Stargate

Stargate is a military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titledStargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a worldwide hit grossing nearly $200 million (USD) worldwide (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) http://www.hdd-shop.co.uk .

Three years later, Canadian Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a television series titled Stargate SG-1 as a sequel for the film.

In addition to film and television, the Stargate franchise has expanded into other media, including books, video games, and comic books (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

These supplements to the film and television series have resulted in significant development of the show's fictional universe and mythology. In 2008, the filmsStargate: The Ark of Truth and Continuum were released direct-to-DVD, which in total grossed over $21 million in the United States (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery) .

In 2002 the franchise's first animated series, Stargate Infinity, began airing, which holds no canonicity in the franchise despite its Stargate SG-1-inspired plot. In 2004, the TV series Stargate Atlantis was released as a spin off from Stargate SG-1 and a third series, Stargate Universe, premiered on October 2, 2009 (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

Premise

Stargate productions center on the premise of a "Stargate", a ring-shaped alien device that creates a wormhole enabling personal transportation to complementary devices located cosmic distances away. Under the control of the United States government, the Stargate discovered on Earth is kept a secret from the public (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

This allows for storylines to present no contradiction between depicted events and reality, an effect compounded by setting Stargatein the present day, and depicting Earth accurately, with any unrealistic technology originating solely from alien civilizations. These extraterrestrial civilizations are typically more pre-industrial than scientifically advanced, and are almost always human (Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery) .

Together, this allows for stories predominated by human interaction in Earth-like environments, an unusual feature for a science fiction franchise focused on exploration of other worlds.

In the story, this is explained as being the result of alien interference in Earth's distant past - the concept influenced by the theories of Erich von Däniken (Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery) .

Many ancient mythologies are shown to be the result of aliens who had visited Earth posing as gods by using their technology to give the impression of deific power. While some of these aliens had benign intentions, a race later known in Stargate SG-1 as the "Goa'uld" used Stargates to move slaves from Ancient Egypt to other habitable planets (Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery) ,

simultaneously being responsible for the Egyptian religion and culture. Following a successful rebellion, they fled Earth, and the Stargate was buried and forgotten until modern times, when the United States acquired it following an archaeological dig. With the rediscovery of the function of the Stargate (Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery) ,

the galaxy becomes a source of knowledge, as well as threats, and the attention of the Goa'uld is drawn once more to Earth.

Franchise releases

Due to multiple developers working separately and independently on the franchise over the years, the various Stargate productions are not entirely consistent with each other (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) ;

and while no set of works forms an official canon, the largest following exists for the three live-action series.Through the work of various authors and developers, at least six separate story cycles can be discerned, some of which are continuations of the other ones (either endorsed or unendorsed by their predecessor) (Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery) .

Game releases

Main article: Stargate games

• Stargate: Resistance is an online, third-person shooter. It was released February 10, 2010.
• Stargate Worlds is a Stargate-universe Massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development. The writers and producers of Stargate view Stargate Worlds as running side by side with the show in complete canon (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .
• Stargate SG-1: The Alliance was a computer game based on the Stargate universe, which was due to be released in late 2005. The release of the game was however canceled.
• A Stargate Trading Card game was released in May 2007. It is available in both Online and Print forms. Designed by Sony Online Entertainment—who also run the Online version of the game—and published by Comic Images (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .
• A Stargate Role-Playing Game (RPG) was produced by Alderac Entertainment. It was considered canon by both the publishers, and the staff of MGM. However, when Sony bought MGM, they lost the license to produce Stargate RPG products and the RPG license is currently unassigned (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .
• Two video games based on the film were released by Acclaim Entertainment: a side-scrolling platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Genesis, and a Tetris-likepuzzle game for the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .
• There are three simulator-style amusement park rides named Stargate SG-3000 located at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America, and Six Flags Marine World.
• A Stargate pinball game has been produced by Gottlieb (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .
• Text and turn-based games were also created with the theme of the original universe of Stargate, although slightly different from "reality", all made by Kingdom Games Ltd. Many versions of the same stargate universe have been created and still work in parallel (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .
• Among those are Stargate Wars, Quantum Gate, and BattleCorp. On the forums related to the stargate games developed by Kingdom Games Ltd. there was also created a text-based roleplaying story, called the Enmity Saga. This story takes place in the starting universe of Stargate:SG1, mainly on planets not visited by them (Sony VGN-FZ31S battery) .

