Write or Wrong? Writing Stargate SG-1

"Stargate is a tough show to write for," continues Glassner. "One of the reasons for this is that we want to give something to all of our leads to do in every episode and occasionally that's a challenge if the plot centres on just one of them."

Jonathan Glassner, Executive  Producer, Stargate SG-1 Seasons One - Three.

A response to Brad Wright's comments in 'Star Fate', SciFi Magazine, April 2002

The comments:

“The new character is introduced in the episode entitled ‘Meridian’,” he begins. “I thought it would be a nice symmetry if we met the new character in the same episode in which Daniel leaves.” Sadly, the actor’s name was embargoed at the time this article was written ( the ink wasn’t dry on his contract), but the executive producer did confess, “He is a big name.  People are going to recognize him straightaway.  He is very funny.  He is very good and I really like him.  The one thing he is going to bring to the screen is an enthusiasm and an ‘I’ve never seen this before and this is all new to me’ feel which I think is important for a lot of reasons.”

"First and foremost, Wright suggests. `The Sci Fi Channel is our new broadcaster, and we'll have a whole lot of new viewers, so our new guy is going to provide an enthusiasm and a newness to the team that the new viewers deserve.  Nobody wants to tune in to a show for the first time and see a bunch of characters going through the Stargate where every one of them is in `been there, seen that' mode.  I understand and respect our regular actors' decisions to act that way because it makes sense. This is their job and they have been doing it for five years.  However, the new guy will give a freshness. He will deliver a fresh approach to how we look at every situation.' "

As for the team dynamic, Wright says, “I’m a big believer, as a writer and a producer, in not dictating too broadly [in the beginning] as to the definition of what a character will contribute to the team.  I like it to stay as open as possible because – for example – if you look at the earliest episodes of Star Trek – what the characters ended up being is not at all what they were in the beginning.  Everything just evolved.  So for credibility for our characters and story, the smart thing is to allow that sort of evolution.”

The response:

How unfortunate that Brad Wright's own woeful lack of imagination should have been permitted by the negligence of MGM to ruin an entire show. Despite having an entire universe to explore and every ancient mythology on Earth at his disposal, in episode after episode Wright has demonstrated that he finds it difficult to think of stories that involve anything more imaginative than a member of SG1 becoming romantically involved with someone else. AU Carter and O'Neill ("Point of View"); O'Neill and Lara ("A Hundred Days"); Carter and Faxon ("2010"); Carter and Faxon ("2001"). Given how few episodes Wright has motivated himself to pen over the past few years a totally disproportionate amount of them have involved the same plotline ie the oldest story in the book.

Of course there is no research involved in having two characters gazing at another one in a constipated fashion for long periods of time, nor any necessity for originality. Perhaps that is all one should expect from a man who believes that Jackson's 'arc was over' with the death of Sha're. But how unfortunate that the man producing the show apparently never troubled to watch the original movie in which we were first introduced to the character of Jackson or he might then have noticed that it is a considerable way into the movie and our sympathies had already been totally involved by this character before the character of Sha'uri is even introduced.

The Jackson-Sha'uri movie storyline truly *was* a minor B plot (unlike the NID storyline which has permeated S5 so disastrously, despite the writers' many protestations to the contrary). Jackson was defined as a character in the movie far more by his curiosity, innocence, vulnerability, and unexpected trust in the O'Neill character than he was for his love of the woman who became his wife, sweetly and movingly although that relationship undoubtedly was developed in the movie. (Far better incidentally than they have ever managed to write any romance in the subsequent series.) It was the O'Neill-Jackson friendship people tuned into the series to observe, not to find out how many children Jackson and Sha'uri had produced in the interim or if O'Neill was now back with his wife.

And how insulting to his fellow writers for Wright to think that just because *he* is apparently incapable of coming up with a storyline for Jackson that was not thought up by his original creators, Devlin and Emmerich, that no one else is capable of moving the character forward either. And how inaccurate given the ease with which Glassner and Powers, and more latterly Cooper and DeLuise, have managed to come up with original and imaginative Jackson-focused storylines with apparently no trouble at all. It is as absurd to postulate that Jackson has no story of his own since his wife's death as it is to assert that Carter has no storyline of her own since Martouf's death. (Although admittedly Martouf did make double the appearances of Sha're in the series.)

