Stargate is a 1994 American French adventure^[3]-military science fiction film released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Carolco Pictures. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Carlos Lauchu, Djimon Hounsou, Erick Avari, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, John Diehl, French Stewart, and Viveca Lindfors. The plot centers around the premise of a "Stargate", an ancient ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe. The film's central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization.

The film had a mixed initial critical reception, earning both praise and criticism for its atmosphere, story, characters, and graphic content. Nevertheless, Stargate gained a cult following and became a commercial success worldwide. Devlin and Emmerich gave the rights to the franchise to MGM when they were working on their 1996 film Independence Day (the rights to the Stargate film are currently owned by StudioCanal, with Lions Gate Entertainment handling most distribution in terms of international theatrical and worldwide home video releases); however, MGM retains the domestic television rights.

Plot[link]

The film begins in 1928, where Professor Langford discovers a massive stone ring in the sands of Giza, Egypt. In the present day, Langford's daughter Catherine offers Egyptologist Daniel Jackson, a down-on-his-luck linguistics professor, the chance to translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that may prove his controversial theory regarding the Pyramid of Khufu. Jackson accepts and travels to a US Air Force installation inside Creek Mountain, Colorado. Jackson translates the hieroglyphs on the stone ring's coverstones, which read: "A million years into the sky is Ra. Sealed and buried for all time, his Stargate." Formerly retired Special Forces Colonel Jack O'Neil arrives to take command of the project and declares it classified.

Jackson deduces that the symbols are star constellations that are coordinates for a location within space. The sequence is entered into the stargate, creating a wormhole to a location in another galaxy. After O'Neil leads a team through the Stargate, they find themselves inside a pyramid in the middle of vast sand dunes. Jackson reveals they cannot dial home because the Stargate coordinates to go back to Earth are missing. Some team members stay at the pyramid while Jackson, O'Neil, and others go out and discover a mining village inhabited by humans who assume them to be gods sent by Ra.

Jackson realizes that the people speak a dialect of Ancient Egyptian and begins communicating with them. The team develops friendships with the people; O'Neil with Skaara, and Jackson begins a budding romance with Sha'uri, a daughter of the leader. Jackson learns from hieroglyphs in the catacombs how the Egyptian god Ra was actually an alien lifeform who enslaved humans with his advanced technology. While these humans eventually rebelled and buried the Stargate, some had been taken to the other planet through the Stargate and used to mine the quartzite-like mineral on which all of Ra's technology is based. Fearing another rebellion on this planet, Ra outlawed reading and writing. At this point, the team from Earth discovers the coverstone to get back to Earth, but the seventh symbol is eroded away.

O'Neil orders the team to return to the pyramid. A short time later, a huge spacecraft lands on top of the pyramid. All team members in the pyramid are either killed or taken into the pyramidal craft. O'Neil and Jackson are escorted to the throne room, where they meet Ra. Despite wearing fearsome armor, Ra's guards and servants are human. Ra reveals his intention to send the atomic bomb brought by O'Neil, which was to be used to destroy the Stargate to prevent invasion by any threat, back to Earth; it is now enhanced with his quartzite-like material to produce cataclysmic results. O'Neil attempts to disarm the guards and kill Ra, but relents when Ra uses his children courtiers as human shields. Jackson is killed during the altercation. O'Neil is thrown into a dungeon with the captured team members, while Jackson is regenerated in a sarcophagus-like device. Ra states that he will kill Jackson and everyone who has seen him unless Jackson kills the rest of the team to show the villagers that Ra is their one true god.

However, once Ra has the local people gathered before the pyramid craft, several young villagers signal to Jackson that they have recovered the team's weapons. Jackson then shoots at Ra while the kids create a distraction. O'Neil, Jackson, and the rest of the team flee Ra's ship and take shelter in a cave with the boys. The next morning, when Skaara draws a picture of the people's victory against Ra, Jackson realizes that part of this drawing depicts the seventh symbol needed to reactivate the Stargate: three moons over a pyramid.

O'Neil convinces the locals that their "gods" are mere mortals and, with their help, O'Neil, Jackson, and the remaining members of the team make it back to the Stargate hoping to deactivate the bomb. When the locals begin an open rebellion against Ra's troops, Ra decides to retreat and prepares his ship for takeoff. Sha'uri is killed in the battle, but Jackson resurrects her in Ra's sarcophagus and manages to escape when O'Neil activates the ship's ring transporter. Unable to deactivate the bomb, O'Neil and Jackson transport the bomb to Ra's ship in orbit via the rings where it explodes, killing Ra. The team is able to return to Earth through the Stargate, though Jackson decides to remain on the planet.

