Stargate

Stargate is a sci-fi phenomenon for the 21st Century. Spanning the blockbuster movie Stargate, the nine-season television series Stargate: SG-1, and the spinoff series Stargate: Atlantis, it has been called "the new Star Trek." It is a science fiction story that takes viewers to the ends of the galaxy each week, yet its setting is present-day Earth. Combining good character-driven drama with spectacular special effects usually reserved for a feature film, Stargate has garnered a sizeable international fan base and become perhaps the most popular sci-fi series currently airing on television -- and one of my favorite shows.

It began with the 1994 movie Stargate. In 1928, a strange artifact was discovered in Egypt -- a large ring device with strange, never-before-seen hieroglyphics on it. It was the Stargate -- an alien device that could send people and objects across the galaxy instantaneously. Around the turn of the century, it is brought to a secret U.S. Air Force base underneath Creek Mountain in Colorado to be activated. Government scientists working on the Stargate project are unable to turn it on, though, so they bring in an independent archaeologist, Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader). He determines that a combination of seven symbols will activate the gate -- six symbols to determine a location in three-dimensional space, and a seventh symbol serving as a point of origin. An Air Force team is assembled, led by Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell), a man dealing with the recent death of his son, who accidentally shot himself using the Colonel's own gun. Colonel O'Neil, Dr. Jackson, and the Air Force team step through the Stargate.

They emerge from an identical gate on another world, halfway across the galaxy. Called Abydos, it is a desert world populated by human inhabitants, a tribal people mining the same unknown element that composes the Stargate. While learning to communicate with these people, Dr. Jackson falls in love with an Abydonian woman named Sha're, and Colonel O'Neil befriends an Abydonian boy named Skaara. Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neil soon discover that this world is ruled by the god Ra -- a hostile alien symbiote within a human host, who speaks with a strange voice and whose eyes glow. Ra possesses advanced technology, an army of soldiers wearing armor resembling Egyptian gods, and a spaceship that lands on top of a pyramid on Abydos identical to the Great Pyramid in Egypt -- a pyramid housing the Abydos Stargate. Ra had once ruled over both Earth and Abydos, and had brought people from ancient Egypt to Abydos to serve as slaves before an uprising on Earth buried the Stargate and set the people of Earth free. Colonel O'Neil has been sent with an atomic bomb with orders to destroy any threat to Earth he finds. So when Daniel Jackson is killed before he can figure out the seven symbols needed to return the Air Force team to Earth, O'Neil tries to blow up the Abydos pyramid, and with it Ra, Ra's spaceship, and the Stargate, thereby negating the threat to Earth. But Ra prevents him from doing so, captures him, and brings Daniel back to life using a piece of technology resembling a sarcophagus so that Ra can use him. Daniel refuses, rescues O'Neil, and leads an uprising on Abydos that drives Ra away. As Ra's spaceship leaves, though, O'Neil manages to sneak the atomic bomb onto the ship and blows it -- and Ra -- out of the sky. The threat eliminated, Daniel deciphers the symbols needed to activate the Abydos Stargate and return to Earth, but decides to remain behind to live with and study the culture of Abydos. So O'Neil and the Air Force team return to Earth, leaving Daniel behind.

The 1997 pilot episode of the television series Stargate: SG-1 picks up where the movie leaves off. Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is divorced and in retirement. Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) has married Sha're and is living with her and Skaara on Abydos. The Stargate has been moved to a secret U.S. Air Force base underneath Cheyenne Mountain under the command of General Hammond (Don S. Davis). It is about to be decommissioned when it unexpectedly activates, and from it emerges Apophis, a hostile alien symbiote within a human host, who speaks with a strange voice and whose eyes glow. Colonel O'Neill is recalled from retirement and leads an Air Force team to Abydos to find out what is going on. This team includes Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), a theoretical astrophysicist and expert in the physics of the Stargate. Between Daniel Jackson, Colonel O'Neill, and Sam Carter, they figure out that the Earth and Abydos Stargates are merely two in an entire network of thousands of Stargates, on different worlds all across the galaxy. Each Stargate (with the exception of Earth's) is accompanied by a DHD (Dial Home Device), a piece of alien technology that controls the Stargate (Earth has gerry-rigged its own DHD). Ra and Apophis are merely two of hundreds of Goa'ulds, a parasitic alien race that controls hundreds of worlds all over the galaxy. There are many rival Goa'uld System Lords, each one ruling one or more worlds and with an army at their command. Their armies are composed of Jaffa, humans who incubate in pouches in their bellies infant Goa'uld symbiotes which give the Jaffa great strength, perfect health, and very long life but keep the Jaffa subservient to the Goa'uld. Once the Goa'uld larva matures, it leaves the Jaffa and takes over a human host, controlling it completely; the Jaffa dies. The Jaffa of Apophis kidnap Sha're and Skaara from Abydos and turn them both into Goa'uld hosts, and when O'Neill, Jackson, and Carter try to rescue them on a reconnaissance mission, they are captured as well. The First Prime (head Jaffa) of Apophis, a Jaffa named Teal'c (Christopher Judge), betrays Apophis, joins the humans from Earth, and helps them escape, saving a host of other prisoners as well.

