.

Call me crazy - and I'm sure you will, but isn't this kind of the ass-backwards way of going about it?  I'll admit I'm not a 'professional' anything  but even I know you can't please all the people all the time and the more you pander and 'tweak' and try to second guess your audience and hit all the bases and do what everyone else is doing - once the show is put through the remake shredder and everything that once made it 'special' has been stripped away in the concerted effort to incorporate what everyone ELSE out there is doing what you're left with is a load of unimaginative, derivative crap.

Shouldn't the vision be what shapes the content of the material and drives the stories and the series - not what everyone else out there is doing?  Just because a certain element is successful in the context of another series that does not necessarily mean pinching that element and inserting it in ours will make what was working previous to the tampering work 'better'.  Especially if the 'change' is contrary to everything that has previously been established on the series being 'retooled'.

When the show starts being about not what it's always been about but about what every other show out there is about how does that make it better?  What does that ultimately make it other than just another cookie cutter imitator trying to twist itself into knots by trading on the latest trends and playing a corporate game of 'follow the leader' for the affections of the audience.

And why should I bother to tune into the latest 'interpretation' of Buffy or the X-Files' when I can see it done better and done first by  the original programs you're busting a gut to imitate? 

I might not be a professional, but I understand the importance of vision. I deal with it all the time.  I write fanfiction.  When I sit down to write a story its potential audience and what every other writer out there is doing is the farthest thing from my mind.  My sole concern is trying to do the best job I can  by the story and to get what is inspiring me at the moment out of my head and onto the page.  I do it because I have something to say, and something to share, and that something has NOTHING to do with trying to meet what I imagine are the expectations of its potential audience and everything to do with me writing to please me and staying true to MY vision.

I know damned well what I write doesn't float everyone's boat but so what?  People like what they like, and there are plenty of people out there who like what I do and are appreciative of my particular vision.  That's fine with me, I'm happy, they're happy, win, win, I don't worry about people who don't like what I do.  I don't sit at my typewriter agonising over ways to 'craft' the next story to in an effort to tempt those folks out there who don't like the type of stories I've written in the past.  I'm not suddenly going to throw out two years of effort and discard the audience I've already built for my work trying to broaden my appeal by switching horses in mid-stream.  (oh my, these kids have been fun, but it's time to write Sam/Jack stories to get that elusive shipper element to read me...)  The vision comes first, and as long as that is in place - quality and integrity finds it's own audience and reward.

I care too much about what I do to do it any other way.  I trust the results of that passion will receive the attention they deserve and garner the appropriate audience on their own merits. Without me having to compromise my efforts in any way to try and curry favour from my readers and pander to a vast and disparate range of subjective tastes and opinions in an impossible and ultimately self-defeating effort to give everyone what they want.  It can't be done.  All trying to does is make you look like is an unimaginative hack. 

Yeah, it takes courage to be an 'original'.  It's also not without it's risks.  You could fall flat on your face.  But you also could be out there, in the forefront, on the cutting edge, being the one everyone else is scrambling along behind trying to emulate.  

That's the only place to be.  Not with the rest of the pack frantically struggling to capitalise on what someone else has done.  The originals are the ones who make history.  Who really get our attention and devotion by challenging us and inspiring us.  Not the also-rans who try and make it by standing on their coat tails and regurgitating their efforts.

Being original takes courage, and vision.  As well as a lot of dedication to that vision during the times everyone is saying 'you're crazy, they'll never buy it'.  But quality ultimately tells over everything.  Even nay-sayers. If you already 'have' it, if you're on the right track the word will spread like wildfire and then all you have to do is to keep doing what you're doing and your audience will find YOU.

And if you don't 'have' it - no amount of pandering and tweaking is going to change that.  The second you start compromising you're lost.  Instead of making your mark you'll join the ranks of all the others competing to be the newest, the bestest and the brightest by doing over everyone else. Who get promptly forgotten the instant something really different and truly original comes along.  The road between Star Trek and Stargate SG-1 is littered with all but forgotten shows that started out shining with promise and a vision that was sacrificed to the banal, derivative god of 're-imagination'.  Where are they now and who remembers them? 

It breaks my heart to see Stargate headed, possibly irretrievably along that same, sad road to eventual, ignominious oblivion and obscurity.  Especially when it had everything it took to become a legend.  Should have, deserved to be, but now....

I hope it's not too late to stop that slide.  To turn the whole thing around and recapture that almost extinguished spark of vision.  I'll give you another little clue as to what Stargate had that was so unique, so refreshing, so different - and it's the very same quality that made Star Trek such a success in equally troubled and turbulent times.

Hope.  Dreams, possibilities and an example of humanity at its absolute, shining best in 'our' representative, Daniel Jackson.  He was our ambassador to the universe and we were proud to send him out there on our behalf to speak for us, and touched by the devotion and concern of his equally human and admirable team mates.  All four of them did us proud and were a welcome inspiration and reminder there was still a lot of 'good' in the human race despite the overwhelming evidence we are daily bombarded with to the contrary.

We know this world is a pretty crappy place, and with television overflowing with gritty, horrific violence and 'reality' based programming we're up to here with how ugly it all can be.  We need something ELSE.  We need hope, we need to know there is more to life than pointless, bewildering suffering and seemingly unremitting evil.  We need to know there is still something to believe in and people can still be heroes.

That's what Stargate had, and what it did for us.  Gave us hope, took us out of ourselves and through the gate with SG-1 to explore the wonders out there, it gave us heroes and something to believe in most fully embodied in Daniel Jackson.  Daniel IS what Stargate used to be all about. Its heart, it's soul, but most importantly, it's vision.

When the show discarded him and began to depart from it's original vision it threw away everything that made it unique, special, beloved and ultimately enduring.   It disenfranchised not only itself,  but its core, hugely loyal audience as well, and what it traded that vision - and Daniel -  for won't stand either the test of time or the judgement of the audience. 

Bring back the vision.  Bring back Daniel.  Get it all back on track.  What you had was magic. Special.  Different. We need it, we want it and if you bring it back, we'll come back too.  Promise.  You won't regret it.

Phoenix Emrys

(c) Phoenix, 2002.  All rights recognised.  No copyright infringement intended.