Director's cut[link]

The Director's cut had several scenes which were cut from the theatrical film version. The first such scene took place immediately after the excavation of the Stargate in 1928 and showed petrified Horus guards near the cover stones; the producers had tried to introduce the idea that beings had attempted to come through the Stargate after its burial, but they cut the scene for time concerns.^[4]

Cast and characters[link]

• Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O'Neil, an Airman who suffers a period of suicidal depression after his son accidentally shot and killed himself with O'Neil's own pistol. It was an important story for Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich that O'Neil had become suicidal and had left the military after his son's death. When he gets the mission from which he may never return, it is okay with him since it solves his problem with suicide, which in turn makes him a dangerous person for the mission.^[4]
• James Spader as Dr. Daniel Jackson, a professor who finds little acceptance of his theory that the Pyramids of Giza were much older than they were thought to be. James Spader was intrigued by the script because he found it "awful", but accepted the role that earned him money.^[5]
• Jaye Davidson as Ra, a power-hungry alien being in the form of a young boy, who voyaged across the galaxy searching for a new host that could sustain his dying body.
• Erick Avari as Kasuf, the local leader of the people living in a city near the Stargate, and the father of Sha'uri and Skaara.
• Alexis Cruz as Skaara, the son of Kasuf and brother to Sha'uri. Skaara and his friends aid O'Neil and his airmen fight Ra.
• Mili Avital as Sha'uri, the daughter of Kasuf. Kasuf offers Sha'uri to Daniel Jackson as a gift.
• John Diehl as Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kawalsky, O'Neil's second-in-command on the mission through the Stargate.
• French Stewart as Technical Sergeant Louis Ferretti, a member of O'Neil's team (credited as "Lieutenant Ferretti").
• Viveca Lindfors as Dr. Catherine Langford, whose father gave her the amulet depicting the Eye of Ra during the excavation of the Stargate in Giza in 1928. Stargate was Viveca Lindfors' last film.^[4]
• Leon Rippy as Major General W. O. West, the commanding officer of the facility housing the Stargate device.
• Richard Kind as Dr. Gary Meyers, a doctor researching the Stargate.
• Rae Allen as Dr. Barbara Shore, a doctor researching the Stargate.
• Derek Webster as Senior Airman Brown, a member of O'Neil's team (credited as "Lieutenant Brown").
• Christopher John Fields as Staff Sergeant Freeman, a member of O'Neil's team (credited as "Lieutenant Freeman").
• Jack Moore as Senior Airman Reilly, a member of O'Neil's team (credited as "Lieutenant Reilly").
• Steve Giannelli as Senior Airman Porro, a member of O'Neil's team (credited as "Lieutenant Porro").
• Djimon Honsou as Horus Guard #1, a personal guard of Ra.
• Carlos Lauchu as Anubis Guard #1, a personal guard of Ra.

Production[link]

Stargate had a budget of $55 million.^[6]

Development[link]

The film was originally planned to play out in a chronological order, but when Devlin and Emmerich edited the film to tighten the narrative, they decided to change the first scene of the film into a flashback to show who the human host of Ra was before the aliens took him. Only Jaye Davidson's upper torso was filmed because Davidson had refused to take out his nipple rings.^[4] The first scene was a combination of model shots and a set in Yuma, Arizona where Rambo: First Blood Part II had been filmed. The scene of the excavation of the Stargate was also filmed in three days in Arizona. A golden look was achieved by filming near the time of sunset.^[7] To keep within the limit of the budget, the producers put stick figures with cloth in the distant desert to appear as humans. The original Stargate was painted black, but it looked like a giant tire so it was repainted silver at the last moment.^[4]

Daniel Jackson's lecture on his theories was filmed in a hotel in Los Angeles.^[7] The scene was originally much longer and delved more into the theories that aliens had built the Egyptian pyramids, but the scene was trimmed for time concerns for the release.^[4] The scenes with O'Neil at his house were the first scenes filmed with Kurt Russell; his hair was cut short afterwards. Russell requested his hair color to be brightened a little for the film.^[7] The fictional facility housing the Stargate was the largest set for the film, located in Long Beach, California.^[7] Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith joined production to make all Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and spoken language as accurate as possible.^[4]

Themes and inspirations[link]

Stargate began as two separate films that Emmerich and Devlin conceived separately. Emmerich's film, Necropolis: City of the Dead, was about a spaceship being buried under the Great Pyramid of Egypt and Devlin's unnamed film was to be, in his words, "Lawrence of Arabia on another planet." The two films were combined to become Stargate.

Filming[link]

The mask of the pharaoh in the opening credits was made out of fiber glass and modeled in the workshop. The sequence used a motion-control camera to give better depth of field.^[7] The score of Stargate was composer David Arnold's first work on an American feature film. When Devlin and Emmerich first flew to London to meet with Arnold, they had not yet heard the score; hearing it, they felt "he had elevated the film to a whole other level".^[4] Arnold later interviewed the actors during principal photography, using the information to improve his score.^[4]

Visual effects[link]

Jeff Kleiser and a special effects team of 40 people created the look of the Stargate. They used self-written image-creation and compositing software, as well as commercial digital packages to create the Stargate, the morphing helmets worn by Ra and the Horus guards, and the cityscape of Nagada. Footprints in the sand were often digitally removed. The creation of the wormhole, which was fully digitized, was one of the biggest challenges in the making of the film. The ripples had to be digitized to seem accurate. Scanning lasers were lined up parallel to the gate to illustrate the amount of body that passed the surface of the Stargate plane. Afterwards, the parts of the body that had or had not yet gone through the gate (depending of the side of filming) were obliterated with a digital matte program.^[8] The use of computers generating a big 3D storyboard allowed Emmerich to try out different shooting angles before settling on one angle.^[8]

