Stargate Origins: Catherine (2018)

Stargate Origins: Catherine (2018)

Dir. Mercedes Bryce Morgan

If you've watched the Stargate (1994) movie, you'll maybe remember the little girl at the story's beginning that gets given an ancient gold amulet by her father, or the elderly woman that likewise gives a gift to archaeologist Daniel Jackson before he sets out on his journey.

In both cases it was Catherine Langford, played by Kelly Vint and Viveca Lindfors, respectively. Stargate Origins: Catherine has that same character, but is set ten years after the little girl receives her gift in the movie's timeline.

Her father, Professor Paul Langford (Erik Holland in the movie, now played by Connor Trinneer), is still trying to figure out what the circular device he found at Giza was used for. SGO's Catherine (Ellie Gall) is helping out.

Stargate: Continuum (2008)

Stargate: Continuum (2008)

Dir. Martin Wood

The Ark of Truth (2008) had a fairly pleasing final scene, the kind that draws a line under what came before while acknowledging the role of an unwritten future in franchise-land, so there was no real need for a second TV Movie. But one could argue that the villain of Continuum was a loose end from the TV series that needed tying up, I suppose. Whatever the case, Continuum is definitely not as good as the previous TV Movie. I've watched it twice and grew bored both times.

Among other things, it's a story of the Stargate itself, before it got transported to the US to become the central part of the Stargate program at SGC. Well, it's kind of that, but in a more science-fictiony way. It connects an event on the Tok'ra homeworld to a ship carrying a special cargo in the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1939.

It's good that it doesn't introduce a new 'one time only' big-bad, but what I enjoyed most was seeing some cast members from yesteryear alongside the regular ones. Fan-service it may be, but it's also complementary to the plot.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)

Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)

Dir. Robert C. Cooper

The weekly SG-1 series ended with Season 10, but the story of the Ori didn't - there was some ambiguity over whether or not the Tau'ri's plan to destroy the aggressors was entirely successful or not. TV Movie Ark of Truth remedies that. I don't know why it drops the SG-1 designation from the title, but it's SG-1 in every way.

There's an optional catch-up prelude (approx nine mins) to refresh the memory of anyone who may need it, but seeing as how I went from S10 to TAoT in less than 24 hours, I didn't watch it. 

The opening music turns much more dramatic as it leads into the opening scene, which was a nice touch, familiar but different at the same time.

After a short scene set many, many years before present day, we catch up with some members of the team as they hunt for the titular ark. The location is clearly a soundstage pretending to be an outdoor location, but it looks pretty.

Stargate SG-1: Season 10 (2006-07)

Stargate SG-1: Season 10 (2006-07)

Dirs. Various | 20 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Ten years is a heck of a long time to be watching a weekly TV show. Luckily, with shiny disc media (or stream or DL) it can take just a fraction of that to watch it at home from beginning to end.

I scheduled one post per month for ten months, but I finished the series in about half of that time. Binge-watching is a double-edged activity, but ultimately it allows one to better evaluate how a show changed over time; having to wait a decade between the first and last episodes would make that difficult. For my purposes, the binge-watch positives outweighed the negatives.

Stargate changed quite a bit over the years, in scope and in cast, but its greatest strength was always in its team dynamic, which is something that it remained largely true to throughout.

The individual members would clash often in their beliefs, particularly Jack (Richard Dean Anderson) and Daniel (Michael Shanks), but at the end of the day each of them was elevated and heartened by having the other at their side.

Stargate SG-1: Season 09 (2005-06)

Stargate SG-1: Season 09 (2005-06)

Dirs. Various | 20 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Year nine begins with another new opening credits sequence, but that's the least of the changes. Three new cast members are added to the home team, and there's an entirely new non-Goa'uld threat that's intent on forcing the whole universe to follow a new system of beliefs.

That's arguably the goal of many organised religions, but the threat in question has the means to destroy entire planets if the inhabitants refuse to convert. Mercifully, none of Earth's actual world religions are able to do that.

The new cast members include Gen. Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) and Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder). Landry is bland, but he has the lesser role. Mitchell, on the other hand, is to the fore as he tries to reassemble the original SG-1 team after the events of Season 08.

Stargate SG-1: Season 08 (2004-05)

SG-1: Season 08 (2004-05)

Dirs. Various | 20 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Most of the science-fiction television series that I'm a fan of ended either before or at their seventh season. In fact, I think now might be the first time that I've featured an eighth season of something sci-fi on the blog. In that respect, if nothing else, SG-1 Series 08 is an exception to me. It was reduced to just 20 episodes, but eight years is still a heck of an achievement.

As if to mark the occasion, it has another new opening credits sequence. I don't know if what I write next will be considered spoiler by many folks, but I'll give a warning now, just in case.

Amid the action scenes in the opening sequence, the most notable thing is that Carter isn't the only one with a new hairstyle - Teal'c has one, or rather Teal'c now has some actual hair!

It's a little odd at first, but he's the same dependable ex-Jaffa as he always was, and it even plays a role, of sorts, in one of the episodes.

Stargate SG-1: Season 07 (2003-04)

SG-1: Season 07 (2003-04)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Like the previous year, a significant personnel change had a dramatic impact on the core team.

It limits what I can say without diving into spoiler territory. To do the job properly, therefore, I'll need to drop some broad SPOILERS hereafter.

Unfortunately, even for those who stopped reading before now, the opening credits give the game away before the first episode has even begun, revealing the 'new' member of SG-1.

For a time it works well as a five-man team, but the writers chose instead to push out Jonas Quin (Corin Nemec), who spent much of the previous year finding and establishing his unique role.

