Canon vs. Fanon, part 6: The Care and Feeding of Archeologists, part 3

[fignewton]

After digressing to AUs and dreamscapes, we return to The Care and Feeding of Archeologists, part 3. After some consideration, I've decided that Daniel's drinking habits and penchant for candy and chocolate do not actually fall into this category, so we'll get to them next time.

Brief recap: Canon is defined as anything directly shown during Stargate: The Movie or episodes of the show, with show superseding the movie when there's a contradiction. (Abydos is one of the closest stargates to Earth, not in a different galaxy.) Fanon is defined as widely-accepted concepts that appear in fanfic, but do not have any real basis in canon.

As always, if I've missed any canon appearances which support or contradict my analysis, I would greatly appreciate it if you'd point that out in the comments.

The Care and Feeding of Archeologists, part 3

Daniel, as "The Girl" of SG-1, ends up in the infirmary so often he practically has a reserved bed; everyone in the SGC knows this and expects him to be hurt.

Daniel did, technically, serve as "the girl" for the first years of SG-1; he had the least military training and, by virtue of his status as speaker for the group and explorer of the unknown, the greatest opportunities to get into trouble. However, it might come as a surprise to some to discover that his infirmary visits aren't quite as frequent as fanfic would suggest – or, at least, not out of proportion in comparison to the other human members of the team.

Let's take a look at Daniel's injuries and his visits to the infirmary, comparing them with Jack's and Sam's. (Teal'c, thanks to Junior, naturally has a lesser number of infirmary visits to his credit. Kudos to the writers for giving us Orpheus, with Teal'c's unnaturally [to him] slow recovery and his difficulty in dealing with it. And yes, Teal'c manages to get plenty of infirmary time, too; but right now, we're just comparing the humans.) Since I'm trying to compare Sam and Jack and Daniel, I'm only going to make a tally of the first eight seasons. (Shall we say that Daniel's year off is mitigated by Jack's year on base?) That's a rather transparent excuse to avoid Seasons 9 and 10, which I don't really know well enough for the purpose – and, quite frankly, am uninterested in watching all over again for research. (Sorry, aurora_novarum!)

Visits to the infirmary to try and find out what's wrong, but without any resulting treatment – such as One False Step – don't count. Routine examinations are also not included. Also, visits to the infirmary that we assume take place after the ep ended – for example, Jack in Brief Candle, or Daniel in FIAD  – are not counted. (I made an exception with Solitudes,  as explained below.) "Infirmary" is defined as on-world medical treatment, even if it's not on Level 25 of the SGC.

I've left out Tin Man for all three of them, since the medical monitoring was of the androids, and not themselves. Also, the deaths of Sam and Jack in Ancient Egypt never happened in our timeline, so they don't count.

Important! If you disagree with any of my analyses, please drop me a comment and say so! I'll be happy to debate it with you, and I've even been known to change my mind on occasion. :) Also, if I've missed anything, let me know about that, too – especially if it's a Jack or Sam infirmary incident in Season 6, where I'm kinda vague for some odd reason…

Through Season 8, Daniel received medical attention onscreen eighteen times.

Of those, six were simply monitoring the situation – Need, Urgo, Upgrades, Absolute Power, The Fifth Man, and Lifeboat.

One was off-world, in Icon. (I include Rand as an infirmary-type visit, even though it's off-world, because, unlike most off-world treatments, it's not a higher-level technology than what can be had on Earth.)

Of the eleven remaining, three were "outpatient" treatments: Politics (or TBFTGOG, which is where the injury occurs, if you prefer), Menace, and Evolution, part 2, although that last one can probably be argued either way.

Conclusion: in eight seasons of Stargate, Daniel was ill/injured badly enough to require an actual stay in the infirmary eight times: Solitudes, Need, Holiday, Legacy, Nemesis, The Light, Meridian, and Lockdown.

Daniel also died five times: in Stargate: The Movie; The Nox; The Light (see below); Meridian; and Reckoning, part 2. . (Isn't it fun to be part of a fandom where that can be listed in the plural?)

Regarding The Light: Daniel went from a coma to flatlining. The deaths of SG-5 confirm that Janet could not have been resuscitated Daniel if Jack hadn't gotten him back to the planet, so he would have stayed dead. By getting him back to P4X-347, Jack actually brought him back to life.

