Jedediah

Jedediah

• NatM 1-3
• Kahmunrah Rises Again
• Video Game
• DS Port

Full Name

Jedediah Smith

Born

Unknown, circa 1800s, 1800 years after Octavius (person, not physically)

Known for

Cowboy
Wild West Leader

Home

Museum of Natural History, New York

Occupation

Cowboy
Museum Exhibit

Portrayed by

Owen Wilson

“I ain’t quittin’ you!”

―Jedediah to Octavius

Jedediah is a petty cowboy in the Wild West Diorama and the rival, later bestfriend and hinted/implied crush of Octavius. He appears as a supporting character in Night at the Museum, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, and Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again and the deuteragonist of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: The Video Game.

Background

Jedediah, or Jed, is a true at heart cowboy. He is cheerful, clumsy and bodacious.. He likes riding horses, expanding and protecting his territory, and blowing stuff up, even if he is only a few inches tall and made of plastic. He's sarcastic and likes to think he's bigger than he really is, mentally and physically. But he's brave and strong, always there to help or be annoying while he sits in your shirt pocket.

According to how he describes it, him and his people wage war with Octavius, the Roman general whose diorama sits next door, and his people, presumably every night, to "past the time". Jed and Octavius do not get along and are unwilling to cooperate due to their apparent differences. However, after Larry gets them to see past their differences and recognize what they have in common, they work together with him and the others, eventually creating a close friendship with each other. The two, rarely seen apart from each other, would go on to risk their lives more than once for the good of their friends.

Appearances

Night at the Museum

Jedediah has a minor role in the movie, due to being uncredited from the end credits.

Jedediah and Octavius rising from snow.

He is a cowboy in The Hall of Miniatures. He and his men capture Larry after he is hit by miniature darts fired by the miniature figurines from the Mayan diorama. After the Politician there spoke of their dioramas getting locked up at night, Jedediah tries to split his head with a train, but fails as the train is only a miniature. He tries to shoot Larry in the eye, but to his embarrassment, his guns don't work. He fights with Octavius in the beginning of the film. After Larry is rescued by Theodore Roosevelt, Jedediah states that he won't protect him forever.

Jedediah saying “I ain’t quittin’ you!” to Octavius

During Larry's second night working as a security guard, Larry grabs Jedediah and Octavius in order to keep their dioramas from feuding. Larry tells them that they better behave or else they will end up like their "friends" from the Mayan Diorama, which Larry previously locked up. This doesn't work when Dexter steals Larry's keys again and releases the Mayans, resulting in all three dioramas ending up in a feud. When it comes to reclaiming the Tablet of Ahkmenrah from Cecil Fredericks, Gus, and Reginald, Jedediah and Octavius end up becoming friends. He is thought to be dead when the car he and Octavius are driving gets thrown into a snow bank thus exploding, but is shown to be alive later on.

Battle of the Smithsonian

Octavius asking Jedediah if he wants to take a walk.

Jedediah has a bigger role in the sequel than his role in the previous movie, being credited for the first time.

Along with many of the other exhibits, he is shipped to the Smithsonian Archives to be put in storage. He somehow manages to learn how to use the phone and calls Larry, begging for help when Kahmunrah and his guards start attacking the exhibits in the Smithsonian, trying to get the Tablet.

Jedediah trapped in an hourglass as Octavius is there to save him.

The next night in the movie leads to both Jedediah and Octavius escaping out of shipping container that most of the exhibits from their museum are in, wanting to help Larry out with fighting Kahmunrah. This leads into Jedediah's capture as the guards outside the container hear the pair, leading Jedediah to push his good friend, Octavius, out the way to sacrifice himself for the Roman's safety. He is then trapped in an hourglass by Kahmunrah when he tried to help Larry, and Kahmunrah uses his release as part of a bargain with Larry.

However, Octavius, his close friend, frees him during the Battle of the Smithsonian, and the two fight Kahmunrah's armies. When they find out that they won the battle, they hug each other. Jedediah becomes embarrassed, and pulls away. At the very end of the film, he is seen piloting a miniature plane with Octavius as a passenger.

