undefined

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG 1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld--the ancient Egyptian Gods who are not too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot-thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's her joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. This peculiar chronological cut and paste from the opening year at least starts sensibly with the pilot "Children of the Gods". A year on from Stargate the motion picture, Earth's have assembled crack units to protect against whatever might follow from planet Abydos. So naturally they make things worse discovering a new enemy on Chulak. In "There But for the Grace of God" Daniel plays out Star Trek's "Mirror Mirror" scenario in an alternate dimension. Then in "Politics" no one believes his warnings of an impending attack, instead rationalising the Gate's closure. The season's stunning cliffhanger--"Within the Serpent's Grasp"--lands the team aboard the Goa'uld attack ship headed to destroy Earth. This episode features some truly inspired one-liners: "We can't just upload a virus to the Mothership!" --Paul Tonks