Stargate SG-1

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Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. The television series was filmed in and around the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Showtime broadcast the first five seasons beginning in 1997 before the series moved to the Sci Fi Channel for its last five seasons. The final episode premiered on Sky1 in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2007, three months before its United States premiere. With 10 seasons and 214 episodes Stargate SG-1 surpassed The X-Files in 2007 as the longest-running North American science fiction series on television, although Stargate SG-1 itself is expected to be surpassed in this record by Smallville in April 2011, as that series finishes its long run.

The story of Stargate SG-1 begins two years after the events of the feature film. A network of ancient alien devices called Stargates connects a vast multitude of planets within our Milky Way galaxy for interstellar travel. Later episodes reveal that this network is capable of spanning not just planets within the Milky Way, but with sufficient power, can provide intergalactic travel as well. Stargate SG-1 chronicles the adventures of SG-1, the flagship team of over two dozen teams from Earth who explore the galaxy and defend Earth against alien threats such as the Goa'uld, Replicators and later the Ori. The composition of the SG-1 team is stable in the show's first five seasons but changes several times in the remaining seasons. The series expands upon many Ancient Earth mythologies such as Egyptian mythology, Norse mythology, and Arthurian legend. The 2008 direct-to-DVD films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum continue the adventures of SG-1; the third direct-to-DVD film, titled Stargate: Revolution, was confirmed in April 2009, but has been put on hold.

The series was a ratings success for Showtime and the Sci Fi Channel, and was particularly popular in Europe and Australia. Although it received little critical response, Stargate SG-1 was honored with numerous awards and award nominations in its ten-season run. It also spawned the animated television series Stargate Infinity in 2002, the live-action spin-off TV series Stargate Atlantis in 2004, and the live-action TV series Stargate Universe in 2009. Merchandise for Stargate SG-1 includes games and toys, print media and an original audio series.

Series overview

Stargate SG-1 resumes the plot of the original feature film and follows the present-day adventures of SG-1, a military team from Earth. SG-1 and two dozen other SG teams venture to distant planets using a fictional alien portal known as a Stargate, which in the series is housed in a top-secret United States Air Force military base known as Stargate Command (SGC) underneath Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the first eight seasons, the mission of the SG teams is to explore the galaxy and search for alien technology and allies to defend Earth against the Goa'uld, a snake-like parasitic alien race that takes humans as unwilling hosts. As explained in the series' backstory, the Goa'uld transported human slaves from Earth to other habitable planets across the galaxy thousands of years ago and now pose as gods of Ancient Earth mythologies, particularly Egyptian mythology. SG-1 eventually learns that highly evolved but now impassive human-like beings, known as the Ancients, had originally built the Stargate network millions of years earlier, before they used their extraordinary powers to Ascend to a higher plane of existence. The fictional Ori, who belong to the same race as the Ancients but preach religious fundamentalism, assume the role of the main antagonists in seasons 9 and 10.

Goa'uld arc

The pilot episode, set one year after the events of the original feature film, introduces the Goa'uld System Lord and main villain Apophis (Peter Williams) as he attacks Earth's mothballed SGC military base through the Stargate. The SGC is brought back into action when the Stargate is revealed to be part of an interplanetary network connecting countless planets. SG teams are created to help defend Earth against the Goa'uld, who have interstellar pyramid warships and vast armies of Jaffa (hereditary slaves and human incubators to the Goa'uld) at their disposal. Earth's flagship team SG-1, among them Apophis's defected First Prime (lead Jaffa soldier) Teal'c, initiates several alliances with other races in the galaxy, such as the Goa'uld-like but truly symbiotic Tok'ra, the advanced human Tollan, the pacifist Nox, the benevolent Roswell-alien Asgard, and remnants of the powerful Ancients. Another alien threat arises in season 3 in the form of sentient machines called Replicators. Meanwhile, rogue agents of a shadowy intelligence agency on Earth, the NID, repeatedly attempt to take control of the Stargate and other alien technology. Despite Apophis's death in season 5, the Goa'uld Empire remained a major foe in Stargate SG-1 until the end of season 8. The System Lord Ba'al (Cliff Simon) is the only influential Goa'uld in the last two seasons of Stargate SG-1. He is defeated in the direct-to-DVD film Stargate: Continuum.

Anubis arc

After Apophis's defeat in the season 5 premiere, the half-Ascended Goa'uld System Lord Anubis (David Palffy) becomes the main villain. He possesses much knowledge of the Ancients and their technology. While Earth builds its first interstellar spaceship ( the Prometheus ) in season 6 and 7, Anubis creates an army of almost invincible Kull Warriors and wipes out many of his fellow System Lords. In the season 7 finale, SG-1 discovers a powerful weapon in an Ancient outpost in Antarctica that annihilates Anubis's entire fleet and also sets the stage for the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. While Ba'al subsumes much of Anubis's power in season 8, Anubis secretly regains control of his forces. Human-form Replicators begin to conquer the System Lords, but SG-1 finds and adjusts an Ancient weapon to destroy all Replicators throughout the galaxy. The end of season 8 reveals the benevolent Ascended Being Oma Desala (Mel Harris) to be responsible for Anubis's original ascension. When she engages Anubis in an eternal stalemated battle on the Ascended plane to prevent his acting on the mortal plane, the Replicators and most System Lords have already been annihilated, and the Jaffa win their freedom from Goa'uld rule.

Ori arc

The original SG-1 team disbands after the events of season 8, but slowly reunites after an Ancient communication device in the SGC inadvertently draws the attention of the Ancient-like Ori from another galaxy to the existence of sentient life in the Milky Way. While the Ori send advanced human beings named Priors to the Milky Way to spread a religion that augments the Ori's power, Ba'al and some minor Goa'uld infiltrate Earth through the Trust (a coalition of rogue NID operatives) to rebuild their power. At the end of season 9, the Ori begin an evangelistic crusade with their warships and effortlessly wipe out the combined fleet of Earth and its allies. The leader of the Ori, Adria (Morena Baccarin), is introduced in the premiere of season 10. SG-1 searches for the Sangraal, an Ancient weapon that might defeat the Ori, while Ba'al and his clones attempt to find the weapon for their own purposes. With the help of the powerful Ancient Merlin (Matthew Walker), SG-1 finds the construction plans of the Sangraal and sends a working version to the Ori galaxy but shortly thereafter, Adria ascends. The Ori arc currently ends in the direct-to-DVD film Stargate: The Ark of Truth.

