Stargate SG-1: SG-1 / Characters

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In General

The flagship, first-contact team of Stargate Command, first formed in 1997 with the goal of procuring alien technologies with which to defend Earth. Since then, they've gained no small amount of fame for, among other things, almost single-handedly bringing about the fall of the Goa'uld empire.

Ace Pilot: O'Neill, Carter, Mitchell, Teal'c and Vala all easily qualify. Which is to be expected, seeing as the SGC is primarily an Air Force operation.
Badass Crew: Undoubtedly so. They've saved not just the Earth, but the entire galaxy so many times they've probably lost count, as well as all but destroying the Goa'uld, the Replicators and the Ori.
Deadpan Snarker: Jack and Daniel are the biggest culprits, but they all have their moments. Even Teal'c; once he gets the hang of Earth humor, his deadpan is like no other.
- Jack is also pretty much cited in-story as the reason SG-1 has snark built into their foundation at all. He gradually rubs off on the rest of the team over the show's run (enough that Daniel ouright admits in Season Four that he's beeing spending too much time around Jack).
Destructive Savior: The Tok'ra frequently accuse them of being this, as their gung-ho approach to killing off enemies usually results in events like blowing up a sun.
Dysfunction Junction: Pretty much every member of the team has some kind of tragic backstory. Let's see: Jack is a former Black Ops soldier who lost his son in a tragic accident involving his own handgun; Daniel is an orphan and a widower who was laughed out of academia for his outlandish theories (which turned out to be correct); Sam lost her mother as a teenager, which put a strain on her relationships with both her father and her brother; Teal'c spent most of his life in slavery to Apophis and hellbent on avenging his father's murder; Jonas has an extreme Guilt Complex as a result of his predecessor's death, and was exiled from his home planet for trying to do the right thing; Mitchell accidentally bombed a convoy of refugees during a mission for the Air Force, and later suffered a devastating crash that it took him years of physical therapy to recover from; and Vala had a neglectful Con Man father before becoming a host to the Goa'uld Qetesh for an unspecified amount of time, only to be rejected and shunned by her own people when she was finally freed.
Famed In-Story: Starting sometime around season 3, they begin to gain more and more notoriety with every System Lord they dispose of.
Guile Hero: They may be outmatched by the rest of the galaxy in terms of technology, resources, and experience, but the team still manages to come out on top through nothing more than quick-thinking, teamwork, and a whole lot of luck.
Mother Nature, Father Science: Inverted; Sam is associated with the "masculine" hard sciences of astrophysics and engineering, while Daniel is associated with the "feminine" soft sciences and humanities.
No One Gets Left Behind: Practically their motto, though it's been subverted on more than one occasion. They will always try their damnedest not to leave one of their own, but sometimes circumstances dictate that they don't have much choice in the matter.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The original team comprises a bona fide Military Maverick, a discredited archaeologist and an alien defector; Carter is more normal than the others, but she's still an obsessive Workaholic with a pathological need to prove herself. Later additions include a convicted traitor who played an indirect role in the death of his predecessor, a former Space Pirate, and the new "commander" who has little if any authority over his team, and knows it. They're still widely considered to be the best at what they do, and have achieved near legend-status by the end of the series.
The Smurfette Principle: Played straight for the first nine seasons when Sam was the only female member of the team, then in the tenth and final season Vala came along.
The Three Faces of Adam: Initially, Daniel is The Hunter (the youngest, eager to explore the universe), O'Neill is The Lord (the middle in age, experienced and respected) and Teal'c is The Prophet (the oldest and wisest, concerned with the fate of his people for future generations). In the final two seasons, Mitchell is The Hunter, Daniel is The Lord and Teal'c is The Prophet.
Three Plus Two: Original team members Sam, Daniel and Teal'c are joined by newcomers Mitchell and Vala for the two Post Script Seasons.
True Companions: The team make it clear time and time again that they would do pretty much anything for each other, and frequently refer to each other as their "family".
Two Girls to a Team: With Sam and Vala in season 10.
Ultimate Job Security: They've all disobeyed orders and fallen under alien influences on more than one occasion, but they get to keep their jobs because they're just that good.
We Do the Impossible: There's a reason the Asgard, one of the most powerful and technologically-advanced races in the entire galaxy, turn to SG-1 when they're facing a crisis. There are very few situations they can't eventually get themselves out of with a crazy enough plan and some MacGyvering.
Weirdness Magnet: Frequently lampshaded. For example, during one memorable instance when O'Neill was apparently turned into a teenager overnight:
Daniel: Stranger things have happened.
Teal'c: Name but one.
Daniel: Well, there was the time he got really old, the time he became a caveman, the time we all swapped bodies...

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Neill_5986.JPG

Played By: Kurt Russell (movie), Richard Dean Anderson (all TV series)

First Appearance: Stargate

The leader of the reconnaissance team that traveled to Abydos in the movie, and of the original SG-1 team, Jack O'Neill has a background as both a combat pilot and an operative of the Air Force's Special Operations Groups. Gradually went from the tough, no-nonsense portrayal pioneered by Kurt Russell in the movie to a more light-hearted and sarcastic character that RDA was more accustomed to playing. Had zero tolerance for Technobabble.

Initially a full-bird colonel, he was promoted to brigadier general in "New Order, Part 2" and succeeded Dr. Elizabeth Weir as the head of Stargate Command so she could go off and lead the Atlantis expedition. He leaves the series at the start of season 9 to work at the Pentagon and is replaced by Cam Mitchell as head of SG-1 and Hank Landry as head of the SGC. As of Stargate Universe, he is a three-star general.

