Post by B5Erik on Aug 16, 2015 0:53:59 GMT
Will the real Jack O'Neill please stand up.
Only a few of you will get the reference, and if you do you're well over 40...
Stargate - A fairly clever attempt at recreating the Hollywood Epic in a Sci-Fi setting on a reasonable budget. It featured a solid cast, including James Spader as unconventional archaeologist Daniel Jackson, and Kurt Russell as Col. Jack O'Neill.
Stargate: SG1 - A very clever reworking of the movie into a TV series. A series that many (possibly most) fans consider superior to the movie. The TV series cast a very talented Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson, and MacGyver himself, Richard Dean Anderson, as Jack O'Neill.
Now, Kurt Russell can be funny. He's good at comedy, and can be very lighthearted and somewhat goofy when the part calls for it. In Stargate, however, the character was written as very dour. Cold, depressed, and still reeling from the accidental death of his son (who accidentally shot himself with Col. O'Neill's own gun which the younger O'Neill found in the house). This Col. O'Neill was not at all lighthearted, and he didn't show much of a sense of humor. He's a badass who starts the movie pretty much pissed at the world, and ends the movie as a badass who may have found that he wants to live after all.
On the flip side, Richard Dean Anderson is a world class smartass and wisecracker. He can be dramatic when the part calls for it, but his forte is the less than serious quips in stressful situations. One would think that he would be miscast in such a downer, depressed to the point of anger kind of role. He's a smartass, not a badass.
But he was cast on SG1 as Jack O'Neill. That called for some thoughtful writing to make the change in styles work.
And that's just what the writers and producers came up with for the series. Jack O'Neill in the series is another year removed from his son's death. He is finally coming to terms with it and starting to live his life again. He's still not 100% happy, and he's not lighthearted, but he's just one assignment and a new group of co-workers away from regaining his lost sense of humor. The character starts off the series more serious than he would end up a year later, but he's not as serious or dark as he was in the movie. And Richard Dean Anderson gives performances early in Season 1 of SG1 that do bridge how Kurt Russell played him, and how Anderson would end up playing him by the end of the season.
By the end of the first season Jack O'Neill is a full on smartass. He takes his job seriously, and he doesn't underestimate the perils he faces, but he has a sense of humor that almost reflects a man who doesn't care as much as most people whether or not he lives or dies. He wants to live, and he wants to succeed in his missions, but he also sees the ridiculousness of some of the situations he finds himself in knowing the consequences of failure. He's still a bit of the badass that Kurt Russell played, but he's lightened up quite a bit. And that's part of the reason why e comes across like more of a real person in many ways than Kurt Russell's Jack O'Neill (who is almost suicidal and very much willing to die if that means successfully accomplishing his mission).
Russell's performance is good. Very good. But his Jack O'Neill isn't as likeable a character as Richard Dean Anderson's would become, and that was by design.
Ultimately, Russell, though a fantastic actor with a ton of gravitas, comes up short when compared to Anderson. It's not really a fair comparison in some respects since Anderson had 175 or so episodes to play O'Neill (and he really had the character down pat by episode 10 or so), and Russell only had the one movie to create the character and didn't get a chance to take him any farther.
So while Richard Dean Anderson is pretty clearly the better Jack O'Neill, Kurt Russell still did a very good job with the script he had to work from.
Only a few of you will get the reference, and if you do you're well over 40...
Stargate - A fairly clever attempt at recreating the Hollywood Epic in a Sci-Fi setting on a reasonable budget. It featured a solid cast, including James Spader as unconventional archaeologist Daniel Jackson, and Kurt Russell as Col. Jack O'Neill.
Stargate: SG1 - A very clever reworking of the movie into a TV series. A series that many (possibly most) fans consider superior to the movie. The TV series cast a very talented Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson, and MacGyver himself, Richard Dean Anderson, as Jack O'Neill.
Now, Kurt Russell can be funny. He's good at comedy, and can be very lighthearted and somewhat goofy when the part calls for it. In Stargate, however, the character was written as very dour. Cold, depressed, and still reeling from the accidental death of his son (who accidentally shot himself with Col. O'Neill's own gun which the younger O'Neill found in the house). This Col. O'Neill was not at all lighthearted, and he didn't show much of a sense of humor. He's a badass who starts the movie pretty much pissed at the world, and ends the movie as a badass who may have found that he wants to live after all.
On the flip side, Richard Dean Anderson is a world class smartass and wisecracker. He can be dramatic when the part calls for it, but his forte is the less than serious quips in stressful situations. One would think that he would be miscast in such a downer, depressed to the point of anger kind of role. He's a smartass, not a badass.
But he was cast on SG1 as Jack O'Neill. That called for some thoughtful writing to make the change in styles work.
And that's just what the writers and producers came up with for the series. Jack O'Neill in the series is another year removed from his son's death. He is finally coming to terms with it and starting to live his life again. He's still not 100% happy, and he's not lighthearted, but he's just one assignment and a new group of co-workers away from regaining his lost sense of humor. The character starts off the series more serious than he would end up a year later, but he's not as serious or dark as he was in the movie. And Richard Dean Anderson gives performances early in Season 1 of SG1 that do bridge how Kurt Russell played him, and how Anderson would end up playing him by the end of the season.
By the end of the first season Jack O'Neill is a full on smartass. He takes his job seriously, and he doesn't underestimate the perils he faces, but he has a sense of humor that almost reflects a man who doesn't care as much as most people whether or not he lives or dies. He wants to live, and he wants to succeed in his missions, but he also sees the ridiculousness of some of the situations he finds himself in knowing the consequences of failure. He's still a bit of the badass that Kurt Russell played, but he's lightened up quite a bit. And that's part of the reason why e comes across like more of a real person in many ways than Kurt Russell's Jack O'Neill (who is almost suicidal and very much willing to die if that means successfully accomplishing his mission).
Russell's performance is good. Very good. But his Jack O'Neill isn't as likeable a character as Richard Dean Anderson's would become, and that was by design.
Ultimately, Russell, though a fantastic actor with a ton of gravitas, comes up short when compared to Anderson. It's not really a fair comparison in some respects since Anderson had 175 or so episodes to play O'Neill (and he really had the character down pat by episode 10 or so), and Russell only had the one movie to create the character and didn't get a chance to take him any farther.
So while Richard Dean Anderson is pretty clearly the better Jack O'Neill, Kurt Russell still did a very good job with the script he had to work from.
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