Stargate? What's Stargate doing here?
Maybe the better question is why isn't Stargate everywhere? Seriously though, Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson were talking about Stargate on Security Now! Episode 156 (and Leo and Colleen were also talking about Stargate on the August 8th Ultimate Gaming Machine program on TwitLive.tv) and I was shocked to discover that Leo was a Stargate newbie. I wanted to offer up the rest of this page, which I have sent to many other people over the past few years, as a way to help Leo and anyone else get to the good parts of Stargate, with as few painful early episodes as possible.
How To Get Started Watching Stargate...
I’ve sent various forms of this message out to many people over the past few years and it seemed like it was time to publish it. It was originally developed with some material, quoted in italics, from www.TVTome.com, which later was absorbed by www.TV.com, which as part of CNET, is now a part of CBS.
You could watch Stargate from any point, but it really is worth watching from the beginning. While their mythology is not perfect, often times it does appear that they are setting up concepts and storylines five years in advance. Especially with Stargate SG-1, they tried to not let any story go to waste – it built on what came before it and would be referenced again at a later point. This is true even for stories that seemed to be “one-offs” at the time.
(I was very impressed with Star Trek – The Next Generation, but most of the first ten episodes were poorly rehashed Star Trek stories that we would have been better off without. Likewise, Star Trek – Deep Space Nine eventually became the best of all of the Star Treks, after three years and 90% of the potential audience stopped watching. Even there, going back and watching the relatively few good episodes from the first two years showed how they were on the verge of “the big story”, but presented it in a near-miss form. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they really could reshoot 20% of those early episodes and throw away another 20% to 40%. (Basically, all that would need changing is some of the dialog, alien names and appearances, etc. to fit into big story.) The same could be said for Stargate.)
Stargate SG-1 also suffered from the miracle of being picked up as a series, then thrown into production. As such, many of the early episodes were just crap. I wanted to like it, but I really couldn’t stand it and stopped watching during season one. (I did see the season one finale, but even that wasn’t enough to draw me back in, because I had already missed almost all of the few good episodes of season one.) It wasn’t until I saw enough really good episodes five or six years later, as reruns, that I wanted to go back and really understand the whole thing. The purpose of this guide is to spare you from most of that early crap. (This isn’t just my opinion, the producers are even planning on releasing a re-edited version of Children of the Gods that is more in keeping with the real show.)
The golden era for Stargate was from the end of Season 7 of Stargate SG-1, with episodes Inauguration and The Lost City, parts I and II, until the end of Season 8. This included all of Season 1 of Stargate Atlantis.
When people would ask me when this show takes place, I’d say “today”, as in the day it was aired. For those three years that we had both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis on the air, the storylines where not only continuous within each series, but critical elements would jump back and forth between the two series. It wasn’t required that one watch both series, but there certainly was extra value and deeper understanding when one did. When you get to the overlapped years, I’d recommend interlacing the episodes to match the original airing dates and times.
In general, the television shows involve realistic seeming experiences for people like us in this sort of universe. Most things are beyond our understanding. Most things don’t work out the way we expect. When you solve one problem, another one comes along. Unlike the movie, there at least seems to be a bit of concern about consequences of things and thinking before you act. Finally, when everything else seems right, the politicians and bureaucrats will come in and screw things up.
For more information, see www.GateWorld.net.
Here’s how to get started with Stargate. Many of the first episodes are skippable and many others are less than ideal, but are needed for background information that will be built on for years to come.
1 – Stargate – The Movie
Sometimes Spectacular, Sometimes Stupid, Sometimes Contradicts SG-1. The first half of the movie is a really good melding of Archeology and Science Fiction, but then, not really based on any real reasoning, things jump into a cliché action movie.
Notable performances include:
The actress playing Catherine Langford (i.e. “The Old Woman”)
James Spader as Dr. Daniel Jackson.
Jaye Davison as Ra. (Earned $1,000,000 for the role. It was his only movie role ever other than “The Crying Game”)
Around 60% of the way into the film, is a very notable scene were Daniel explains to the rest of the team what the hieroglyphs in the cave mean. It’s the only place in the movie where they explain that the Goa’uld are parasitic symbiotes. It is also notable that the Goa’uld, as “gods”, forbid their slaves from using any form of writing. Beyond that you see archeology merged with a high-tech version of ancient Egypt used as the backdrop for an action movie (at least the second half is.)
Another important point that flashes by in a middle 5 seconds of the movie is one of the military men asks another why the earth base can’t just open a new wormhole to them, for them to return to. He is told that they can’t. (i.e. matter can only travel in one direction in a wormhole in this universe.)
2 & 3 – Children of the Gods (parts 1 & 2)
Stupid, but required viewing. Corrects the movie to explain that Abydos is actually the closest Stargate to Earth, rather than on the other side of the known universe. Explains in detail what the Goa’uld and Jaffa are and how they and humans spread throughout the galaxy.
The System Lord Apophis launches an attack through the Stargate, tucked away by the military after the events of the movie, and the SGC program is reactivated and given a new objective - seek out and find the alien invaders and defeat them. Jack O'Neill is called out of retirement and sent to locate Daniel Jackson on Abydos. Colonel O'Neill, leading the new SG-1, track Apophis back to the planet Chulak to rescue Sha're and Skaara, and befriend one of Apophis' Jaffa guards.
This episode explains that Goa’uld are very intelligent, advanced, parasitic symbiotes who use human bodies as hosts and many more humans as slave labor. The Goa’uld also bred the Jaffa to be their soldiers and incubators. For whatever reason, the Goa’uld like to be treated like gods by all around them. Vengeful gods. It is not explained here (or in the movie) if they simply adopted existing Egyptian culture and beliefs or if they brought it to earth themselves and the Egyptians merely documented what they saw and remembered.