Cast

Production

Conception

Brad Wright created Stargate SG-1 with Jonathan Glassner.

Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner had worked together on the MGM television series The Outer Limits since 1995. Upon hearing of MGM's plan to create a television spin-off series of the feature film Stargate, Wright and Glassner independently and unbeknownst to each other approached MGM and proposed their concept for the television series. MGM president John Symes greenlit the project on the condition that Wright and Glassner work together as executive producers of the new show. The show was named Stargate SG-1 after Wright flightily agreed to Symes's pitch question if the team should be called "SG-1". MGM released posters titled Stargate SG-1 within the next week without the knowledge of Wright and Glassner.

John Symes approached Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson of MacGyver fame.Anderson agreed to become involved with the project if his character Jack O'Neill was allowed significantly more comedic leeway than Kurt Russell's character in the feature film. He also requested Stargate SG-1 to be more of an ensemble show, so that he would not be carrying the plot alone as on MacGyver. The American subscription channel Showtime made a two-season commitment for 44 episodes in 1996. Principal photography began in Vancouver in February 1997.

Casting and cast changes

After Anderson accepted the part, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner reviewed several thousand taped auditions and invited approximately 25 promising actors to screen tests in Los Angeles. Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge are said to have gravitated towards each other during the casting process before they knew that they would ultimately be cast. The producers found Judge the easiest to cast due to his muscular presence. Shanks was cast because he did "the perfect imitation of James Spader", according to Wright.The producers knew Don S. Davis from his work as a stand-in and stunt-double for Dana Elcar in MacGyver and approached him to read for the role of George Hammond.

Sho

wtime's announcement to not renew Stargate SG-1 after season 5 coincided with Michael Shanks's decision to leave the show for concerns of being under-utilized,^[20] but the Sci Fi Channel decided to continue the show and fill the void with a new character. Casting agents met Corin Nemec at the courtyard of MGM's Santa Monica offices by chance and offered him the role of Jonas Quinn. Although Nemec's early appearances, beginning with the penultimate season 5 episode "Meridian", evoked strong distrust by loyal fans, Nemec was open to continue playing the character after season 6 or in a feature film or a spin-off series. However, the producers reached a new contract with Michael Shanks to return full time in season 7, leaving Nemec with a recurring role. Don S. Davis decided to leave Stargate SG-1 after season 7 for health reasons but appeared in a recurring capacity until his death on June 29, 2008.

Due to prior engagements, Claudia Black of Farscape fame could not accept the offers to guest-star on Stargate SG-1 until the season 8 episode "Prometheus Unbound". The producers liked the on-screen chemistry between Black's Vala Mal Doran and Shanks's Daniel so much that they re-introduced her in a six-episode story arc to cover for the maternity leave of Amanda Tapping at the beginning of season 9. At the same time, Richard Dean Anderson left the show to spend more time with his daughter (his schedule had been reduced incrementally since season 6). The role of the leading man was filled with Ben Browder (also of Farscape fame), who had met with the Stargate producers as soon as the introduction of new main characters for season 9 was discussed. The producers had met him during sci-fi conventions and had previously discussed casting him in other Stargate roles. The producers approached Emmy Award-winning actor Beau Bridges directly to play the role of Hank Landry. Claudia Black's guest appearances were so popular with the cast, crew and audience that the actress returned for the last two season 9 episodes and joined the cast full time in season 10.

Crew

Robert C. Cooper became SG-1's show runner in season 7.

Most producers, crew members and guest actors behind Stargate SG-1 were Canadian.Creators Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner were executive producers and show runners of Stargate SG-1 in the first three seasons, having the final say (besides MGM and the network) on stories, designs, effects, casting, editing, and episode budgets. After Glassner's departure, Wright ran Stargate SG-1 alone for three seasons. Executive producer Robert C. Cooper took over as show-runner in season 7 when Brad Wright took time off to develop the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis.^[33] Cooper and Wright remained show-runners of their respective shows until the end of SG-1. Also serving as executive and co-executive producers were Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson (seasons 1–8), N. John Smith (seasons 4–10), and the writer team Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie (seasons 7–10).

Although Stargate SG-1 employed freelance writers, most of the 214 Stargate SG-1 episodes were written by Brad Wright (seasons 1–10), Jonathan Glassner (seasons 1–3), Katharyn Powers (seasons 1–6), Robert C. Cooper (seasons 1–10), Peter DeLuise (seasons 4–8), Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie (seasons 4–10), Damian Kindler (seasons 6–10), and Alan McCullough (seasons 9–10). Martin Wood and Peter DeLuise directed the most episodes, with 46 episodes (seasons 1–10) and 57 episodes (seasons 2–10), respectively. Wood and DeLuise regularly made cameo appearances in their episodes and notably played the show-within-a-show directors in the cameo-heavy milestone episodes "Wormhole X-Treme!" and "200". Andy Mikita had been an assistant director since the pilot episode and directed 29 episodes from season 3 through 10. SG-1 director of photography Peter Woeste and camera operator William Waring directed 13 episodes each. Most staff writers and staff directors held producer positions. Several cast members contributed story ideas and directed SG-1 episodes.

Filming

Stargate SG-1 was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, mainly at The Bridge Studios and NORCO Studios,which offered Stargate SG-1 tax breaks throughout its run. The cost of an SG-1 episode increased from US$1.3 million in the first seasons to an estimated US$2 million per episode in season 10, partly due to unfavorable exchange rates. Many Vancouver area landmarks were incorporated into the episodes, such as the campus of Simon Fraser University, which became the setting of an alien civilization's capitol. Pr

oduction faced many weather problems because of the moderate oceanic climate of Vancouver, although rain could be eliminated from film. The season 3 episode "Crystal Skull" was the first episode to be filmed on a virtual set.

The main setting of Stargate SG-1, the fictional Stargate Command (SGC) at the (real) Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado, was filmed at stage 5 of The Bridge Studios. Martin Wood filmed half a dozen stock shots of the real Cheyenne Mountain complex for use in the series approximately ten days before the premiere of the pilot episode. Although these shots wore out over the years, the producers did not film new shots until the beginning of season 9, thinking that Stargate SG-1 would be cancelled after each current year. By then, visitor questions and fan theories about the existence of a Stargate at the real Cheyenne Mountain complex had become so common that Cheyenne Mountain had installed a seemingly high-security door labelled "Stargate Command" for one of their storage rooms holding brooms and detergent.

