Jack O'Neill

For other uses, see Jack O'Neill (disambiguation).

Template:Stargate character Major General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill (born October 20, 1952) is a fictional character in the science fiction feature film Stargate and the subsequent television series Stargate SG-1 played by actors Kurt Russell in the film (name spelled as O'Neil) and Richard Dean Anderson in the series. O'Neill also appears occasionally in the television series Stargate Atlantis.

Biography

Jack O'Neill (spelled "O'Neil" in the film) is a United States Air Force Colonel with experience in special ops. Col. O'Neill lead the first team through the Stargate to Abydos on a reconnaissance mission. After the creation of Stargate Command (SGC), he was given command of the primary SG team, SG-1. In season 8, O'Neill was promoted to Brigadier General and assumed command of the SGC for about a year, before taking a post at the Department of Homeworld Security in Washington, at which point the character ceased appearing in the show on a regular basis. Sometime after his departure, he was promoted to the rank of Major General.

Events of the 1994 film

File:Colonel Jack O'Neill (Kurt Russell).jpg

Jack O'Neil (one "L") played by Kurt Russell in Stargate.

In the film he is married to Sara O'Neil and had a son. However, after a tragic accident where their son shot himself with O'Neil's personal gun, a Beretta 92FS, he suffers a period of depression and retires from the Air Force becoming asocial.

When the Stargate is deciphered by Daniel Jackson, the project commander, Major General West, takes advantage of O'Neil's mental state and recalls him to active duty to lead the off world reconnaissance mission. O'Neil's standing orders for the mission are to go through with a team and detonate a nuclear warhead near the Stargate if there was any sign of danger, something he was very willing to do in his depressed state.

On Abydos, O'Neil and his team find the indigenous population to be simple desert-dwellers and makes friends with a boy named Skaara, the son of the ambassador, Kasuf, to the planet's ruler, Ra. During a fight against Ra's forces on Abydos, O'Neil fights hand-to-hand against Ra's First Prime to regain control of the warhead which had fallen into Goa'uld hands. Unable to stop the timer on the device and as Ra tries to escape the planet, O'Neil and Daniel Jackson transport the bomb to Ra's ship, destroying it in orbit of Abydos.

O'Neil and the rest of the team returns to Earth without Jackson who remained on Abydos, having inadvertently married a local woman, Sha'uri. O'Neil is left with a renewed sense of life.

Events of Stargate SG-1 (Seasons 1–8)

Jack O'Neill appeared in every episode of Stargate SG-1's first eight seasons except for Template:Sgcite, in Season 6, Template:Sgcite, in Season 7, and New Order Part 1 in season 8. He only appeared in clips from previous episodes in the Seasons 6 and 7 clip shows, Template:Sgcite and Template:Sgcite.

In the first episode of the television series, Template:Sgcite, O'Neill is recalled by the new project commander, General Hammond, following an incursion by the Goa'uld Apophis. After returning to Abydos and bringing Daniel Jackson back, O'Neill reveals that Sara left him sometime between the end of the film and the beginning of the series. O'Neill admits he had not destroyed the Abydos gate, after a plan was revealed to send a more powerful warhead to Abydos "just to make sure". After visiting Abydos and discovering the true nature of the Stargate network, O'Neill is once again reactivated and is made the team leader of SG-1.

In the first season episode Template:Sgcite, the viewer is given a little more of O'Neill's backstory. When O'Neill is duplicated by a crystalline energy life-form the viewer is reintroduced to Sara O'Neill, Jack's ex-wife. Flashbacks show how O'Neill's son, Charlie (name differs in the film), was killed. O'Neill blames himself for Charlie's death, however the crystalline life form helps him gain a certain amount of closure at the end of the episode.

