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I know some of you may be sitting there reading this website and thinking "What's so good about Stargate anyway??" After all, there's lots of Sci-fi shows on at the moment and Stargate's just one more, right?? Oh, how wrong you are:-) Here are the top 5 reasons, as chosen by ME, why you should watch Stargate SG-1:
NUMBER 5 - THE STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
(CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE, PILOT EPISODE AND THE EPISODE "FOREVER IN A DAY"!)
Daniel and Sha're - the most tragic love story since Romeo and Juliet. It's an age-old tale: boy meets girl; girl is given by her family to boy as a gift; boy and girl marry; girl is abducted, infected with an alien parasite and turns evil. Don't you hate it when that happens :-) The love Daniel and Sha're share is more than evident as early as the movie, when Daniel, without hesitation, risks his own life to save her. And when, in the pilot, he sees what the Goa'uld have done to Sha're, Daniel desperately offers himself to them also, so that he and Sha're might at least be together. It may have been an arranged marriage, but they clearly love each other deeply. In Sha're, Daniel found a soulmate - someone who shares his love of and passion for learning, and, like him, is shy and quiet, but ready to fight for a cause -and each time Daniel steps through the gate in the first 3 seasons, he carries with him the hope that this time he might find his love Sha're again. When Daniel finally does find her again, only to have her taken from him forever, part of him dies with her. He is inconsolable; ready to give up everything he has worked for, and pushing away his friends when they offer support. Only Sha're, herself, is able to reach him, by appearing to him in a dream, and it is she who tenderly convinces him to overcome his grief for her and start living again. Daniel and Sha're share a true love, and as they say in The Princess Bride, "death cannot stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while". What sentimental romantic could resist that?? :-)
"I believe in love surviving death into eternity" -- "Affirmation" - Savage Garden
NUMBER 4 - THE EXPLORATION OF OTHER CULTURES
"There's so many different worlds, so many different suns" -- "Brothers In Arms" - Dire Straits
One thing that, I believe, makes Stargate relatively unique amongst Science Fiction shows is that its very premise is firmly based in human history and mythology. Many of the planets SG1 visit, especially in the show's early seasons, are populated by cultures which resemble those we know on Earth from Ancient History, such as Egyptian, Mongolian and Mayan. Even the names of alien characters and places are often derived from people and places in ancient mythology, and it is this incorporation of other Earth cultures into the fabric of the show which has, in itself, made the show popular with a large number of viewers. It is like a mini-anthropology lesson, although, instead of showing us these ancient cultures as they were, each week we are presented with an intriguing vision of what these cultures might have become today had they been given the chance to develop in an alternate environment. In many cases, this has spurred us on to learn more about ancient cultures and history once the episodes have ended - who says a TV show can't teach you anything!:-)
NUMBER 3 - THE WRITING
"I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over, sideways and under on a magic carpet ride" -- "A Whole New World" - Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle
Anyone would have to agree that, even before a single script is written, the very concept of Stargate is an inherently attractive one. Each time SG-1 walk through that "wall o' water" (thanks RDA - I love that term:-)), what, and who, awaits them on the other side is anyone's guess, providing almost endless possibilities for the imagination. I'll admit that some episodes are better than others, but when the writers get it right boy do they get it right! Like any science fiction show, Stargate has plenty of action and special effects - however, when it is at its best, this show tells interesting stories with intelligence and subtlety, recognising that sometimes our true message is contained both within and without the dialogue (giving the cast plenty of opportunity to flex their acting muscle). Stargate can make you laugh one minute and cry the next, have you on the edge of your seat, teach you something new and pose interesting moral and ethical questions. Team bonding is another important element, but a good Stargate ep also isn't afraid to show us the team we love at their worst as well as their best, and lets us see how they have been changed by their experiences. Most of the eps that fit this description are from the first 4 seasons, but that's another story :-)
NUMBER 2 - JACK AND DANIEL:
"If there's one guy, just one guy who'd lay down his life for you and die, it's hard to say it, I hate to say it, but it's probably me" -- "It's Probably Me" - Sting
Actually, for me, Daniel is a whole reason to watch on his own, but I've already given him his own page elsewhere on this site, so I'm dedicating this space to what, I think, is one of most beautiful and complex relationships between two heterosexual men on TV since Ben and Ray in Due South.
The Stargate saga begins with Jack and Daniel, two men originally thrown together (grudgingly in Jack's case) by circumstance, but who, through their sharing of life-changing experiences, have come to develop a brotherly bond. Jack is a man of action, Daniel is a man of thought, and, consequently, their opinions frequently clash (have done since the day they met) - however, it is through their "philosophical differences of opinion" that they push the other to be the best man he can be. They may be as different as chalk and cheese, but they complement each other perfectly, and it is clear that their's is a friendship based on mutual respect and a need for the other. In Jack and Daniel we see two men who love and care for each other (and no, I don't mean slash:-)) and aren't afraid to show it. We know that if push came to shove, this "geek" would lay down his life in a second for Jack, and vice versa.
"Let me be the one you call. If you jump, I'll break your fall ...If you need to crash, then crash and burn, you're not alone" -- "Crash and Burn" - Savage Garden
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