The first seven seasons had 22 episodes each, which was reduced to 20 episodes for the last three seasons. Episodes of the first seasons were filmed over a period of 7.5 working days, which decreased to a targeted average of six working days in the last seasons. All episodes were filmed in 16:9 wide-screen, although Stargate SG-1 was broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio in its first years. The transition to the broadcast of episodes in the wider 16:9 ratio gave directors more freedom in frame composition. The first three seasons of Stargate SG-1 were filmed on 16 mm film, notwithstanding scenes involving visual effects that had always been shot on 35 mm film for various technical reasons. After a test run with the season 3 finale, "Nemesis", Stargate SG-1 switched to 35 mm film for all purposes at the beginning of season 4. Digital HD cameras were used for filming beginning with season 8.

Production design

The art department generated all of the concepts and drawing for the prop department, the set decoration department, the construction department, the paint department, and the model shop. They also collaborated with the visual effects department. Stargate SG-1 employed about 200 Canadian union workers, although that number could exceed 300 when new sets were built.Lead production designer Richard Hudolin joined the project in October 1996. Bridget McGuire, SG-1's art director since the pilot episode, took over as lead production designer in season 6.

Hudolin flew to Los Angeles in 1996 to gather material from the feature film as reference and found the original Stargate prop stored outside in the Californian desert. Although the prop had severely deteriorated, he was able to take a detailed mold for Stargate SG-1 production to build its own prop. The new Stargate was engineered to turn, lock the chevrons, and be computer-controlled to dial specific gate addresses. A portable Stargate prop was built for on-location shoots and required six workers and one full day to set up. Since visual effects are sometimes faster and cheaper,a computer-generated Stargate was occasionally used in on-location shoots in later seasons.

The SGC set had to be twice as high for shooting as the 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) Stargate prop, but one of Hudolin's original plans of a three-level set was rejected in favor of a two-level set. The gateroom was the biggest room on set and could be redesigned for other scenes.Two multi-purpose rooms were frequently redecorated into the infirmary, Daniel's lab, the cafeteria or the gym. The SGC set and all other sets from the pilot episode were constructed within six weeks in January and February 1997, incorporating some original set pieces from the feature film. The SGC set would be largely dismantled in late 2008 to make room for the Icarus Base set of Stargate Universe.

Make-up and costumes

Most SG-1 main characters are US airmen and wear authentic United States Air Force uniforms. During missions, the members of the SG-1 team normally wear olive green Battle Dress Uniforms.Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis received a regular military-style haircut on set. Amanda Tapping had her hair comparably short until the filming of the direct-to-DVD films. Playing a civilian, Michael Shanks adopted James Spader's hairstyle from the feature film but cut it short for the season 2 finale and subsequent seasons. The Jaffa alien Teal'c (Christopher Judge) was the only main character whose look required more than basic make-up. His Egyptian look was reflective of the Goa'uld Ra from the feature film and was complemented with a forehead symbol and a gold skin tone, although his make-up process was simplified over the years. Judge shaved his head at home each day until the producers allowed him to let his hair grow in season 8. As a trained nurse, key make-up artist Jan Newman could make burns, cuts, bruises and the SG-1 team's other wounds look authentic.

For the look of aliens, the make-up department collaborated with prosthetics companies from Vancouver and Los Angeles, including Todd Masters. While the human origins of many alien races and human civilizations were left recognizable, the recurring Unas race required elaborate prosthetics and make-up work. To mirror the independent development of the fictional human civilizations after their displacement from Earth, the costume designers took elements of the respective Earth cultures, and combined them with modern fabrics, elaborate trims and chains that would give a historical yet otherworldly appearance. The look of the Goa'uld such as Apophis was initially based on Ra in the feature film. For the design of the Ori and the Priors in season 9, the art department looked at Japanese and Samurai garments for costume design. Art director James Robbins found the face painting, scarification and burns of remote jungle tribes mystical, serving as inspiration for the face scarification of the Priors and the Doci. Early considerations of finger extensions and scarification on their hands were discarded as impracticable.

Visual effects

Stargate SG-1 was one of the biggest employers in the Vancouver visual effects market, spending $400,000 per episode. The largest role was played by Rainmaker Digital Effects, whose senior digital compositing artist, Bruce Woloshyn, worked approximately 10 months a year in close collaboration with SG-1's visual effects supervisor/producer James Tichenor and visual effects supervisor Michelle Comens. Many companies were hired to create the Stargate's water-like event horizon in the beginning, but Rainmaker eventually became the only company to create those visual effects. Rainmaker's regular effects shots included the activation and use of the Stargate itself (with well over 300 event horizon shots in the first few years), the transport rings, and the blast shots of the staff weapons and zat guns. They created the visual effects for Goa'uld cargo ships and death gliders on a less regular basis.

Lost Boys Studios provided visual effects for SG-1 from the very beginning of the series up to the end of season 5, and Image Engine worked on the show from season 2. Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis were responsible for an estimated 30% to 40% of the business of Atmosphere Visual Effects. James Tichenor considered the few episodes with big visual effects budgets the most likely works to contain visual cues that would impress award judges. Stargate SG-1 helped win the local post production shops industry recognition, with season 4's "Small Victories", season 5's "Revelations" and season 7's "Lost City" receiving the most visual effects awards and nominations (see List of awards and nominations received by Stargate SG-1).

Music

According to composer Joel Goldsmith, Stargate SG-1 had a traditional action-adventure score, "with a sci-fi, fantasy flair" that goes "from comedy to drama to wondrous to suspense to heavy action to ethereal". Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner had known Goldsmith since the second season of The Outer Limits before they approached him to work on the pilot episode of Stargate SG-1. Goldsmith and David Arnold, the composer of the original feature film score, discussed themes for a television adaptation. The main titles of Stargate SG-1 were a medley of several themes from the feature film, although Goldsmith also wrote a unique end title for SG-1 to establish the show as its own entity. MGM eventually insisted on using Arnold's score in the pilot episode instead of Goldsmith's, but Brad Wright's 2009 direct-to-DVD recut of Children of the Gods uses Goldsmith's original score.

