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

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I love that interpretation of that scene! Because it drives me crazy that Daniel just stands there and stares. But suggesting that he'd happily die for Jack, but not get Goa'ulded... Oh yeah. I like that.

Which they got, thanks to the Tok'ra.

That's one of the things I disliked most about the shift in storylines in S4 - the Tok'ra went from being good allies, albeit a little condescending, to "allies" that were more interested in pursuing their own goals at the Tau'ri's expense. I really missed the dynamic of the Tok'ra in seasons two and three - when they brought us the Reetou-detectors, and got crucial intel to the SGC to save SG-1 in Into the Fire, and were actually useful.

Maybe I should just say "before Anise" and leave it at that. :p

Um, just pretend that says "bestest friend" -- it works in those fics, too. :-)

LOL! Except we debunked that one, too. ;)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Anise was just... *shudders* Ew. There were always factions amongst the Tok'ra, but they did get less and less helpful. And I don't blame the Free Jaffa for distrusting them. I hate that they've disappeared cmpletely, though. I think the last mention of them was some intel they passed along about a black hole in Prototype.

LOL! Except we debunked that one, too. ;)

I know -- that's why I said fanon trope! It's one I happen to like, though and it makes sense. Having some mobility issues halfway through recovery would make one too well to tie up an infirmary bed, but a little too handicapped to function alone at home. Jack has had Daniel in his home before, and they don't have the "appearance of impropriety" issues that Jack and Sam would. One helping out the other at home during recovery is not a huge stretch, and is a lovely addition to their bond.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. It's a fanon trope that I love, too. It makes sense, it's reasonable, it fits what we know... I just wish it wasn't quite as overused.

Poor Sam, being the only military subordinate on a team of truly unique individuals. One more reason to love her, I'd say!

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

paian wrote a lovely description of Sam's POV on the 2-2's and 3-1's that make up the team. I won't make you wade through the slash to get to it -- it's:

There'd always been an intensity to their friendship that neither she nor Teal'c had ever achieved, but it was subsumed into the team gestalt. O'Neill and Jackson had been there from the beginning, and she and Teal'c had come along later. But she and O'Neill were Air Force, she and Daniel were scientists, Teal'c and O'Neill were warriors. Teal'c and Daniel had a spiritual connection and a shared sense of being outsiders; they were the experts on extraterrestrial cultures and the Goa'uld. Everything had balanced. They were men and she was a woman. Daniel was a civilian and the rest of them were career military. They were human and Teal'c was Jaffa. They were the specialists and O'Neill was the commander.

It's a wonderful mix!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oooh, lovely. Thanks for sharing that.

As I said - utterly unique. Infuriating so, to poor George, I should think.

Teamy goodness. Nothin' like it. :)