User talk:DeeKayP/John Sheppard

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Lt. Col. John Sheppard

Summary

From MGM: Gifted pilot Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is the military leader of the premiere Stargate Atlantis team. A cunning soldier with a wry wit and wicked golf swing, Sheppard leads the team through both on-base and off-world missions. Sheppard’s leadership and bravery is put to full use as the crew works to stay one step ahead of their longtime foe, the Wraith, and newly emerging enemies sure to test their stamina.

Personal Data

  • Birthday:
  • Birthplace:
  • Marital Status: Divorced, Nancy Sheppard
  • Children: None
  • Parents: Patrick Sheppard (Deceased)
  • Siblings: Dave Sheppard
  • Stargate Program Rank: United States Air Force Lt. Colonel
  • Stargate Program Position: Military Leader of the Atlantis Base and Leader of the flagship Stargate team (usually identified as Sheppard's Team)

Before Joining the Stargate Program

Before Joining the U.S. Air Force

John and his brother Dave grew up in a privileged lifestyle, their father having been a mogul in the utilities industry. One of the family homes was a vast estate with a large stable for horses. It was in this home that Patrick's wake was held four years after John joined the Atlantis Expedition. (SGA 4.15 "Outcast")

Apparently it was the family tradition to attend Harvard, but even Sheppard's father's idea of teenage rebellion was to attend Stanford instead, a fine school, but not one of the East Coast's Ivy League schools said to be for the wealthy and society's elite. Patrick Sheppard thought that his sons would follow in his footsteps in the business world, planning their lives when they were teenagers, but apparently John's idea of rebellion turned out being to dismiss his father's legacy and to join the United States Air Force instead. Father and son became estranged after this decision, but Dave stayed with his father to learn the family business. Dave was witness to his father's regret for the rift that had come between the father and his son, and it wasn't until after their father's death that Dave told John about it. (SGA 4.15 "Outcast")

Patrick knew Nancy and always treated her well, so more than likely, John and Nancy were married before John's fateful decision to join the Air Force (USAF). (SGA 4.15 "Outcast")

Military Career in the U.S. Air Force

All USAF pilots begin their training in fixed wing aircraft. Sheppard would have trained as a fighter pilot before switching over to rotor aircraft. He would have been the right age to be a first lieutenant during the Gulf War, having just completed his fixed wing training as a fighter pilot.

Sheppard's actions and the dialog between him and his friends, Mitch and Dex, indicated that he was a Special Ops trained pilot (SGA 1.09 "Home", 1.10 "The Storm Part 1", 1.11 "The Eye Part 2"). This is further supported by his hallucinations on M1B-129 when he relived portions of his rescue attempt of his friend Capt. Holland whose helicopter was downed in Afghanistan (SGA 3.09 "Phantoms"). Special Ops rotor pilots are trained to provide ground support when required.

His time away on classified missions put a strain on his marriage with Nancy. He would take off without much of an explanation, which basically shut down any form of communication between the two. Later in his life, Sheppard himself thought that his marriage with Nancy was a mistake, something that he was "not very good at," but he knew that his father approved of Nancy while at the same time criticized his son for other decisions he had made in his life. The two got a divorce and Nancy moved on with a trial lawyer named Grant. She also had a successful career with Homeland Security, and four years after John left for Atlantis, she had been promoted to become a director. (SGA 3.17 "Sunday", 4.18 "Outcast")

Sheppard trained as a pilot during the period of time when the Air Force was still operating full SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). Before reporting to McMurdo, he would have gone to the Arctic Survival School in Alaska. He was at the end of his second tour at McMurdo, the U.S. Antarctic base, having requested a post as far from the world as possible, when he was asked to pilot the helicopter carrying Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill to the Antarctic Outpost that housed the Ancient Weapons Platform (SGA 1.01 "Rising Part 1").

