Originally posted by Goob'r55
I guess what I find the most annoying about "Daniel" in the world of Stargate, is his Schizoid personality-- or at least, that is how he seems to be betrayed by those who are obsessed with him in this Universe. Especially in fan fiction.
Well, the scriptwriters certainly haven't done him any favours of recent years - wallpaper or what?!
"Especially in fan fiction."?
You must have had a few bad experiences there, because I'm really wondering what you've been reading. There is a vast amount of extremely well written, well thought out fan fiction on the web, written by intelligent mature writers who show a great deal more understanding of the characters than some writers who get paid for their work.
If somebody, like me, points out that Daniel behaves in anything less than a stellar mode-- Daniel-addicts jump to his rescue with every imaginable reason under the sun to explain away why he falls short of acting like a MAN -- or just a decent, reasonable human being.
Well, I obviously don't know any "Daniel-addicts" then, because for all the fans I know, it's the
imperfections of the characters -
all of them - that makes them interesting.
For instance, season 4-6's SuperSam is exceedingly tedious. When is someone going to write her a really meaty episode when she is fallible? Even in 'Red Sky', she got away with it. She's a good strong character, yet she's almost always portrayed as either a mistress of all sciences, not just the theoretical astrophysics in which she has a doctorate, or she's the colonel's - or some doomed alien's - bit of fluff that the writers don't seem to know what to do with.
[When he defies Jack's orders -- well, he isn't a miltary man, so what can we expect.
And when Jack defies Hammond's orders as in 'Scorched Earth'...?
When he gets himself and the others into trouble with his simple-minded behaviors- well, he's "child-like" -- and that's what makes him so darned cute and likeable....
"Simple-minded"? "
Cute"? Are we talking about the same person?
When he loses sight of his responsibility to Jack and Teal'c (as he did in the Thor's Hammer episode) - the answer is, well, he's just a Archeologist in love, a husband desperate to find a way to help his poor wife....
More of an archaeologist with a responsibility to rescue his wife, I'd say.
And now, in this Episode, when his actions betray a real lack of character -- because if you step back and really look at the way he handles his grief, handles the loss of Sha're --- why, in fact, even her own Father must come to him more than once and rattle his cage -- you must admit that Daniel comes up lacking.
Um, this is apparently a dream sequence which actually takes only a matter of seconds in real time.
Why is it, in the Episode where Jack is reunited with his wife and his long dead son -- we can see his hurt and grief over Charlie's death so clearly -- and suffer his pain, and yet....come away from the experience respecting Jack even more than before?
Erm, that wasn't Jack. That was one of the Unity trying to help him.
I dare you to watch both of the shows back to back -- and then tell me than Daniel still stands the test in so stellar a fashion.
<mode:Jack> Er... what? </m:J> Daniel never has been perfect if that's what you're trying to suggest. He'd wouldn't be nearly so popular if he were.
It is sad the Stargate Producers and writers are forever short changing the Character of Daniel on the show....
Well, we certainly agree on
that one!!!
It is even sadder that most of the fan fiction writers out there caught the "bug" and have done nothing to build up Daniel's character -- if anything, most have made him more immmature, more selfish, more simple-minded -- for the sake of getting him into trouble, injuring him, having Jack rescue him, coddle him, cuddle him.....and that isn't even referring to the Slash sites!
I am really, really sorry you've had such bad experiences with fan fic.
That being the case, I'm not surprised you've taken against Daniel. The sites I visit have no truck with that distorted view of Daniel. Frail wimpy Danny who needs help tying his shoe-laces is anathema.
Maybe you should try some of the slash sites. The stardard of writing and characterization is generally much higher.
Oops, unless you're under 18, of course.
So-- in answer to your response-- NO, I don't like Daniel. As I am watching the shows, now that I have bought the first 4 Box-sets of Stargate, I am TRYING to find something to like about him....but it just hasn't happened, as yet.
Actually, I've only ever found one person with a valid reason for not liking Daniel, and she's an archaeologist.
She says he has no idea of archaeological method, and watching him hacking away at the strata overlying the mosaic round the D.H.D. in 'Learning Curve', I have to agree with her. That is really cringeworthy!
Anyhow, thanks for the discussion. It was interesting. Unfortunately, now Real Life calls...
Best wishes,
Hatshepsut :wave:
