Cameron Mitchell (Stargate)

Character arc Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell is the son of Frank and Wendy Mitchell, long-time residents of Auburn, Kansas. Mitchell occasionally mentions his Bible-thumping grandmother in comparison and contrast to the Ori religion. As shown in Stargate: Continuum, Mitchell's grandfather was the captain of the ship that transported the Alpha Gate from Egypt to the United States in the late 1930s. Two episodes flash back to Mitchell's past. As revealed in "Collateral Damage", Mitchell's father was a test pilot for the United States Air Force and lost both legs in an accident when Mitchell was a child. When Cameron Mitchell was a USAF Captain, he piloted an F-16 over the Middle Eastern desert and mistakenly bombed a vehicle containing innocent refugees rather than the enemy. The season 9 premiere "Avalon" flashes back to Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell during the events over Antarctica in season 7's "Lost City". Mitchell led a squadron of F-302 fighters against the forces of the arch villain Anubis and was shot down, resulting in severe injuries. During his recovery in the hospital, he received the Medal of Honor and was promised any assignment by Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. Mitchell began reading all mission reports that the SG-1 team had filed. In his first appearance in the season 9 premiere "Avalon", Mitchell has fully recovered and opts to join SG-1. When he learns that the original team has moved on to new assignments, he becomes the new SG-1 leader but fails to assemble a new team. After the alien Vala Mal Doran arrives on Earth, Dr. Daniel Jackson and the alien Teal'c assist Mitchell for a treasure hunt on Earth that eventually sets off the Ori arc. Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter temporarily joins Mitchell's team in season 9's sixth episode, "Beachhead", which ends with Vala's disappearance. Mitchell officially reunites the former SG-1 team one episode later in "Ex Deus Machina". Vala reappears in late season 9 and officially joins SG-1 under Mitchell's command in season 10's "Memento Mori". Mitchell continues to lead SG-1 in Stargate: The Ark of Truth and is promoted to colonel before his appearance in Stargate: Continuum (where the credits mistakenly list him as "Lieutenant Colonel"). Characterization At the beginning of season 9, Mitchell's main motivation is to get the SG-1 team back together. the character has "a certain naïvety and innocence, even though he is neither particularly naïve or innocent". Mitchell's personality and attitude depends on his location (on-base and off-world) and the people around him. Browder considered Mitchell to be more restrained than his former Farscape character John Crichton, who had higher emotional stakes and was "literally going insane through the process of the series. Mitchell's focus was on his job, and on the fun of his job. But Crichton's focus was on survival, and on the creation of a family." Browder did not view Mitchell as a substitute for Richard Dean Anderson's role of Colonel Jack O'Neill, the undisputed SG-1 team leader from seasons 1 through 7. Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) and Browder did not want to repeat the "cliché[d]" original O'Neill-Daniel dynamic where views on military and diplomacy clash. The actors tried to find some commonality between the characters while trying to develop an entertaining rapport between them. By mid-season 9, their interaction had become playful, without being decidedly positive or antagonistic. Although Mitchell and Teal'c (Christopher Judge) are both warriors and leaders, Teal'c is taken aback by Mitchell's enthusiasm at first, as he is more used to O'Neill's reserved attitude. Teal'c is unsure if he likes Mitchell, but Mitchell forces Teal'c to interact with him. By not letting Teal'c step back and observe, Mitchell makes Teal'c an active part of the scene. Because Ben Browder and Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran) were well known for formerly starring as star-crossed lovers in Farscape, the Stargate producers refrained from emphasizing the pairing of Mitchell and Vala beyond in-jokes. The producers instead opted to further the comedic chemistry between Claudia Black and Michael Shanks. A scene in the milestone episode "200" also parodied the show's connection to Farscape. The characters are of equal rank, and regard each other with respect according to producer Joseph Mallozzi. They give each other fair weight in decision-making, and Mitchell defers to Carter on all science-related issues. Tapping's favorite Mitchell-Carter scenes were some "neat sibling-type moments" in "Arthur's Mantle", Browder regretted after season 10 that he had not worked enough with the cast besides Tapping, and that "the fans probably feel that way as well". Several episodes hint at Mitchell's love life. The early episodes of season 9 suggest a relationship between Mitchell and Landry's daughter, Dr. Carolyn Lam (Lexa Doig); a scripted romantic subplot in "Avalon" was filmed but was cut for time although they left Mitchell in the official leadership position. Whereas Mitchell can hardly cope with leading the team in season 9, Mitchell is more comfortable with his leadership position in Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Tapping eventually considered the question of leadership irrelevant; Mitchell cannot give orders to his team since he and Carter hold the same military rank, and Daniel and Teal'c are not members of the United States military. Mitchell thus plays more to the strength of the team, choosing a leadership style that is comparable to elite teams like Delta units, where everyone participates to the fullest of their abilities and defers to the specialist quickly when needed. ==Conceptual history==

