Jack's Dumbest Moment

[Broccoli]

Over the years, Jack became goofier and goofier. Even though I liked that later years of SG-1 more than others, I still realize that his character really shifted into the comedy more by playing up his "dumbness". Most of the time, it was genuinely funny. However, there were some moments that Jack's apparent lack of intelligence was just too over the top.

For you, loyal viewers, what moment do you think was too over the top or, as the post title suggests, was Jack's dumbest moment?

For me, it actually goes back to the season 4. "Window of Opportunity". Now, I love this episode. It is probably my favorite, ironically enough. However, the fact that Jack tried to audio record a conversation that he and Daniel had in order to preserve it for the next time loop was way over-the-top. That was too dumb, even for Jack.

 

[scorpius1701]

I was tremendously annoyed by the lack of professionalism in later seasons. Jack was always a bit of a sarcastic goof but it was always tempered with competence and actual intelligence. The goofiness was a kind of defense mechanism. This changed when the writers got kind of lazy later on. In particular i have to point to the Season 7 premiere when theyre trying to figure out how to blow up Anubis's weapon. Something to do with a trench run or something. Anyhow Jack gets up, declares the plan is crazy and everyone to put their hands up if they think theres no chance in hell of it working. If I were Hammond, the meeting would be immediately over, Jack is getting a huge reprimand and reassignment. If you are in the military, you dont ever allude to doubts about a success. especially not to your subordinates who are going to be carrying this out with you. If he really had an issue, he should have seen Hammond in private. Completely unprofessional and was a real detriment to the character.

Being chronically unable to take the enemy seriously is weakness of the character which translates to the audience. How many of us took the Goa'uld seriously by the end of season 6? I didnt because nobody on SG1 seemed to.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Yeah, I agree with the unprofessionalism in that scene. If I was Carter, I would have been very, very pissed. She is explaining this entire plan (one that, I would think, she took great pains to develop) and in one full swoop, Jack destroys it, and somewhat cuts her down.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I was tremendously annoyed by the lack of professionalism in later seasons.

Along the same lines, this is one thing I hate about the ep "Zero Hour". The entire episode shows O'Neill being a complete slacker. He's the commander of the base and yet he does not read any personel files (he asks Walter to read them for him). He wanders aimlessly like he does not have a clue what to do. He spends most of the episode trying to write a letter of resignation. O'neill comes across as completely unprofessional.

 

[Harvey]

I always thought that O'niell's speech in Red Sky was embarassing and out of character, even for Jack. The whole concept of the character is that he's a smart guy who assumes the identity of a moron as a defense mechanism. When they just make him into a moron, it's painful to watch.

 

[Sephiroth]

i think we need a "you just got O'neill'd" macro

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

"There's no redundancy for that system."

"So you're saying there's no redundancy?"

One of Jack's best ripostes.

Mark

 

[scorpius1701]

Oh and when he pops out of the Stargate in that Season 6 episode to try and trade for tretonin all "Hiya folks!" You are right in that his moronic exterior is a defense mechanism. When he actually BECOMES the moron, hes pretty bad. Oh and as another example, when he turns and waves to the Jaffa pursuers in "The Other Guys" he barely dodges a staff blast. It would totally have served him right if he got killed right then.

 

[roguephoenix]

i think it's much easier to ask "jack's smartest moment" as there are less of those to list. sorry to all jack fans but i didn't think he was a vital member of the team. he was just there for dumb relief. was glad to see him go.

 

[Lindley]

"There's no redundancy for that system."

"So you're saying there's no redundancy?"

One of Jack's best ripostes.

Mark

I dunno....I still think this was better:

"You ended that sentence with a preposition.....BASTARD!"

 

[backstept]

MAGNETS!

 

[biotech]

Well he spent most of the first season holding his binoculars the wrong way round..

 

[Kpnuts]

Jack's dumbest moment?

Seasons 7 to 10.