In the second season episode Template:Sgcite, O'Neill has the Repository of the Ancients "downloaded" to his brain. He slowly loses the ability to speak, write, or even comprehend English. While under the influence of the Repository, he enters hundreds of new gate addresses into the dialing computer not found on the Abydos cartouche, formulates a new system for calculating interstellar distances based on gate addresses (which compensates for stellar drift), draws the schematics to the DHD while Samantha Carter was stuck on another planet with a damaged DHD, and translates Ancient text for Daniel Jackson. He finally builds a device that produces enough additional power to allow the Stargate to dial Othala, a planet in the Ida Galaxy and home to a colony of Asgard which requires an eight-chevron address. The Asgard remove the knowledge from O'Neill's mind before it causes permanent harm and return him to normal. Seeing great potential in both O'Neill and the human race, the benevolent Asgard send him back to Earth. With this incident, O'Neill becomes the first known human to personally meet the Asgard. He also is the first modern human to demonstrate the stargate's ability to dial extremely distant addresses using an eighth chevron. O'Neill is one of the first humans to re-evolve to a level allowing him to use the Ancient knowledge. The theme of evolution and its connection with ascension and advanced mental abilities appears repeatedly in future SG-1 episodes, and in the spin-off, Atlantis. The Asgard also Build a ship in O'Neill's name as a means of fighting off the Replicator threat, but it was destroyed by Samantha Carter before it was finished.

In the Season 7 finale, Template:Sgcite, O'Neill is again forced to download the Ancients' knowledge into his mind to seek information that will protect Earth from attack by the Goa'uld Anubis. He expects it to kill him, as the Asgard were expected to be unavailable to help in time. He was willing to sacrifice himself for Earth. The Ancient knowledge leads them to the Ancient outpost in Antarctica and a power source for it and allows O'Neill to put himself in stasis to preserve his life after the attack is thwarted. His ability to operate the Ancient chair technology means that O'Neill possesses the ATA gene, seemingly in an unusually powerful form, perhaps as a side effect of his exposure to the Repository. This is later confirmed in the episode "It's Good to Be King."

In the Season 8 premiere, Template:Sgcite, SG-1 attempts to contact the Asgard, only to find the humanoid Replicators had escaped and were again threatening the Asgard. Thor returns with SG-1 to Earth and removes the knowledge from O'Neill's brain after he is consulted and designs a weapon effective against replicators by instantly severing communication between their blocks.

In recognition of his service and unique diplomatic position O'Neill is promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the SGC ("New Order," "Lockdown") after Elizabeth Weir, the civilian leader, is tasked with the expedition to Atlantis and Hammond is promoted. O'Neill tries to adjust to life on the other side of the 'Gate room glass, envying his former teammates' journeys. The SG-1 episode "It's Good to Be King" is the only time he went off-world on screen while commander of the SGC because SG-1 discovers a Puddle Jumper only operable by someone with the ATA Gene.

Other appearances

After leaving the show at the end of Season 8, O'Neill appeared in two episodes of Seasons 9, Template:Sgcite and Template:Sgcite, and two episodes of Season 10, Template:Sgcite and Template:Sgcite. He also appeared in four episodes of Stargate Atlantis, Season 1's premiere, Template:Sgcite and Season 3's Template:Sgcite (as part of an hallucination) and Template:Sgcite (both parts).

O'Neill fades into the background during Season 9, where he appears in two episodes as a Major General and the new head of the Department of Homeworld Security, and is no longer a main character. His replacement is Major General Hank Landry played by Beau Bridges who takes command of the SGC early in Season 9.

O'Neill appears in the 200th episode, during Season 10, and makes an appearance in the Atlantis Season 3 episode, Template:Sgcite, both aired on the same night. (His appearance in The Real World was as a hallucination of Doctor Elizabeth Weir's due to her being infected by Asuran nanites trying to convince her the entire Stargate program was a figment of her imagination).

At the end of the 3rd mid-season finale of Atlantis, he is in Atlantis with Richard Woolsey during an Asuran assault, as the two of them attempt to negotiate for the Atlantis expedition's return to the city. He is eventually rescued by members of the former Atlantis expedition.

