Cameron vs. Jack

[Colonel Carter]

I thought this was interesting enough to quote here. :)


"Mitchell is a military guy's military guy whereas Jack was a loose cannon of sorts. O'Neill was sarcastic and animated -- Cameron more low-key and offhand in his humor. Whereas O'Neill was occasionally abrasive and in-your-face, Mitchell prefers to let his Southern charm work its magic. Unlike O'Neill, who was often guarded, Mitchell has no compunctions about opening up. Jack was always a tough person to read, a tough nut to crack. And whereas O'Neill was sometimes, well, shall we say 'out of the loop' at times when it came to the more technical side of things, often happily so, Mitchell does his damndest to inform himself and stay informed."
- Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi

Personally, I think it's a good idea to make Cameron different than Jack. I think if they tried to make him just like Jack, people wouldn't like him because they would feel he's trying to be like Jack and let's face it, who can duplicate Richard Dean Anderson's performance and truly be liked by the audience? :jackmut

[Anissa T]

I don't like the name.

But, I agree, I'm glad they are making him somewhat different. We'll soon find out if it works for them or not. Hopefully, BB will bring (if not already fans) his FS fans to the show.

[Colonel Carter]

You don't like the name Cameron Mitchell? I don't either. The first time I saw that name, my reaction was, "They're calling him that?! What a dorky name!" He's got two first names or two last names however you look at it. ;) Personally, I think his name should be Scott, just because he looks like a Scott to me.

[Anissa T]

It just doesn't fit.

[Anissa T]

I'm thinking how in the world did they come up with Cameron. Just like I didn't like John Sheppard.

They got to start letting the fans name new characters.

[cb49747]

I'm indifferent. To me a name is a name, you get used to it.

As for him being different, I think that is the only way to go. I think when replacing a character, you have two choices. One, you keep the same character, just have him played by a different actor. This sometimes works, ie the Kurt Russel and RDA, but most of the time it does not. It really depends on the length of the original actor. Second you get a completly different character that still works. This is the hardest option, but if done right is the most successfull. This was done great in the tv series MASH when they replaced Frank Burns with Winchester.

As great as the writers are for Stargate, I believe they will pull this off.

Chris

[Colonel Carter]

Well replacing Kurt Russell with Richard Dean Anderson was just a win-win situation. RDA was already well established with the general population for his long-running tv series MacGyver. It's easy to replace a character with a good looking, well-established actor who the majority of people love. But RDA chose to play Jack O'Neill in a very different way than I think Kurt Russell ever could. Honestly, I don't think Russell could imitate Anderson's performance and vice versa.

In the movie, the scene where Jack and Daniel were in the group of people bringing the mined material back to the temple for Ra to use, when the guard removed Jack's hood he winked at the guard before shooting him. I can not see Richard Dean Anderson pulling off that same performance.

So clearly when they hired Rick, they weren't looking for Russell's style. Perhaps they could have a new character who resembles the movie Jack, maybe.

John Sheppard is okay. I don't care for the name John just because it's way too common, and the star of SG-1's name is John. Jack O'Neill's real first name is John or Jonathan. Jack is his nickname. So I thought it was rather lame for them to name the hot male star of both shows the same for all practical purposes. Now I really like his last name, Sheppard. I think they should have gone with a different first name. To be honest, I think Joe (the actor's name) is perfect for him and I think they would have done great to use the actor's name for the character.

Cameron Mitchell, sounds like the name of a rock-star if you ask me. Actually, I knew a boy in high school named Cameron who played drums and looked like he belonged in a rock band. So that's probably why I don't like the name for this character.

[Torie2]

Cameron Mitchell is cute, but I do have to agree with them trying to give him Jack's personality. I think them trying to change the show and replacing Jack is going to cause a fall in ratings. I watched it last night and not only was it a little dull it just didn't seem like Stargate any more.

[Anissa T]

I would have to agree. The last episode was a bit dull. But, I think the season overall has been pretty good.

