mostly Hammond essay
Apr. 29th, 2004 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wisdomeagleThink have either cold or allergies. Am sort of drippy. Ick! Whoever is responsible shall be dually punished. In the meantime, have failed to accomplish anything. Maybe will take a bit of a lie-down. Don't feel tired so much as lethargic. *sigh*
1. Go into your LJ's archives.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
I don't know.
But you really need the whole context...
"I don't know. I cannot read the syllabus, because it is in French."
Q: Do you ever find yourself getting completely lost in your work? Going for days where you think of things in terms of the Farscape world instead of the real world?
DK: You have just described my life. I'm not kidding. I often work all day, no weekends, come home, call my wife Scorpius, then sleep it off on the couch.
I love DK.
Anyhow, the best thing in the world is iced mochachino. Especially since I can make it by myself in the dining hall by mixing hot cocoa, coffee, and ice. Wibble!
First, thanks as always to Arduinna's Stargate SG-1 Handbook of Reference Info. No good rant would be worth anything without it.
So I'm writing Sam/Hammond for the Rare Het Ficathon, and I realized that I haven't read a hell of a lot of fic about Hammond. I wrote a couple of Jack/Hammond drabbles awhile ago for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zeldaophelia's drabble challenge, and then Hammond and Tessa play a rather large role in sage_theory's massive crossover fic. There's some rather bad Teal'c/Hammond out there, and some other random fic, but I can't think of anything that's really good that deals with Hammond.
So. I've been trying to figure out what his relationship with his grand-daughters are. It's hard for me to write Hammond-at-home without including his grand-daughters... probably because we really don't see anything else of his outside life. No mention of the father or mother of the grandkids.
Mentions of Tessa and Kayla that I can think of:
-"Crystal Skull." Kayla calls Hammond at the office to tell him she's lost a tooth. She wants him to come to her school play the next night. Conclusions: they probably don't live with him, but obviously live close enough that he can see them fairly frequently, and they're close enough to call him at work.
-"Chain Reaction." Well, we all know what happens. Girls picked up on the way home from school, Hammond resigns. Jack is close enough to the girls to greet them with a big hug; they're playing in the yard at Grandpa's house.
-"Unnatural Selection." The grandchildren are #1 on the speed-dial. Not his daughter and son-in-law or son and daughter-in-law, but his grandchildren. Which is sweet and all, but where the frell is his child? And why is ze never mentioned? (Other than the obvious carelessness on the part of the writers?)
Conclusions:
-While he may have more, it's safest to assume Hammond has just two grand-children, Tessa and Kayla.
-Tessa and Kayla live in Colorado Springs or very nearby.
-Tessa and Kayla spend a lot of time with Hammond; Hammond spends time with them whenever he possibly can--any days he takes off, etc.
-Hammond is very probably not his grand-daughters' primary care-taker.... but let's take the case of Janet and Cassie, just for comparison's sake.
Cassie vs Tessa and Kayla: First, Cassie is older; she's twelve when she's adopted, while Arduinna estimates that Kayla is six or seven in late S3. At those ages, six years makes a big difference. On the other hand, Cassie isn't especially worldly-wise, for the very good reason that she's not from this world. She needs a fair amount of care and concern on a regular basis, especially in her early years.
Hammond vs Fraiser's jobs: Okay, both of them have pretty stressful jobs; everyone who works at the SGC does. Both probably have to work odd hours on a fairly regular basis, for many of the same reasons. Also, quarantine is common, which probably means having to stay on-base for long periods of time. She goes off-world about the same number of times as Hammond, but mostly later in the series (It's three times; "Past and Present," "Allegiance" and *sniff* "Heroes.") when Cassie is older. She has a staff, though, and is essentially replace-able (again, *sniff*), unlike Hammond--he needs to be there when the base needs a CO (although Jack can serve in a pinch.) On the whole? I'm not really sure.
