Fragile Balance

A fifteen-year old teenager appears at the SGC claiming to be Jack O 'Neill. General Hammond, Samantha, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson are reluctant in the beginning, but the teenager has knowledge of classified information. When Dr. Fraiser learns that he has O'Neill's DNA, they decide to investigate what happened. He recalls a dream where he was abducted by the Asgard and the medical examination shows that he is dying. The SGC summons Jacob that proposes to put the boy into stasis, but he does not accept. What has happened to Jack O'Neill?

"Fragile Balance" is one of the best recent episodes of "Stargate SG-1" with an intriguing storyline. The plot is very well developed and the conclusion is corny, but satisfactory. My vote is seven.

Title (Beazil): "Fragile Balance"

This episode has humor and the Asgard's which is ideal entertainment. I loved the actor who played young O'Neill. He got both the gestures and timing perfectly. The ending was perfect too; everyone's dream. Don't miss it!

It's not only finding a young actor to be a younger version of Richard Dean Anderson, we have to be convinced it's the same guy.

And we were convinced by Michael Welch. Every word that comes from his mouth is as if uttered by Jack - Every move, every inflection, every facial expression down to the donning of the sunglasses. The hardest part was convincing us, and this show succeeds more than any other TV show or movie where this gimmick was used or ab-used. In fact, the only other time this gimmick was used to a high level of success was in the Star Trek: Next Generation episode "Rascals".

But Young Jack is remembering something - Four green lights. It comes to him as if in Deja-Vu.

How did Jack come to be in this state? The fact is, nobody knows, until Jackson gets all Mulder on us and goes through some X-Files, where he finds several similar accounts. Interviews with these former Abductees reveal many similarities. including the four lights - Not five, but four (read the Trivia section for this episode).

Peter DeLuise makes a voice appearance as one of the skinny butted aliens that love Jack- And this one is not always on the level, which Norse God could that be?

I've got to compliment Michael Welch for his portrayal of Jack O'Neil. He must have studied and practiced his mannerisms for hours to get them right. But he was spot on with his little quirks and movements and voice inflections. It was hilarious watching him keep pulling his pants up at the first of the show.

There are several homages to different movies and TV shows. See if you can pick them out! If you cant, then go to the trivia section of this page. It was very interesting, at least to me.

I think they kind of went off the reservation when he escaped and tried to buy beer and ended up going fishing. They could have left that part out.

At that song at the end, wow! I heard it and had to find out what it was and who did it. It's Lily Frost singing "Who Am I". It went perfectly with that scene, and him going to maneuver through high school as a lad. Probably one of the writers or producers had heard Lily Frost, as she's Canadian and SG1 was filmed in Canada.

It's my favorite episode and I've watched it over and over. It's well worth the time to watch it!

While definitely an off storyline it brings up some interesting moral questions. The acting from the kid was spot on, way to step in for one episode and nail the performance.