Stargate SG-1

The first episode of this series dates back to 1997 and is based on the 1994 film Stargate. This series does not take place in the future, but in the present day, at the same time as it is being aired. It starts where the film ends, namely with the killing of the cruel alien Ra (considered a God in ancient Egypt), the discovery of the Stargate and its use to go to another world.

It is Dr Jackson who first succeeds in making the Stargate work and who, after having freed the world to which he has landed thanks to the power of the Stargate, from the terrible alien that holds that population in slavery, stays there to study the inhabitants, whom he discovers to be humans that those same aliens had transported there to become slaves, already from the time of ancient Egypt.

About a year after these events on Earth, the Stargate portal is not used, until a group of aliens activate it and invade the secret base where it is kept, killing some soldiers. The team then reactivates it and returns to the planet Abydos to find out where the aliens came from.

It turns out, however, that the portals are not only a link between Earth and Abydos, but that one can go to an infinite number of planets via the Stargate and from there the discovery and knowledge of many species, both alien and human, begins, because even on other planets earthlings had been brought in.

Alien invasions, dangers for earth, races both allied and enemy, alternate in the various episodes and seasons of the series that with its 10 seasons is one of the longest running science fiction series. Much loved by fans of this genre, it has had, in addition to various films, two spin-off series, Atlantis and Universe, which I will discuss in other articles.

The protagonists of this series are the four who form the team of explorers on which the whole series is based.  It was a really good team starting with Colonel Jack O'Neill, Captain Samantha Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson and Teal'c.

However long this series ran, it was very successful because it did not limit itself to the recipe: ‘stargates, planets, exploration’, but offered much more, also drawing on mythology and various religions. The military role is also often drawn upon, so loyalty, honesty, heroism and courage are the characteristics of the team's characters.  

At the same time, these heroic characters also prove to be very human, with their mistakes and sometimes even sinning in conceit, but trying to make up for them at any cost and constantly improving themselves.

Another strength of the series is that an attempt has been made to alternate moments of great suspense with funny situations, where the protagonists demonstrate a healthy dose of self-irony.

Among the most curious characters in the series are the Asgard, a highly evolved and advanced alien race, who help Earth in many ways. The replicants, robotic units that reproduce themselves, invading planets and destroying everything in their path.

They have acquired the technology and vast knowledge of the Asgard and are very dangerous. The first enemies, on the other hand, are based on Egyptian mythology, with the various leaders named after Egyptian gods and having their likenesses and uses.

They are called Goa'uld, a kind of symbiote that takes over a human or similar body, gives it superhuman strength and increased resistance to poisons and diseases, the ability to regenerate wounds and slow down ageing.

The plot has many twists and turns, and never tires or has periods of less interest. A series therefore to be seen and enjoyed by science fiction lovers.