Jack's real name

[Torie2]

When in the show was his real name, Jonathan, ever used? I have seen a lot of episodes and i don't remember hearing it.

[Colonel Carter]

I don't recall it ever being used.

[Anissa T]

Me either. Had always assumed Jack was his real name.

[Paty Jackson]

Apparently, he doesn't use the full name because he don't like it. Besides, everyone knows him as Jack.

[Silk Pantera]

Yeah I heard that from my friend Michael, he told me it was on one of the special features on the season disks, I thought that was weird, I haven't heard him use it ever.

Laura

[Livia Sabina]

He's Jonathan in any of the official novels where his name is mentioned, but he's John on his ID badge in 'Fragile Balance'.

He's always called Jack - even when they were getting the medals in 'Secrets' he was 'Jack', but Sam was 'Samantha'.

[Silk Pantera]

Hey, that is just confusing, I can understand a nickname but you would think that they would use the full name while giving out metals.

Laura

[Livia Sabina]

He was Jonathan in the movie, but then again, his surname only had one 'L' in it and Charlie was Tyler.

[Silk Pantera]

Really? I hadn't thought about the Charlie/Tyler thing. That it really confusing. I read about the reasoning for the one 'L' thing in the Magazine but I hadn't noticed the other.

Laura

[Livia Sabina]

Why did they change to two Ls?

[Colonel Carter]

I don't know.

We could call him Jackie Boy. :)

[Silk Pantera]

Umm.. they changed the two L's because....

Official Stargate magazine: Com Chatter

Response to a fans inquiry


O'Neill is spelt with two 'll's' in Stargate SG-1 deliberately to defferentiate from the character in the film. The Stargate SG-1 series and feature film are different entities legally as well as in tone and creative direction. The actual quote is "It's O'Neill, with two l's. There's another Colonel O'Neil with only one 'l'. He has no sense of humor at all." Richard Dean Anderson wanted to create a different character to Kurt Russell's film version, and spelling his name differently was just one way of accomplishing that.

Well there you have it! Said straight from the magazine.

Laura

[Colonel Carter]

Can you imagine if Richard Dean Anderson had tried to mimmick Kurt Russell's portrayal of the character?

As Rick said one time, there's no way he could do his hair that way. Richard Dean Anderson isn't the kind of actor who would enjoy playing a dark, depressed character for a long series. He can act that way when an episode and/or scene calls for it, but he clearly enjoys being a wise guy.

[Livia Sabina]

I can't imagine Richard Dean Anderson playing Kurt Russell's Jack O'Neil longterm.

The Kurt Russell O'Neil was great for the movie and made a lot of sense given what we knew of his history, but I think that the lighter Richard Dean Anderson O'Neill was better for the TV series.

[Colonel Carter]

I don't know. I think if Kurt Russell had portrayed Jack in the tv series that the show would have done as well as it has with Richard. Just look at the tv show 24, they put famouse movie star Kiefer Sutherland in the leading role and now I think they're going into their 5th season. Kurt's an even bigger celebrity than Kiefer, so I think the show would have flourished.

Kurt would not have continued to be as dark as he was in the movie. We saw that by the end of the film, his mood had lightened considerably, he even smiled at Daniel before he went back through the Stargate. And we've seen movies where Kurt Russell plays a lot lighter character roles.

So we know that if Kurt played Jack for the tv series, he would have lightened up. However, I think Kurt would have portrayed Jack in a much more authoritative way than Richard.

So I think Kurt Russell would have done an awesome job if he had been chosen to play Jack in the show. It would be different than Richard but I don't think worse.

But can you imagine Kurt Russell's Jack falling in love with Amanda Tapping's Sam?

[Livia Sabina]

I wonder what it would have been like if they had had Kurt Russell do a cameo appearance on the series, maybe as the other O'Neil - or he could have played himself playing Colonel Danning in 'Wormhole X-treme'.

[Anissa T]

That would have been sweet. I could totally picture Kurt Russell doing that too. Still not too late for a cameo.

[Colonel Carter]

Hey, they could cast Kurt as a two star general who takes over Atlantis!

[Anissa T]

Now, that I could handle.

[Livia Sabina]

Hey, they could cast Kurt as a two star general who takes over Atlantis!

That would be pretty cool.

[colonel Mitchell]

u could go to www.scifipedia.scifi.com type in stargate click on oneill and find a load of info on him like hes been shot six times