![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So...if you have two versions of an episode (one slightly longer than the other), which do you put on the DVD? Come on, people; this is an easy question. Or maybe this is the question: does the extended version of Threads actually exist? Or is it fannish glee made up by gateworld.net? This is actually a rant that I've been saving up since I saw the rest of season 8, although now that it's here it doesn't sound particularly ranty. Any comments/insight/get-a-life comments accepted here.
Also, and this is totally obvious, I know, and I really knew it before this, I swear, I just hadn't put it into words: Jack pretends to be dumb, but is quite smart. (That's not the observation, hang on, we're getting there.) He works with three very intelligent people--you can tell because Daniel talks a lot about what he knows, Carter can figure anything out and will tell you about it if you don't save her from herself, and Teal'c rarely says anything, proving he's actually the most intelligent of all three. (Still moving toward the observation, I promise.) But none of them laugh at his jokes. Sure, they might make faces (Daniel), roll their eyes and/or half-smile (Carter), or raise an eyebrow (Teal'c), but nobody laughs, thus proving that they're all in on the joke and are deliberately acting as straight man.
Of course, this is completely obvious on the level that we, as the audience, watch the show. We know that Jack is funny, and we laugh appropriately at him. What is amazing is that real people laugh all the time at funny things--the characters on the show ought to, too. (And yes, I know that no one on dramas ever laughs at jokes--does anyone know why? In fanfic, characters are allowed to laugh...) Anyway, I was struck by the idea that perhaps these characters deliberately play along with Jack--after all, the only time you don't laugh at a funny joke? When you're playing to another audience. Which of course makes my whole argument a moote point, but I'm going to stop here and think of the mounds of fanfic that could result from Hammond realizing that this whole time, SG-1 has just been trying to get him to let loose and laugh. Or maybe Kinsey, because God knows that man could use a little humor in his life.)
Oh, and just as an aside: how can you tell Jack is smart? Because the smart people he works with defer to him as their leader. Most of the time, and with great reluctance half of the time, but they follow his lead nevertheless.
The end.
Of course, this is completely obvious on the level that we, as the audience, watch the show. We know that Jack is funny, and we laugh appropriately at him. What is amazing is that real people laugh all the time at funny things--the characters on the show ought to, too. (And yes, I know that no one on dramas ever laughs at jokes--does anyone know why? In fanfic, characters are allowed to laugh...) Anyway, I was struck by the idea that perhaps these characters deliberately play along with Jack--after all, the only time you don't laugh at a funny joke? When you're playing to another audience. Which of course makes my whole argument a moote point, but I'm going to stop here and think of the mounds of fanfic that could result from Hammond realizing that this whole time, SG-1 has just been trying to get him to let loose and laugh. Or maybe Kinsey, because God knows that man could use a little humor in his life.)
Oh, and just as an aside: how can you tell Jack is smart? Because the smart people he works with defer to him as their leader. Most of the time, and with great reluctance half of the time, but they follow his lead nevertheless.
The end.
