We've told TPTB that we don't want the product they are trying to sell us.  Here we explain to them why and present some Stargate Solutions.

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.

PhoenixE: An open letter to Mr. Joseph Mallozzi continued

Conflict

PhoenixE: An open letter to Mr. Joseph Mallozzi continued

Conflict

Conflict: noun.  Disagreement; struggle or fight. Verb: be incompatible.

That's what it says in my dictionary.  We were told - exploring 'conflict' was one of the goals for the fourth season..  Now, there is nothing wrong with that - properly handled conflict can be pretty darned interesting. However, and here's the problem, such 'explorations' should come as a logical extension of established characters reacting to the situation in previously established ways as the recognisable people they are  - and the situation itself creating the conflict - not by the characters simply, inexplicably becoming hostile and combative strangers yelling at each other in a cruel and hurtful way we know they never would - with the resulting 'conflict' coming not from the situation but by out and out character assassination.  Making the characters fit the scenario to achieve the desired result and consequently becoming people we just don't know.

Character assassination is one of the BIGGEST fan complaints about season four and five.  We know these people and love them.  Yes love - I'm not afraid to say it.  And we bitterly resent the way most of them have been 'reinvented' into people we largely do not recognise and truly do not like and made to behave in ways we know they would not, should not, could not - to meet the requirements of the 'new direction' or a particular story that needs one or more of them to act like a butthead (usually Jack) in order to drive the plot.  Or the needs of a story arc that highlights a relationship suddenly manufactured out of nowhere which has never existed previous to the fourth season.  Saying 'it's been there all along' doesn't make it so.  We watch these episodes.  We know these characters.  Really, really KNOW them. I'm just saying....

But I'll get to all THAT in due course.  Right now we're talking about conflict.

'The Other Side' is not only an 'exploration' of conflict of the latter type, it appears, from the first scene to the end to be the beginning of a not so subtle attempt to completely 'reinvent' two of the main characters and rearrange the 'pecking' order.  Say good-bye to Jack and Daniel and hello to Jack and Sam.

The episode created quite a controversy when it first aired and generated a fair amount of 'conflict' on the lists as we debated the events and tried to make sense of what we had seen.  Tried to come up with some sort of explanation for the way the characters had behaved - Jack in particular - and to this day whenever the episode is brought up the debate is fairly heated and people are as divided and opinionated about it as ever they were.

We all knew it was 'wrong' and tried to make it 'fit' - along with the way the characters had behaved - within the parameters we had currently known and understood as being 'them' - not understanding what was really happening - the characters were 'wrong' because they were being changed, right in front of our eyes and what we knew and understood - it no longer applied.  All bets were off.  New ballgame, new improved version of the characters in keeping with the 'new vision and direction' for the show - and the new agenda.

Jack and Sam.

Problem is, we didn't know this at the time. In retrospect you can see what's going on but back then all we knew was there was something WRONG.  We were a little off-balance with what had gone down in Small Victories, but still gamely watching. Trusting.  Again, we had no reason not to - no reason to think, even though the debut had been a bit 'off' we still weren't going to get everything we were expecting.

The Other Side debuts and here we go again.  That creepy crawly feeling of knowing we tuned into the right show - we think - it said Stargate SG-1 on the credits and they look like our guys, but what the hell is going on here?  Who are these people?

We're watching, not understanding what is happening, feeling uncomfortable and distressed and having not the slightest clue we were only three more episodes away from getting the Titanic dropped on us from a great, honking height.

This episode is where the whole process of the 'Danielficiation of Sam' (I'll explain this term in more detail later) - and the Marginalisation of Daniel - begins, and she is pushed more and more forward as the person Jack is now going to turn to for support, advice, clarification, input where previous to this it was unequivocally Daniel - and Daniel is increasingly isolated and put at odds with the rest of his team by being repeatedly separated from them and forced into the role of 'lone moral voice' and sole supporter of the opposing point of view.  As well as having his role becoming increasingly downsized and his character gradually faded into the background.

It starts in the very first scene.  After a bit of banter between Jack and Sam about him ordering her to 'get a life' - the first time he's EVER expressed any sort of interest in what she might or might not get up to off duty - we get Sam inexplicably assuming the blame for the squashing of the Eurondans - and getting a nice, lingering close-up as she angsts away, while Daniel has already buggered off with a shrug and a rather cryptic remark about going to look up Euronda. Where?  In his Encyclopaedia Galactica?

Never mind this is the woman who previous to this has on more than one occasion displayed a fascination for scenarios which might provide an opportunity to 'change the face of physics as we know it' quite oblivious to the body count of members of the SGC (Singularity, Matter of Time) - here she is getting all choked up over a bunch of strangers - and it isn't even her fault or responsibility they got squished - but she's sure acting like it is. (Making it necessary for her CO to comfort her, as well).  She didn't send them, and it isn't her decision the iris is closed, nothing that happened is anything she should personally feel she should have to beat herself up about.  But, okay, fair enough, there it is, Sam CARES - we get it.

I'm not even going to get into how strange the character of Alar is - and how improbable, I'm much more concerned with how strange JACK is in this episode.  There is absolutely no explanation for his stubborn narrow-mindedness or his absolute refusal to pay any attention to the warning signs or the very real concerns Daniel tries repeatedly to bring to his attention.  Surely Jack is aware of the adage 'anything which seems too good to be true usually is' and I'll bet if Alar was a used car salesman Jack wouldn't have bought his bill of goods, but with visions of high tech pop guns and fusion reactors dancing in his head....

I mean, they just waltz right in there and take everything Alar tells them absolutely at face value. How naïve, dangerous and irresponsible is that? By trying to ask questions and gather information Daniel is doing his job and by not listening to him - Jack isn't.  What's more, by actively resisting Daniel and trying to STOP him from finding out what the truth is - and what the real face of their new 'ally' is - it might not have just been a matter of making it difficult for them to cut their dirty weapons deal, it might also have placed the team in danger.

For instance, what if instead of asking Jack to leave Teal'c behind Alar had engineered an unfortunate 'accident' to remove the unwanted element from their midst.   Something to think about....