Here are Jack's stats, over the same time period:

Through Season 8, Jack received medical attention onscreen nineteen times. I don't include Fragile Balance, as it's Jack's clone who gets medical treatment, not Jack himself.

Of those, three were simply monitoring the situation: Urgo, Upgrades and Divide and Conquer.

            Of the sixteen remaining, seven were "outpatient" treatments: Fire and Water (for shock), Spirits, Message in a Bottle, Show and Tell, Legacy, The Light, and Enemy Mine.

            Hathor was unique: on-world, but treatment via supra-Tau'ri technology, when the sarcophagus un-Jaffa'd him.

Conclusion: in eight seasons of Stargate, Jack was ill/injured badly enough to require an actual stay in the infirmary eight times: The Broca Divide, Solitudes, A Matter of Time, Crystal Skull, Desperate Measures, Frozen, Abyss, and Heroes, part 2. (I include Solitudes, even though the ep ends before the actual hospitalization, because it's so implicit.)

Jack also died six times: in The Nox; Message in a Bottle; and four times in Abyss, once from a staff weapon and three times through torture.

(Clarification: Jack did, indeed, have to die in MiaB before the thingies ["We are"] could start speaking through his body; they restored him to full health when they left for their new home. As for Abyss, it seems pretty clear that Jack was killed when captured and revived before Ba'al even got started. There might have been more recyclings through the sarcophagus than what we see onscreen, but I stuck to what we actually witness.)

Now let's look at Sam's stats, over the same time period, with the caveat that, unlike Jack and Daniel, she had eight full seasons of whumping available.

Through Season 8, Sam received medical attention onscreen sixteen times.

            Of those, six were simply monitoring the situation: Legacy, Urgo, Upgrades, Divide and Conquer, Ascencion, and The Fifth Man. (Legacy is a bit iffy, I know; but she was stuck in the infirmary for the interim. And Ascension was little more than repeated tests, checking her for signs of who-knows-what after she reported Orlin's existence.)

            Of the ten remaining, two involved outpatient treatment: The Enemy Within and Fire and Water, both for shock and the subsequent hypnosis session.

Conclusion: in eight seasons of Stargate, Sam was ill/injured badly enough to require an actual stay in the infirmary eight times: The Broca Divide, Solitudes, In the Line of Duty, Crystal Skull, Entity, Prophecy, Grace, and Death Knell. (As with Jack, I include Solitudes, even though the ep ends before the actual hospitalization, because it's implicit.)

Sam also died twice: in The Nox and in Entity. (Behind the curve, poor woman!)

"So… just to, uh, clarify…"

Daniel's totals: 17 medical treatments on-world, including 8 infirmary stays; 5 deaths.

Jack's totals: 19 medical treatments on-world, including 8 infirmary stays; 6 deaths.

Sam's totals: 16 medical treatments on-world, including 8 infirmary stays; 2 deaths.

Conclusion: despite fanon's insistence on giving Daniel his own nameplate over his own personal bed in the infirmary, Daniel has not needed medical care on-world more than any of the other members of SG-1. Therefore, Hammond and/or Janet will not automatically assume that it's Daniel who's been hurt when SG-1 returns through the Stargate.

(We might get to more general whumping-comparisons in a later post, including supra-Tau'ri medical care off-world, but for now, we'll leave it at that!)

Daniel's teammates spend hours at his bedside, waiting for him to awaken.

This one actually has some solid canon basis to it, with an intriguing extra twist!

Solitudes. While Teal'c was not there constantly – he was in the Gateroom when Siler and Hammond were discussing how long it would take to get the Stargate operation again – Teal'c was there, at Daniel's bedside, when he finally opened his eyes. I have a special fondness for "blurred eyesight" camera mode.

Need. Jack isn't at Daniel's bedside – no one is – but he watches a restrained Daniel through the observation window. He looks away at the crucial moment when Daniel throws Janet across the room and beats the guard into submission, but he's right there to go chasing after Daniel and corner him in the storeroom.

Holiday. Once they know that he's Daniel and not just a confused old man, Sam spends much of her time at his side. Teal'c and Jack are busy coping with their own complications.

Legacy. Jack is there when Daniel first wakes up in the infirmary after the closet hallucination. Jack also keeps Daniel company when he's confined to the VIP room. Later, after Daniel is transferred to Mental Health, the entire team comes to see him.

