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Samantha "Sam" Carter (born December 29, 1968) is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, played by English-Canadian actress Amanda Tapping. Samantha Carter joined Stargate Command from the Pentagon, having worked for several years trying to get the stargate operational. She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and "logged over 100 hours in enemy airspace" during the 1990–91 Gulf War. Sam's family includes her father, Major General Jacob Carter, her brother, Mark Carter, and his two children. Her mother died in a car accident when she was a teenager, an incident that caused much strife between Sam, Mark, and Jacob. Carter is a technological polymath, well versed in seemingly dozens of fields from astrophysics to quantum mechanics and from software engineering to biology, all in addition to her military role. She is the series' primary source of Deus Ex Machina, quickly able to grasp alien technologies and realise ingenious solutions to the perils faced by SG-1 both on and off world. She designed and administrates the Stargate dialing system, and is one of the foremost experts on the Stargate system, along with Rodney McKay. Carter is a quintessential geek: an expert and intuitively talented individual, whose mastery of advanced scientific disciplines is juxtaposed with her difficulties in leading a "normal" life. She spends her free time and leave performing experiments, poring over data, and studying the alien technologies acquired during missions. Like all geeks, she enjoys and is deeply absorbed in her work, much to the bewilderment of O'Neill, though he has stated that her brain may well be a national resource. She occasionally expresses regret at not being able to pursue interests outside her work, but finds herself unable to let go of her obligations.
Plot Carter joined SG-1 in the pilot episode, "Children of the Gods", as a Captain. She was once engaged to Lt. Jonas Hansen, seen in the episode "The First Commandment". In "Children of the Gods," she stated she played with Major Matt Mason dolls when she was a girl, though this may have been sarcasm. In the episode "In the Line of Duty", Sam came under the control of the Tok'ra Jolinar while aiding in the evacuation of the Nasyan people, as they had come under Goa'uld attack. Jolinar was later killed by an Ashrak sent by Cronus while she was held captive by Stargate Command. Sam retained many of Jolinar's memories and in the episode "The Tok'ra", those memories allowed SG-1 to travel to a Tok'ra base and gain their first true ally in the fight against the Goa'uld. Samantha Carter's father, Jacob Carter, a retired general dying from cancer, became a host to one of the Tok'ra whose host was dying at the time. Because of this, Jacob and the Tok'ra Selmak were able to serve as the liaison between Earth and the Tok'ra. Sam's encounter with Jolinar now assists her in detecting a Goa'uld presence. Having naqahdah in her blood, she has also been able to activate certain Goa'uld technology which typically was Goa'uld only, specifically the Healing Device and Hand Device. Due to the remnants of Jolinar, Sam was left with a specific chemical marker only present in ex-hosts, which made her immune to Machello's Goa'uld-killing invention in the episode "Legacy". She was promoted to the rank of Major in the third-season episode "Fair Game". Towards the end of Season 3, Sam is taken to the Asgard homeworld by Thor, there to help him save his own world from Replicator attack; she succeeds by using a "stupid idea" (precisely what Thor had wanted from her). Sam and Jack are mistaken for Zatarcs until they admit to caring for one another "a lot more than they're supposed too" in the episode "Divide and Conquer", although it is never specifically stated whether this means they have romantic feelings for each other or simply are closer than is acceptable in a conventional military structure. In the episode "Prodigy," Sam is rivaled by a cadet whose genius is countered only by her insistence on being right. Sam and SG-1 bring her off world and show her that being right is not always the most important thing when lives are at stake. In the episode "Entity," Sam has her entire consciousness transferred into a super computer and back into her body when an alien entity takes over her mind. In the end it leaves her to protect the rest of its kind. In the last episode of the season, "Exodus Part 1," Sam and her father use a stargate to blow up a sun, which results in the destroying of much of Apophis' fleet. While studying an alien device on a seemingly abandoned planet, Sam is suddenly knocked unconscious, apparently due to stress. She is given some leave, but when she returns home a man calling himself Orlin shows up in her house. He explains to her that he has ascended to a higher plane of existence, and apologizes for knocking her out as he was trying to communicate but her mind could not handle it. He has very strong feelings for Sam, but when he learns that the SGC is planning on activating the device, he builds a mini-Stargate in Sam's basement and returns to an ascended form to save the planet. After Daniel Jackson ascended to a higher plane to escape dying of radiation poisoning (Meridian), Sam was the one most affected by his loss; she hated the fact that they couldn't even have a memorial service for Daniel as they weren't sure if he'd actually come back some day. While attempting to reverse the Asgard time device placed on Halla to stop the Replicator invasion, she and SG-1 were captured by humanoid replicators. She had a particular bond with the humanoid replicator Fifth, arguing that he was more human than the others, with ethics and feelings. She convinced Fifth to help them escape the others, and for him to follow. She reset the time device to freeze time down so that a few seconds to the replicators would