In the episode "The Shroud", O'Neill is reunited with his old SG-1 teammates again, helping to save Daniel Jackson (who has recently been turned into a Prior of the Ori) from the IOA, who believe that he has become too dangerous to be allowed back onto Earth. This is his final appearance on the show.

O'Neill will return in the upcoming Stargate Continuum movie, though it is currently unknown if he will return to being a central member of SG-1 in the story or a supporting background character. He is also expected to return in the third post-SG-1 movie and potentially more thereafter. Executive Producer Brad Wright stressed the importance of O'Neill's presence in the Stargate Universe even after the character went on hiatus during the last two seasons of SG-1 when Anderson took a leave from regular acting.

Character developments

O'Neill has focused his free time on "the more important things in life", such as fishing at his cabin in Minnesota, watching The Simpsons, doing crossword puzzles, playing chess, collecting stamps and drinking Guinness (and also cooking with it, implicitly as the only ingredient ("Citizen Joe")). It has been mentioned, occasionally, that he likes Mary Steenburgen ("Urgo" and "Heroes (Part 1)").

O'Neill is somewhat of a wit throughout the series. Enemies and allies alike are subjected to frequent quips and facetious remarks, which can at times have at least minor diplomatic consequences. He often derides Carter and Jackson's esoteric interests, though it is frequently hinted that he finds intellectuals intimidating. He is irreverent towards authorities, including his own superiors, and especially revels in mocking the System Lords, whom he views as overly theatrical and egotistical (as well as over dressed), which typically enrages them. It is implied that his more serious motivation for doing this with the System Lords in particular is to remind them that they are, in fact, not Gods as they insist on claiming to be. He is very protective of his friends, and has proved to be a powerful ally to General Landry and Doctor Weir in their confrontations with the IOA, as he is the only one who doesn't answer to them.

He also commonly corrects improper grammar, most often saying, "It's whom!", usually doing this when the correctee has SG-1 at a disadvantage, as in "The Other Guys". As a last resort, and sometimes as a first, he will use sarcasm in a confrontation. During the later seasons, he particularly enjoys mocking Ba'al on the basis of his name and his theatricality, often insulting him to his face. Following his departure from the regular cast of SG-1 in Season 9, his role as the witty personality seems to have been partially filled by Vala Mal Doran and distributed among the other cast members.

Throughout the series, O'Neill's relationship with Samantha Carter has been subjected to a great deal of interest and speculation. On two separate occasions, either O'Neill or a member of his team come into contact with (different) alternate realities in which O'Neill and Carter were either engaged or married. In the fourth season episode "Divide and Conquer", both O'Neill and Carter had to officially admit that their feelings for one another were more than professional. There are several events and incidents spread throughout the series that imply that the feelings they have for one another remain a subtle constant in their lives (shown in Season Four's episode "Window of Opportunity" when in one of his time loops he resigns his comission to the Air Force to kiss Sam), despite various outside influences, such as Carter's temporary fiancé Pete Shanahan, and O'Neill's brief relationship with Kerry Johnson, an officer of the CIA, as well as their relationships with offworlders, particularly (in Carter's case), Narim and Martouf.

Despite being capable of a high degree of compassion, including a great willingness for self-sacrifice when it appears necessary, he will generally advocate a military solution to problems in favour of other answers, and is often in conflict with other characters (usually Daniel Jackson) who prefer a more diplomatic or peaceful approach. Arrogance is also an Achilles' heel for him; O'Neill tends to display a characteristic of believing very strongly in his own moral superiority, and will at times not refrain from attempting to impose his own beliefs upon alien cultures discovered through the Stargate. There were at least a few occasions where this behaviour produced serious consequences. In the end, O'Neill does what he believes is the right thing to do, and is not unwilling to change his course of action if he finds that it is the wrong one.