Stargate

Main article: Stargate (film)

In 1994, the military science fiction feature film Stargate was released; directed by Roland Emmerich and co-written by Dean Devlin (Hp pavilion dv6000 battery) .

The film lays the foundation for all the Stargate productions that come after it, by explaining the notion, function, and history of the Stargate.

The theatrical version of the film begins with the unearthing of the Stargate in Giza in 1928 (SONY VGN-FZ38M Battery) .

As of Present Day (i.e. 1994), the failing egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader) helps to make the Stargate work again by deciphering the hieroglyphs on the cover stones of the Stargate, now housed at a military base in Creek Mountain, Colorado. A team led by Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) is ordered to step through the Stargate and identify potential military threats on the other side (SONY VGN-FZ31z Battery) .

Jackson accompanies them to aid in translations to allow them to return home later. At their arrival, the team discovers a slave civilization serving an alien who is posing as the Egyptian god Ra (Jaye Davidson). He and his minion-gods have taken human form, commanding the slaves with brute force (Sony VGN-FZ31Z Battery) .

With the help of the locals, O'Neil's team is eventually able to instigate a slave rebellion, overwhelming Ra's forces. Ra escapes in his mothership, but O'Neil is able to teleport and detonate a nuclear warhead on-board Ra's ship in orbit. With Ra dead, the civilization can live in peace; O'Neil and his team return home through the Stargate, but Daniel Jackson stays on the planet with a young local woman named Sha're (SONY VGN-FZ31E Battery) .

Other releases and future development

After Bill McCay had written a series of five novels continuing the story the original creators had envisioned, and despite the success of the Stargate television series, Dean Devlin stated in 2006 that "he has struck a production deal with MGM and is developing the long-delayed sequel feature films that will pick up the story from the 1994 original" (SONY VGN-FZ31J Battery) .

According to Devlin, two movie sequels would have picked up the story from the 1994 original, but not the mythology of the SG-1and Atlantis series, with the original stars Kurt Russell and James Spader. Devlin regretted giving MGM control over the franchise (SONY VGN-FZ31M Battery) .

The first movie already tapped into Egyptian mythology; the second one would have moved into other mythologies; and the third would tie all the mythologies together. Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis producer Brad Wright said in 2002 that "Devlin can wish to do a sequel to Stargate all he wants (SONY VGN-FZ31B Battery) .

MGM owns the rights, and I doubt very much that they'll ask him to do it. He knows better."

Plans for producing two sequels of the original film were announced by the original film's creator Dean Devlin at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. He has said he is currently in talks with MGM to produce four films and he would like two of them to be the final two films in his envisioned Stargate trilogy (SONY VGP-BPS13 Battery) .

In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Devlin says that should the sequels be made, he hopes to enlist Kurt Russell and James Spader in the two sequels. Both Russell and Spader have expressed interest, Devlin revealed. "They've always said they wanted to do it. The irony is actually because it was 12 years ago that we made Stargate, [and] part two was actually supposed to take place about 12 years later (Dell Inspiron 1320 Battery) .

We were just going to kind of age them up as actors. So it actually works out really nicely." These sequels would bypass the 12 years of mythology created by SG-1 and Atlantis if they are produced.

In the meantime, Lionsgate remains the major rights holder to the original film (Dell Inspiron 1320n Battery) ;

this was due to the fact that its predecessor, Live Entertainment, owned home video rights to the Carolco Pictures library and had also owned international distribution rights, although Carolco itself was on the brink of bankruptcy when they produced this film (Dell Inspiron 1464 Battery) .

Television

SG-1

In 1997, Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright co-developed Stargate SG-1, a television series intended to continue the story laid down by the original film. Although new actors were cast, several roles from the film were reprised, including the main characters Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill (which was re-spelled to include an extra "L") (Dell Inspiron 1564 Battery) .

The Stargate Command setting was transferred from a fictional military facility located in Creek Mountain, to the Cheyenne Mountainmilitary complex. Other variations and differences between the original film and SG-1 mostly concern the location of the planet Abydos, the alien Ra, the race of Ra's underlings (Jaffa), and Stargate travel (Dell Inspiron 1764 Battery) .

The series debuted on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to the Sci-Fi Channel after its fifth season.It starred Richard Dean Anderson (as O'Neill) and Michael Shanks (as Jackson), alongside Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis playing the new characters Samantha Carter, Teal'c andGeorge Hammond (Dell Studio 1450 Battery) .

