Stargate SG1 was so versatile. Somehow it pulled off episodes as different as ‘Heroes’ and ‘200’, with each feeling perfectly at home in the show.
Stargate SG1 was so versatile. Somehow it pulled off episodes as different as ‘Heroes’ and ‘200’, with each feeling perfectly at home in the show.
I will never not giggle at the "here, take these guns" meme
Fun fact: the 5.7mm round the P90 uses was not being produced as a blank. So the armorers bought TONS of live 5.7mm and made those into blanks.
This actually caused a supply bottleneck for none other than the US Secret Service, who were also using P90s at the time. They actually had to ask, or buy, not sure which, several thousand rounds from the show armorers for training until ammo production could ramp up stateside IIRC.
Secret service: "hello, bullet store? Yes, why are our bullets on back order?"
Bullet store: "oh, sorry, the space people bought most of our stock."
SS: "The... what?"
BS: "The space marine people. They travel in portals, fight aliens. Yeah they bought like 80% of our ammo"
SS, voice shaking: "Sir please hold for a moment, Im going to have to fetch my supervisor..."
That is a very fun fact!
I read it they had trouble getting ammunition for the P90 because of the Iraq war so they switched to different weapons towards the end of the show. I'm not totally sure though I'm too lazy to look it up.
Yes! "This is a weapon of terror. And THIS is a weapon of WAR." Love me some SG-1 maybe I'll fire it up later tonight hmm.
It's ridiculous and over the top but I love every second of it.
"The United States is not in the business of interfering in other people's affairs"
"Since when Sir?"
got a chuckle out of me
NGL, Sam carter was probably my celebrity crush in middle school
She's one of my go-to examples of a "strong female character" that Hollywood has completely fucked up in the last ten years or so. Carter is smart, resourceful, quick on her feet, and more than capable on the battlefield.
But not a superhero who can beat up, say, Teal'c or other Jaffa 3x her size. She's also very much a woman and exhibits feminine traits accordingly. You know, like how real normal people behave.
Also on the list: Sarah Connor, Dana scully, Laura Roslin, Captain Janeway despite her flaws, a few others...
The doctor was also one of the crushes for me. She had that friends hot mom feeling in the show.
I think we may have a type.
She was definitely hot. I get what you're saying.
Always had a thing for redheads. Sam is beautiful and badass but Doc and Hathor…ooof. Growing up watching that it’s no surprise I wound up with a gf who’s got ginger hair and needs the highest SPF
Indeed.
You are not alone
I love me some warrior scientists.
Picked up the blu ray set a while back (which weirdly has the gratuitous nudity series premier but none of the finale movies but... okay) and went a bit down memory lane while identifying which episode was which for plex purposes. It really is wild what a massive range the show had. One highlight was the 70s episode where, in a show that was HEAVILY backed by the US military, they basically made it clear that draft dodgers fleeing Vietnam had to do what they felt was right.
Tangential, but I will always say the best Stargate SG-1 game is UFO Aftermath (or Aftershock. One of those). Old school xcom-like with a strong emphasis on a JA2 style selection of guns to greatly increase the time you spend using human guns. But it basically makes every mission feel like a gate that went REALLY bad and you very much get that feeling of "This is a weapon of terror. This is a weapon of war" as energy bolts are exploding all around your soldier who just takes a knee with a rifle.
The show took a lot of shots at the military, but it never dwelled on it. I feel like it took just the right amount.
The uniforms did add a USAF patch on the sleeve in season 5, which is often called the “Area 51 Apology Patch”. Might be seen as cheap brownie points with the military, but it also makes sense within the show, so not immersion breaking.
Been a minute since I did a proper rewatch (hmmm. I DO have all the stuff worth watching on my plex...), but mostly it was just Jack (and later Daniel when Michael Shanks wanted to look like a badass) being flippant and mocking protocol because he believes in what is important and not doing what pencil pushers want him to do.
Which is pretty normal for US military backed productions and is pretty much exactly what they want propaganda wise. Gibbs on NCIS, Bradley Cooper in the (shockingly okay) A-Team movie, etc.