Secret of the Tomb

Jed is one of the exhibits who are featured in an evening event being hosted at the American Museum of Natural History by Larry. When the tablet starts to corrode, Jed goes out of control alongside the other museum exhibits.

Jedediah and Octavius facing lava

After traveling to London, Jed and Octavius fall into a ventilation shaft at the British Museum. Before they willingly accept their fate, Octavius asks him to hold his hand. He is confused, and after they are saved, Octavius refuses to acknowledge he said anything. Jedediah knows otherwise. Dexter is sent by Larry to go and rescue the two miniature figures. He and Octavius see Dexter's shadow and jump down a grate in fear. Jed and Octavius land in a Pompeii exhibit just as the model Mount Vesuvius erupts, leading the two to become trapped within the exhibit. They are saved by Dexter.

Jedediah taking Octavius’s hand

At the end of the film, Jed returns home to the Museum of Natural History, accepting that he will stay as a plastic miniature after dawn breaks. He, however, wakes up when the tablet arrives back at the museum. He is last seen dancing on the records with Octavius.

Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again

Jedediah has a more major role in this film compared to some of the others, even if the run time for this film is at least 30 minutes shorter compared to the rest of them. He is one of the main characters, always being next to his good friend, Octavius, as they help battle against Kahmunrah. Later on, they even manage to befriend an Egyptian cat in the movie, riding on it as if it were a horse throughout the rest of the movie.

In the beginning of the movie, Jedediah (along with Octavius) are one of the handful of exhibits that scare off the new night guard away, being seen with everyone else in a celebration for how they broke their record of scaring new employed night guards away.

Jedediah showing concern over Octavius after he fell.

Octavius showing defeat after he can't open the candy bar.

Later on, when Nick is hired as the night guard for the museum, Jedediah and Octavius are heard by the Easter Island head and Nick, with Octavius yelling and Jedediah making a 'yee-haa!' like sound. The screen then goes over to them, to where the pair are seen at a vending machine with Octavius giving a small speech and Jed letting out another 'yee-haa' as he lassos his rope in the air. While the miniature pair try to get a candy bar out of the machine, they fail, which leads them into seeing Nick as he gets them a candy bar. After the pair gets it and has Nick open it, Oct cuts out 2 pieces for them which they eat. In this scene, Jedediah is heard saying- "I love me my nuggets" in his accent.

Octavius and Jedediah getting ready to attack Kahmunrah.

After Nicky failed to lock the basement and accidentally let Kahmunrah out, Jedediah is seen with Octavius in the Hall of Miniatures, having a catapult with a pair of scissors in the back so it can launch. In the scene we see Jedediah sitting on top of the scissors, ready to cut the rope as Octavius is inside of the catapult launcher, with Jed speaking out to get Kahmunrah's attention. After Octavius talks out to Kahmunrah, he tells Jed to fire, leading into Jedediah jumping and cutting the rope, which causes the catapult to throw Octavius into the air and attack his feet.

Due to them being able to stop Kahmunrah for a moment, the rest of the gang reaches them. Nick then offers his hand to Jedediah and Octavius, letting them ride inside the uniform's front pocket as they chase after Kahmunrah. This leads into Nick, Attila, Laaa, Dexter, Teddy, Sacagawea, Jedediah, Octavius and Joan of Arc chasing Kahmunrah to both stop him in his tracks and get the tablet back.

After Laaa accidentally has the gate close down in front of them, the group gets stuck behind it, which lets Kahmunrah escape from the museum after he gets flung out by Rexy. Since they need a way out, Jedediah says he's got it and pulls out a stick of dynamite and lights it, sticking it into the lock of the gate's door as he tells everyone to stay back, jumping to the ground next to Octavius as he does so. Expectedly, nothing happens as the lock is still there, the dynamite only leaving a trail of smoke as the group just stands there. Due to his failure, Joan says that they'll need a bigger cowboy, which obviously offends Jedediah.

Jedediah talking to Octavius about the pirate and his lizard.

A few scenes later, Jedediah, along with everyone else in the group, is sitting on the subway to get to the Metropolis Art Museum to get the tablet back from Kahmunrah. Jed and Oct talk to one another about the man dressed as a pirate feeding a churro to a lizard, with Jed saying the man is a weirdo while Octavius says the Lizard won't ever make it as a real ballerina. Due to his comment, the Lizard gives them an evil look, causing them to sink into Nick's pocket out of view.

