Daniel Jackson (Stargate)

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Daniel Jackson
Incursion" (Universe)
Portrayed byJames Spader (1994)
Michael Shanks (1997–2010)
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
OccupationArchaeologist
Linguist
FamilyMelburn Jackson (father),
Claire Jackson (mother),
Nick Ballard (grandfather),
Vala (Wife)
Kasuf (father in law)
NationalityAmerican

Daniel Jackson, PhD, is a fictional character in the military science fiction franchise Stargate, and one of the main characters of the 1997 series Stargate SG-1. He is portrayed by James Spader in the 1994 film Stargate, and by Michael Shanks in Stargate SG-1 and other SG-1 derived media. Jackson is the only Stargate character to appear in all films and series in the franchise (excluding the non-canonical Stargate Infinity).

In the 1994 film, Dr. Jackson is an

Stargate Program whose goal is to explore the galaxy and defend against alien threats. Jackson is part of SG-1 until his death at the end of the season 5, when he is replaced by Jonas Quinn
.

Upon his death, Dr. Jackson

Ancients. He makes occasional appearances in season 6 before retaking human form and rejoining SG-1 in the seventh season. Jackson appears in the series until the finale at the end of the tenth season
, and appears in both direct-to-DVD films that act as sequels to the series.

He also appears in three episodes of Stargate Atlantis and four episodes of Stargate Universe. For his portrayal of Jackson, Shanks was nominated for three Saturn Awards for Best Actor on Television, and for five Leo Awards, winning two: Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series for Stargate SG-1 in 2004, and Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama for Stargate: Continuum in 2009.

Character arc

Born on July 8, 1965, Daniel Jackson is the only living child of Melburn and Claire Jackson, archaeologists who were crushed to death while supervising the placement of a piece of Egyptian art in the

Ancient, and Unas.[2][5]

James Spader as Daniel Jackson in Stargate.

In the 1994 film

Catherine Langford approaches him to offer him a job deciphering the cover-stones of a device found in Egypt. Jackson uses his knowledge of ancient Egyptian languages to make the device, named the Stargate, function.[6]

Jackson then travels with a team, led by

Ra, Daniel decides not to return to Earth with the rest of the team and to instead live the rest of his life learning about the culture and history of Abydos, with its culture based on that of ancient Egypt. Jack O'Neill lies to his superiors, saying that Daniel Jackson is dead.[6]

In the television series Stargate SG-1, Daniel's life changes when his wife and his brother-in-law are abducted and turned into hosts for the

Oma Desala, a being of great power and wisdom.[10] SG-1 meets Shifu again as a much older boy in season 4's "Absolute Power".[11]

In the penultimate season 5 episode "

Anubis. Before Daniel can destroy Anubis, he is whisked away, but Oma helps Daniel by ascending the entire population of Abydos before Anubis destroys the planet.[14]

Daniel is discovered naked and without memory on the planet Vis Uban in the season 7 opener "

RepliCarter in "Reckoning (Part 2)", Oma Desala provides a path for Daniel to ascend in "Threads", but Daniel is descended back to Earth naked to live on as a human, this time with full memory of what just happened to him.[19][20]

In the season 9 opener "

Odyssey, and a romance between Vala and Daniel comes to fruition. Before the time dilation field is reversed after fifty years, erasing all linked memories in the process, Daniel and Vala express their feelings for each other.[26]

Jackson makes a cameo appearance in the pilot of

Wraith
threat in the galaxy but with the unforeseen consequence of destroying the Stargates which would explode, killing tens of thousands of innocent people.

In the time following the conclusion of Stargate Atlantis, Jackson still works for the

Icarus Base
. Jackson assists Dr. Rush's research team by recording a series of instructional videos explaining the stargate, the history of the ancients, the stargate addressing system and hyperdrive technology. Wallace watched several of Jackson's videos on the way to Icarus base, growing increasingly annoyed at the "in-flight safety tip" type recordings Jackson made.