Colonel Jack O'Neill

(Richard Dean Anderson)

Dr. Daniel Jackson

(Michael Shanks)

Afterwards, Stargate Command, or SGC, is set up in the Cheyenne Mountain complex. Thirteen SG teams are created to explore the galaxy, conduct reconnaissance, and bring back alien technology to be used in the fight against the Goa'uld. The first SG team, SG-1, is composed of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Captain Sam Carter, and Teal'c. Each week, they establish a wormhole between Earth's Stargate and a Stargate on another world. They send through a MALP (Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe), a remote advance scout probe, and if it is safe, they go through the Stargate to another world. To get back, they use the DHD (Dial Home Device) attached to the other world's Stargate, and a handheld GDO ("Garage Door Opener") device that transmits a code to open the iris that protects Earth's Stargate -- a metal shield that closes over an incoming wormhole to prevent unauthorized visitors from coming through. And so each week, SG-1 goes through the Stargate, explores a new world, fights the Goa'uld, and searches for Sha're and Skaara, in the hope that they can be freed from the Goa'ulds that inhabit their bodies.

SG-1: Teal'c, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, and Dr. Daniel Jackson

(Christopher Judge, Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, and Michael Shanks)

Stargate: SG-1 airs for seven seasons before spawning its own spinoff series. SG-1 saves the world several times, kills several Goa'uld System Lords, and makes several allies. Apophis dies. He is replaced by Anubis, an even more powerful and dangerous Goa'uld. Skaara is freed from his Goa'uld, but Sha're is killed in battle. The galaxy is populated with many different alien races, but most of the worlds that SG-1 journeys to are inhabited by the descendents of humans taken from Earth by the Goa'uld as slaves. SG-1 learns that the Stargate system was built not by the Goa'uld but by the Ancients, a race of human-like beings who learned to ascend to a higher level of existence; they became energy beings -- powerful, but who do not interfere in the affairs of others. SG-1 also learns that there was once an alliance between four great races in the galaxy: the Ancients, the Furlings, the Nox, and the Asgard. They meet the Nox, who bring SG-1 back to life on one occasion when they are killed. They form an alliance with the Asgard, a powerful race of little gray men who had an agreement with the Goa'uld -- the Protected Planets Treaty, which forbids the Goa'uld from attacking any protected planet. Earth is made a protected planet. Earth helps the Asgard fight a war with the Replicators, a collection of self-replicating mechanical spiders that infested the Asgard's home galaxy, and the Replicators are eventually defeated (or so it appears). They never meet the Furlings, though Jack speculates based on their name that they are cute, fuzzy creatures. Teal'c inspires a Jaffa rebellion, which becomes allied with Earth. SG-1 also forms an alliance with the Tok'ra -- "good Goa'ulds" (who are insulted to be called Goa'uld) whose symbiotes live in harmony with their hosts, sharing the body and mind equally, and who fight against the Goa'uld System Lords. Captain Carter is promoted to Major. The SGC's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Janet Frasier (Teryl Rothery), is tragically killed in battle. Daniel Jackson also dies, but learns how to ascend as the Ancients did -- and becomes a powerful but non-interfering energy being. For a year, SG-1 gains a new member who replaces Daniel: Jonas Quinn (Corin Nemec), a human scientist from another world that Daniel gives his life to save.

