Stargate Review

Not long ago I 3D printed the Daedalus from Stargate: Atlantis.  We started rewatching the whole Stargate series of shows last year with my son. It’s been an enjoyable experience overall and he’s gotten into it. Replicators and Jaffa occasionally show up to join forces with the Stormtroopers and Romulans opposing us.

I didn’t originally get into Stargate until SG-1 was running on repeat on the Sci-Fi channel (yes, it was still the Sci-Fi channel back then). While this was less then twenty years ago, it’s still over fifteen years ago. I mean, I had cable and no streaming then. Ancient times.

I enjoyed my first trip through the series. Watching with my son is probably my third watch of some of the series. I originally watched a whole bunch before getting my wife into it and then rewatching with her. Some episodes I’ve seen three times, some from later seasons only once.

It’s interesting how perspective shifts over time. The show aired during that transition period between pure episodic television and the rise of pure serialized television. There are elements of both, something I think we need a little more of. You can see this transition occurring throughout the shows run. Each season gets more and more serialized. By the time you get to Universe its mostly a serialized show.

For the most part the age of the show doesn’t reveal many uncomfortable old stereotypes. But there are a few, particularly in story structure that crop up a lot that have reduced the enjoyment. Also, the dividing lines between the serious down to Earth tone and the camp ridiculous is far more stark.

The shows suffered from Hero Is Always Right syndrome way to much. There was very little nuance there. At the beginning, when Kinsey tries to shut down the Stargate, he speaks a lot of valid arguments. But he’s such an ass and over time is shown to not mean anything he says that it loses any value. He’s just a bad guy. And trying to stop the heroes from saving the day.

On Atlantis Kavanaugh suffered from the same one dimension. Weir dressing him down when he had a valid point was over the top. And again, he became just an ass. Both of these characters, instead of being foils, were roadblocks. That’s not necessarily a problem, that’s how story works, there are obstacles for the protagonist to overcome. But they were thwarted by being run over. They turned legitimate criticism of the heroes into white noise.

Aside from that, overall, SG-1’s biggest flaw lay with clinging to its original premise all the way until the end. The idea of a secret Stargate program made for good story elements that wore more and more thin as the show went on. By Season 8, it was a farce. Until then they appeared to be building toward a reveal to the world, what with the creation of the IOA and revelation to other countries. The idea of space battleships being built in secret is silly. Prometheus, maybe. But a whole production line of Daedalus ships? And the Anubis attacks wipes out a carrier group among other things. Big battle over Antarctica.  But come season 8 its all a big secret again.

Trying to stick to this premise made all of the stories that take place on Earth even more hokey. At one point an entire building is beamed out of a downtown. An entire building? That’s some power creep for the technology. And no one seems to notice.

These seasons would have been a lot more interesting if they were dealing with the world becoming aware, while trying to finish up the Goa’uld and then deal with the Ori. I actually found season 9 and 10 to be superior to 8, maybe even 6-7 as well despite this. But they could have been better.

There was a lot of up and down with SG-1 but overall it had a steady increase in quality from season 1-5, then a downward slope seasons 6-8 with a slight bump in 9-10, mainly due to Vala, but nowhere near the height. For the most part, Earth’s relative power increased gradually and they had to earn most of it. The Asgard’s gift of all knowledge before blowing themselves up we’ll leave aside for now.

Both shows suffered from Stormtrooper syndrome though. Wraith and Jaffa were scary and effective early on. Then suddenly became mooks to be mowed down by the hundreds. This precipitated the rise of more advanced version of bad guys. Why the bad guys can never just switch tactics and learn I’ll never understand. Both shows did this well early on but got worse as time went on.

Atlantis had a very different arc than SG-1. Season 1 was the highpoint of the show. Season 2-3 wavered a bit but didn’t drop to much. Season 4 was a low point and five wasn’t much better. There’s clear executive meddling. It went from a group trapped alone and cut off, to Generic Heroic Action Adventure.

I think the third season episode “Sateda” is the jump the shark point for the series. Ronin gets caught, becomes a runner again and then has to have a Big Damn Hero Fight as the Noble Warrior. The Wraith in this episode went from tough to kill villains to mooks. The whole episode was a bad action movie. And as time went on, the show tried to do this more and more. There were a few stand out great episodes after this but not many.

Like SG-1, Atlantis left off with a giant leap forward in technology. SG-1 gained all of the Asgard knowledge. Atlantis learned how to make wormhole hyperdrives. And were able to conveniently find all the ZPM’s they needed.

But enough ranting. The Stargate series are a fun watch. But like most popular entertainment, don’t think about it to much.