Jacking It In
By: Thomasina Gibson
Publication: Cult Times #77
Date: February, 2002.

It's very early morning in LA (not usually the actor's favourite time of day), but Michael Shanks sounds remarkably bright and bubbling for a man who has been travelling Earth's globe sans watery portal since his recent departure from Stargate SG-1. Unless you've been stuck in a wormhole for an extended period, you'd be hard pushed not to know that for almost five season Shanks played Dr Daniel Jackson, the brilliant scholar whose nimble mind translated the very symbols that showed how to activate the Stargate and transport him and his companions to other worlds. He's been the moral heart of a team that has often stood against the will of the military monument as represented by the United States Air Force (television version). He's been the perfect foil for the irreverent Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), supporter of the stoic Jaffa Teal'c (Christopher Judge) and been like a brother to Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping).

However, since September last year Shanks has been moving in a different direction, miles away from his colleagues at Stargate Command. He's been to Australia to attend a fan convention, has made a movie in Toronto, and traversed the width of the North American continent to spend quality with his three-year-old daughter, Tatiana, in Los Angeles. As if that wasn't enough to assuage his wanderlust, he arrives in the UK this month to attend numerous fan events around the country, including evenings with fans in Glasgow and afternoons in Cardiff and Dublin. Sheepishly admitting that for one so well travelled in a fictitious sense, he's hardly set foot outside of his native Canada up 'til now, Shanks laughs. "One of my reasons for leaving Stargate was to experience the thrill of travelling whilst I was still young enough to enjoy it. I can honestly say that so far it's been quite an experience and one I'm enjoying tremendously."

Of course, as anyone who has even an inkling of the debacle surrounding the news of Daniel Jackson's departure from arguably the best Sci-Fi show on the box will know, there are several other reason why Mr Shanks packed away his artefacts and jumped gate. "I know this isn't the usual reason for an actor to leave a show," he offers, "but I'm not quitting Stargate to go onto another project or to kick-start my film career, I'm actually leaving to explore the possibilities." One such possibility included auditioning for the role of a young Jean-Luc Picard in the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis. Although the role went to English actor Tom Hardy, Shanks thoroughly enjoyed trying out for the part. "Seems I can't stay away from anything with the word 'star' in front of it," he jokes.

The move from Stargate SG-1 certainly wasn't the easiest thing in the world for the 30-year-old actor. "From the outset my take on the whole Daniel Jackson slant was based on how I saw him in the original movie, where the character had a heavy part in proceedings. I also thought that the relationship between Daniel and Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) would be the focus if the show. Although the chemistry between the two characters did become an important part of SG-1, by the end of the third season the show had started to move in a different direction. One that didn't seem to leave much for an archaeologist and linguist to do."

Having broached his concerns with the producers of the show, Shanks explains, "I talked with them and said that I felt that Stargate had become a show steeped in the inner workings of the military and the things the military members of the team, ie Jack, Sam and General Hammond (Don S Davis) had to deal with. But my character, as the only civilian besides Teal'c, is a warrior in his own right, was not included in the loop of those things. I mean, an archaeologist wouldn't normally be included in those things." Trying to find the right words, he goes on, "I guess what I'm saying is I feel that Daniel's continuing distance from the NID conspiracy and the military machinations that were permeating the series was a problem I saw developing. Ultimately it became the needle in my side that the character wasn't involved in those scenarios when the episodes came up which eventually prompted my request to leave the show.

"It wasn't that the 'shoot -em up' and Maybourne conspiracy stories weren't good stories. On the contrary, they were great… but I saw that trend developing more and more, especially throughout the fifth season, and knew I couldn't let that continue."

Careful not to lay all of the blame for his discontent on the shoulders of the writers of the executive producers of the show with whom he still has the warmest relationship, Shanks continues "I think the crux of the problem was that in my own mind, as a young actor going in, I was certainly a lot more open to everything that was going on. I was waiting to see where the show dropped, so to speak, and in the initial years Stargate was a lot more of what I hoped the series would be. As I got older my desire of what I wanted became more specific. I mean, when you do a show for as long as I did Stargate SG-1, you start off as a 'young hopeful', as it were, sitting in the gate, waiting to do stuff and eager to do whatever is thrown at you. Then naturally you want to be doing more as the show progresses, yet I found myself going in the opposite direction and saw the character being involved less in stories. So with all these things in mind it was not without a heavy heart that I said, 'Well, okay, if this is the way it's going to go then I don't want to be here'.