Jonas Quinn

(Corin Nemec)

Teal'c, Sam, and Jack

(Christopher Judge, Amanda Tapping, and Richard Dean Anderson)

Dr. Janet Frasier

(Teryl Rothery)

The New SG-1: Teal'c, Sam, Jack, and Jonas

(Christopher Judge, Amanda Tapping, Richard Dean Anderson, and Corin Nemec)

While ascended, Daniel learns that Anubis is so powerful because he is partially ascended and at one time had access to the extensive knowledge of the Ancients. He also learns that the key to defeating Anubis and the Goa'uld lies in a cache of technology found at "The Lost City," a city built and then hidden by the Ancients. Daniel also uses his powers to intervene when Anubis attempts to destroy Abydos, but the Ancients intervene and "descend" Daniel, making him mortal again. As a result, Abydos is destroyed, but not before its people are ascended -- including Skaara. Jonas Quinn returns to his home world, and Daniel rejoins SG-1. They spend a season searching for the Lost City, in the hope of defeating Anubis. The Tok'ra are nearly wiped out. The tentative alliance between Earth, the Tok'ra, and the Jaffa rebellion breaks down as each go their own way. General Hammond is replaced as commander of the SGC by a civilian, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, and Jack gets all the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his brain (twice). He uses that knowledge to help SG-1 find an outpost of the Lost City on Earth, in Antarctica, where they discover an Ancient weapon. Anubis attacks Earth, but they use the weapon to destroy Anubis and most of his fleet.

The Old SG-1 Returns: Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Colonel Jack O'Neill, and Major Sam Carter

(Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, Richard Dean Anderson, and Amanda Tapping)

Then, the series Stargate: Atlantis is launched. SG-1 learns that the Lost City was an Ancient city that once existed on Earth, but it left 10,000 years ago – it flew away to another galaxy. For defensive purposes, the Lost City could be submerged, which gave rise to the Lost City of Atlantis myth on Earth. Daniel figures out that they can use a power source at the Antarctic outpost – a Zero Point Module, or ZPM – to send a team of explorers through the Stargate to the Lost City of Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy. The ZPM only has enough power for a one-way trip, though, so Dr. Elizabeth Weir assembles an expedition and departs for Atlantis. Jack is promoted to General and put in charge of the SGC. Sam is promoted to Colonel and put in charge of SG-1, now only a three-person team (SG-¾?). The Goa'uld System Lord Baal is now the big bad guy, until Anubis and the Replicators return. Breaking the laws of Stargate physics, SG-1 (complete with Jack) works together with Baal to defeat the Replicators for good (or so it appears). In so doing, Daniel dies (again), ascends (again), helps his Ancient mentor Oma De'Sala defeat Anubis, and descends to human form (again). They also find a ZPM, which they send to Atlantis, and an Ancient flying ship, which they use to time travel. They still don't meet the Furlings.

Season 1: Children of the Gods, The Enemy Within, Emancipation, The Broca Divide, The First Commandment, Cold Lazarus, The Nox, Brief Candle, Thor’s Hammer, The Torment of Tantalus, Bloodlines, Fire and Water, Hathor, Singularity, Cor-Ai, Enigma, Solitudes, Tin Man, There But for the Grace of God, Politics, Within the Serpent’s Grasp

Season 2: The Serpent’s Lair, In the Line of Duty, Prisoners, The Gamekeeper, Need, Thor’s Chariot, Message in a Bottle, Family, Secrets, Bane, The Tok’Ra – Part I, The Tok’Ra – Part II, Spirits, Touchstone, A Matter of Time, The Fifth Race, Serpent’s Song, Holiday, One False Step, Show and Tell, 1969, Out of Mind

Season 3: Into the Fire, Seth, Fair Game, Legacy, Learning Curve, Point of View, Dead Man’s Switch, Demons, Rules of Engagement, Forever in a Day, Past and Present, Jolinar’s Memories, The Devil You Know, Foothold, Pretense, Urgo, A Hundred Days, Shades of Grey, New Ground, Maternal Instinct, Crystal Skull, Nemesis

Season 4: Small Victories, The Other Side, Upgrades, Crossroads, Divide and Conquer, Window of Opportunity, Watergate, The First Ones, Scorched Earth, Beneath the Surface, Point of No Return, Tangent, Serpent’s Venom, The Curse, Chain Reaction, 2010, Absolute Power, The Light, Prodigy, Child’s Play (The Entity), Double Jeopardy, Exodus