Jack is appalling naïve and narrow-minded in this episode, and just plain appalling to Daniel.  With plenty of back up from his new best friend and 2IC.  For most of the ep Jack is a gung-ho, loud-mouthed warmonger who just wants the goods and doesn't care about the cost.  Fully prepared to sell his soul and stopping just short of kissing Alar's butt in order to get them.

This is certainly not the man who was prepared to sacrifice his career to save the Tollan, who wanted to shoot Maybourne for what he was planning to do to Teal'c, who pitched a fit and walked out on Hammond when he found out about the plan to hoodwink the Selish and deliberately disobeyed orders, was deliberately, defiantly insubordinate to Hammond's face defending his principles and not at all sorry for his attitude and who almost threw his career away trying to show Marrin how to be a kid.

Nor is it the man who told Makepeace 'we don't need their stuff - but we do need them.'  The Jack O'Neill in the Other Side is an ignorant, bellicose, thick-headed stranger and given what we know and understand about his character up to this point there is absolutely no explanation for his behaviour in this episode. Other than the fact it's the way they needed Jack to behave in order to achieve the desired result - a bitter, artificial argument with Daniel which justified the beginning of his isolation from Jack and the rest of his team.

Even the blocking in the banquet scenes - both times, it isn't subtle.  All three members of SG-1 sitting on one side of the table.  Daniel all by himself surrounded by Eurondans.  On the other side.  Literally. The visual reinforced his isolation from his team mates and the 'otherness' of his position.  At odds not only with Jack but with all of the rest of SG-1 and the entire military 'mind-set' embodied by the rest of SG-1 who were on Jack's side, as well as his side of the table.  Sam, most especially.  She holds up the party line like a good little soldier until she flip-flops and decides oh, maybe it MIGHT be a good idea to find out a little more about the enemy after all once she's sees Hammond is okay with the idea.

When I say there is no explanation for Jack's behaviour in this episode there isn't.  There could have been, very easily. If Hammond had said to him just before he left - 'listen Jack, the pressure is really on for this one, we need some results, go and get those guns and don't come back without them' - then SOME of what he did would have made a little more sense.  The conflict would have made sense.  It would have been about Jack being caught between a rock and a hard place, needing to succeed and yet facing an impossible moral dilemma as he realised Daniel was right and they couldn't possibly help these people no matter what he'd been ordered to do.  Being the leader we know he is and doing his job properly - rather than forcing a member of his team to keep reminding him they didn't have all the information they needed and take all the heat from everyone else - including the general, for doing it.

Instead, it was about Jack acting like a jerk, ripping into Daniel not once, but twice, for doing HIS job and trying to get all the intel - with the blessing of Hammond on the return trip, the second time humiliating him not only in front of his team mates but the Eurondans as well.  He might as well have rolled up a newspaper and slapped Daniel on the nose with it - it couldn't have been any more publicly degrading than what he did to him.

I still can't watch this scene without cringing.  It's cruel, it's uncalled for and it's completely out of character for both these men.  We have never, ever seen them act this way to each other, speak this way to each other, treat each other this way.  Jack's previous angry harangue 'it's never over with you, it's always the same damned thing' - where the hell did this come from?  Out of the frigging blue, that's where.

Jack and Daniel have had many documented differences of opinion in canon.  Jack yells at Daniel, Daniel yells at Jack, they bicker, but there is always an underlying current of respect and affection.  They know each other and trust each other enough to be able to be terribly blunt with each other, but at the same time, never, ever deliberately hurtful or cruel.

The one and only time they have ever been deliberately MEAN to each other was during One False Step.  Under the influence of the sonics they didn't know about they both crossed the line and called each other names - and the instant they did it, the very fact that they'd done it told them both something was WRONG.  This was not them.  And in fact both were both so horrified with themselves for what they'd said and so painfully eager to make amends and reassure but not having the slightest clue what to say to excuse their behaviour during that entirely delightful 'make-up' scene in the infirmary except by coming to the conclusion there was something wrong with them.  Which did, indeed prove to be the case.  Even THEY knew if they were indeed themselves they would never do or say anything like that to each other.

We know it too.   That's why we absolutely could not buy what we were seeing.  Unless something had happened between them - a something we had no knowledge of - that would explain why these men who were friends, so were friends, suddenly -  it seemed - were not.

These men are friends.  Have been for the four years - since the first time on Abydos. And damned GOOD friends as of Nemesis.  Friends do not do to each other what Jack does to Daniel in the Other Side.  If you want to know why the fans keep asking you why all of a sudden in the fourth season Jack and Daniel are not friends when you keep insisting of course they are, what in the world are you talking about watch those scenes in One False Step and then watch this one over again and tell me how this could possibly be.

And if you still maintain you are unaware Jack and Daniel ever were friends I suggest you try watching Torment of Tantalus, Fire and Water, the Gameskeeper, Prisoners, Message in a Bottle, One False Step, Spirits, The Fifth Race, Legacy, Deadman Switch, Forever In a Day. Shades of Grey. Pretence and Maternal Instinct, just for starters.

What happened to the Jack who was saying fondly 'Daniel is always right' to Nick in Crystal Skull.  Who stopped in to visit his friend in the infirmary, joked about wanting to see his scar and asked him to go fishing (FIRST!) - and Daniel would have gone, if he could have.  (And may I point out as of the Curse Daniel is still the only member of SG-1 who actually WANTED to go fishing with Jack).

Jack's behaviour, culminating in this scene, was a huge, horrible shock.  The episode pretty much goes downhill from here.  Especially where Jack is concerned.

After everything Daniel has done to try and get him to pay attention it takes one little vaguely racial comment from Alar to bring Jack to his senses?  And as for the way he brings his up until now atrophied moral sense into play and takes it upon himself to 'end' the war.  That left a pretty bad taste in a lot of our mouths.