For each episode's score, Goldsmith simulated a real orchestra with a synthesizer palette of an eighty-piece symphony orchestra for budgetary reasons, although he occasionally used two or three musicians for added orchestral authenticity. Goldsmith's long-time assistant Neal Acree started composing additional music for Stargate SG-1 in season 8. The amount of composed music varied between 12 and 33 minutes out of a 44-minute episode, with an average of around 22 to 26 minutes, making the full symphonic score of SG-1 more time-consuming to create than for general TV shows. Since Goldsmith lived a thousand miles away from Vancouver, he and the producers discussed ideas over the phone and exchanged tapes via Federal Express for several years until the show switched to Internet file transfers.

Goldsmith's reliance on Arnold's score decreased over the seasons when Stargate SG-1 departed from the Goa'uld theme and introduced new characters and races. Goldsmith had a thematic approach to races and spaceships. For example, he wanted a mechanical, repetitive musical motif for the Replicators; Gothic, Gregorian, and Christian themes were the inspiration for the Ori motif. The Ancient theme was deliberately carried over to Stargate Atlantis. The end of "Lost City" has a basic melody that would become part of the main title of Atlantis per a suggestion by Goldsmith's assistant. Non-original music was rarely used on SG-1, although Goldsmith chose the aria "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's "Pagliaccio" for the season 3's "Shades of Grey".Additionally, Lily Frost's song "Who am I" played in season 7's "Fragile Balance", and CCR's song "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" played in the series finale "Unending". A television soundtrack with Goldsmith's adapted score was released in 1997, followed by a best-of release in 2001.

Opening title sequence

The opening credits of Stargate SG-1's first five seasons show Ra's mask in close-up, as demonstrated here with Tutankhamun's Golden mask.

Stargate SG-1 has had several opening title sequences, which are generally preceded by a teaser act. The credits are normally sixty seconds long. Richard Dean Anderson was the only SG-1 actor whose name appeared before the show's title. Michael Shanks's name was moved near the end of the opening credits with the appendage "as Daniel Jackson" after his return to the show in season 7. Some DVD versions of early SG-1 seasons have different opening credits than the television versions, as do the direct-to-DVD films. Composer Joel Goldsmith adapted David Arnold's Stargate feature film score for SG-1's opening title theme, which remained the same during the run of Stargate SG-1 and its direct-to-DVD films.

The first opening title sequence, used in the first five seasons, shows a slow-pan camera move over Ra's mask. The Stargate SG-1 producers had run out of time before the premiere of season 1 and simply re-used the accelerated opening title sequence of the feature film. Ra's mask had been created in the feature film's model shop and had originally been filmed with a motion-control camera. Partly because Ra's mask looked cross-eyed, Brad Wright approached the art department in the following years to produce a new opening title sequence; however, the sequence remained the same until the show's move to the Sci-Fi Channel. During the first five seasons when the show was syndicated a separate introduction was used; this intro is still used by Sci-Fi for seasons 1-5. This version uses action shots of the original cast.

The opening title sequence of the first two season 6 episodes shows a turning Stargate, for which a Frazier lens was put as close as 1/8 inch (3 mm) to the Stargate prop. The opening credits of the following episodes intercut this material with live-action shots of the characters from previous seasons and ended with the SG-1 team stepping through the Stargate. The opening credits stayed the same in the next two seasons except for minor clip and cast changes. The opening credits of season 9 intercut shots of the Stargate with action sequences similar to the previous opening credits, although the Stargate was visibly computer-generated. The Sci Fi Channel cut the opening credits from sixty to ten seconds in their original broadcast of the first half of season 9, but re-instated the full opening credits after strong negative fan reactions. The writers poked fun at this move in SG-1's milestone episode "200" in season 10, showing a five-second clip instead of the full titles. Beginning with season 10's "Company of Thieves", the last clip of the opening credits shows Vala Mal Doran almost missing SG-1's trip through the Stargate.

Collaboration with the military

Generals Michael E. Ryan and John P. Jumper, USAF Chiefs of Staff, appeared as themselves in "Prodigy" (2001) and "Lost City" (2004).

The United States Air Force (USAF) cooperated closely with the Stargate SG-1 producers. Before the beginning of the series, the USAF granted production access to the Cheyenne Mountain complex to film stock shots. They also read every script for mistakes and provided help with plausible background stories for all characters, ribbons, uniform regulations, hair advice, plotlines, and military relationships. The USAF flew up several T-38 Talon, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to Vancouver for various episodes and direct-to-DVD films. Many of the extras portraying USAF personnel were real USAF personnel.

Two successive Chiefs of Staff of the USAF, Generals Michael E. Ryan and John P. Jumper, appeared as themselves in season 4's "Prodigy" and season 7's "Lost City", respectively. General Jumper's second scheduled appearance in season 9's "The Fourth Horseman" was cancelled due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.^[77] The Air Force Association recognized Richard Dean Anderson at its 57th annual dinner on September 14, 2004 for his work as actor and executive producer of the show, and for the show's positive depiction of the Air Force.

Themes and allusions

Many SG-1 stories are built around Egyptian gods, such as (from left to right) Osiris, Anubis and Horus.

Stargate SG-1 takes place in a military science fiction environment and employs the common science fiction concepts of strongly differentiated characters fighting an unequivocally evil enemy (the Goa'uld). However, it links alien races with well-known Earth mythologies, by use of the central Stargate device. Near-instantaneous interplanetary travel allows quick narrative shifts between the politics on Earth and the realities of fighting an interstellar war. Stargate SG-1 gradually evolves the basic premise of the Stargate film into its own unique mythological superstructure, expanding upon Egyptian mythology (notably the gods Apep/Apophis and Anubis as Goa'uld villains), Norse mythology (notably the god Thor as an Asgard ally), and Arthurian legend (notably Merlin as an Ancient ally against the god-like Ori), among others. SG-1 introduces new alien races (as opposed to alien human civilizations) less often than other science fiction television series and integrates newly encountered races or visited planets in stand-alone episodes into its established mythology while leaving the plotlines accessible for new audience members. Despite the show's extensive intergalactic mythology and science fiction elements, scholar M. Keith Booker considered SG-1 ultimately character-driven and heavily dependent on the camaraderie among the SG-1 members.