It is also utterly refuted by the number of excellent episodes in which both these characters have any amount of interesting adventures and character development in which neither Sha're nor Martouf played a part. This paucity of imagination on the part of Wright might, however, explain why we have had the 'Curse of Carter' inflicted upon us and the undeservedly over-and-ill-used Carter character so frequently in S5. It is obvious that many of the writers who have contributed to the show's storylines over the years have had no difficulty  whatsoever in finding an arc for Jackson that while in keeping with the wide-eyed curiosity of the movie character is not entirely dependent upon the initial input of Devlin and Emmerich.

The Jackson-O'Neill relationship, due to the very differing chemistry between Anderson and Shanks when compared with Russell and Spader was, in the first three seasons, permitted to develop in a much more interesting and far less stereotypical manner than one might have expected. Something Wright promptly reversed in S4 when he was, very unfortunately for the viewers and the characters, given sole charge of the 'wheel' and promptly headed the show in the direction of the biggest iceberg he could find. His modus operandi in S4 was to act as if the first three seasons had never happened, and anyone who had watched them was simply hallucinating.

We might imagine that previously to this point O'Neill was a considerate and above all complex man with an unexpected soft spot for the civilian archaeologist on his team, who would never insult him, belittle him, or, incidentally, kill him; but apparently MGM, the show's producers, and Wright in particular, now set out on a mission to convince us this was just our imaginations. Just as we might imagine that previous to this point Carter and O'Neill had shown no romantic yearnings for one another whatsoever, something repeatedly confirmed by producer, writer and actor interviews, but that from here on we were to act as if the fanfic treating these characters relationship as a romance was the new 'canon' and the actual episodes previously screened were just an irrelevance.

The Jackson-Sha'uri/Sha're romance worked well in the movie and in the show because it was not permitted to overwhelm the other - in my opinion more interesting - aspects of the character and because the writers showed the sense to have a proper beginning, middle and end for the arc instead of letting it drift along in the background without resolution. Both "Secrets" and "Forever In A Day" are far superior episodes to anything penned by Wright until "Threshold" in S5. The Sha're storyline was carried through with integrity and ended at the right juncture with style, intelligence, imagination, and pathos. It needed nothing more than to be remembered with dignity. It certainly did not deserve to be cheapened and replicated by an inferior copy.

Wright clearly regrets the loss of it because it robbed him of one of the few storylines with which he evidently feels comfortable: a man and a woman who have feelings for one another but are separated by circumstances, but it was his loss, not ours. It may well have created more work for him to which he felt unequal but to we viewers it certainly did not feel as if we had lost a vital part of Jackson.

There was, after all, still his relationship with Teal'c to be resolved; their mutual hatred of Apophis; his constantly evolving relationship with O'Neill; his limitless curiosity about the universe around him; the fate of his foster parents; the lack of information about his childhood; the Harsesis child storyline; his relationship with Kasuf and Skaara; his friendship with Katherine, and with Hammond; the difficulty of his position as a civilian within a military unit; the enmity that *should* have existed between him and Maybourne after Maybourne's action in "Enigma", and the small matter of the whole universe out there peopled by the remnants of lost civilizations with whom only Jackson on SG1 could communicate and who had been enslaved by their beliefs in various mythologies of which only Jackson on SG1 had knowledge.

One would have thought those strands would have provided mental stimulation aplenty for any scriptwriter worth his salt - they certainly have for the legions or fanfic writers who have felt moved to write about this character. But, no, apparently once Sha're was dead Wright could not come up with a single interesting thing for Jackson to do except occasionally disagree with O'Neill. While the sole contribution of the Mallozzi-Mullie partnership was to recreate the circumstances of Sha're's possession by a Goa'uld with an 'old girlfriend' of Jackson's in whom we have very little interest and absolutely no emotional investment.

It is a great shame that there are no longer writers of the quality of Jonathan Glassner, who penned "Forever In A Day" and Terry Curtis Fox who penned "Secrets" still working for the show. Even more of a shame that Cooper and DeLuise in having to make up the grievous shortfall that Mallozzi-Mullie partnership represent - writers who have proven themselves equally incapable of writing for Jackson, Carter or Teal'c - were forced to spend much of their allocation of episodes 'fixing' the damage done to these characters by the neglect of Wright, Mallozzi and Mullie, and so could not focus their undoubted talent on the character of Jackson and his relationship with O'Neill.