The cast remained fairly regular for most of SG-1's run, but experienced some changes. Michael Shanks left the show at the end of Season 5 and was replaced by Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn. Shanks returned at the beginning of Season 7 and Nemec was written out. At the end of Season 7 Davis left the show and Anderson filled the gap he left in the story (Dell Studio 1457 Battery) .

Season 9 saw the departure of Anderson, but added new regulars Beau Bridgesand Ben Browder. After a debut episode in Season 8, followed by appearances in eight episodes of Season 9, Claudia Black's popular reception earned her a position in the regular cast in Season 10 (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

MGM put an average of $1,400,000 into each episode of the show, and regards it as one of its most important franchises.Stargatewas taken off air in 2007; however, two movies entitled Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum were made to tie up loose ends (Toshiba NB100 Battery) .

Atlantis

Main article: Stargate Atlantis

The Stargate Atlantis series follows the adventures of the "Atlantis expedition", a combination of military forces and civilian scientists that travel to thePegasus galaxy in search of the Lost City of Atlantis, left behind by the most powerful race known to ever have lived, referred to as the Ancients, also known as Lanteans and Alterrans (Toshiba Satellite M65 battery) .

The finding of the city had been a plot arc for most of SG-1's Season 7, and the Ancients themselves had been a long-running facet of the SG-1 setting. Arriving at the City, the expedition discover that the Pegasus galaxy is dominated by a terrible enemy known as the "Wraith", against whom they must defend themselves, despite being vastly outnumbered (Toshiba Satellite M60 battery) .

Stargate Atlantis was a spin-off television series from Stargate SG-1. A new feature film was originally intended to transition the two series after the sixth season of SG-1. Later, SG-1 was renewed for a seventh season, and the feature film was then planned to transition that season (Dell Latitude D830 Battery) .

Finally, when SG-1 was renewed for an eighth season, the intended film instead became the two-part season finale episode "Lost City", and the setting of Stargate Atlantis was moved to the Pegasus galaxy.This allowed the two shows to exist side-by-side within the same fictional universe, and later the two shows even become interconnected (Dell Latitude D620 Battery) .

Atlantis was developed by most of the same people and in the same studios as SG-1.

Atlantis debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 16, 2004, starring Joe Flanigan and Torri Higginson in the lead roles, with Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett, and Rachel Luttrell alongside (Dell Studio 1735 Battery) .

Hewlett and Higginson's characters had previously appeared in SG-1 (though Higginson inherited the role from actressJessica Steen). In Atlantis' second season, Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa (replacing Francks) were added as regulars. At the end of the third season, Higginson and McGillion were removed as regulars, both serving recurring roles in the 4th season (Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Battery) .

Season 4 brought in Amanda Tapping, reprising her role as Samantha Carter from SG-1, and Jewel Staite in a recurring role. Tapping left the show for season five to concentrate on Sanctuary, and was replaced byRobert Picardo, who reprised his role as Richard Woolsey from both SG-1 and Atlantis. However, in late summer 2008 it was announced that SciFi would not renew Atlantis (Sony VGN-FW11S Battery) .

The final episode aired on January 9, 2009.

Universe

The main cast of Universe. The series has a much larger main cast than previousStargate shows.

Main article: Stargate Universe (Sony VGN-FW139E/H battery)

Stargate Universe is the third live-action Stargate series, and premiered on October 2, 2009. It is set on a ship that was part of an Ancient unresolved experiment that was set in motion millions of years ago.

Over fifty million years ago, well before their conflict with the Wraith and before they moved Atlantis to the Pegasus Galaxy (Sony VGN-FW11M Battery) ,

the show would reveal, the Ancients sent out multiple ships, many to place Stargates on planets throughout multiple galaxies in the universe, and a ship to follow up and explore. A standard, 7-symbol gate address allows for travel within the same galaxy. Use of the Stargate's eighth chevron allows for travel to a different galaxy (Dell Studio 1555 battery) .

And the ninth chevron will allow the team to reach this second Ancient ship, the Destiny.

The series was pitched to the Sci Fi Channel in the fall of 2007, just before the writer's strike—which put a hold on the project. "The pitch was received very well," according to Stargate Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright (Dell Latitude E5400 Battery) .

The third Stargate series won't be set on Earth, or on a remote base, but on a ship that travels from galaxy to galaxy. Following news of the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis, it was reported that Sci Fi Channel had ordered Universe to series, with a planned launch date of October 2, 2009 (Dell Latitude E4200 Battery) .

It has also been revealed that the show will attempt to broaden Stargate's usual viewer demographics by bringing in younger viewers.