As did the scene with Sam at the end.  I'm sorry, but what was she doing there?  All she did through most of it was lose her spine and parrot the party line of the current authority figure.  As well as try - very badly - to usurp Daniel's role as interpreter/advisor to Jack.  ( that moment during the first banquet scene still cracks me up.  She pipes up unasked and starts to 'explain' to the poor dense colonel what heavy water is -  pissing him off in the process, and yet says nothing and leaves him floundering when he tries to get out 'beta cantin' and cantin.  I mean can't.  Daniel wouldn't have tried to talk down to him about the heavy water and WOULD have stepped right in and muttered the right word to him when he was clearly needing it. For a prime example of this, see Pretence.  But that's not his job now, it's Sam's.  Apparently.)

The moral issue and the conflict of the entire piece was between Jack and Daniel.  Daniel was the one 'wronged', the only one who was right, the only one of any of them who had justification for being able to take any sort of moral high ground about anything which had happened.  And if there was any 'judging' of Jack to be done in the final scene, he was the only one qualified to do it and the only one who'd bloody well EARNED the right to do it. Opting to go with Sam in the final scene was not only wrong, it was insulting to Daniel and to the audience as well.  We'd just seen Jack and Daniel have a terrible disagreement that had to have repercussion not just between them, but between the members of the team as well because let's not forget, this difference of opinion caused a fair degree of 'conflict' between Daniel and Sam as well. Not to mention the fact Jack utterly HUMILIATED Daniel in front of the rest of SG-1.  Geez!  I'm afraid Jack's cheesy little apology wasn't quite enough to cover what he did to Daniel in this episode.  Those few final moments given over to Sam simpering disapprovingly at her CO in front of the closed iris should have been given to Daniel and to us and should have been about them showing us they still cared about each other. Or at least Jack doing some heavy duty grovelling and damage control.

And given Jack's 'change of heart' came a little late in the game and his further questionable decision to take the action he did, I'm afraid his 'anguish' over having deliberately chosen to engineer the squishing of one man - after having deliberately taken it upon himself to bring about the defeat and death of the Eurondans - kinda fell more than a bit flat.  The ending was not dramatic and wrenching, it was empty, inexplicable, incomplete and I'm sorry, completely ineffective.  The drama needed to come full circle, back to Jack and Daniel for the ending to pack the full emotional punch it could have.  Sam had no business being there.  Every time I see it I want her to bugger off.  But - it ends like it begins, with Sam showcased - for Jack and us to see, as the one who CARES. All Daniel did was be an irritant and something to be ignored, silenced and squashed until Jack 'saw the light' and did his 'man of action' thing.  He came, he ignored and dismissed, he finally saw, he judged and then he executed.  And is all broken up to see how disappointed his Sammie is with him.

Phooey.

So, at the end of the Other Side, we have conflict, oh boy, do we have conflict, but we got it by turning Jack into a prat (to borrow a term from my British friends) and having him dump all over his best friend and also introduce a level of meanness and hostility and potential for future separation/misunderstanding/distancing between two men who have always trusted and respected each other which had never existed before.  We got Sam turned into a 'yes Major', seemingly losing her spine and preparing to assume her new role as Jack's new best friend - only not one who will stand up to him and will be strong voice of reason he needs but will roll over, agree with him and do whatever he says.  And we have Teal'c standing back and saying and doing nothing but being a plot device.  Which is pretty much all he is in this episode.  His further expanded role of Jack's straight man and the butt of his jokes is yet to come.

And then of course we get Daniel, curiously the only member of SG-1 to escape either egregious character assassination or outright under-utilisation  but his 'otherness' being deliberately emphasised and used to split him away from his team members and his former best friend.  Being forced, more than once during the course of the season to be the only 'right' character when all the others are wrong continues to widen the rift not just between Daniel and Jack, his team and the military, but between fans of the characters of both Jack and Daniel as well - as Jack fans come to resent the increasingly unflattering way Jack is presented - as a narrow-minded, egotistical and downright stupid butthead - while Daniel looks more and more like a 'Saint'.

Neither representation is true, accurate or fair to either character.  Jack is not a dumb jerk, even though he's written and played that way through most of the fourth season, and Daniel is not some holier than thou, sanctimonious prig - although he is made to appear that way because of the heavy handed use of his civilian status and viewpoint.

Which brings us to Scorched Earth......

I've got to be straight with you, this one makes fans just as mad as 'The Other Side' for pretty much the same reason. Jack is made to act and look like that one note - throw a bomb at it warmonger again  - he engages in an extremely questionable course of action (no one is ever going to be able to agree whether what Jack decides to do is right or wrong, but boy, do we ever fight about it), Daniel saves the day in spades and Jack looks like complete, absolute and utter chump in the bargain. Which drives Jack fans absolutely insane.

Basically, it's 'The Other Side' all over again. A no-win situation with ambiguous moral complications.  'Might' versus 'right' ( with the sharply polarised sides of 'I get to decide who deserves to live' versus 'we don't have the right to kill anyone let's see if we can find a way to not have to' personified in Jack and Daniel.  With Sam mixed up in the middle as the 'instrument' and Teal'c once again on the outside looking in.)  Although, to be fair, there are differences.  The end result, for one is far more positive.  Win win and nobody gets blown up.   While in the Other Side it was strictly lose, lose and absolutely nothing was achieved.  Except a fairly impressive body count.

However, as in the Other Side, in this one the 'conflict' is artificially achieved by twisting the characters to react as required - and in ways they normally wouldn't - to make an overly contrived scenario work. Jack, in particular, although Sam doesn't fare much better in this one.

Jack is inexplicably close-minded and hostile to any of Daniel's suggestions or observations.  Motivated mostly by an ego driven sense of questionable 'responsibility' and a dogged determination to save 'his' aliens (who used to think he was a hero so he'd better come through for them if he wants to live up to his billing and their expectations), Jack categorically refuses to consider any course of action other than what he's decided HE needs to do. Blow up the bad alien ship.  End of story.  Even if it means disobeying the orders of his commanding officer and sacrificing one of his team mates to accomplish his objective.

Sam -  'the colonel is right' is right by his side doing everything she's told - even though she knows by building the bomb - orders or no, she is abetting her commanding officer in disobeying HIS commanding officer.  And Teal'c?  Well, Teal'c mostly stands around and does nothing.   Except NOT stop Daniel when he embarks on the only possible course of action that has a chance of succeeding and tells Jack he doesn't disagree with what Daniel is attempting to do.

