 |
Thought of the Day for TPTB Identity crisis? "I thought that what I was doing on the show was becoming seemingly more confined. And having broached the subject with the powers that control these things, it became clear that the character wasn’t important enough to the overall process to warrant an upgrade.” Michael Shanks. Quite definitely season 4 and 5 spoilers below. Just what IS the identity of Stargate? Any viewer coming into the show in seasons 4 would believe the core of the team dynamic is the relationship between Jack and Sam, that Sam is the touchstone character of SG-1, that Jack and Daniel aren't friends, are in fact colleagues in conflict, that Sam and Daniel aren't friends...that only Daniel and Teal'c are friends. That Teal'c is Jack's straight man yadda yadda. It ain't necessarily so. I feel the team was re-engineered. I'm not alone. Check out PhoenixE's excellent open letter to Mr. Joseph Mallozzi on this very topic. Phoenix and I are not alone. You can check on that pratically anywhere Stargate fans post. So why mess with success? Why engineer a conflict between the two characters identified with Stargate? Season 4 changed that, right? Sam was centre-stage. She wasn't a Sam many of us recognised from seasons 1 to 3. She didn't have the time of day for Daniel for most of the season, which was damned odd because most of us typify their relationship as sibling, they've been so close for so long. But Sam and Daniel didn't count. Jack and Daniel didn't count. Daniel didn't count. Teal'c didn't count. Only Jack and Sam counted. It worked, right? Quarter of the audience switched off, but hey...can't make an omelette and all that. I can't quite imagine the creative meetings that took place before season 4 began. Really. For example...The show is riding high. We hit the motherlode. Everything works. Everyone works. People love the show. Love the team. Love the kawoosh. Love Jack and Daniel. Love the banter and the friendship. They like we made Sam three-dimensional with Martouf. They want more of Teal'c. It's perfect. Franchise all the way. We got everyone - women, guys, families... Could be another Star Trek. We took a hit in the ratings when we had 'Shades of Grey' where Jack is an absolute bastard to Daniel and we go for glib rather than taking a minute to fix it or anything... Folks weren't too keen on Sam coming over all unprofessional over Jack out of the blue like that in 'A Hundred Days'. Or how only Sam worked herself to death for three months getting him back and Teal'c heroically dug him out and Daniel...er...he was there at the start! He waved a test tube. Saved all those people. Jack said Daniel was always right. 'Crystal Skull'? So people really hated when Daniel was missing and Jack brushed off even missing him then he and Sam buggered off to their beds. No one laughed when Daniel said "That's it? What happened to working through the night? I'd do it for you!" We didn't laugh because it wasn't funny. It was true and it was hurtful. Sam just did it for Jack. Teal'c did it for Jack. Daniel did it for Sam and Jack. He did it for Jack. He and Sam did it for Jack again...Daniel needed it and we went for glib and the ratings tooks a hit... So? What do we do? Apparently we throw it all away. We break the team into two core characters, two leads if you will. Sam and Jack. Two supporting characters, use 'em if you got 'em. Daniel and Teal'c. No one is friends anymore. People are whining about the guys being on the base again...and everything that poisoned the vital Jack and Daniel friendship was played out centre stage over and over. "I can't leave him like this and I won't." Daniel Jackson, S2, 'The Fifth Race' "DANIEL! ...Shut up... Is THAT clear enough?!" Jack O'Neill, S4, 'The Other Side' 'Daniel is always right.' Jack O'Neill, S3, 'A Hundred Days' Oh, you're right, Daniel! It's NEVER over with you! It's always the same damn thing!" Jack O'Neill, S4, 'The Other Side' Pardon us for wondering where the hell this came from. But it worked, right? Of course it did. We gave right up on Jack and Daniel. We didn't watch right from 'Small Victories' wondering what was wrong and how TPTB were going to fix it. ASAP. We didn't get to see what was wrong and still watch because we loved the characters so and surely someone in the production staff would get it? No one would do that to a show on purpose. There's even more Sam in season 5 and even less Daniel. Oddly, Daniel is described by Executive Producer Brad Wright as in many ways the "heart and soul of the show". I can't help but wish he'd remembered this when Daniel was part of the show. It doesn't make any sense to me why the heart and soul of the show is written as wallpaper week after week to the point in 'Failsafe' aka Starmaggedon SG-1, when Daniel comes up with the brilliant plan that saves the day, he isn't allowed to tell us the brilliant plan thats aves the day in his own words. Pshaw! Don't be silly. Sam is right there next to him and she hasn't had a line in like, ten seconds. Sam tells us Daniel's brilliant plan. But Michael Shanks is just projecting, right? He wasn't de facto written out of the show way before Meridian, was he? He had no earthly reason to think Daniel was wallpaper or go to TPTB and ask for an upgrade, right? He had no reason whatsoever to feel in any way all four characters weren't being written for equally or to say in his interview that his character didn't have a story arc for season 