Music and soundtrack[link]

The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold, played by the Sinfonia of London and conducted by Nicholas Dodd.^[9] It was the second motion picture Arnold had composed and the first major motion picture. At the time of Stargate's production, David Arnold had recently started to work in a local video store in London. Once Arnold got the job, he spent several months in a hotel room working on the soundtrack, spending more time rewriting the music and improving it as delays were being created due to film companies trying to get the rights to release the film.^[10] According to Arnold "when I first read the script for StarGate, I knew what approach to take, which was to be as big and bold as possible," he kept on saying:^[11]

Marketing[link]

A wide amount of merchandise is available for the Stargate franchise.^[12][13]

Release[link]

The film received mixed reviews upon its release in 1994, though in recent years it has become a cult classic and now has a reputation as one of the best releases in the Stargate series.^{[citation needed]} The film was released on October 28, 1994 in the United States and released internationally in December of the same year. Stargate has a MPAA Rating of PG-13 for sci-fi action violence. It is rated 14A in Canada for violence.^[1] Later in 1995 the film was released on VHS format and on DVD in June 18, 1997. However the DVD format was re-released in October 1999 under the title Stargate Special Edition. The film was released on Blu-ray format on August 29, 2006.^[14][15]

Box office[link]

The film received a warmer reception from the public, grossing $71.5 million at the US box office and $125 million in the rest of the world.^[1][2] At the time, the film set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film released in the month of October.^[16]

Performance analysis[link]

In its first run, Stargate made more money than film industry insiders predicted, especially given its lukewarm reviews.^[17][18] Some regard it as Emmerich's breakthrough film.^[19] Stargate grossed over $16,651,000 in the United States during its opening week in October 1994. It was the 35th highest-grossing film opening in the US in October.^[20] From 4-6 November, the film grossed around $12,368,700, declining 25%. The film would continue this decline until the end of November, when the film garnered $4,777,198, or a 8.2% rise. The week before that the film garnered around $4,413,420, a 45.6% decline. In its last week playing theatrically, the film garnered around $1,170,500 in the US.^[21]

Critical reception[link]

Stargate has garnered mostly mixed reviews.^[22] Though initially at 50%, in the Rotten Tomatoes main "T-Meter Critics" section, 48% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3 out of 10.^[23] On its "Top Critics" section, only one out of five critics giving it a positive review.^[24] For the "RT Community" section, it has 75% of critics with a positive review based on 171,050 reviews.^[25] Allmovie "Work Rating" is 3 out of 5 stars for the film.^[26] At MRQE, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from most critics, the film holds a score of 64 based on 95 reviews.^[27] Out of Emmerich's 22 works, Stargate is currently his 3rd highest rated film.^[28]

Most of the negative reviews focused on the overuse of special effects, thinness of plot and excessive use of clichés with Roger Ebert going so far as to say, "the movie Ed Wood, about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for Stargate". Ebert awarded the film one out of four stars, and even over ten years later Stargate remains on his list of most hated films.^[29] Mike DiBella from Allmovie said, "there simply isn't enough spectacle in Stargate to make up for its many flaws."^[30] The film peaked at number one on the Billboard chart Top Video Rentals on April 29, 1995.^[31] However the positive reviews stated that it was an "instant camp classic", and praised the film for its special effects and entertainment value,^[32] with Chris Hicks of the Deseret News calling it "Star Wars meets Ben Hur".^[33] Scott McKenzie from DVDactive said this about the film "it's a shame because the world created around the Stargate is compelling and detailed. It's almost enough to make me want to watch the TV series, but not quite."^[34] After the release of the movie, Emmerich and Devlin were sued by an Egyptology student, claiming he had written the story and given them the idea. The suit was later settled out of court.^[35]

Home releases[link]

Awards[link]

In 1995, Stargate was considered for various film awards worldwide. It won six of the ten awards it was nominated for.^[36]

Future[link]

Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich always envisioned Stargate as the first part of a trilogy of films, but parts two and three were never developed.^[37] At Comic-Con 2006, 12 years after the original film was released, writer/producer Dean Devlin stated that he was in early discussions with rightsholders MGM about finally bringing the final two parts to the screen.^[38]

Sequels[link]

According to Devlin, the second film is intended to be set around 12 years after the original, with Daniel Jackson making a discovery that leads him back to Earth and to the uncovering of a new Stargate. The second movie would supposedly use a different mythology from the Egyptian one which formed the background to the original movie, with the third movie tying these together to reveal that "all mythologies are actually tied together with a common thread that we haven't recognized before."^[39] Devlin stated that he hoped to enlist original stars Kurt Russell (Col. Jack O'Neil) and James Spader (Dr. Daniel Jackson) for the sequels. The actors have reportedly expressed an interest in participating in the project.^[40]