When the group, consisting of Teddy, Nick, Sacagawea, Laaa, Attila, Joan of Arc, Dexter, Jedediah and Octavius, enter the museum, Jedediah seems to act in a more 'dumbed down' compared to the first three movies, with his stating that- "Woo Yee, this place is big". This leads to Octavius saying how everything is big to them, with Jed replying back- "Oh yeah".

Jed speaking to Oct with 'cowboy slang'

Right as they go inside the photo-turned-portal of Ancient Egypt, Jedediah is heard saying- "Woo-Wee! My first portal!". When everyone is inside of an Ancient Egypt Exhibit and walking through the desert, Nick starts to say they will never find Kahmunrah, Leading Jedediah to say- "Looks like Nick's got a little hitch in his giddyap". Later on when the group finds themselves inside the Temple of the Sun, Jedediah talks to Octavius about how, and I quote, "This place is mustier than Sunday britches on a Friday polecat". This leads Octavius to ask if that is an actual saying or if he makes them up which Jedediah responds with how he makes it up, saying that he doesn't know what a polecat is but it sounds 'cowboy-ish'.

When the group faces Kahmunrah along with Seth again, they are placed in front of two giant bird guards that Kahmunrah had summoned, leading Nick to worry as the others prepare to fight. This is where Jedediah talks to Octavius about how he needs their help with the fight, and while Octavius tells him he only stood 40% of it, the pair still ups out of Nick's pocket to help fight, leading them to only charge a few steps before a guard slams his staff down, causing them to fall and slide down a hole. This leads them into another room after they exit the hole, only to be confronted by an Egyptian cat which hisses loudly at them, causing both Octaivus and Jedediah to scream loudly.

Oct complimenting Jed

As the cat hisses and tries to attack them, they dodge it, only for a cobra to be behind them and hiss at them, which causes them to scream in a loud and high pitched tone. Then, the cat and cobra basically threaten both Jedediah and Octavius together, trying to attack them as the pair say their 'last goodbyes'. While Jed speaks, he says that he hopes that Octavius' armor will give them stomach aches, leading Octavius to call him a- "Sweet, simple, genius" before throwing his helmet into the cobra's mouth. With that, Jedediah also uses his rope and lassos it onto the cobra's mouth, forcing it to choke on the helmet before spitting it back out and running away. While they cheer in victory, the cat hisses at them, causing them to hold one another for safety, before the cat just licks their faces and is friendly towards them.

Jedediah and Octavius attack guards by hitting them in the face with a flashlight.

When everyone (except for Jedediah and Octavius) confront Kahmunrah right before he puts the code in, Jedediah and Octavius, who are now riding on the Egyptian cat, comes out a hole in the building and attack Seth, causing the God of Chaos to fall to the ground as the trio now go back to the others. Then, when everyone fights the guards that Kahmunrah had summoned, Jed and Oct help fight, Jedediah using his lasso to pull one of the guards down to the ground with the help of Octavius. This quickly ends though, as they get surrounded by three of the guards before they get a hold of Nick's flashlight due to everyone throwing it around, allowing the pair to use Jed's lasso to hit 7 of Kahmunrah's guards in the face.

After Kahmunrah gets trapped back inside of the underworld, the group runs out the (now destroyed) temple, only for the sun to now be rising, leading everyone to hug goodbye before Nick figures out a way to travel back to the museum, leading Jedediah and everyone else to travel through it and be back home. Jedediah then says how Nick did well before riding away on the Egyptian cat with Octavius with him.

At the end of the movie where a dance party takes place, Jedediah and Octavius are riding on their cat before jumping off and dancing together on the floor for a while before getting back onto their cat and riding off.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Video Game)

DS Version

Jedediah frozen in action

In the DS port, Jedediah is first seen in the cutscene that starts the game, being on top of a closed box as he talks to Larry. He says how they are going to be shipped off to storage and that the tablet is going with the, before Larry says goodbye to him afterwards. In the next scene where we see Larry sleeping in bed, his phone rings to where we see Jedediah made the call. Jedediah says how Kahmunrah is Ahkmenrah’s evil brother and that he wants to use the tablet’s magic, asking Larry for help. Jedediah is seen once more when Larry makes it to the Smithsonian storage, with Jedediah standing on a box frozen in- ‘mid attack’.

