The SGC

Stargate: The Movie
Home
Stargate: The Movie
Stargate SG-1
Stargate: Infinity
Stargate: Atlantis
Stargate: Universe
Audio Books

Sealed and buried for all time is the key to mankind's future...

In Egypt, Giza, 1928, a colossal coverstone is uncovered, which houses a stone ring underneath it. The expedition commissioner’s daughter takes an amulet inscribed with the wadjet of Ra from a work table at the site.  In the present day, Egyptologist Daniel Jackson is approached at a symposium by an old woman wearing the Ra necklace and is offered the chance to translate Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that may prove his theories that the pyramids weren't built in the 4th Dynasty. Curious, Daniel accepts before being given tickets to an Air Force installation.  Meanwhile, retired Air Force colonel Jonathan “Jack” O’Neil as brought out of retirement to head the project.  At a U.S. military installation inside Creek Mountain, Colorado, Jackson meets the old woman, who introduces herself as Catherine Langford. Daniel correctly translates the hieroglyphs on the coverstones, which read, "A million years into the sky is Ra, Sun God. Sealed and buried for all time, his Stargate." O’Neil then arrives to take command of the project and declares all information regarding it classified.  Daniel makes an accidental breakthrough after noticing that star constellations on a newspaper are identical to the symbols on the coverstone. Later at a meeting, Daniel reveals his findings and theorizes that the constellations on the coverstones are coordinates for a location within space, while the seventh symbol represents "a point of origin".  The stone ring, identified as the Stargate, is revealed to Daniel, identifies the seventh symbol after looking at the symbols on the Stargate. The seven symbols are then entered into the Stargate, which opens a wormhole. A probe is sent through the Stargate and is tracked to a location in the “Kalium Galaxy” on a planet on the other side of the universe. The probe sends back images on the planet it is on before the wormhole disconnects. The images sent by the probe reveal that the world it was sent to has an atmosphere similar to Earth and that the Stargate on that planet has a different set of symbols on it, making a return to Earth impossible unless the symbols on the other Stargate are translated. Daniel convinces the military to send a team through the Stargate and let him go with them, as he will be able to translate the symbols on the other Stargate.  O’Neil leads a team to go through the Stargate. Catherine gives Daniel the necklace she picked up in 1928 as a good luck charm. The Stargate is reactivated and the team, including Daniel, goes through it. On the other side, the team finds themselves inside a pyramid which they exit to reach outside. After Daniels reveals he can’t dial home without the coordinates for Earth, O’Neil orders the team to set up base camp and returns to the pyramid to assemble a hydrogen bomb. Outside, Daniel notices tracks and follows them back to a domesticated alien beast, a Mastadge, only to get caught in its reins and dragged off to a nearby village where humans are mining, with some of the team following. The team approaches the villagers, who assume them to be gods sent by Ra and bow before them. O’Neil tries to offer friendship to a boy named Skaara, but in fear, the boy runs off to get his father Kasuf, the tribe’s leader. The team is forced to stay in the city after a sandstorm hits it. At the base camp, the other members of the team head into the pyramid for shelter.  Daniel attempts to communicate with the locals by writing, but discovers that this practice is forbidden. A young woman, Sha'uri, is presented to him as a gift. Sha’uri shows Daniel a cave full of hieroglyphs after he attempts to communicate with her. Daniels learns that the language of the people is Ancient Egyptian, which he can fluently understand due to his background.  Meanwhile, a huge pyramidal craft lands directly on top of the pyramid. The team members still inside the pyramid are attacked and captured by an unknown entity.  In the city, O’Neil locates Daniel, who manages to translate the hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs reveal that the Egyptian god Ra was actually an alien, the last of his kind, who was attempting to extend his own life. Ra traveled to Earth and encountered humans, who he enslaved with his advanced technology. Ra also used a young boy as a host body and appointed himself ruler of Earth. Humans were transported from Egypt, on Earth, to the other planet using the Stargate, and used to mine the mineral on which all of Ra’s technology was based, including the Stargate. The humans on Earth rebelled when they discovered Ra was not a god and buried the Stargate. Fearing the same thing would happen on this planet, Ra outlawed reading and writing to prevent the humans there from learning the truth. After explaining this to the others, the team locates a center stone similar to the coverstone on Earth that has symbols from the other Stargate on it, with the seventh symbol eroded away. O’Neil then orders the team to return to the pyramid.  