Atlantis Expedition

Hobbies and Other Interests

  • Turkey Sandwiches: Sheppard seems to have a fondness for turkey sandwiches. When he saw how the Ancients' Puddle Jumper responded to his thoughts, he asked it to produce a "nice turkey sandwich." Even Lt. Aiden Ford expected it to materialize, but nothing happened. Ford said that it was still worth a try, so when he heard that Sheppard was going to take a Jumper out for a fly-over of Lantia's mainland and wanted to go with him, he brought a turkey sandwich as a bribe/lunch. (SGA 1.02 "Rising Part 2", 1.05 "Suspicion")
  • Ferris Wheels: When introducing himself to the Athosian leader Teyla Emmagan, Sheppard declared that he liked Ferris wheels (SGA 1.01-1.02 "Rising"). When he was stuck inside a sanctuary for people to meditate toward reaching ascension, Sheppard claimed that he thought about sitting on a Ferris wheel to get to a peaceful state, although he was distracted with thoughts about a beautiful woman (SGA 2.12 "Epiphany", 3.14 "Tao of Rodney").
  • College Football: John loves football, especially college football. He chose to bring to Atlantis a recording of the "Hail Flutie" game played between the Boston College Eagles and the Miami Hurricanes in 1984 in which Boston quarterback Doug Flutie threw a "Hail Mary" pass with only about six seconds left in the game. Wide receiver Gerard Phelan caught the pass in the end zone, giving Boston the win. This play has become legend in football history as an example of coming back from behind against all odds. Sheppard later claimed there was a metaphor between the game and the Expedition: "This entire expedition is the biggest Hail Mary in human history." (SGA 1.01-1.02 "Rising", 1.03 "Hide and Seek")
  • Anything that goes more than 200 MPH: Sheppard's "need for speed" has been realized through his accomplishments as a skilled pilot. He has a remarkable history as a military pilot, including flying the Apache, Cobra, Blackhawk, and V-22 Osprey helicopters, as well as the Stargate Program's F-302 fighter. He's also an accomplished pilot of the Ancient Puddle Jumper and the Wraith Dart. (SGA 1.01-1.02 "Rising", 3.20 "First Strike Part 1", 2.10 "The Lost Boys Part 1")
  • Golf:
  • Video Games:
  • Reading: War and Peace
  • Music: Johnny Cash
  • Skateboarding: Sheppard has a skateboard in his quarters in Atlantis.
  • Remote Controlled Cars:
  • Sparring:
  • Drinking:
  • Dislike of Clowns:
  • 1960s Batman TV Show: Sheppard shares a common interest with Dr. Rodney McKay in the Batman TV series from the 1960s. They like to challenge each other with the names of the actors who played villains. (SGA 3.04 "Sateda")

Sheppard in Alternate Realities

Detective John Sheppard

In an alternate reality, John Sheppard was dishonorably discharged after attempting to rescue an unnamed medic, with whom he was romantically involved, in Afganistan. His helicopter was shot down and the crash killed four American soldiers and eight civilians. (SGA 5.19 "Vegas")

After narrowly escaping jail time for political reasons, he moved to Las Vegas where he joined the Las Vegas Police Department. He had $2,363.00 in the bank and was $13,000.00 in debt, not including the off-the-books gambling losses to a guy named Mikey. After four years of trying, he was finally promoted to Detective. This alternate version of John Sheppard was still a fan of Johnny Cash, taking only a poster (the same one seen in his quarters on Atlantis) with him after resigning his position. While leaving town, he figured out where to find the Wraith that had been building a transmitter and tracked it down. He called an alternate version of Rodney McKay who sent two fighter jets to destroy the Wraith's transmitter, but not before John was shot in the chest. (SGA 5.19 "Vegas")

Detective Sheppard managed to kill the Wraith and save Earth from his transmission, but the transmitter's design and energy consumption caused it to broadcast its message into other realities. This transmission contained the coordinates to Earth and the location of the Weapons Platform at Area 51. (SGA 5.19 "Vegas", SGA 5.20 "Enemy at the Gate")

Injuries, Sicknesses, Deaths

  • Infected with Wraith Retrovirus: After being fed upon by the Wraith Ellia who was undergoing a metamorphosis with the prototype of Dr. Beckett's retrovirus, Sheppard began to mutate into a human-Iratus hybrid. Fortunately, Beckett developed a cure, and Sheppard returned to normal, but not without a few close calls. (SGA 2.07 "Instinct", SGA 2.08 "Conversion")
  • Victim of a Mutation of Kirsan Fever: On M35-117, Atlantis' new home planet, a mutation of a childhood illness caused all of the non-Pegasus natives on the base to lose their memories. Sheppard knew that he'd eventually lose his memory, so he had his picture taken to identify himself as the military leader of the base. Sheppard and Ronon went to the mainland to retrieve the enchuri plant from which they extracted a cure. (SGA 4.06 "Tabula Rasa")

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Notice to My LiveJournal Contributors

Contributors: mischief5 and Matt B.
--Editor: Signature

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