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189-577: Stargate SG-1 (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated SG-1 ) is a military science fiction adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 's Stargate franchise . The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner , is based on the 1994 science fiction film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich . The television series was filmed in and around the city of Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada. The series premiered on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to

378-578: A Strategic Defense Initiative in which satellites would be set up to shoot at nuclear missiles. The two authors were Larry Niven , the author of the Ringworld series, and Jerry Pournelle . Along with like-minded colleagues, they formed a committee to lobby the United States on space issues and influence Reagan's space policies. Pournelle advocated a "robust, technocratic military state". In addition to Pournelle's science fiction writing, he wrote

567-507: A motion-control camera . Partly because Ra 's mask looked cross-eyed, Brad Wright approached the art department in the following years to produce a new opening title sequence; however, the sequence remained the same until the show's move to the Sci-Fi Channel. During the first five seasons when the show was syndicated, a separate introduction was used; this intro is still used by Sci-Fi for Seasons 1–5. This version uses action shots of

756-556: A "paper for the Air Force on stability's role in national security". President Reagan read the space advice that Niven, Pournelle, and their colleagues prepared, which influenced Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative . "Niven and Pournelle saw an opportunity to shape the great void in their political image, and Reagan viewed space as yet another tool to defend America against the communist superpower...". Science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov criticized

945-468: A Sci Fi record as most-watched episode of a regular series ever (at the time) for Atlantis with 4.2 million viewers. Battlestar Galactica joined the two Stargate series in January 2005, making Sci Fi the leader among basic cablers on Friday nights over the summer of 2005. The producers considered replacing Stargate SG-1 with a new show named Stargate Command after SG-1 ' s eighth season, but

1134-531: A balance in the interaction between the explorers from Earth and advanced races (of which there were only few in the story) so that alliances could be developed where the advanced races do not give Earth all their technology and knowledge. Stargate SG-1 emphasized its present-day-Earth story frame by frequently referencing popular culture , like The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had done before. According to one critic in 1997, Stargate SG-1

1323-609: A captain, and are armed with semi-automatic rifles . Eventually, as science fiction became an established and separate genre, military science fiction established itself as a subgenre. One such work is H. Beam Piper 's Uller Uprising (1952) (based on the events of the Sepoy Mutiny ). Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is another work of military science fiction, along with Gordon Dickson 's Dorsai (1960), and these are thought to be mostly responsible for popularizing this subgenre's popularity among young readers of

1512-429: A computer-generated Stargate was occasionally used in on-location shoots in later seasons. The SGC set had to be twice as high for shooting as the 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) Stargate prop, but one of Hudolin's original plans of a three-level set was rejected in favor of a two-level set. The gateroom was the biggest room on set and could be redesigned for other scenes. Two multi-purpose rooms were frequently redecorated into

1701-517: A family show with adequate violence as opposed to random or gratuitous violence. Christopher Judge did not consider SG-1 as a "message show by any stretch of the imagination, but occasionally there are messages there". Aimed at a popular audience, Stargate SG-1 emphasized its present-day-Earth story frame by frequently referring to popular culture , like The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had done before. Jonathan Glassner had written The Wizard of Oz references into his own scripts since

1890-657: A five-second clip instead of the full titles. Beginning with Season 10's " Company of Thieves ", the last clip of the opening credits shows Vala Mal Doran almost missing SG-1's trip through the Stargate. The U.S. Department of the Air Force , through the Air Force Office of Public Affairs, Entertainment Liaison in Los Angeles, co-operated closely with the Stargate SG-1 producers. Before the beginning of

2079-480: A form of faster-than-light travel in order to facilitate the enormous scale of interstellar war . The long spans of time (e.g., decades or centuries) required for human soldiers to travel interstellar distances, even at relativistic speeds, and the consequences for the characters, is a dilemma examined by authors such as Joe Haldeman and Alastair Reynolds . Other writers such as Larry Niven have created plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonization of

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2268-470: A fundamental difference in plot structure and set design from other series. There is a disjunction between politics on Earth and the realities of fighting an interstellar war. The Stargate also helps to speed up the exposition of the setting. The race of the Ancients is first mentioned in the Stargate SG-1 season 2 episode " The Fifth Race " as the original builders of the Stargate network and members of

2457-527: A future mercenary tank regiment . Drake's series which "helped initiate a fashion for sf about mercenaries", including The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold . A twist was introduced in Harry Turtledove 's Worldwar series depicting an alternate history in which WWII is disrupted by extraterrestrials invading Earth in 1942, forcing humans to stop fighting each other and unite against this common enemy. Turtledove depicts

2646-459: A genetic standpoint and an evolutionary standpoint, they have shown the most proclivity in utilizing Ancient technology when they encounter it. For the first six seasons of Stargate SG-1 , the ascended Ancients maintain a strict rule of noninterference in mortal affairs of the material galaxy, and the interactions between humans of Earth and the Ancients are restricted to the outcast Ancient characters Oma Desala and Orlin . The Ancients' ascension

2835-481: A groundbreaking discovery they made pertaining to the origins of the universe. The Destiny itself was intended to follow a pre-programmed course to explore these galaxies, but was left uncrewed and lost at the time of the Ancients' ascension . The series starts when a team of soldiers and scientists from Earth step through the Stargate to find the Destiny and are unable to return to Earth. The show focuses mostly on

3024-495: A higher plane of existence with an increased power and capacity for learning. While they are no longer physically present in the universe, their highly advanced technology—including the Stargate—remains behind, all of which has shown to be almost entirely resilient to the decay of time, and has also proven to be the most advanced technology anyone has ever encountered. With humans from Earth as their closest descendants both from

3213-408: A humanoid's neck and wrap around the spinal column. The Goa'uld parasite (generally referred to as a "symbiote") then takes control of its host's body and mind, while providing longevity and perfect health. The Goa'uld are branded as evil by their pretending to be gods and forcing people to submit to their quasi-religious pronouncements. The most powerful Goa'uld in the galaxy are collectively known as

3402-458: A law enforcement setting. Some examples include Richard Morgan 's Takashi Kovacs book such as Altered Carbon (2002) and Elizabeth Bear 's Jenny Casey books, such as Hammered (2004). Precursors for military science fiction can be found in "future war" stories dating back at least to George Chesney 's story " The Battle of Dorking " (1871). Written just after the Prussian victory in

3591-402: A less regular basis. Lost Boys Studios provided visual effects for SG-1 from the very beginning of the series up to the end of Season 5, and Image Engine worked on the show from Season 2. Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis were responsible for an estimated 30% to 40% of the business of Atmosphere Visual Effects . James Tichenor considered the few episodes with big visual effects budgets

3780-530: A military science fiction story can speculate about war in the future, in space, or involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, a story with a fictional military plot may have relatively superficial science fictional elements. The term "military space opera" may occasionally denote this latter style, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Examples that feature aspects of both military science fiction and space opera include

3969-601: A movie script based on the fictional television series " Wormhole X-Treme! ", a parody of Stargate SG-1 set in the Stargate SG-1 universe. The Furlings were depicted as Ewok -like, or koala-like creatures that are destroyed by the Goa'uld soon after making contact with SG-1. The Goa ' uld are the primary adversaries in Stargate SG-1 from seasons 1 to 8. Stargate SG-1 creators Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner established in SG-1 ' s 1997 pilot episode " Children of

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4158-458: A new direction. Like the first two series in the franchise, Stargate Universe takes place during the present time, not in the distant future. Unlike SG-1 and Atlantis , no single dominant villain race is featured. The show is set on the Ancient ship Destiny , which is established as a part of an Ancient experiment to seed the universe with Stargates millions of years ago and investigate

4347-497: A real orchestra with a synthesizer palette of an eighty-piece symphony orchestra for budgetary reasons, although he occasionally used two or three musicians for added orchestral authenticity. Goldsmith's long-time assistant Neal Acree started composing additional music for Stargate SG-1 in Season 8. The amount of composed music varied between 12 and 33 minutes out of a 44-minute episode, with an average of around 22 to 26 minutes, making

4536-468: A recurring role. Don S. Davis left Stargate SG-1 after Season 7 for health reasons, but appeared in a recurring capacity until his death on June 29, 2008. Due to prior engagements, Claudia Black of Farscape fame could not accept the offers to guest-star on Stargate SG-1 until the Season 8 episode " Prometheus Unbound ". The producers liked the on-screen chemistry between Black's Vala Mal Doran and Shanks's Daniel so much that they re-introduced her in

4725-567: A replacement drug called Tretonin. Ordinary Jaffa bear a black tattoo symbol of their Goa'uld master's insignia on their foreheads, and the highest-ranking Jaffa in the service of a Goa'uld is known as the First Prime , who has the symbol branded in gold. SG-1 encounters three notable Jaffa factions: the all-female Hak'tyl ("liberation") led by Ishta in season 7's " Birthright ", the Ancient -worshipping Sodan in season 9's " Babylon ", and