Nemesis. Jack visits Daniel some time after the appendectomy to check up on him and suggests fishing as the ideal convalescence.

Absolute Power. Intriguingly enough, Daniel's vision has Janet, clearly following orders, calling Jack to tell him when Daniel wakes up – but the reality has Jack watching at Daniel's bedside, until he's called away to deal with Aldwin and the testing of Shifu. A suggestion, perhaps, that Shifu's dreamscape demanded a distancing from friends?

The Light. Jack leaves Daniel only long enough to go to the planet and search for answers. On his return, he stays at Daniel's bedside until Janet realizes that he, too, is showing symptoms.

Meridian. The entire team takes turns either watching Daniel from the observation window or saying goodbye to him, one at a time – and, of course, they're all there when he ascends.

Lifeboat. They are not allowed into the room with him, but they take turns watching through the observation window, especially Jack.

Lockdown. They come to check on him after surgery, but they're busy talking to Brightman when the call comes that he has awakened. Once they hear that he's conscious, though, they all rush to see him.

Conclusion: It is definitely canonical that the team stays with Daniel, or at least often visits with Daniel, when he is in the infirmary – but not all of them at once, except for extreme cases, like actual death.

("…extreme cases, like actual death." I really, really love this fandom.)

Teal'c cradles an unconscious Daniel in his arms, like a child.

Sorry, writers, but this one is completely invented, with no canon basis whatsoever!

We see Daniel carried a grand total of twice. Once by Teal'c, and once by Jack. In The Broca Divide, Teal'c carried a tranqued Daniel from the "dark side" of the planet to The Land of Light in a fireman's carry, over both shoulders. And in The Light, Jack grabbed a flatlined Daniel off his gurney, threw him over one shoulder, and carried him through the Gate back to P4X-347.

That's. It.

Was Daniel carried to the dungeon in COTG? He had to have been, and it might even have been Teal'c in his position as First Prime, but I very much doubt any cradling was happening at the time. In TBFTGOG, we don't know if Daniel was capable of walking back to the Stargate or not. Was Daniel carried from Hadante's Stargate back to Linnea's quarters after he was nearly choked to death? Certainly, and probably by Teal'c. Do we know how Teal'c carried him? Nope. Daniel had to be carried from the mines to the sarcophagus, but we don't know by whom. And in FIAD, like TBFTGOG, we have no confirmation as to whether Daniel needed to be carried, or was capable of making it on his own.

Conclusion: There is no canon basis at all for the fanon suggestion that Teal'c cradles Daniel in his arms when he is carrying him to safety.

The nurses are so enamored of Daniel that there's a lottery to determine which lucky woman gets to give him an unnecessary sponge bath.

I admit that this one, and variations thereof, always amuses me. The idea that the nurses squabble over Daniel-duties, or make sure his scrubs match the color of his eyes… To be frank, this is basically Daniel-drooling on the part of the author, with no basis for it at all. Amusing, yes, but… still.

We've met very little of the medical staff outside Janet, Warner, Mackenzie, Brightman, and Lam. There's Lieutenant Evans, the nurse who was temporarily possessed by Anubis; Carmichael, the doctor summoned to deal with the mounting crisis in Avatar; and Nimzicki, who was killed by Kawalsky in The Enemy Within. So any speculation about members of the medical staff having crushes on Daniel is just that – speculation. And while it's relatively harmless, it is unquestionably pure fanon.

And while we're on the subject of fanon about the nurses: is there, in fact, a "Nurse Clark" that appears for even a single second's worth of time onscreen, whether or not she's as inept as so many fanfics would suggest? No? How about a "Nurse Ellen," apparently much nicer and sweeter and more efficient than Nurse Clark? Huh. Thought so.

Conclusion: There is no canon basis at all for the suggestion that much of the medical staff harbors a crush on Daniel and enjoy working on him.

My personal fanon opinion? Daniel-whumping can be fun, but not when it becomes whumping for whumping's sake; authors would be wise to keep it in proportion. Six feet of archeologist cannot be easily cradled in one's arms, even if those arms happen to belong to Teal'c. And the medical staff of the SGC is a lot more professional than some fanfic writers would suggest.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"

And is anyone out there creative enough to make up an icon for these meta posts?