The film trilogy would not directly tie in to the Stargate SG-1 series. According to Devlin, the relationship between the movie and the series is "we would just continue the mythology of the movie and finish that out. I think the series could still live on at the end of the third sequel. So we're going to try to not tread on their stories."^[39] Plans for sequels to the original film are unrelated to the development of straight-to-DVD movies made as sequels to the Stargate SG-1 TV series. Using some of Roland Emmerich's notes, Bill McCay wrote a series of five novels, continuing the story the original creators had envisioned, which involved the Earth-humans, the locals and the successors of Ra. See Stargate literature. According to Devlin, he and Emmerich had always planned to do three films with the potential for more, but MGM preferred to play out the television series first.^[41]

Television spin-offs[link]

The CD ROM Secrets of Stargate, released after the film, shows how the special effects were made. The film included behind the scenes of the film and the showing interviews with the cast and the production members.^[8] Dean Devlin eventually gave Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (MGM) the rights over the film,^[37] and author Bill McCay wrote a series of five novels based on Emmerich's notes, continuing the story the original creators had envisioned. In 1996, MGM hired Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner to create a spin-off television series. Stargate SG-1 premiered on the American subscription channel Showtime on July 27, 1997 and ended its ten-season run in 2007. Stargate SG-1 itself spawned the non-canon animated television series Stargate Infinity (2002–2003), and the live-action television series Stargate Atlantis (2004–2009) and Stargate Universe (2009–2011).

Differences from the series[link]

SG-1 creators and executive producers Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner altered the canon by introducing several new concepts during production of the SG-1 and Atlantis series. Most notably, many characters were portrayed by different actors in the series, and names were spelled differently.^[43] Daniel Jackson was played by James Spader in the movie and by Michael Shanks in the series. Kurt Russell's character Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil, a rather humorless Colonel, is played by Richard Dean Anderson as Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill (with two L's) in SG-1.^[44][45] French Stewart's character was named Louis Ferretti, in SG-1, Brent Stait's character is named Louis Ferretti. The spelling of Daniel Jackson's wife changes from Sha'uri to Sha're, O'Neill's wife from Sarah to Sara, (similarly, the name of O'Neil's son changes from Tyler in the film to Charlie).^[43]

The Stargate Command setting was transferred from the fictional military facility located in Creek Mountain, to the Cheyenne Mountain military complex.^[43] The unnamed planet from the film was named Abydos in the series and the distance from Earth changed from millions of light-years away (in an entirely different galaxy, "the Kalium galaxy") to becoming the closest planet to Earth with a Stargate, residing in the same galaxy as Earth. Also in SG-1, Stargate travel is limited to the Stargate network in the Milky Way galaxy (unless a tremendous amount of power is used to lengthen the subspace wormhole of a Stargate to another galaxy's Stargate).^[43] Ra was the last of an unnamed race in the film, being of a humanoid species with large black eyes and a lack of facial features. In SG-1 however, Ra is one of many "Goa'uld System Lords," who are a race of parasitic snake-like creatures.^[44][46] There were also changes to the Stargate. The unique set of 39 Stargate symbols in the film were replaced with the concept of 38 symbols that are the same for each Stargate (Earth's symbols based on Earth's constellations), plus a single point of origin symbol that is unique to that individual gate.^[46] While the kawoosh effect in the movie was created by filming the actual swirl of water in a glass tube, and looked like a vortex on the back of the Gate;^[47] on the TV series this effect was completely created in CG by the Canadian visual effects company Rainmaker.^[48] At the beginning of Season 9, the original movie wormhole sequence was substituted by a new sequence similar to the one already used on Stargate Atlantis, but being blue as it was in the movie and SG-1, whereas in Atlantis it's green.^[49]

While the Stargate device in the feature film has a plain quartzite surface, the device in the television series has lights set in each of the chevrons: red, blue, and white in Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe respectively.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Stargate (film)

• Official website at mgm.com
• Stargate at the Internet Movie Database
• Stargate at Box Office Mojo
• Stargate on Stargate Wiki
• Stargate at AllRovi
• Stargate at Rotten Tomatoes

Stargate was an adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly $200 million (USD) worldwide.^[1][2] Three years later, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a television series titled Stargate SG-1 as a sequel for the film.

In addition to film and television, the Stargate franchise has expanded into other media, including books, video games, and comic books. These supplements to the film and television series have resulted in significant development of the show's fictional universe and mythology. In 2008, the films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Continuum were released direct-to-DVD, which in total grossed over $21 million in the United States. In 2002 the franchise's first animated series, Stargate Infinity, began airing, which holds no canonicity in the franchise despite its Stargate SG-1-inspired plot. In 2004, the TV series Stargate Atlantis was released as a spin off from Stargate SG-1 and a third series, Stargate Universe, premiered on October 2, 2009. Stargate Universe was cancelled during its second season, leaving it on a semi-cliffhanger.^[3] Then on April 17, 2011, Stargate producer Brad Wright announced that any plans for the continuation of the franchise had been cancelled indefinitely, ending 17 seasons of Stargate television production.^[4]

Premise[link]

Stargate productions center on the premise of a "Stargate", a ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole enabling personal transportation to complementary devices located cosmic distances away. Under the control of the United States government, the Stargate discovered on Earth is kept a secret from the public. This allows for storylines to present no contradiction between depicted events and reality, an effect compounded by setting Stargate in the present day and depicting Earth accurately, with any unrealistic technology originating solely from alien civilizations. These extraterrestrial civilizations are typically more pre-industrial than scientifically advanced and are almost always human. Together, this allows for stories dominated by human interaction in Earth-like environments, an unusual feature for a science fiction franchise focused on exploration of other worlds.