5. Did he? Here's the original schedule that was released for season 5: 5.01 Enemies - Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright, Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (team) We can only endlessly speculate about what went on behind the scenes and the utterly bewilderment - makes no sense whatsodamnever - of throwing Daniel away like that, but the original running order is utterly fascinating. It presents a very different picture of season 5 than the one we viewers got. Look at the running order. Think of those episodes. Mid-season (Fragile Balance/Wormhole Extreme), when Michael Shanks said he made up his mind to leave, he'd had no 'Daniel' episodes for 11 episodes (originally 'The Tomb' was being cited as a Daniel episode in spoilers which we now know isn't the case and several episodes in which he had very little to do except for a smart one liner. At this point there are three episodes in a row where Daniel at least has some action. Beast of Burden is the best Jack and Daniel episode in the series and for me, a series best (except the unlikely cowboy culture). It is a Daniel episode but also very much a Jack and Daniel episode and a team episode. What Stargate used to be. It's not an episode like 'The First Ones' though. It's not a Daniel showcase. Eleven episodes and a decision to leave before Daniel gets a siginficant share of even the team action. 'Summit' features at least as much Sam as it does Daniel, he's acting out of character and out of all his so-called friends, only Teal'c and Jacob give a damn. I watched Summit, where neither Sam nor Jack so much as shoot Daniel a concerned look when he is given this terribly dangerous mission and must act as an assassin, with something approaching utter disbelief. It was incomprehensible. I didn't even know these two people wearing Jack and Sam's faces. Jack was more concerned with Marty Stu and Sam with the long dead Martouf in a sudden and improbable intro to Marty Stu. Jack got out of a tour of the base with some throwaway line about going to help Teal'c wait for Daniel. Or something. Cute? Funny? Try insulting. My assessment of this episode? Daniel might as well hang a sign round his neck. 'Written out: who gives a shit?'. We don't know anything about Last Stand but, going by the original schedule, the next scripts to be handed to MS (after those supposed 'Daniel' episodes) are: 5.15 Desperate Measures - Sam episode with NID subplot that gives Daniel little of significance to do apart from one brief 'comic' scene. Is Michael Shanks projecting? Am I? Are the fans? A word from the UK scifi press. Bearing in mind they've never been fans of Stargate SG-1, SFX magazine has this to say: "It's clear from viewing this season why Michael Shanks wanted to move on, he barely has three lines in any episode." But hey, it doesn't matter! The show is a complete success as is. Everyone totally buys that Sam and Jack are the leads and Daniel isn't important enough for an upgrade - i.e. some lines or something. It worked. Our perceptions of this show were successfully altered in season 4. No problemo. No way no how Stargate will suffer an identity crisis. Sam and Jack all the way. Like Aeryn and Crichton and Scully and the new guy all in one. Stars of the show. Stargate SG-1 couldn't be facing any kind of identity crisis in season 6. Daniel wasn't important enough for that upgrade. Gotta remember that. What TV Zone said we were watching in its wonderful 2001 yearbook. They were kind enough to give a lovely portrait of the leads and their supporting characters for us to admire as we read their season reviews. (you can buy TV Zone online at http://www.visimag.com/)
And how did Stargate SG-1 fare?
I've got to believe no one would do this to a show on purpose. I can't believe we could shout so loud and so long over what was wrong with season 4, that after that TPTB made the exact same mistakes all over again in season 5 and threw away Daniel Jackson. TPTB didn't listen to us. They didn't listen to Michael Shanks even though he knows what works for the show and the audience. He walked. I'm walking with him. A lot of people have made the difficult to decision to walk too. Some will go on watching, but I think the heart has gone out of us all. I do believe that unless TPTB begin to listen to us and more importantly to Michael Shanks, Stargate SG-1 isn't going anywhere but down. Please, MGM, listen to the man. Come to terms with him. He didn't want to quit the show. He had to. We don't want to quit the show. Don't make us. Alison All images (c) 2001 TV Zone. All rights recognised. No copyright infringement intended. We respect all that TV Zone have done to cover Stargate SG-1. Our intent here is only to inform those fans who have no access to the magazine. You can purchase this wonderful magazine from http://www.visimag.com/ (c) Alison, 2001. All rights recognised. No copyright infringement intended. |
Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, SCI FI Channel, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. All blog entries represent the opinion of the poster. All editorials represent the opinion of the author. All linked content represents the opinion of the linked site's webmaster. Copyright on all articles/editorials/blog entries belongs to the original author. Offer void where prohibited. Please remain seated while the aircraft is in motion. Warning: Coffee will be hot. A moose once bit my sister.