Daniel?  Oddly enough Daniel, the civilian member of the team is the only one following orders.  Both the orders of General Hammond to find way to solve the crisis which does not involve blowing up the alien ship and the request of the colonel to find him another option.  Once again, completely on his own, with no back-up from his team mates other than a decision to not interfere with his intentions from Teal'c.

To give you the benefit of the doubt I'm thinking you looked mostly to 'The Other Side' for the characterisations - which as I already pointed out were off - so if this episode was your 'model' for Jack's behaviour in this type of a situation, with his team and most specifically toward Daniel - well, no wonder you think they're not friends.  So would I, if the Other Side was the very first episode of Stargate I had ever seen.

On the up side, you did get one character very, very right in this episode.  Daniel is outstanding, his actions are courageous, his instincts from the word go dead on and unwavering and his reasoning and arguments absolutely brilliant. In fact, his extremely succinct explanation to Lotan of his perception of his 'true function' - I don't think in the entire series exactly WHAT Daniel is and does for the team has been better expressed. Big points for this one.

Based on this episode and the proof it seemed to supply you at least understood the character of Daniel and his importance to the team (half the battle) I had high hopes this boded well for the future proper utilisation of the character and the restoration of the Jack/Daniel dynamic (once you got a better handle on Jack).

Regretfully, that does not seem to be the case. Not only is Jack continuing to suffer from the 'reinvention syndrome' (exchanging making him inexplicably stupid for inexplicably chronically cranky and rude to practically everyone isn't really an improvement) and constantly cheating on his team mates with the latest Mary/Marty Sue character of the week, but the relentless promotion of 'Sam who is Dan' coinciding with the increasing devaluation of 'real' Daniel has led to - well, we know what it has led to, don't we?

But I digress.  It's a bad habit I have.  Getting back to the scenario in which our characters have to do all this questionable interacting and which I previously described as overly contrived.

It is, unfortunately.  I know you were trying to set up a no win situation and if you'd stopped with simply having the Enkkarrins about to be immolated because there was no time to save all of them - which was absolutely plausible and credible - and those who could be saved in time refused to leave without the others - also perfectly believable - the whole situation wouldn't have been over the top.  However, adding the detail of it being impossible for them to survive anywhere else except on this planet - definitely gilding the lily and stretching the bonds of credulity to the breaking point.

Also a detail which was completely unnecessary except as a way of adding a little extra bit of 'cleverness' at the end - by being the detail that allows Daniel to prompt Lotan into pull the Enkkarrin home world out of a hat.  And giving Sam a little more technobabble to spout in the briefing room scene.

It was an added complication that rather than upping the drama and tension of the situation instead made us raise a few eyebrows and go 'oh really'?  Which served to overall weaken the story rather than strengthen it.  Keep it simple isn't just a cliché, it's good advice.  Don't try and be too clever, it usually backfires.  Stick to trying to construct a logical, plausible scenario and telling a good story rather than trying to impress with unnecessary bells and whistles.

Creating a no win, truly tense and dramatic situation without the 'oh really' factor would not have been difficult.  You were practically there.  An impending natural disaster (such as the scenario in A Hundred Days) making a resettlement engineered by SG-1 necessary would have been a sufficient and believable explanation not only for how the Enkkarins happened to end up on a planet about to be terraformed out from under them but why Jack felt so responsible for trapping them on a planet he swore to them was 'safe' and now it seems was no such thing.  And as to why they were now in a no-win situation - not having enough time for all of the colonists to decamp, as you established and none of them willing to go without all of them  - clean, elegant, simple, plausible.  Why try and up the ante and make us go 'pfffffft! - well, that's DUMB' - with the 'can only live on this planet because of the density of the ozone layer' foolishness?

It is dumb.  And we did go 'pfffft!'.  Because we're not.  Dumb, that is.

Why is it dumb?  Well, for starters, if the conditions on THIS world are so freaking rare and the Enkkarins can't live without them, where have they been living for the generations between when they were kidnapped in ships by the Goa'uld before SG-1 showed up to 'save' them and take them to the one planet in the universe OTHER than their homeworld where they had a chance of surviving? (which somehow SG-1 were able to find without the aid of a supership vetting all the possibilities for them  - fortunately for the Enkkarins).

And, um, well  - how are they still alive?  Without the special lovely ozone layer - which they didn't have on the last world, apparently - shouldn't they be dead?  In a matter of days?  As Sam tells us?  How did they manage to live long enough to even BE resettled?  Took a couple of weeks to actually resettle them, and Jack says the whole operation has taken months.  Huh? And while we're at it, why would the Goa'uld be dumb enough to waste their time kidnapping people who were only going to croak on them a couple of days later unless they were immediately taken to 'special ozone world'? (and if they had been - why do they now need to be resettled?)  Their shelf life as hosts/slaves would seem to be rather limited to warrant the effort, wouldn't you think?

I'm only banging on this point a little excessively as a way of making one of my own.  We're not dumb.  Suspension of disbelief is a convention we can agree to - up to a point, but when it comes to having our intelligence insulted - maybe you don't understand just how intelligent and informed your audience really is.

Very few of us are teenaged boys who drink in the special effects and gibberish and let the rest of the stuff slide.  Who are satisfied with big guns, matte shots of impressive alien ships and science-y-sounding  technobabble that has little or no grounding in any actual, real science.

We're biologists, doctors, paramedics, librarians, graphic artists, computer programmers, serving members of the military, college professors, physicists, nurses, teachers, publishers, editors, journalists, archaeologists, anthropologists, writers, college students, high school students, historians, linguists, stock brokers, psychologists, retailers, geologists,  business owners, accountants, lawyers.  To name a few of the professions represented by people - who are mostly women - on the lists I belong to - and barely scratching the surface.

We're mature, intelligent, educated, informed and very, very serious about this show and what we expect with regards to the level of quality of the stories, and if you want to gain our respect for your work you have to respect the fact we're smart, we know what we're talking about and trying to slide some gobbledegook by us hoping we won't notice it's a load of horse hockey ain't gonna wash.