I don't think the show suffered for it at all, but there were definitely a few moments over the years of "Okay, if Teal'c starts saying 'Ecrof ria eht nioj' I am turning it off".
The perfect blend of action and comedy
There’s another Colonel O’Neil with only one L, and he has no sense of humor at all
Im watching Stargate for the first time at the moment and im really surprised by how good it is. on season 7 at the minute and cant wait to see whats coming.
Are Atlantis and SGU just as good or is there a dip in quality?
If you like SG1, you will like Atlantis. They're both the same level of fun sci-fi.
I personally loved SGU. It was spiritual kin to the first two shows with the same thoughtful sci-fi world building, but it dialed the whimsy down to 1 and the drama up to 7. But it was still a Stargate show in every way. It respected established canon while building it's own lore independent of the other shows. I was legit mad when it was canceled.
Atlantis is a quality show. Takes a little bit to get going but is satisfying.
The opinion is really divided on SGU. I personally feel that it started to get good by the end of the second season (when it was canceled) but lots of people disagree. The writers wanted to try a different direction, but it's up to you to decide if you like it.
SGU is a BSG knockoff wearing Stargate lore like a skin-suit. Even if you forget about that, I personally found it boring af.
SG-1 is one of my all time favorite shows! It changes so much over the years but everything works IMO, even 9 and 10 which are typically lower rated than the rest.
Atlantis is watchable but nowhere near as good IMO. Characters aren't nearly as memorable, there's a lot of plot threads that go nowhere, the cast turnover is quick, things like that. To be fair I heard there were a lot of production issues and unexpected issues, and it's a miracle SG-1 was as good as it was given all of their numerous issues.
Fuck everything about Universe, I couldn't stand that show. YMMV
I liked each series in a different way. Universe felt to me like the first few episodes of Atlantis but an ongoing damage control situation. SG1 is definitely the best out of the three.
Whilst I respect the entire show and all the work it did as far as I'm concerned season 8 episode 20 I think ith the fishing pond is the place you should genuinely end. The follow up series are ok but don't add anything,
Depends on your expectations... I personally liked Atlantis but SGU somehow failed to captivate me. Both shows somehow fizzled out without really leading anywhere (you could say the same about SG1 but at least they closed up the main plot lines before opening a bunch of new ones which didn't really have clear purpose).
I'll provide a counterpoint. I never loved Atlantis but I really liked SGU. especially the second season when it really hit its stride. I don't think either of them were nearly as memorable as SG1 though.
SGU is very different but I enjoyed it for that, some interesting home/away comparisons andmore in the SG universe (pun not intended) is welcome.
Atlantis is great, Christopher Heyerdahl in multiple roles too.
SGU had a shakey first season and was hitting its stride in the second when they cancelled it. apparently there is an official comic that wraps the story up, but tbh where they left it... it kinda works...
How does this show compare to Babylon 5 or BSG?
It's really an entirely different animal than either of them, but ranks right up there with them in terms of quality.
SG1 is a 50/50 serious/fun ratio, with long running plot threads mixed in with adventure- of-the-week episodes. It's a bunch of friends saving the galaxy and having fun doing it. It's got a real sense of Earth's slow progression from the mostly forgotten backwater homeworld of humanity all the way to being a major power in two galaxies.
B5 is like a 90% serious novel about war and politics.
BSG is 100% grim, and it becomes really obvious in later seasons that while the Cylons might've had a plan, the writers sure as shit didn't know what it was supposed to be. This unfortunately makes it overall the weakest of the three IMHO.
Sg1 will probably be one of my favourite series ever. But from my perspective it really didn't age that well. Not talking about graphics or CGI here, but more on a action POV. A few jokes I probably wouldn't bring today anymore, a few weird decisions regarding the plot and the cast and, because of the episodic character of the show quite a few plot holes. SGA on the other hand is a great show, which aged just as well and is the one I actually recommend people nowadays if they want to take a look at the franchise.
There's definitely a lot of 90s jankiness / awkward moments through a more modern lense, but I do think it trails off as the show goes on.