Ace Pilot: He can fly anything.
Action Hero: If he finds alien menaces on the other side of the Star Gate then he is fully willing to shoot or stab it until it is no longer a menace.
Adaptation Personality Change: A good deal more irreverent and less serious than the character in the movie. The show has fun lampshading this with frequent references to another Colonel O'Neil with only one 'L', who has no sense of humor.
Be as Unhelpful as Possible: He takes this approach whenever someone tries to interrogate him, usually with a healthy side helping of snark and subtle mockery at the interrogator's expense. Seeing as how he has black ops training, it's hardly surprising he's experienced with counter-interrogation tactics.
Berserk Button: Hurting kids is likely to set him off, probably due to the loss of his own son. In one instance he went so far as to kidnap an alien child in an attempt to spare her from a Fate Worse than Death.
- Averting No One Gets Left Behind is also a good way to get on his bad side.
- The way the Gou'ld pose as gods really pisses him off, and he takes a very dim view of anybody claiming to be a deity. Even if they're doing it for benevolant reasons like the Asgard he still finds it very distasteful.
Beware the Silly Ones: Despite his general goofball persona, it's worth remembering that he did partake in countless Black Ops missions during the 80's and is not afraid to get his hands dirty, if it means saving lives.
Big Brother Instinct: Has this in spades towards Daniel. Notably he is the only person to refer to him as Danny, his childhood nickname, and is often the one that is used for the reaction shot if and when he dies. He also tends to tease him and emotionally support him in the way a big brother does towards a little brother.
Big Good: As of Universe, now-Lieutenant General O'Neill is in command of Homeworld Security, and thus is basically responsible for and in command of everything that happens off-world.
Book Dumb: He's actually a lot smarter and more knowledgeable than he often lets on, but he's a layman and hobbyist rather than a professional scientist like Daniel and Sam. He additionally pretends to be even dumber in order to mess with people, leading to a stunned pause when he knew what an "accretion disk" is.
Sam: (to Daniel and Teal'c) You didn't think the Colonel has a telescope on his roof just to look at his neighbors, did you?
Jack: (Beat) Not initially...
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Starts out as a Colonel and goes on to receive several promotions, despite frequently disregarding orders and back-chatting superiors. Of course, as he points out after one such incident in "Upgrades", he retired after the original Abydos mission and they pulled him back in, and given how many times he's saved the world, he's probably earned it.
The Cameo: In Stargate Universe, he makes guest appearances in his capacity as head of Homeworld Security.
The Chains of Commanding: He struggles with this during his year in charge of the SGC, constantly trying to balance making objective command decisions with his personal feelings for his former team.
Character Catchphrase: "Oh, for cryin' out loud...", "Ya think?"
The Chosen One: The Asgard view Jack as this, having not only survived his encounter with an Ancient Repository, but actually managed to figure out how to dial the Stargate to reach another Galaxy so he could ask for their help. It's later revealed they named an entire class of Asgard vessels after him.
Chosen Conception Partner: In "A Hundred Days", he falls in love with a native woman on the planet he's stuck on after the Stargate gets buried. The night before he's to be rescued, she asks him to leave her with a child. We're never told if the task was fulfilled, but the dialogue and the way her hands rather pointedly rest over her womb just as he gets ready to leave heavily imply that it is.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: If Jack encounters a serious danger to the local population on the other end of a Stargate, he will intervene, without hesitation. This tendency has led to more than one very fortunate alliance with another species or human society, and conversely several sticky situations when all was not as it seemed.
Colonel Badass: Later promoted to Three-Star Badass. The Colonel Badass is so iconic that he goes back to Colonel in alternate timelines.
Combat Pragmatist: Though O'Neill shows plenty of restraint, he doesn't play around when he needs to start killing. In the first season, for example, he has no compunctions with sneak-attacking a Jaffa soldier, throwing him to the ground, and cutting his throat. He is Special Forces trained...
Commuting on a Bus: Makes several cameo appearances throughout the final two seasons after his official departure as a regular cast member at the end of season 8.
Cultural Posturing: Whenever he's forced to work with the Russians. At one point, a Russian character snarkily asks if he's aware the Cold War is over.
Dark and Troubled Past: He spent some time working in Black Ops, which is frequently alluded to but never quite expanded on. He seems very on edge whenever an old acquaintance from that period in his life shows up, we do know he spent several months in an Iraqi prison, and at one point he implicitly compares the "damned distasteful things" he's done to Teal'c's past actions as Apophis's First Prime.
Deadpan Snarker: So much so that when a doppelganger starts aping him with deadpan, emotionless tones, no one thinks this is strange at first.
Desk Jockey: He becomes one after his promotion to General at the beginning of season 8, something which he frequently complains about. He briefly plans to resign early on, but a timely show of support from his troops and a successful resolution to the crises of the week change his mind.
Elites Are More Glamorous: Jack is most likely an AFSOC Special Tactics Officer. These officers are usually put in charge of squads comprising Pararescuemen, Combat Controllers, and Special Ops Weather Technicians. In Stargate: Continuum Jack leads a squad of Pararescue jumpers to rescue the downed astronaut Samantha Carter in the North Pole.
Empowered Badass Normal: When it's revealed that he has the ATA gene, which allows him to operate Ancient technology including the weapons platform in Antarctica. Also, the two times he gets his head scrambled by an Ancient Repository, he turns into a Gadgeteer Genius capable of instinctively constructing stargate range-boosters, upgrading hyperdrives, and fixing overheated DHDs with spare parts.
Establishing Character Moment: In the movie, he's introduced staring at his gun, sitting on his dead son's bed. Since he's mostly moved past his suicidal tendencies by the time of the series, he gets another one in the pilot episode when he stops General Hammond from sending a bomb to Abydos.
Fantastic Racism: Once he's formed a negative opinion about an entire alien species, Jack is shown to be very hard-headed about it when shown instances of individuals who go against it. Many times he's the only member of the team who opposes cooperating with someone purely based on his prejudice. He remains suspicious of the Tok'ra after years of alliance. He immediately dismisses the possibility that Replicators that have evolved into Ridiculously Human Robots might be reasoned with.
A Father to His Men: Not as obvious as with Hammond, and he's really not that much older than Carter and Daniel, but he has a habit of referring to his team as his "kids" and it's clear that he would do pretty much anything for them.
Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: He is a big fan of Mary Steenburgen.
Flanderization: Twice, to opposite extremes. Initially he was a hard-nosed killer whose snarkiness softened him to be likable, but as time went on his humor was exaggerated to the point that everything he said was a joke or one liner. Then Stargate Universe came along and turned him into a humorless prick who resorted to violence and torture at the drop of a hat. The latter was more justified due to The Chains of Commanding not leaving him with much time to be his old self.
Friend to All Children: Again, likely as a result of his son's death, he seems to have a real soft spot for kids and usually bonds pretty quickly with any stray alien children the team encounter.
Friendly Sniper: During the attack on the Goa'uld POW Camp in "Orpheus," Jack uses a sniper rifle rather than his usual P90, and to great effect.
Future Me Scares Me: In the novel "Relativity", Jack is shocked to meet a version of himself from 2032 who has dedicated those intervening years to finding a way to stop the Aschen, whose attempt to get revenge on Earth unleashed a pathogen that caused 98% sterility across the entire galaxy. While Jack is in favour of stopping the Aschen, he's disgusted at how his future self has reverted to the "whatever it takes" mentality of his old black ops days, willing to blow up the camp where the treaty negotiations are taking place and killing dozens of innocent people, including Sam and Teal'c, in the name of the "big picture" (fortunately the two Jacks are able to find another way).
Going Native: In "A Hundred Days", he becomes stranded on another planet and gradually integrates into the culture, starting a relationship with a local woman. By the time the rest of the team manage to get to him, he has somewhat conflicted feelings about leaving.
Good Is Not Nice: Some fans were upset how he was portrayed in Universe, being willing to do anything to safeguard Earth... seemingly forgetting that Jack freely admits he spent most of the 1980's performing black-ops.
O'Neill: General... I have done some... damned distasteful things in the service of my country.
Good Is Not Soft: He runs a far more ruthless SGC then General Hammond ever would have. Best exemplified in an exchange between him and ex-Vice President Kinsey after Jack's promoted to brigadier general.
O'Neill: Think of it this way: if you don’t do what they want, they’ll kill you. If you don’t do what we want… we’ll let ’em.
Kinsey: That's as good as pulling the trigger yourself. I thought Stargate Command didn't do that sort of thing.
O'Neill: Well, we're under new management.
Grammar Nazi: He will correct someone who uses "who" in place of "whom."
You ended that sentence with a preposition, bastard!
He-Man Woman Hater: Averted. In "Children of the Gods" Carter suspects the reason he objected to having her on his team is because she's a woman. He reveals that it's not because she's a woman. It's actually because he doesn't like scientists.
Hidden Depths: Despite the "dumb Colonel" front he puts up, it's been repeatedly shown that he is interested in and fairly knowledgeable about astronomy, he's a competent chess player, and one episode reveals that he has at least conversational Spanish.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Can put up a truly nasty façade when he feels like it. Has been incredibly cruel to just about every major character, usually in service of some ulterior goal. Otherwise a Nice Guy, unless his pet peeves have been pushed.
Inappropriately Close Comrades: In the prime timeline, his and Sam's mutual attraction is stymied by him being her commanding officer, meaning they can't be together due to fraternization rules. (Kinsey complains about their attraction once anyway.) Word of God and a deleted scene in Stargate Atlantis say they finally got together when Jack was promoted out of the SGC after "Threads".
Invisible Main Character: Spoofed in "200" with a sequence that apparently happened on an offscreen mission involving an invisible Jack wandering through the SGC, then going into combat against Jaffa. (In context they were suggesting a way for Martin Lloyd to cover up for his lead actor quitting.)
Jerk Jock: Mostly a mellowed version, however he still shows occasional disdain towards scientists, Carter and Daniel being major, obvious examples. He does develop genuine respect for them though, to the point of developing Odd Friendships with them both. He goes so far to describe Carter as "A natural resource, if not a national treasure".
The Leader: A type II. He always has a cool head.
The McCoy: Bases his decisions on emotions rather than rules or reason. One time he wanted to bring an extra SG team to a planet that was conducting a murder trial for Teal'c. His plan was to show off his Bigger Stick and hope they surrendered. He was willing to violate every law on that planet (and several on his own) to protect a teammate.
Manchild: He sometimes acts like this when he is relaxed and off-duty. While stuck in a time loop in the episode "Window of Opportunity", he uses his freedom from (permanent) consequences to do things like bicycle jovially through the base, use mustard and ketchup to squirt a funny face onto a paper plate, and launch golf balls through the Stargate.
Metaphorgotten: Occasionally, his metaphors wander off into strange territory. It may be part of his Obfuscating Stupidity routine.
My Greatest Failure: Jack is still haunted by the fact that his son Charlie found Jack's service weapon in their home and accidentally fatally shot himself with it. Jack's marriage ended as a result soon after. Several episodes of the series deal with the guilt Jack still feels.
Military Maverick: Doesn't have much respect for rules despite The Chains of Commanding. He does have respect for his superiors though, provided they've earned said respect and are comfortable with his rather less than formal approach.
The Nicknamer: Often comes up with less-than-flattering names for the enemies he's facing. In particular, he often refers to the Goa'uld as snake-heads and Replicators as bugs. He even does it to himself in a manner of speaking when he dubs his younger clone Mini-Me
Obfuscating Stupidity: Several characters mention that O'Neill is much more intelligent than he pretends to be; he's just very military in his thinking and would like to be told that yes, this thing will do what he thinks it will rather than someone giving him a lengthy Technobabble explanation on why it will do what he thinks it will. Given his interest in astronomy, he occasionally surprises people with his knowledge of it.
Older and Wiser: His role in Universe as the head of Homeworld Security.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His full name according to official websites is apparently Jonathan J. O'Neill, but he's never called that on-screen at any point in the franchise.
Outliving One's Offspring: His son died by accidentally firing Jack's gun at himself.
Noble Bigot with a Badge: Mildly, and directed at other nationalities and species rather than race or religion. He'll prioritize strictly human life over extraterrestrial life (which leads to trouble when he betrays the Replicator Fifth), and responds "Over my rotting corpse, sir," when Hammond suggests he accept a Russian Air Force exchange officer to fill Daniel Jackson's recently vacated spot on the team (Jonas Quinn got the job). He is NOT shy about expressing his utter distaste for the Goua'ld, given what they did to Kowalski and Skaara amongst others, to the point where he jeopardised a potential alliance with the splinter group Tok'ra because they happen to be the same species as the Goua'ld, and would even prefer to die than accept rescue by blending with a Tok'ra symbiote. Not that his distaste is entirely unjustified, given what happened when a Tok'ra with an agenda of its own took over his body and ultimately left him at the tender mercies of Ba'al.
Parental Substitute: Surrogate uncle to Skaara.
Politically Incorrect Hero: He's mostly a good person, but he's also prone to racism both fantastic and otherwise.
Pragmatic Hero: He's generally a highly moralistic character, but definitely willing to get his hands dirty for the sake of the greater good.
Prepositions Are Not to End Sentences With: Does this to mock Her'ak while being tortured by him.
"You ended that sentence with a preposition! Bastard!"
Properly Paranoid: His suspicions about Teal'c's son are correct.
Put on a Bus: Season eight saw his role on the show much reduced by his promotion to Brigadier General, due to RDA wanting to spend more time with his family. He was soon transferred to the Pentagon to head Homeworld Security.
Rank Up: Promoted twice during SG-1, once to Brigadier General when he takes over the SGC, and then to Major General when he leaves the show for Homeland Security then again to Lieutenant General between Atlantis and Universe.
Real Award, Fictional Character:
- He and Sam get the Air Medal for taking out Apophis' motherships in "The Serpent's Lair". (As civilians, Daniel and Teal'c aren't eligible.)
- Jack's dress blues show (among other things) campaign medals for Vietnam and Desert Storm, two additional Air Medals, Defense and Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, and four Meritorious Service Medals.
Sad Clown: A wisecracking Deadpan Snarker with a lot of inner turmoil, mostly related to his deceased son.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Gun-happy, career military Manly Man to Daniel's pacifistic, academic Sensitive Guy. At least to begin with; the distinction gets somewhat muddier later on.
Ship Tease: The writers spent the better part of eight seasons teasing his relationship with Sam, which never reached any kind of definitive conclusion in (main universe) canon.
Shoot the Dog: The member of the team most likely to do this, with a notable example being his shooting of the android Reese to stop her army of Replicators.
Silver Fox: His hair is almost completely grey by the end of season two, but it doesn't seem to harm his popularity with the ladies and he's acknowledged in-universe as being fairly attractive.
Smart People Play Chess: Several episodes show O'Neill to be a decent chess player, and it's often used as a metaphor for his Obfuscating Stupidity. At one point Cassandra Fraiser says that he insists on calling the knights "horses" and notes that he always pretends to be less smart than he really is.
10-Minute Retirement: He was briefly retired between the events of the movie and the beginning of the series, only to be pulled out of it again when Apophis comes to Earth.
Time for Plan B: Frequently lampshades this.
O'Neill: It's time for Plan B.
Carter: We have a Plan B?
O'Neill: No. But it's time for one.
Turn in Your Badge: He steps too far over the line and he is forced to retire. Subverted. It was a The Mole role he played as part of a sting operation against a rogue element that had infiltrated the SGC.
Ultimate Job Security: He's broken enough rules and caused enough trouble to get himself court-martialed every day of the week but he keeps his rank and his post. Probably something to do with the extremely secret nature of the SGC and the fact that no one else, with the exception of Teal'c and the other members of SG-1, has anything like his level of experience. The fact that his commanding officer is Hammond, who is prepared to give him a hell of a lot of latitude thanks to how good he is at his job and their mutual respect doesn't hurt either. Most of said violations tended to occur as a result of him following his instincts, rather than protocol, and he was pretty much always proven right. Richard Dean Anderson once asked the Air Force Chief of Staff (who was guest-starring As Himself on the show) if he'd met officers as bad as Jack. "Worse," was the reply.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Samantha Carter. As CO and subordinate they're not allowed to be in a relationship, but they admit to a mutual attraction in "Divide and Conquer" ("I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to.") and decide not to act on it, at least initially. Also, nearly every Alternate Timeline version of O'Neill is married to Carter or ends up that way, and the prime-timeline Jack once resigned (complete with a full resignation letter) at end of a particular day in the "Groundhog Day" Loop in "Window of Opportunity" so he could kiss her - which he does, dipping her in the control room in front of an astonished General Hammond. Word of God and a Deleted Scene in Stargate Atlantis both say they got together offscreen at some point after "Threads" (the details vary). The producers also mentioned this to be Ascended Fanon they decided to run with after the fandom started shipping them.
Vitriolic Best Buds: His relationship with Daniel tends to be like this. They're constantly sniping at each other and bickering Like an Old Married Couple — along with the occasional serious argument that can see them be truly nasty to each other — but it's repeatedly shown that they're actually very close friends who care about each other a great deal, with the implication that they enjoy their verbal sparring. Much of their relationship can be summed up by O'Neill's words while Daniel is on his deathbed:
O'Neill: Despite the fact that you have been a terrific pain in the ass for the last five years, I may have — might have — grown to admire you a little. I think.
The Watson: He's the one asking Daniel "What are those people doing" or asking Sam "What's that thing do" so they have an opportunity to explain. It becomes something of a Running Gag that they'll launch into a long, technical explanation (for the benefit of the audience) while O'Neill gets annoyed because he just wanted a short answer.
You Are in Command Now: He's given command of the SGC after Hammond is Put on a Bus.