[Colonel Carter]

The show needs Jack. Cameron is a very poor replacement. He lacks the presence and likableness of Jack. It's too bad RDA's daughter couldn't live with him in Vancouver.

[Torie2]

Also some of the humor seems to be in bad taste. Like I heard a character say something I never thought they'd say. Kind of surprised me. But who knows. Maybe RDA's daughter will decide to go to Vancouver so they'll have to ask him back. They did for John Schneider and Tom Wopat when they walked off "The Dukes of Hazzard."

[Colonel Carter]

Although I seriously doubt she has a say in the matter, given she's only seven years old. It's probably her mother's decision to stay in California. That would be my guess.

[Anissa T]

I think they need to "give" him a little more character. I think that's why he is coming off dull. He just runs through the lines and they aren't coming off very well. Perhaps it will get better if they write in some stuff with him having a more personal relationship with the team.

[Colonel Carter]

Perhaps it feels as though he's just throwing away his lines as he says them?

What we need is some depth to him to make him more real to us, I think.

We need to know what his sorrow in life is. We know the sorrows of the other team members...
Jack - Charlie, Kawalsky
Daniel - His parents, Sha're
Sam - Her mom, Jacob
Teal'c - His father, Drey-Auc

We need to see him fall, make mistakes, we've seen all the other SG-1 members fall and make mistakes already.

He needs to become more human to us for us to embrace him. I think.

[Anissa T]

Exactly!

[Colonel Carter]

The great thing about the feature film was that when it introduced us to Jack and Daniel, we were immediately thrown into their personal problems. We first saw Daniel struggling to get a room of critics to even consider his point of view and how embarassing for him to have the whole room just walk out on him before he was even done with his presentation? Then he goes out and it summoned into a car where he meets Catherine who shows him a picture and asks if they are his parents and he says "foster parents" so we see this is a guy with a painful past and who's seriously struggling in the world today, just being evicted from his apartment, all his worldly possessions fitting into two suitcases.

Immediately we were enveloped into Daniel's life, from the beginning he was an extremely well rounded character, he has never once appeared as flat or boring to us because of how the movie introduced him.

Likewise we were thrown into Jack's world through our first introduction showing him on a bed, looking depressed, holding a gun, hiding it when a couple of Air Force officers walk in which makes you think the guy is suicidal and as the officers leave they explain to us that Jack's son died by accidently shooting himself with Jack's gun. So even though Jack is a very stiff character in the movie, they help us out right away with that stiffness by showing us his deepest pain so that we know that while he shows a tough facade, he's in an emotional agony below the surface and thus we are drawn into his character.

Both charaters we can feel sympathy towards because all of us can imagine going through their life experiences.

I don't know about Sam's development because I didn't start watching the show in season 1 and just got bits and pieces. Her character seemed a little stiff at first but she's just so darn likable, her personality is so well-rounded and she's not like so many powerful female characters you see in Sci-Fi shows who you can't stand, she was likable from early on. And Teal'c though he was so quiet for so long, from the pilot episode we saw his pain, after he turned on his own people and felt he had nowhere else to go, we saw that he was a man of deep passion and conviction and it helped that Jack loved the guy.

Cameron, however, I feel is flat and we just don't have a good feel for the guy. The fact that he was injured in the Antarctica battle doesn't tell us much, it tells us nothing of who he is other than he was a soldier commanded to fly into battle and was seriously wounded and promised a place on SG-1 if he ever fully recovered. I don't even feel he truly deserves the position he's been placed in. Leader of SG-1 is big.

Honestly, I think it would have been cool if the person they placed in charge of SGC was more like Kurt Russell's portrayal of Jack. Only he doesn't get goofly like RDA.

[Torie2]

About Sam I think her character changed a lot. I think after her incident with Jolinar she was able to understand things more on the whole.

