I love your animated pic favorite moment--that is certainly one of mine, too.

And in the same episode, his total surprise when Anise/Freya kisses him and he's trying to get rid of her. Such a funny bit.

Melissa M.

"Adult" and Jack seldom seem to go together. But I did notice that though he's trying to get rid of her, he's also got his hand on her back as he does so. I remember in the commentary, the director (I think) said that the extra who was playing the guard asked if he could give Jack a "look" right then, which he does. The whole scene was amusing.

Melissa M.

Then there's the funny moment with Daniel who has just seen the mess that Lorne and his miners have made of the (Unas) artifacts they found in Enemy Mine and Jack says, "Daniel, go to your happy place."

And in the episode where they go to Kheb (Maternal Instinct, I think) and Jack is so skeptical of the mystical stuff but then he goes against all his soldierly instincts and puts down his weapon when Daniel tells them to. And then the funny bit at the end as they start to leave~ "Daniel. Shoes."

Melissa M.

Yes, it was really against his instincts, but he did trust Daniel--they all did, and fortunately that was the right choice.

Mind you, while I am sometimes amused by how he tries to pretend to be dumb, that is one of the things that also annoys me about Jack, much as I love him.

He didn't do so much of that in earlier seasons, but near the beginning of A Matter of Time, he is cute when he's asking Carter to explain wormholes to him (and she is cutely indulgent. too).

And before long they are once again trying to save the planet--Jack physically and Carter mentally. Thank goodness for Jack and SG1!

Melissa M.

I really agree that in his position, he could not be as dumb as he too often likes to portray himself. Which doesn't mean he will ever equal Sam or Daniel's brilliance, but that's not his job, either, and he does his own job quite well, despite those sometimes annoying tactics he uses.

I've seen RDA in an interview say he delibertely made Jack "dense" and "thick" to deflect from his heroism, and much as I love RDA, I do get quite annoyed with that. I definitely prefer to believe that Jack is plenty intelligent, he just hides it at times, when it suits him to do so.

Melissa M.

Do you ever watch these two back to back? I am always struck by the change in the Jack and Sam interaction, despite its nearly repeating dialogue, in the beginning of Nemesis compared to how they are with each other in Small Victories.

In Nemesis, you can see that Sam would like to go along on this fishing trip, and Jack is certainly enticing ("land of sky blue waters. Yeah, sure you betcha, Snookums. The loons, don't forget the loons") But of course the replicators get in the way and once again I know how Jack feels--I, too, have an insane aversion to bugs--particularly spiders, and so the mechanical spiders (replicators) really creep me out.

Then at the beginning of Small Victories we get to see our team's triumphal return ("we did kind of save the planet. Again. This should not get old, General") which is great in itself, but seeing Jack with Sam again in her lab, he repeating his plan to go fishing, she repeating her plan to stay there, they seem to much more at ease with each other, and I just love that (and the magnifying glass bit, too, of course--Jack the goofball strikes again.)

Melissa M.

Yes, I like to think they had themselves a nice little vacation on that planet--they deserved it considering what they went thru before and after! But it is interesting to watch both episodes back to back, and in particular those scenes in her lab. Saying much the same things, but so much happier and relaxed with each other the second time.

Melissa M.

I loved the part in Serpent's Lair when Bra'tac is explaining how they'll have to "descend into the bowels of the ship" to place explosive charges and Jack shows off by throwing 2 grenades down there and then they're done. And Bra'tac's reply to "now what" is "Now we die". Jack immediately comes back with "Well, that's a bad plan!" And luckily they come up with a better one, and escape.

I watched a dvd special last night which had Tony A. (Bra'tac) talking about the scene where he and RDA are in the glider (the little ship they were in at the end--Carter and Teal'c were in the other one) and it showed a little clip of it and shows Bra'tac tossing back the little black comm. thing to Jack saying "Human. Put this on" and Jack saying "would you quit calling me Human!" Always cracks me up.

And again with the dying, when Bra'tac says to Teal'c "we die free" and Jack sees the shuttle and says "or not!" Was it earlier in this episode where Jack says something about "it's not how many of you are willing to die for your cause, it's better to get the other guy to die for his cause first."

I do have to say that I hope Jack was just joking in Heroes when he tells Bregman "I prefer vanilla over chocolate" (Heresy to this chocolate lover!) and my favorite color is peridot (the ugliest yellow green ever, in my opinion).

But later in that episode he shows his capacity to do the right thing even when he is no good at talking~his "C'mere" and hug for Carter is just right for what they have both been there in his near-death and Janet's actual and devastating death. That's why though there are so many parts of Heroes that are funny, and I love them, I rarely rewatch that one because it is such a tearjerker for me.

Melissa M.

At least we agree on chocolate. I love yellow, I love green, but I really dislike a yellow-green mixture.

Heroes is such a good, and such a hard-to-watch episode. I rewatch some episode from my dvds at least every other day, but I hadn't watched Heroes for a year, when I showed it to a friend who had seen most of the good Jack episodes, but not that one as yet. When we got done she said "I see why you wanted me to see this, and it was good, but oh, I never want to see that again!" Poor Janet, poor team trying to cope with her death. Yet the earlier parts of it had so much funny stuff, too. I loved the Siler getting shot as a test dummy bit--good ol' Siler. When I watched Heroes again last week I was crying as I always do.