Jedediah randomly appears once more in the very last cutscene of the game, being seen sitting between Larry and Amelia as Amelia uses her plane to fly them back to the Museum of Natural History. Jedediah yells out- "We're goin' home. Yee-haw!" before asking if New York is North of where they are flying, saying- "*Ahem* Ain't New York North o' these parts?" before getting a "Yes." from Larry.

Wii/PC/Xbox 360

In the majority of the consoles, Jedediah is first heard after Larry is back inside of the Museum of Natural History, when exhibits are coming to life. Jedediah is heard telling Larry to let them out of a box that they were put in, and once he does, we see Jedediah and Octavius. Jedediah starts off the conversation that leads into Larry greeting them before asking what's wrong. This leads into Octavius stating how they've been silenced since he left before Larry says he came as soon as he could when he found out where. Octavius calls the Federal Archives the- "Imperial Archives", leading Jedediah to correct him on that before telling Larry that he needs to pay Ahkmenrah a visit. Later on, Jed and Oct say bye to Larry as he will be leaving the museum soon.

The next time we see Jedediah is when he manages to call Larry at about 1:47 in the morning, telling him that they are at the archives and that Dexter had stolen the tablet. Then, as Larry asks what's going on before Jed says how Ahkmenrah had an evil brother but gets cut off. This leads Larry to go to Washington.

Way later on in the game when Larry is in the National Museum of Natural History, Kahmunrah makes an announcement over the museum's speakers, saying a little friend has some words for him. This 'little friend' is Jedediah, which when Jed speaks, he calls Kahmunrah a skunk and tells Larry to not listen to him before he gets muffled and Kahmunrah says time's up. Then the Pharaoh says how Jedediah will be getting a burial fit for a Pharaoh and that this is quite the honor for him, before he stops speaking. After Larry defeats Al Capone, we cut to a cutscene of Kahmunrah taunting Jedediah, calling him a 'little mouse-man' as he carries him over a tomb before dropping him. Once he does, he closes the top of it, leading to Jed coughing and stating how the place smells worse than a month's old long johns before realizing their's a rat in there, calling out for Larry.

Not too long after this cutscene, Larry and Octavius get to where Jedediah is, opening the tomb to reveal him unconscious. As Octavius says how he will avenge him, Jedediah gets up, calling them a sight for sore eyes and asks what took so long. This leads Larry to say how he had entered himself into a dinosaur rodeo, which Jed says 'another dinosaur' in a questioning manner before telling Larry- "Don't you ever learn?". Then, when Larry puts him into the same pocket as Octavius, he says to move over since he needs some elbow room. Due to this, Octavius elbows Jedediah and says that he needs to keep his elbows to himself but Jed says how he claims seniority over the pocket, leading Octavius to get mad and shout how he was there first. Due to their fighting, Larry tells them to chill since they have more important matters to deal with.

When Larry and them go back to the Air and Space Museum, Jedediah says a handful of phrases as commentary as Larry uses a rover to attack Napoleon's guards.

Jedediah isn't seen or heard from again until after Larry defeats Kahmunrah, popping out of his front pocket with Octavius as Oct says "Victory!". Jed then says "Ka-Chow!" before the pair do a fist bump. Then, we see everyone inside Amelia's plane, ready to be taken back home as Larry asks Amelia if she needs a map. This leads Jed to say that this ain't the time for- "moo-cow eyes" and to get the plane in the air. Then, with that, the plane flies back to the Museum of Natural History as we hear Jed ask about 'sasparilla' not being served on the plane. Once they get back home, Jedediah asks if Amelia is leaving the right way before saying how Larry has to head inside for a party.

Real-Life Basis

TBD/To be written

Gallery

Jedediah in the intro of Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again.

This is from the DS version of the NatM game.

A close up of Jedediah in the first movie.

Another close up of Jedediah in the first movie.

Jedediah making a joke about Kahmunrah's defeat as he and Octavius stand on their cat.

Jed and Oct screaming in fear in Kahmunrah Rises Again.