Relationships

Jackson marries

Sarah Gardner, between seasons 4 and 7, but he is prevented from taking anything further when Sarah is taken as a host by the long-trapped Goa'uld Osiris until she is finally released. He also meets Leda in "Icon" who develops feelings for him, although circumstances prevent anything coming of it. Daniel develops a love-hate relationship with Vala Mal Doran between seasons 8 and 10; it is established multiple times that their feelings for each other are far deeper than either of them care to admit. Vala's daughter, the Orici Adria, develops an attraction to Daniel while attempting to convert him to the path of Origin during season 10.[26][30][31]

On a personal level, Jackson is very close to his teammates on the original SG-1, with each of them constantly depicted as willing to go to great lengths to protect each other, even with such moments as Teal'c's role in Sha're being taken by Apophis or Jack distancing himself from the others to go undercover and expose the NID's theft of alien artifacts.

Jackson has an antagonistic relationship with Dr. Rodney McKay, as evidenced in season 5 of Stargate: Atlantis. He feels McKay is an arrogant, overbearing, insufferable ass, and can barely hide his dislike for his Atlantis counterpart. McKay's feeling is mutual, and they engaged in a verbal sparring match throughout their time together, but they at least have a mutual respect for each other's accomplishments.

Profession

In the movie Stargate, Daniel Jackson,

archaeologist, historian, and linguist. Jackson utilizes his skills in all three fields throughout the film as it becomes evident that he specializes in Egyptology
.

Jackson, as an archaeologist, becomes the stereotypical academic – extremely smart, nerdy, socially awkward, and quirky. As a character, which further exemplifies this stereotype, Daniel represents an antithesis to the military stereotype of shoot first, ask questions later. Jackson is frequently depicted as approaching other cultures; past, present, and future, in a

culturally sensitive manner, sometimes siding with their interests above those of the military back on Earth. Daniel seems more akin to a pseudo-archaeologist than a scientist. Pseudo-archaeology operates, generally, outside of the empirical and analytical methods of the profession of archaeology, and often is associated with claims of extraterrestrial life, magic, and other phenomena. In the fictional universe of Stargate, Daniel is proven correct about his claims that the Egyptian pyramids are much older than anyone believes, and even finds out they are of extraterrestrial design. As Meskell observed of the film Stargate: “Egypt represents everything Other, everything we cannot fathom or explain, all things ritualized, sacrificed and sexual’ and summed up in the film as the queered, extraterrestrial Ra, like Egypt identified as inexplicable, unnatural and evil...”(1998a:73).[32]

"Deaths"

The show's staff and writers occasionally make jokes about Daniel's frequent "deaths" on the show. In the season 7 episode "

Goa'uld invasion in the Stargate Command, replaced by an alternate Daniel in "Stargate SG-1: The Gift of the Gods" from a doppelganger reality. In Stargate: Continuum Daniel is feared dead when he asks Carter and Mitchell to leave him behind while they search for help in the Arctic, only to be rescued by Col. O'Neill. Jackson is again killed by a Jaffa staff weapon near the end before Mitchell
uses Ba'al's time-travel device to prevent Ba'al invading and conquering Earth.

Conceptual history

James Spader was intrigued by the script because he found it "awful".[34] Mostly because of his manual-labourist view of acting, he accepted the role as a regular job that earned him some money. Michael Shanks was chosen because he did "the perfect imitation of James Spader", according to Brad Wright.[35] Showtime's announcement to not renew Stargate SG-1 after season 5 coincided with Shanks' decision to leave the show for concerns of being underutilized. Panicking fans started massive write-in fan campaigns to save the show and the character, partly conflating the two issues,[36][37] but Sci-Fi Channel decided to continue the show and fill the void with a new character. Casting agents met Corin Nemec at the courtyard of MGM's Santa Monica offices by chance and offered him the role of Jonas Quinn, beginning with the penultimate season 5 episode "Meridian".[38]

  • The actress portraying Sha're (Vaitiare Bandera) was actually pregnant with Michael Shanks' first child, Tatiana, in season 2.
  • In the episode "Nemesis", Daniel is left behind while the rest of the team helps the Asgard fight off a new threat. Originally he was meant to go with them but the day after Canadian Thanksgiving, Shanks' appendix ruptured and the appendectomy was written into the script to explain Daniel's minimal involvement.