A frequent complaint this season in post episode discussion has been 'Geez - what the hell was that - would it have killed them to do a little research'?

We do. And we're not getting paid. We have resources for those of us who write fan fic and need technical advice about military procedure, medical questions, science questions. Or whatever specialised knowledge the story requires. Finding out a particular detail one needs for a story is simply a matter of appealing to one of these sources - who make themselves and their particular field of expertise readily available to those of us who need a hand.  They do this because they appreciate the results and the efforts of people who want to do the best job they can and don't wish to have an otherwise good story ruined by glaring errors in military or medical procedure, science or whatever other technical area the story is dealing with.

Yeah, it's a little more work to get the details right, but as writers, we feel that's our job.  And we KNOW how discriminating and knowledgeable our audience is. About their own areas of expertise and the show.  We no more want to insult their intelligence or sensibilities then we want ours violated by stuff that doesn't make sense.  When we don't get it right - they tell us.  Oh yeah.

Believe me, when it comes to the world of fan fic people are equally unforgiving of sloppy writing - for whatever reason, be it characterisation, continuity, not remembering Jack carries a P-90 in the fifth season and NOT an MP- 5 (oh yeah, we get called on stuff as trifling as this, yasureyoubetcha!)  - maybe even more so. Not all writers take as many pains with their efforts of course, but the ones that are considered as being consistently 'good' and earn our respect for their efforts hold themselves to a very high standard when it comes to trying to get it 'right'.

We bring the same level of expectation of quality to the episodes and often, to be frank, find them wanting. Which we find hard to understand and more than a bit infuriating, as we can see little excuse for it.

If we need to do research we do it, and we're doing all of this for free.  Perhaps you think it's unreasonable of us to expect the same degree of 'professionalism' in a commercial product but the way we look at it, if we can find a way to do it and we're just a bunch of fans writing stories part time during moments we snatch here and there in lives spent largely doing other things for a living - why the heck can't professional writers who are paid to write these stories and don't have to do anything else to earn a living BUT write stories for this show - do it as well?

It's a fair question.  At least, we think so.  What do you think?

And now for more bad news - part two of the scenario which completely doesn't work, and because it doesn't takes the teeth right out of the dramatic climax of the episode.

That pesky Naquadah reactor.  Sorry, I totally, completely, absolutely do not buy it would have blown up the ship.  Because it wouldn't have and couldn't have the whole thing falls apart for me.  There is no point to the entire conflict. No point to building the reactor in the first place.  Jack does all that blustering, agonising, yelling at Daniel and angsting over having to push the button for nothing.  It wouldn't have worked, his entire course of action wouldn't have worked, and what's even worse - all the business about blowing up Daniel goes right out the window because he was never in any danger from the bomb in the first place.

There really was never any realistic course of action open to them except the one Daniel took which was the only way to save the Enkkarrins all along.  All the sound and fury aside a simple exercise in logic should have told all of them - most especially Sam - that the whole building the bomb thing was a huge honking exercise in futility.

It all goes back to something called continuity.  Already established facts about what is and what is not possible in the Stargate universe based on events in previous episodes.  Episodes we know very, very well - to the point of being able to quote chapter and verse and knowing in which episodes to find such esoteric pieces of knowledge as Sara's address (Cold Lazarus), the names of Hammond's grandchildren (Crystal Skull), the chevrons which make up Earth's address (Solitudes) and where Daniel first delivered a baby (Brief Candle).  (And that's just off the top of my head.)

Trust me, we know our stuff.  Don't even think about getting into a game of Stargate trivia with us, because you'll lose.  And don't think we don't notice when you change the rules or try and make something work some way it's never worked before because - the story needs it to -  or introduce some new 'ability' a character suddenly has out of nowhere she's NEVER had before and not have us call you on it, or expect us to believe a little Naquadah reactor could take out an alien ship way more advanced than anything the Goa'uld have when 100 megatons of 'Goa'auldbuster' didn't even phase two Goa'uld motherships in Within the Serpent's Grasp.

I know sometimes it's faster and easier to 'fudge' it to solve a particular story problem but I'm just telling you - we notice it when you do.  And it tends to annoy us.  A lot. We don't want much, just good stories that challenge us and the characters we love being the people we have always known them to be.  Stories that work without resorting to making the characters do stupid things in order to drive the plot or by playing hard and fast with continuity we are well acquainted with to accomplish the same thing.

So what we basically have here is the reworking of a conflict scenario we've already seen this season driving an illogical story to a pointless climax and the whole thing really only seems to serve as a vehicle for further 'reinventing' the characters, manufacturing more hostility between Jack and Daniel (which is made even worse by the omission of the final resolution scene between them in favour of the lovely matte shot of the departing ship - and yes, we know you wrote one, I've seen the script,  thank you for trying, I'm just sorry we didn't get to SEE it), creating yet more artificial distance between Daniel and Jack. And Daniel and his team.  Making Daniel seem 'better' than the others and further apart from them while Jack and Sam become 'partners' in a pointless enterprise.

In the teaser scene we get the Enkarrins heaping praise on SG-1's heads and Jack's in particular for being their 'saviours'.  He's even gonna get a kid named after him.  Oh boy, now Daniel won't be the only one!

One small question - as I said above, I've seen an early draft of the script and something that's always bothered me - what happened to Daniel's line?  'I hope it isn't a girl.'  The camera cuts to him, you can see he's saying SOMETHING to Teal'c and grinning and there's an odd space of dead air - where the line would have fit in just fine.  That moment needs something, it's curiously empty, but there's nothing there.  Why not?  It just really bugs me the line's not there when I know it could be and should be.

But anyway, enter big bad ship and the episode kicks into gear.  SG-1 retires to the SGC to plot and plan.  Sam starts to give us a rundown on how big the ship is and what it's doing, Daniel tells us Teal'c has never seen the technology before.

Ergo whatever it is - the Goa'uld don't have it.  Which implies it's BETTER than anything the Goa'uld have - which we see for ourselves when we get on the ship and see, for one thing, it's capable of making Lotan.  All pieces of information to keep in mind when evaluating the viability of what happens next in the story...

