SG-1 Rewatch S01E01

[Josh]

After hearing about how there is movement (finally) of a new Stargate series in development, I thought it might be a good idea in going through a rewatch of the Stargate series from the very beginning.

I'm watching these episodes via the Prime Video app and the first episode is "Children of the Gods" parts 1 and 2, which I know that there are two different versions of these episodes. The first season of Stargate SG-1 was originally aired and produced by Showtime. Amazon didn't give a choice in which version I was going to watch, which is okay with me, but I know many others might find this troubling.

It's great to get reintroduced to the world of Stargate via the opening of the episode. There are some large changes to the overall world that is different to what we seen during the movie. Most notably was the costume design of the foot soldiers. In the movie the helmets (Ra's Horus Guard) had more movement and could be fully retracted into the Jaffa's armor. With the series the budget was much smaller than the movie and with our main villain's Serpent Guards, their helmets are a more simpler design that just opened to reveal the guard's face.

I've always like Richard Dean Anderson and had grown up watching MacGyver. I know some have an issue with recasting characters, but I believe that in this case it works out. With both Richard Dean Anderson as Col. Jack O'Neill and Michael Shanks as Danial Jackson are great choices. We're quickly brought back into the world of Stargate Command as things are opened to a new potential threat.

Was delightful to see them reuse footage from the movie, especially with the wormhole travel effect and several exterior pyramid shots on Abydos. Figured in that the interior sets are rebuilds from the movie as the original sets would've been long destroyed. We're once again going through a battle with our new villain's goons, easily taking out the Abydoian's who were using the gate room as some kind of outpost. More people are taken and we're introduced to the potential of more worlds that can be visited with the Stargate.

Part 2

This was original formatted as a TV movie in which we'll get parts 1 and 2 for later syndication. Will include Wikipedia's entry in regards to the scene involving Sha're's nude scene.

Sha're (originally spelled Sha'uri) was another character taken from the feature film. Vaitiare Bandera, who had been unsuccessful auditioning for the role as the character in the feature film was cast in the pilot. Bandera agreed to a topless scene, but this was changed during post to use full-frontal nude shoots. A reluctant Bandera was talked into agreeing after the scenes were slightly shortened.[22]

The scene really doesn't add anything and was just there for tantalizing factor I guess.

All of the new characters that were introduced, especially Teal'c, bring in that bit of classic TV show sci fi'ness that made Stargate SG-1 the powerhouse that it is. True in that some things were during the episode didn't make much sense, only to help move the plot along in order for our SG team to get captured and be in the correct location for their breakout. With the help of a reluctant Jaffa Teal'c. I think the pacing was a bit quick at times for that situation, but overall it kind of works for the show.