In the story, this is explained as being the result of alien interference in Earth's distant past—the concept influenced by the ideas of Erich von Däniken. Many ancient mythologies are shown to be the result of aliens who had visited Earth posing as gods by using their technology to give the impression of deific power. While some of these aliens had benign intentions, a race later known in Stargate SG-1 as the "Goa'uld" used Stargates to move slaves from Ancient Egypt to other habitable planets, simultaneously being responsible for the Egyptian religion and culture. Following a successful rebellion, the Goa'uld fled Earth, and the Stargate was buried and forgotten until modern times, when the United States acquired it following an archaeological dig. With the rediscovery of the function of the Stargate, the galaxy becomes a source of knowledge as well as threats, and the attention of the Goa'uld is drawn once more to Earth.

Franchise releases[link]

Due to multiple developers working separately and independently on the franchise over the years, the various Stargate productions are not entirely consistent with each other; and while no set of works forms an official canon,^[5] the largest following exists for the three live-action series.^[6] Through the work of various authors and developers, at least six separate story cycles can be discerned, some of which are continuations of the other ones (either endorsed or unendorsed by their predecessor).

Media releases[link]

Game releases[link]

• Stargate: Resistance is an online, third-person shooter. It was released February 10, 2010. It has since been canceled due to contracts with MGM. It is still downloadable however.
• Stargate Worlds was a Stargate-universe Massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development prior to its cancellation. The writers and producers of Stargate viewed Stargate Worlds as running side by side with the show in complete canon.
• Stargate SG-1: The Alliance was a computer game based on the Stargate universe, which was due to be released in late 2005, but was canceled.
• A Stargate Trading Card game was released in May 2007. It is available in both Online and Print forms. Designed by Sony Online Entertainment—who also run the Online version of the game—and published by Comic Images.
• A Stargate Role-Playing Game (RPG) was produced by Alderac Entertainment. It was considered canon by both the publishers, and the staff of MGM.^[13] However, when Sony bought MGM, they lost the license to produce Stargate RPG products and the RPG license is currently unassigned.
• Two video games based on the film were released by Acclaim Entertainment: a 1995 eponymous side-scrolling platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Genesis, and a Tetris-like puzzle game for the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy.
• There are three simulator-style amusement park rides named Stargate SG-3000 located at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America, and Six Flags Marine World.
• A Stargate pinball game has been produced by Gottlieb.
• Text and turn-based games were also created with the theme of the original universe of Stargate, although slightly different from "reality", all made by Kingdom Games Ltd. Many versions of the same stargate universe have been created and still work in parallel. Among those are Stargate Wars, Quantum Gate, and BattleCorp. On the forums related to the stargate games developed by Kingdom Games Ltd. a text-based roleplaying story was created, called the Enmity Saga. This story takes place in the starting universe of Stargate:SG1, mainly on unvisited planets.
• Asgard Heroes is an online browser mmorpg created by Evolution Vault that pays homage to Stargate. The initial release received some poor reviews which helped the development of the game and a better user interface.

[edit] Stargate franchise timeline

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Theatrical films[link]

[edit] Stargate

In 1994, the military science fiction feature film Stargate was released; directed by Roland Emmerich and co-written by Dean Devlin. The film lays the foundation for all the Stargate productions that come after it, by explaining the notion, function, and history of the Stargate.

The theatrical version of the film begins with the unearthing of the Stargate in Giza in 1928. As of Present Day (i.e. 1994), the failing egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader) helps to make the Stargate work again by deciphering the hieroglyphs on the cover stones of the Stargate, now housed at a military base in Creek Mountain, Colorado. A team led by Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) is ordered to step through the Stargate and identify potential military threats on the other side. Jackson accompanies them to aid in translations to allow them to return home later. At their arrival, the team discovers a slave civilization serving an alien who is posing as the Egyptian god Ra (Jaye Davidson). He and his minion-gods have taken human form, commanding the slaves with brute force. With the help of the locals, O'Neil's team is eventually able to instigate a slave rebellion, overwhelming Ra's forces. Ra escapes in his mothership, but O'Neil is able to teleport and detonate a nuclear warhead on-board Ra's ship in orbit. With Ra dead, the civilization can live in peace; O'Neil and his team return home through the Stargate, but Daniel Jackson stays on the planet with a young local woman named Sha'uri.