Dr. Daniel Jackson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Daniel_Jackson_2626.jpg

Played By: James Spader (movie), Michael Shanks (all TV series)

First Appearance: Stargate

The Lancer crossed with The Smart Guy and another character from the movie, where he was played by James Spader. The team archaeologist and linguist. The latter aspect wasn't of much use in the series when it turned out that all the aliens spoke English, but he found his use in translating written text and providing exposition about ancient artifacts or mythology. He is an idealist and pacifist — in Seasons 4-5, often to the point of being a Messiah — and prefers to resolve conflicts via diplomacy rather than force of arms, often clashing with O'Neill as a result. Has a habit of repeatedly dying and coming Back from the Dead thanks to Applied Phlebotinum or intervention of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. In fact, when Michael Shanks decided to leave and later reconsidered, he stayed dead (and ascended) for an entire season.

An Arm and a Leg: Loses a leg to frostbite in Continuum. He's pretty zen about it, all things considered, and it gets undone at the end of the film thanks to the magic of time travel.
And Starring: Starting with season 7, he appeared in the opening under "And Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson."
Arbitrary Skepticism: He can be prone to this at times, most notably with his grandfather. He personally got laughed out of academia for postulating that the pyramids were landing pads for alien spacecraft, but even though he turned out to be right and now works for a top secret government project that visits other planets and encounters all manner of weird and wonderful things he can't take his grandfather's theory about a crystal skull that transported him to giant aliens seriously and considers it to be utterly ridiculous to the point where they don't even talk. Naturally his grandfather's theory turns out to be spot on, of course
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Several of his "deaths" have actually been him becoming an ascended being and leaving the main cast for a while.
Adventurer Archaeologist: This is his opinion of what the Earth Stargate should be used for; exploration and learning of other cultures. After Catherine Langford passes away, her niece tells him that from her aunt's stories, she pictured him as an Indiana Jones type with a bullwhip.
Back from the Dead: So many times it's become a Running Gag.
"Dr. Jackson's gonna die when he sees this!"
"What, again?
Badass Bookworm: Well, as close to badass as he could possibly get being a squishy civilian scientist. He has undoubtedly become one at about season seven.
Badasses Wear Bandanas: He sometimes wears a bandana in the field instead of the infantry caps worn by Jack and Sam.
Beware the Nice Ones: After he stops taking crap from people, this pacifist can be pretty scary.
Break the Cutie: Starts in the very first episode and it just keeps going. The cynical badass he ends up as in season 10, even season 5, is a far cry from the naive wide eyed explorer from season 1. The guy goes through a hell of a lot, even within the first 3 seasons, and it only gets worse.
The Cameo: The Stargate Universe pilot had Eli learn about the Stargate Program by watching DVDs hosted by Daniel.
Character Catchphrase: "We're peaceful explorers from the planet Earth", "I have no idea..."
Chick Magnet: Shau'ri/Sha're was a Perfectly Arranged Marriage (of a sort: she was sent to him by her father in the movie as a show of hospitality which he initially refused to partake of, but ended up falling in love with her anyway), and several other alien women get attracted to him in various episodes (not all of them welcome, c.f. the Goa'uld Hathor).
The Conscience: He's usually the guy reminding O'Neill and the others to consider the ethical implications of whatever they're about to do, though the positions have been reversed on at least one occasion.
Crusading Widower: He never really gets over Sha're, and her being taken as a host (and later, her death) is his primary motivation for taking up the fight against the Goa'uld, with an underlying theme implying the revenge he wants is the extermination of the entire Goa'uld species.
Cunning Linguist: In the episode "1969", he states that he speaks 23 languages. It's hardly a surprise considering his field of study. Some examples we see are in "The Tomb", where he demonstrates that he can speak (and read) Ancient Babylonian, and "Serpent's Venom" where he does the same with Phoenician. He's also demonstrated proficiency in modern languages such as Mandarin Chinese, German, Russian, and Spanish, as well as non-Earth languages like the Goa'uld language (though admittedly not all that well). He even managed to pick up enough of the Unas language over the course of a single episode to make himself understandable to them.
- After returning from his ascension, he discovers he has an innate comprehension of the Ancient language as well. This proves very handy to the team, since it's right around then that the hunt for Ancient technology becomes imperative in the fight against Anubis.
Deadpan Snarker: He picks this up in later seasons due to exposure to O'Neill.
Delivery Guy: He's delivered a baby in the field on at least two separate occasions, due to being the only member of the team with any past experience in doing so.
Depower: When he gets kicked out of the ascended plane and returned to mortal form for breaking the rules. Oma Desala explains later it was a voluntary choice on his part (he essentially told the Ancients they sucked for refusing to let him stop Anubis at Abydos and left), only he lost his memory of it.
Determinator: Second only to Teal'c in this regard. In his own words, he doesn't give up until he's dead, "and sometimes not even then".
Establishing Character Moment: In the movie, when he gives his infamous lecture which causes the entire room to empty, setting him up as a brilliant but misunderstood scientist.
- In the series, it's when O'Neill and the team are in hiding, and Daniel jumps out to start talking to group of (civillian) Jaffa. As O'Neill comes to back Daniel up with guns out, Daniel pushes Jack's gun down slowly while stating "I don't think it's a very good idea to go around shooting the first people we meet on a new planet."
Expository Hairstyle Change: He initially has long hair in an unfashionable style similar to the movie, but it gets cut short at the end of season two and remains that way for the rest of the series, highlighting his moving away from the nerd persona and increasing badassery. It's also around this time when he becomes a lot snarkier, and a lot less naive, indicating a slightly darker personality.
The Face: He's the team diplomat and the one putting the polite and peaceful foot forward in negotiations.
Family of Choice: His attitude towards SG-1 once Sha're is gone. As an orphan who was laughed out of his field of choice and ridiculed by his contemporaries, he latches on to Sam, Jack, and Teal'c very quickly, obviously viewing them as de-facto siblings.
Fanservice Pack: Started out wearing unflattering and ill-fitting civilian clothes whenever he was off-base, but gradually got a nicer wardrobe that showed off more of his physique as he got more combat capable. Justified since years on the SGC's frontline team will naturally encourage getting into shape. He never lost the glasses, however, though he did get more fashionable frames in the final season.
Fatal Attractor: It seems to be an unspoken rule that any woman Daniel gets involved with will inevitably try to kill him. Both of his major love interests (Sha're and Vala) became Goa'uld hosts at some point, as did his ex-girlfriend Sarah Gardner, who didn't even have anything to do with the Stargate program. He was raped by the Goa'uld queen Hathor, kissed by Adria, had a brief fling with a genocidal maniac called the "Destroyer of Worlds" (albeit while she was amnesiac), and that's just the recurring villains.
Foil: Clashes with O'Neill about how to handle conflict.
Gibbering Genius: Sometimes lapses into this when he's excited after getting a "Eureka!" Moment.
Daniel: 'Sphere': 'planet'! 'Label': 'name'!^note
Jack: Following, still, you, not!
Going Native: At the end of the movie, he chose to live on Abydos with his new friends rather than returning to Earth. Being married to one of the natives and admired by the locals certainly help in his decision.
Happy Ending Override: Dr. Jackson was happily living on Abydos with his wife at the end of the movie. Then, in the season opener of the series, his wife is kidnapped and he's forced to return to Earth.
The Heart: Most of SG-1's Tear Jerker scenes had Daniel as their focus.
Heroic Sacrifice: Several times. Wounded by a staff weapon blast, he holds off a swarm of Jaffa to let the rest of SG-1 escape, then gets himself to a sarcophagus and off the ship via Stargate, so he doesn't actually die. Gets a lethal dose of radiation stopping the Kelownan's naquadria bomb from detonating prematurely, then refuses Jacob's attempt to heal his radiation poisoning since he's on the verge of Ascending, believing he can do more good that way, then gives up his Ascended nature when he grasps the full extent of the Alien Non-Interference Clause, beliving he can do more good as a mortal. Goes down with Repli-Carter's ship to stop her and her Replicator army, saved only by Oma offering him a second shot at Ascension. And that's jus the tip of the iceberg, many of Daniel's deaths (real, faked, or imaginary) are the result of this or attempts at this.
He Who Fights Monsters: It's hinted more than once that Daniel has a dark side and that Bad Stuff would happen if he succumbed to it.
Improbable Age: His birth year is given as 1965, which would have made him barely in his 30s in the original 1994 movie. That's incredibly young for someone of his knowledge, expertise, qualifications and reputation at that time, and isn't helped by Michael Shanks being five years younger than the character.
It's Personal: His intense loathing for the Goa'uld in general and Apophis in particular is largely due to the fate of his beloved wife, and occasionally takes him to some scary places as a result.
Kick the Dog: His Breaking Speech towards Val in the final episode of SG-1? Not cool, Daniel, not cool at all. It ended up well, but it still went way too far.
Knight in Sour Armor: He becomes increasingly jaded and cynical as the show progresses, but he never quite loses his core idealism and keeps fighting the good fight simply because it's the right thing to do.
The Lancer: Though Sam is the team's military Number Two, Daniel acts as a Foil in terms of personality with both O'Neill and Mitchell, and is generally the most likely to clash with either of them.