Then Daniel makes a comment delivered so casually it's almost throw away.  A simple, innocuous observation which seems completely unimportant, but is in fact, the key to the only possible solution to the problem.

"If there's any good news, it would appear that whoever is in control doesn't have the specific intention of attacking the Enkkarrins."

When Hammond asks him why his response is worded very strangely.  Rather than coming right out and saying  - well - they're not attacking them, are they, they're doing something to the planet - which is what he has observed and is in fact saying, he instead responds "well, it just seems it would be a more direct approach."

Which is saying it but not saying it.  So he's made the point to those of us who are paying attention, but it's vague enough so that Jack can come right back and say - which he does -

"What difference does it make?"

I was absolutely stunned when I heard this the first time.  What difference does it make?  What difference does finding out the intention of the folks who are running this thing make?  Only everything!  This ship obviously has the ability to pulverise the Enkkarrins and yet other than chewing up the planet and heading in the direction of the settlement it's made no overt hostile moves towards the people.  That's fairly significant, wouldn't you think?

But Jack just steamrollers over it, echoed by 'The Colonel is right' Major Carter.  We get the low-down how bad the situation is - and most of the rest of the briefing is wasted in giving us the information about their ozone specific requirements.  Basically translating into no matter what they do, even if they get some of them off,  they're probably all dead anyway.  Which, as I said before is over the top and distracts from them focussing on the real problem - how to deal with the ship in the 26 hours or less they've got left.

Once Sam figures out the ship is in fact terraforming the planet they go back and get the news the Enkarrins intend to stay and fight.  And lay a nice guilt trip on Jack in the process.  The kid is the one who first brings up the 'blow them up' option 'clearly they mean to destroy us' (which as Daniel pointed out earlier, is not clear at all), but he's already put the thought in Jack's mind the Enkarrins expect him to 'do' something to defend them.  Him personally.  So he's already got his mind half closed to any other possibility but making it go boom before they even get to the ship.

We get another couple of reminders why the Naquadah bomb option won't work while they're waiting for the ship to zap them up.  Jack's stinger missile fantasy (see, he's already planning ways to blow it up and he's not even on board yet) is torpedoed (ha!) by Sam telling him they don't know what it's made of and Teal'c bringing up the point about not knowing if it has shield technology or not - but given what we find out about what it can do and what it is carrying, I'd say shields are a pretty safe bet.  Not to mention it being armed to the teeth and very capable of protecting itself and its cargo from pesky gnats trying to blow it up.

The first attempt to communicate doesn't go very well as far as Jack is concerned.  Lotan doesn't do what he wants, right then, right there, talking is a waste of time, on to plan B which is find a way to blow the ship up.

Far from being a waste of time, what they've learned is of enormous importance.  The intelligence guiding the ship does indeed care about the Enkarrins - it cared enough to create a construct to communicate the danger to them and advise them to leave. Which it did not HAVE to do.  And it has no, deliberate, hostile intentions.  None.  Nada.   The only way it is a threat to the Enkkarrins is the pesky detail of it terraforming the planet they are on but it doesn't want them dead, quite the opposite.

So, even though it's not getting the point simply saying 'get out' isn't enough, there's plenty of room for manoeuvre here. It's thinking in black and white terms, logically, unemotionally,  either or, continue to fulfil it's prime directive after it has done all it can now see to do to inform the other life forms of their situation and their options.

What is needed now is more efforts to reach it - to communicate with it and educate it.  It doesn't realise there is more it should do and can do.  Communicating is the key.

Jack's dismissal of Lotan 'A robot is a robot' - implying it's not capable of being anything but a windup errand boy - as Sam says, agreeing with him 'a messenger' - is really rather funny.  When you remember every single one of them has a 'robot' double walking around in the universe which they KNOW is capable of being everything they are.  And more. And Lotan is equally sophisticated. Probably more so.  So Daniel suggesting Lotan could be made to think outside his programming -  it's a possibility they all should be more open to considering. Especially given Lotan has just been created and consequently is a little low on the experiential learning curve, okay, maybe he's not to open to helping at the moment, but that doesn't mean he can't grow and evolve and to just dismiss the possibility out of hand - to assume it's not possible - well, that's Sam, isn't it?

Also, rather than looking at possibilities she seems to be more concerned with agreeing with everything Jack says.
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Every single person in that briefing, including Sam - especially Sam - after the level of technology she got an eyeful of on that ship - should have been aware discussing any course of action which involved trying to take offensive action against the ship would have been as effective as trying to take it down with an army of peashooters.  In fact, lobbing firecrackers at it, - while it wouldn't have done squat for taking it out might have made the situation worse - by triggering a defensive response from the ship.  Again, my main objection to this scenario is the appalling lack of logic displayed by Jack and especially Sam.

And let me throw another variable at you Sam of all of them should have thought of.  Supposing the bomb actually did succeed - they have NO idea how big a boom the SHIP would consequently  make - and how much of the planet it would or could take with it, when it exploded.

I mean, what the hell do they know about it?  Nothing! Do they know what it's made of?  What sort of engines it has, what kind of fuel and how potentially volatile it could prove to be when made to go boom?  What would happen if the powerplant/fuel is exploded?  Do they know what if any potential armaments it's carrying?  What if it's packed full of defensive warheads that would rip half the planet apart - including the chunk they are standing on - not to mention things like fallout, contamination of the biosphere - what about all the terraforming technology - what would spreading THAT stuff, all the bacteria and what not all over the place do to the air, the soil, the water - not to mention the lovely ozone layer upon which their survival depends.  What if that got burned up, blown away, eliminated by the explosion.  What then?

Trying to blow up the ship is dumb.  What's more, Sam looks dumb for not figuring out any of this or having the guts to tell Jack his idea is dumb and way too dangerous and can't work anyway and maybe they should back Daniel up trying to talk to Lotan because it's the only real shot they have.