[edit] Other releases and future development

After Bill McCay had written a series of five novels continuing the story the original creators had envisioned, and despite the success of the Stargate television series, Dean Devlin stated in 2006 that "he has struck a production deal with MGM and is developing the long-delayed sequel feature films that will pick up the story from the 1994 original"^[14] According to Devlin, two movie sequels would have picked up the story from the 1994 original, but not the mythology of the SG-1 and Atlantis series, with the original stars Kurt Russell and James Spader. Devlin regretted giving MGM control over the franchise.^[14] The first movie already tapped into Egyptian mythology; the second one would have moved into other mythologies; and the third would tie all the mythologies together.^[15] Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis producer Brad Wright said in 2002 that "Devlin can wish to do a sequel to Stargate all he wants. MGM owns the rights, and I doubt very much that they'll ask him to do it. He knows better."^[16]

Plans for producing two sequels of the original film were announced by the original film's creator Dean Devlin at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. He has said he is currently in talks with MGM to produce four films and he would like two of them to be the final two films in his envisioned Stargate trilogy. In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Devlin says that should the sequels be made, he hopes to enlist Kurt Russell and James Spader in the two sequels. Both Russell and Spader have expressed interest, Devlin revealed. "They've always said they wanted to do it. The irony is actually because it was 12 years ago that we made Stargate, [and] part two was actually supposed to take place about 12 years later. We were just going to kind of age them up as actors. So it actually works out really nicely." These sequels would bypass the 12 years of mythology created by SG-1 and Atlantis if they are produced.^[14]

Dean Devlin has spoken out again on July 4, 2011 stating that he hasn't given up on the idea of sequels to his 1994 feature film. He talked about the idea again in a new interview with Collider. Devlin actually wrote it as a trilogy of movies, but was never able to do parts two and three. His hope is, now that the series is starting to wind down, that perhaps it will be time to actually get to do parts two and three.

Devlin has said "I think it'll change a little bit from our original idea since so many years have passed," he said. "We wanted to explore the idea of how the Stargates were built originally, and where else in the universe they exist, and why they exist — and where else they exist on Earth. We had really planned out, as a trilogy of films, to allow this mythology to grow bigger and bigger." "^[17]

Stargate was directed by Roland Emmerich, and starred Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O'Neil and James Spader as Dr. Daniel Jackson. Devlin said he would absolutely want to use the same actors. The movie was shot with a modest budget of $55 million, and released in October 1994.

In the meantime, Lionsgate remains the major rights holder to the original film; this was due to the fact that its predecessor, Live Entertainment, owned home video rights to the Carolco Pictures library and had also owned international distribution rights, although Carolco itself was on the brink of bankruptcy when they produced this film.^{[citation needed]}

Television[link]

[edit] SG-1

In 1997, Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright co-developed Stargate SG-1, a television series intended to continue the story laid down by the original film. Although new actors were cast, several roles from the film were reprised, including the main characters Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill (which was re-spelled to include an extra "L"). The Stargate Command setting was transferred from a fictional military facility located in Creek Mountain, to the Cheyenne Mountain military complex. Other variations and differences between the original film and SG-1 mostly concern the location of the planet Abydos, the alien Ra, the race of Ra's underlings (Jaffa), and Stargate travel.^[18][19]

The series debuted on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to the Sci-Fi Channel after its fifth season.^[20] It starred Richard Dean Anderson (as O'Neill) and Michael Shanks (as Jackson), alongside Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis playing the new characters Samantha Carter, Teal'c and George Hammond. The cast remained fairly regular for most of SG-1's run, but experienced some changes. Michael Shanks left the show at the end of Season 5 and was replaced by Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn. Shanks returned at the beginning of Season 7 and Nemec was written out. At the end of Season 7 Davis left the show and Anderson filled the gap he left in the story. Season 9 saw the departure of Anderson, but added new regulars Beau Bridges and Ben Browder. After a debut episode in Season 8, followed by appearances in eight episodes of Season 9, Claudia Black's popular reception earned her a position in the regular cast in Season 10.^[21]

MGM put an average of $1,400,000 into each episode of the show, and regards it as one of its most important franchises.^[22] Stargate was taken off air in 2007; however, two movies entitled Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum were made to tie up loose ends.

[edit] Atlantis

The Stargate Atlantis series follows the adventures of the "Atlantis expedition", a combination of military forces and civilian scientists that travel to the Pegasus galaxy in search of the Lost City of Atlantis, left behind by the most powerful race known to ever have lived, referred to as the Ancients, also known as Lanteans and Alterrans. The finding of the city had been a plot arc for most of SG-1's Season 7, and the Ancients themselves had been a long-running facet of the SG-1 setting. Arriving at the City, the expedition discover that the Pegasus galaxy is dominated by a terrible enemy known as the "Wraith", against whom they must defend themselves, despite being vastly outnumbered.

Stargate Atlantis was a spin-off television series from Stargate SG-1. A new feature film was originally intended to transition the two series after the sixth season of SG-1. Later, SG-1 was renewed for a seventh season, and the feature film was then planned to transition that season. Finally, when SG-1 was renewed for an eighth season, the intended film instead became the two-part season finale episode "Lost City", and the setting of Stargate Atlantis was moved to the Pegasus galaxy.^[23] This allowed the two shows to exist side-by-side within the same fictional universe, and later the two shows even become interconnected. Atlantis was developed by most of the same people and in the same studios as SG-1.