The producers embraced humor and wanted SG-1 to be a fun show that does not take itself too seriously. Brad Wright regarded SG-1 as a family show with adequate violence as opposed to random or gratuitous violence. Christopher Judge did not consider SG-1 as a "message show by any stretch of the imagination, but occasionally there are messages there".Aimed at a popular audience, Stargate SG-1 emphasized its present-day-Earth story frame by frequently referencing popular culture, like The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had done before. Jonathan Glassner had written The Wizard of Oz references into his own scripts since the first season, which the other writers imitated after Richard Dean Anderson began referencing the film on his own. O'Neill references Richard Dean Anderson's favorite television series, The Simpsons, throughout the show. SG-1 makes meta-textual references to the process of writing and filming a science fiction TV series in several episodes^[ and alludes to the main actors' previous TV roles in the pilot episode (Carter: "It took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth") and in a Farscape vignette in the milestone episode "200".

Broadcast and release

Showtime and US syndication (1997–2002)

The American subscription channel Showtime ordered the first two seasons of Stargate SG-1 with 44 episodes total in 1996. The two-hour pilot episode received Showtime's highest-ever ratings for a series premiere with an audience of approximately 1.5 million households in the 8 p.m. Sunday slot of July 27, 1997. According to the SG-1 producers, a broadcast network would have cancelled SG-1 after a few episodes, but Showtime put no pressure on the show to "deliver the meteoric ratings the way network shows do".The show was consistently the channel's most-watched program (including theatrical movies), so Showtime ordered a third and fourth season of 22 episodes each in July 1998,

Since Stargate SG-1 was expensive to produce, MGM arranged an agreement with Showtime that SG-1 could air in syndication six months after their premiere on Showtime. All 22 Fox stations aired the first seasons after their Showtime debut, providing a clearance of 41% of the United States. The Sci Fi Channel made its largest single programming acquisition of $150 million in 1998 by buying the exclusive basic cable rights to the MGM package Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits, and Poltergeist: The Legacy. Showtime decided to end its association with Stargate SG-1 at the end of season 5, saying that the show still had a sizeable viewership but could no longer draw new subscribers due to its availability in syndication.

Sci Fi Channel and US syndication (2002–2007)

Since SG-1's ratings were good from a financial standpoint, the Sci Fi Channel picked up MGM's offer to continue the show into a sixth season, yet with a slightly reduced budget. Sci Fi aired new episodes of Stargate SG-1 in the 9 p.m. Friday slot between The Dead Zone and Farscape, while it aired older SG-1 episodes in a four-hour block every Monday at 7 p.m.. Episodes were broadcast in US syndication six months after their premiere on Sci Fi. The sixth season was supposed to be the show's last, but Sci Fi renewed SG-1 at the last minute. The sixth and seventh seasons made Stargate SG-1 Sci Fi's highest-rated original series with an average of 2 million viewers in over 1.3 million households, elevating Sci Fi into the top 10 cable network s in the United States.For the next few years, the producers believed each current season to be the show's last and repeatedly wrote big series finales, but the success of Stargate SG-1 put off their plans of ending the show to write a new Stargate feature film.Sci Fi cut the length of an SG-1 season from 22 to 20 episodes from season 8 onwards.

Originally envisioned as a replacement for SG-1, the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis began airing in tandem with SG-1's eighth season in summer 2004, setting a series record of 3.2 million viewers for SG-1 and a Sci Fi record as most-watched episode of a regular series ever (at the time) for Atlantis with 4.2 million viewers. Battlestar Galactica joined the two Stargate series in January 2005, making Sci Fi the leader among basic cablers on Friday nights over the summer of 2005.The producers considered replacing Stargate SG-1 with a new show named Stargate Command after SG-1's eighth season, but the Sci Fi Channel decided to continue SG-1 with a slightly changed cast for a ninth season instead. Season 9's average slipped from 2.4 million viewers in late 2005 to 2.1 million viewers with 1.8 household rating during early 2006, which Sci Fi's Mark Stern attributed to the "tech-savvy, toy-loving, time-shifting audience" whose use of digital video recorders excluded them in ratings compilations.Meanwhile, the decline of SG-1's 2005–2006 syndication household ratings was consistent with the overall decline in syndicated sci-fi action hours. Sci Fi ordered a record-breaking tenth season of SG-1 in 2005, but announced it would not renew the show for an eleventh season in summer 2006 (see #Cancellation and future). The final SG-1 episode, "Unending", premiered on Sky1 in the UK on March 13, 2007, and attracted approximately 2.2 million viewers on the Sci Fi Channel on June 22, 2007.

International broadcast

According to Wright and Cooper, the worldwide popularity of science fiction was a factor in SG-1's success and the good international reception helped keep the series on the air in the beginning. Several newspapers reported in 2005–2006 that Stargate SG-1 aired in over 100 countries with a weekly worldwide viewership of around 10 million but The New York Times gave different numbers in 2004, saying that the show was broadcast in 64 countries with more than 17 million viewers a week. Stargate SG-1 had a particularly fervent response in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Australia.

Stargate SG-1 aired in the United Kingdom on Sky One with repeats on Sky Two, Sky Three, and Channel 4. Sky One broadcast new episodes of the second half of most seasons before their American premiere. Brad Wright found it "almost embarrassing" that Stargate SG-1 was much more popular in the United Kingdom than in Canada, where the show aired on Space, Citytv, A-Channel, Movie Central, and French-language channels TQS and Ztélé. Stargate SG-1 aired in Australia on Sci Fi Australia, Channel Seven, and Golden West Network.

Cancellation and future

On August 21, 2006, a few days after the premiere of SG-1's milestone episode "200", the Sci Fi Channel confirmed that Stargate SG-1 was not being renewed for an eleventh season.While news outlets cited declining ratings, expensive production and lack of promotion as possible reasons for the cancellation, the Sci Fi Channel's Mark Stern merely stated the decision was not ratings-based.Instead, he said the production staff was given enough time to tie up all the loose ends of the story, and SG-1 cast members were planned to be incorporated into the renewed Stargate Atlantis.Meanwhile, the SG-1 producers and rights-holder MGM expressed a desire to continue SG-1 as a movie, mini-series, or an eleventh season on another network. Brad Wright confirmed the production of two direct-to-DVD films in October 2006, and Amanda Tapping joined the Atlantis cast for their fourth season. The first film, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, was released in March 2008 and wraps up the Ori storyline. The second film, Stargate: Continuum, is an alternate time travel story and was released in July 2008. A special edition of the two-hour pilot episode "Children of the Gods" with re-edited scenes and a different score has also been produced.

