interview Stargate SG-1
MICHAEL SHANKS
LOSS OF INNOCENCE
SG-1’s dashing doctor takes a new approach to life
Also interviewed: Amanda Tapping, Richard Dean Anderson, Christopher Judge, Don S Davis, Teryl Rothery, Gary Jones, Peter Williams, Richard Hudolin...
Michael Shanks, alias Dr Daniel Jackson, sits down in his trailer on the MGM Bridge Studios lot for a break after spending the morning working on The First Ones, the eighth episode of Stargate SG-1’s fourth season. The actor has been made to look ‘roughed up’ by the make-up team in preparation for his next scene with a creature called a Unas. He recalls SG-1’s first encounter with this alien species, which took place way back in the show’s first year.
“Boy, that was a long time ago,” muses Shanks. “It’s funny, I’m going to be directing an episode of our show later this year and because of that I’ve taken much more of a visual interest in it, so I’ve been watching tapes of the old stories. When I look at some of the stuff we did in the first season it’s hard to believe that it’s the same group of people, and that includes myself,” he laughs. “It really hasn’t been all that long time-wise, yet so much ground has been covered in terms of a tv series. It’s amazing to see how much our characters have grown.
Moving On
“As for Daniel Jackson, I think I’ve definitely made a break from James Spader’s interpretation of the role in the StarGate feature film. That was the initial niche that my character was put into. Rick was doing such a different rendition of Colonel Jack O’Neill than Kurt Russell did in the movie, and since James Spader’s portrayal of Daniel was successful it was decided I would stick fairly close to what he did. This way, viewers wouldn’t have to get used to too many changes right from the start.
“Since then I’ve taken the character and made it more my own. I started off playing him with this childlike innocence and then as each season passed the writers and I have delved into darker aspects of his persona. Daniel has become somewhat less, I hate to say naïve, but I guess somewhat less innocent. However, he’s still very passionate about what he does.
“Some of Daniel’s innocence and naïvete was bound to wear off after a while,” continues the actor. “We can’t continue to play our roles the same way all the time. I think it’s a common theme in television that viewers become attached to a certain character on a show and it becomes so successful that no one wants to change it. Well, you have to remember Stargate SG-1 isn’t a film, it’s a tv series. As such, our characters experience new things every week that affect their lives and personalities in some way. After all, that’s what happens to people daily in real life, right? So I’m thrilled that Daniel and the others have evolved since day one...”
Steven Eramo
D50-216
307-2 687
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1294.1
MISSION BRIEFING
DOCUMENT
1294.1
DATE ACQUIRED 07-26
S R SUB-RUV TVR-1244
DANIEL JACKSON
1294.1.01 Doctor
Daniel Jackson
(PhD in Linguistics and Anthropology) deciphered the symbols on the first
Stargate found in Egypt in 1920 and discovered the secret of operating the
device. He travelled to the planet Abydos with the original Stargate mission.
Jackson married a native, Sha’re, who was kidnapped by the Goa’uld
Apophis and later gave birth to a child with the genetic knowledge of the
Goa’uld. Jackson joined the Stargate mission #1 (SG-1) to find his wife,
and then, after her death, the child. He currently speaks 23 different
languages.
1294.1.02
Background
Born in 1965. Jackson’s parents, Dr Melburn and Claire Jackson, were
killed in an accident in the New York Museum of Art when he was eight. His only
other family was his grandfather, Nicholas Ballard, who did not adopt him, and
continued to follow his career as an archaeologist. The two were estranged for
many years. (Ballard helped a Stargate SG-1 mission to P7X-377, where he
remained with the giant out-of-phase alien Quetlzelcoatl to forge relations
with its people.)
1294.1.03 Other Points
Jackson learned midwifery on a dig in the Yucatan, has delivered three babies,
including that of Sha’re. He suffers from allergies, but keeps them under
control with medication.
Since joining SG-1 he has formed a family-type bond with other members of the group, and the initial antagonism between him and Colonel O’Neill has all but vanished. He sees Sam Carter as a sister, and has a father/son relationship with General Hammond.
His relationship with Teal’c should not be very good, as Teal’c, while still in the thrall of Apophis, handed Jackson’s wife over to the Goa’uld, and then later Teal’c killed Sha’re. Yet there is a quiet understanding between the two, and their relationship is relaxed.
Tony Peters
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