Thereafter things progress steadily, with the search for new alliances and advanced technology that can be used and/or adapted to combat the diabolical Goa'uld System Lords, who remain the primary threat for the Tau'ri.

Stargate SG-1: Season 06 (2002-03)

SG-1: Season 06 (2002-03)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

The redesigned opening credits sequence that kicks things off isn't the only change since Season 05; there's a personnel shake-up, too.

It'll be difficult to talk about what that means for the team without dropping spoilers. I'll keep them to a minimum, but be forewarned: there will be some for S5 + S6 below this paragraph.

With their Egyptologist gone, SG-1 are reduced to three members. I mentioned previously that the person in question often functioned as the conscience and moral compass, so without him they're diminished in more than just number.

And while the three remaining members have personalities strong enough to keep going as they are, there's something comfortable about having four primaries, least of all because it allows for a convenient equal split, such as when a military presence is needed in two places at once. Having a companion at those times gives each person someone to bounce ideas off; someone to rescue or be rescued by, etc.

Stargate SG-1: Season 05 (2001–02)

SG-1: Season 05 (2001–02)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

I was planning to write more about Teal'c of Chulak (Christopher Judge) than I have previously, but he doesn't get very much to do in Season 05, so it'll be more general praise.

It's fair to say that without the former First Prime of Goa'uld System Lord Apophis the SG-1 team simply wouldn't exist as they do – they'd have died on Abydos (in the Pilot episode).

The team owe Teal'c their lives, and he in turn owes them for giving him the means to follow his heart. In the eyes of most other Jaffa he's a traitor, but to all who oppose the Goa'uld he's a pillar of strength and proof that their enforced thrall can be broken. In short, he's an inspiration.

And like Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) he can be extremely funny, but in a very different way. It's a dry wit, enhanced by his being a man of few words who sometimes 'helpfully' states the obvious for his teammates.

Stargate SG-1: Season 04 (2000-01)

SG-1: Season 04 (2000-01)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Unlike the first female soldier that we saw in the SG-1 series (in the pilot episode), who single-handedly reinforced the blonde stereotype, Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) is the most comprehensively educated member of the team, with a range of unsurprisingly handy skills.

Not characterised as non-feminine, Sam still has compassion and a motherly instinct (kind of like Jack's paternal one), but it's not to the detriment of her role as a respected authority figure.

Now seems like a good time to mention my respect for the show's only other regular female cast member, Dr. Janet Fraiser (Teryl Rothery). When the teams get battered, bruised, or taken over by an alien intelligence, etc, it's the quick response of Dr. Fraiser that more often than not saves the day - ofttimes working alongside Sam.

Stargate SG-1: Season 03 (1999-00)

SG-1: Season 03 (1999-00)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

The Season 02 finale didn't have an actual 'To be Continued...' ending, but the first episode of Season 03 continues the story as if it had done, and it almost manages to make up for the first half being a disappointing clips-show.

Thereafter things progress steadily, with the search for new alliances and technology that can be used and/or adapted to combat the diabolical Goa'uld System Lords being the primary driving force for most of the Tau'ri (humans from Earth).

Well, that's true for the higher-ups. But for Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), the non-military member of SG-1, the member that typically serves as conscience and compass in times of moral conflict, his primary goal is to find his wife Sha're (Vaitiare Bandera), who was taken by Apophis in the Season 01 Pilot episode.

Stargate SG-1: Season 02 (1998-99)

SG-1: Season 02 (1998-99)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Season 02 continues the alien world-hopping adventures, but it also points its lens more at home soil than Season 01 did. We get to see the SG-1 team outside the base's walls. Whereas inside it receives a few unwelcome visitors.

The entire venture seems to have had a sizeable cash-injection, enabling a number of new sets and some slightly better FX than before. Of the new sets, the most visited makes much use of the 'corridor with corners' trick, but as a longtime Star Trek fan I'm well-used to that kind of thing.

There's a lot of new technology on display, too, some of which becomes a regular feature.

Now that the team is fully established, I can talk a little about their personalities, beginning with Colonel Jack O'Neil (Richard Dean Anderson).

Stargate SG-1: Season 01 (1997–98)

SG-1: Season 01 (1997–98)

Dirs. Various | 22 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

The first (and best) TV Series to continue the story of the Stargate (1994) movie was SG-1.

It kicks off with a feature-length Pilot episode titled Children of the Gods. Set approximately one year after the movie's end, the Stargate program at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex has been shut down, with just a handful of guards watching over it. But when a previously unseen Goa'uld 'God' is encountered, the wheel spins again and the team must return to Abydos.

Some significant but excellent recasting means we lose Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O'Neill but gain Richard Dean Anderson (aka MacGyver), who quickly makes the role his own.

Likewise, actor James Spader, who starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the movie, is replaced by Michael Shanks. For me, both replacements do a better job than the original duo; though with SG-1 being episodic the new stars have more time to develop the characters.

Stargate (1994)

Stargate (1994)

Dir. Roland Emmerich

If you go through life without ever seeing a Roland Emmerich film, you'll not be missing out on much. His CV is filled with big-budget garbage that typically deserves little more than immediate bargain-bin residency. But having said that, I really do like Stargate.

It's not a Kubrick beater, but the leap from 8000 BC to 1928 AD, and then again to present day (i.e. 1994), is a pretty substantial one. It sets the stage for an adventure that spans millennia, inspired by existing Egyptian iconography that anyone who's ever visited a museum will probably be able to recognise.

It stars James Spader as allergy-suffering Egyptologist Daniel Jackson, who's slowly pissing away his remaining credibility with radical theories about the pyramids at Giza.