Editing Teal'c (section)

==Conceptual history==
Christopher Judge had worked with [[Richard Dean Anderson]] before. Judge starred in a fifth season episode of ''[[MacGyver (1985 TV series)|MacGyver]]'' in 1990, where he played a high school student whom MacGyver tries to mentor and motivate despite negative influences.<ref name=approaching_19/>

When the producers conceptualized Teal'c, they were unsure what they wanted, but had not met anyone who was definitely Teal'c for them. They were looking for [[African-American]] actors, and Judge was one of the last actors to read for the role. Judge was hired because the producers liked what he brought into the audition. They were receptive to Judge's input and gave him the freedom to change his lines from the beginning.<ref name=approaching_19/> Judge sat down with the producers at the beginning of each season and discussed what Teal'c should go through and what would slowly make him more human.<ref name=approaching_19/>

During the first season, Teal'c seemed less well-integrated into the team than for instance O'Neill and Daniel. He was the only character who did not benefit as much from the more personal stories in season 3 and seemed to stagnate. Rumors began to surface at the end of season 3 that Judge would leave the show, but they were quickly and firmly denied. The last episodes of season 3 featured Teal'c in a more prominent role, and he benefited from additional screen time and storylines in season 4.<ref name=approaching_51/>

Judge received his first story credit for the season 5 episode "The Warrior", and later wrote "The Changeling" on his own, focusing on Teal'c's self-identity. He later penned the season 7 episode "Birthright" and the season 8 episode "Sacrifices", both dealing with the Jaffa [[Hak'tyl]] faction and Teal'c's new love interest [[Ishta (Stargate)|Ishta]].<ref name=approaching_19/>

===Make-up and hair===
Since Teal'c wears a lot of make-up, Judge had to be on-set much earlier than the rest of the cast.<ref name=approaching_19/> The producers' original idea for Teal'c included long ears and a specific beard piece, but the make-up department got it down to just a forehead symbol, an Egyptian look, and the character's gold skin tone. The make-up was reflective of the Goa'uld Ra from the ''Stargate'' feature film. In the beginning of ''SG-1'', Teal'c's forehead symbol consisted of three parts, and it took about an hour to apply the parts to Judge's forehead. The process was simplified over the years.<ref name=tvzones46_62>{{Cite journal |last=Eramo |first=Steven | title=Jan Newman &ndash; Born With It &ndash; Make-up |journal=[[TV Zone]] |issue=Special 46 |pages=62&ndash;65 |date=July 2002}}</ref> The season 6 episodes "[[The Changeling (Stargate SG-1)|The Changeling]]" shows Teal'c experiencing an extended hallucination of being a human on Earth. For the filming of this episode, the eye make-up and the gold paint on the character was significantly toned down.<ref name=ac_617>{{cite video |people=[[Martin Wood (director)|Martin Wood]] and [[Christopher Judge]] |date=2003 |title=Audio Commentary for "[[The Changeling (Stargate SG-1)|The Changeling]]" |medium= DVD |publisher=[[MGM]]}}</ref> With the beginning of season 7, when Teal'c no longer had a Goa'uld symbiote in his pouch, the gold make-up was dropped.

Playing a bald-shaven head Teal'c for the first seven seasons, Judge usually let his hair grow during the show's hiatus, and shaved his head the morning of his first day back at work.<ref name=tvzones58_28/> For the season four premiere "[[Small Victories]]", he returned to the set with a small blond chin beard after the hiatus, as the producers had not allowed his character to have scalp hair at the time.<ref>{{cite video | people = [[Christopher Judge|Judge, Christopher]], [[Michael Shanks|Shanks, Michael]] | title = "From Stargate to Atlantis: The Lowdown, Part 1" |date=2005 | medium = DVD &ndash; Stargate SG-1: Season 8 | publisher = [[MGM Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Several episodes later, Judge shaved off the beard after acknowledging how it looked.<ref name=ac_401_mw>{{cite video |people=[[Martin Wood (director)|Martin Wood]] (director) |date=2001 |title=Audio Commentary for "Small Victories" |medium = DVD &ndash; Stargate SG-1: Season 4 |publisher=[[MGM Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> With the beginning of season 8, after "many years of begging, pleading and politicking", Judge approached the producers again and asked for his character to have hair, and they gave in. Brad Wright was convinced that the audience would hate it. Judge showed the [[cornrows]] hairstyle that he thought Teal'c would have, at a convention, but the hair was cut short before the shooting of season 8 began.<ref name=tvzones58_28>{{Cite journal |last=Eramo |first=Steven | title=Christopher Judge &ndash; Judge For Yourself |journal=[[TV Zone]] |issue=Special 58 |pages=28&ndash;32 |date=July 2004}}</ref> The story reasons for Teal'c's hair are never explained in the series, even despite Jack O'Neill making such an inquiry in "New Order", as he says, "What's with the hair?".