Thought of the Day for TPTB
"It's over. That's it?"
A response to "Revelations" and to Richard Dean Anderson
"I think we're all doing pretty well," Anderson said in an interview. "Every character dealt with the part of Daniel appropriately." -- Richard Dean Anderson, SciFi Wire, 15 May 02.
"REVELATIONS"
Season Five finale
Produced by Brad Wright
Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Aired on Showtime, 17 May 02
Carter and Hammond on losing Daniel
Carter is in Daniel's office, touching his books, his photographs, holding his glasses to her face. She's deeply upset, close to tears.
HAMMOND: Major? I just wanted to inform you that Colonel O'Neill has requested that SG-1 remain on active duty while we try to find a replacement for Dr. Jackson.
CARTER: So what are we supposed to do? Keep working like nothing happened?
HAMMOND: I understand how you feel.
CARTER: With all due respect, Sir, I don't even understand how I feel. We didn't even have a memorial service!
HAMMOND: We're not even really sure that he's dead.
CARTER: And that's the problem! What are we supposed to do, Sir? Wait and hope that he comes back or - or just move on?
Hammond explains to Carter about losing a close friend of his in Vietnam. The man was MIA and Hammond never knew what happened to him.
CARTER: So what did you do?
HAMMOND: I learned to live with it.
Anderson added, "O'Neill [Anderson] was stoic and pragmatic about it." -- Richard Dean Anderson, SciFi Wire, 15 May 02.
Carter and O'Neill on losing Daniel:
Carter runs down the hallway after O'Neill
CARTER: Colonel? We need to talk.
O'NEILL: I don't want to hear it, Carter.
CARTER: We can't just pretend this didn't happen!
O'NEILL: I'm not pretending anything. This is the job. We lose people all the time.
CARTER: We're talking about Daniel!
O'NEILL: What do you want me to do? He's gone. We've got work to do.
O'Neill walks away, leaving Carter standing there alone, watching him. Eventually, she turns and walks away.
"Carter [Amanda Tapping] wept a little bit and Teal'c [Christopher Judge] blinked." -- Richard Dean Anderson, SciFi Wire, 15 May 02.
Carter and Teal'c on losing Daniel:
Jack sits in the cargo hold of the ship, slowly putting his P-90 back together. He sits in silence, very grave. Carter and Teal'c are at the controls, also silent.
TEAL'C: Are you not alright, Major Carter?
CARTER: I'm fine.
TEAL'C: You continue to mourn the loss of DanielJackson.
CARTER: Yeah, I do. Tell me I'm not the only one?
TEAL'C: I will perform the proper rituals when the opportunity presents itself. Until that time, this mission must take priority.
CARTER: Please! Teal'c! Don't give me that way of the warrior crap. I get enough of that from Colonel O'Neill.
TEAL'C: DanielJackson has ascended to a higher plane of existence. Many Jaffa have dedicated heir lives to achieving such a goal.
CARTER: I'm supposed to celebrate?
TEAL'C: It's a great accomplishment.
CARTER: We were a TEAM! No one can even begin to understand what we went through together. So maybe Daniel has achieved something of cosmic significance. I don't know. And to be honest with you, right now, I don't really care. I'd rather have him back.
TEAL'C: As would I.
"That's not to say he doesn't have a little twinkly smirk going on when he senses Daniel's presence." -- Richard Dean Anderson, SciFi Wire, 15 May 02.
O'Neill on losing Daniel:
A purposeful wind blows over and around Carter, Teal'c, Hammond and Jack.
CARTER: What was that?
TEAL'C: Perhaps a malfunction in the ventilation system?
JACK: Yeah. That's probably it.
As the others walk onto the elevator, Jack stands alone, silent and grave faced The breeze blows gently in his face, ruffling his hair. Jack smirks and turns away.
To quote an earlier exchange in "Revelations" between two members of our beloved family of SG-1:
CARTER: It's over.
O'NEILL: That's it?
Quite.
We'd like to take the time to give credit where it is due for the final airbrushing of Daniel out of Stargate's history. So many of us have told Brad Wright and the writers - in this case Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie - how important Daniel is to us, how the friendship between Jack and Daniel is the emotional core of the show and the heart of the team, the family of SG-1.