Atlantis debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 16, 2004, starring Joe Flanigan and Torri Higginson in the lead roles, with Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett, and Rachel Luttrell alongside. Hewlett and Higginson's characters had previously appeared in SG-1 (though Higginson inherited the role from actress Jessica Steen). In Atlantis' second season, Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa (replacing Francks) were added as regulars. At the end of the third season, Higginson and McGillion were removed as regulars, both serving recurring roles in the 4th season. Season 4 brought in Amanda Tapping, reprising her role as Samantha Carter from SG-1, and Jewel Staite in a recurring role. Tapping left the show for season five to concentrate on Sanctuary, and was replaced by Robert Picardo, who reprised his role as Richard Woolsey from both SG-1 and Atlantis. However, in late summer 2008 it was announced that SciFi would not renew Atlantis. The final episode aired on January 9, 2009.

[edit] Universe

Stargate Universe is the third live-action Stargate series, and premiered on October 2, 2009. The series was pitched to the Sci Fi Channel in the fall of 2007, just before the writer's strike—which put a hold on the project. "The pitch was received very well," according to Stargate Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright. Sci Fi Channel ordered Universe after announcing the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis. Syfy announced on December 16, 2010 that they would not pick the show up for a third season.^[24] The final episode aired May 9, 2011.

After the events of Stargate Atlantis research into the Stargates 9th and final chevron^[25] lead to an expedition being stranded across the universe on board an Ancient ship called "Destiny" which has been traveling through the universe unmanned for millions of years and is presently several billion light years from Earth. With no apparent way home, the show follows the crew as they struggle to survive on board Destiny. The show was intended to have a darker tone than its predecessors as well as delve more into the humanity of the characters and their relationships with each other while also remaining true to the Stargate mythology and continuity.

[edit] The Ark of Truth & Continuum

Stargate: The Ark of Truth is a direct-to-DVD movie written and directed by Robert C. Cooper. The film is the conclusion of Stargate SG-1's Ori arc, and picks up after the SG-1 series finale, but takes place before the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. The Ark of Truth was released as a Region 1 DVD release on March 11, 2008. Sky One has broadcast the film on March 24, 2008, to be followed by the Region 2 DVD release on April 28, 2008, with the Region 4 DVD release on April 9, 2008.^[26]

Stargate: Continuum is a direct-to-DVD movie written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood. Some scenes for this movie were already shot at the end of March 2007, but the original start date was set for May 22 at Vancouver's Bridge Studios. The production budget was $7 million.^[27] The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 29, 2008. The Region 4 DVD was released on August 6, 2008 with the Region 2 DVD released on August 18, 2008;^[28] followed by possible TV broadcasts.^[29] The film is a time-travel adventure and is the second sequel to Stargate SG-1, after Stargate: The Ark of Truth.

Future feature film projects[link]

Executive producer Brad Wright has revealed that "Children of the Gods", Stargate SG-1's pilot episode, is being re-cut into a Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DVD movie with brand new visual effects and scenes not previously included in the television version.^[30]

In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third SG-1 new film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008.^[31][32] Wright will co-write the film with former Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder.^[33] Martin Wood will serve as director.^[34] According to Wright, the film would center on the Jack O'Neill character and will reunite as many of the SG-1 cast as possible, depending on the cost of the film and actor availability.^[31] Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) has confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson's participation.^[35] Amanda Tapping confirmed her appearance in the third SG-1 film and the first Atlantis movie.^[36] According to Wright, the character of Vala Mal Doran will not appear in the film.^[34] The working title for the film, Stargate: Revolution was revealed by Joseph Mallozzi in his blog.^[37]

According to Sci-Fi and Joseph Mallozzi, a Stargate Atlantis two hour direct-to-DVD movie has been given the go ahead after the series was cancelled at the end of its fifth season. More movies are expected to follow in the Atlantis series if the first movie is successful.^[38] The rumored working title for the film is Stargate Extinction. By May 2009 the script for the film was finished.^[39]

On April 17, 2011, Stargate writer and executive producer Brad Wright announced that the SGU movie is not going to happen. He also confirmed that the proposed Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis movies have been permanently shelved, along with another movie idea he had been trying to get a greenlight on which would have involved cast members of all three series.^[4] Still, Wright did not rule out future Stargate films, saying; "It's a franchise. Stargate is not over. Somebody smart from MGM is going to figure it out, and something will happen."^[40]

[edit] Infinity

Stargate Infinity is an American animated science fiction television series created by Eric Lewald and Michael Maliani as a spin off from its sister show, Stargate SG-1. The story arc in Infinity is set 30 years into the future and follows Gus Bonner and his team. Bonner's team was created after he was framed for a crime he did not commit. He escaped from Stargate Command (SGC) after the hostile alien race Tlak'kahn attacked the SGC to find the chrysalis. Together with his team he escapes through the Stargate with the chrysalis. From that point forward they go from planet to planet until they find the evidence to clear their names while learning about the unique cultures in the galaxy, so that they can one day return back to Earth.^[41] The story arc was never resolved because of low viewership ratings, the show was cancelled in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Stargate Infinity premiered in September 2002 as part of 4Kids Entertainment’s FOX BOX Saturday morning line-up on FOX and went off the air in June 2003. Due to its lack of popularity the show is almost completely unrecognized. The series was cancelled before any of its story arcs could be resolved. The show was of low budget, which was constantly noted by the media.^[42][43] DIC Entertainment released a 4-episode DVD on October 7, 2003 in Region 1. MGM Home Entertainment released a five disc season box set on August 13, 2007 in region 2.^[42] Shout! Factory, a company known for releasing cult animated series, acquired the rights to the show and released the entire series to DVD on May 13, 2008 in Region 1.^[43] As of 2009, there is yet to come a release of Stargate Infinity package in Region 4, namely Oceania and Latin America.^[44]

