Jack's past (Contains small spoilers)

[gategeek]

i read somewhere that one of the season 5 eps will deal with jack's past. i've been really curious about this 'coz w've never heard anything about his family or background.

 

[skydiver]

ooh same here.
all we know is that he's from chicago...and presumably irish in descent somehow.
that and all the military stuff...did he enlist or was he drafted?
some have suggested he was sent to military school cause he was a bad boy...any ideas?

 

[gategeek]

badger has an extremely angsty fic called "his father's son" that speculates on jack's past. it's at http://www.geocities.com/sg1_oneills_house/hisfathersson.htm and yeah i definitely see the young jack as being a very bad boy. it's amazing that he's gotten as far as he has in the military seeing as how he still hasn't figured out how to keep his mouth shut - "permission to barge in sir?"

 

[skydiver]

course he's also reached the point at his career that he doesn't really have to care anymore. he's a colonel. and chances are that's pretty much as high as he'll go(the next step in general)
he's been pulled out of retirement twice(not counting sog) which means they pretty much 'need' him. hammond is incredibly tolerant which gives him free reign and ...hey things get too bad he'll just retire again.
short of doing something so bad he gets courtmartialed...it's pretty much a win/win situation. so he doesn't have to watch what he does.

 

[Dave]

At first Jack was called back.

THEY WANTED HIM. They needed him. So he could get away with whatever he liked. He was ready to blow himself up, so he was not likely to be interested in a possible court-martial.

Of course, lately things have changed. He seems to enjoy his work, and is not likely to resign (except in "2010"). He has bought into the whole thing again, so you would expect he would try to control that insubordination a little. Maybe he just can't help it?

But I don't think they NEED him any longer. There are at least 11 other SG teams.


[Edited by david676 on 01-30-2001 at 08:59 AM]

 

[skydiver]

yeah but now he and george really have a friendship going(after chain reaction i think george would let him do pretty much anything(with in reason of course))
and, in chain reaction he made a reference to him and air force one going way back. is it possible he personally knows the prez? therefore, if he did, he does have carte blanche...and mouthing off is nothing compared to what he could do.

 

[kelsi]

Don't 4get that he's divorced/separated, whatever. Although I think they've done as much with that as they can!

 

[skydiver]

he said sara left him after abydos, and in cold lazarus it seems obvious she hasn't seen him since abydos...i'm guessing divorced.
though the way they did interact in cold lazarus i'm thinking they're friends but that's all it's gonna be. she's the ex but it's an amicable situation.

face it, the way jack is, if he was still married he wouldn't be flirting with sam. in the military, adultry is almost as bad as treason.
frat rules aside, if he was married and someone thought they had a realtionship...it would be bad, very, very bad.

 

[Jaxie]

Anyone condsidered that he may have been christened 'Jonathon'?

 

[kelsi]

Yeah, as far as I know, he was christened Janoathon O'Niell but eventually it got shortened to Jack, 'cos he preferred it.

 

[Vera]

Maybe it's a stupid question, but it's Jonathon or Jonathan?
I saw both the versions on the net.

 

[skydiver]

50/50 chance....dunno.

 

[Vera]

I prefer Jonathan. Somehow it sounds better to me.

 

[Cat]

In 100 days, he said that his grandfather was from Minnesota. Interestingly, he seems to be getting RDA history into Jack's history.

Also, that ski clothing he wore in Window of Opportunity when he handed Hammond his resignation and kissed Sam, RDA wears that kind of gear. There are several photos floating around the net but of course, as RDA he usually also has alot more facial hair.

 

[gategeek]

SPOILERS for entity!!
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someone mentioned that in entity when jack's file was flashed on screen it said "john o'neill" instead of jonathon. is this true? also, was anyone able to make out his date of birth? his age has been a subject of debate so i was curious. it was pretty creepy when he said "you've read my file- think again" when the entity said he wouldn't send more MALPS to its world. kind of makes you wonder what's in that file...

 

[skydiver]

what was probably in it(and don't scream at me, i ADORE jack) was that he can be a cold blooded sob when he needs to be.
it's never been said but i'd say having committed murder was in his past(sanctioned, following orders murder but murder none the less)
let's say jaffa were pouring through the gate and there was no way to stop them, jack would blow the place up in an instant.
and if these entities on another planet made it plain they were gunning for earth, he'd terminate them.
(bear in mind i ain't seen it yet)
maybe it's just me and maybe it's a bad day(just had a really bad experience at the grocery and i'm still ticked off) but i for one can see jack snapping someone's neck like you see in the movies. Teal'c too, Sam would probably perfer to shoot them and daniel only would if they were threatening someone.
basically i'm betting there's been a point in jack's past when he's had to kill someone in cold blood.

 

[Cat]

I agree, Skydiver. There's been hints all along that Jack has some pretty unmentionable things in his past. Given the things he's had training in, it's not hard to imagine that assassination, termination etc etc and all those other euphemisms for murder would be in there.

The decision to kill Alar in The Other Side was made relatively quickly. He didn't appear to torture himself - will I? won't? will I? won't I?. He just made the decision. That indicates that he's been in that sort of situation before and made that sort of decision before.

There's definitely alot there to explore.

 

[kelsi]

Sorry, just a quick off topic post - Yeah, why did they kill Alar? Why not let him come through, and get some technology off him? And does anyone else think it's a bit 'strange' how they haven't actually got any 'technological advances' other than zat's, in nearly four series?

 

[skydiver]

they made the decision not to let him through becuase of his beliefs and actions. he'd led the movement that poisoned the atmosphere of euronda. he gathered up his little group of 'pure' folk, set up his bunker and proceeded to atempt to murder the rest of the planet, all the 'unpure'.
he was a racist and a mass murderer...and do you really think he would have changed if he'd come back?
chances are within a few years he'd use his millions gained from sharing tech to buy himself his own little compound and start all over again.
he's been compared to hitler 50 years later, a more technologically advanced hitler but hitler none the less.

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by Jaxie
Anyone condsidered that he may have been christened 'Jonathon'?

I'm not nitpicking here- just letting you know 'cause you might be interested, so don't take it the wrong way.


(Season four spoiler you might want to skip over)
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In "The Entity" something electronic comes through the gate and looks through the records. I paused my video when it was looking at Jack's.
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He was christened John O'Neill

with two L's, because sometimes that's unsure too.

Sorry, Sorry I've just seen Gategeek has already done this.
Anyway, I tried to read the DOB but it is just too small!

We should move this to the YKWYWTMS thread - everyone has been rewinding and pausing their videos just to read some tiny numbers - very sad!

[Edited by david676 on 02-03-2001 at 04:49 PM]