Like an Old Married Couple: He and Vala often fight like this, highlighting the Beligerent and Unresolved Sexual Tension.
Like Brother and Sister: With Sam. Out of the whole team, they're the closest in age, personality and interests and they generally have the least turbulent relationship — though both are arguably closer to Jack than they are to each other — but they've never had romantic feelings for each other. When Daniel asks if there was ever anything between them after losing his memories, Sam responds that they're just "really, really good friends".
Loophole Abuse: Daniel has more than once avoided punishment for ignoring orders or actions that would land any normal soldier with a serious court martial. Somewhat justified as he's still technically classified as a civilian, thus he's not strictly bound to the military hierarchy.
Martial Pacifist: Daniel really does not like violence, and greatly prefers trying to talk to the opposition, instead of shooting them. In the event that he is provoked into combat however, his ferocity towards the enemy will be driven by anger, due to the fact that they managed to push him into it.
Master of Disguise: Not in the physical sense, but as a professional linguist he's actually very good at pretending to be a foreigner speaking accented English. When he needs to come up with a fake identity in the second season episode "1969", Jack is skeptical that he can pull it off, to which Daniel matter-of-factly says "I speak twenty-three languages: pick one". He then convincingly passes himself off as a German scientist by adopting an authentic German accent.
Meaningful Name: Possibly accidental, but as mentioned in "Upgrades", "Daniel" means "God is my judge" in Hebrew. Think about that for a minute.
- Further, in The Bible, Daniel was a prophet who was able to read The writing on the wall, which prophesied the downfall of the Kingdom of Babylon, as punishment for members of the court committing blasphemy. Whether intentional or not, it fits very nicely.
Messiah Creep: This aspect seems to have diminished starting with Season 7, mostly because the Ancients were revealed to have been incredibly Neglectful Precursors and less worthy of his idolation. The reason the Ascended Ancients kicked him out was because he was too much a Messianic Archetype, not wishing to sit idle while he had the power to actively help people, which was against their rules.
Minored in Ass-Kicking: Several members of other SG teams under the protection of SG-1 have joked about how comforting it is to know that an archaeologist has their backs. Once the shooting starts though, they realize rather quickly that Daniel can kick just as much ass as the rest of the team.
Mr. Exposition: This is the guy talking about ancient Babylon or future world or whatever.
Motor Mouth: He can speak very quickly when he wants to. Doesn't come up often, though.
Mr. Fanservice: As Daniel got progressively more badass, the series stopped hiding Michael Shanks's own Heroic Build. Even as the geeky archaeologist, Jackson had many female admireres (in and out of universe).
Nerds Are Sexy: Once he upgrades his glasses and his hairstyle, you have to admit, he's not exactly the skinny floppy-haired James Spader character from the film.
Nice Guy: Despite his increasing cynicism and all the horrible stuff that happens, Daniel remains a genuinely compassionate and caring person, always preferring to talk with new aliens and work out mutual co-operation.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Worryingly prone to this in general, but the two stand-out examples would have to be unburying the Abydos Stargate, which leads to Apophis coming and taking Sha're and Skaara as hosts, and alerting the Ori to the presence of humans in the Milky Way.
Omniglot: Speaks twenty-three languages as of "1969", an episode in the second season. After that he learns to speak at least Unas and Alteran Ancient. On screen he has shown proficiency with the following languages: English/Middle English (related), Latin/Alteran (related), Arabic, German, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Greek, Mayan, Aztec, Norse/Asgard (related), Welsh, Spanish, Phoenician, Egyptian/Abydonian (related), Goa'uld/Unas (assumed related, and also related to Egyptian) and a form of Goa'uld that uses Linear A, Ancient Babylonian (in cuneiform) and Ancient Celtic. It is likely but unconfirmed that he can read Tollan.
Parental Abandonment: He was orphaned at a young age when his parents were killed in a museum accident, which he witnessed. Double dose when his famous archaeologist grandfather didn't take him in since he was too busy traipsing around the world.
Perma-Stubble: Briefly adopts this look at the beginning of season nine. He goes back to being clean shaven after the first five episodes, but he's sporting the stubble once more for his final appearance in Universe.
Popcultural Osmosis Failure: When Mitchell makes a reference to Die Hard in one episode, it goes right over Daniel's head. Amusingly, Teal'c explains it to him.
Rage Quit: Per "Threads", this is Oma Desala's version of him choosing to resume human form after ascending for a full season. He apparently gave the Ancients quite an ass-chewing after they prevented him from stopping Anubis at Abydos and decided he could do more good as a mortal.
Renaissance Man: He has three PhDs in archaeology, anthropology and philology, he speaks at least 23 different languages, he's a skilled negotiator who ends up becoming the unofficial SGC diplomat, he's well-versed in several different branches of mythology, he eventually becomes a pretty decent combatant and by about halfway through the series he can fly a Goa'uld spacecraft in a pinch, despite being the only non-pilot on the team.
Reluctant Warrior: He eventually comes to realize that fighting will sometimes be inevitable in his line of work and gets pretty good at it, but he still doesn't like it and prefers to use violence as a last resort only.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- In "Enigma" he defies orders (with tacit support from Hammond and the open support of the rest of SG-1) to get the Tollans offworld and out of the reach of the NID. He gets away with it because as a civilian he's not subject to court-martial, and leaving aside that the legality of the whole thing is murky at best, trying him in civilian court would require the court to be cleared to know about the stargate program.
- After a year as an ascended being, he gets fed up with Alien Non-Interference Clause and breaks the rules in order to help his friends. The Ancients stop him, and he's kicked out (though according to Oma Desala, he actually Rage Quit).
Science Hero: He's usually the guy who's most likely to understand Carter's Techno Babble, though his specialty is the humanities, mainly archaeology and linguistics, rather than hard sciences. He prefers to negotiate the team's way out of problems rather than shooting their way out.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The pacifistic, academic Sensitive Guy to O'Neill's career military, gun-happy Manly Man. At least to begin with; the distinction gets somewhat muddier later on.
The Smart Guy: An archeologist/anthropologist/linguist on a team of soldiers
Ship Tease: Mostly with Vala, though there were also a few hints of it with Janet Fraiser in the earlier seasons.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He can empathize with almost anybody and he usually comes across as quite affable and charming, but he's not afraid to let somebody know if he finds them irritating and he's capable of being condescending, snide and passive-aggressive, not to mention grouchy and sarcastic. The "Ice" aspect of his personality is more prevalent in later seasons and usually triggered by either Vala or Mitchell, for different reasons.
Talking Your Way Out: He's gotten himself out of many a sticky situation simply by talking at whatever alien is holding him hostage until he's won them over.
Tastes Like Friendship: Uses this trope so much, some call it "The Daniel Jackson Method."
They Called Me Mad!: Is mocked and shunned by the entire archaeological community after publishing his outlandish (and correct) theories about the origins of the pyramids. Unfortunately, the secrecy of the Stargate Program ensures that he can't actually tell anyone that he was right all along.
They Killed Kenny Again: Depending on whether or not you count androids, alternate realities, and virtual reality simulations, he's died over 20 times. Even disallowing every single time he didn't actually die, he still dies at least four times. After the second time he died (ironically, one of the times he wasn't really dead), the rest of the cast basically gave up on even giving him a funeral. Eventually it did become a Running Gag that some of the other characters (Jack) just stopped buying it.
Through the Eyes of Madness: We get to see this when he goes temporally mad in 'Legacy'.
Took a Level in Badass: Starts out a squishy scientist and becomes more formidable than soldiers. Lampshaded in an episode not longer after he ascends. Hammond wants O'Neill to choose a new member of SG-1, and O'Neill complains that all of his choices have two left feet. Hammond points out that O'Neill used to say the same thing about Daniel.
Took a Level in Cynic: Starts out sweet and idealistic, but after ten years of trauma he's probably the most cynical member of the team left.
Touched by Vorlons: Due to ascending, and the again later on when he briefly becomes a Prior, he had some nifty superpowers.
Tranquil Fury: He's prone to ranting when mildly annoyed, but if you get him really, truly angry he tends to be deadly calm, notable instances being the entire inquiry following Janet's death and whenever he's in the same room as Apophis.
Troll: The scene in "Heroes" where he leads Emmett Bregman's documentary crew on a merry chase through the SGC just to pick up a fax.
Bregman: What is the, uh…what is the significance of that?
Daniel: It's fascinating.
Bregman: It's fasc…Okay. (to his crew) Back up. Back up. (back to Daniel) Uh, that's it? It's "fascinating"? Then why were we running?
Dr. Jackson: Oh, uh, I just wanted to see if you'd chase me.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Much of his relationship with Jack. They're constantly sniping at each other and bickering Like an Old Married Couple — along with the occasional serious argument that can see them be truly nasty to each other — but it's repeatedly shown that they're actually very close friends who care about each other a great deal, with the implication that they enjoy their verbal sparring. In Continuum, Daniel explicitly states that he is the closest thing to a best friend O'Neill has.
The Xenophile: He's seemingly much more at home interacting with the many different cultures and races he's met through the Stargate than he ever is on Earth. He is an anthropologist, after all.