The team leaves the city the next day to return to the pyramid and Skaara and his friends secretly follow them. Going back inside the pyramid, now housing the pyramidal craft on top of it, the team is attacked by a creature modeled after the Egyptian god Horus. O’Neil notices that the bomb has disappeared. Suddenly, nine rings descend from the ceiling and deposit two Horus creatures and an Anubis creature, which promptly capture O’Neil and Daniel, who are taken into the pyramidal craft.  O’Neil and Daniel are escorted to the throne room, where they meet Ra, who reveals he has the hydrogen bomb. O’Neil attempts to disarm the guards and kill Ra. Daniel is shot and killed in the resulting firefight. O’Neil relents when Ra uses his children workers as a human shield. After his surrender, he is thrown into a dungeon with the captured team members. Daniel is regenerated with the same sarcophagus Ra uses to revitalize his host body. Daniel then returns to the throne room, where Ra reveals that he intends to send the bomb, with its destructive capability enhanced by the mineral, through the Stargate in retaliation for the rebellion on Earth. Ra states that he will kill Daniel and everyone who has seen him unless Daniel kills the rest of the team to show the people that he is their one true god.  In the city, Sha'uri reveals to her fellow people the translated hieroglyphs and the truth behind Ra and that they should not live as slaves anymore. However, the people don’t believe her.  The people in the city gather before the pyramid craft to witness the execution of the people from Earth. Skarra signals to Daniel that he and the rest of the locals have stolen weapons from the team. Daniel then shoots Ra while the locals fire into the air to create a distraction. O’Neil, Daniel and the rest of the team flee Ra's ship and take shelter in a cave with the locals. Daniel confronts O’Neil about the bomb and O’Neil reveals that he was given orders to destroy the Stargate if any threats were found. Daniels wonders why O’Neil would be willing to throw his life away; O’Neil reveals that he watched his son accidentally shoot himself with his gun several years ago. Daniel reveals Ra’s plan to send the bomb back to Earth and O’Neil declares he’s going to stop it.  Later, Ska'ara draws a picture of the people's victory against Ra, which depicts three moons over a pyramid. Daniel realizes the picture represents the seventh symbol needed to reactivate the Stargate. Daniel prepares some food at a campfire and is laughed at by the locals, who mention that "husbands don't do this work." He realizes that Sha'rui, the young woman given to him, is his wife. Sha'rui feels that she wasn't wanted, but Daniel proceeds to demonstrate to Sha'uri that he wants her very much.  The next day, Ra's guards search for the escapees by keeping an eye on the locals coming in and out of the city. A guard locates Daniel and is shot dead by O’Neil with a staff weapon. Daniel reveals the truth to the locals about their ‘gods’ and opens up the guard’s mask to reveal his face. The people who doubted Sha’rui’s story now believe her. Later that day, the team infiltrates a mineral shipment caravan that is to be delivered to Ra, to get inside the pyramid and escape with the bomb. The bomb is sent down to the Stargate so that it will be sent through with the mineral when it arrives.  After they reach the pyramid, O’Neil, Daniel, Sha’rui and several locals rush into the pyramid and defeat the guards. O’Neil, Daniel and Sha’rui make it to the Stargate, although Sha’rui is shot and killed. O’Neil sets the timer on the bomb to seven minutes. Just then, the transporter rings activate and Daniel uses them to transport onto the ship with Sha’rui’s body. The Anubis guard transports to the planet in Daniel’s place and fights O’Neil.  Daniel uses the sarcophagus on the ship to revive Sha’rui. The two of them then attempt to beam down using the rings, although Ra attempts to stop them. On the planet, O’Neil uses the transport ring on top of the Anubis guard’s head, crushing him, which transports Daniel and Sha’rui down to the planet. The locals, lead by Kasuf, overpower Ra’s guards in the city. Ra decides to retreat and prepares his ship for takeoff. Inside the pyramid, O’Neil discovers that the bomb cannot be turned off due to Ra’s tampering. O’Neil and Daniel then decide to transport the bomb to Ra’s ship, which has now left orbit, which they do. Ra watches as the bomb explodes, destroying the ship and himself. The people are now free, and the team is able to return to Earth.  Daniel decides to remain on the planet with Sha'uri and help the locals build a new society. O’Neil returns to Earth with the rest of the team, a changed man given a purpose and a new reason to live. Daniel gives Jack Catherine's necklace and instructs him to tell her it did bring him luck. The film ends with O’Neil returning to Earth through the Stargate.