Conception The producers had discussed casting Ben Browder as a possible Major John Sheppard and Colonel Dillon Everett for the first season of Stargate Atlantis. Browder was still filming Farscape at that time, but had met several Stargate producers on sci-fi conventions. With Richard Dean Anderson's (Jack O'Neill) departure from Stargate SG-1 after season 8 (2005), Ben Browder and the Stargate producers got together as soon as the introduction of new main characters was discussed. Browder's character was codenamed "M.M." Also joining the main cast in season 9 was Beau Bridges as General Hank Landry. The alien Vala Mal Doran (played by Browder's former Farscape co-star Claudia Black) was re-introduced for a six-episode story arc to cover for the maternity leave of SG-1 regular Amanda Tapping (Lieutenant-Colonel Samantha Carter). Since the producers had not realized the physical resemblance between Browder and Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) when Browder was cast, Shanks grew a beard that he would sport in the first six episodes of season 9; the characters would also often wear differently-colored Battle Dress Uniforms. which the writers would turn into a recurring in-joke that Mitchell had read every SG-1 mission report before joining the SG-1 team. Browder relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where Stargate SG-1 was being filmed. His family, who had been with him in Australia during his Farscape years, stayed in Los Angeles, Development Browder put the character's direction into the hands of the writers but thought that the audience would define Mitchell through the character's actions and words and not by his backstory in the end. He wanted to humanize the character without letting him be entirely dictated by military terms, while turning him slowly into as much a hero as the other SG-1 team members already are. Producer Joseph Mallozzi explained this as the result of having to service the Ori arc and Vala as the new main character. Mitchell also did not appear in any Stargate Atlantis episodes, which Browder explained with the lack of history between Mitchell and Atlantis; for instance, Daniel possesses Ancient knowledge, and Carter shares a history with the Atlantis character Rodney McKay (David Hewlett). Browder received story credit for his basic pitch for season 10's "Bad Guys", which Stargate Atlantis producer/writer Martin Gero developed into a teleplay. Stunt work and on-screen violence Mitchell is often at the center of the action and fight sequences. which was the opposite of the powerful warrior Teal'c. This fight was followed by an elaborate fight to the death with a Sodan Jaffa warrior in "Babylon". Although writer Paul Mullie was concerned that fans might be put off by the violence and darkness of "Collateral Damage", where Mitchell has memories of beating a love interest to death, the producers did not want to shortchange Mitchell's emotional journey and chose to not shy away from violence in the episode. Browder played another sword fight in "Camelot", and was involved in an extended hand-to-hand combat with a Replicator-possessed IOA member James Marrick (played by Currie Graham) in The Ark of Truth. ==Reception==

Although TV Zone's Stephen Graves believed that Ben Browder and Claudia Black's first post-Farscape encounter in "Avalon" was "somewhat underplayed", he considered Mitchell's introduction entertaining, with Mitchell's "excruciating" interviews with potential new recruits as "a particular highlight". However, Graves was disappointed that Mitchell did not contribute much to the story after the knight fight, and that Mitchell's "frantic" efforts to get the old SG-1 team back together hinted too much at the production team's efforts to turn around the season 8 finale. While some fans were upset that Carter did not resume command of the SG-1 team after her return, By season 10's "Memento Mori", TV Zone's Anthony Brown felt that "Ben Browder and Claudia Black have [...] reached a point where they can play out an amusing take on Misery without you feeling that [their Farscape characters] have somehow starbursted onto SG-1's Earth". Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune called Browder and Black's interaction in season 10 "great fun; the rapport they developed on the stellar Farscape was still much in evidence, even though they played radically different characters on SG-1." For his portrayal of Cameron Mitchell, Ben Browder was nominated for a Saturn Award in the category "Best Supporting Actor on Television" in 2006. Per popular demand, Diamond Select Toys included Mitchell in their third series of Stargate action figures. ==References==