Dean Newman

Dean Newman

Biography
Dean Newman was bornin Wilmington, Delaware on the 22nd March 1968 and was first enlisted into the military at the Delaware Military Academy at the age of eighteen. While there, he entered into the United States Marine Corps and was trained in the use of the H&K-PSG1 semi-automatic rifle as well as the Barrett M82A1 0.5 calibre sniper rifle which, when fitted with a high-efficiency muzzle, could be used to target enemy vehicles and aircraft. In addition to these weapons, Newman was trained in the use of the handheld laser target designator.

After completing his training, Newman was recruited into the Special Operations Unit Delta Force and saw action in Desert Storm. Serving in the same team as Robert Makepeace, Newman's team was responsible for infiltrating deep into enemy territory, locate Scud missiles, warplanes, or any vehicle movement then report their findings to base. After this was done, the team would use LTD's to paint their targets so that United States aircraft could destroy them. In addition to this, his team were able to disable or destroy enemy missiles with their long-range sniper rifles. In February of 1991, Newman's unit was sent on a mission with British SAS for unknown purposes. Following this service, Newman was recruited into the National Intelligence Division by Colonel Harold Maybourne in 1996.

Newman, along with three others, were part of a rogue operation which was using Earth's Beta Stargate to run their own missions to other planets from southern Utah. Newman's operation was responsible for stealing the Touchstone from the planet Madrona, though it was ultimately their undoing. Once brought to Earth, the Touchstone rapidly changed the weather on the planet which was all the SGC needed to know that the Touchstone was on Earth. After managing to send a MALP through to the Beta Stargate, Samantha Carter was able to discover that the Stargate was indeed in southern Utah. After General George Hammond called in a favour, the SGC were able to discover the location of the base that the Stargate was located in. SG-1 were sent to the base and soon discovered Newman and his colleagues, though they were able to escape through the Stargate before they could be captured.

Following this operation, Newman was assigned to the off-world N.I.D. Base, though he was still under the command of Maybourne. The team was assigned the same purpose as before, to acquire alien technology to help in the fight against the Goa'uld, and was seemingly expanded from its previous four members. Newman himself was put in charge of the team temporarily, although this changed when Colonel Jack O'Neill seemingly abandoned his post at Stargate Command after stealing Tollan technology. After this incident, O'Neill was approached by Maybourne who offered him the chance to run Newman's operation. After a short time, O'Neill accepted Maybourne's proposal and was put in touch with Newman through a Goa'uld long-range communication device. Newman informed him that he had read all of SG-1's mission reports, and that it would be an honour to serve under O'Neill. O'Neill recognized Newman, however, at which time Newman apologised for having to return fire while fleeing through the Beta Stargate.

A short time later, O'Neill arranged to go to the planet Edora to retire with Laira, as he had promised her that he would come back one day. Once he arrived there, however, he quickly turned around and headed to the off-world N.I.D. Base where he met up with Newman and his team. Once O'Neill arrived, Newman gave him a tour of the facility before meeting up with Lieutenant Clare Tobias who showed him a recently-acquired anti-gravitation device. Newman left O'Neill in Tobias's hands to explain the device. Newman was then contacted by Maybourne through the long-range communication device, who informed him that he would like to speak to O'Neill.

After retrieving O'Neill from Tobias, he and O'Neill were briefed on what would be O'Neill's first mission; he was to lead his team to the planet PX3-595 to gain a device which SG-9 had been unable to acquire. Newman explained the plan in further detail, informing O'Neill of the local Tiernods who used the device&mdash;which turned out to be an Asgard cloaking device&mdash;to hide from predators in caves near the Stargate. O'Neill then led the team to the device, at which time Newman used the device on himself to show O'Neill it's capabilities. It was only then that O'Neill learned that the planet was under the Protected Planets Treaty, though the team took the cloaking device back to their base anyway. Newman was pleased with their newly acquired device, and once back at the base talked about how it could be used for black ops missions back on Earth.

