(no subject)
Jul. 14th, 2004 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflySo, working my way through Stargate (Gah. Love this show so much. Snark! Science! Daniel fucking Jackson.). I have another question, actually. Do we have any proof that Daniel is right in Maternal Instinct when he believes that he never had any powers? Because Oma doesn't actually talk to him in that episode. At all. She just glows and gives him expectant eyes. Then there's the Meridian thing, where she tells him that he has to finish the journey he started in Kheb.
The journey that I see him starting in that episode seems to be centered around enlightenment. He just didn't know it yet. Maternal Instincts planted the seeds of ascended!Daniel. But he gets lost -- the rest of season three and then throughout all season four are tough years for Daniel. First, he gives up the kid. He loses his grandfather to giant aliens just when he's found him again. Then he loses the rest of his team, doesn't get them back for, like, a week. All the while recovering from appendicitis. He has to be willing to allow the death of his friends. Then he gets smacked down by Jack and the military in The Other Side (which may be part of why he acts so independently in Scorched Earth). He gets an apology, but he doesn't actually accept it that we see. He gets kidnapped and almost killed by an Unas. He almost gets blown up by Jack. He gets kidnapped and turned into slave labor with the rest of SG-1. His ex-girlfriend gets Goa'ulded and tortures him. All throughout the season, he pulls away from SG-1, going on various missions with other teams.
And then he receives the genetic memory of the Goa'uld, discovering some nasty possibilities about himself, and loses Sha're's kid again. And he almost commits suicide because of an alien light. Even after this, in the next episode, he's off with another unit again. Then again in Double Jeopardy.
Where Jack, Sam, and Teal'c are confronted with seeing themselves die and Daniel already being dead.
In season five, the gap between Daniel and his teammates seems to be healing, but Daniel himself is getting more and more desperate about finding that new path mentioned in Absolute Power. Oma's offer seems to be that path that he's been searching for. "I think I can do more this way."
I'm repeating myself, I know. I'm refining my theories as I watch the episodes. Even reading transcripts can't compare to seeing the emotions and drives of the characters.
The journey that I see him starting in that episode seems to be centered around enlightenment. He just didn't know it yet. Maternal Instincts planted the seeds of ascended!Daniel. But he gets lost -- the rest of season three and then throughout all season four are tough years for Daniel. First, he gives up the kid. He loses his grandfather to giant aliens just when he's found him again. Then he loses the rest of his team, doesn't get them back for, like, a week. All the while recovering from appendicitis. He has to be willing to allow the death of his friends. Then he gets smacked down by Jack and the military in The Other Side (which may be part of why he acts so independently in Scorched Earth). He gets an apology, but he doesn't actually accept it that we see. He gets kidnapped and almost killed by an Unas. He almost gets blown up by Jack. He gets kidnapped and turned into slave labor with the rest of SG-1. His ex-girlfriend gets Goa'ulded and tortures him. All throughout the season, he pulls away from SG-1, going on various missions with other teams.
And then he receives the genetic memory of the Goa'uld, discovering some nasty possibilities about himself, and loses Sha're's kid again. And he almost commits suicide because of an alien light. Even after this, in the next episode, he's off with another unit again. Then again in Double Jeopardy.
Where Jack, Sam, and Teal'c are confronted with seeing themselves die and Daniel already being dead.
In season five, the gap between Daniel and his teammates seems to be healing, but Daniel himself is getting more and more desperate about finding that new path mentioned in Absolute Power. Oma's offer seems to be that path that he's been searching for. "I think I can do more this way."
I'm repeating myself, I know. I'm refining my theories as I watch the episodes. Even reading transcripts can't compare to seeing the emotions and drives of the characters.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-15 01:38 am (UTC)In the history of the English language, I don't think anyone's ever typed that sentence before. :P
He gets kidnapped and almost killed by an Unas.
Ah, but then they FALL IN LOVE OMG and what a beautiful love it is. God, I love The Unas Trilogy as it SHALL BE NAMED YES.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-15 05:08 am (UTC)Part of the joy of being in a sci-fi/fantasy fandom is getting to write sentences like that.
Ah, but then they FALL IN LOVE OMG and what a beautiful love it is. God, I love The Unas Trilogy as it SHALL BE NAMED YES.
Heh. There was that moment in The First Ones where Daniel eats a bit of the energy bar and... man, he's going to this effort to show that the food is good but it just looks borderline pornographic. And he was asked to stay. I think that Chaka, like many other aliens, finds Daniel inordinately fascinating.
They love him for his mind, yo. Well, the snakes for sure do.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-15 06:31 am (UTC)Beyond the fact that he never sets any more fires with his brain? No, I don't think so.
The journey that I see him starting in that episode seems to be centered around enlightenment. He just didn't know it yet.
The fascinating thing to me is that Meridian was so very much *not* where the fans wanted the show to go at the time, and yet, Daniel's ascension (and descension) really throws his whole arc into focus and adds an extra layer of meaning to a lot of things that came before it. It's a neat kind of serendipity, but it also makes me glad that I came to the show late. Less stress, greater rewards. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-16 08:48 am (UTC)Does he ever try? Because I think that he assumed that he'd figured it all out, but he has never figured anything out when it comes to Oma Desala. It has to be pretty much hammered into his head and she didn't spend much time with him in MI. I wonder if he could have started a fire with his brain if he truly believed that he could the way he did for a little while in that temple.
The fascinating thing to me is that Meridian was so very much *not* where the fans wanted the show to go at the time, and yet, Daniel's ascension (and descension) really throws his whole arc into focus and adds an extra layer of meaning to a lot of things that came before it. It's a neat kind of serendipity, but it also makes me glad that I came to the show late. Less stress, greater rewards.
It really does gives Daniel's arc an extra 'oomph' that the rest of the show doesn't quite have. I'd compare it to the Best RetCon Ever, which would be Bashir's genetic enhancement reveal. Totally unplanned until fairly late in the series, but it fit perfectly with his character and gave him this entire new layer in retrospect. His relationships with both Garak and O'Brian almost switched in meaning, because it was revealed that his approach to life was not guileless as the Chief's but a web of lies like Garak's. His behavior in prior seasons became infinitely more detailed. Brilliant idea, whoever had it.