In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third new SG-1 film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008. Joseph Mallozzi revealed the working title as Stargate: Revolution. Although Wright stated in April 2009 that he "can almost guarantee we are proceeding with the SG-1 movie this year", production is still on hold as of September 2010.Wright explained that the late-2000s recession made DVD premieres less lucrative than in the years before. In January 2010, Michael Shanks said that the proposed third SG-1 direct-to-DVD film is unlikely to happen due to the large delay since the second film. He commented, "Never say never", but appeared skeptical that such a film would ever be made, saying, "This might be the closing of the book on that particular [chapter of the] franchise." In September 2010, Wright also pointed to the financial crisis of MGM as reason for the delay. Yet he was optimistic, saying "We held on to a lot of stuff and were ready to go for a very long time, but that doesn't mean it's not gonna happen. We have a plan B, and I've been talking with MGM about it, and hopefully we'll still get our chance." In early November 2010, Joseph Mallozzi stated on his blog that "recent obvious developments over the past week have increased the likelihood of the SG-1 and SGA [films] finally seeing the green light of a production schedule. The biggest hurdle has just been cleared."In the original plans for the third new SG-1 film, Wright and former Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder will co-write the film, and Martin Wood will serve as director. According to Wright, the film will 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.Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) has confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson's participation,although contracts have not been signed as of April 2009.^[124] 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.

Online distribution

New episodes of Stargate SG-1 were first released on iTunes in the US in August 2006, each time one day after their premiere on the Sci Fi Channel. The commercial-free episodes were priced $1.99 each, while a season pass with twenty episodes cost $37.99.A release on iTunes UK followed in October 2007. All ten seasons of SG-1 were available on iTunes and Amazon Unbox by January 2008. Stargate SG-1 made its debut on hulu.com in March 2009, starting with the first season. At first, viewers in the United States could only watch episodes of the first seasons, but as of December 2009 all episodes of seasons 1 to 10 are available free of charge with a small number of commercials on Hulu, through January 31, 2011.

Impact

Critical reception

In his review for the pilot episode "Children of the Gods" in 1997, Will Joyner of The New York Times considered Stargate SG-1 a "challenging, if derivative, mix" that is "more than a Stargate [feature film] fan might expect but certainly less than one would hope for." He had a mixed opinion about the cast and was disturbed by SG-1's use of visual shock tactics to make up for its lower television budget. Reviewing the same episode, Variety's Tony Scott criticized that "superficial characters wander through their roles without stirring a modicum of conviction" in a show that is "essentially for young people". He mocked that the wooden acting, "pedestrian writing, pulp-mag plotting, shopworn characters, hackneyed dialogue [...] and Mario Azzopardi's broad direction will all undoubtedly delight billions and billions." Many critics responded negatively to the gratuitous use of sexual implication and female nudity in the pilot episode, which according to Wright had been filmed on Showtime's insistence despite his vocal opposition and was cut from the pilot's 2009 direct-to-DVD version.

According to Sharon Eberson of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Stargate SG-1's" place in the sci-fi universe can be measured in longevity, spot-on cast chemistry, rabid fans and tough subject it has tackled although she argued that the show was rarely a critical darling. Although the show was the most-watched program on Showtime, it received almost no media mention outside hard-core science fiction circles in its first seasons. Stargate SG-1 gained media attention when Stargate Atlantis was greenlit (the cover of the July 26, 2003 TV Guide issue notably called to "Forget Trek! Stargate SG-1 is now sci-fi's biggest hit!"), but the Toronto Star noted in 2006 that "Nobody seemed to like [Stargate SG-1] but the fans; it somehow always slipped under the radar of most TV critics".According to Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SG-1's records did not earn it "the kind of wide-ranging respect a successful series with a 200-episode run deserves"; SG-1 rarely occupied a slot on 'best show' lists because the show remained "relegated to the back of the bus in terms of popularity" behind the glory of Battlestar Galactica, although every week, the show attracts an average of 10 million viewers worldwide. It has also been pointed out by Cooper that "By the way, neither did the original 'Star Trek' in its time, It wasn't until 30 years later that people started looking back at it and realizing it was a milestone. I think we secretly hope that 10, 15, 20 years from now, that 'Stargate' will be considered in the same way."Scott D. Pierce from Deseret News said that the series never made a "sort of cultural impact" as Star Trek because the "show" was "pretty derivative" which he further stated it became "more so over the years." Robert Hanks from the British newspaper The Independent said that the series "Did the job" during its second season of broadcasting.

Constellation Awards

Best Female Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Television Episode: Claudia Black

Gemini Awards

best Production Design or Art Direction in a Dramatic Program or Series: Robert Davidson, Douglas McLean, Brentan Harron, Ivana Vasak, Bridget McGuire, Richard Hudolin, Mark Davidson

Best Visual Effects: Robin Hackl, Adam de Bosch Kemper, James Tichenor, Krista McLean, Kevin Little, Craig Van Den Biggelaar, Shannon Gurney, Mark Breakspear

Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Series: Adam Boyd, Adam Gejdos, Eric Hillman, Iain Pattison, Kelly Frey, Kirby Jinnah, Paul A. Sharpe

Best Production Design of Dramatic Series: Richard Hudolin, Bridget McGuire, Brentan Harron, Doug McLean, Ivana Vasak, Mark Davidson, Robert Davidson

Dramatic Series: Best Make-Up: Jan Newman, Rachel Griffin, David Dupuis, Todd Masters

Saturn Awards:1997-2004

Stargate: The Ark of Truth is a 2008 Canadian-American military science fiction 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 Truth was released as a Region 1 DVD on March 11, 2008. 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. SPACE has broadcast the film on September 13, 2008. The SciFi Channel premiered the movie on March 27, 2009.

Plot

The movie covers SG-1's attempt to recover the "Ark of Truth", an Alteran device designed to brainwash whoever looks into it. Even though the Ori's promise of Ascension is a lie, the Ancients believe that people should be free to believe it if they wish.

