Stargate SG-1′s Very Best Jack O’Neill Episodes

Colonel Jack O’Neill isn’t just the SG-1 team leader and chief quipper — he’s an inspiration to many, a hero who shows courage and devotion to his people along with his acerbic wit.

After Kurt Russell originated the role in 1994’s Stargate movie, veteran television actor Richard Dean Anderson stepped into Jack’s boots in 1997 and made the role his own. RDA brought an army of fans from his MacGyver days, and helped to make Stargate SG-1 one of the best genre series of all time.

Here we’re counting down our five absolute favorite episodes that focus in some way on Jack O’Neill’s character in particular. There is a lot to pick from, and your views on what constitutes a “Jack episode” may vary. (It’s a little hard to decide when an episode is Jack-centric, or Jack is just up front in a team story because he’s the leader of SG-1.) So take a look at our list, and then post your top five picks below!

Here’s a controversial pick to start us off. SG-1 visits a peaceful, agrarian society on the planet Edora, where a meteor strike ends up burying the Stargate and leaving Jack O’Neill cut off from Earth for more than three months. While Major Carter and the team struggle to figure out a way to rescue him, Jack — a man of action who has dedicated his life to fighting the Goa’uld and protecting Earth — is forced to come to terms with the reality that he might never leave this world.

“A Hundred Days” divided fandom a bit when it first premiered in February of 2000, since it cut Jack off from Sam and ‘shipped him with another woman (Laira, played by Michele Greene). But Laira remains an important piece in the character’s history, in what might have been, and so ultimately in the relationship with Sam that would continue to grow in future seasons.

Whenever the writers paired Anderson with guest star Tom McBeath, a certain kind of magic was sure to follow. McBeath played Harry Maybourne, who over the course of the show went from an unscrupulous N.I.D. officer (and one-dimensional thorn in SG-1’s side) to a lovable scoundrel and sometimes ally.

In the Season Six episode “Paradise Lost” Maybourne has been on the lam, and comes to Stargate Command offering to trade alien technology and intel for a pardon. But when the device is plugged into an alien archway on another planet Maybourne makes his move, escaping through a portal … and inadvertently taking Jack along for the ride.

The rest of the episode finds Jack and Harry trapped in the remains of what was supposed to be an alien utopia. And what little trust remains between the two men is frayed even further when they begin to eat a plant that makes them highly paranoid. Jack is left to find a way out and stop a rampaging Maybourne — preferably without killing him.

One of the very best episodes that centered on Jack O’Neill’s character doesn’t actually feature series star Richard Dean Anderson. In this Season Seven episode a teenage version of Jack turns up at the S.G.C., insisting to his team that he is the Colonel. Is this the result of alien de-aging technology? an alternate universe? or maybe he traded bodies with this kid? Stranger things have happened during SG-1’s travels!

Guest star Michael Welch steals the show with his portrayal of Jack trapped in a child’s body. He has to navigate not only General Hammond and the rest of SG-1, but also give a briefing to a room full of F-302 pilots who don’t take him seriously. And when the team finally discovers what is going on — and which Asgard has been experimenting with his genes — Anderson returns to wrap up the episode alongside his pint-sized counterpart.

“Fragile Balance” is funny, fascinating, and emotional — a perfect episode of Stargate, and an ingenious way to give the show’s leading man some time off.

Stargate‘s writers cracked the show’s growing mythology wide open in this fan-favorite episode in Season Two. SG-1 gates into a sealed room with a mysterious object on the wall — which proceeds to grab Colonel O’Neill’s head and download the library of the Ancients into his tiny human brain. As the knowledge slowly unspools in his head Jack begins speaking the alien’s language (losing the falatus to speak properly!). He feels compelled to take certain actions (inputting new gate addresses into the base computer, and constructing a mysterious energy device). And it soon becomes clear that Jack’s mind cannot handle what is happening to him: if his friends can’t find a way to save him, he will die.

The episode’s climax sees Jack dial the very first 8-symbol address we had ever seen on the show, throwing him hundreds of light years to another galaxy. This brings him to that memorable encounter with a colony of Asgard, who save O’Neill’s life and tell him that humanity has great potential.

There are even more hints here for the future of Jack’s story, including his relationship with the Asgard. “The Fifth Race” shines because it opens us up to a bigger galaxy, shows the team risking their lives for one of their own, and makes our characters realize how much they will depend upon their allies.

After SG-1 is infected by a deadly plague in the episode “Frozen,” Jack is forced to allow a Tok’ra symbiote to blend with him as its host in order to save his life. But this act has unforeseen consequences: the Tok’ra Kanan is confronted by Jack’s most deeply held values, setting up a high-risk rescue mission. This is where “Abyss” picks up, finding Jack (now no longer a host) a prisoner of the ruthless System Lord Baal (guest star Cliff Simon).

This is an easy pick for Jack O’Neill’s finest hour. Tortured and interrogated by the enemy, with seemingly no hope of escape, Jack’s character is revealed as his courage and humor are brutally press through the ringer. Baal kills O’Neill again and again, using a sarcophagus to revive him and start all over again. Only prison visits from his ascended friend, Daniel Jackson, provides Jack with words of encouragement … but it’s not enough. Without hope, and fearing he will put someone else’s life in danger by breaking under torture, Jack asks Daniel to end it for good.

Once again, Jack displays courage and wit as his life is on the line here — and once again, he finally has to rely on his team to save him. Against all odds SG-1 finds a way to give him a fighting chance. And that’s all he needs, because he’s Jack O’Neill.

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What are your Top 5 favorite Jack O’Neill episodes? Post them down below in the comments!