Trivia

• It is likely that the diorama Jedediah is in depicts the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad of the 1860s (or is at least meant to reference it), due to the fact that the figures in the diorama are laying train tracks, as well as that a large number of the workers appear to be Chinese.
• Octavius yells for Jedediah to take his hand in Secret of the Tomb when they were trapped in an active vent, which Jed is confused and asks why. However, when the exhibits began dying due to the curse of the tablet, Jed takes his hand as the two laid dying.
• Jedediah seems to have a fear/aversion to being touched ('manhandled'). This is shown through the fact that he freaks out when people pick him up, and when he pulled away in embarrassment when Octavius hugged him at the end of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
• In the 4th movie, Jedediah doesn't act the same compared to how he does in the first three movies, instead he is actually more touchy, wrapping his arm or hugging Octavius way more often than we have ever seen. He also seems to have changed a bit personality wise, reacting to situations in a different manner than how he usually would.
  • In a few scenes in the 4th movie, Jedediah along with his best friend Octavius sometimes disappear from scenes when they are inside of Nick's uniform pocket. In other scenes, the pair look flat in his pocket, as if they were paper. There are also scenes where they randomly shrink or grow in his pocket, even if said scenes where this happens doesn't change much prospective wise. This is probably due to how the movie was animated, still these changes aren't really that noticeable.
  • In the forth movie, it is somewhat said that Jedediah seems to make up some of his cowboy sayings, with how Octavius asked if he 'makes them up', to where Jedediah responds that it just 'sounds cowboy-ish'. Though, there doesn't seem to be any other times where he is confronted about this throughout the movie.
• Surprisingly, in the DS Port, Jedediah says that the tablet to going to the Smithsonian storage, when in both the Wii gameplay and the second movie, Dexter takes the tablet and brings it to the Smithsonian.
  • In the DS game, Jedediah is never taken or trapped by Kahmunrah in any way, unlike in the movie or wii game. This is honestly surprising, seeing as Kahmunrah could have taken him hostage, seeing as Jed is standing on a box in front of him in the cutscene in the Smithsonian Storgae.
  • Along with this, in the Wii game, Jed is taken by Kahmunrah at some point and is only trapped in a later stage of the game. Even then, unlike in the 2nd movie, Jedediah is trapped in a tomb while the player is in a boss battle and is saved right after that boss battle, making the moment not as high stakes as it is.
  • In the Wii game, Jed says “Ka-chow”, which is clearly a reference to how Owen Wilson voices Lightning Mc-Queen. This is ironic due to the fact that Owen Wilson doesn’t voice Jedediah in this game at all.
• In some promotional material as well as the Junior Novel, Jedediah is said to be called either 'Jedediah Smith' or 'Jedediah Strong Smith'*, implying that he is at least based off the real Jedediah Strong Smith. Though, this is more of a theory than canon.
  • *For the Junior novelization, Jedediah with the name- 'Jedediah Strong Smith' can be seen on page 66. On the page, Dr. McPhee wonders if Larry doesn't know that "the cowboy" was Jedediah Strong Smith, the- "famous explorer of the Rocky Mountains".
• In the Junior Novelization of the second movie, after Jedediah is saved by Octavius from the hourglass, the pair both climb onto Octavius' squirrel (page 146), which is different from what they had done in the original movie.
• In the Junior Novelization of the third book, which is based off the third movie, we see how the tablet's corrupted magic affects them. During the Pompeii scene, Jedediah and Octavius randomly switch accents and how they speak, only realizing after they talk to one another. This leads the pair to ask each other why they are doing this. This happens between pages 97-98.
• In the first addition of “Nick’s Tales”, Jedediah and Joan manage to have beef with one another on Joan’s first night. The pair make up later the next night.
• In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: A Capital Adventure, Jedediah and Octavius aren't actually friends in the book until later on. This is due to how, for some reason, Octavius seems to be apart of the Smithsonian exhibits instead of the Museum of Natural History exhibits.
  • With this, both their interactions and the hour glass scene are changed. They somewhat interact more like how they do in the first movie, but don't fight with each other. While the hourglass scene is shortened, Jedediah calls Octavius his friend before they rush into battle.