The writers and producers of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe and the main canon of the Stargate franchise were not involved with Infinity, and neither MGM, the production teams nor the fans of Stargate consider Infinity to be an official part of the Stargate universe. According to Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright, the animated series should not be considered official Stargate canon. Commenting on it, he stated, "I don't have a problem with it. I'm just not involved."^[45]

Reception[link]

Stargate took in $16.7 million on its opening weekend,^[46] and received mixed reactions from critics; while it was panned by the likes of Roger Ebert,^[47] several positive reviews counterbalanced this leading to a score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[48] Although the film was originally intended as the first of a trilogy of films,^[14] Emmerich and Devlin ultimately moved on to produce Independence Day, and it was not until 2006 that Devlin showed renewed interest in developing sequels.^[15] In the intervening time, copyright-holder MGM succeeded the film with the television series Stargate SG-1 without the input of Emmerich and Devlin.

Fans (called "Gaters") posing as SG teams at Dragon Con in 2008

Stargate SG-1 has won the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated Television Series on numerous occasions, and its cast has won similar awards for acting.^[49] More recently it has received acclaim for its visual effects, which increased in quality and realism as the show gained a larger budget.^[50] On August 21, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel announced that it would not be renewing Stargate SG-1 for an eleventh season after a series of poor performances in the Nielsen ratings.^[51] Many fans were enraged at the news, even creating websites in reaction to exhibit their commitment to the series.^[52] Spokesmen for the production have said all options for the continuation of SG-1 are being considered, including complete digital broadcasting.^[53] Executive producer Robert C. Cooper told the fansite GateWorld exclusively that he was working to continue SG-1.^[54] Currently, no network or company has ordered new episodes of SG-1, so the show is on hold until a new buyer can be found. However, SciFi has attempted to block other networks from taking up the show, citing its original exclusive contract with MGM.^[55] Stargate Atlantis has won several awards for its actors, visual effects and directors, including a WorldFest Platinum Award for David Winning's direction of an early Season 1 episode.^[56] Atlantis proved to be equally as successful as SG-1, with Nielsen ratings and viewership. The Stargate franchise in 2009 won a Constellation Award in the category of Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television in 2008.^[57]

The average viewership to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis was around 10 million a week worldwide. According to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright, the show is very popular in Great Britain, Germany, France and Australia, but with a steadily declining viewership in homeland Canada. It was estimated that around 30 million Stargate DVDs were sold worldwide in 2006.^[58]

The DVD release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth in the US earned MGM/Fox US $1.59 million in rentals in the first week after the release, and another US $1.38 million in rentals in the second week. In its third week it earned US $1.19 million in rentals totaling US $4.16 million . The DVD has also earned US $9.0 million in sales.^[7] Stargate: Continuum would go on to gross over $8 million United States dollars in the United States.^[8] The film sparked mostly positive reviews with movie critics.^[59][60][61] A third Stargate SG-1 movie was planned to follow Continuum but the third movie was put on hold with any other future Stargate movies; the film will center around the character of Jack O'Neill.^[62]

Literature[link]

There are three series of novels based on the Stargate franchise, one based on the original Stargate film and two based in the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis television shows. A series of books written by Bill McCay were published from 1995 to 1999 that were unofficial sequels to the film.^[63] These were produced by consulting the original notes made by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, in an attempt to envision where the film "would have gone". Neither party has commented on whether McCay's interpretation was correct. Despite the fact that he attempted to remain close to the original vision, the subsequent television series Stargate SG-1 (which began under an entirely independent development) developed the story along different lines, making no attempt to reconcile the plot lines of the books. This marked the first major branching of the franchise.

Later, from 1999 to 2001, ROC published four novels based in Stargate SG-1 written by Ashley McConnell.^[64] In 2004, UK-based Fandemonium Press started a new series of licensed tie-in novels based on Stargate SG-1. Due to the conflict with ROC's license, these books were available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, but not in the US. Fandemonium books became available in the US in 2006. The official Stargate Magazine, produced by Titan Publishing, began publishing short stories written by Fandemonium authors in their 8th issue. The stories alternate between both SG-1 and Atlantis.^[65]

A series of comic books, based on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, began to be published by Avatar Press in 2003. Five have been published to date, with stories by James Anthony and artwork by Jorge Correa.^[66] In February 2008 it was announced that Big Finish Productions would release officially-licensed audiobooks featuring members of the cast reading new stories. The first two stories, available on CD and digital download, are Gift of the Gods read by Michael Shanks and A Necessary Evil read by Torri Higginson.^[67]

References[link]