actually be about two years to the rest of the universe. Colonel O'Neill secretly told her to set it shorter than planned, and Fifth was frozen in time with the others. After spending several days trapped on the Prometheus, Carter found herself trapped in a sentient gas cloud ("Grace"), which communicated with her via hallucinations. Thanks to these hallucinations, she realised that she was using her feelings for O'Neill as an excuse not to get hurt by romance; since she was pining after him, and he was impossible due to being her superior officer, she couldn't lose someone she loved. With this in mind, she began dating Pete Shanahan (played by David DeLuise) in the second half of Season 7. She found it hard not disclosing her "day job" to him. What made it harder was the fact that Pete was a Police Detective. He eventually found out by secretly following Sam around up to her (and SG-1's) confrontation outside Daniel Jackson's house with Osiris. After the death of Dr. Janet Fraiser, she had the honor of giving the eulogy at the services. She spent hours trying to find the right words to fit the situation, and with help from Teal'c, the eulogy consisted of the names of the many people who Dr. Frasier had saved during her time at the SGC, beginning with Sam herself. When seeking Thor's help to save Colonel Jack O'Neill from the Ancient Knowledge in his mind, she was captured by the humanoid replicator Fifth and tortured as revenge for leaving him frozen in time on Othala. She woke up to find herself on a farm in rural Montana, living with Pete Shanahan. It was, however, a simulation created by Fifth to attempt to convince her to stay with him. After she admitted that she would rather die than be trapped in such a way, he released her and escaped into space as SG-1 and the Asgard found a way to combat the replicators. Shortly thereafter, Fifth welcomed a new humanoid replicator into existence... identical to Sam (known commonly as 'RepliCarter'). Upon his promotion to Brigadier General in the eighth season, Jack O'Neill's first official act was to promote Carter to Lieutenant Colonel. She assumed command of SG-1, which only had three official members without O'Neill: Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, and Sam herself. Later in the season, RepliCarter, now commanding the Replicators after the destruction of Fifth, kidnapped Daniel Jackson to protect herself from any remaining Ancient technology - the locations of which lie locked in Daniel Jackson's mind. After a brief mental power struggle, Daniel took control of the Replicators long enough to allow the real Samantha Carter to activate a powerful Ancient weapon that destroyed all of the Replicators in the galaxy, including the Carter Replicator, at once. Selmak died of old age and Samantha's father, Jacob, soon passed as well shortly after the defeat of the System Lords. Uncertain about her feelings, Sam broke up with Pete, and subsequently went fishing with Jack, Daniel and Teal'c to celebrate the end of the struggle with Anubis. After the collapse of the Goa'uld power structure, Carter eventually decided to leave SG-1, much to the chagrin of Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell; instead, she decides to lead the Research and Development team at Area 51. However, (now-Major General) Jack O'Neill orders her to go to the SGC to assist Mitchell, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c on a mission concerning a potential Ori threat ("Beachhead"), though still not officially a member of SG-1. However, during the search for Ba'al, Mitchell gives Carter as well as Teal'c and Daniel their SG-1 badges, officially reinstating them as SG-1 ("Ex Deus Machina"). At this time, NID Agent Malcolm Barrett's interest in her becomes clear; however, when he asks her if she is still single, she responds rather evasively with the words "not exactly." In any case, she and Dr. Bill Lee develop a method of using sound to possibly negate the powers of the Priors of the Ori, but its efficacy is as yet unknown. ("The Fourth Horseman"). Love-life In a repeating theme, akin to that of Daniel Jackson's multiple deaths, Samantha Carter has an inordinate number of men who are in love with her or strongly attracted to her. Below are just some of the men who are established as in love with, infatuated with, or attracted to Sam; unless marked, she reciprocated the feelings to some degree: Other clues include: In the episode Window of Opportunity, O'Neill retired from the Air Force so that he could kiss Carter at the end of one of the repeating time-loops. In the fourth season episode "Divide and Conquer", both Sam and Jack were forced to openly admit that their feelings for one another went beyond the professional. In the episode "Threads", Sam must come to grips with her feelings for Jack and cope with the loss of her father, Jacob Carter. Citing uncertainty among other reasons, she breaks off the engagement with Pete. Throughout the series, there are several other incidents that prove their feelings remain a subtle constant in their lives. They marry in various alternate realities (e.g. "Point of View"); in the main reality, they are forbidden from even expressing mutual attraction by military regulations which ban relationships between a soldier and his or her commanding officer. With O'Neill promoted to a position in which he is no longer Carter's commanding officer, it is unclear if they have entered into a relationship. Many of these individuals have since died (Martouf, Fifth, Narim, Hanson, Faxon, two alternate O'Neills), leading many of the cast and crew of Stargate SG-1 to label Samantha with the title "Black Widow Carter." In the beginning of her relationship with Pete, she half-jokingly tells him that she can not be involved in a relationship because most of her past boyfriends have died. | ||||||||
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