Animated Series

Infinity

Main article: Stargate Infinity

Stargate Infinity is an American animated science fiction television series created by Eric Lewald and Michael Maliani as a spin off from its sister show,Stargate SG-1 (Dell Vostro A840 Battery) .

The story arc in Infinity is set 30 years into the future and follows Gus Bonner and his team. Bonner's team was created after he was framed for a crime he did not commit. He escaped from Stargate Command (SGC) after the hostile alien race Tlak'kahn attacked the SGC to find the chrysalis (Dell Inspiron 300M Battery) .

Together with his team he escapes through the Stargate with the chrysalis. From that point forward they go from planet to planet until they find the evidence to clear their names while learning about the unique cultures in the galaxy, so that they can one day return back to Earth. The story arc was never resolved because of low viewership ratings, the show was cancelled in 2003 (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

Stargate Infinity premiered in September 2002 as part of 4Kids Entertainment’s FOX BOX Saturday morning line-up on FOX and went off the air in June 2003. Due to its lack of popularity the show is almost completely unrecognized. The series was cancelled before any of its story arcs could be resolved (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

The show was of low budget, which was constantly noted by the media.DIC Entertainment released a 4-episode DVD on October 7, 2003 in Region 1. MGM Home Entertainment released a five disc season box set on August 13, 2007 in region 2. Shout! Factory, a company known for releasing cult animated series (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) ,

acquired the rights to the show and released the entire series to DVD on May 13, 2008 in Region 1. As of 2009, there is yet to come a release ofStargate Infinity package in Region 4, namely Oceania and Latin America (Dell RM791 battery) .

The writers and producers of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe and the main canon of the Stargate franchise were not involved withInfinity, and neither MGM, the production teams nor the fans of Stargate consider Infinity to be an official part of the Stargate universe (Dell XPS M1530 battery) .

According to Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright, the animated series should not be considered official Stargate canon. Commenting on it, he stated, "I don't have a problem with it. I'm just not involved."

Direct-to-DVD films

Main articles: Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum (Dell XPS M2010 battery)

Stargate: The Ark of Truth is a direct-to-DVD movie written and directed by Robert C. Cooper. The film is the conclusion of Stargate SG-1's Ori arc, and picks up after the SG-1 series finale, but takes place before the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. The Ark of Truthwas released as a Region 1 DVD release on March 11, 2008 (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

Sky One has broadcast the film on March 24, 2008, to be followed by the Region 2 DVD release on April 28, 2008, with the Region 4 DVD release on April 9, 2008.

Stargate: Continuum is a direct-to-DVD movie written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Some scenes for this movie were already shot at the end of March 2007, but the original start date was set for May 22 at Vancouver's Bridge Studios. The production budget was $7 million.The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 29, 2008. The Region 4 DVD was released on August 6, 2008 with the Region 2 DVD released on August 18, 2008;followed by possible TV broadcasts (Toshiba Satellite P10 Battery) .

The film is a time-travel adventure and is the second sequel to Stargate SG-1, afterStargate: The Ark of Truth.

Executive producer Brad Wright has revealed that "Children of the Gods", Stargate SG-1's pilot episode, is being re-cut into a Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DVD movie with brand new visual effects and scenes not previously included in the television version (SONY VGN-FZ210CE Battery) .

In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third SG-1 new film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008.Wright will co-write the film with former Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder.Martin Wood will serve as director.According to Wright, the film would center on the Jack O'Neill character and will reunite as many of the SG-1 cast as possible, depending on the cost of the film and actor availability (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) has confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson's participation.Amanda Tapping confirmed her appearance in the third SG-1 film and the first Atlantis movie. According to Wright, the character of Vala Mal Doran will not appear in the film (Toshiba Satellite L305 Battery) .

The working title for the film, Stargate: Revolution was revealed by Joseph Mallozzi in his blog.

According to Sci-Fi and Joseph Mallozzi, a Stargate Atlantis two hour direct-to-DVD movie has been given the go ahead after the series was cancelled at the end of its fifth season (Toshiba Satellite T4900 Battery) .

More movies are expected to follow in the Atlantis series if the first movie is successful.The rumored working title for the film is Stargate Extinction. By May, 2009 the script for the film was finished.