ETA: Whee!! Look at the icon cyren_2132 made for me!  ::bounce bounce::

Comments

The Girl?

[randomfreshink.livejournal.com]

I'll quibble with one thing: "Daniel did, technically, serve as 'the girl' for the first years of SG-1; he had the least military training and, by virtue of his status as speaker for the group and explorer of the unknown, the greatest opportunities to get into trouble."

I think it's also "Fandon" that Daniel gets the team into trouble more than anyone else. Jack's the one who eats the cake and gets old too fast--he's also the one who gets himself zapped and copied by a blue crystal. Teal'c gets the team into trouble by mentioning the Nox world, and by not mentioning his family right off, and he ends up in Cor-Ai. And Carter screws up with her ex--totally goes against orders on that one.

And that's just Season 1.

Season 2 I think you could argue equal trouble for all of 'em, but none of it really is the team's fault. It's stuff happening to them--Carter gets Jolinar, Teal'c has to save his family and gets a bug on his back, Jack gets an arrow through him, and...okay, well, maybe Daniel shouldn't have put his neck out for Shyla, but that's just one time.

So the whole idea of Daniel getting into more trouble than anyone else--I don't think that flies any more than Daniel gets hurt more.

What does happen is that when it gets into trouble it's really spectacular. Nem convinces everyone Daniel's dead. Shyla screws up Daneil's brain and body chemistry--and he so goes nuts. He's just about killed on Hadante. And he's the one who steps through to an alternate universe, thereby changing what we know about physics (he'd touched stuff all over the galaxy for a year, and then that one time it goes bad....)

I think it seems like Daniel's always getting into all the bad stuff because he is always talking--and he's alwasy getting into the middle of all the stuff the others get into, too.

And the stuff that hits Daniel, too, always seems to be really, really bad. And always seems to hit him hard. Maybe because he isn't military.

Carter's always trying not to be the girl and cry--she's actually been shown trying to muscle through bad things more than anyone. She works hard to cope, and be an officer first and a person second. (If someone's going to say I'm fine and not be fine, I'd put my money on her.)

The worse Jack is hurt, the more he yells--that's been shown repeatedly. If Jack stops yelling and he's hurt, he's probably going to shoot someone.

Teal'c gets hurt, and just tells the truth about it. And, because of junior, goes right on. (This actually led to the story of how he deals with loosing that.)

But Daniel has all these shadings.

We have seen Daniel say he's fine when he's not (Legacy, Need, The Light), so what that means is if he does say "I'm fine" and he's been around alien technology, everyone should worry. A lot. That could be where fandom picked up the idea that this is a habit of Daniel's.

But you also get Daniel saying he's fine--with total sarcasm (as in that was a stupid question to ask...as in that 'it's just a deep and bleeding gash' quip from Into the Fire, and the 'I think I'm getting used to that thing' quip about being ribboned, getting his brain fried in The Curse.) So maybe some folk don't get Daniel's brand of telling someone 'why did you just ask me that dumb thing?'

And we've seen him not saying anything, when he's really hurting (The Light where he's just sitting there, head down, after he flatlined, and in One False Step, where Jack asks if he'll be okay and Daniel just shoots over a look of utter misery--which makes you wonder about Meridian, where Daniel never once complained about the pain).

As to the 'cradled in the arms' -- totally with you. Heck, the guys don't even try to carry Carter like that. And, yes, Teal'c is strong, but I don't buy him trying to carry anyone like that. For one thing, it means both your hands are occupied and so that leaves you defenseless, and as we saw with The Touched, Teal'c doesn't do that. Ever.

Re: The Girl?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I didn't say he gets into the most trouble, though. I said he had the most opportunities to do so, for much the same reasons that you give. But yes, his plunges into danger do seem to be rather spectacular, don't they? :)

I actually plan to touch upon the "I'm fine" thingy in a future post, particularly the quote from Into the Fire. Truthfully, though? All of them tend to downplay their pain. Although with Jack, it's simple - as long as he's complaining (loudly), he's mostly okay. ;) And yes, I really loved the shades of Orpheus. It was a lot more perceptive than we usually get from TPTB.

Nice point on the "carrying someone in your arms means you can't defend yourself" aspect. That's something Teal'c would never, ever risk.

So glad you've wandered over here to join these discussions! :)