And then there's the abomination known as Stargate: Universe.
Stargate: Battlestar Galactica. It was so, so apparent at the time that they saw the success of BSG and wanted in on it. It's honestly hilarious because Trek tried to pull the same shit with Discovery, and then with Picard s1-2 before they reversed course and were like "what if we just made the type of Trek that Trekkies like?" and then comes Picard S3 and Strange New Worlds.
I will always remember that one day I
skipped schoolwas home sick from school and just happened to catch my first episode of SG1.Me too!! It was around season 1 or 2 and I remember seeing a few in a row: the episodes stranded in Antarctica, the girl Cassandra with the bomb inside her, maybe the prison escape one idk. I loved it and was instantly hooked.
Next week on Showtime Sci Friday: Richard Dean Anderson stars in an all new Stargate SG-1! Happiest words of my childhood lol
SG1 is a show that I feel never made a mistep to the point where I can call out a bad episode. Unlike various star trek series that had their WTF episodes that are generally disliked.
I always hoped for one more piece of the story with the original team, details were floating around of the final movie and I think covid killed that off.
"Emancipation" is pretty fucking cringe.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0709075/
Fun note, same writer as that terrible TNG episode with the same plot.
This is hilariously topical.
I am just getting into the series after having watch the film various times over the years. It really feels a bit, "religion of the week" right now and I am struggling with some of these episodes. I really like the characters but my goodness was that Emancipation episode awful. Would you encourage me to press through?
Cringe but watchable is still good lol
Disagree.
I guess I'm the only one who actively hated '200' when it aired.
The show was great, I've watched every episode multiple times (except '200').
But there was a very clear quality decrease as time went on, I mean they even started letting Teal'c write a handful of 'em.
I actually just recently re-watched SG1 for the first time in probably a decade or more now. I was half expecting to have my fond memories ruined, but that wasn't even remotely the case. I still love it, and probably always will.
I just introduced my girlfriend to stargate, and she's never liked any sci fi, but she loved it so much. It's such a great show. Funny and lighthearted and usually easy to watch, but still touches on really deep subjects and has incredible storylines and what ifs. Looking back on it too, I realized how many sci fi tropes seemed to start there, or how many episodes of other sci fi shows clearly took inspiration from them.
I feel like campiness has become a lost art form. Stuff these days generally tends to take itself very seriously while Stargate was self aware and knew how to lean into it. At the same time—as you mentioned—it wasn't afraid to do more tonally serious episodes from time to time. I think that mix is what allowed it to have such a long run.
Man, this show was three fries short of a Happy Meal.
In the middle of my backswing, General?!
WACKO!!
There was a puppet episode? Team America Space Police?
Not the whole episode, but yes. The puppets were made by the same people who made the Team America ones.
The episode is wild, the puppet sequence isn’t even the most over the top part.
That whole episode was gold.
Your post has me wanting to do a rewatch of the series. I should see if any of the streaming services I'm on has that series on there.
Shit maybe I need to finally do my SG1 rewatch
Indeed.
Heroes (2006-2010)? That was one of the most boring and monotonous serial shows I've ever attempted to get all the way through. I watched every single episode of that suck fest hoping something would happen, nothing ever did. Just the same old thing over and over. I was like an obsessed gambler thinking the next one was going to be the big score. To this day Heroes holds a special place in my heart as the most disappointing waste of time serial show I've ever watched all the way through.
BTW, I liked SG1 and Atlantis, both were good shows and I watched most if not all the episodes. Never watched 200 so no comment on that one. Some remarkable ones I've seen lately; The Mandalorian, Star Trek Strange New Worlds, Black Mirror, Silo. Some awful ones; From (for lack of a cohesive plot) and Last of Us (for being gratuitously violent).
Pretty sure the SG1 episodes are called heroes and 200 lol.
Never watched season 2 of heroes but I've heard how much it sucked.
Heroes season 1 was fantastic, Heroes season 2 was a victim of the writer's strike. They should've just put it on hiatus instead of forcing out the garbage they did.