Colonel Samantha Carter

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Samantha_Carter_9347.jpg

Carter as of Stargate Atlantis.

Played By: Amanda Tapping

First Appearance: "Children of the Gods"

Like Daniel Jackson, served as the voice of reason, as opposed to O'Neill's gung-ho approach to problems. As a doctorate scientist, was the source of much Technobabble and Applied Phlebotinum, usually jury-rigged to solve this week's problem. Throughout the seasons, she went from "reasonably brilliant" to "genius who would be bathing in Nobel Prizes if not for the secrecy of the Stargate Program". Later promoted to full-bird Colonel and joined the Atlantis Expedition after SG-1 was cancelled. As of Stargate Universe, she has been given command of the Daedalus-class battlecruiser George Hammond. Appeared in more Stargate episodes than any other character.

Ace Pilot: Logged over a hundred hours in enemy airspace during the Gulf War and rides in an F-302 as Jack's Guy in Back in "Fallen".
Action Girl: Though normally the brains of the operation, when an asskicking is called for, Samantha is more than happy to supply it.
Bad Powers, Good People: After her experience with Jolinar, the naquadah left in her blood allows her to operate Goa'uld technology. She seems to have a particular aptitude for the ribbon device, which both she and her teammates appear vaguely disturbed by, especially after she kills Seth with it.
Badass Biker: Though we never actually get to see her riding it, it's been shown that she enjoys tuning up her motorcycle in her downtime, and in one episode she turns up late to a briefing still in her leathers with helmet under her arm.
Badass Bookworm: Blew up a frakking sun. Also a Gulf War air combat vet and can go toe to toe with her male teammates in terms of hand-to-hand combat and shooting things with a variety of guns (some of which are bigger than she is). Did we mention she's a certified genius whose brain Jack O'Neill has described as "one of this country's natural resources, if not national treasures"?
Boyish Short Hair: Due to Air Force regulations, her hair was initially never allowed to touch her shoulders, though the actual length varied from season to season and several alternate Carters who never joined the military have long hair. Eventually in the series proper, she grows her hair out and keeps it tied back during the two follow-up movies and her tenure on Atlantis.
The Cameo: Makes appearances in Stargate Universe as CO of the USS George Hammond.
Cartwright Curse: Up until Pete Shanahan, every man that she became attracted to (except O'Neill) ended up dying a violent death. Two alternate Carters that married O'Neill suffered the same fate. She breaks up with Pete Shanahan in "Threads" and it's implied (and confirmed by Word of God) that she finally got together with Jack.invoked
Character Catchphrase: "Holy Hannah!" as an exclamation of shock/surprise during the first season or so, though this was dropped before long. There's also her "With all due respect...", usually prefacing an argument that she knows O'Neill and/or Hammond really isn't going to want to hear. And "I don't think so," when she's about to take another scientist to school.
Crazy Enough to Work: Most of her plans tend to fall under this with the most (in)famous example being that time she blew up a sun. Lampshaded hard with the one in "Fallen" when Jack asks for a show of hands of "everyone who thinks this is an absolutely insane plan", and even Sam herself puts up a hand.
Gen. Hammond: Keep those hands raised, people, because the next question is who's going to make this happen?
Dude Magnet: She's the one team member to really rival Daniel here. Just among her fellow Tau'ri, Jack is half in love with her (it's mutual) and Rodney McKay and Jay Felger both openly lust after her (it's not). Meanwhile offworlders Narim the Tollan and Martouf/Lantash the Tok'ra both crush hard on her (Narim because they connected while the Tollans were staying at the SGC, Martouf/Lantash because of her connection to their deceased lover Rosha/Jolinar). Then there's her one-shot ex-fiancé in "The First Commandment", her flirtation with the ill-fated Ambassador Joe Faxon (whom she married in an aborted timeline), and her late-series cop boyfriend Pete Shanahan. Even an ascended Ancient, Orlin, falls for her at one point. As well as being subject to Villainous Crushes from the likes of Fifth the Replicator, Aden Corso in "Forsaken" and Turghan in "Emancipation".
Establishing Character Moment: Going toe-to-toe with O'Neill and Kawalsky in the pilot and calmly knocking down all their attempts to belittle her while remaining the picture of professionalism, before challenging O'Neill to an arm-wrestle.
Faux Action Girl: Played painfully straight in the early episodes of the first season. For example, in the pilot after she has a huge flex with O'Neil about her credentials as a badass, she's still the only member of the team to actually get sick going through the Stargate. She also loses a fights and is forced to be rescued by her male comrades. Fortunately, she grows out of this quickly and becomes one of the most badass characters on the show.
Forgets to Eat: She's occasionally shown as being so engrossed in her work that another character has to wander into her lab and remind her to come to meals.
Gadgeteer Genius: They went back and forth on how strongly this was portrayed. For example she invented the first Tau'ri naquada generator in a few days based only on a partial schematic of a completely different reactor, using only materials she happened to have in her personal lab.
Gender-Blender Name: Her name's Samantha but she goes by "Sam", leading to a brief moment of confusion in "Children of the Gods". Also she's at one point asked by an offworlder what "Sam" means and jokingly answers, "That my dad wanted a boy."
Global Ignorance: She erroneously thinks there's no zoo in Colorado Springs when Pete Shanahan suggests it for a date. The showrunners said this was meant to be an indication of how much of a workaholic she is: she keeps herself so busy she's clueless about major attractions of the very town she lives in.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: She gradually becomes this with Janet Fraiser; their conversations make it clear that they spend a lot of time together on their off days, and it's implied they practically raise Cassandra together, though Janet is her official guardian. Makes Janet's unexpected death in season seven all the more heartbreaking; Sam just goes to pieces.
Hidden Depths: She once summed hers up as "wormhole theory, motorcycle riding and lock-picking".
Inappropriately Close Comrades: In the prime timeline, her and Jack's mutual attraction is stymied by him being her commanding officer, meaning they can't be together due to fraternization rules. Word of God and a deleted scene in Stargate Atlantis say they finally got together when Jack was promoted out of the SGC after "Threads".invoked
In Harm's Way: It doesn't come up too often, but it's been established that she's a real adrenaline junkie. In addition to the above-mentioned motorcycle riding, at one point she enthusiastically volunteers to take part in a dangerous "space race" because it sounds fun.
The Kirk: Despite not being the leader of the team, she's generally the mediator and the one to take the middle ground between Jack and Daniel (or more rarely, Jack and Teal'c) when they're at loggerheads.
Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: Someone asks Major Samantha Carter who mostly goes by "Sam" what her first name means. She responds, "My father wanted a boy." Safe to assume her father wanted Samuel or Samson.
Like Brother and Sister: With Daniel. Out of the whole team, they're the closest in age, personality and interests and they generally have the least turbulent relationship — though both are arguably closer to Jack than they are to each other — but they've never had romantic feelings for each other. When Daniel asks if there was ever anything between them after losing his memories, Sam responds that they're just "really, really good friends".
MacGyvering: Does more than a little of this over the course of the series, including modifying a naquadah reactor into a naquadah bomb, and adapting an Ancient phase-shifting device to phase out first an entire village, then all of Earth in an Alternate Timeline.
Military Brat: Her father is an Air Force general, and it's implied that the military played a large part in her childhood. The first time she meets a civilian version of herself from an alternate universe, she states that she can't imagine not joining the military.
Missing Mom: It's revealed that her mother died in a car accident when she was a teenager, which lead her to become estranged from both her father and her brother for some time.
Mr. Fixit: She's usually the person the other characters turn to whenever the Stargate or any of the other Applied Phlebotinum on the show breaks down.
My God, What Have I Done?: Replicator!Carter seeks Carter's help to prevent a replicator army from invading Earth's galaxy, which has become immune to the Ancient disruptor. Carter trusts her because she believes no-one with her personality could ever work with Fifth. It's the only thing she's right about. Replicator!Carter's plan is to gain immunity to the disruptor, destroy Fifth, distribute her immunity to the replicator army she's now taken control of, and establish a foothold in Earth's galaxy. Carter's shocked reaction is 'What have I done?'.
Nerds Are Sexy: Beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, curvaceous, and builds naquadah reactors and ray guns in her spare time.
Number Two: To O'Neill as the team's military second-in-command, and indeed the only other military member of the team. It's downplayed with Mitchell in the later seasons, as they're the same rank and seem to share command more often than not, though he is nominally the leader.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Except for Jackson's fields, and anything specifically mentioned as not her specialty, like vulcanology.
One of the Boys: Downplayed; she's a woman working in two very male-dominated fields and she seems to spend most of her time with her three male teammates, but she still has a number of feminine traits and close friendships with other women, most notably Janet and later Vala.
Parental Substitute: To Cassandra Fraiser. She's the first person Cassie bonds with after the team rescue her, and even once she's adopted by Janet it's clear that Sam is still very involved in her life. It's also implied that Sam becomes her main guardian following Janet's death, though she's practically an adult by then.
Rank Up: She starts off as a Captain (O3 paygrade), gets promoted to Major (O4), then gets promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (O5), and finally gets the full bird Colonel (O6) when posted as commander of the Atlantis Expedition. The defunct Stargate Resistance MMO shooter has her as a brigadier general and CO of the SGC.
Real Award, Fictional Character: She and Jack get the Air Medal for taking out Apophis' motherships in "The Serpent's Lair". (As civilians Daniel and Teal'c aren't eligible.)
The Reliable One: She's generally the most rational member of the team and the least likely to disobey orders in favor of her own agenda, though she's had her moments.
Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: The Trope Namer, an achievement she never lives down.
Samus Is a Girl: Downplayed in her first appearance, when O'Neill is told that a "Captain Sam Carter" will be joining his team and briefly assumes her to be a man before he's actually introduced to her about two seconds later.
Science Hero: As sciencey as they come. She specializes in the hard sciences, neatly complementing Daniel's expertise in the humanities.
Sensor Character: The naquadah left in her blood after Jolinar leaves her allows her to sense the presence of Goa'uld symbiotes, which comes in handy on a few occasions.
She Cleans Up Nicely: She's never really portrayed as being unattractive (since she's obviously not), but she tends to elicit this reaction any time she's shown dolled up and out of fatigues. Jack and Daniel are both momentarily rendered speechless the first time they see her in a dress.
Ship Tease: The writers spent the better part of eight seasons teasing her relationship with Jack, which never reached any kind of definitive conclusion in canon due to the niggling problem of him being her commanding officer.
The Smart Guy: In contrast to Daniel, she's a "hard science" Smart Guy instead of a "soft science" Smart Guy.
The Smurfette Principle: Played straight for the first nine seasons, but eventually Vala joins the team.
The Squadette: (Initially) the only female member on a military unit, and one of the few female officers in the entire SGC. An experienced pilot and a credible Action Girl, and tomboyish with a definite feminine streak.
Straw Feminist: In earlier episodes especially — it got toned down as the show went on. In the pilot, she famously accused O'Neill of not liking her because her "reproductive organs are on the inside." (Amanda Tapping says she later explained to the writers, "Okay, women don't talk like that.") When they re-released the pilot on DVD, they edited that conversation out. Then they mocked it in "Moebius" when Alt!Carter practices an argument, then chastises herself for even contemplating to say something so stupid. Then it happened again in the marionette sequence in "200".
Technician Versus Performer: The Performer to Rodney McKay's technician whenever they work together. He explicitly identifies this as the difference between them in "Redemption", calling her an "artist" and claiming that she'll always be better than him because of it.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Vala's Girly Girl; of the two, she's more combat-oriented and less willing to use her feminine wiles.
Tomboyish Name: She mostly goes by "Sam" rather than "Samantha", when the other characters aren't just referring to her by her rank or last name. Lampshaded in the first episode when O'Neill briefly assumes she's a man prior to actually meeting her.
Touched by Vorlons: Gains increased resistance to drugs and poisons and the ability to use some phlebotinum-locked Goa'uld technology after hosting Jolinar for a short period and having her die within her (not to mention being able to recall fragments of Jolinar's memories, which proves helpful several times).
Trademark Favorite Food: Her preference for blue jello becomes a minor Running Gag. Especially notable in the episode where several different SG-1 teams from alternate universes come through the gate, and all the Carters congregate in her lab to eat blue jello while they work on the problem.
Transplant: To Atlantis, partly as a result of having a year left in her contract when SG-1 was cancelled.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Jack O'Neill. As CO and subordinate they're not allowed to be in a relationship, but they admit to a mutual attraction in "Divide and Conquer" ("I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to.") and decide not to act on it, at least initially. Also, nearly every Alternate Timeline version of O'Neill is married to Carter or ends up that way, and the prime-timeline Jack once resigned during the "Groundhog Day" Loop in "Window of Opportunity" so he could kiss her. Word of God and a Deleted Scene in Stargate Atlantis both say they got together offscreen at some point after "Threads" (the details vary). The producers also mentioned this to be Ascended Fanon they decided to run with after the fandom started shipping them.invoked
Workaholic: She's often shown to be absorbed working on some alien doohickey or other late at night and during her downtime. O'Neill actually orders her to get a life at one point.
Wrench Wench: Sometimes fills this role, despite the fact that she's not technically an engineer by trade.
You Are in Command Now: She temporarily takes up the reins on a number of instances whenever O'Neil is out of commission.

Teal'c of Chulak

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tealc_9522.jpg

Played By: Christopher Judge

First Appearance: "Children of the Gods"

Originally First Prime of Apophis, he defected to the Tau'ri after becoming disillusioned with the Goa'uld. He probably underwent the most Character Development in the entire show, with Daniel as a close second: he gradually assimilated into the Earth culture, as well as developed complex emotions. About the only thing that remains by now of his original Spock Speak is his catchphrase, "Indeed."