Situations: Well, first, Cassie really needs to be adopted by someone with security clearance. Since they aren't giving her to the NID or the President, that probably leaves a member of the SGC. Janet's adopting her, then, is a somewhat necessary decision, the best of a bad situation. But what about Hammond? He thought that the SGC would be a sinecure; he really didn't know what he was getting into. So once things start happening, yes he could have retired for his grand-daughters... but he won't. He's gotten very involved very quickly, and by Politics, I think he realizes that the SGC needs someone like him in charge. If he did have primary custody of Tessa and Kayla because their parents were dead, he probably wouldn't want to surrender that.
Conclusion: If Janet Fraiser can have custody of Cassandra, Hammond could possibly have full custody of Tessa and Kayla. He probably has a full-time baby-sitter, though. (We wouldn't see hir in "Chain Reaction," because Hammond has just retired--for good, he thinks!) The girls' parents are dead; Hammond is legal guardian.
OR the girls' parents are still alive and living in or near Colorado Springs. Hammond takes care of the girls often; they are at his house on a regular basis and he spends as much of his downtime with them as he can.
But besides his grand-daughters... who is Hammond?
We know about his friendship with the former president and with the current president, with Whitlow, and with Jacob Carter. All of these friendships have been established in the line of duty, essentially: Hammond has spent 30 years building an elaborate network of connections. However, it's not clear that he relates to these people on a regular basis: in fact, it's rather more clear that he doesn't.
Actually, like Janet, Hammond has more of a life outside of the SGC because of his grandkids, so it's less clear than it is for them that the SGC is Everything. However, the SGC is damned important, and as is made clear in Heroes, Hammond cares about those under his command, especially our four and Janet, a hell of a lot more than he should.
Basically, his life revolves around those two constants.
And I think he is closer to Jack than is strictly proper, as per Jack knowing his grand-daughters. Okay, I'm sure that the whole of the SGC does stuff together once in a while but... just can't help but think there's something more going on.
Besides. "Deep and unyielding love." Hello?
But my favorite Hammond quote ever is from "Nemesis:
DANIEL: Sir, I know that there is no reason for me to be here. But I just feel that I should be here...that's not totally true. Actually I feel that I should be out there with them.
HAMMOND: Now you know how I feel most of the time.
The end.
Really must attempt to accomplish something... blech.
1. Go into your LJ's archives.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
I don't know.
But you really need the whole context...
"I don't know. I cannot read the syllabus, because it is in French."
Q: Do you ever find yourself getting completely lost in your work? Going for days where you think of things in terms of the Farscape world instead of the real world?
DK: You have just described my life. I'm not kidding. I often work all day, no weekends, come home, call my wife Scorpius, then sleep it off on the couch.
I love DK.
Anyhow, the best thing in the world is iced mochachino. Especially since I can make it by myself in the dining hall by mixing hot cocoa, coffee, and ice. Wibble!
First, thanks as always to Arduinna's Stargate SG-1 Handbook of Reference Info. No good rant would be worth anything without it.
So I'm writing Sam/Hammond for the Rare Het Ficathon, and I realized that I haven't read a hell of a lot of fic about Hammond. I wrote a couple of Jack/Hammond drabbles awhile ago for
zeldaophelia's drabble challenge, and then Hammond and Tessa play a rather large role in sage_theory's massive crossover fic. There's some rather bad Teal'c/Hammond out there, and some other random fic, but I can't think of anything that's really good that deals with Hammond.So. I've been trying to figure out what his relationship with his grand-daughters are. It's hard for me to write Hammond-at-home without including his grand-daughters... probably because we really don't see anything else of his outside life. No mention of the father or mother of the grandkids.
Mentions of Tessa and Kayla that I can think of:
-"Crystal Skull." Kayla calls Hammond at the office to tell him she's lost a tooth. She wants him to come to her school play the next night. Conclusions: they probably don't live with him, but obviously live close enough that he can see them fairly frequently, and they're close enough to call him at work.
-"Chain Reaction." Well, we all know what happens. Girls picked up on the way home from school, Hammond resigns. Jack is close enough to the girls to greet them with a big hug; they're playing in the yard at Grandpa's house.