"You know, although the decision to leave was mine entirely, I do mean it when I say it was with a heavy heart. We started something and built something very special and I'm not ecstatic to think that the show will be carrying on with me not part of it. But at the same time, I am a very stubborn, principled person and couldn't see myself being happy carrying on as I was. I knew that I was becoming a little more edged as time wore on and knew that whatever seeds of disenchantment were developing were going to come to fruition in a very negative way if I carried on."

As it was, the determined and dynamic sides of Shanks's personality came to the fore and the drastic decision was made. "When I went to Australia, people kept asking me what I was going to be doing. There are lots of things that I want to do, including film, theatre and more television if it comes up, but basically I just want to work. I want to feel that I'm not just spinning my wheels. I want to grow as an actor and that desire comes at a price. Even though I could have stayed through Season Six - Brad [Wright], the show's co-creator, did ask me to stay - I was prepared to take advantage of the question mark of the future rather than carry on in what I knew was going to be a very trying situation. I felt that when feelings were still, to a certain degree, positive, it was time to move on."

Fan reaction to Daniel's demise has been passionate and prolific, with thousands of messages bandying to and fro about the unfairness of it all. Much has been mooted on the Internet and in various printed publications about the fact that Shanks's last episode on Stargate SG-1 concentrated less on his departure and, instead, more on the introduction of a new character. Shanks himself is much less caustic about the situation: "Not only did the writers have to finish off Daniel's journey but they also had to introduce a new character." Acknowledging that the writers had a difficult job of having Daniel leave in a positive way whilst at the same time not leave a gaping hole where he'd been, the actor feels the introduction of the new character might have been better suited to another time. "I don't thing the dual storyline exactly helped either of us."

Ironically, Shanks's actual last day was spent working with Corin Nemec, who joins the cast as Jonas, a move which Brad Wright maintains gave some symmetry to proceedings: "I felt it just gave some balance to the show. We were losing a very important person who was to a great extent the heart and soul of SG-1. It gave us all something else positive to concentrate on rather than sink into gloom at Daniel's departure."

With apologies for yet another spoiler, in Meridian - the penultimate episode of Season Five - Daniel selflessly chooses to sacrifice his own life to save millions of others. His characteristic act of bravery prompts Oma Desala (Mel Harris), a non-corporeal being also known as Mother Nature, to offer him the chance to explore life beyond the realms. Some fans have dismissed this scenario as the programme makers' way of saving face and deflecting a backlash from loyal fans. Just as many think it's exactly what Daniel would choose to do. Shanks's view is, "It makes sense that, as a man with an insatiable curiosity, Daniel would choose to continue his explorations."

In fact, Brad Wright is already penning a Season Six episode especially for Daniel, saying, "I have extended the invitation to Michael to return." Wright also revealed that Daniel Jackson plays a pivotal role in the Stargate SG-1 feature currently being scripted by himself and Robert C Cooper. Shanks's role depends very much on the actor's other commitments but, says Wright, "We've got our fingers crossed it works out."

Meanwhile, Shanks agrees there are many things he will miss about working on Stargate SG-1: the series - particularly his relationships with his co-workers. However, he has one abiding impression that tops them all. "The strongest memory that pops into my head was when Christopher, Amanda and myself were doing a tour of the set for the first time and we turned a corner in the upstairs part of the briefing room to look outside of the glass at the end where the Stargate was in place. It had just been completed and we all looked at the scale of it and just sort of stood there for about a minute in silence, just in awe of what it looked like. We were all at that stage where the world was open to us and the future was unclear but it was all a good thing. Even now, I see that little child wonder on the faces of everybody that had never seen our Stargate before. They all get that same impression. That is what stays with me - that, like the Stargate, the future was wide open and the possibilities were endless. It's my strongest and fondest memory of working on the show."