 

Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich always envisoned Stargate as the first part of a trilogy of films, but parts two and three were never developed. At Comic-Con 2006, 12 years after the original film was released, writer/producer Dean Devlin confirmed that he was in early discussions with rightsholders MGM about finally bringing the final two parts to the screen.  According to Devlin, the second film is intended to be set around 12 years after the original, with Daniel Jackson making a discovery that leads him back to Earth and to the uncovering of a new Stargate. The second movie would supposedly use a different mythology from the Egyptian one which formed the background to the original movie, with the third movie tying these together to reveal that "all mythologies are actually tied together with a common thread that we haven't recognized before." Devlin stated that he hoped to enlist original stars Kurt Russell (Col. Jack O'Neil) and James Spader (Dr. Daniel Jackson) for the sequels. The actors have reportedly expressed an interest in participating in the project.  The movie trilogy would not directly tie in to the Stargate SG-1 TV series. Of the relationship between the movies and the TV series, Devlin said "We would just continue the mythology of the movie and finish that out. I think the series could still live on at the end of the third sequel. So we're going to try to not tread on their stories." Plans for sequels to the original film are unrelated to the development of two straight-to-DVD movies being made as sequels to the Stargate SG-1 TV series.  Alexis Cruz (Skaara) and Erick Avari (Kasuf) are the only actors to appear in both this film and the subsequent spin-off series Stargate SG-1 while Richard Kind (Dr. Gary Meyers) is the only actor to appear in both this film and Stargate Atlantis. (Though he does not play the same character.)  The Horus guard that Jackson unmasks was portrayed by Beninese actor Djimon Hounsou in the early stages of his acting career. Hounsou would later go on to play major roles in numerous big-budget Hollywood films.  The opening title sequence is similar to the 1989 Batman film; both feature an orchestral opening with the camera slowly panning over an object key to the film, ending in a pull-back shot of the object—in Batman's case, the bat emblem, in Stargate's case, the mask of Ra.  The Ultimate Edition Extended Cut DVD release of Stargate includes a large amount of formerly cut footage, including a scene revealing that the fossilized remains of an Anubis Guard and a Horus Guard were found beneath the buried Stargate. Colonel O'Neil contemplates the implications of the fearsome fossil shortly before the mission to Abydos leaves.  The concept of Ra is rather similar to Sutekh the Destroyer from the Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars. Both are evil aliens, the last of a dead race, who came to Earth and posed as an Egyptian god.  In Emmerich and Devlin's script for Stargate 2, the character of Lieutenant Charles Kawalsky was to play a major role, although his character was killed off within three episodes of SG-1.  Kawalsky in the film, although referred to as Lt. Kawalsky, wears the rank of an Air Force lieutenant colonel.  This was the first film to ever have an official website.  A long-standing rumor persists that there were over three hours of additional footage shot, making the tone of the film much darker than the released film. The cut footage expanded much on the released story, depicting in greater detail the origins of Ra, extended battle scenes and battle scenes that were cut altogether (such as a battle in front of the city of Nagada). It is allegedly discussed in a two-page review in the June 1995 issue of the magazine SCI-FI Universe. However, when questioned on his official message board, Dean Devlin stated "there never was a three hour version" and went on to remark that all cut footage that was ever shot was restored on the Ultimate DVD Edition, maintaining a running time well under three hours.  It is not possible to utilize constellations to determine a specific position in space; constellations are composed of stars that are spaced several light-years apart and spread across three different spatial dimensions.  However, constellations will have a particular shape from a particular point in space, so triangulation from such constellations - ie using the six chevrons on a stargate address - should allow determination of a point in space. An early episode discusses stellar drift as the reason why only galactic local addresses could be reached until Sam worked out the correction factor based on the age of the stargate network.

Welcome to Stargate Command