Season 5: Enemies, Threshold, Ascension, The Fifth Man, Red Sky, The Rite of Passage, Beast of Burden, The Tomb, Between Two Fires, 2001, Desperate Measures, Wormhole X-treme!, Proving Ground, 48 Hours, Summit, Last Stand (Part II of Summit), Fail Safe, The Warrior, Menace, The Sentinel, Meridian, Revelations

Season 6: Redemption – Part I, Redemption – Part II, Descent, Frozen, Nightwalkers, Abyss, Shadow Play, The Other Guys, Allegiance, The Cure, Prometheus, Unnatural Selection (Part II of Prometheus), Sight Unseen, Smoke and Mirrors, Paradise Lost, Metamorphosis, Disclosure, Forsaken, The Changeling, Memento, The Prophecy, Full Circle

Season 7: Fallen, Homecoming, Fragile Balance, Orpheus, Revisions, Lifeboat, Enemy Mine, Space Race, Avenger 2.0, Birthright, Evolution – Part I, Evolution – Part II, Grace, Fallout, Chimera, Death Knell, Heroes – Part I, Heroes – Part II, Resurrection, Inauguration, Lost City – Part I, Lost City – Part II

Season 8: New Order – Part I, New Order – Part II, Lockdown, Zero Hour, Icon, Avatar, Affinity, Covenant, Sacrifices, Endgame, Gemini, Prometheus Unbound, It's Good to be King, Full Alert, Citizen Joe, Reckoning – Part I, Reckoning – Part II, Threads, Moebius – Part I, Moebius – Part II

Season 9: Avalon – Part I, Avalon – Part II, Origin, The Ties That Bind, The Powers That Be, Ex Deus Machina, Babylon, Beach Head, Collateral Damage, The Order, The Fourth Horseman – Part I, The Fourth Horseman – Part II, 9.13, 9.14, 9.15, 9.16, 9.17, 9.18, 9.19, 9.20

In 2004, Stargate launched a spin-off series set in the Lost City, called Stargate: Atlantis. Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) takes an expedition of about a hundred men and women through the Earth Stargate, and emerges on the other side of the universe in the Ancient-built Lost City of Atlantis. Immediately, her expedition is beset by problems. The city, losing power, rises from where it has lay submerged for 10,000 years to the surface of the ocean, where its defensive shield fails. Weir assembles a team led by Colonel Sumner and consisting of Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Lieutenant Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks), and a few others to go through the Atlantis Stargate – which looks different from the Earth Stargate but functions basically the same – in search of ZPM's and other power sources. They quickly learn of the Wraith, a race of evil creatures that feed by sucking the life out of humans, and learn that these are the same creatures that defeated the Ancients so long ago. They meet a woman named Teyla Emmagen (Rachel Luttrell), a warrior and leader of her people, who agrees to help them. The Wraith attack Teyla's world while the Atlantis team is there, though, and take Sumner and several others prisoner. Sheppard mounts a rescue mission, and rescues most of the prisoners. In so doing, though, he inadvertently awakens the Wraith – all of them. Sumner is killed, leaving Sheppard the senior military officer in charge. The Wraith learn of a ripe new feeding ground called Earth, accessible to them through the Atlantis Stargate, and begin mobilizing their forces to invade Atlantis. Cut off from home and sitting defenseless on the surface of the ocean, the Atlantis team searches desperately for ZPM's to power the Atlantis defensive shield and/or get back home, fighting off the Wraith at almost every term. They make some friends among the people they meet, including an Ancient who is unable to help them, and they make enemies as well – including the Gen'ii, a suspicious people possessing technology near the level of Earth's. They find a ZPM, but then lose it. Just when they have given up hope and are about to destroy Atlantis, reinforcements arrive from Earth, bringing with them a ZPM – and hope of fighting off the Wraith.

Season 1: Rising – Part I, Rising – Part II, Hide and Seek, Thirty Eight Minutes, Suspicion, Childhood's End, Poisoning the Well, Underground, Home, The Storm, The Eye, The Defiant One, Hot Zone, Sanctuary, Before I Sleep, The Brotherhood, Letters From Pegasus, The Gift, The Siege – Part I, The Siege – Part II

Season 2: The Siege – Part III, Intruder, Runner, Duet, Trinity, Condemned, Instinct, Conversion, Aurora, The Lost Boys, The Hive, Epiphany, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20

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