SG-1 discovers a box that they believe contains the Ark while digging on Dakara, but before they can open it, Ori soldiers arrive, led by Tomin. Daniel tricks them into opening the box, but it is revealed to be a fake. When Tomin is ordered by a Prior to kill them, he refuses, and Mitchell kills the Prior, whose powers were being blocked by the Anti-Prior device. Shocked at the death of their Prior, the Ori soldiers surrender.

Back on Earth, General Landry and Mitchell meet James Marrick, an IOA representative sent to interrogate Tomin. When Daniel Jackson realizes that the Ark is still in the Ori galaxy, Marrick is assigned to accompany them on board the Odyssey through the Supergate. In the Ori galaxy, a member of the anti-Ori resistance tells the team that according to legend, the Ark is on Celestis, the Ori capital. When SG-1 beams down to the planet, Marrick activates the Asgard computer core which alerts the Ori to the ship's location.

Mitchell and Carter beam back to the Odyssey and discover that Marrick has used the core to build a Replicator, intending to plant it on an Ori ship and let it spread to their entire fleet. When Mitchell attempts to destroy it with an anti-Replicator Gun, the replicator escapes, and Marrick reveals that the IOA removed that weakness from the design, although conventional weapons are sufficient to destroy individual replicators. Marrick implies that a shutdown code has been included as a failsafe, but claims he does not know what it is. He is placed in the ship's brig. With several Ori ships approaching, Mitchell attempts to beam Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, and Tomin up from the planet, but the replicator takes over the system and keeps Mitchell from doing so. With no other option, the Odyssey jumps to hyperspace to escape, leaving the others on the planet.

Daniel finds the Ark in a set of catacombs, and after several ground tremors, brings it to the surface. When the team emerges, they are ambushed by Ori warriors, and Teal'c is shot in the back while the others are captured. When they are brought to the city, Vala discovers that the Ori were indeed killed by the Sangraal during the events of The Shroud. Adria has ascended and taken over all of their power. Teal'c, who has been walking toward the city of Celestis since he was shot, collapses from his back wound within sight of the city. He is subsequently revived by Morgan le Fay and continues on to free Daniel. Morgan then arrives in Daniel's cell (initially in the guise of Merlin) and tells him if he can expose one Prior to the Ark, the others will be turned by a link in their staffs. This will weaken Adria enough for Morgan to defeat her.

In the meantime, a Prior arrives on Earth, offering a last chance to convert to Origin. When General Landry refuses to even listen to him, the Apollo detects a fleet of Ori motherships waiting on the edge of the solar system. On the Odyssey, Marrick is attacked by Replicators who infest his body. In the ensuing battle, Mitchell is able to briefly disable the Replicator connection to Marrick's brain who then informs Mitchell the shut down code for the Replicators is located on the other side of the crystal used to create them. Mitchell activates an explosive charge which kills Marrick. Mitchell informs Carter who activates the self-destruct, destroying the Replicators.

When the Ark is activated and opened, the Doci is caught by the beam and made to see that the Ori are not gods and spreads this belief to all of the Priors in the Ori galaxy and through them their followers. In Adria's new weakened state, Morgan is able to engage Adria in an eternal battle. SG-1 exposes the Prior on Earth to the Ark, transmitting the knowledge about the Ori to all of the Priors in the Milky Way, and thus turning all known Priors in the Universe.

In the aftermath, Tomin departs for the Ori galaxy as the new leader of his people, he and Vala agreeing that, while the Ori themselves were liars, Origin itself has a worthwhile message. Tomin asks Vala to come with him, but Vala apologizes and says that she feels her place is with the SGC. Over Daniel's objections the Ark is taken to Area 51 for study.

Cast

Plot

SG-1 and Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) attend a Tok'ra extraction ceremony for Ba'al (Cliff Simon), the last of the Goa'uld System Lords. He gloats that he is merely the last clone, and that the real Ba'al has a fail-safe plan. The real Ba'al travels back in time to 1939 Earth and massacres the crew of the Achilles, the ship carrying the Stargate to the United States; the captain (Mitchell's grandfather) survives long enough to keep the ship from being destroyed. In the present, people and objects disappear, starting with Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) and Teal'c (Christopher Judge). Jack is killed by Ba'al before Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) manage to reach the Stargate. They emerge inside the derelict Achilles, which has drifted to the Arctic — Ba'al's actions have created a timeline in which the Stargate Program never happened. After escaping from the sinking Achilles, they are rescued by a team led by Colonel Jack O'Neill. Although General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) believes their story, permission is denied to change the timeline. In the alternate timeline Daniel is still trying to convince people about his theories of the pyramids, Carter died in a space shuttle accident and Mitchell does not exist at all because his grandfather died saving the Achilles from Ba'al's bomb. The three are separated and given new lives to lead.

A year passes, and SG-1 is called back into action when Goa'uld scoutships appear. Ba'al has defeated the System Lords and now stands ready to conquer Earth, with Qetesh (still residing in Vala's body) as his Queen and Teal'c as his First Prime. SG-1 is brought to President Henry Hayes (William Devane) and General George Hammond (Don S. Davis), who inform them that, based on SG-1's accounts, they have recovered the Antarctic Stargate and are excavating the Ancient outpost. SG-1 is sent to retrieve a Zero Point Module (ZPM) to power the outpost. Above Earth, Ba'al's armada arrives. To the displeasure of his lieutenants (all former System Lords), Ba'al announces that he will treat the Tau'ri leniently. Suspicious about Ba'al's knowledge of Earth, Qetesh betrays him and forces him to tell her everything. She has her ships destroy McMurdo Station and the Ancient outpost, and she kills Ba'al after Teal'c discovers her treachery. As Teal'c escapes to an Al'kesh, Qetesh orders the fleet to bombard Earth while she goes to secure Ba'al's time machine.

Amidst the massive Goa'uld attack, SG-1 is rerouted to Russia, as the Russians had retrieved the Achilles' Stargate from the ocean floor. En route, they are saved from a flight of death gliders by Russian MiGs. Teal'c arrives at the facility as well, seeking to use the Stargate to reach the time machine before Qetesh. The two sides form a truce and arrive together at Ba'al's time machine: a vast underground supercomputer that monitors solar flares that can affect the wormhole formed by the Stargate. SG-1 must wait for the right flare with which to go to the past, but an attack by Qetesh's troops forces them to dial Earth in the year 1929 - ten years before their target date. Sam and Daniel are killed in the firefight, and only Mitchell reaches the Stargate before Teal'c, mortally wounded, destroys the time machine along with himself and Qetesh. After a decade of waiting, an older Mitchell stows away on the Achilles and kills Ba'al and his troops when they come through the Stargate. In the present of the now-restored timeline, SG-1, completely unaware of the previous events, watch the extraction proceed without incident. On Earth, Daniel wonders what Ba'al meant by his fail-safe, but they decide not to dwell on it. The final shot shows a close-up of a picture in Mitchell's locker, in which his older alternate self is shown standing alongside his grandfather.