Tin Man is another favorite episode for me (as is its follow-up). So many good things there, but one that always makes me laugh is when Harlan is introducing himself and saying "Comtraya" Jack responds with "Col. Jack O'Neill. Kumbaya."

How could I have forgotten Crystal Skull?! Did anyone else mention that moment of perfection when Jack grumps his "Doc!" and Janet pulls aside the curtain so that we see our poor teddy bear of a hero all wrapped up in his robe, grumping away, wanting out of the infirmary. She leaves, telling him to stay in bed, and then Jack says to Teal'c "Look, I'm sick of laying around, help me up." To which Teal'c replies in his deadpan fashion creating utter hilarity: "Dr. Frasier believes you are not yet strong enough to undertake such a mission." Jack: "yeah, whatever." Jack stands and promptly falls face first on the floor. Teal'c: "Dr. Frasier is usually correct in such matters", picks Jack up off the floor and dumps him face first back onto the bed. Jack, muffled, "thank you." Teal'c: "You are welcome, O'Neill." I totally crack up every time I watch that--and I have watched that A Lot!

And I loved the rest of the episode, too, so much. But for the Jack moment, there is the "You've lost a few pounds" (to invisible Daniel.) Daniel'e reply, via Nick "Jack, don't be an ass." has Jack instantly believing Daniel really is there. So true to character for both of them, as well as being quite amusing.

I do love Jack, so much (oh, I also love the rest of his team, but Jack!!! Best of a very good bunch).

Melissa M.

Couldn't resist adding a few more:

From Politics:

Kinsey: Then should we not close your gate, for the same reason? To keep hope inside?
Jack: Senator, if I may...jump in here. I'm not as you guys, talking in metaphors here, I'm a military man, I prefer facts. And the fact is, the gate, I.E. the box, is already open. Now what's done is done. We made ourselves an enemy by killing RA, but the threat the Goa'ulds now represent--
Kinsey: Threat?
Jack: Yes sir. As in threatening.
Kinsey: The word threat, Colonel O'Neill, has been used far too often by this country's military as a justification for expenditures that we can no longer afford. Do you know how much this program costs?
Jack: Sevenish...
Kinsey: Seven Billion, four hundred and seven million dollars.
Jack: Give or take.
Kinsey: Per year!
Jack: With all due respect, Senator, the accounting department is up on level three, I believe. But if you want to talk about maintaining the first line of defense against what I believe is the greatest danger humanity has ever faced--
Kinsey: Hyperbole.
Jack: See for yourself! General, I suggest we dial up old P4A-771 I think it was, see how long the good Senator lasts on THAT world!
Kinsey: I have spent a career listening to doomsayers in uniform. 'Let us build our billion-dollar machine, and we will save America from the barbarians at the gate.' Let me remind you the cold war is over.
Jack: And let me tell you something, this time there really are barbarians, they're called Goa'ulds, and they really are at the gate, that one!

He's just so vehement and rightous and smart (because I totally agree with the discussion above, Jack's not stupid, he just hides it well [I totally buy into the whole 'making them underestimate him' thing]. And really, who would look smart when you're constantly placed next to Daniel and Sam anyways?) And you know that even though he hates the Russians, Jack knows that compared to the Goa'uld they're nothing.

From Cor-ai (an episode, like Red Sky, which I absolutely love because we get to see those bits of dark!Jack):

Daniel: Wait wait wait, who said anything about killing? I mean all they said was they want to put him through Cor-ai. Now, near as I can figure, that is like a simple trial.
Jack: Now see, it's that 'near as I can figure' part that's got me a little worried. What if their idea of a simple trial is a simple beheading?
________________________
Jack: Not exactly. Teal'c, there are a lot things we do that we wish we could change and we sure as hell can't forget, but the whole concept of chain of command undermines the idea of free will. So as soldiers, we have to do some pretty awful stuff. But we're following orders like we were trained to. It doesn't make it easier; it certainly doesn't make it right, but it does put some of the responsibility on the guy giving those orders.
____________________________
Jack: It's a kangaroo court. Nothing's gonna make a difference. Isn't that painfully obvious to anybody? That kid made up his mind before we even got here.
_____________________________

I see there have been some more good additions since I last popped in here. I had just one more that I could not bear to leave out. It is from Proving Ground, another of my many favorite episodes. Jack is in teaching mode and I just love him thru the whole episode. (has anyone else noticed that the man apparently cannot actually yell? He seems to lose volume when he tries to truly shout at someone. I saw that in this episode and again with the other "young soldiers" in Rules of Engagement.)

But back to my point--in Proving Ground, one of the funnier moments is when Jack is clearly planning some revenge on Daniel who he says has had it too easy in this training exercise. So when he calls Daniel to warn him the kids are coming, he says, rather ominously "have fun, Daniel" and when Daniel responds "you did tell then to take me prisoner and not shoot me, right?" Jack just has this rather crazed look on his face and hangs up the phone. Daniel should have guessed that could not be a good sign for him!

OK, that should wrap up this lovely "Jack moments" fest, for me. Thanks for letting me play!

Melissa M.