4914-503: A six-episode story Arc to cover for the maternity leave of Amanda Tapping at the beginning of Season 9. At the same time, Richard Dean Anderson left the show to spend more time with his daughter (his schedule had been reduced incrementally since Season 6). The role of the leading man was filled with Ben Browder (also of Farscape fame), who had met with the Stargate producers as soon as the introduction of new main characters for Season 9

5103-465: A space colony requiring defense against attack out on the frontier. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a Space Western (or more poetically, as " Wagon Train to the stars"). The TV series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the space Western subgenre as popularized by Star Trek : it features frontier towns, horses, and

5292-452: A subject were collected and marketed as such. The series of anthologies with the group title There Will be War edited by Pournelle and John F. Carr (nine volumes from 1983 through 1990) helped keep the category active, and encouraged new writers to add to it. David Drake wrote stories about future mercenaries, including the Hammer's Slammers series (1979), which follows the career of

5481-511: A television adaptation. The main titles of Stargate SG-1 were a medley of several themes from the feature film, although Goldsmith also wrote a unique end title for SG-1 to establish the show as its own entity. MGM eventually insisted on using Arnold's score in the pilot episode instead of Goldsmith's, but Brad Wright's 2009 direct-to-DVD recut of Children of the Gods uses Goldsmith's original score. For each episode's score, Goldsmith simulated

5670-439: A television spin-off series of the feature film Stargate , Wright and Glassner independently and unbeknownst to each other approached MGM and proposed their concept for the television series. MGM president John Symes greenlit the project on the condition that Wright and Glassner work together as executive producers of the new show. The show was named Stargate SG-1 after Wright flightily agreed to Symes's pitch question of whether

5859-423: A test run with the Season 3 finale, " Nemesis ", Stargate SG-1 switched to 35 mm film for all purposes at the beginning of Season 4. Digital HD cameras were used for filming beginning with Season 8. The art department generated all of the concepts and drawing for the prop department, the set decoration department, the construction department, the paint department and the model shop. They also collaborated with

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6048-430: A traditional action-adventure score, "with a sci-fi, fantasy flair" that goes "from comedy to drama to wondrous to suspense to heavy action to ethereal". Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner had known Goldsmith since the second season of The Outer Limits before they approached him to work on the pilot episode of Stargate SG-1 . Goldsmith and David Arnold , the composer of the original feature film score, discussed themes for

6237-518: A very confused pop-cultural salad, randomly tossed together out of the vegetable bins of sci-fi, American military triumphalism, and a lot of Orientalizing Egyptomania. Yet the film was a lasting hit". Ultimately, he concludes that Stargate "serves as a neo-mythology able to re-enchant the world, to present an attractive anti-authoritarian option for identity formation and yet functionally equivalent to religion (according to traditional modern definitions) in its creationist tenet". Angela Ndalianis examines

6426-461: A visual style evocative of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. A "thematic subdivision" of MSF are works where "ex-military protagonists [are] drawing on their battle experience for tough and violent operations in (more or less) civilian life", typically in

6615-437: Is much bigger than that of the whole Pegasus Galaxy. This can only be achieved either through the Stargate or by getting more advanced Hyper drive technology, both of which are present in the city of Atlantis. Stargate Universe was conceived as "a completely separate, third entity" in the live-action Stargate franchise. Although it was firmly entrenched in pre-established Stargate mythology, Stargate Universe diverged in

6804-489: Is not necessarily set in outer space or on multiple worlds, as in space opera and the space Western . Both military science fiction and the space Western may consider an interstellar war and oppression by a galactic empire as the story's backdrop. They may focus on a lone gunslinger , soldier, or veteran in a futuristic space frontier setting . Western elements and conventions in military science fiction may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or more subtle, as in

6993-561: Is science fiction which is written about a military situation with a fundamental understanding of how military lifestyles and characters differ from civilian lifestyles and characters. It is science fiction which attempts to realistically portray the military within a science-fiction context. It is not 'bug shoots'. It is about human beings, and members of other species, caught up in warfare and carnage. It isn't an excuse for simplistic solutions to problems. In 1980 and 1981, two science fiction authors inspired President Ronald Reagan 's vision for

7182-448: Is typically described from the point of view of a soldier in a science fictional setting of or near battle . Typically, the technology is more advanced than that of the present and described in detail. In some stories, however, technology is fairly static, and weapons that would be familiar to present-day soldiers are used, but other aspects of society have changed. Technology may not be emphasized in such stories as much as other aspects of

7371-646: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . A key distinction of military science fiction from space opera is that space operas focus more on adventurous stories and melodrama, while military science fiction focuses more on warfare and technical aspects. The principal characters in a space opera are also not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . Stories in both subgenres often concern an interstellar war in which humans fight themselves and/or nonhuman entities. Military science fiction, however,

7560-455: The Ancients , an advanced race of humans from another galaxy who lived on Earth until approximately 10,000 years ago. A Stargate is a device that allows practical, rapid travel between two distant locations. The first Stargate appears in the 1994 film Stargate , and subsequently Stargate SG-1 and its spin-offs. In these productions, the Stargate functions as a plot generator , allowing

7749-466: The Ancients , had originally built the Stargate network millions of years earlier, before ascending to a higher plane of existence , after which they pledged not to interfere in the lives of other species. The pilot episode (" Children of the Gods "), set one year after the events of the original feature film, introduces the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis ( Peter Williams ) as the main antagonist when he attacks Earth's mothballed SGC military base through

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7938-554: The Franco-Prussian War , it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country in which the Royal Navy is destroyed by a futuristic wonder-weapon ("fatal engines"). Other works of military science fiction followed, including H.G. Wells 's " The Land Ironclads ". It described tank-like "land ironclads ," 80-to-100-foot-long (24 to 30 m) armoured fighting vehicles that carry riflemen, engineers, and

8127-605: The Jaffa to serve as soldiers and as incubators for their young via an abdominal pouch. The story of the Jaffa is primarily told through the main character Teal'c . The Jaffa's look in the series was copied from the Egyptian look of Ra from the film. The Jaffa rely on the symbiotes for their immune system or will die a slow and painful death that can only be avoided by either acquiring a new symbiote or by lifelong regular injections of

8316-497: The Ori galaxy, where human worship enhances the power of the Ori. Scholars have remarked on the multiple borrowings of real-world mythology to provide Stargate settings. Mariella Scerri and David Zammit note numerous such uses in Stargate. Frederic Krueger analyses the use of Ancient Egyptian mythology , and concludes: "From a critical standpoint, Stargate gives the initial impression of

8505-645: The Ori -worshipping Illac Renin (meaning "Kingdom of the Path") in season 10's " Talion ". The planet Dakara , a holy ground for the Goa'uld and Jaffa alike, is the turning point in the Goa'uld–Jaffa power struggle in season 8's " Reckoning "/" Threads ": It is where the Ancients first landed in the Milky Way Galaxy after fleeing the Alteran Galaxy and later built a powerful device, capable of destroying existing life or creating it where there

8694-471: The SG-1 movie this year [2009]". Nevertheless, production was put on hold. Wright explained that the late-2000s recession made DVD premieres less lucrative for MGM than in the years before, and he also pointed to the financial crisis of MGM as reason for the delay. Wright and Joe Mallozzi expressed optimism that production would eventually start, until Wright announced in April 2011 that the SG-1 film project

8883-522: The Sci Fi Channel on June 7, 2002; the series finale aired on Sky1 on March 13, 2007. The story of Stargate SG-1 begins about a year after the events of the feature film when the United States government learns that an ancient alien device called the Stargate can access a network of such devices on a multitude of planets and in space. SG-1 is an elite United States Air Force special operations team, one of about 20 teams from Earth who explore

9072-564: The Stargate film. The Stargate device sets apart SG-1 from other science fiction shows by allowing modern-day people to travel to other planets in an instant, although scholar Dave Hipple argued that SG-1 "also deploys [science fiction] stereotypes both to acknowledge forebears and to position itself as a deserving heir". With the help of the central Stargate device, the premise of Stargate SG-1 combines ancient cultures, present-day political and social concerns, aliens and advanced technologies. Near-instantaneous interplanetary travel allows

9261-714: The Stargate universe are populated by humans, there was once an Alliance of four great races. In season 2's " The Fifth Race ", the Asgard tell Jack O'Neill that this strategic alliance had consisted of the Ancients , the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox, and that the humans from Earth had taken the first steps towards becoming "the Fifth Race". (This comes full circle in the Stargate SG-1 finale " Unending ", when Thor declares

9450-426: The Stargate . Species established early on in the franchise recur throughout, with one adversary often dominating a particular story arc, which can continue across several seasons. In addition to a diversity of alien life , the Stargate universe includes an abundance of humans who, prior to the events depicted in the various Stargate fictional vehicles, have been scattered across the cosmos by advanced aliens. Some of