Cast

Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping on location in the Arctic

Production

Stargate: Continuum was written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood. Some scenes for this film were already shot at the end of March 2007, but the original start date was set for May 22, 2007 at Vancouver's Bridge Studios. The production budget was US$7 million.Due to the postponement of this film until the 5th season of Stargate Atlantis was airing, there is a continuity error with Carter and Mitchell's rank. In the ending credits they are listed as lieutenant colonels. However when they fly the F-15s they are each wearing the rank of colonel. This is due to the fact that during filming producers realized that the film would probably be released after Carter character had been promoted on Atlantis. In the season 5 premiere of that show, Sam, already a colonel, leaves Atlantis to attend the extraction, thus setting this film about a year after The Ark of Truth.

USS Alexandria (SSN-757) after surfacing through two feet of ice during ICEX-07

The original draft for the film started with a view of the Tok'ra city, but Brad Wright eventually decided that the film should start in Stargate Command (SGC) to show what SG-1 represented. When writing lines for the character Jack O'Neill, Wright tried to write lines that felt "natural" and not "forced," saying it was of major importance. The inclusion of many recurring characters from the series Stargate SG-1 was decided on to make old fans feel more "welcome" to the new film. The unnamed Captain of the Achilles' dead body was originally supposed to be revealed when SG-1 traveled back to Earth; Wright commented on the case, calling it "gross". Richard Dean Anderson was not supposed to appear at the start of the film, where he was killed. According to Wright, he was only set to appear in the alternate timeline in Antarctica because that's what Wright "asked him to do."

Due to a scheduling conflict, actor Michael Shanks was unavailable to shoot the scenes in the Arctic. However, Jackson was on the boat with Cameron Mitchell and Samantha Carter in the preceding scenes. In order to make his disappearance plausible, Wright decided that Jackson would develop frostbite after stepping in water and be unable to continue with the others. When commenting on the dialogue scenes, Wright commented that scenes like that would be "cut off" because of the time constraints in the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis episodes, and further commented that they could keep these scenes since the film is "longer" than the episodes.

Amanda Tapping in costume on location in the Arctic

The film includes scenes filmed at the U.S. Navy's Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station in the Arctic, 200 nautical miles (230 mi; 370 km) north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. These scenes feature Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping and Ben Browder. They were filmed from March 23 to 29, 2007. The film also features the USS Alexandria (SSN-757).The Arctic filming included scenes shot on the ice, scenes shot with the Alexandria as a backdrop,scenes shot on board the Alexandria, and shots of the Alexandria surfacing and submerging. Because of the minimal facilities, the Arctic scenes were filmed with only the three actors and a four-man crew. Director Martin Wood worked as an extra in one scene (as "Major Wood"), as did another member of the film crew. The captain of the Alexandria, Cmdr. Mike Bernacchi, and members of her crew played themselves. Barry L. Campbell, head of operations at the San Diego-based U.S. Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory, who had arranged the opportunity to film in Arctic, also appeared as a seaman.Writer Brad Wright also had a cameo appearance, as an F-15 pilot.

The film is dedicated to the memory of Paul McCann and Anthony Huntrod, who lost their lives during an accident under the ice cap on the submarine HMS Tireless (S88) at the time of filming. The film took 19 days to shoot, plus five days of shooting in the Arctic (they were there for seven days).The film, Continuum was placed in Guinness Book of Records in the category for furthest north film shoot.

Release and reception

The film premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2008, attended by the cast. The film was released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 29, 2008.According to Robert C. Cooper, the film will be released internationally on DVD by MGM , with distribution and domestic release handled by FOX. The film was also released on August 6, 2008 in Australia and was released in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2008 after being broadcast on the British TV channel, Sky One on August 12. On its debut in the United Kingdom and Ireland Stargate: Continuum received 543 thousand viewers, placing the film on first place in the top ten broadcasts for Sky One. The film would go on to gross over US$8 million in the United States. The film premiered on Sci-Fi Channel in the US on April 3, 2009.

A reviewer for Sky Entertainment called the film a "thoroughly enjoyable romp."Nix from Sci Fi Cool said in his review, "it ends exactly the same way that most, if not all, SG1 episodes usually end: It leaves you satisfied, and wanting more." Reviewer Christopher Monfette of IGN gave the film 7 out of 10 and said it was a decent film, but ultimately did not meet the "level of great science fiction".Don Houston from DVD Talk commented that the "budget was too low" for the writers to "support the ideas at hand".Mark Wilson from About.com said the film was just another way for the producers to return to some of their favorite characters, but concluded that it was a "solid" film.Darren Sumner and David Read from GateWorld called it a "great movie", and said it was even better than Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Dean Winkelspecht said it was "one of the better direct-to-video" releases that year.

Stargate: Continuum won the High-Def Disc Awards 2008 category for Best Nontheatrical Blu-ray.The film was nominated for 6 Constellation Awards in 2008, the results were announced on July 11, 2009. The film won one award out of six nominations. Claudia Black received the award for "Best Female Performance in a 2008 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series" for her portrayal of Vala Mal Doran. The film was also nominated for a total of 11 Leo Awards in 2009. The results were announced on May 8 and 9, 2009, the film won three awards: Brad Wright won in the category "Best Screenwriting in a Feature Length Drama", Michael Shanks won "Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama" for his portrayal of Daniel Jackson and the three production crew members Paul Sharpe, Iain Pattison and Graeme Hughes won "Best Overall Sound in a Feature Length Drama"

The two Stargate direct-to-DVD movies to date, Stargate: Continuum and Stargate: The Ark of Truth, were re-released in the United States as a Double-Pack DVD on March 3, 2009; the Double-Pack is also available on Blu-Ray. A third Stargate SG-1 film to follow Continuum has been tentatively planned but recently delayed. If made, it will reportedly center around the character of Jack O'Neill and would be titled Stargate: Revolution.