Unlike Anderson's other famous on-screen persona, Angus MacGyver, O'Neill has no aversion to firearms, apart from the fact that his son, Charlie, accidentally shot himself with O'Neill's pistol and died (O'Neill never forgave himself). He is a career special operations operative, owns at least two personal firearms, and becomes extremely agitated whenever it is suggested he and his team go anywhere unarmed, including places known to be safe for SG-1 and where firearms may be a liability. Another trait that sets Anderson's two characters apart is that MacGyver was an all-around scientific genius; O'Neill, while far from stupid, has a fairly animalistic form of intelligence which is almost exclusively militarily oriented, and prefers to skip over almost any scientific explanation (in which Carter and Daniel often indulge). He often, though half-jokingly, suggests "magnets" as the explanation for any technology that is beyond his understanding (magnets were the prime technology for Anderson's previous character, Nicodemus Legend). The primary exception to this is in the field of astronomy, as O'Neill is himself an amateur astronomer. Despite these differences, O'Neill and MacGyver do share some similarities, both play hockey, but also in their past: both characters served in the United States Special Forces.

Differences between 1994 film and the franchise

In the original film, Jack's son is named Tyler (the name is seen on an award in his room in an early scene) as opposed to Charlie (as in the SG-1 series) or Jack Jr. (as in the non-SG-1 books.) Also, the Colonel's name in the film is O'Neil (with one L), a fact which was referred to light-heartedly in the TV series (Template:Sgcite), (Template:Sgcite), (Template:Sgcite) and (Template:Sgcite).

While the two O'Neills do have radically different personalities, it is easy to reconcile the two versions of the character, as Kurt Russell's O'Neil is depressed and suicidal over the loss of his son, while Anderson's O'Neill has, over the course of the year between the film and the first season, since come to terms with his loss and has reverted to his 'true' personality. There are even one or two moments in the film where O'Neil seems to display certain mannerisms common to the series' O'Neill, such as his comments to Ra's guards before killing them; "How you doin'?" and "Give my regards to King Tut, asshole!". Likewise, the series' O'Neill occasionally reverts to his original personality, usually when faced with reminders of difficult events in his past.

Ribbons and Medals

General O'Neill's ribbons and badges are an additional difference between the film and series, although the series has been relatively consistent over the seasons. As of Season 10, the general wears (or is known to have) the following ribbons and badges on his Service Dress uniform:

	Defense Distinguished Service Medal
	Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
	Defense Superior Service Medal
	Purple Heart (not worn, see below)
	Defense Meritorious Service Medal
	Meritorious Service Medal, 3 oak leaf clusters
	Air Medal, 2 oak leaf clusters
	Aerial Achievement Medal
	Joint Service Commendation Medal
	Air Force Commendation Medal, 2 oak leaf clusters
	Air Force Achievement Medal, 2 oak leaf clusters
	Outstanding Unit Award. 3 oak leaf clusters and Valor device
	Organizational Excellence Award
	Combat Readiness Medal. 2 oak leaf clusters
	National Defense Service Medal, bronze star device
	Vietnam Service Medal
	Southwest Asia Service Medal, bronze star device
	Air Force Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon
	Air Force Longevity Service Award. 3 oak leaf clusters
	Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
	Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia)
	Master Space and Missile Operations Badge
File:MasterParachutistBadge.gif	Master Parachutist Badge

Ribbons are worn with the most prestigious Department of Defense award at the wearer's upper right and then in descending order to the left and down with authorized foreign awards at the end. Multiple awards are indicated by the use of oak leaf clusters or stars.

Though he has been wounded in battle multiple times, he does not wear a purple heart ribbon. (Note: In several episodes when he is in command of Stargate Command you can see on the wall in his office a framed purple heart medal, and ribbon, but not ever shown wearing it himself.)

Reception

For his portrayal of Jack O'Neill, Richard Dean Anderson won a Saturn Award in the category "Best Genre TV Actor" in 1999, and was nominated in the same category in 1998 and 2000. In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, Anderson was nominated for a Saturn Award in the category "Best Actor on Television" but never won.

See also

• O'Neill class battleship
• Richard Dean Anderson