9639-699: The System Lords . The fictional backstory is established over the course of the series. In season 4's " The First Ones ", it is stated that the Goa'uld evolved on the planet P3X-888, where there are still populations of primitive Goa'uld. Their original hosts were the Unas (meaning "First Ones"), a race of large and primitive humanoids also native to the planet and whom SG-1 had first encountered in season 1's " Thor's Hammer ". The Goa'uld then found and ruled over Earth for thousands of years, masquerading as gods from ancient mythologies and transplanting humans throughout

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9828-653: The asteroid belt and outer planets by means of technologies utilizing the laws of physics as currently understood. Several subsets of military science fiction share characteristics of the space opera subgenre, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many stories can be considered to be in one or both the military science fiction and space opera subgenres, such as The Sten Chronicles by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch , Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card , Honorverse by David Weber , Deathstalker by Simon R. Green , and Armor by John Steakley. At one extreme,

10017-469: The pilot episode (Carter: "It took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth") and in a Farscape vignette in the milestone episode " 200 ". The American subscription channel Showtime ordered the first two seasons of Stargate SG-1 with 44 episodes total in 1996. The two-hour pilot episode received Showtime's highest-ever ratings for a series premiere with an audience of approximately 1.5 million households in

10206-490: The show-within-a-show directors in the cameo-heavy milestone episodes " Wormhole X-Treme! " and " 200 ". Andy Mikita had been an assistant director since the pilot episode and directed 29 episodes from Season 3–10. SG-1 director of photography Peter Woeste and camera operator William Waring directed 13 episodes each. Most staff writers and staff directors held producer positions. Several cast members also contributed story ideas and directed SG-1 episodes. Stargate SG-1

10395-416: The spin-off series Stargate Atlantis . Cooper and Wright remained show-runners of their respective shows until the end of SG-1 . Also serving as executive and co-executive producers were Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson (Seasons 1–8), N. John Smith (Seasons 4–10) and the writer team Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (Seasons 7–10). Although Stargate SG-1 employed freelance writers, most of

10584-607: The 2009 updated final cut with updated CGI and the full frontal nudity removed. As of July 2015, Hoopla Digital , an online library media database, has all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1 available to watch free without commercials, for those who have cards with a participating library. The first two episodes are the edited versions, in which full frontal nudity has been removed. In September 2017, MGM launched its own online streaming service called Stargate Command, making available all episodes of Stargate SG-1 along with Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. The show returned to Netflix in

10773-600: The 214 Stargate SG-1 episodes were written by Brad Wright (Seasons 1–10), Jonathan Glassner (Seasons 1–3), Katharyn Powers (Seasons 1–6), Robert C. Cooper (Seasons 1–10), Peter DeLuise (Seasons 4–8), Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie (Seasons 4–10), Damian Kindler (Seasons 6–10) and Alan McCullough (Seasons 9–10). Martin Wood and Peter DeLuise directed the most episodes, with 46 episodes (Seasons 1–10) and 57 episodes (Seasons 2–10), respectively. Wood and DeLuise regularly made cameo appearances in their episodes and notably played

10962-492: The 8 p.m. Sunday slot of July 27, 1997. According to the SG-1 producers, a broadcast network would have cancelled SG-1 after a few episodes, but Showtime put no pressure on the show to "deliver the meteoric ratings the way network shows do". The show was consistently the channel's most-watched program (including theatrical movies), so Showtime ordered a third and fourth season of 22 episodes each in July 1998. Since Stargate SG-1

11151-462: The Ancient mythos further. A benevolent race that, according to the mythology of Stargate , gave rise to Norse mythology on Earth and inspired accounts of the Roswell Greys . The Asgard can no longer reproduce and therefore perpetuate themselves by transferring their minds into new cloned bodies. Extremely advanced technologically, the threat of their intervention protects many planets in

11340-519: The Ancients' belief in strict noninterference in the lower planes of existence, sapping the energy from untold billions of "lower beings" (non-ascended sentient beings) by means of their worship in a religion called Origin. While the Ori send enhanced human beings named Priors to the Milky Way to convert the galaxy to Origin, Ba'al and some minor Goa'uld infiltrate Earth through The Trust (a coalition of rogue NID operatives) to rebuild their power. At

11529-666: The Earth expedition arrives. The existence of the Wraith is restricted to waking en masse every few centuries to replenish their health by galaxy-wide abductions of humans called "cullings", but the arrival of the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy in the pilot episode " Rising " leads to the Wraith waking prematurely from their hibernation. To sate their hunger, the Wraith try to get to Earth whose population

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11718-426: The Goa'uld had transplanted maintain much of their original Earth culture, and Stargate SG-1 does not equate civilization with technology like many other sci-fi shows do. Newly encountered races or visited planets are integrated into the mythology, although plotlines of individual episodes are often new, self-standing and accessible for new audiences, giving a compelling internal coherence. The writers had to strike

11907-481: The Goa'uld theme and introduced new characters and races. Goldsmith had a thematic approach to races and spaceships. For example, he wanted a mechanical, repetitive musical motif for the Replicators; Gothic, Gregorian and Christian themes were the inspiration for the Ori motif. The Ancient theme was deliberately carried over to Stargate Atlantis . The end of "Lost City" has a basic melody that would become part of

12096-442: The Goa'uld transplanted humans from Earth to other planets for slave labor. Many of these populations were abandoned, often when deposits of the fictional precious mineral naquadah were exhausted, and subsequently developed their own unique societies. Some of these extraterrestrial human civilizations are shown to have become much more technologically advanced than those on Earth, the in-show rationale being that they never suffered

12285-480: The Goa'uld, including a floating city. As they have the ability to render themselves and other objects invisible and intangible, as well as the ability to resurrect the dead, they never need to fight. The Nox also appear in " Enigma " and " Pretense ". However, Stargate SG-1 revealed virtually nothing about the Furlings, beside making them the story backdrop of an abandoned site in season 6's " Paradise Lost ". Furling skeletons were originally planned to be featured in

12474-527: The Gods " that the film's unnamed alien race and the Goa'uld are the same. As such, the look of the series' Goa'uld, including the early archvillain Apophis , was based on Ra in the feature film. The Goa'uld are introduced as the first and most prominent alien race in the Milky Way, and are also one of the few nonhumanoid species to appear in the early seasons of the series. They are a parasitic species that resemble finned snakes, which can burrow themselves into

12663-455: The Gods ", which takes place a year after the film, Stargate Command is established in response to an attack by the Goa'uld Apophis , and given the mandate to explore other worlds and obtain technologies that can be used to defend Earth. They encounter other races, such as the Asgard , who masquerade as Norse gods . Stargate SG-1 further extended the backstory of Earth humans by introducing

12852-458: The Milky Way, including Earth, from Goa'uld attack. They also provide much assistance to Earth in the way of technology, equipment, and expertise. Their main adversary in Stargate SG-1 are the mechanical Replicators , against which they enlist the aid of SG-1 on several occasions. The entire Asgard civilization chooses to self-destruct in " Unending ", due to the degenerative effects of repeated cloning. A small rogue colony of Asgard, known as

13041-480: The Ori do not interfere directly in the mortal plane. Instead, they use humans called Priors , which they artificially evolve so that they are one step from Ascension, giving the Priors godlike powers. Because the Ori have worshipers across the entire home galaxy of the Ancients, and use their knowledge to spread, they are nearly unstoppable. For example: Ori warships, built using conventional means while operated through

13230-457: The Ori storyline. The second film, Stargate: Continuum , is an alternate time-line time travel story and was released in July 2008. A special edition of the two-hour pilot episode " Children of the Gods " with re-edited scenes and a different score has also been produced. In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third new SG-1 film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008. Joseph Mallozzi revealed

13419-585: The Pegasus Galaxy. The story arc of Stargate Atlantis begins in the season 6 finale of Stargate SG-1 , " Full Circle ", where Daniel Jackson first mentions the Lost City of the Ancients. The search for the Lost City continues through SG-1 ' season 7 with the aim to find powerful weapons, and ends with an Ancient outpost found in Antarctica in the season 7 finale " Lost City ". In SG-1 ' s season 8 premiere " New Order ", Daniel Jackson discovers

13608-645: The Pegasus galaxy, but rarely interbred with them. As explained in season 1's " The Defiant One ", the Wraith drove the Ancients from their holdings until only Atlantis was left, defended by its powerful shield and a network of armed satellites. The Atlantis Expedition learn during their arrival in Atlantis in "Rising" that the Ancients submerged the city in Lantea's ocean to evade detection by the Wraith and returned via stargate to Earth, where survivor recollections formed

13797-530: The Replicators and most System Lords have already been annihilated and the Jaffa win their freedom from Goa'uld rule. The original SG-1 team disbands after the events of Season 8, but slowly reunites under new team leader Lt Col. Cameron Mitchell after the SGC inadvertently draws the attention of the Ori to the existence of sentient life in the Milky Way; the Ori are revealed to be a faction of ascended Ancients residing in another galaxy that are diametrically opposed to