Ace Pilot: When asked if he is capable of flying a ship, he says, "With great proficiency."
Affectionate Nickname: Vala frequently refers to Teal'c simply as "Muscles".
The Atoner: Goes all the way back to season 1. He was prepared to let the natives of one world execute him after a Kangaroo Court because he felt he really did deserve it for his actions prior to turning against Apophis.
Teal'c: While in the service of Apophis I did many things. For these deeds my victims deserve retribution.
O'Neill: Can we focus on this one case only for now, please?
Teal'c: This case represents the many.
O'Neill: Well it shouldn't!
[later]
Teal'c: Hanno's father was not the first or the last of those whose lives I have taken. And I have done far worse, O'Neill. I can not give all of their loved ones retribution, but I can at least give it to this one.
- In Stargate: The Ark of Truth, he also counsels Tomin on this, saying that while Tomin may never forgive himself, he can still fight to protect others.
Badass Longcoat: In "200", he imagines himself as a badass private eye with an awesome longcoat. He kicks one of his clients out through his office's front door for disagreeing with him.
Bald of Authority: He was in charge of Apophis's armies as First Prime.
Berserk Button: His family being threatened or put in danger is one of the few things that consistently break his otherwise The Stoic demeanor.
The Big Guy: Easily the physically strongest member of SG1 on account of being a Jaffa instead of a human. This most frequently finds use whenever the team needs to dial the gate manually.
Blunt Metaphors Trauma: It takes a while for him to get the hang of Earth idioms and he frequently either misuses them or expressed confusion about their meanings, though this becomes less frequent as the series progresses and he becomes more immersed in Earth culture.
Things will not calm down, Daniel Jackson. They will, in fact, calm up.
Body Horror: Alien symbiote required to live aside, the process for becoming the First Prime of Apophis involved the design on his forehead being carved into his head followed by molten gold being poured into the wound.
O'Neill: (discussing the emblem) Sounds like it was painful.
Teal'c: Extremely.
Brought Down to Badass: After losing his symbiote and starting to use tretonin instead, he noticed he didn't have quite the same level of Super-Strength he used to, as well as also losing his Healing Factor. He's still a huge dude with almost a century of fighting experience, though, and ultimately it had a negligible effect on his ability to kick ass.
Brutal Honesty: He has very few qualms about saying exactly what's on his mind, even if it's something the other person doesn't particularly want to hear.
Cannot Dream: The kel'no'reem meditation supplants the need to sleep and Jaffa do not dream during that. Once Teal'c loses his symbiote and switches to using tretonin, he is initially freaked out by having dreams.
Character Catchphrase: "Indeed." Counting occasions where it is the sole word in a response and when he includes it in the middle of a longer one ("Our situation has indeed worsened"), he says it 166 times.
Ronon Dex: You say that a lot.
Teal'c: What?
Ronon: "Indeed."
Teal'c: Really? I hadn't noticed.
Closet Geek: Surprisingly enough. His favourite films are Star Wars and Old School.
The Comically Serious: Teal'c is the ultimate Straight Man while being funny at the same time. This is largely due to Christopher Judge's perfect deadpan performance.
Cunning Linguist: Before Daniel caught up, Teal'c was the only member of SG1 who could read Goa'uld and several of their obscure scripts.
Cursed with Awesome: His Goa'uld symbiote is a rite of passage among his people and endows him with a Healing Factor and immunity to diseases. It also supplants his immune system, meaning without it he'll die pretty quickly and in extreme pain. He hates it, as it is a living reminder of how his people have been made completely reliant on the Goa'uld for their very survival.
Defector from Decadence: He became disillusioned from Apophis's regime and betrayed him to help SG-1.
The Determinator: In Jack's words: "Teal'c, you are one stubborn sonovabitch!"
- The biggest example is in Stargate: The Ark of Truth. He hikes across an entire mountain range to get to Celestis, where his friends are being held captive, after having been shot in the back.
- Unfortunately used against him in "Avatar", where the computer simulation analyses his stubborn determination and subconscious fears that the Goa'uld might never be defeated, leading him to get trapped inside an Unwinnable Training Simulation, which only increases with difficulty each time it resets.
Does Not Like Spam: Reveals that he dislikes drinking milk (or "bovine lactose", as he puts it) in "The Changeling". Like The Teetotaler below, it may or may not be a Jaffa thing.
The Dragon: In his backstory as Apophis's First Prime, before he defects and joins the team in the pilot episode.
Establishing Character Moment: Turning his weapon on his fellow Jaffa at O'Neill's pleading and helping the team plus several dozen refugees escape from Apophis's prison. In-universe, O'Neill has states that he considers this to be Teal'c's Establishing Character Moment, and that he learned everything her ever needed to know about Teal'c in that moment.
Expository Hairstyle Change: After spending seven seasons completely bald, he unexpectedly grows some hair for the season eight premiere, possibly symbolizing the impending freedom of the Jaffa.
Fish out of Water: Initially, he really doesn't get modern humans or Earth customs or culture. He adapts pretty quickly, coming to love Earth (especially its cheesy action movies, and Star Wars).
Going Native: It takes place mostly off screen, but this happens gradually as a result of his prolonged exposure to Earth culture and by the final seasons he's cultivated a love of cheesy action and sci-fi movies that he has a habit of referencing in casual conversation.
Guns Akimbo: Starting in season 9 with P-90's, of all things—presumably he got bored with his signature staff weapon. Justified in that he used the Staff Weapon up until the fall of the Goa'uld in Season 8, presumably as a Take That! using their own weapons against them. Also, it was a weapon designed for intimidation over killing power.
- The novel Two Roads established Teal'c's reasons for the switch; many Jaffa were uncomfortable using staff weapons as a symbol of their past enslavement by the Goa'uld, and Teal'c himself declared that he was reluctant to use the weapon again after Janet Frasier was killed with the same weapon, declaring that in Janet's memory he would no longer use a staff weapon unless it was absolutely necessary.
Healing Serpent: Like all Jaffa he originally needed a larval Goa'uld ^noteA race of very snake-like aliens. so his immune system doesn't fail. Eventually he gains access to the drug tretonin which has it's origins linked to the Tok'ra, which are related to the Goa'uld.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Played with. After his initial defection, he remains a hundred percent loyal to the SGC, but an unfortunate brainwashing situation makes it look like this trope, which unpleasant Obstructive Bureaucrat types naturally take advantage of to try and get rid of him.
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: It's implied that he didn't rebel against Apophis before SG-1 came along because until he met them, he didn't think anyone would be strong enough to defeat the Goa'uld.
Jack: I can save these people! Help me! (Teal'c glares at him) Help me.
Teal'c: Many have said that. (spins and blasts his fellow Serpent Guard) But you are the first I believed could do it!
The Immune: His symbiote often gives him immunity against the various alien afflictions that his teammates come down with.
Internal Reformist: Flashbacks in "Threshold" show that Bra'tac instructed him to be this when he was made First Prime, telling him that he may occasionally be able to sway Apophis's decisions and blunt his worst actions.
It's Personal: His hatred for the Goa'uld stems from the fact that he and his entire race of people have been forced into slavery by them for millennia. He also harbors intense personal grudges against Cronus and Tanith for killing his father and his lover, respectively.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He generally prefers to utilize the Death Glare, but he goes all out with the torture in "Talion", including planting a bomb inside another Jaffa withholding information from him.
Just Following Orders: Defied, big time. He never once tries to excuse himself for war crimes he committed on Goa'uld orders, even at risk of his own life, and even though his friends forgive him for it ("Cor-Ai").
Klingons Love Shakespeare: He's quite a movie buff, as he's seen Star Wars 9 times, and is familiar enough with Die Hard to catch a reference to the main character that Daniel misses.
Laughing at Your Own Jokes: He does this. Most of the time he doesn't get the jokes with references to Earth culture and when he makes one, he's the only one who laughs.
A Serpent Guard, a Horus Guard and a Setesh Guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment.
The Serpent Guard's eyes glow, the Horus Guard's beak glistens, the Setesh Guard's... nose drips. [laughs]
The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: In early seasons Teal'c never bothered to wear protective hazmat gear even during biohazard outbreaks and the like, as his symbiote shielded him from most toxins and diseases. After a few seasons he did begin using the same protective gear as the rest of the team when necessary, likely due to having encountered a few toxins which could affect him and thus realizing he wasn't entirely invincible to such hazards.
Loophole Abuse: Like Daniel, Teal'c has avoided punishment for ignoring orders since he's not technically part of the military. Amusingly played with in "Upgrades", when Jack notes that Teal'c can't be punished for this reason, which Hammond acknowledges and points out that not only that, he actually was following orders by not embarking on the unauthorised mission with the rest of SG-1, only following them because Hammond ordered him to retrieve them.
Mean Character, Nice Actor: variant. Teal'c is The Stoic, The Quiet One and incessantly polite. Anyone who's been at a convention with Christopher Judge as a guest can usually find his panels by following the roars of laughter echoing through the closed doors and down the corridors - although in some cases people under 18 won't be allowed in because of Judge's habitual potty mouth.
Meaningful Appearance: His long lifespan meant that Teal'c more or less stayed that same while his friends grew old in "Unending." Fortunately, when an aged Carter finally discovered a way to save everyone, Teal'c's unmarred strength allowed him to complete the mission and return to the present. The only clue to his true age is a glaring stripe of white hair.
Meaningful Name: "Teal'c" means "strength" in Goa'uld.
Mook–Face Turn: He was Apophis' First Prime before turning on his subordinates.
Mr. Fanservice: The guy is ripped and he accordingly gets the most shirtless scenes among the male cast, especially after season six when he loses the symbiote and the unsightly pouch disappears.
Not So Stoic: Teal'c displays true emotion rarely, which makes those moments where he does exhibit rage, fear, or sorrow all the more poignant.
Odd Friendship: With Jonas Quinn and later Vala Mal Doran, both of whom are his complete opposites in terms of personality; Jonas is a hyperactive Perpetual Smiler while Teal'c is The Stoic, and Vala is a unscrupulous thief while Teal'c is a dignified warrior. The only thing any of them have in common is that they're all aliens.
Old Master: Despite not looking that old, he's over a hundred and seems to be regarded as a source of wisdom and advice among the other Jaffa, particularly once the rebellion gets underway. He definitely qualifies after the events of the series finale, when time travel shenanigans cause him to age a further fifty years, making him older than Bra'tac.
Parental Marriage Veto: He initially disapproves when he hears that Rya'c is getting married, as he thinks that love will make him weak and doesn't want his son to be forced to abandon his family as he had to.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Jaffa are designed as such by the Goa'uld, fighting and killing each other for their own honor and the glory of their "gods." Teal'c sneers at the "false gods," but maintains his focus on honor and combat capability.
The Quiet One: Doesn't talk much.
Rebel Leader: Downplayed. Teal'c's defection sparks a rebellious fire in many Jaffa, but he never really takes up a positon as leader of their rebellion, even after winning precisely that position by killing K'Tano. By the time he does become a leader with power and authority within the Jaffa, the Goa'uld are functionally defeated and the Jaffa are grappling with forming a fucntional governement after their rebellion.
Really 700 Years Old: In the season four episode "The Light", Teal'c is stated to be 101 years old. By series end, he's over 150. (Time Dilation was involved.)
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's somewhat prone to these whenever someone manages to press one of his Berserk Buttons (usually by hurting or killing somebody he loves), embarking on at least three separate ones over the course of the series and causing all manner of trouble for the team each time.
Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Star Wars is his favorite movie, apparently. He's seen it so often that the first example that springs to his mind with "virgin birth" is Darth Vader, not Jesus.
Scarily Competent Tracker: When SG-1 needs to track something through the wilderness, Teal'c is the guy they turn to. He successfully tracks Dr. Jackson and an Unas from signs at least a day old, for starters.
Scary Black Man: He's more than willing to use it to his advantage and is the best interrogator in the SGC. All he does is walk into the room, and calmly glare the informant (sometimes flexing his considerable jaw muscles) until he gets the information he wants. Lampshaded in the episode "Prisoners", where O'Neill orders him to "look scary and take point".
Sensor Character: Like Carter, he is able to sense the presence of Goa'uld and other Jaffa due to his symbiote.
Shoot the Dog: Killing Sha're to save Daniel's life, which he feels very sorry about but states he wouldn't hesitate to do again if faced with the same choice. It's also implied that he had to do this numerous times as Apophis's First Prime, deciding which victims could be considered an acceptable sacrifice for the overall least loss of life.
The Spock: Initially shows little emotion, talks in somewhat formal language and is prone to logical thinking, though he grows out of most of these tendencies over the course of the show.
The Stoic: Takes some surprisingly uncomplicated moral positions. Like feeling no guilt at killing an alternative universe version of himself because 'Ours is the only reality of consequence' and that Teal'c still believed the Goa'uld were gods.
Super-Strength: As a Jaffa, he's a lot stronger and tougher than a regular human, though not quite at a Captain America/Super-Soldier level (when O'Neill gained the strength of 5 men via an alien device he was significantly stronger than Teal'c). He's also a really big guy and was First Prime to a System Lord, so he's also exceptional compared to regular Jaffa.
Taking You with Me: In Continuum, as he lays dying from a staff blast with Qetesh standing over him gloating, he reveals a live grenade in his hand. Cue Oh, Crap! look from Qetesh before the whole room gets blasted apart.
Tranquil Fury: He rarely acts out his anger, preferring quiet stoicism, but it's readily visible on his face. A few episodes after Colonel Maybourne tried to use him as an incubator for the alien insect that had planted eggs in him, he coolly informs Maybourne on their next meeting that "In my culture I would be well within my rights to dismember you." Maybourne tries to laugh it off but is visibly perturbed nonetheless.
The Teetotaler: On a mission where the rest of the team are offered alcohol with their meals, Teal'c declines, explaining that he doesn't drink it. Subsequent episodes show him drinking juice or some other soft drink while the rest of the team has beers during downtime, though it's never made entirely clear if this is a Jaffa thing or a personal choice.
Token Heroic Orc: He's a Jaffa, i.e. the mooks SG-1 fights whenever the Goa'uld show up. He's there to prove they're not all bad.
Token Non-Human: Of the team, since Jonas and Vala are both Human Aliens.
Verbal Tic: Unfailingly refers to people by their rank and last name (if military) or first and last name (if not). The only exception is Jack, who he will refer to as "O'Neill." Even his father-figure, Bra'tac, is referred to as "Master Bra'tac" consistently by Teal'c.
Warrior Poet: In addition to being as badass as they come, he's also depicted as being very "spiritual" and is highly respected among the free Jaffa, considered one of their wisest leaders.
You Can't Go Home Again: Because you are a traitor and your family is shunned even by other outcasts. This wore off after Apophis was killed, after which he stays on Earth by choice.
You Killed My Father: It's been his goal since childhood to avenge his father's death. Said father was killed by the Goa'uld Cronus, who murdered him for failing to win an unwinnable battle. Teal'c's robot clone ultimately does this for him.