Reception

Main articles: Stargate Fandom, List of awards and nominations received by Stargate SG-1, List of awards and nominations received by Stargate Atlantis, and List of awards and nominations received by Stargate Universe (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery)

Stargate took in $16.7 million on its opening weekend, and received mixed reactions from critics; while it was panned by the likes of Roger Ebert,several positive reviews counterbalanced this leading to a score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the film was originally intended as the first of a trilogy of films (Toshiba Satellite A200 Battery) ,

Emmerich and Devlin ultimately moved on to produce Independence Day, and it was not until 2006 that Devlin showed renewed interest in developing sequels.In the intervening time, copyright-holder MGM succeeded the film with the television series Stargate SG-1 without the input of Emmerich and Devlin (Toshiba Satellite 1200 Battery) .

Stargate SG-1 has won the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated Television Series on numerous occasions, and its cast has won similar awards for acting. More recently it has received acclaim for its visual effects, which increased in quality and realism as the show gained a larger budget (Toshiba Satellite M300 Battery) .

On August 21, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel announced that it would not be renewing Stargate SG-1 for an eleventh season after a series of poor performances in the Nielsen ratings.Many fans were enraged at the news, even creating websites in reaction to exhibit their commitment to the series (WD passport essential (500GB/640GB) .

Spokesmen for the production have said all options for the continuation of SG-1 are being considered, including complete digital broadcasting. Executive producer Robert C. Cooper told the fansite GateWorld exclusively that he was working to continue SG-1.Currently, no network or company has ordered new episodes of SG-1, so the show is on hold until a new buyer can be found (WD passport essential (250GB/320GB) .

However, SciFi has attempted to block other networks from taking up the show, citing its original exclusive contract with MGM. Stargate Atlantis has won several awards for its actors, visual effects and directors, including a WorldFest Platinum Award for David Winning's direction of an early Season 1 episode (WD passport essential SE (750GB/1TB).

Atlantis proved to be equally as successful as SG-1, with Nielsen ratings and viewership. TheStargate franchise in 2009 won a Constellation Award in the category of Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television in 2008.

The average viewership to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis was around 10 million a week worldwide (WD passport elite(250GB/320GB) .

According to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright, the show is very popular in Great Britain, Germany, France and Australia, but with a steadily declining viewership in homeland Canada. It was estimated that around 30 million StargateDVDswere sold worldwide in 2006 (WD passport elite(500GB/640GB) .

The DVD release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth in the U.S. earned MGM/Fox US $1.59 million in rentals in the first week after the release, and another US $1.38 million in rentals in the second week. In its third week it earned US $1.19 million in rentals totaling US $4.16 million . The DVD has also earned US $9.0 million in sales (WD passport studio for Mac(320GB/500GB) .

Stargate: Continuum would go on to gross over $8 million United States dollars in the United States. The film sparked mostly positive reviews with movie critics. A third Stargate SG-1 movie is planned to follow Continuum, the film will center around the character of Jack O'Neill (WD passport studio for Mac(500GB/640GB) .

Literature

Main articles: Stargate literature, List of Stargate comics, and List of Stargate audiobooks

There are three series of novels based on the Stargate franchise, one based on the original Stargate film and two based in the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis television shows (WD Elements series(250GB/320GB) .

A series of books written by Bill McCay were published from 1995 to 1999 that were unofficial sequels to the film. These were produced by consulting the original notes made by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, in an attempt to envision where the film "would have gone" (WD Elements SE(500GB/640GB) .

Neither party has commented on whether McCay's interpretation was correct. Despite the fact that he attempted to remain close to the original vision, the subsequent television series Stargate SG-1 (which began under an entirely independent development) developed the story along different lines, making no attempt to reconcile the plot lines of the books (WD Elements SE(750GB/1TB) .

This marked the first major branching of the franchise.

Later, from 1999 to 2001, ROC published four novels based in Stargate SG-1 written by Ashley McConnell. In 2004, UK-based Fandemonium Press started a new series of licensed tie-in novels based on Stargate SG-1. Due to the conflict with ROC's license, these books were available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, but not in the US (WD Elements desktop(500GB/640GB) .

Fandemonium books became available in the US in 2006. The official Stargate Magazine, produced by Titan Publishing, began publishing short stories written by Fandemonium authors in their 8th issue. The stories alternate between both SG-1 and Atlantis.

A series of comic books, based on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, began to be published by Avatar Press in 2003 (WD Elements desktop(750GB/1TB) .

Five have been published to date, with stories by James Anthony and artwork by Jorge Correa. In February 2008 it was announced that Big Finish Productions would be releasing officially-licensed audiobooks featuring members of the cast reading new stories (WD Elements desktop(1.5 TB/2TB) .

The first two stories, available on CD and digital download, are Gift of the Gods read by Michael Shanks and A Necessary Evil read by Torri Higginson.