Major Davis

[Crewman47]

By the last episode of Atlantis Davis is still a Major which would mean he would've been that for the last 11 or 12 years plus more depending on when he got his promotion. Why do you suppose he never got promoted beyond Major when there was other recurring characters to get promoted more than once, namely Walter and Marks?

Is this a normal thing to happen in the military?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Leveling off at Major is hardly humiliating.

It's not like he spent 7 years as an Ensign?

 

[Kpnuts]

The writers didn't think

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Eh, Major Davis just sounds better than Colonel Davis. Roles off the tongue better. Plus, his rank might as well be his first name at this point. Same goes for General Hammond. They'll never not be those ranks.

 

[PointedEars04]

And for an in-universe explanation, Major Davis is in the Pentagon command structure, not the SGC. It could very well be that it takes a lot longer for a promotion at headquarters (Pentagon) than in the field (SGC).

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Eh, Major Davis just sounds better than Colonel Davis. Roles off the tongue better. Plus, his rank might as well be his first name at this point. Same goes for General Hammond. They'll never not be those ranks.

Except for when that Alt Hammond was a Colonel in There But For The Grace Of God.

 

[Hyperspace05]

That's just a minor nit for me... After all he is just a minor character.

After all, we didn't see him refuse a promotion practically every third episode like Riker on TNG...

 

[The Wormhole]

Major Davis was first introduced in SG-1's second season. Back then, Carter was just a Captain. Carter's now a full-bird Colonel, and Davis is still a Major. Come on, even Major Samuels from SG-1's pilot made Lt. Col.

I guess Davis must have pissed someone off.

 

[The Librarian]

Leveling off at Major is hardly humiliating.

It's not like he spent 7 years as an Ensign?

Actually, leveling off at Major gets him kicked out of the Air Force. By now, he should be a full-bird Colonel like Carter. It's just a mistake by the writers.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Leveling off at Major is hardly humiliating.

It's not like he spent 7 years as an Ensign?

Hmm I work with a guy who's been a Cpl, for A long long time (probably 20+ yrs) one of his 'boot' camp mates retired not long ago at the rank of Chief.

 

[RaymondJames]

Desk jobs? Un noticable record? Purhaps he just didn't sleep his way to the top like my favorite character Captain.....Major...Lieutenant Colonel....Colonel Carter jesus she got promoted enough in a little over a decade.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

IIRC, the USAF operates with an "Up or Out" policy. You just don't refuse promotions, nor do you refuse transfers. You go where they tell you to. If you don't continue an anticipated career plan with promotions, they politely show you the door.

With Davis, he may well be at the cusp of his career path, and the position he fills is operated by someone at a Major's rank. Promoting him to Colonel would therefore be useless, if he's the man for the job and he does it well.

Though I agree, it's simply an omission by the writers. If they still had a USAF advisor on the show (whom I believe they sent home before SG-1 ended), the guy would have reviewed the script and noticed that Davis was STILL a major after twelve years. He, like most of SG-1, should have been promoted and/or transferred ages ago.

Mark

 

[RoJoHen]

Maybe "Major" is really his first name.

 

[The Wormhole]

Maybe "Major" is really his first name.

While I realize you're joking, I still feel the neet to point out that his first name has been established as Paul.

 

[RoJoHen]

Has it now? Major Paul Davis. Looks like Paul is his middle name to me!

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, you got me there.

 

[rac76]

Maybe "Major" is really his first name.

While I realize you're joking, I still feel the neet to point out that his first name has been established as Paul.

I must have missed that episode as I don't remember knowing his first name, or I've just plain forgotten that they had mention the name, Paul. It doesn't really bug me if he's still a Major, he's only a minor character. Yet, the more I think about it, the more it just sounds sad as they just forgot about him.

 

[Lindley]

He was becoming a more major character for a while. Then he seemed to disappear.

 

[The Wormhole]

Maybe "Major" is really his first name.

While I realize you're joking, I still feel the neet to point out that his first name has been established as Paul.

I must have missed that episode as I don't remember knowing his first name, or I've just plain forgotten that they had mention the name, Paul. It doesn't really bug me if he's still a Major, he's only a minor character. Yet, the more I think about it, the more it just sounds sad as they just forgot about him.

The first name Paul was established in the episode Prometheus. He introduces himself to the news reporter in that episode as "Major Paul Davis."

And he was indeed a rather prominent character. Introduced in one scene of the black hole episode in S2, Major Davis became a regular recurring character in S3, and continued making regular appearances through to S7. He disappeared in S7, appeared briefly in S8's Zero Hour and Mobius. Was mentioned in a throwaway line in S9's Avalon, then completely disappeared completely untim a brief and pointless cameo in Continuum and most recently a guest role in the Atlantis finale.

 

[Snaploud]

I suppose he could have been promoted and demoted off-screen. Perhaps he has only been recently re-assigned back the the Pentagon on a probational basis (after being cast aside due to some controversy).