13986-507: The SG-1 team's other wounds look authentic. For the look of aliens, the make-up department collaborated with prosthetics companies from Vancouver and Los Angeles, including Steve Johnson 's XFX (first three seasons only) & Todd Masters. While the human origins of many alien races and human civilizations were left recognizable, the recurring characters who were members of the Unas race required elaborate prosthetics and make-up work. To convey

14175-529: The Sci Fi Channel confirmed that Stargate SG-1 was not being renewed for an 11th season. While news outlets cited declining ratings, expensive production and lack of promotion as possible reasons for the cancellation, the Sci Fi Channel's Mark Stern merely stated the decision was not ratings-based. Instead, he said the production staff was given enough time to tie up all the loose ends of the story and SG-1 cast members were planned to be incorporated into

14364-415: The Sci Fi Channel decided to continue SG-1 with a slightly changed cast for a ninth season instead. Season 9's average slipped from 2.4 million viewers in late 2005 to 2.1 million viewers with 1.8 household rating during early 2006, which Sci Fi's Mark Stern attributed to the "tech-savvy, toy-loving, time-shifting audience" whose use of digital video recorders excluded them in ratings compilations. Meanwhile,

14553-460: The Sci Fi Channel on June 22, 2007. According to Wright and Cooper, the worldwide popularity of science fiction was a factor in SG-1 's success and the good international reception helped keep the series on the air in the beginning. Several newspapers reported in 2005–2006 that Stargate SG-1 aired in over 100 countries with a weekly worldwide viewership of around 10 million, but The New York Times gave different numbers in 2004, saying that

14742-464: The Sci Fi Channel picked up MGM's offer to continue the show into a sixth season, yet with a slightly reduced budget. Sci Fi aired new episodes of Stargate SG-1 in the 9 p.m. Friday slot between The Dead Zone and Farscape , while it aired older SG-1 episodes in a four-hour block every Monday at 7 p.m. Episodes were broadcast in US syndication six months after their premiere on Sci Fi. The sixth season

14931-531: The Stargate and kidnaps an airman. The SGC is brought back into action when the Stargate is revealed to be part of an interplanetary network connecting countless planets. SG teams are created to help defend Earth against the Goa'uld, who have interstellar pyramid warships and vast armies of Jaffa (hereditary slaves and human incubators to the Goa'uld) at their disposal. Earth's flagship team SG-1, which includes Apophis's defected First Prime (lead Jaffa soldier) Teal'c , initiates several alliances with other cultures in

15120-599: The Stargate and other alien technology. Despite Apophis's death in the beginning of Season 5 , the Goa'uld Empire remains a major foe in Stargate SG-1 until the end of Season 8 . The only influential Goa'uld in the last two seasons of Stargate SG-1 is the System Lord Ba'al ( Cliff Simon ), who is defeated in the direct-to-DVD film Stargate: Continuum . After Apophis's defeat in the Season 5 premiere (" Enemies "),

15309-484: The Stargate correspond to constellations and serve to map out coordinates for various destination planets and other locations in space. A typical Stargate measures 6.7 m (22 ft) in diameter, weighs 29,000 kg (64,000 lb), and is made of the fictional heavy mineral "naqahdah". The Stargates were created millions of years ago by an alien race known as the Ancients ; their modern history begins when Egyptologist Daniel Jackson deciphers their workings in

15498-629: The Stargate franchise, even if they are transformed to fit sci-fi parameters." Frederic Krueger notes the re-emergence of the Ancient Astronaut Discourse (AAD) in the 1990s, and points to "the continuous mutual influence between the AAD and popular culture, exemplified via the rather spectacular case of Stargate". For example, an origin theory for human populations shown to inhabit the Milky Way galaxy in Stargate SG-1 holds that

15687-444: The Stargate's water-like event horizon in the beginning, but Rainmaker eventually became the only company to create those visual effects. Rainmaker's regular effects shots included the activation and use of the Stargate itself (with well over 300 event horizon shots in the first few years), the transport rings and the blast shots of the staff weapons and zat guns. They created the visual effects for Goa'uld cargo ships and death gliders on

15876-537: The Strategic Defense Initiative. After the 9/11 terrorism attacks, a group of sci-fi authors called Sigma, including Pournelle and Niven, advised the "Department of Homeland Security on technological strategies for defeating terrorist threats." In 2021, Worldcrunch reported that the French military has hired fiction writers to develop futuristic warfare scenarios, including situations that

16065-516: The System Lords, but SG-1 finds and adjusts an Ancient weapon to destroy all Replicators throughout the galaxy. Near the end of Season 8 (" Threads "), it is revealed that the benevolent Ascended being Oma Desala ( Mel Harris ) is responsible for Anubis's original ascension. When she engages Anubis in an eternal stalemated battle on the Ascended plane to prevent his acting on the mortal plane,

16254-451: The System Lords. In the Season 7 finale (" Lost City "), SG-1 discovers a powerful weapon in an Ancient outpost in Antarctica that annihilates Anubis's entire fleet and also sets the stage for the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis . Ba'al subsumes much of Anubis's power in Season 8 , while Anubis, who survived the destruction of his fleet in a disembodied form, quietly begins to re-assert his influence. Human-form Replicators begin to conquer

16443-485: The United States on December 1, 2020, with a TV-MA rating because of the full frontal nudity in the first episode. The series currently airs on the Comet digital network. Military science fiction A detailed description of the conflict, belligerents (which may involve extraterrestrials), tactics and weapons used for it, and the role of a military service and the individual members of that military organization form

16632-648: The United States. MGM Home Entertainment (Europe) began releasing complete season box sets (including Season 1) alongside the individual volumes in 2002. The British season box sets were usually released half a year after a season's last volume release in the UK. Stargate SG-1 was also released in DVD season box sets in Australia. Most DVDs contain behind-the-scenes features, audio commentaries for nearly all episodes beginning with Season 4 and production galleries. The box sets of

16821-541: The Vanir, still exist in the Pegasus galaxy. They were able to slow cloning's negative side effects by experimenting on humans. Stargate SG-1 takes place mostly in the Milky Way galaxy. Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner tried to stay true to the feature film, but also wanted Stargate SG-1 to be unique in its own way. Stargate SG-1 gradually evolved away from the basic premise of the film and developed its own unique mythological superstructure. Stargate SG-1 elaborated on

17010-569: The Vietnam War's influence can be seen indirectly in novels such as Joe Haldeman 's The Forever War (published in Analog over 1972–1975) and Lucius Shepard 's Life During Wartime (1987). The Vietnam War resulted in veterans with combat experience deciding to write science fiction, including Joe Haldeman and David Drake . Throughout the 1970s, works such as Haldeman's The Forever War and Drake's Hammer's Slammers helped increase

17199-468: The Wraith evolved in the Pegasus galaxy after a human population seeded by the Ancients was fed upon by an insect called the irratus bug, which has the ability to draw upon a human's life to heal itself. As they fed, the bugs incorporated human DNA into themselves, giving rise to the Wraith. The Wraith have destroyed any civilizations with the potential to threaten their dominance, and few human races in Pegasus surpass Earth in technological advancement when

17388-400: The animated television series Stargate Infinity , the live-action spin-off TV series Stargate Atlantis , Stargate Universe , and Stargate Origins and the direct-to-DVD films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum . Merchandise for Stargate SG-1 includes games and toys, print media and an original audio series. The plot of Stargate SG-1 picks up a year after

17577-497: The backstory of Atlantis: The city was built by the Ancients millions of years ago, originally as a central outpost in prehistoric Antarctica, until an unexplained crisis—involving a virulent plague—forced them to relocate the city to the planet Lantea in the Pegasus Galaxy via intergalactic hyperdrive engines. The Ancients (known as "Ancestors" to the denizens of Pegasus, and "Lanteans" to the Wraith) seeded several human populations in

17766-567: The basis for a typical work of military science fiction. The stories often use features of actual past or current Earth conflicts, with countries being replaced by planets or galaxies with similar characteristics, battleships replaced by space battleships, small arms and artillery replaced by lasers, soldiers replaced by space marines, and certain events changed so the author can extrapolate what might have occurred. Traditional military values of courage under fire, sense of duty, honor, sacrifice, loyalty, and camaraderie are often emphasized. The action

17955-587: The basis for the ancient Greek accounts of Lost City of Atlantis . In the Atlantis series finale " Enemy at the Gate ", Atlantis returns to Earth and lands in the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco . The producers intended the city of Atlantis to be the size of Manhattan . Many sets used for Atlantis are part of a large sound stage that was built for almost US$ 2 million. This stage is used for rooms like

18144-447: The beginning of Season 9, thinking that Stargate SG-1 would be cancelled after each current year. By then, visitor questions and fan theories about the existence of a Stargate at the real Cheyenne Mountain complex had become so common that Cheyenne Mountain had installed a seemingly high-security door labeled "Stargate Command" for one of their storage rooms holding brooms and detergent. The first seven seasons had 22 episodes each, which