But all Jack wants to do is blow the damned ship up.  And because no one is telling him he can't and shouldn't he believes that's the only way to handle the problem.  We get more friction between Jack and Daniel over which group of aliens deserves to live. Jack's 'judgement' HIS aliens should win because 'they're here now' - and well, they're his, they're looking to him to save them and he's the man and he can't let them down - has uncomfortable echoes back to the Other Side where Jack makes a similar, snap, unilateral decision about who gets to live based on what he thinks is right and wrong and what action he's justified taking based on his personal assessment of the situation.

Fortunately in this scenario he doesn't get to carry out his sentence.  But it's not for lack of trying.  Against the express instructions of his commanding officer to 'find another way out of this.'

Hammond says NO you may NOT blow up the ship.  We've had lots of debates about this, but the general saying, 'I'm sorry, I can't authorise a military strike in this situation, Colonel', and 'find another way out of this' means NO and Jack going ahead and trying to blow the ship up anyway translates as him disobeying orders.  Which he further compounds by giving Sam an unlawful order to build the bomb.

So now we have a close-minded Jack determined to be a hero completely unwilling to listen to anything or anyone else, goaded by the Enkarrins into being their defender set absolutely on committing genocide - whacking one group of aliens to save another group of aliens - a course of action contrary to the orders of his CO which is dumb and can't possibly succeed anyway. 
 

I'll say one thing in the script's favour though.  I know you have gone on record more than once as being a proponent of the Sam and Jack romance, and yet when I watch the scene where Jack orders Sam to build the bomb, I find this very hard to believe.  Whether it was your intention or not you have probably, in this one scene demonstrated more clearly and vividly than anywhere else not only why a romance between them would be impossible, but from this point onward, whatever tender feelings they might or might not have had between each other - destroyed in an instant.

Sam is nothing if not totally dedicated to the military.  As well as to her career.  She's shown us, in spades, especially in this season, being a good little major in the eyes of her superiors is very important to her.

What Jack does to her is pretty mean.  He makes her an accomplice, and places the onus of his expectations on her shoulders.  He can't do it without her - as he points out - so no matter how she feels about it - 'ordering' her or not - he trades on her need to be a good 2IC and her unwillingness to disappoint him both as a man and as her commanding officer to force her to be the instrument of his plan.  Whoever ultimately gets the reprimand she will still have to shoulder a great portion of the blame for complying because she didn't do what she should have done - refuse to obey an unlawful order.

If he had given her the dignity of CHOOSING whether or not she would make the bomb of her own free will, different story.  But Jack doesn't, because he can't afford to have her say no - so he forces the issue, and in so doing closes the door on any chance they might have had on having any sort of a relationship - or friendship built on respect and trust.

He shows her he IS the boss, and has too much power over her for them ever to be equals.  She gets it.  Oh boy, does she get it.  They're not equals.  Not the way Jack and Daniel are.  They never were and never will be.

Because Daniel can do one thing Sam can't.  He can say NO to Jack.  And does.  Frequently.  Which is the quality Jack most needs in the person he turns to as a confidant and sounding board.  Someone who will stand up to him and be a persistent and consistent voice of reason. And won't let him get away with crap like this.  Even if it means risking Jack's disapproval.

Sam is constrained by the chain of command.  She can only go so far in criticising his actions or calling him on questionable command decisions or she's risking charges of insubordination.  She is not allowed to question the orders of her superior. The military, which she is proud to be a member of and in which she believes - fervently - takes a dim view of that sort of behaviour. As does Sam herself.  She also up until this point seems to be making a career of saying 'the colonel is right'.  Even when he most assuredly isn't.

Which is why the substitution of Sam for Daniel as the colonel's confident is a bad, bad idea in oh, so many ways.

I can't for one minute believe a woman like Sam could ever be foolish enough to fall in love with a man who could and would order her to do something that violated her conscience and her principles. A pretty shitty thing to do to a friend, never mind a potential lover.

Yet that is exactly what Jack does.  He keeps right on doing it after she tries, granted very feebly to voice her objections. Steamrollers right over them the same way he steamrollered Daniel.

By 'ordering' Sam to make the bomb he tells her very clearly her principles and feelings aren't as important as what he needs her to do for him.  End justifies the means all the way.  He's willing to sacrifice his feelings for her and her respect for him to get the job done. She would be an absolute fool to believe they had any chance of having a meaningful and respectful relationship of equals.  Because if he's prepared and able to do it once, he'll do it again if he has to. Also, he CAN.   End of the 'ship' - right there.  In more ways than one.

Hey, I kinda like that.  Trying to put an end to the ship ends the 'ship'.

And then we come to Daniel, quietly heading out on his own to try and talk Lotan into doing the right thing.  Oh boy, there has been SO much debate about what sort of 'spin' to put on his actions.  From shippers who view Daniel and his relationship with Jack as the main barrier to their hopes for Jack and Sam condemning him for 'arrogantly taking matters into his own hands and taking  off to prove how damned right he is' (well, I'm sorry, but he is right, but the fact he has to take his course of action, it's not his fault, he's forced into this position of false moral superiority over all the others by the scenario) to the 'Daniel always disobeying orders' people screaming 'see!  See!  There he is, doing it again.'

Problem is, he isn't. He's the only one OBEYING orders. Jack CLEARLY says to him - 'give me another choice.'  Hammond has clearly said to Jack 'find another way out this'.

There is another way.  The only way that's going to work.  Everyone else is all wrapped up in Jack's drama and absorbed with the reactor red herring.  So Daniel goes and does what has to be done.  To save ALL of their asses, not just the Enkkarins.

And....to save Jack from having to follow through on a course of action which he undertakes deliberately in defiance of the orders of his CO and for which he should be court-martialled.  So, in setting out on his own and putting his life on the line to try and reach Lotan Daniel is also not only trying to save the Enkkarrins but trying to save Jack from the consequences of his own stubbornness.

Why didn't he wait and ask Jack for his blessing?  What would have been the point?  Jack has already made his feelings on the matter abundantly clear. Talking is a waste of time, end of story.  We've moved on, blowing up the ship is what we're doing.  Also, the clock is ticking.  Daniel doesn't have time to waste on yet another pointless argument with Jack that would only end up with Jack telling him no.  And getting them all blown up when the reactor plan failed.

