Art: Gaz Williams

The first replicator episodes were very exciting, these metallic creatures, it was creepy, it was exciting, for about 4 episodes I think. Then these replicators evolved into (sentient) beings and for me, this did not became better. There are only a few Replicator episodes I really enjoy, usually when the story is bigger than just the replicators alone.

When you are reading this, you might think: this guy doesn’t really like Stargate at all! But the opposite it true, but over the years, with many rewatches under my belt, I started to notice these things. Stargate didn’t take itself too seriously, which was a good thing, I love that. The smaller stories usually are my favorites, as also the political stories, these too have always been my favorite stories and I really liked the idea that we humans were the 5th race, although when I look now at the current state of our world, we have a very long way to go, as long as we have these power hungry world leaders and these people and organizations behind them.

When season 9 began, to me it basically felt as a spin-off show, which I didn’t hate at all. Although season 9 is perhaps not the strongest, I think season 10 (or season two of the spin-off show), was gaining strength, there are some really great episodes in that last season. And what’s more, these new adversaries, the Ori, I found them to be more interesting in just two seasons than the Goa’uld in 8! I also did like the Jaffa stories better in these last two seasons, when they were free from the Goa’uld, now suddenly they had a much more significant role than just being the soldiers of the Goa’uld. I also was disappointed that in the movie “The Ark of Truth” again the creators needed the Replicators to be there. Yes, the fight between Mitchell and the Replicator was interesting, but other than that, I think another storyline could have thought up for the Odyssey crew to remain busy.

Stargate Atlantis’ first season started at the same time as SG-1’s 8th season. I never made a secret of it that this is my favorite Stargate, although, in later years, SGU definitely is gaining on SGA. I don’t know how they did it, but again these 4 characters formed the heart of the show, same way like SG-1. I even want to argue it is five characters in this case because besides the team: Sheppard, McKay, Teyla and Ronon, I certainly also want to add Dr. Weir and perhaps also even Dr. Carson Beckett. I thought Adrian Ford was an okay character but Ronon, with his presence and his history, was way more interesting. Why do I prefer SGA before SG-1? Well it is the little things I guess, for one, Atlantis is more SCI-FI from the get-go, it is in another galaxy, the Pegasus galaxy, the amazing city of Atlantis, it has Rodney McKay, fun recurring characters and it has a very formidable adversary in the form of The Wraith of course. Compare the Goa’uld with the Wraith, well there is no comparison at all, the Wraith are 10 times more scarier and interesting than the Goa’uld. So, yes, for me, it is clear, and it has always been clear to me that Atlantis is favorite to SG-1.

It is not all perfect however, I really was disappointed when the Replicators also visited the Pegasus galaxy, why? They already were so overused in SG-1, why did the creators felt the need to use them again on Atlantis? To me, they became the Borg in Star Trek: Voyager, overused, not so interesting anymore. Especially in SGA the creators also liked to scare the viewers with killing off popular characters. In season 3 Carson Beckett got killed off, till this day this annoys me, killing off one of your most beloved characters. I want to believe the creators realized their fault by bringing him back later on as a, yes, a clone. Well they did it one more time, Dr. Weir, one of my favorite characters, also had to bite the dust, only 4 or 5 episodes later. This annoyed me even more and especially because she got replaced by Samantha Carter. According to IMdB Sam was there for every episode, but I think she was there 15 or 16 episodes maximum. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love and adore Amanda Tapping and her character Sam, but she already had 10 seasons under her belt, I heard, not sure if this is true, perhaps a convenient truth, that she had one more year of contract and therefore the creators had find her a place in Atlantis. Well, I bet Amanda Tapping wouldn’t have minded, to become a recurring character or something on the show, I believe at the time she already was very busy with her new show Sanctuary.

And yes, after one season, Sam was gone, and we got Richard Woolsey! I admit, Robert Picardo did a fine job as Woolsey, always liked it when he dropped in, but I thought his character was not suitable for this role, leading the Atlantis expedition. Yes, in part, this probably still had also something to do with my grievances for killing off Dr. Weir.

When Atlantis got cancelled, to be honest, I wasn’t really that disappointed. At that time, we were promised Stargate movies with the SG-1 and SGA cast and it meant, with Stargate Universe, that we were going to get a different kind of Stargate, which I was okay with. I mean, for 15 seasons we had the same kind of Stargate, yes in a different setting but it was the same kind of show, so, yes, I looked forward to a different kind of Stargate, knowing we still were going to get movies of the first two shows. That last part obviously didn’t happen after the first 2 SG-1 movies because of known factors. In hindsight, knowing we didn’t get the movies, and after a few more rewatches, I would have liked a 6th season of Atlantis.

Yes, Stargate Universe was different, this was not about likable characters like on SG-1 and SGA, certainly not in the beginning. It was a darker show, it was set on a space ship. For me it had all the ingredients for a real hard SCI-FI show! And I think this is what we ultimately got. It starts out slow, but once going, it does not stop, I really think it’s great television. With my last two rewatches, I was really consumed by it, couldn’t stop watching it.

It did took a bit too long before we actually saw some aliens, but it was a strong show, with strong characters. All characters on that show had flaws, much more than the characters on the first two shows. I thought it was refreshing! What annoyed me, and still does, when people say it the same kinda show as the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, to me this is a load of crap. Yes it is darker, like BSG, yes it has more flawed characters, like BSG and yes they are both SCI-FI. But that there are 10 different CSI shows, 8 different NCIS shows and so many more shows which all are the same, and people go and complain about two shows in space which are the same! This really blows my mind and no, I don’t think these shows SGU and BSG were the same other then the similarities I mentioned just now.

SGU only was allowed to stay for two seasons and of course I am not sure if the creators would eventually have fallen back to the old foes the Replicators. I don’t think they would do that because it was obvious that the creators also wanted to create something a little different, yet still in the same universe as the other two shows. I wish we would have gotten more SGU stories because it was a top-notch tv show and especially in season two it became even better. Real shame that Stargate fans perhaps deliberately didn’t watch the show because many believed that SGA’s cancellation was because of SGU.

Last few years there is much talk about a new stargate show, for a long time I wanted this too, especially if it is in the same universe as the other 3 shows and preferably created by the same creators as before, provided they stay away from the Replicators of course. 😊 But seeing what has been done to the big franchises like Star Trek; Star Wars and Doctor Who, I fear that perhaps the same could happen with Stargate, if it falls into the wrong creative hands. Perhaps it is best to leave the show be, we can revisit Stargate anytime we want on physical media or perhaps streaming services. Besides that, we will never ever get full seasons, it will be 8, 10 or perhaps 13 episodes, but not what we were used to. And then you’ll have to wait 15-18 months before you get another season. I am not sure if I want that. Of course, if there is to a new show bearing the name Stargate, I will for sure check it out, but in these times, I am not sure if they can bring back that same feeling as 20-25 years ago.

Final Word:

I have wanted to “unload” this for a while now, I already did this in several rewatch blogs and such, but I wanted to write down my feelings towards the 3 Stargate shows. Yes, I/we can complain, but usually that is because I/we love these TV shows, I have invested many hours in watching this and I know for sure there will be other rewatches in the future, although I will perhaps wait a few years longer now. These are just my thoughts of 17 seasons of Stargate, terrific TV! I hope you found this to be an interesting read. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or remarks, but please do it with respect.

Screencaps taken from GateWorld.