Emmett Bregman

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Emmett Bregman

Summary

Emmett Bregman was a journalist assigned by the President of the United States to produce a documentary on the SGC in the episodes, 7.17 "Heroes Part 1" and 7.18 "Heroes Part 2".

Character Biography

Emmett Bregman took his assignment seriously and he expected the full cooperation of General Hammond, and all those under his command, to interview and film the people who did fantastic things every day of the week. General Hammond didn't want him there and made every effort to follow the President's orders to the strictest of details. He would not allow the filming crew access to the embarkation room whenever a wormhole was active—they were forbidden to witness any ongoing activities.

Instead, Bregman did his best to get the details of the technical aspects of the stargate by interviewing Major Samantha Carter and the stargate technicians. He also tried to get an idea of what it was like out there from Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, but neither of them provided him with the information he sought. Colonel Jack O'Neill, considered by many to be the hero of the SGC and the world, would not give Bregman a straight answer, wouldn't sit down for the camera, and mostly showed Bregman his back as he walked away.

Bregman found Dr. Janet Fraiser to be the most delightful of all of his interviewees. He asked her to lunch and they shared some personal information about each other. We learn that Emmett is a widower of a few years, but he still wore his wedding band for sentimental reasons. Although he was an aggressive interviewer, he was nervous and slightly ill at ease while talking with Janet. Their lunch did not last long as Janet was called to go offworld to P3X-666 to stabilize Sr. Airman Simon Wells of SG-13 who had been hit by a staff weapon blast in the back in a surprise attack.

When Bregman tried to gain information about what had happened on the planet when he saw how distraught Major Carter was upon their return, he was met with one stone wall after another. After being shoved aside, trying to get film at the opening to the infirmary, and being physically prevented from continuing inside, Bregmen grew frustrated and angry and he delivered this impassioned speech:

Why is that camera off? You don't know what you're doing here—maybe I know what I'm doing here. These people are risking their lives for us. I want to see what they're going through even if they don't want us to and I want other people to see it. What do you think they're doing out there? Protect and defending secrecy? That's a word of Mau and Stalin and secret police, secret trials...secret...secret deaths. You force the press into the cold and all you will get is lies and innuendo and nothing. Nothing is worse for a free society than a press that is in service to the...to the military and the politicians. Nothing. You turn that camera off when I tell you to turn it off. You think I give a damn what you think about me? You serve the people. So do I!

Information was trickling in about what had happened and it was all so very confusing. Bregman finally went to Daniel Jackson to see if he would shed some light on the matter. Bregman found Daniel working at his computer in his office, obviously quite upset and near tears. When Bregman noticed blood stains on Daniel's camera, he realized that Daniel had probably recorded something of signficance, rather than his "boring" footage of inscriptions. In an effort to change Daniel's mind about sharing what was on the tape, Bregman related a story about a journalist named Martin Kirstofsky:

You know, I once did a piece on this war photographer. His name's Martin Kristofsky. For six months he was with a unit in Vietnam and the day before he was schedule to leave, the day before, he's out with the unit and it was just a routine patrol, or so they thought, but suddenly, the Lieutenant pulled him down and Kristophsky hadn't intended to take a picture at that moment, but his hands were on the camera and he hit the ground so hard that it just went off. The picture captured the Lieutenant getting shot in the head and Kristophsky said to me, "Well that bullet would of hit me, should of hit me." And he never showed that picture to anyone. Not for 25 years, but 25 years later he got up one morning and he looked at that picture and he saw something that wasn't horrific and he decided to tell the story because he realized that he hadn't accidentally taken a picture of a man dying—it was of a man saving his life. The picture I'm making, that I'm trying to make is about what you people do every single day, under extreme circumstances that no one can even imagine. And I don't know what happened out there, I'm sorry about whatever it was, and if you did tape something of it, that's not gonna change what happened. What it will change is how you feel about it.

Daniel was asked to present the tape to Bregman by General Hammond. Bregmen and his Air Force assistants viewed the tape and the horror of what had happened on that planet met their eyes in excruiating detail: Dr. Janet Fraiser was killed instantly by a staff weapon blast only a few inches in front of her patient and Daniel. Daniel's heart-rending cries for a medic were recorded for their hearing and they sat in shock. Bregman, after some time recovering from seeing this film, sought out Daniel to return the tape to him, deciding that he would not use it in the documentary. He found Daniel alone in the dark in the intensive care unit where he had died and ascended only about a year and a half ago. In his grief, Daniel had sought out the one place where his relationship with Janet was defined: she did everything she could to save him for over three restless days and still did not wish to let him go even after he breathed his last breath. In this, Daniel realized that the tape illustrated not how Janet had died, but how she had lived: taking the extra steps, even at personal sacrifice, to save one life—one life at a time.

Bregman used the footage and showed the ending piece to General Hammond. Hammond said that he was not too proud a man in admitting that he was wrong about Bregman and the two men seemed to have made peace with each other. Bregman asked the General for one more favor to make his film complete. The General persuaded Colonel Jack O'Neill to submit himself to the camera and the interview in honor of Janet's sacrifice.

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--DeeKayP 13:38, 17 Jul 2004 (PDT)