In the press release, Wright and Cooper say, “In Universe, we plan to keep those elements that have made the franchise a success, such as adventure and humor, while breaking new ground in the relationships between mostly young and desperate explorers, thrust together and far from home. Above all, we believe the Stargate itself remains an enduring icon with infinite potential as a jumping off point for telling stories.”

After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate’s ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.

What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny’s original mission. Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny and the crew is unable to control the ship’s navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.

But there is some good news from all of this. There will be a two-hour movie to follow the conclusion of the fifth season, though we don’t know what the plot of it will be yet.

Co-creators of the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper said, “We’re excited to tell Atlantis stories on a bigger canvas. The successes of the two original Stargate DTV movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum have shown us the opportunities that the movie format offers. We have plans for both SG-1 and Atlantis to remain vital as we expand the franchise.”

Do I pull the trigger or don’t I? Well, I did and then went back and canceled the order. Why? Nearly everyone who has purchased the set seems to complain about it. Missing discs, duplicate discs, damaged discs, etc. Some people have even received the first five seasons, twice. Poorly chosen packaging (cardboard) seems to cause a lot of damage. Deep pits to light scratches are noted by reviewers.

So here’s my question. Why on earth hasn’t MGM reissued this set?! They obviously made a poor decision in going with one particular company for the packaging and distribution of the set. Do the consumers a favor and do a proper job with another company. I’ve yet to spend a single penny on the Stargate franchise DVDs, and it doesn’t look as though I’ll be changing that anytime soon.

I may just wait until the first series gets released in BluRay. It’ll give the company time to remaster everything. I just hope they do a good job of packing everything up. The slim packs seem to be the way to go as far as packaging goes… slim DVD cases with spots for two discs. It’s become the defacto way of DVD packaging for TV sets. It’s just too bad they didn’t think of this when designing the packaging for the complete Stargate SG-1 box set. I really don’t like the idea of spending hours going through 50+ DVDs and finding out which ones work and which ones don’t and then dealing with customer service for a problem that was out of their control entirely; it’s up to MGM and the company they hired for the job to rectify the problem.

What I did like about the film was the concept of a gateway that could connect nearly every planet. That, at its most basic concept was very intriguing and as it turned out, great for a series.

The pilot served as a very nice bridge between the film and the new series. There were a number of changes between the series and the film. The cast was the most obvious change. Kurt Russel, for instance, was replaced by Richard Dean Anderson. RDA is a long-time favorite actor of mine, going back to the eighties when he played the very memorable MacGyver character.

The hero, Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is a more likable character in the series compared to the one portrayed by Kurt Russel. To be frank, some of his personality traits remind me of myself. I suppose that’s one reason I’m liking this series. The pilot had a lot of dramatic moments and O’Neill’s sarcastic sense of humor helped balance things out to keep things from getting too heated.

It is good to see that they introduced a female character to the group. The original squad in the Stargate film consisted solely of men. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) was a very well written character. She’s a good, tough soldier, but is also very attractive. There were some great exchanges between Carter and O’Neill during their initial meeting.

Some of the special effects in the pilot were less than impressive. The Egyptian attire was embarrassing compared to what was used in the film. When the special effects and costumes are the biggest complaints, I think you have a winner.

I’m only a couple of episodes into this Stargate SG-1, but I’m liking it so far. Traveling from one planet to another is quite interesting, but I would think this show is going to get a little long in the tooth at some point. But the pilot was very good. It served very well as an introduction into the series.

Stargate SG-1 – Children of the Dogs
Original Air Date: July 27, 1997

Rating: 7.8