18333-405: The brig, several balconies, and other interior parts of Atlantis. Green screens were used if an outdoor view was required in an episode. According to digital effects artist Bruce Woloshyn, the series' original CGI model of the city of Atlantis was over four million polygons, which was feature film in size. This allows the city model to still look good and detailed in extreme close view. Since most of

18522-563: The cast and producers to film aboard the nuclear submarine USS  Alexandria  (SSN-757) and at their Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station in the Arctic for the direct-to-DVD sequel Stargate: Continuum . Stargate SG-1 takes place in a military science fiction environment and employs the common science fiction concepts of strongly differentiated characters fighting an unequivocally evil enemy (the Goa'uld ). However, it links alien races with well-known Earth mythologies, by use of

18711-594: The casting process before they knew that they would ultimately be cast. The producers found Judge the easiest to cast due to his muscular presence. Shanks was cast because he did "the perfect imitation of James Spader", according to Wright. The producers knew Don S. Davis from his work as a stand-in and stunt-double for Dana Elcar in MacGyver and approached him to read for the role of George Hammond. Showtime's announcement that it would not renew Stargate SG-1 after Season 5 coincided with Michael Shanks's decision to leave

18900-491: The central Stargate device. Near-instantaneous interplanetary travel allows quick narrative shifts between the politics on Earth and the realities of fighting an interstellar war. Stargate SG-1 gradually evolves the basic premise of the Stargate film into its own unique mythological superstructure, expanding upon Egyptian mythology (notably the gods Apep /Apophis and Anubis as Goa'uld villains), Norse mythology (notably

19089-424: The characters' military lives, cultures, or societies. For example, women may be accepted as equal partners for combat roles, or preferred over men. When the "extravagan[t]" depictions of war in space operas faded along with pulp fiction more generally, military science fiction developed with a "more disciplined and more realistic notion of the kind of armies which might fight interplanetary and interstellar wars, and

19278-504: The city is modelled rather than textured, the details appear more realistic when the virtual camera revolves around the city model. The Wraith are the main antagonists in Stargate Atlantis and the dominant species in the Pegasus Galaxy. They are biologically immortal hive-based humanoids who maintain the human worlds of the Pegasus Galaxy as livestock to feed on their "life-force". As established in season 1's " The Gift ",

19467-786: The complete series, without the films, on DVD. On December 18, 2020, the company released the entire series, again without the films, on Region A Blu-ray. New episodes of Stargate SG-1 were first released on iTunes in the US in August 2006, each time one day after their premiere on the Sci Fi Channel. The commercial-free episodes were priced $ 1.99 each, while a season pass with twenty episodes cost $ 37.99. A release on iTunes UK followed in October 2007. All ten seasons of SG-1 were available on iTunes and Amazon Unbox by January 2008. Stargate SG-1 made its debut on hulu.com in March 2009, starting with

19656-561: The conclusion of the events recounted in the original feature film . It follows the adventures of SG-1, a military team from Earth. SG-1 and a dozen other SG teams venture to distant planets using an alien portal known as a Stargate , which in the series is housed in a top-secret United States Air Force military base known as Stargate Command (SGC) in the underground Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado . In

19845-499: The cost of the film and actor availability. The character of Vala Mal Doran would not appear in the film. Amanda Tapping confirmed her appearance in this SG-1 film and the first Atlantis movie in September 2008, and Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson's participation in January 2009. No contracts had been signed by April 2009, but Wright stated that he "can almost guarantee we are proceeding with

20034-418: The cultural origins of the various fictional human civilizations living on different planets after their displacement from Earth, the costume designers combined elements of their respective Earth cultures with modern fabrics, elaborate trims and chains to produce a historically rooted yet otherworldly appearance. The look of the Goa'uld such as Apophis was initially based on the look of Ra in the feature film. For

20223-464: The decline of SG-1 's 2005–2006 syndication household ratings was consistent with the overall decline in syndicated sci-fi action hours. Sci Fi ordered a record-breaking tenth season of SG-1 in 2005, but announced it would not renew the show for an eleventh season in summer 2006 (see Cancellation and future ) . The final SG-1 episode, " Unending ", premiered on Sky1 in the UK on March 13, 2007, and attracted approximately 2.2 million viewers on

20412-511: The design of the Ori and the Priors in Season 9, the art department looked at Japanese and samurai garments for costume design. Art director James Robbins found the face painting, scarification and burns of remote jungle tribes mystical and these served as inspiration for the face scarification of the Priors and the Doci. Early ideas to include finger extensions and scarification on these characters' hands were discarded as impracticable. Stargate SG-1

20601-474: The end of Season 9 ("Camelot (Part 1)"), the Ori begin an evangelistic crusade with their warships and effortlessly wipe out the combined fleet of Earth and its allies. The leader of the Ori, Adria ( Morena Baccarin ), is introduced in the premiere of Season 10 ("Flesh and Blood (Part 2)"). SG-1 searches for the Sangraal, an Ancient weapon that might defeat the Ori, while Ba'al and his clones attempt to find

20790-436: The entire Stargate franchise were available on Netflix 's subscription-based online video streaming service in the US. As of 15 August 2012 Netflix removed Stargate SG-1 from its online video streaming service. As of May 2013, Amazon Video has Stargate SG-1 available for online streaming. As of August 2014 SG-1 is available on Netflix UK. The pilot episode "Children Of The Gods" though has been replaced with

20979-467: The episode, but the production of such proved to be too expensive. Jack O'Neill concludes that the Furlings must be cute and cuddly creatures, based solely on their name. In " Citizen Joe ", another character equates the Furlings to Ewoks based on their name. The length of time that the Furling nature remained a mystery in the series turned into a running gag . When Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper

21168-465: The episodes, such as the campus of Simon Fraser University , which became the setting of the capital of the Tollan , an alien civilization. Production faced many weather problems because of the moderate oceanic climate of Vancouver , although rain could be eliminated from film. The Season 3 episode " Crystal Skull " was the first episode to be filmed on a virtual set. The main setting of Stargate SG-1 ,

21357-400: The events of the film Dr. Daniel Jackson deciphers the workings of the Stargate and a team is sent through to the planet on the other side. Stargate SG-1 resumes the story of the film, but establishes that Ra was one of many parasitic Goa'uld , aliens who identify as Earth deities to various primitive human communities on planets throughout the Milky Way. In its pilot episode " Children of

21546-460: The exclusive basic cable rights to the MGM package Stargate SG-1 , The Outer Limits and Poltergeist: The Legacy . Showtime decided to end its association with Stargate SG-1 at the end of Season 5, saying that the show still had a sizeable viewership but could no longer draw new subscribers due to its availability in syndication. Since SG-1 's ratings were good from a financial standpoint,

21735-625: The extras portraying USAF personnel were real USAF staff. Two successive Chiefs of Staff of the Air Force , Generals Michael E. Ryan and John P. Jumper , appeared as themselves in Season 4's " Prodigy " and Season 7's " Lost City ", respectively. General Jumper's second scheduled appearance in Season 9's " The Fourth Horseman " was cancelled due to ongoing real-world conflicts in the Middle East . The Air Force Association recognized Richard Dean Anderson at its 57th annual dinner on September 14, 2004, for his work as actor and executive producer of

21924-596: The feature film as reference and found the original Stargate prop stored outside in the Californian desert. Although the prop had severely deteriorated, he was able to take a detailed mold for Stargate SG-1 production to build its own prop. The new Stargate was engineered to turn, to lock the chevrons and to be computer-controlled to dial specific gate addresses. A portable Stargate prop was built for on-location shoots and required six workers and one full day to set up. Since visual effects are sometimes faster and cheaper,

22113-496: The fictional Stargate Command (SGC) at the (real) Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado , was filmed at stage 5 of The Bridge Studios. Martin Wood filmed half a dozen stock shots of the real Cheyenne Mountain complex for use in the series approximately ten days before the premiere of the pilot episode. Although these shots wore out over the years, the producers did not film new shots until

22302-719: The film's Egyptian hybrid mythology and mixed in other historical mythologies, coming up with a mythological superstructure that explains the existence of all of the other mythologies in the overarching Stargate narrative. The series expands upon Egyptian mythology (notably the Egyptian gods Apep /Apophis, and Anubis as Goa'uld villains ), Norse mythology (notably the god Thor as an Asgard ally ), Arthurian legend (notably Merlin as an Ancient ally ), and many other mythologies like Greek and Roman mythology . SG-1 does not introduce new alien races as often as some other science fiction television series. Most civilizations that

22491-441: The first eight seasons were re-released with slim packaging in all regions, beginning in the United States in summer 2006. A complete series set was first released in the United States in October 2007, containing 50 discs from the ten seasons of Stargate SG-1 and four bonus discs with content not part of the original sets. More than 30 million copies of DVDs had been sold by 2006. On June 15, 2020, Visual Entertainment re-released