Jonas Quinn

Played By: Corin Nemec

First Appearance: "Meridian"

An alien, with a name inexplicably sounding less alien than that of his actor. Replaced Daniel Jackson for season 6, then unceremoniously written out when Michael Shanks changed his mind. He was essentially the geek figure that Daniel ceased to be by that point, but in many ways was different from his predecessor, as his primary motivation was atonement for what he saw as his fault — that is, Daniel's death. His fate following the Ori conquest of his homeworld Langara is unknown.

The Atoner: Dr. Frasier once lampshaded the fact that while serving at the SGC he constantly showed a capacity for near suicidal self sacrifice, stemming from his feelings of guilt over Daniel's Heroic Sacrifice in order to save his planet.
Big Eater: The first few episodes he appeared in after joining the team showed him almost constantly eating, enthusing about his love for "traditional American cuisine". Then Sam points out that Americans also have the tradition of hardened arteries, and this aspect of his character is unceremoniously dropped.
Blessed with Suck: In "Prophecy" Jonas temporarily gains the ability to see the future, but it takes time for him to work out how he can 'control' it to get useful images of the future, and by that point he has to have an operation to remove the tumour giving him this ability before it kills him (although he is able to have a controlled vision that allows him to prevent an attack on the SGC by small-time Goa'uld Mot).
But Now I Must Go: He leaves pretty much as soon as Daniel comes back, claiming that there's no point in him sticking around now that he has nothing left to atone for and that he needs to put everything he's learned to use in helping his people progress.
Chilly Reception: Played with; Teal'c is on good terms with him from the get-go and Carter warms up to him before long, but O'Neill never quite does and always keeps him at something of a distance. He does, however, tell Jonas that he's earned his place just as he's about to leave.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Sometimes overly eager to put his life in danger to help the team.
Cunning Linguist: Thanks to his photographic memory, picks up about as many languages as Daniel Jackson knows, just from pouring over Daniel's research notes and journals.
Establishing Character Moment: Stealing some naquadria from his government for Earth to put to use in their defenses and going on record to clear Daniel's name, causing him to be branded a traitor and lose everything he has in the process.
Fish out of Water: More so than Teal'c at times. He's constantly worried that other people will find him "strange", and his fears are not exactly unfounded.
Guilt Complex: Develops a big one as a result of Daniel's Heroic Sacrifice to save his planet, despite the fact that what happened wasn't really his fault.
Human Alien: One of the crops of humans taken from Earth millenia ago and seeded on other worlds by the Goa'uld as slaves. His world's Goa'uld oppressor is long gone by the time SG-1 arrives, and Jonas' people are at about a mid-twentieth-century level of development.
Hyper-Awareness: Exhibits this as a result of his Photographic Memory, allowing him to scan an entire diner in a matter of seconds and pick up on several details that both Carter and Teal'c had been totally unaware of.
Incredibly Lame Fun: Is utterly fascinated by the Weather Channel and spends hours watching it, despite Sam pointing out that there are literally hundreds of other channels to choose from. He claims that it's like predicting the future.
Instant Expert: He's able to memorize all of Daniel's mission journals and notes in a matter of days and subsequently becomes an expert in everything Daniel was an expert in.
Keet: Tended to get excited by just about everything.
Lovable Nerd: More so than Daniel due to his peppiness.
Nice Guy: Rarely has a bad word to say about anyone, and always tries to do what he feels is the right thing.
Odd Friendship: Out of all the other members of the team he seems to get on best with Teal'c after they bond due to their mutual status as outsiders, despite the fact that it's pretty much the only thing they have in common.
Only Sane Man: While the rest of the people on his planet are locked in a Cold War on the verge of going hot (and which may well destroy their civilization), Jonas, especially after travelling through the Stargate with SG-1, points out that their pretty political squabbles are utterly irrelevant compared to what's going on in the galaxy, and if they don't get their act together they'll be steamrolled by the first galactic conqueror to land on their doorstep.
Perpetual Smiler: And O'Neill just loves to lampshade his ever-present smile, especially since Daniel was more solemn by this point.
Photographic Memory: Apparently a trait of the Langarans is to remember absolutely everything they see.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Daniel during season six. There are actually quite a few differences in their personalities (Jonas is generally more upbeat and lacks Daniel's Beware the Nice Ones tendencies), but he fulfilled exactly the same role as the team's archaeologist/linguist/cultural expert, memorizing all of Daniel's work to allow him to fill the niche instantly.
Taking the Bullet: Though it doesn't kill him, he takes a staff blast intended for Daniel upon the latter's return, stating that it makes them even.
Transhuman: It's implied in "Metamorphosis" that Jonas — or possibly the Langarans as a whole — are further along the evolutionary scale than Earth humans after Nirrti puts him in her gene sequencing machine. This storyline never really goes anywhere.
The Watson: He's usually the guy asking the other members of the team lots of questions about what they're doing, allowing them to explain for the benefit of the audience.
We Can Rule Together: Nirrti makes him an offer like this after finding out how advanced he is. He refuses.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After Series 7 we hear no word from him, leading some to speculate he died during the Ori invasion of Langara. Was a throwaway line on Universe when they actually show Langara again, too much to ask?
You Can't Go Home Again: He's initially branded a traitor by his home country of Kelowna after he steals the naquadria, preventing him from ever returning. Changing political situations on Langara also change this and he eventually returns to become a respected ambassador for the Kelownan government.

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cameron_Mitchell_3056.jpg

Played By: Ben Browder

First Appearance: "Avalon, Part 1"

Replaced O'Neill as the leader of SG-1 for Seasons 9-10, which received the Fan Nickname "Fargate" (or sometimes "Starscape") due to the fact that he and Claudia Black were former Farscape leads. He wasn't, however, a straight O'Neill clone; while still a wisecracking action guy, he didn't have his predecessor's tendency to disobey orders. Also notable in that his "leadership" of the team was at best just in theory; he was the rookie (even compared to Vala, who had more experience) and didn't actually outrank any of his team.

Ace Pilot: He doesn't get to show off his skills too often on the show, but it can be inferred. There's a reason he was chosen to lead the F-302 squadron during the battle of Antarctica.
The Alleged Boss: Technically he's supposed to be the commanding officer of SG-1, but in practice he admits that's mostly just how it is on paper, pointing out that since Carter is the same rank as he is, Daniel is a civilian and Teal'c is an alien it's a little tricky getting them to follow orders they don't want to, especially since he's the new guy and they all have years of field experience. He eventually settles into a Type 4 as he gains the respect of his team. This is largely because instead of recruiting new people to form a new SG-1, he gets the old squad back together. See Ascended Fanboy below.
As the Good Book Says...: He's quite fond of responding to the Priors' sermons with a Bible quotation or two.
Ascended Fanboy: He's a huge fan of the original team when he first arrives and originally wanted to be put on SG-1 just to learn from them, making it his mission to "get the band back together" when he learns that they've disbanded.
Author Avatar: Like the network that insisted on keeping the SG-1 title for the name power rather than change it into Stargate Command like the producers wanted, Mitchell decided to recreate SG-1 rather than assemble his own team.invoked
Badass Normal: He doesn't have the Ancient Gene, he wasn’t Special Forces trained, he never Ascended, he never hosted a Tok'ra, and he's not an alien badass, he's just a normal earthling. He still kicks plenty of ass.
Big Damn Heroes: He led the fighter squadron that saved SG-1 in Season 7, and personally saved them at one point.
Butt-Monkey: Intentionally done by the writers, they envisioned him as someone who would get his "ass whupped a lot".
Career-Ending Injury: It's implied that the injuries sustained from his crash should have been this, but he manages to overcome the odds through sheer force of will.
Character Catchphrase: "Just like my grandma used to say: [insert phrase]."
Chilly Reception: Downplayed; the original members of the team are perfectly friendly when he first arrives, but when it comes to actually being under his command both Daniel and Teal'c were sometimes annoyed by his inexperience and not afraid to let him know. They eventually warm up to him, however, and by the end of his first season he's a member of the True Companions.
Colonel Badass: Thanks to some training with the Sodan.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Both to O'Neill and to the last character his actor played, to the point where the only things he has in common with both are being an Ace Pilot, a Pop-Cultured Badass (though not nearly to the degree of either) and a Deadpan Snarker. For starters, unlike O'Neill or Crichton, he never so much as interacted directly with the resident Ancients, much less became their Chosen One.
Deadpan Snarker: If you're going to fill O'Neill's shoes, the "skill" of deadpanning is a must.
Establishing Character Moment: Though we only see it in flashbacks, putting himself through grueling physical therapy to overcome his injuries and get himself back in the field when it was in question whether he would ever walk again.
Fatal Flaw: Discussed in his first conversation with General Landry, when the latter states that his record is too perfect on paper and demands to know what his "kryptonite" is. Mitchell responds that he can be "a bit impatient", which Landry brushes off but it's probably close to the truth (see Hot-Blooded below).
Hero-Worshipper: Big fan of all the original SG-1 team members.
Hidden Depths: A throwaway gag reveals that he can speak and understand at least some Mandarin, when he catches Daniel and the Chinese IOA ambassador insulting him in the language.
Hot-Blooded: A self-confessed hothead, which has landed him in trouble on more than one occasion. A Noodle Incident from his past implies that this tendency of his is to blame for his friend and fellow pilot sustaining a fatal injury, and the other members of the team are occasionally frustrated by his recklessness.
Identical Grandson: In Stargate: Continuum it's revealed that one of his ancestors, also played by Ben Browder, skippered a cargo ship that brought the stargate to America. The original timeline's Cameron ends up being trapped in that time period after some Time Travel misadventures and helps him fight off a Ba'al clone who came back in time to stop the ship from reaching port.
Improbable Age: He is the bare minimum age for his rank, requiring him to be promoted as soon as legally possible to reach it at his age.
The Leader: Of the "headstrong" variety.
Mr. Exposition: Fills this role surprisingly often despite being the new guy, due to having read all the mission reports.
My Greatest Failure: He once bombed a convoy, after asking for and receiving confirmation that it contained the target. Immediately after he released the bomb, he was told to hold his fire. The convoy was destroyed, and it turned out to be carrying refugees. He was cleared of culpability, but it haunted him for the rest of his life; and he almost resigned over it.
Nom de Guerre: As an F-302 pilot, had the callsign "Shaft" (short for "camshaft", a mechanical part that shares part of his name).
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Carter laughs at the fact that he's always losing his pants, to which he responds that it's happened twice. "Twice is not always".
Putting the Band Back Together: He deliberately invokes this when he's given command of the team and finds out that the others have all moved on to new projects, spending weeks hounding them to reconsider. It takes him nearly half the season, but he gets them all back in the end.
Real Award, Fictional Character: One of the flashbacks filling out his backstory in "Avalon, Part 1" establishes that he was awarded the Medal of Honor (erroneously referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor) for leading Prometheus' F-302 squadron to cover SG-1 in "Lost City". His F-302 was hit twice and his Guy in Back was killed, but he still downed an al'kesh that was making a run on SG-1 before crash-landing and receiving near-fatal injuries.
Remember the New Guy?: During his first appearance it's revealed that he was critically injured saving the lives of SG-1 during the battle of Antarctica in the Season 7 finale and that each member of the team went to visit him in the hospital at least once, despite the fact that none of them have ever mentioned him before. Since the Season 8 finale involved time travel, this has led some to speculate that he didn't actually exist until the timeline was changed.
Rookie Red Ranger: A mild example, as he's both the commander of the team and the one with the least experience. Justified unlike in some cases as he was originally selected to lead a completely new SG-1 after the originals had moved on to new assignments, only becoming leader of the original team when Daniel, Teal'c and Sam were brought back into action to fight the new threat of the Ori.
Southern-Fried Private: Technically, he's from Kansas, but his family moved from Tennessee and still made trips there to visit his grandma. Also, he has a slight Southern accent.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Averted. The writers knew they could never replace O'Neill, so they made a concerted effort to make him a unique character.
Token Religious Teammate: Possibly. The show doesn't really delve into the religious convictions of the characters, but Mitchell is the only one who talks openly about his Christian upbringing.
Took a Level in Badass: He was fairly badass to begin with, but he becomes the team's second best hand-to-hand combatant (after Teal'c) after mastering the fighting technique of the Sodan warriors.
You Are in Command Now: And a few must have been field promotions as well as right on time.

