Walter Harriman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stargate character
Walter Harriman
Race	Tau'ri
Gender	Male
Rank	Chief Master Sergeant
Birthplace	Detroit, Michigan, US, Earth
Film portrayer	None
Television portrayer	Gary Jones
Key episodes	"Children of the Gods" (first appearance)

For other uses of this name see Walter Harriman (disambiguation).

Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, played by Gary Jones. Walter Harriman is a Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, assigned to Stargate Command.

He joined the SGC after excelling in navigation and automatic flight control operations during the first Gulf War. General Hammond recruited him as someone with excellent technical ability and a cool head to operate the Stargate under extreme pressure. He specialises in installing, maintaining and repairing bomb navigation, weapons control as well as automatic flight control systems. He is also an expert in radio and navigational equipment, and in maintaining test and precision measurement equipment.

He is primarily a Stargate technician, running the dialing computer and other equipment from the Control Room. He also acts as an occasional administrative assistant to the head of Stargate Command.

This character's name has been a source of irritation for many fans of Stargate SG-1. Originally, he was simply "Technician" or "Sergeant", but was affectionatly known to fans as "Chevron Guy". In "There But For the Grace of God", General O'Neill addresses him as "Airman", which (though an alternate reality) many fans misheard as "Harriman". At some point, some of the writers gave him the name "Norman Davis", which came with a name tag. In the episode "2010", Jack O'Neill calls him "Walter", and fans put them together and came up with "Walter Davis". In the eighth season of "Stargate SG-1", the character is addressed as "Sergeant Harriman". This final name change was due to the fact that there is a real person named Walter Davis in the USAF, and also because another recurring character with the same last name exists.

Though official publications list him as a "Master Sergeant" since season five he has worn the designation of "First Sergeant" on his arm which differs in that it has a diamond in the middle of the chevrons and Rockers. The position he holds makes sense for a Master Sergeant, however, a First Sergeant's only job is to be a First Sergeant.

In Season 9 Harriman wears no visible rank but General Hank Landry refers to Walter as "chief". This would denote he had been promoted.

As a resourceful and bespectacled NCO that keeps the unit running, some fans have drawn parallels between Walter Harriman and Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H

The character of Walter often is a very overly serious one, with little or no sense of humor. For example, in Season 7's Heroes, during an interview, he gives a detailed description of how he announces that each chevron is activated: "Well, basically when the gate is dialing, I say 'chevron one encoded', 'chevron two encoded', and so on, incrementally, up to the seventh chevron, um, which is a little different, because that's when the wormhole connects. Uh, when that happens, I like to change things up a little bit and just say, 'chevron seven locked.'"

However, even though he may lack a sense of humor, Walter is often portrayed in humorous situations, such as being eaten by zombies in the 200th episode.

Recurring characters on Stargate SG-1		Edit
Tau'ri	Malcolm Barrett | Jacob Carter | Chekov | Adrian Conrad | Paul Davis | Paul Emerson | Louis Ferretti | Janet Fraiser Walter Harriman | Charles Kawalsky | Robert Kinsey | Carolyn Lam | Catherine Langford | Bill Lee Harry Maybourne | Lionel Pendergast | Robert Rothman | Frank Simmons | Pete Shanahan | Siler | Richard Woolsey
Other Humans	Kasuf | Linea | Ma'chello | Martin Lloyd | Sha're | Shifu | Skaara
Goa'uld	Amonet | Anubis | Apophis | Ba'al | Cronus | Hathor | Heru-ur | Imhotep | Nerus Osiris | Sokar | Tanith | Yu | Zipacna
Jaffa	Bra'tac | Gerak | Ishta | Rya'c
Other	Adria | Chaka | Fifth | Harlan | Lotan | Oma Desala | Reese | Replicator Carter | Thor
Lists by race	All | Tau'ri | Ancient, Aschen, Asgard, Goa'uld, Jaffa, Langaran, Lucian Alliance Ori, Replicator, Tok'ra, Tollan, System Lord