22680-608: The first eight seasons, the mission of the SG teams is to explore the galaxy and search for alien technology and allies to defend Earth against the Goa'uld , a snake-like parasitic alien race from planet P3X-888 that takes humans as unwilling hosts. As explained in the series' backstory, the Goa'uld had transported human slaves from Earth to other habitable planets across the galaxy thousands of years ago and now pose as gods of old Earth mythologies, particularly Ancient Egypt . SG-1 eventually learns that highly evolved human-like beings, known as

22869-403: The first season, which the other writers imitated after Richard Dean Anderson began referring to the film on his own. O'Neill refers to Richard Dean Anderson's favorite television series, The Simpsons , throughout the show. SG-1 makes meta-textual references to the process of writing and filming a science fiction TV series in several episodes and alludes to the main actors' previous TV roles in

23058-415: The first season. At first, viewers in the United States could only watch episodes of the first seasons, but as of December 2009 all episodes of Seasons 1–10 were available free of charge with a small number of commercials on Hulu, through January 31, 2011. Free access to all SG-1 episodes continued until July 31, 2011, when the episodes were finally removed. As of 1 February 2011, all episodes of

23247-429: The former Alliance of four great races . They were considered humanity's predecessors, originally establishing Earth as their homeworld after they migrated to the Milky Way and having seeded multiple galaxies to allow life to evolve on uninhabited worlds. At the time that the Stargate franchise takes place, the Ancients have long since "ascended", i.e. they shed their physical bodies and live eternally as pure energy on

23436-418: The full symphonic score of SG-1 more time-consuming to create than for general TV shows. Since Goldsmith lived a thousand miles away from Vancouver, he and the producers discussed ideas over the phone and exchanged tapes via Federal Express for several years until the show switched to Internet file transfers. Goldsmith's reliance on Arnold's score decreased over the seasons when Stargate SG-1 departed from

23625-533: The galaxy and defend against alien threats such as the Goa'uld , the Replicators and the Ori . The series draws upon Egyptian , Greek and Norse mythology , as well as the legend of King Arthur . The series was a ratings success for its first-run broadcasters and in syndication and was particularly popular in Europe and Australia. Stargate SG-1' s awards include eight Emmy nominations. It also spawned

23814-478: The galaxy to serve as slaves and hosts. A faction of Goa'uld symbiotes named the Tok'ra (meaning "against Ra "), whom SG-1 first encounter in season 2's " The Tok'ra " and become close allies with, formed in opposition to the Goa'uld culturally and militarily millennia ago to live in true symbiosis with their hosts, both beings sharing the body equally and benefiting from each other. The Goa'uld modified humans to create

24003-480: The galaxy, such as the Goa'uld-like but truly symbiotic Tok'ra , the advanced human Tollan , the pacifist Nox , the benevolent Roswell -alien Asgard and remnants of the powerful Ancients. Another alien threat arises in the Season 3 finale (" Nemesis ") in the form of sentient machines called Replicators . Meanwhile, rogue agents of a shadowy intelligence agency on Earth, the NID , repeatedly attempt to take control of

24192-678: The gap is not too wide for the humans to bridge. For example, the invaders have more advanced tanks, but the German Wehrmacht's tank crews facing them – a major theme in the series – are more skilled and far more experienced. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists three notable women authors of MSF: Lois McMaster Bujold ; Elizabeth Moon (particularly her Familias Regnant stories such as Hunting Party (1993)), and Karen Traviss . Several authors have presented stories with political messages of varying types as major or minor themes of their works. David Drake has often written of

24381-453: The gate address to the legendary city Atlantis of Greek mythology . The Atlantis Expedition has a multi-nation civilian leadership and a predominantly United States military faction providing security. Their intent is to establish diplomacy with inhabitants of the galaxy and a permanent human base in the city of Atlantis for scientific and military research and exploration. The pilot episode " Rising " of Stargate Atlantis establishes much of

24570-628: The god Ra transplanted Earth humans throughout the galaxy via the Stargate . As a result, the people of Earth rose up against him and buried their Stargate. The modern history of Earth and the Stargate begins when it is unearthed in Egypt in 1928. The device is brought to the United States in 1939 to keep it out of Nazi hands and eventually installed in a facility in Creek Mountain, Colorado ( Cheyenne Mountain in Stargate SG-1 ). In

24759-399: The god Thor as an Asgard ally ) and Arthurian legend (notably Merlin as an Ancient ally against the god-like Ori ), among others. SG-1 introduces new alien races (as opposed to alien human civilizations) less often than other science fiction television series and integrates newly encountered races or visited planets in stand-alone episodes into its established mythology while leaving

24948-496: The half-Ascended Goa'uld System Lord Anubis ( David Palffy ) assumes the role of the primary antagonist of the show. This new villain possesses much of the knowledge of the Ancients and their technology. While Earth builds its first interstellar spaceship (the Prometheus ) in seasons Season 6 and Season 7 , Anubis creates an army of almost invincible Kull Warriors and wipes out or subordinates most of his adversaries amongst

25137-423: The history of Earth"; a defining feature is "its use of ancient mythology, with stories that take inspiration from multiple places around the globe". Narratives center around xeno - mythology as experienced by humans during episodic contact with alien races. Audiences across a variety of platforms - including TV series, novels, comics and movies - witness the people of Earth exploring a fictional universe using

25326-489: The horrors and futility of war. He has said, in the afterwords of several of his Hammer's Slammers books (1979 and later), that one of his reasons for writing is to educate those people who have not experienced war, but who might have to make the decision to start or endorse a war (as policymakers or as voters) about what war is really like, and what the powers and limits of the military as an instrument of policy are. David Weber has said: For me, military science fiction

25515-543: The humans from Earth the Fifth Race.) SG-1 had encountered the Nox in season 1's " The Nox ", a fairy -like people that wants nothing to do with humanity, viewing them as "young" and having "much to learn". The Nox can live to be hundreds of years old and have a great desire for wisdom and understanding. They are extreme pacifists and never employ violence for any reason, even to defend themselves. Although they outwardly seem to be primitive forest-dwellers, they possess superhuman intelligence and advanced technology beyond that of

25704-535: The infirmary, Daniel's lab, the cafeteria or the gym. The SGC set and all other sets from the pilot episode were constructed within six weeks in January and February 1997, incorporating some original set pieces from the feature film. The SGC set would be largely dismantled in late 2008 to make room for the Icarus Base set of Stargate Universe . Most of the main SG-1 characters are US airmen and wear authentic United States Air Force uniforms. During missions,

25893-509: The kinds of weapons they might use". In many stories, the usage or advancement of a specific technology plays a role in advancing the plot, such as deploying a new weapon or spaceship. Some works draw heavy parallels to human history and how a scientific breakthrough or new military doctrine can significantly change how war is fought, the outcome of a battle, and the fortunes of the combatants. Many works explore how human progress, discovery, and suffering affect military doctrine or battle, and how

26082-502: The loss of Michael Shanks, we think that Corin Nemec will be a great new presence in the cast." Nemec's early appearances, beginning with the penultimate episode of Season 5 " Meridian ", failed to win over some of the show's fans. Nemec was willing to continue playing the character after Season 6 or in a feature film or a spin-off series. However, the producers reached an agreement with Shanks to return full-time in Season 7, leaving Nemec with

26271-405: The main characters to visit alien planets without the need for spaceships or any other fictional technology. Within the Stargate fictional universe, Stargates are large metal rings with nine " chevrons " spaced equally around their circumference. Pairs of Stargates function by generating an artificial stable wormhole between them, allowing one-way travel through. The symbols on the inner ring of

26460-525: The main title of Atlantis per a suggestion by Goldsmith's assistant. Non-original music was rarely used on SG-1 , although Goldsmith chose the aria " Vesti la giubba " from Leoncavallo 's Pagliacci for season 3's " Shades of Grey ". Additionally, Lily Frost 's song "Who am I" played in Season 7's " Fragile Balance " and CCR 's song " Have You Ever Seen the Rain? " played in the series finale " Unending ". A television soundtrack with Goldsmith's adapted score

26649-457: The members of the SG-1 team normally wear olive green Battle Dress Uniforms . Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis received a regular military-style haircut on set. Amanda Tapping had her hair comparably short until the filming of the direct-to-DVD films. Playing a civilian, Michael Shanks adopted James Spader's hairstyle from the feature film but cut it short for the Season 2 finale and subsequent seasons. The Jaffa alien Teal'c (Christopher Judge)

26838-410: The military become "more resourceful." The German military is also using science fiction to help its military but in its approach, they do not hire science fiction writers to develop scenarios. Instead, they "use existing science fiction" to help the army "predict the "world's next potential conflict." The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) hired two science fiction writers to pen short stories about "what