-"Unnatural Selection." The grandchildren are #1 on the speed-dial. Not his daughter and son-in-law or son and daughter-in-law, but his grandchildren. Which is sweet and all, but where the frell is his child? And why is ze never mentioned? (Other than the obvious carelessness on the part of the writers?)
Conclusions:
-While he may have more, it's safest to assume Hammond has just two grand-children, Tessa and Kayla.
-Tessa and Kayla live in Colorado Springs or very nearby.
-Tessa and Kayla spend a lot of time with Hammond; Hammond spends time with them whenever he possibly can--any days he takes off, etc.
-Hammond is very probably not his grand-daughters' primary care-taker.... but let's take the case of Janet and Cassie, just for comparison's sake.
Cassie vs Tessa and Kayla: First, Cassie is older; she's twelve when she's adopted, while Arduinna estimates that Kayla is six or seven in late S3. At those ages, six years makes a big difference. On the other hand, Cassie isn't especially worldly-wise, for the very good reason that she's not from this world. She needs a fair amount of care and concern on a regular basis, especially in her early years.
Hammond vs Fraiser's jobs: Okay, both of them have pretty stressful jobs; everyone who works at the SGC does. Both probably have to work odd hours on a fairly regular basis, for many of the same reasons. Also, quarantine is common, which probably means having to stay on-base for long periods of time. She goes off-world about the same number of times as Hammond, but mostly later in the series (It's three times; "Past and Present," "Allegiance" and *sniff* "Heroes.") when Cassie is older. She has a staff, though, and is essentially replace-able (again, *sniff*), unlike Hammond--he needs to be there when the base needs a CO (although Jack can serve in a pinch.) On the whole? I'm not really sure.
Situations: Well, first, Cassie really needs to be adopted by someone with security clearance. Since they aren't giving her to the NID or the President, that probably leaves a member of the SGC. Janet's adopting her, then, is a somewhat necessary decision, the best of a bad situation. But what about Hammond? He thought that the SGC would be a sinecure; he really didn't know what he was getting into. So once things start happening, yes he could have retired for his grand-daughters... but he won't. He's gotten very involved very quickly, and by Politics, I think he realizes that the SGC needs someone like him in charge. If he did have primary custody of Tessa and Kayla because their parents were dead, he probably wouldn't want to surrender that.
Conclusion: If Janet Fraiser can have custody of Cassandra, Hammond could possibly have full custody of Tessa and Kayla. He probably has a full-time baby-sitter, though. (We wouldn't see hir in "Chain Reaction," because Hammond has just retired--for good, he thinks!) The girls' parents are dead; Hammond is legal guardian.
OR the girls' parents are still alive and living in or near Colorado Springs. Hammond takes care of the girls often; they are at his house on a regular basis and he spends as much of his downtime with them as he can.
But besides his grand-daughters... who is Hammond?
We know about his friendship with the former president and with the current president, with Whitlow, and with Jacob Carter. All of these friendships have been established in the line of duty, essentially: Hammond has spent 30 years building an elaborate network of connections. However, it's not clear that he relates to these people on a regular basis: in fact, it's rather more clear that he doesn't.
Actually, like Janet, Hammond has more of a life outside of the SGC because of his grandkids, so it's less clear than it is for them that the SGC is Everything. However, the SGC is damned important, and as is made clear in Heroes, Hammond cares about those under his command, especially our four and Janet, a hell of a lot more than he should.
Basically, his life revolves around those two constants.
And I think he is closer to Jack than is strictly proper, as per Jack knowing his grand-daughters. Okay, I'm sure that the whole of the SGC does stuff together once in a while but... just can't help but think there's something more going on.
Besides. "Deep and unyielding love." Hello?
But my favorite Hammond quote ever is from "Nemesis:
DANIEL: Sir, I know that there is no reason for me to be here. But I just feel that I should be here...that's not totally true. Actually I feel that I should be out there with them.
HAMMOND: Now you know how I feel most of the time.
The end.
Really must attempt to accomplish something... blech.