This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sgeureka (talk | contribs) at 04:34, 7 January 2008 (fix subst:error). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 04:34, 7 January 2008 by Sgeureka (talk | contribs) (fix subst:error)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Template:Stargate character Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the television series Stargate SG-1 played by the actress Claudia Black.
Appearances
Vala was very close to her mother and had a strained relationship with her con artist father, Jacek. Jacek had remarried a woman named Adria, whom Vala held in very little regard. Vala was eventually taken as a host to a Goa'uld named Qetesh. Vala stated differing reasons for the final removal of the symbiote.Afterwards, Vala became a thief and a con artist. She had ties with the Lucian Alliance, but double crossed them as she did many of her criminal partners. Vala meets SG-1 team member Daniel Jackson for the first time in the episode "Prometheus Unbound", where she attempts to steal the Prometheus for her own purposes, but Daniel thwarts her plans. Vala eventually escapes.
In Season 9, Vala seeks out Daniel Jackson on Earth to decipher an Ancient tablet but tricks him with a bracelet that binds them together until he has found a treasure. The tablet leads to the discovery of an Ancient communicator that transports her and Daniel's mind to a village in a distant galaxy populated by descendants of the Ancients. There they encounter the Ori for the first time. Vala is killed by a Trial by Fire but she is soon resurrected by one of the Priors. After Vala's and Daniel's safe return, Vala takes off their bracelets, but they have to spend more time until the aftereffects wear off. Vala risks her life in the process of stopping the Ori from setting up a Supergate in the Milky Way and appears to have died. She however reappears in "Crusade" and tells SG-1 via the communication device that she was thrown to an Ori homeworld where she lives undercover. She has however become pregnant and married Tomin, a local villager, out of fear for her life. He is convinced the child is his when in fact it was an immaculate conception, set by the Ori. Vala tells SG-1 about the army approaching them, but the link is severed. Vala is last seen in the closing scene of "Camelot" at the end of Season 9 aboard one of the invading Ori battlecruisers. She is far along in her pregnancy at this point, and the season ends when she senses she is going into labour.
At the start of season 10, Vala gives birth to her daughter Adria, known to the Ori as the Orici. The child grows rapidly, and Vala, along with Daniel Jackson, who had ringed aboard the ship during the battle, attempt to turn the child away from the Ori. Tomin, Vala's husband and a soldier of the Ori army discovers their plan and attempts to stop them. Before they can take the child, however, they are beamed away by the Odyssey. Although Vala is allowed sanctuary at the SGC, she is only accepted to SG-1 on a provisionary basis at first. For the next few months, she helps out SG-1 on several missions, including one to capture an Ori ship, where she comes face-to-face with her fully-grown daughter for the first time. Adria again attempts to convert her mother to Origin, expressing her willingness to expend as much time as possible trying to bring her mother to the "path of enlightenment."
After an interrupted "date" with Daniel and a kidnapping that results in a temporary amnesia for Vala, Vala is made a full member of SG-1. Vala meets Tomin again where she tells him about the true story behind the Ancients and Ori. He helps her escape via rings when the Prior controlling the Ori ship planned to destroy the village below. A final showdown between Vala and Adria happens in "Dominion". A turn of event results in Adria's ascension, and Vala is left to celebrate/mourn the loss of her daughter. In "Unending", the "romance" between Vala and Daniel finally comes to fruition, three months after a time dilation field has stuck all of SG-1 in time. The team spends the next 50 years aboard the ship until the time dilation field gets reversed, erasing the relationship and all linked memories for everyone exept Teal'c. Before this happens, however, Daniel and Vala express their feelings for each other.
Development
Claudia Black was invited to appear as a guest star in the Season Eight episode "Prometheus Unbound", in which she meets Daniel Jackson for the first time.
Due to Amanda Tapping (who plays Sam Carter) being on maternity leave at the beginning pf Season 9, a 6 episode story-arc was devised re-introducing the character of Vala who was essentially covering for Sam Carter's abscence. Before starring on Stargate SG-1, Claudia Black and Ben Browder (Cameron Mitchell) had already known each other from starring on the cult sci-fi series Farscape. The Stargate producers turned this occurence into several in-jokes. In the ninth season premiere when Vala sees Mitchell for the first time, she remarks "I know we haven't met. That I'm sure I would remember." The episode "200" featured a short Farscape parody segment with the SG-1 cast playing various characters from Farscape; Vala herself played her old role of Aeryn Sun. Vala was brought back into the show because of her popularity as a character, however by the time she could be written in Claudia Black was 7 months pregnant, and so this was written into the show. The result was the introdcution of Vala's daughter, Adria), to the story. Claudia Black joined the cast full time in season ten.
During Season 9, Michael Shanks described the relationship between his character (Daniel Jackson) and Vala as "a sort of Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn dynamic, not so much of tension, but rather constant antagonism. Vala brings out a side of Daniel" that Shanks had not had the chance to play before. Shanks enjoyed the antagonism into Season 10, and stated about "Memento Mori" that "Daniel legitimately cares about Vala and has seen some sort of redemtpion in her and wants that process to continue. here's a strong bond of friendship growing between them." Black and Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) decided that their characters' relationship would be "a good one" instead of "bitchy" because the writers chose the same way for male characters. According to Tapping, "Sam and Vala have totally opposite ways of doing things, but they can respect one another". But Carter is "also starting to find Vala amusing, which is important, otherwise she'd jst be annoying to Sam."
Reception
Subtitling her as a "thief, arms dealer, mercinary" at the beginning of Season 9, TV Zone described Vala as "Give an inch and she'll take a mile, amd whatever else she can get her hands on. TV Zone's Stephen Graves believed that "Browder's first encounter with his former Farscape co-star Claudia Black somewhat underplayed - but Black makes up for this with her sparky, snarky characterization of Vala. It's nice to see that the producers have avoided casting a carbon copy of Major Carter." He still stated about "The Ties That Bind" that "Claudia Black's Vala remains the best thing in the series". Stargate writer Martin Gero thought Black gave one of her strongest performances in "The Powers That Be".
For her performance of Vala, Claudia Black was nominated for a 2006 Saturn Award in the category "Best Supporting Actress on Television".
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
References
- Template:Sgcite
- Flesh and Blood
- ^ The Powers That Be
- Prometheus Unbound
- ^ Prometheus Unbound
- Avalon
- Beachhead
- "Crusade"
- ^ Flesh and Blood. Stargate SG-1
- Morpheus - Stargate SG-1
- "Counterstrike"
- Template:Sgcite
- Template:Sgcite
- "]"
- "]"
- ^ "Crusade" DVD commentary by Robert C. Cooper and Peter Woeste Cite error: The named reference "crusade commentary" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ TV Zone Special 67. December 2005.
- ^ TV Zone Special #64. July 2005.
- ^ TV Zone Special #71. July 2006.
- "Past Winners Database". latimes.com. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
External links
- Character description on GateWorld
- Vala at scifi.com