Daniel's shrinking role

[Nora]

Some other fans besides me must have noticed that Daniel's role/importance in the show/team has been much diminished. Let's analyze the episodes since January 5.

Chain Reaction - what did he do? How much screen time he had? 5% of the show?

2010 - Thas was basically Sam's episodes, with very good parts for Joe, Jack and Janet. Again, Daniel was what, 10 or 15% on the screen? How much dialogue did he had?

Prodigy - nothing at all, nada, zero, zip.

Double Jeopoardy - 5% screen time and then he disappears, even his double.

The Light - Okay, that was a little better, but between being unconscious, etc. there are a lot of scenes he isn't on. Let's give it like 30%. He had very little lines.

Absolute Power - Okay, that was his episodes, say 95%.

His interaction with Sam is very much diminished. They used to work very well together, both as actors and as characters. Daniel knew where Sam was coming from (intellectually)in a way that neither Jack nor Teal'c couldn't. I loved the many scenes where they sat and worked together. They had this intellectual rapport, since the beginning,(the Children of the Gods) and that has since vanished. Sam is so much colder towards Daniel. Is it because the writers want to state implicitly that it is Jack she "cares" for and that Daniel is no rival? I have noticed several times that if Daniel is sick or something she doesn't even ask how is he. For example, in Small Victories when Teal'c and Jack and Sam come back it is ONLY Teal'c who expresses satisfaction that Daniel is okay. Sam doesn't even acknowledge Daniel. And in The Light again it is Teal'c who says he is happy that Daniel is back. Sam has this sort of frozen smile, like she is thinking, oh crap, so he made it. Again she says nothing, zip. Now, Sam worried about Daniel before and showed her affection for him. I am not saying that she loved him in a romantic way, but certainly in a very sisterly/friendly way.

It is one of the things I am missing from the show. The team dynamic has changed (for the worse) and I can only attribute it to the Sam/Jack pairing.

 

[gategeek]

well prodigy doesn't really count 'coz he asked for the time off to prepare for directing. on the whole i think daniel gets plenty of screen time considering he's only 1 of 4 major characters. of all the major characters i'd say it's teal'c who gets slighted the most.

 

[ponyperson]

I think it all depends onwho your fav. character is... my fav. is danny.. so to me, he doesnt get nearly enough screen time..
my biggest complaint lately about the series is that there's not enough team spirit/teamwork... they're always split off..
i'll have to go back and rewatch sam's reactions... (geeze, another reason to rewatch the ep's.. woe is me..)(*grin*)

 

[Rowe]

Daniel's screen time

I've been satisfied with the amount of screen time Daniel has had this season, especially in the early part. What bothers me is the tendency this season for the writers to present him as an outsider to the team, instead of a part of the SG-1 family. I hope this gets corrected in Season Five.

 

[skydiver]

i think what they've treid for this year was some character development, if any of you watch third watch you'll see that's what they've done also. focused on one character at a time making s/he the 'star' of the eps and cut down on the others.
it has made for some interesting tidbits but there have been practically no plain and simple rescue eps on third watch.
sg has done some of the same. they've focussed on some characters which means the others have to stand back a bit. now if they're focussing on danny and you're a teal'c fan, it's gonna suck. the same no matter what the combination.
there is also the fact that they seem to be downplaying the danny/jack bit MAYBE, and i'm saying MAYBE here because of the slash stories.(just guessing, i don't know for sure, just a guess...). there is also the shipangle which they brought up and now have to deal with. in my opinion this has meant instead of the team being divided danny/tealc, sam/jack it's danny/sam , jack /teal'c.
maybe in season 5 they'll get back to team eps where everyone has a part.

 

[Rowe]

I understand that the other characters won't have as many lines when the writers focus on character development, but there are the little things, e.g. a glance or a touch, that convey thoughts and emotions without a word being said. All the team members have seemed a little distant with one another lately. I think it has been most pronounced with Jack and Daniel, maybe because in prior seasons that's where the lion's share of interpersonal interaction happened, so its absence is more noticeable. I don't think it's the slash, though. It's been out there since Season 1 and it didn't affect how the writers wrote the Jack and Daniel friendship before.

Maybe they want to go in another direction with the relationship. In Season 1 and the start of Season 2, Daniel was almost like a surrogate son to Jack. Daniel relied on Jack's guidance (even when he proceeded to ignore it) and Jack was very protective. Now that Daniel has had more training and experience in fighting the Goa'uld, he doesn't need Jack so much anymore. It's like Jack and Daniel are going through the whole "child becomes an adult" angst that neither had to experience before since Charlie and Daniel's parents died before those relationships progressed to that stage. When you have two people who have such strong personalities and such opposite ways of seeing things, things are bound to get a little hairy from time to time. But that's just my opinion, FWIW.

 

[skydiver]

that is entirely possible. daniel is far more mature and able to take care of himself than he was in the beginning...face it, space monkey can hold his own. and that change in his personality is bound to make a change in how he interacts with the others. he is more of an equal than 'the civilian'.
in season 1 do you really think he would have run off with sg-11 so often?
personally i could see him becoming more of the sgc's specialist on archaeology while sam seems to be becoming the specialist on alien tech.

 

[Rowe]

Oh, there's no way Jack would have let him out of his sight in Season One. Someone once said that boy has the survival instincts of a lemming. Pretty well called it as far as Season 1 is concerned, although I don't think it's true now, as The First Ones attests.

SG-11 seems to have become the designated archaeology team. It makes sense that Daniel would be with them so often. If it wasn't for his skills in first contact, he probably would have been transferred to the team permanently. This season has the team staying home much more often, which gives Sam the opportunity to do her research and development. The way TPTB have been doing this season does make some sense, I suppose.

 

[{ACA} Ma'tec]

I agree

I think Danny is a strong character, I hate to see him out of a show, we lose that wonderful snidism (is that a word?) between him and Jack. That always gets me laughing... cas in point at the end of Shades of grey, when Jack is thanking Danny for visiting him at home, and Dan informs him that they in fact drew straws and he lost! I loved that one.

I havent found the story yet, but I heard of a fan fic that someone wrote that has SG-1 captured with the exception of daniel, and it is up to him to save the day, which he does by impersonating the local god. I think that would be a great episode!

if anyone know of this Fanfic, please tell me where i can find it!

 

[skydiver]

oh man i think i've read that one. i know it's on helio and it's fiarly old...let me look.

there is a more recent one called ketchup(there are two by this title, one is ship and in one danny saves the day)

 

[skydiver]

there is one called abilities by annette griessman...jack puts on his sunglasses, freaks out the natives and it's up to danny to save the day.

it's on helio

 

[{ACA} Ma'tec]

thanks I'll check it out.

 

[ColONeil]

I have noticed the shrinking chemistry between Jackson and the rest of the characters, But there will always be pretty strictly military episodes, however they did fit him pretty well into Children of the Gods, but he disappeared in Enemy Within. The chemistry between O'Neil and Jackson is hilarious at points, in Serpents song I broke out laughing when he said he would kill Apophis if he didn't tell him where Shau'ri was, this was a screw up on the Writer's part and it is out of Jackson's character, Jackson would actually probably throug him back to Sokhar.