Vala Mal Doran

Played By: Claudia Black

First Appearance: "Prometheus Unbound"

A genuinely new addition to SG-1 rather than a replacement, although she only officially joined the team in season 10, when SG-1 received a fifth member for the first time in its history.

About the only two things known for certain about her backstory^note are that her father is a rather useless con artist, and that for a relatively short time she was the host of the System Lord Qetesh, the Goa'uld impersonating the Egyptian goddess of sex. The Tok'ra removed Qetesh and Vala became a black market trader and con artist in the criminal underworld of the slowly collapsing Goa'uld Empire.

She first met up with SG-1 when she hijacked the USS Prometheus in "Prometheus Unbound" and joined the recurring cast in season 9 before being thrown into the Ori galaxy and used as the "virgin" Mary for their Dark Messiah, Adria. Once retrieved, she joined SG-1.

Ace Pilot: It doesn't come up too often, but she managed to single-handedly commandeer the Prometheus in a matter of hours, and she disrupted the first Ori supergate using a pretty fancy bit of flying. Whenever the team needs to use a Goa'uld ship in the final two seasons, it's usually either she or Teal'c at the controls.
Action Girl: Not as obvious as with Sam, but she can definitely hold her own in combat if she has to. Her first appearance sees her beating the crap out of Daniel without too much difficulty.
Ascended Extra: Vala was intially intended to be just a one-shot character for "Prometheus Unbound". However, positive reception to the character's debut (and Claudia Black's fantastic chemistry with Michael Shanks) led to Vala being brought back as a recurring character for Season Nine and then ultimately promoted to main cast for the final season and the TV movies.
Becoming the Mask: She initially marries Tomin in order to pass her baby off as his when she falls victim to a Mystical Pregnancy while stranded on a planet that frowns on extra-marital sex, but she later admits that she really did come to love him somewhere along the line.
Burn the Witch!: She gets burned at the altar twice in the space of as many episodes when she and Daniel first travel to the Ori galaxy.
Cheshire Cat Grin: She occasionally flashes a very disconcerting one that shows off a lot of teeth.
Classy Cat-Burglar: She certainly plays up to the role when she wants to, but whenever we actually see her try to steal something onscreen it rarely goes the way she'd planned.
Confession Deferred: Inverted when Vala tries to make Dr. Jackson believe that she acquired the bracelets through legal means. She forgot she's already told him she stole them.
Dr. Jackson: He's the guy you stole the bracelets from, right?
Vala: How dare you assume that I acquired those bracelets through anything but honest means! I may have a less-than perfect reputation -
Dr. Jackson: You told me you stole them!
Vala: I did?
Dr. Jackson: Yes!
Consummate Liar: She swings wildly between this and Brutal Honesty, making it impossible to know how much if any of what she says has a basis in truth.
Dark and Troubled Past: She was a host to the Goa'uld Qetesh.
Disappeared Dad: General Landry, who is divorced, tries to draw a parallel between his own failures as a husband and father and Vala's father's issues. Vala points out that Landry, as a military officer, had a legitimate excuse, whereas her dad is a Con Man, and not even a particularly successful one.
Didn't Think This Through: She once attached a pair of Goa'uld bracelets to herself and Daniel before leaving through the Stargate, not knowing that it was a slave device that was supposed to kill both wearers if they got too far away from one another. It was originally supposed to be a prank, but Daniel was not happy when he found out.
The Gadfly: She seems to gain an immense amount of enjoyment out of winding up Daniel, especially in her earlier appearances.
Girlish Pigtails: She even sported them in her Dorothy look!
Guile Hero: She can certainly fight if she has to, but she usually prefers to rely on her charm and social wiles to manipulate her enemies.
Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed, since she was never really a villain. She's introduced as a one-shot antagonist and initially has ulterior motives for tagging along with the team when she returns the following season, but after realizing the threat posed by the Ori she grows increasingly conflicted, eventually culminating in her Heroic Sacrifice. When she returns the second time, she throws in her lot with the team for good and makes a concerted effort to leave her old ways behind her.
Heroic Sacrifice: She sabotages the formation of the first Ori supergate in "Beachhead", which has the unfortunate effect of pulling her into the Ori galaxy and stranding her there for several months.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Shades of it. It's implied that the other members of the team are the first real friends she's had in quite some time and that this played at least some role in her decision to reform herself. She acts incredibly hurt and betrayed when she's lead to believe that they've abandoned her as part of a Memory Gambit.
Jack of All Stats: She's a decent combatant and pilot and she's shown to have at least some skill in engineering, but she's not quite as good at any of those things as the people whose specialties they are.
Morality Pet: For her daughter Adria, at least up to a point. Vala is generally the one person Adria is reluctant to hurt, but she can be pushed into it if she's angry enough. Comes to a head in the penultimate episode when Adria realizes that she'll never be able to sway Vala over to her side and promptly tries to kill her.
Ms. Fanservice: Although there's not a lot of it about in this series, Vala clearly qualifies via some of her outfits.
Multiple-Choice Past: It seems as though every time she talks about her past it's to say something different, with some of the accounts contradicting others. The only things we know for sure are that her father was a neglectful con artist and that she was host to Qetesh for some time prior to the events of the series.
Mystical Pregnancy: She unexpectedly falls pregnant during her stay in the Ori galaxy, despite not having done any of the "necessary bits". It's eventually revealed that the child is the will of the Ori and intended to lead their crusade in the Milky Way.
No Yay: Invoked often towards Ba'al, who is fond of expressing his attraction towards both her and Qetesh, the Goa'uld who formerly inhabited her.
Odd Friendship: She seems to get on remarkably well with Teal'c, despite the fact that he's a stoic, principled warrior and she's a hyperactive, unscrupulous ex-con.
Pirate Girl: Her first appearance in particular, where she steals the Prometheus.
Sad Clown: She's like a Fun Personified-type of person to hide her angst.
Samus Is a Girl: In her first appearance, when she hijacks the Prometheus wearing the armor of a Kull warrior — which also modifies her voice to make it sound deep and masculine — and promptly starts hitting on Daniel. He's rather relieved when she takes the helmet off and reveals her true identity.
Serial Spouse: She claims to have been married multiple times in her past, in addition to her marriage to Tomin, though like everything else she says about her backstory this should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Ship Tease: She and Daniel pretty much pick up where Jack and Sam left of with this in the last two seasons.
Sixth Ranger: Lampshaded by the title sequence after her official inclusion in SG-1. As the four other members of the team prepare to step through the gate, Vala is shown running in to catch up with them.
Star-Crossed Lovers: With Tomin. They both admit that they have feelings for each other, but they're completely idealistically opposed and fighting on opposite sides of a war.
Stepford Smiler: Type A. She presents a cheerful, upbeat face to the world, but it masks a thoroughly depressing backstory and deep feelings of insecurity.
Sticky Fingers: Even after she joins the team, she sometimes seems to have difficulty resisting the urge to steal.
Street Smart: Self-confessed. She states that she was "never one for school" and she's not academic in the way that Daniel and Carter are, but her knowledge of the intergalactic black market is unparalleled and her social intelligence has helped save the team on more than one occasion.
The Tease: Played with. She certainly enjoys flirting with just about every main male character, but the series finale reveals that she actually does have serious feelings for Daniel. Which causes some problems when she decides to do something about it, since he bought into her act a little too well and assumes she doesn't take him seriously. They work it out eventually, kind of.
That Thing Is Not My Child!: She does not view Adria as her daughter, which she proves once and for all in "Dominion" when she tries to machine-gun her to stop her from ascending.
Tired of Running: It's stated that this is at least part of her reason for choosing to settle in with SG-1 after a life of crime. Daniel explains the decision to her when she's suffering from a brief bout of Laser-Guided Amnesia in "Memento Mori":
Daniel: You've been running so long, it's almost second-nature to you. You don't remember it, but you made a decision to stop running. It's over. And now it's time to come home.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Sam's Tomboy; she's less combat-oriented and more likely to rely on her feminine wiles.
Took a Level in Kindness: She's a good deal less amoral and self-centered after her extended stay in the Ori galaxy, though she shows signs of mellowing out even before then.
Touched by Vorlons: Like Sam, she's able to operate Goa'uld technology as a result of being a former host. She actually seems to have more control over the healing device than Sam does, possibly as a result of being a host for a longer period of time. And also having more practice using Goa'uld hand devices without a symbiote, given that one of her previous scams was pretending to still be Qetesh.
Vapor Wear: She appears not to have been wearing anything under a Kull Warrior suit in her first appearance. She's shown in a form-fitting jumpsuit when she removes the armour, but that might have been part of the undersuit.

Characters / Stargate SG-1: SG-1

In General

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill

Dr. Daniel Jackson

Colonel Samantha Carter

Teal'c of Chulak

Jonas Quinn

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell

Vala Mal Doran

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Characters / Stargate SG-1: SG-1

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In General

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill

Dr. Daniel Jackson

Colonel Samantha Carter

Teal'c of Chulak

Jonas Quinn

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell

Vala Mal Doran

Previous

Index

Next