27027-481: The military cannot directly study for "ethical reasons, such as Autonomous Lethality Weapon Systems (ALWS), or augmented humans." The French military says the authors are asked to imagine warfare situations that "destabilize us, scare us, blame, or even beat us", in order to provide the army with a "fresh set of practice scenarios". Military planners use the science fiction authors' scenarios to "prepare for previously unthought of situations", "boos[t] creativity" and help

27216-438: The most likely works to contain visual cues that would impress award judges. Stargate SG-1 helped win the local post production shops industry recognition, with Season 4's " Small Victories ", Season 5's " Revelations " and Season 7's " Lost City " receiving the most visual effects awards and nominations (see List of awards and nominations received by Stargate SG-1 ) . According to composer Joel Goldsmith , Stargate SG-1 had

27405-660: The most significant species or beings in Stargate SG-1 are the Goa'uld , the Asgard , and the Replicators . Stargate Atlantis , set in the Pegasus Dwarf Irregular Galaxy , introduced the Wraith and the Asurans . One of the most influential species in Stargate , the Ancients , are revealed to have moved on to a higher plane of existence. "There’s no shortage of familiar myths to be found in

27594-560: The mythology behind Stargate SG-1, noting the way it is created by "rewriting centuries-old human mythologies—Egyptian, Norse, Aztec, Greek, Arthurian, Roman—the series takes these myths and 'reboots' them as scientific fact." Norse mythology appears in the shape of the "good-guy aliens the Asgard", deriving explicitly in the fiction from Norse Asgard . In her view, the "layered mythology ... borrows shamelessly" from real-world mythologies, giving examples from several of them. The film Stargate (1994) establishes that five thousand years ago,

27783-431: The original cast. The opening title sequence of the first two Season 6 episodes shows a turning Stargate, for which a Frazier lens was put as close as 1 ⁄ 8 inch (3.2 mm) to the Stargate prop. The opening credits of the following episodes intercut this material with live-action shots of the characters from previous seasons and ended with the SG-1 team stepping through the Stargate. The opening credits stayed

27972-607: The plot alone as he had on MacGyver . The American subscription channel Showtime made a two-season commitment for 44 episodes in 1996. Principal photography began in Vancouver in February 1997. After Anderson accepted the part, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner reviewed several thousand taped auditions and invited approximately 25 promising actors to screen tests in Los Angeles. Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge are said to have gravitated towards each other during

28161-603: The plot) and she joined the cast full-time in Season 10. Most of the producers, crew members and guest actors involved in Stargate SG-1 were Canadian. Creators Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner were executive producers and show runners of Stargate SG-1 in the first three seasons, having the final say (besides MGM and the network) on stories, designs, effects, casting, editing and episode budgets. After Glassner's departure, Wright ran Stargate SG-1 alone for three seasons. Executive producer Robert C. Cooper took over as show-runner in Season 7 when Brad Wright took time off to develop

28350-405: The plotlines accessible for new audience members. Despite the show's extensive intergalactic mythology and science fiction elements, scholar M. Keith Booker considered SG-1 ultimately character-driven and heavily dependent on the camaraderie among the SG-1 members. The producers embraced humor and wanted SG-1 to be a fun show that did not take itself too seriously. Brad Wright regarded SG-1 as

28539-518: The popularity of the genre. Short stories also were popular, collected in books such as Combat SF , edited by Gordon R. Dickson . This anthology includes one of the first Hammer's Slammers stories, as well as one of the BOLO stories by Keith Laumer and one of the Berserker stories by Fred Saberhagen . This anthology seems to have been the first time these stories specifically dealing with war as

28728-440: The producers decided to revamp the series by more than just adding new characters, new villains and new missions. Thus they considered the beginning of Season 9 as the pilot of a new show and replaced the Goa'uld with the Ori as the main villains. The Goa'uld still appeared in the show, but on a regular basis under the command of Ba'al . A major threat in the cosmos, the Ori are Ascended beings who use their advanced knowledge of

28917-701: The protagonists and antagonists reflect on and adapt to such changes. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning fictional empire as a background for the story, or have explored the growth and/or decline of such an empire. The capital of a galactic empire is sometimes a "core world," such as a planet relatively near a galaxy's centrally-located supermassive black hole, which has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to current human civilization. Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from malevolent forces that attack sympathetic victims, to apathetic or amoral bureaucracies, to more reasonable entities focused on social progress. A writer may posit

29106-431: The renewed Stargate Atlantis . Meanwhile, the SG-1 producers and rights-holder MGM expressed a desire to continue SG-1 as a movie, mini-series, or an eleventh season on another network. Brad Wright confirmed the production of two direct-to-DVD films in October 2006, and Amanda Tapping joined the Atlantis cast for their fourth season. The first film, Stargate: The Ark of Truth , was released in March 2008 and wraps up

29295-445: The same during the run of Stargate SG-1 and its direct-to-DVD films. The first opening title sequence, used in the first five seasons, shows a slow-pan camera move over Ra 's mask. The Stargate SG-1 producers had run out of time before the premiere of Season 1 and simply re-used the accelerated opening title sequence of the feature film. Ra 's mask had been created in the feature film's model shop and had originally been filmed with

29484-560: The same in the next two seasons except for minor clip and cast changes. The opening credits of Season 9 intercut shots of the Stargate with action sequences similar to the previous opening credits, although the Stargate was visibly computer-generated. The Sci Fi Channel cut the opening credits from sixty to ten seconds in their original broadcast of the first half of Season 9, but reinstated the full opening credits after strongly negative fan reactions. The writers poked fun at this move in SG-1 ' s milestone episode " 200 " in Season 10, showing

29673-544: The series, the Air Force granted production access to the Cheyenne Mountain complex to film stock shots. They also read every script for mistakes and provided help with plausible background stories for all characters, ribbons, uniform regulations, hair advice, plot lines and military relationships and decorum on an active military base. The USAF flew up several T-38 Talon , F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to Vancouver for various episodes and direct-to-DVD films. Many of

29862-507: The setback of the Dark Ages . The most advanced of these humans were the Tollan , who were destroyed by the Goa'uld in Season 5 's Between Two Fires . Another example of AAD in the mythos is the creation of human populations in the Pegasus galaxy by the Ancients, few of which are technologically advanced, as the Wraith destroy any civilization that could potentially pose a threat. Audiences are also made aware of large numbers of humans in

30051-506: The show and for the show's positive depiction of the United States Air Force . General Jumper made Anderson an honorary brigadier general, matching his on-screen promotion to that rank. Several scenes of Season 4's " Small Victories " were filmed aboard and outside a decommissioned Russian Foxtrot -class submarine , which had been brought from Vladivostok to Vancouver by a private owner. The United States Navy invited

30240-468: The show over concerns of being underutilized. The Sci Fi Channel picked up the show and substituted a new character, played by Corin Nemec . Casting agents had met Nemec in the courtyard of MGM's Santa Monica offices by chance and had offered him the role of Jonas Quinn. Addressing rumors that it had forced Shanks's departure, Sci Fi said in February 2002 that the network had "absolutely never requested that any cast changes be made... and although we regret

30429-558: The show was broadcast in sixty-four countries with more than 17 million viewers a week. Stargate SG-1 had a particularly fervent response in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia. Stargate SG-1 aired in the United Kingdom on Sky One with repeats on Sky Two , Sky Mix , Sky Max , Sky Sci-Fi , and Channel 4 . Sky One broadcast new episodes of the second half of most seasons before their American premiere. Brad Wright found it "almost embarrassing" that Stargate SG-1

30618-433: The show's title. Michael Shanks' name was moved near the end of the opening credits with the appendage "as Daniel Jackson" after his return to the show in Season 7. Some DVD versions of early SG-1 seasons have different opening credits from the television versions, as do the direct-to-DVD films. Composer Joel Goldsmith adapted David Arnold 's Stargate feature film score for SG-1 ' s opening title theme, which remained

30807-429: The success of Stargate SG-1 put off their plans of ending the show to write a new Stargate feature film. Sci Fi cut the length of an SG-1 season from 22 to 20 episodes from Season 8 onwards. Originally envisioned as a replacement for SG-1 , the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis began airing in tandem with SG-1 's eighth season in summer 2004, setting a series record of 3.2 million viewers for SG-1 and

30996-401: The supernatural abilities of the Priors, are generally considered to be the most powerful vessels in the Stargate universe. The Ori might be regarded as a shadow form of the Goa'uld, with the significant difference that the Ori promise ascension to their followers but never provide it. Stargate Atlantis explores the adventures of an elite expedition from Earth, the "Atlantis Expedition", in

31185-401: The tactics and strategy of this new course of the war in detail, showing how American, British, Soviet, and German soldiers and Jewish guerrillas (some of them historical figures) deal with this extraordinary new situation, as well as providing a not unsympathetic detailed point of view of individual invader warriors. In the war situation posited by Turtledove, the invaders have superior arms, but

