Carbon Costume

Clueless, coy, and unrequitedly obsessed with Dr. Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal-Doran (Claudia Black) is a newer addition to the cast of Stargate: SG-1. She was first introduced as a guest character during the episode “Prometheus Unbound,” where she and poor Daniel were confined on a spacecraft together. The team continues to encounter Vala throughout the coming months until it’s clear that they (the team and Vala, not Daniel — stop it, Vala) are quite inseparable and belong together forever. Prior to her appointment to SG-1, Vala made names for herself as both the host of the Goauld queen Qetesh, and a fair to middling con artist.

In early appearances, Vala sported a single streak of white in her hair. Eventually, this went away, but Vala continued to style her hair in pigtails or with childish hairclips — a reminder of Vala’s penchant for shiny things.

A tough, no-nonsense army colonel called in to deal with a potential alien incursion in the 1994 movie Stargate, Jack O’Neil (Kurt Russell) keeps his rowdy bunch alive and on task. He is willing to sacrifice everything for this mission, having little to live for after the death of his son. Dressed in standard military uniform with a distinctive black beret, he looks dog-headed gods and parasitic human hosts square in the eye without breaking a sweat.