4 – The Enemy Within
While the U.S. government determines the fate of Teal'c, SGC must deal with one of its own that has been taken over by a Goa'uld.
5 – Emancipation
Skip this one. Scratch it off of the DVD. Trying to be Star Trek. This was the stupidest episode ever.
6 – The Broca Divide
Skip this one. Trying to be Star Trek.
7 – The First Commandment
Skip this one. Trying to be Star Trek.
A better “Star Trek” like episode, but means nothing long-term.
SG-1 goes in search of the missing SG-9, but discovers that its leader has set himself up as a god on a planet of primitives.
8 – Cold Lazarus
This is a good “Star Trek”-like episode that does advance the overall story. (It shows yet another nasty side of the Goa’uld.)
9 – The Nox
Not the most interesting episode, but advances the major storyline. (i.e. the Nox are mentioned and appear in future episodes, but you can skip this introduction the first time through.)
10 – Brief Candle
Skip this one. Trying to be Star Trek
11 – Thor's Hammer
While stand-alone, it is borderline Star Trek, a number of very significant points are introduced in this episode. Followed-up in episode 29.
Traveling to a planet quarantined by the Goa'uld, Jack and Teal'c are trapped in an underground labyrinth.
Guest star: James Earl Jones
12 – The Torment of Tantalus
This is the best early episode after the movie. The worst parts are that it raises issues that should have come up in the movie, plus the new actress playing the character of Catherine Langford is no where near as compelling as the one who played her in the movie.
Daniel discovers that there was a previous Stargate explorer - Dr. Ernest Littlefield, who went through the Gate in 1945. But he never returned, so SG-1 sets out to recover him.
13 – Bloodlines
Advances the Jaffa storyline and Teal’cs history, but is skippable. (Come back to it after you really care about Teal’c.)
Teal'c reveals that he has a son who is due to receive a Goa'uld larva, and asks the team to help him save his child.
14 – Fire and Water
A very good stand-alone episode. May or may not be Star Trek, but it does show the general process of exploration.
15 – Hathor
A very important episode relating to the Goa’uld on Earth. (Yes, one part is more than a bit hokey.)
The ancient Egyptian goddess and Goa'uld, Hathor, is awakened and…
16 – Singularity
A significant episode in many ways. (Cassandra)
17 – Cor-Ai
Advances the Jaffa storyline and Teal’cs history, but is skippable. (Again, come back to it after you really care about Teal’c.)
Teal'c is put on trial by the inhabitants of a planet where he and the Goa'uld collected humans from the planet. If he is found guilty, he will be executed.
18 – Enigma
A very significant episode. It’s good on it’s own, but sets up many future episodes. (The Tolan)
19 – Solitudes
A significant episode. I think that it was good on it’s own and is referenced back many times in future episodes.
During a Stargate malfunction, Jack and Sam are redirected to an icy planet where they face a frozen death unless Stargate Command can determine their location.
20 – Tin Man
An excellent episode! The description has been deleted here because if you have already been motivated enough to watch six other episodes, you’d like this one. (Wait until you’ve seen a few other episodes before watching this one, otherwise it really won’t seem that special.)
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21 – There But For the Grace of God
This episode marks the start of episodes that advance the main story, yet stay generally reality-based. (You are required to accept the concept of parallel universes (they still are going after the science fiction audience), but it’s worth it. Other than that, no other major new concepts are thrown at the viewers. These four episodes are 1990’s Earth dealing with the threats that have been uncovered in the past two years.) This is the first of four episodes that take the audience through most of the major dilemmas of Earth’s rediscovery and reactivation of the Stargate.
One option is (as with the movie), simply accept that the Goa’uld are the villains, the Jaffa are their soldiers and that we’ve pissed them off. (Also, that whole artificial wormhole thing and the alternate reality thing in this episode.) With those assumptions, one could start here, with SG-1 exploring another new planet, etc. If these four episodes are worthwhile, one could then go back and watch the other background episodes from season 1. (The writing and stories generally get much better from here and even the lesser episodes don’t seem like a waste of time. When Stargate SG-1 started I saw around six really bad episodes from the first season and wrote off the whole thing off as crap. It wasn’t until I saw a dozen or more really good later episodes (over the course of seven years of accidentally catching them on TV) that I was motivated to go back and actually watch every season one episode. As described above, many of them actually were crap or because they were laying the groundwork for future episodes (one to eight years out), they were okay, but nothing compelling in their own right.)
22 – Politics (1)
The perfect title for part two of four.
23 – Within the Serpent's Grasp (2)
Part three of four. (Part four opens season two.) This is a major “action” episode.
24 – The Serpent's Lair (3)
Part four of four. Season two opener. This is a major “action” episode.
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25 – In the Line of Duty
While on an off-world rescue mission, Sam becomes possessed by a Goa'uld symbiote.
26 – Prisoners
After assisting a man that is a fleeing murderer, the team is sent through a Stargate to Hadante, a penal world where brute strength and raw power rule.
27 – The Gamekeeper
A very good stand-alone episode. May or may not be Star Trek, but it does show the general process of exploration. SG-1 travels to P7J-989, where they discover a beautiful garden and a dome full of strange metallic chambers, each containing an unconscious person. As the team inspects the chambers, ...
28 – Need
Daniel becomes romantically connected with the Princess, enabling him to rescue SG-1 from the mines - but something is changing Daniel from the man they know...
29 – Thor's Chariot
SG-1 must return to Cimmeria in order to help fight off a Goa'uld invasion while searching for a mysterious hall put there by the Asgard Thor. (sequel to episode 11.)