That core relationship should, of course, have always been the key focus of the show. It is that relationship which brought the show viewers in the first place, and the development of that relationship in S2 which made the major contribution to the show's success. The Carter-O'Neill relationship being turned into a romance was a ratings disaster for the show from the end of S3 onwards, and proved to the satisfaction of most viewers - although not apparently the TV executives who are apparently content to lose viewers hand over fist - that however beguiling this relationship might seem on paper or in the imaginations of the fans on the screen it was 'box office poison'.

I suspect that much of the reason for the change of direction in the show after the departure of Glassner was due to the inability of Wright to come up with original storylines that did not involve Carter being 'mooned over' by some random male. (Half of his output in the last two seasons has involved this plotline after all.) He has never, in five seasons, written a Jackson-focused episode, or an episode where the focus has been on the Jackson-O'Neill relationship in any recognizable form. (The O'Neill in "The Other Side" bears as little resemblance to the O'Neill of previous seasons as does the Carter attitude to O'Neill in "A Hundred Days" to any episode aired before that one. Wright's idea of a 'breadcrumb trail' is apparently to take an entire loaf out of the freezer, and then toss it, still deep frozen, at the heads of the audience.)

And one Teal'c episode and that one written in response to an actor threatening to leave and a loud outcry from the fans about the neglect of that character, is hardly generous treatment of such an integral character either.

But of course Carter is Wright's creation. Jackson and O'Neill are not. (One suspects Teal'c must have been the brainchild of Glassner, given the way Wright has neglected him also.) But, unfortunately for Wright - and despite the great skill of  the excellent actress who plays her - Carter has never captured the imagination of the audience in the way that Jackson has.

Shanks never seems to have had any problem with the fact that a character so beloved by the audience was created by another actor. He has simply made the character his own with tact, skill, intelligence, and enormous sympathy for the affection the movie audience already had for this wonderfully complex and lovable character.

Wright clearly cannot get 'over' the fact that Jackson was not created by him. Carter is 'his'. Jackson is not. Therefore Carter must somehow be elevated to pole position, but Wright is not a good enough writer of female characters to have made Carter the multi-faceted sympathetic character that Jackson is and most of the affection the audience has for her is due to the skill of Tapping, not the often lazy writing of the men (and occasionally women) penning her episodes.

Now we are left with a situation where Carter has been rammed down the audience's throats at the expense of Jackson, with great regularity but a singular lack of good writing, greatly to that character's detriment. A very poor return for all the hard work of the actress who plays her. The Jackson-O'Neill relationship which has always been the most popular aspect of the show has deliberately been withheld from the audience for two consecutive seasons, presumably in the misguided belief that we would forget about it and enjoy the new permutations, combination and distortions instead.

In short, we have been left with the show that Wright wanted to make, and which Wright (and one presumes Mallozzi) find easiest to write. The one where there is no need for research into mythology or ancient civilizations; no need to write about O'Neill and Jackson because they barely share a scene; where the complex vulnerable curious Jackson is shoved into the background and in his place Carter is recreated as 'Wonder Woman' combined with 'Black Widow' a character with as little resemblance to the Carter of the first three seasons as is the closed-off unemotional O'Neill, largely indifferent to the fates of his teammates and displaying no warmth towards Jackson, is remote from the vulnerable and compassionate O'Neill of the movie and earlier seasons.

These 'cardboard cut out' characters are no doubt far easier to write than the real SG1 but they are very difficult to watch and clearly, in the case of Shanks, unbearable to play. What a waste of so many talented actors and technicians that a show with so many possibilities should founder on the lack of imagination of its producers and writers.  But how unfortunate that Wright has never taken the time and trouble to open his eyes to the limitless possibilities of the character of Daniel Jackson.

