Stargate SG-1 Review

Stargate SG-1

A review

 

In 1994, the world came to see the beginning of a franchise that would last for many more years to come. Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich created a movie that, whilst negatively received, held great potential. It was for this reason, that Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a TV-series spin-off named Stargate SG-1.  With 10 seasons and over 200 episodes, Stargate SG-1 surpassed The X-files in 2007 as longest running Science Fiction north-American TV series.

The series revolves around the titular artifact known as the Stargate. It's a device created many years ago, with the purpose of transporting humans from one world to the other by means of a wormhole. In the series it is used to fluff out the seasons by delivering us with one off episodes featuring worlds that have a problem of the week. Many of these episodes are definitely a hit, but there are some that are a clear miss.

It's the main story arcs that keep the viewer interested when it comes to the actual plot. It involves an alien, parasitic race known as the Goa'uld that burrow their way in to unwilling hosts and take them over. As good parasites, they have stolen technology at the ready which they use to make their subjects believe that they are Gods. Fighting for them are an alien race known as the Jaffa, humanoid in nature but physiologically quite different due to their dependency on Goa'uld symbioses to survive. Infant symbioses are unable to take over their hosts, so they grow up inside a pouch in the Jaffa's stomach.

Earth finds itself against a war with these creatures, finding they are vastly outmatched in terms of numbers and technology. A fantastic way to keep the plot going and to keep the tension high. Little by little, the main team of Earth, known as SG-1, finds ways and allies to defeat them. 

And, when the humans became too strong to keep the Goa'uld a big enough threat, and so on. But never in a way that was unbelievable. And each time these new enemies offered some rather interesting questions. The way they were woven in to the story and were inspired by real life "what if's" was quite brilliant. 

The real driving force of the show are its characters. Whilst some aren't as interesting as the other, most of them have or will have stories that will draw you in the most. It's their personal relations and their overal arc that get you sucked in. Teal'c, for example, has shown immense growth in his run in the series and manages to provide some of the strongest stories. 

Whilst in the beginning it was Jack O'Neill that provided most of the humor, the writers changed that to pretty much everyone. This became much more apparent with the change from O'Neill to Cameron Mitchell. Also returning was a one off character known as Vala Mal Doran. Even though she is my favorite character of the entire show, she basically represents the change in the characters. It started to be a bit too much about the humor. However, they did fix that with Vala in the end, as you learned more about her. 

In the end, Stargate is one of the best sci fi franchises out there. It may have its flaws, but it is definately worth the watch. From the enemies to the character arcs, they are all very compelling and will get you crying on more than one occasion. Never mind making you laugh because, damn. The humor can be excellent, indeed. Especially with Teal'c and the interaction between Vala and Daniel. 

Some seasons tend to rely too much on the one off episodes, ruining an otherwise brilliant run. Season 2, for example, is still the best season of Jack O'Neill's run. It was heavy on the goa'uld and low on the pointless one offs. In the later seasons, they helped this along by making the one off episodes a part of the main arc, instead of the usual: Look ma, a stargate adress, let's go there for shits and giggles! 

I rate Stargate SG-1 a 

8/10