Reception

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Stargate SG-1

For his portrayal of Daniel Jackson,

Saturn Award in the category "Best Supporting Actor on Television" in 2001, 2004 and 2005.[40]

References

  1. ^
    Forever In a Day". Stargate SG-1. Season 3. Episode 10. Showtime.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  2. ^
    Sky One.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
    Daniel: said he was about 4½ years old in August 1969 in episode.
  3. The Gamekeeper". Stargate SG-1. Season 2. Episode 4. Showtime.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  4. Crystal Skull". Stargate SG-1. Season 3. Episode 21. Showtime.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  5. ^ "200". Stargate SG-1. Season 10. Episode 6. Showtime.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ a b Stargate. Roland Emmerich (director), Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin (writers). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Carolco Pictures.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ^
    Mario Azzopardi (director), Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright (writers). "Children of the Gods (Part 1 & 2)". Stargate SG-1. Season 1. Episode 1 & 2. Showtime
    .
  8. Secrets". Stargate SG-1. Season 2. Episode 9. Showtime
    .
  9. Pretense". Stargate SG-1. Season 3. Episode 15. Showtime
    .
  10. Maternal Instinct". Stargate SG-1. Season 3. Episode 20. Showtime
    .
  11. Absolute Power". Stargate SG-1. Season 4. Episode 17. Showtime
    .
  12. Merididan". Stargate SG-1. Season 5. Episode 21. Showtime
    .
  13. ^ Eramo, Steven (July 2002). "Amanda Tapping – Tapping Aloud – Major Carter". TV Zone (Special 46): 14–18.
  14. ^ Martin Wood (director), Robert C. Cooper (writer). "Full Circle". Stargate SG-1. Season 6. Episode 22. Showtime.
  15. ^ Martin Wood (director), Robert C. Cooper (writer). "Fallen". Stargate SG-1. Season 7. Episode 1. Sci-Fi Channel.
  16. ^ Martin Wood (director), Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (writers). "Homecoming". Stargate SG-1. Season 7. Episode 1. Sci-Fi Channel.
  17. Sky One
    .
  18. Sky One
    .
  19. Sky One
    .
  20. Sky One
    .
  21. ^ Andy Mikita (director), Robert C. Cooper (writer). "Avalon". Stargate SG-1. Season 9. Episode 1 & 2. Sci-Fi Channel.
  22. Beachhead". Stargate SG-1. Season 9. Episode 16 & 17. Sci-Fi Channel
    .
  23. Flesh and Blood". Stargate SG-1. Season 10. Episode 1. Sci-Fi Channel
    .
  24. The Quest". Stargate SG-1. Season 10. Episode 10 & 11. Sci-Fi Channel
    .
  25. The Shroud". Stargate SG-1. Season 10. Episode 14. Sci-Fi Channel
    .
  26. ^
    Unending". Stargate SG-1. Season 10. Episode 20. Sci-Fi Channel
    .
  27. The Broca Divide". Stargate SG-1. Season 1. Episode 5. Showtime
    .
  28. Hathor". Stargate SG-1. Season 1. Episode 14. Showtime
    .
  29. Need". Stargate SG-1. Episode 5. Showtime
    .
  30. Past and Present". Stargate SG-1. Season 3. Episode 11. Showtime
    .
  31. Icon". Stargate SG-1. Season 8. Episode 5. Showtime
    .
  32. S2CID 145084790
    .
  33. ^ Shanks, Michael (2007-06-17). "Report from Arlington, Virginia Convention, 2005". Michael Shanks Online. Archived from the original on 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  34. ^ Rebecca Asher-Walsh (November 11, 1994). "James Spader is Slack Happy". Entertainment Weekly.
  35. ^ Brad Wright, Jonathan Glassner, Michael Greenburg, Richard Anderson, Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. (2001). Stargate SG-1: Season 3 – Timeline To The Future – Part 1: Legacy Of The Gate [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment.
  36. ^ Mary McNamara (February 13, 2002). "Fan rebellion threatens "Stargate"". Salon.com.
  37. ^ Storm 2005, pp. 61–63.
  38. ^ Eramo, Steven (July 2002). "Corin Nemec – Jonas Quinn". TV Zone (Special 46): 22–26.
  39. ^ "Past Winners". Leo Awards. Archived from the original on 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  40. Saturn Awards. Archived from the original
    on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2009-04-10.

External links
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