I also like to think at least Daniel has worked it out he has to do this and why.  If he doesn't, they all die, no matter what Jack believes.  So really, he's not risking any more by going to the ship than he is by staying behind.  Blown up either way.  Blown up for SURE if he doesn't go.

I'd have to say at this point of the ep, after the way Jack has in particular treated him and not listened to a word he has to say, if I was Daniel I'd be seriously wondering about whether or not my team members felt I was worth keeping around. Or what was the point of being around - even (a question Michael Shanks has asked himself - and answered).  It's a damned good thing he didn't have to hear the further insult of Jack expressing to Teal'c his fear Daniel would rat them out to Lotan.  That's a fine expression of trust if ever I heard one.  Geez.  As well as a nice demonstration of faith in the man who stood by him when no one else believed in him in Fifth Race.

Once again, Jack's behaviour and attitude toward Daniel is pretty appalling in this episode. (Sam as well.)  Right up to the very last scene where he is scowling and pouting because HE wasn't the one to pull the Enkkarins' nuts out of the fire. There is Daniel, turning to him all happy because he's done what Jack asked him to do, given him that 'other choice' and a bloodless victory - and probably saved his career in the bargain -  and found a way to get the Enkarrins home as well and all Jack does is sourly smirk at him and look all pissed because his thunder has been stolen, Daniel is the hero of the hour and he's probably not going to get that kid named after him now.

This episode really, REALLY needed a resolution scene at the end.  At the very least Jack needed to stop acting like a prat again, suck it up and give Daniel a 'good job.  Maybe I should have listened to you after all.  And by the way, sorry I tried to blow you up.'

Like I said up above, I know you wrote one.  Whoever decided to cut it out and go with the matte shot instead - the only reason I can think of why is that image of Jack being pissed at Daniel and resenting him for saving the day is the one they wanted to leave us with instead of letting us see them making up and forgiving each other as friends would.  If indeed friends they still are.

This less than satisfying ending would seem to suggest - not.

I've come down pretty hard on parts of this ep, but at the same time, there were also parts I really loved.  The scenes with Daniel and Lotan were wonderful.  As a matter of fact, Lotan was an entirely delightful original character.  Not a Mary Sue - an OC.  He fulfilled his function (ha) without becoming intrusive or obnoxious and taking over the episode.  Lotan is my personal favourite OC of the season.

However, these Daniel and Lotan scenes do seem to be unfortunate precursors of a trend which occurs in most of your scripts. You seem to prefer to concentrate on one member of the team interacting with an original character and in that context get them 'right' - most of the time.  But getting the members of the 'team' to interact with each other in character, that's proving to be a tad more problematical.  But this is something I'll deal with in more detail in the 'team episodes' and 'Mary Sue' sections.

To finish off dealing with SE I'd also like to say I actually liked the premise.  As a no win scenario it had tons of dramatic potential and lots of room for some wonderful exploration in conflict and character.  Unfortunately, too much character assassination and some rather distressing plot holes....

Springing off from the same situation of the Enkarrins facing the ship I'd have gone a little differently.  Made the Enkarrins more aggressive, less like accepting sheep bleating 'save us'.  Hardier, more determined to survive and prepared to be extremely proactive in the process.  Scrapped the whole 'ozone' thing and the first briefing room scene devoted mostly to discussing it.  Let Jack come back from the ship still all determined to blow it up, but have Daniel with Sam -  with a little bit of bickering, arguing, some yelling could happen, sure, why not - convince him, eventually, this isn't an option. Have him UNDERSTAND this and  stop stubbornly insisting on doing it his way.  Be a leader and LISTEN to what his team mates are telling him.  Especially when they are right and he is wrong.

They realise getting to Lotan is their best course of action and Daniel is the one the best man for the job.  Well, he is.  Before he can leave they're confronted by the 'blow-em up boy' who's heard them talking about the bomb and deciding not to use it  (but not Sam telling Jack why it's not a viable option) and he gets all pissed thinking SG-1 is preparing to sneak out of town and abandon them to their fate and rallies the rest and takes them all prisoner.  Then the Enkkarrins demand Sam make the bomb and use it against the ship.  They are prepared to get nasty in order to compel Sam to co-operate.

Jack tells Teal'c to help Daniel escape and get him to the ship.  Whether he makes it all the way with Daniel - that would depend, but at least it would give Teal'c something to DO.  Jack and Sam are going to try and keep the Enkkarins busy - reason with them. Buy Daniel the time he needs to get through to Lotan.

Daniel makes it to the ship and starts trying to reason with Lotan - the Enkarrins have forced Sam to make the bomb by threatening to kill Jack.  Now we still have a bomb and the potential for disaster it represents, but instead of Jack and Sam acting like morons supporting a morally dubious course of action Sam should know can't succeed what we have is two simultaneous 'fights' for right happening. Daniel arguing for the survival of  the people who are threatening the lives of his team mates  - and the rest of SG-1 trying to convince the Enkkarrins to not use the bomb and not kill them and  all of them trying to save the Enkkarins in spite of themselves.  And also trying to stay alive themselves as well, because now  they are just as stuck on the planet with the ship coming towards them as the Enkkarins are.

Daniel trying to convince Lotan to stop the ship and Jack trying to convince the Enkkarins to trust them and that they ARE in fact trying to save them no matter what it looks like.  Lots of room for Jack to look like a hero as well as Daniel, and behave like the man we know he is. Being moral and brave and angry and exasperated and concerned - great stuff. As well as Sam having the little angst fest over having her technical expertise turned against her.

Daniel's speech to Lotan would need a little tweaking, and the visit to the Enkkarins might be  more problematical, but if you added the extra moral layer of Lotan wondering why the team is fighting so hard for people who are attacking his ship and them - another opportunity to work in a little commentary about....

Well, I've said enough, you get the idea.  It's a little on the rough side, but that's what I got in about five minutes on a walk to the corner store to get a slurpee thinking about what I would do with the same basic premise.  For what it's worth.

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