31374-514: The team should be called "SG-1". MGM released posters titled Stargate SG-1 within the next week without the knowledge of Wright or Glassner. John Symes approached Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson , former star of the long-running MacGyver . Anderson agreed to become involved if his character Jack O'Neill were allowed more comedic leeway than Kurt Russell 's character in the feature film. He also requested that Stargate SG-1 be an ensemble show, so that he would not be carrying most of

31563-751: The time. The Vietnam War led to the "polarization of the sf community", which can be seen in the June 1968 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction , in which one page of pro-war sf authors listed their names and on another page, anti-war sf authors put their names. The Vietnam War has been noted by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as having impacted anthologies such as In the Field of Fire (1987) and novels such as The Healer's War (1988) by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Dream Baby (1989) by Bruce McAllister . The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that

31752-539: The universe to force lesser beings to worship them. In essence, they used to be Ancients, however they split into separate groups due to different views of life. The Ori are religious while the Ancients prefer science. The Ori sway lesser-developed planets into worshipping them by promising Ascension through an invented and empty religion called "Origin". This religion states that they created humanity and as such are to be worshiped by their creations. It also promises its followers that, on death, they will Ascend. However, Origin

31941-536: The use of Fictional Intelligence ( FicInt ), which they define as "useful fictions". FicInt, a concept developed by Cole in 2015, combines "fiction writing with intelligence to imagine future scenarios in ways grounded in reality." Jaffa (Stargate) The mythology of the Stargate franchise is a complex and eclectic fictional backstory, which is presented as being historical, of the Stargate premise . A "rich mythology and world-building" are used to establish "a vast cosmology and an interesting alternate take on

32130-413: The visual effects department. Stargate SG-1 employed about 200 Canadian union workers, although that number could exceed 300 when new sets were built. Lead production designer Richard Hudolin joined the project in October 1996. Bridget McGuire, SG-1 ' s art director since the pilot episode, took over as lead production designer in Season 6. Hudolin flew to Los Angeles in 1996 to gather material from

32319-485: The wars of tomorrow will look like." The MOD hired Peter Warren Singer and August Cole to write eight short stories about threats from "emerging technologies" including " artificial intelligence (AI), data modeling, drone swarms, quantum computing and human enhancement" in a battlefield context. The MOD hired sci-fi writers because they have a "unique ability to imagine the unimaginable." As well, both authors know about "security subjects and modern warfare." They advocate

32508-569: The weapon for their own purposes. With the help of the powerful Ancient Merlin ( Matthew Walker ), SG-1 finds the construction plans of the Sangraal and sends a working version to the Ori galaxy. Shortly thereafter, Adria ascends. The direct-to-DVD film Stargate: The Ark of Truth ends the Ori Arc. Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner had worked together on the MGM television series The Outer Limits since 1995. Upon hearing of MGM's plan to create

32697-482: The working title as Stargate: Revolution . The film was planned to be written by Wright and former Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder . Martin Wood would serve as director. The premise of the film would have been the "possibility of the Stargate program going public". According to Wright, the film would center on the Jack O'Neill character and would reunite as many of the SG-1 cast as possible, depending on

32886-428: Was also used as a plot device for the departure of actor Michael Shanks ( Daniel Jackson ) in season 6 of Stargate SG-1 . The fictional background of the Ancients was extended with the franchise's Atlantis mythos that began in the Stargate SG-1 season 6 finale " Full Circle ", and which also served as the basis for spin-off show Stargate Atlantis . The Ori arc of Stargate SG-1 ' s seasons 9 and 10 expanded

33075-404: Was asked "Will we ever meet the Furlings?", his answer was "Who says we haven't?". The writers later went on to state that apart from showing Furling technology and legacy, no member of the Furling race has ever appeared on the show. Producer Joseph Mallozzi claimed that more about the Furlings would finally be revealed in SG-1 ' s tenth season, which turned out to be an imagined scene from

33264-538: Was designed to channel energy from the human worshipers to the Ori. As such, the Ori never help anyone else Ascend because then they would have to share the power that they sap from their worshipers. Their ultimate goal is to completely destroy the Ascended Ancients, who they know as "the Others". All of their efforts, including their technology, are for the purpose of garnering worshippers. As Ascended beings,

33453-473: Was designed to have no nationality, which might appeal to viewers all over the world. The final episodes of season 7 (2004) brought a more global approach to the scenario when the Stargate Program was revealed to over a dozen nations, which further helped the international appeal of Stargate SG-1 . SG-1 learns in season 1's " The Torment of Tantalus " that although most known habitable planets in

33642-419: Was discussed. The producers had met him during sci-fi conventions and had previously discussed casting him in other Stargate roles. The producers approached Emmy Award -winning actor Beau Bridges directly to play the role of Hank Landry. Claudia Black's guest appearances were so popular with the cast, crew and audience that the actress returned for the last two Season 9 episodes (with her pregnancy worked into

33831-479: Was expensive to produce, MGM arranged an agreement with Showtime that SG-1 could air in syndication six months after their premiere on Showtime. All 22 FOX owned-and-operated local stations aired the first seasons after their Showtime debut, providing a clearance of 41% of the United States. The show was also available on non-FOX affiliated stations in other markets. The Sci Fi Channel made its largest single programming acquisition of $ 150 million in 1998 by buying

34020-399: Was filmed in and around Vancouver , British Columbia , mainly at The Bridge Studios and NORCO Studios, which offered Stargate SG-1 tax breaks throughout its run. The cost of an SG-1 episode increased from US$ 1.3 million in the first seasons to an estimated US$ 2 million per episode in Season 10, partly due to unfavorable exchange rates. Many Vancouver area landmarks were incorporated into

34209-501: Was first released on DVD in some European nations in volumes of typically four episodes each, beginning with "The Best of Season 1" as Volume 1 in the United Kingdom in 2000. Each following season was released as six individual volumes (except Season 10 with five volumes), beginning with the first four episodes of Season 2. In 2000, the series was first released in the United States on DVD with only three episodes. The following year, Seasons 1–8 were released in five-disc amaray box sets in

34398-584: Was much more popular in the United Kingdom than in Canada, where the show aired on Space , Citytv , A-Channel , Movie Central and French-language channels TQS and Ztélé . Stargate SG-1 aired in Australia on Sci Fi Australia and Channel Seven . It aired in India on STAR World India and in Israel on Channel 1 . On August 21, 2006, a few days after the premiere of SG-1 's milestone episode " 200 ",

34587-399: Was none before, long before the galaxy was colonized by the Goa'uld or the humans. Since season 8 was intended to be the show's last, the producers had finished it with the defeat of the Goa'uld and the Replicators . However, when the Sci Fi Channel renewed the series, the producers had grown tired of writing endings. Having had good experiences with the first season of Stargate Atlantis ,

34776-438: Was one of the biggest employers in the Vancouver visual effects market, spending $ 400,000 per episode. The largest role was played by Rainmaker Digital Effects , whose senior digital compositing artist, Bruce Woloshyn , worked approximately 10 months a year in close collaboration with SG-1 's visual effects supervisor/producer James Tichenor and visual effects supervisor Michelle Comens. Many companies were hired to create

34965-453: Was permanently shelved, along with plans for future Atlantis and Stargate Universe films and a cross-over film incorporating elements from all three series. By then, neither the Atlantis nor Universe television series were produced anymore. 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." Stargate SG-1

35154-666: Was reduced to 20 episodes for the last three seasons. Episodes of the first seasons were filmed over a period of 7.5 working days, which decreased to a targeted average of six working days in the last seasons. All episodes were filmed in 16:9 wide-screen, although Stargate SG-1 was broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio in its first years. The transition to the broadcast of episodes in the wider 16:9 ratio gave directors more freedom in frame composition. The first three seasons of Stargate SG-1 were filmed on 16 mm film , notwithstanding scenes involving visual effects that had always been shot on 35 mm film for various technical reasons. After

35343-423: Was released in 1997, followed by a best-of release in 2001. In Season 1 Episode 7, " The Nox ", the music that played when The Nox appeared was Spinning The Silk from the album Chrysalis by 2002. Stargate SG-1 has had several opening title sequences, which are generally preceded by a teaser act . The credits are normally sixty seconds long. Richard Dean Anderson was the only SG-1 actor whose name appeared before

35532-444: Was supposed to be the show's last, but Sci Fi renewed SG-1 at the last minute. The sixth and seventh seasons made Stargate SG-1 Sci Fi's highest-rated original series with an average of 2 million viewers in over 1.3 million households, elevating Sci Fi into the top 10 cable networks in the United States. For the next few years, the producers believed each current season to be the show's last and repeatedly wrote big series finales, but

35721-462: Was the only main character whose look required more than basic make-up. His Egyptian look was reflective of the Goa'uld Ra from the feature film and was complemented with a forehead symbol and a gold skin tone, although his make-up process was simplified over the years. Judge shaved his head at home each day until the producers allowed him to let his hair grow in Season 8. As a trained nurse, key make-up artist Jan Newman could make burns, cuts, bruises and

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