The group was soon contacted by Maybourne, who let them know where to meet an SG team so that the device could be taken back to Earth. Though Newman offered to go the planet, O'Neill instead took the job stating that the best way to understand a command was to do every job yourself at least once. O'Neill was unable to come back as scheduled, however, as SG-1 arrived on the planet shortly after he got there. Instead he hid and waited for them to leave, discovering who the mole on the team was, before coming back to the N.I.D. Base and once again being greeted by Newman. Shortly thereafter, an Asgard Mothership descended over the N.I.D. Base and started beaming out the stolen technology. It was only then that O'Neill revealed his true colours, letting them know that the Asgard would start taking people after they finished taking the technology. O'Neill offered them only one way out; return with him to Earth. Though Newman hesitated at first, he soon chose to return rather than be captured by the Asgard.

Back at the SGC, Newman and his group were taken into custody and informed that they would be tried for high treason against the United States of America. After Makepeace was also taken into custody, as he had been the rogue agent which O'Neill had seen take the device, Newman and his team were escorted out of the gateroom and put in prison.

Prison would not hold Newman, however, as he and two of his former team mates escaped. Reports from the penitentiary showed that they had been present in the mess hall then simply vanished before lock down. It was later discovered that this was with the help of someone who altered the visitor log to make it appear that they had never been there at all. Newman was given a Stragoth mimic device which made him appear to be Jack O'Neill, as well as some form of communications device by Maybourne and ordered to infiltrate the SGC to recover the Asgard cloaking device which was still being held there.

Posing as O'Neill, Newman was able to make it to the locker rooms where he knocked out the real O'Neill by pistol whipping him while there was no-one around. Though he then considered killing O'Neill for what had happened to him, he was contacted by Maybourne on the communication device before he was able to. Newman then informed Maybourne that he had neutralized O'Neill before offering to kill him, but Maybourne turned the offer down stating that, as much as he hated to say it, O'Neill was needed. Instead, Newman was ordered to hide O'Neill's body and make his way to the lab to steal the Asgard device. Maybourne also informed Newman to be ready to encounter other SG team members, but Newman informed him that he knew their files back to front and so it would not be a problem.

After hiding O'Neill's body in a locker&mdash;which he stated was like high school all over again&mdash;Newman started towards the lab. Before he could get there, however, he was met first by Doctors Janet Frasier and Carter, then George Hammond, and finally Daniel Jackson. Though he greeted them all, Carter and Jackson both sensed something wrong about "O'Neill" and so followed him to the lab. Newman was able to find a report about the Asgard device, though did not manage to acquire the device itself, before Carter and Jackson knocked on the door and asked if he was okay.

This ruse might have worked if not for the fact that Teal'c arrived with the real O'Neill, causing the team members to be unsure which was the real deal. To be sure, Carter demanded that they tell her only something the real O'Neill would know. Newman went first, citing off facts from the SG-1 mission files; that Carter's father was host to the Tok'ra symbiote Selmak, that Cronus killed Teal'c's father, and that Jackson had previously switched bodies with Ma'chello. This was not enough, however, as the real O'Neill gave personal information about each of the members instead; stating that Teal'c favourite movie was Star Wars (and indeed that Teal'c fancied himself to be a Jedi Jaffa), that Jackson was allergic to dust, and that Carter was more interested in science than having a social life.

The real O'Neill then punched Newman, knocking him out. Carter was thus able to discover the mimetic device, which she removed, along with Newman's other pieces of technology. It was only then that Newman's real form was revealed. Newman was presumably put back in jail, while Carter, O'Neill, and Hammond discussed how they escaped.

Behind the scenes
Despite being identified as Newman in both the subtitles for the episode Shades of Gray and in Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection 20, where he also gained the first name Dean, Newman is called Neumann in the Stargate SG-1: 2007 Convention Special comic. The reason for this discrepancy is unknown, although GateWorld's Omnipedia also calls him Neumann and so it is possible that the writers of the comic simply referred to this resource when writing the comic.

Another discrepancy was raised by Newman in the episode Shades of Gray. When talking with Jack O'Neill, Newman apologises for having to return fire when they were discovered by SG-1 in southern Utah. This is contradictory to the episode Touchstone, where the NID team do not carry weapons let alone fire back. It is possible, however, that the original script called for the NID team shooting back and it was simply cut from the episode.