[Livia Sabina]

Cameron's character was at a huge disadvantage because he came to the table so late in the game. We had eight seasons (give or take a few episodes) worth of Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c by the time Cameron appeared and I think that most fans would have become attached to those characters. After so long, they feel almost like real people. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of fans, when they think 'SG-1', think 'Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c'.

Cameron's the new kid who arrives in the final year of school and, worse still, he's taking over as Class President. I don't know about anybody else, but I was very ticked off when I heard that Sam wasn't going to be in command of SG-1 anymore, that she was going to have to take second place to somebody with the same rank. Unfair or not, it was a massive black mark against Cameron in my book before I'd even laid eyes on him.

As well as that, the character is actually at even more of a disadvantage than Jonas was because in Season Six, not only was Daniel still around on occasion, we still had Jack, Sam, Teal'c, Hammond and Janet there, whereas Cameron is one of three new members of the SGC (and the cast) who all occupy prominent positions, so the writers have to work on developing Landry and Lam's characters as well, hopefully without detracting from the screentime of any of the original cast, and there are only so many episodes in a season.

As far as going into his past and unearthing any pain or traumas goes, I don't know. To be honest, I don't know if viewers care enough about the character to be interested.

One mistake I think the writers are making, aside from giving Cameron command in the first place and keeping him in centrestage, is that he is too much like Jack - or at least trying to be - and that is only going to remind people of the fact that, rather than being a new character, he is a replacement for another, much loved one.

[Colonel Carter]

Plus Richard Dean Anderson already had a great reputation before accepting the role of Jack O'Neill. People loved MacGyver. If you want a tv series to be a hit, put Richard Dean Anderson in the leading role.

[Silk Pantera]

I was kind of hoping they would put Carter in as CO but I can understand why they didn't. Mitchell needs to be different so that the fans have less of a chance to compare him to Jack. By putting him in the position of CO people are going to be saying "That is not how Jack would have done it". It is always going to be hard for the actor who is the replacement but I think the writers are making it more so.

Laura

[Anissa T]

I was re-reading this thread and thinking, they should have one of the characters actually tell Mitchell "that's not how Jack would have done it".

I think I'd laugh my butt off.....especially if it came from Daniel or Teal'C.

[Livia Sabina]

I was re-reading this thread and thinking, they should have one of the characters actually tell Mitchell "that's not how Jack would have done it".

I think I'd laugh my butt off.....especially if it came from Daniel or Teal'C.

I don't see them letting any character do that - I think that part of the reason three of RDA's appearances are to be on Atlantis is because they want to minimize the chances of comparison, they fear that Mitchell won't come off well next to Jack.

[Colonel Carter]

Well I remember reading awhile back, before Cameron made his appearance, that they wanted SG-1 to immediately be accepting of Cameron so that they didn't have the fan backlash they received with Jonas. So I think it's pretty much guaranteed that the othes on the team are never going to question or challenge Cameron, which I think is a down right shame because Daniel was often at odds with Jack and it worked fine. To always agree with your leader I think is rather unheard of. I don't agree with my supervisor at work on everything, I rarely agree with her supervisor about anything. :p Though that's changing here soon as my super will have a new super.

[Livia Sabina]

Well I remember reading awhile back, before Cameron made his appearance, that they wanted SG-1 to immediately be accepting of Cameron so that they didn't have the fan backlash they received with Jonas. So I think it's pretty much guaranteed that the othes on the team are never going to question or challenge Cameron, which I think is a down right shame because Daniel was often at odds with Jack and it worked fine. To always agree with your leader I think is rather unheard of. I don't agree with my supervisor at work on everything, I rarely agree with her supervisor about anything. :p Though that's changing here soon as my super will have a new super.

I think that having everybody accept Mitchell immediately was a huge mistake, storywise. I thought that they handled Jonas much better.

It would make sense for him to be on the outside, looking in - Sam, Daniel and Teal'c had known each other for eight years by the beginning of Season Nine. They, along with Jack, were a family. It makes sense that a newcomer wouldn't be able to break into their circle fully, even if they were going out of their way to include him.