Redial the Gate: some minor bits of meta from Tin Man

[fignewton]

Tin Man. One of the saddest episodes from S1.

"Daniel?"

"Uh... sort of."

Your heart can't help but break for SG-1 there, at the end.

Two interesting thoughts on this week's ep: one regarding Daniel, and one regarding Sam and Teal'c.

All Saint Daniel fanon aside, one of Daniel's most fascinating personality quirks is the dichotomy of his unquestionable empathy and his tendency to allow scientific fascination to overwhelm social niceties. His reaction to Kawalsky's operation and his determination to stay behind in Torment of Tantalus are two of the easiest examples. Right here in Tin Man, though, we get both at once.

It's Daniel who first notices that Teal'c's reactions are off, when Harlan accidently blends Teal'c's mind with that of his symbiote. (He notices later, too, when they're back on Altair.) Daniel watches him for several minutes before asking him directly if he's okay.

"Why?" Teal'c replies.

"Well..." Daniel swallows. "For starters, you've lost your - infant Goa'uld."

"I still feel its presence," Teal'c tells him, and suddenly the concerned friend is overwhelmed by the fascinated scientist.

"Really! That must be like continuing to feel a limb after it's been lost."

It takes Jack's "For crying out loud, Daniel!" to change the topic.

I love this little quirk of Daniel's personality. The care and concern is always there, of course, but it can get subsumed in his enthusiasm.

Then there's the Sam and Teal'c aspect. It's a little thing, and I'm unsure if it hit me because I'm reccing Sam and Teal'c friendship this month or because of the story I wrote that touches on the robots, which would make me a little more sensitive. But when they first discovered their human selves, Jack spent a lot of time staring at his own self, but Sam went straight to Teal'c and peeled off the gag/paralyzer/whatever it was immediately and announced, "Colonel, he's all right," in tones of huge relief. A lot of that is because they just watched Teal'c die, but it's an extra lovely touch to the friendship between Sam and Teal'c.

The real Jack knew Harlan, but didn't know what he'd been doing to them. I'm trying to figure out what Harlan could have possibly told them.

Jack has never been able to tolerate copies of himself - not the robot, not the clone, and he was pretty uncomfortable with the idea of alternate selves. I think it fits his personality marvelously, and it's worth a whole meta essay of its own... but not from me.. :)

Comments

[happydog57.livejournal.com]

I believe that comes from the novel adaptation of the movie, at least it was used there. According to the novel:

Jack had been the black sheep of a good family. By the time he was 18, he was before the court for a third time and given a choice to enlist or spend a year in prison. It didn't say what his crimes were, just that he was born with "chaos and wildness" in his heart. He ended up being a Special Forces assassin. He hated himself for killing, yet realized he was a very talented assassin. He buried his conscience and started drinking. He was called "Voodoo" because he only came to life when his team was sent out into action.

I don't remember any series canon that indicates either this or the Academy. Jack of the series always seemed like an Academy man to me. There are quite a few differences between the book and movie. I've read speculation that the book must have been based on an early draft of the movie.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Nope. The series pretty much tells us nothing about Jack's background except a couple of times saying he's from Chicago and a cabin in Minnesota (and, of course, Sara and Charlie)

Thanks for pointing out where this might have come from - and, wow, does the novel not look very appealing.

[happydog57.livejournal.com]

I found the book interesting for seeing what things were different and what things were the same as the movie. Jack (and Daniel's) background doesn't take up a lot of the book, but the few paragraphs that are there are interesting.

Jack does soften up during his marriage, he realizes what a gift he has been given and that his wife had saved his life. He quits the Special Forces and becomes an instructor. But it all falls apart for them anyway when their son accidentally shoots himself. They struggle trying to hold together for two years before Jack gets called up to go to Abydos the first time.

I think I, too, prefer the background, what little it was, that we got in the actual movie and the series.