We fully recognise that the cast did their best with what little they were given to work with. Sam's scene alone in Daniel's office at the beginning, where she gently touched Daniel's beloved, private world of his books, looked at his photographs, held his glasses to her face, her grief and loss moved me utterly to tears, it was so beautiful. The scene between Sam and Teal'c where they both admit they want Daniel back was also very moving. Grateful thanks to Amanda Tapping, who expressed our grief and sense of loss and team so eloquently. Sam spoke for what so many of us are feeling.
I deeply regret that the less said about Jack's 'stoic and pragmatic' response the better. Try insensitive brush-off of a grieving colleague and friend, looking to him for empathy, for shared understanding if nothing else. O'Neill left Carter hanging, walking away when she needed him and the audience needed him too. This grudging, graceless scene also left me in tears, sadly for very different reasons.
Jack on losing Daniel, "Fire and Water", Season One:
O'NEILL: Daniel Jackson made this place happen. As a member of SG-1, he was our voice, our conscience. He was a very courageous man. He was a good man. For those of us lucky enough to have known him, he was also a friend.
Jack on losing Daniel, "Fire and Water", Season One:
Jack is playing street hockey by himself. He has the net between two cars, and is just shooting the puck into the net. He is mad and is hitting the puck for all it's worth until the net topples over. Jack then takes his stick and holds it like a baseball bat and slams it into a car window.
JACK: "Can you get this damn car out of here!"
Hammond, who is outside talking to Sam, looks up and walks fast over to where Jack is.
HAMMOND: "What on your mind, Colonel?"
JACK: "Retirement, actually."
HAMMOND: "You don't mean that."
JACK: "I think I do."
Jack to Daniel in "The Serpent's Lair", Season Two premiere:
O'NEILL: Daniel! Dammit!
DANIEL: I'm dead anyway. Just get outta here!
O'NEILL: I am not leaving you here, Daniel.
Jack on losing Daniel in Revelations, Season Five finale:
O'NEILL: What do you want me to do? He's gone. We've got work to do.
Thank you to Messrs. Wright, Mallozzi and Mullie for that generous recognition of all that Daniel has meant to Jack, to his team and to us, your audience. Really. Overcome, here.
One of the ironies that leaves the bitterest taste for me is that Brad Wright really does get the importance of this core friendship. He co-wrote "Fire and Water" with Katharyn Powers and wrote "The Serpents Lair". Bewildered fans calling out to the producers to remember those episodes, to understand what this friendship means to us, how vital it is to the show it's at the heart of, are calling out to the man who wrote the episodes.
Darn it! I'm being ungenerous with giving all due credit here. I almost forgot to credit Messrs. Wright, Mallozzi and Mullie for Jack's smirk at the end of the episode, the smirk that said it all.
"That's not to say he doesn't have a little twinkly smirk going on when he senses Daniel's presence." -- Richard Dean Anderson, SciFi Wire, 15 May 02.
Smirk: an affected, smug or foolish smile. -- Chambers English Dictionary
A smirk didn't always say it all. There was a time when Jack O'Neill could smile for and with his much loved friend Daniel Jackson. It's a time we miss deeply, a time of team and family, carmaraderie and caring, humour and nurturing, a time we very much want again.
If Mr. Cohen at MGM, if Mr. Wright or anyone among the powers that be could stop dismissing us, insulting us or condescending to us, if anyone could step forward and openly acknowledge Daniel's importance to the show, to their characters and to us, if anyone could step forward and admit that they miss Michael Shanks and they are sad to be filming without him, that person would have our respect and our thanks for their respect of us.
We do want more. We want Mr. Hank Cohen to *hear* us and *fix* this. How can you not, Mr. Cohen, when so very, very many of us feel this way, feel it so very, very strongly, and there's still time to reinstate Daniel and to keep us?
O'NEILL: Spacemonkey! Yeah!
Jack and Daniel, Season Two, 'The Serpents Lair'
Written by Brad Wright
By Alison, 17-May-02
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