Unfortunate for Michael Shanks who was 'shown the door' by this man when he made the very reasonable request that the character whose arc made up the bulk of the Stargate movie from which this entire series originated should be treated with the respect and consideration he deserved. Unfortunate for Jackson who deserved to have so many better and larger stories told about him. Unfortunate for the other characters who will be so much less human without his humanity to bring out theirs. Unfortunate for the other actors who have lost their colleague and been robbed of a sizeable proportion of their audience. And most of all unfortunate for those of us whose enthusiasm was first awakened by the movie and later engaged by the series only to have it dissipated on the altar of corporate incompetence, arrogance and an apparently infinite inability to admit to being wrong.

Harriet

Caveat

In my opinion, 'The Serpent's Lair', Season Two's opener, is an excellent team episode and does focus on the Jack and Daniel friendship.  It is an episode beloved by many fans, for it is the episode in which Daniel realises for the first time how much he means to Jack, to Sam, to Teal'c...his family of SG-1.  The 'Spacemonkey!  Yeah!' hug from Jack has achieved legendary status.

Alison

Editorial

I felt compelled to comment on this brilliant analysis which says far more eloquently than I can manage what my own thoughts and feelings are.  All credit is due to the sensitivity and strength of actress Amanda Tapping whose performance gave so much to the poignant and loving friendship shared by Sam and Daniel which is one of my main reasons for watching.  As with the dynamic between Jack and Daniel, that between Sam and Daniel is unique.  There is literally nothing like it on television.  That two people could see past gender to find friendship, love, respect and empathy...that they could challenge one another and grow because of who they are and what they learn from one another and together, is a source of constant joy to me, and as a woman, inspiration.

It is thanks to Amanda Tapping that I once judged all female characters by the standard she as Sam set, that I was engaged and moved by such a positive, strong, capable yet caring woman.  Amanda's peformance is always stronger than the writing but in seasons four and five Sam has as Harriet has said been over and ill-used.

I've never doubted Sam's warmth, humour, compassion, fierce loyalty, intelligence, courage...her occasional arrogance adds depth to her.  Her friendship with Daniel captivated me from the start and made me far more forgiving of the idolising of her character than I would otherwise have been.  Their scenes together shine and are among my most treasured memories of Stargate - 'Thor's Hammer', 'Holiday', 'Legacy', 'Forever in a Day'.  Friends and siblings, Daniel making Sam a better person by being who he is, Sam the sister Daniel never had, someone who understands him completely.

I will miss Sam with Daniel as much as I miss Jack with Daniel, and Teal'c.  I'll miss the team.  And it is unnecessary.  Michael Shanks has stated for the record his willingness to return to Stargate if his concerns about the treatment of his character are addressed.  His concerns are ours.  Amanda and Chris have wept for losing Michael on camera and in front of fans at the SG-4 and BOBW cons.  Richard Dean Anderson has said over and over that his favourite part of Stargate is working with Michael.

I don't understand how this came to pass when fans have been complaining for TWO years about the creative direction and deterioration of the show.  We haven't been listened to.  The loss of over a million viewers didn't halt these changes, even more pronounced in Season Five.  Stargate SG-1 has been carried in some ways by fan loyalty to the characters and hopes it would regain the magic it had under Jonathan Glassner.  I among many literally could not believe producers would NOT see the importance of Daniel.  Brad Wright described Daniel as the heart and soul of the show.  As Harriet has demonstrated so clearly, we could only wish he had acknowledged it sooner and written it.

MGM doesn't have to take a risk with the viabliity of the show, the movie and the franchise.  Address Michael Shanks' concerns because they are also ours.  With Daniel once more at the heart of the team, with an overarching creative vision that celebrates peaceful exploration, the uniqueness and originality of these four characters, their rich and emotive interactions, equality, friendship, family...Stargate could have a franchise potential that far outweighs Star Trek.  Daniel is beloved, a phemonenon in how many fans he touches so deeply.  He makes the other characters more simply by being himself; without him both they and we are diminished.

It is within the power of MGM to make this right, to secure the financial viability of Stargate, these creative concerns must be addressed.  Meet with Michael Shanks.  Listen to him and to the will of your audience.  We love these characters and we love the show.  If we stop watching and stop spending, it is because you *made* us, you discarded us along with Daniel Jackson.

Please.  Meet with Michael Shanks.  Do all you can to address his concerns for Daniel and ours for the premise of the show.  You can only gain.

Alison

(c) SciFi Magazine, Harriet, Alison, 2002.  All rights recognised.  No copyright infringement intended.