The End of An Era: The Stargate Franchise Comes To An End

After 15 years of television history, the Stargate franchise will come to an end next Monday (May 9) when the final incarnation – Stargate: Universe – airs its series finale on Syfy at 9 PM. Once that last episode is aired there will be no more shows based on the Stargate legacy nor will there be any movies either. This is simply the end of an era and I have to wonder if there will ever be anything like it again.

Stargate

The history behind the Stargate franchise actually started back in 1994 when the box office film, for which the television shows were based, was released. The film came from the creative minds of Dean Devlin (Leverage) and well-known director Roland Emmerich. It starred Kurt Russell and James Spader in the lead roles of Jack O’Neill and Daniel Jackson, characters that would go on to become household names.

The plot of the movie centered around the premise of a Stargate, an ancient ring-shaped device that created a wormhole enabling travel to a similar device in a far-away galaxy. The film’s central plot explored the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization. While the film received mixed reviews from viewers and critics alike, it went on to gain a cult following and achieved commercial success worldwide.

Stargate: SG-1

It was three years later on July 27, 1997 that Stargate: SG-1, the TV series, debuted on Showtime. In this version it was one year after the events in the box office film, where Colonel Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is brought back into the military to retrieve Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), an archaeologist and linguist, who remained behind on the other side of the Stargate at the end of the film. The Stargates still work the same in the TV series as they did in the movie, allowing travellers to connect with a vast multitude of planets within the Milky Way.

A team was created during that first episode, comprising of Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Teal’c (Christopher Judge), an alien Jaffa who defects from the Goa’uld – a parasite that would integrate within a host, making a powerful creature bent on galactic conquest and domination – in the hope to lead his race to freedom. The team and all subsequent teams were overseen by Major General George Hammond (the late Don S. Davis).

Stargate SG-1

During the course of the show’s ten year history, other cast members were introduced to the team. First there was Jonah Quinn (Corin Nemec), who took Daniel Jackson’s place on the team after Daniel sacrificed his life to save Jonah’s home planet. He appeared in the 5th and 7th seasons as a recurring character and in the 6th season as a series regular. Then in the final two seasons, after Jack O’Neill was promoted to Major General, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) came on board to lead the SG-1 team and due to the unexpected death of actor Don S. Davis, Major General Hank Landry (legendary actor Beau Bridges) was brought in to oversee the Stargate program. Lastly, during seasons 8 and 9 Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black), a con artist from an unnamed planet and a former host to a Gou’ald, appeared in a recurring capacity then became a regular during the show’s final season as well as eventually becoming a member of the SG-1 team.

For five seasons the show aired on Showtime before it moved over to the then Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) where it aired for another five seasons before it aired its series finale on March 13, 2007. The show consisted of 214 episodes as well as two direct-to-DVD films: Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum.

Stargate Atlantis

On July 16, 2004 the next generation of the franchise – Stargate: Atlantis – debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel. The premise behind this series followed the events from the 7th season finale of Stargate: SG-1 in which an outpost created by the alien race known as the Ancients was discovered in Antarctica. An international team was sent to investigate the outpost, consisting of Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Elizabeth Weir, a diplomat and leader of the expedition (Torri Higginson) and First Lieutenant Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks).

During the team’s first mission once reaching Atlantis, they encountered a village full of humans called the Athosians, led by Teyla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell). Teyla soon joined the Atlantis team in order to fight the Wraith, an evil human-insect hybrid bent on ridding all the planets in that galaxy of all life forms. She was a series regular during the entire run of the show. Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) was the Chief of Medicine for the expedition team, recurring throughout seasons 1, 4 and 5 and was a series regular during seasons 2 and 3.

In season 2, the team met a weapons-specialist named Ronan Dex (Jason Momoa) who was captured by the Wraith after his home world fell to them and was turned into a “runner,” being hunted by them for 7 years. Dr. Beckett was able to turn off the tracker the Wraith used to hunt him and Ronan joined the Atlantis team, being a series regular for the remainder of the series’ run. The following season, after the tragic death of Dr. Beckett, Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite) was brought in to be the new Chief of Medicine. She was a recurring character during seasons 3 and 4 and a series regular in the 5th and final season.

Stargate Atlantis

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo), a representative of the International Oversight Advisory, made many cross-over visits during the five year history of Stargate: Atlantis, leading the Atlantis Expedition in succession of each other. Sam was a recurring character in seasons 1 through 3 and season 5 and appeared as a series regular in season 4. Meanwhile, Woolsey recurred during seasons 3 and 4 then took over leadership in season 5.

As stated, the series ran for 5 seasons, consisting of exactly 100 episodes and aired its season finale on January 9, 2009 with the Atlantis team returning to Earth, landing just outside of New York City.

That fall – on October 2, 2009 – the next phase of the Stargate franchise began: Stargate: Universe. The series followed the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team on a secret off-world base that were unable to return to Earth after their planet was attacked, forcing them to travel through the Stargate, ending up on a spaceship called Destiny, which was created by the Ancients, travelling in a distant corner of the universe.

Stargate Universe

The cast included Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle), a brilliant scientist; Colonel Everett Young (Louis Ferreira), commander of the off-world base; First Lieutenant Matthew Scott (Brian J. Scott), a skilled Airman; Master Sergeant Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith), a capable Marine with a lack of control over his temper; First Lieutenant Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman), who became the defacto doctor; Camile Wray (Ming-Na), a representative of the International Oversight Advisory and leader of the civilians on board the ship; Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque), the daughter of a U.S. Senator who was inadvertently trapped on the off-world base at the time of the attack and Eli Wallace (David Blue), a genius in mathematics, computers and other fields, who was the only person able to tap into the 9th Chevron – the codes that allow the Stargates to dial out to other planets and galaxies, who was also trapped on the off-world base at the time of attack.

There were also a number of other recurring characters throughout the show’s two seasons, including military personnel Colonel Paul Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) and 2nd Lieutenant Vanessa James (Julia Benson) and civilian Dr. Lisa Park (Jennifer Spence), Dr. Dale Volker (Patrick Gilmore) and Adam Brody (Peter Kelamis).

Due to low ratings and other conditions, the series will only run for two seasons on Syfy, consisting of 40 episodes. The series final, as stated earlier, will run next Monday night (May 9), bringing to an end a 15 year history on television.

It is said that the series finale of Stargate Universe will be a cliffhanger, but the intentions had been for a direct-to-DVD movie to be done – called Stargate: Extinction – however, due to cited “time constraints” this movie has been shelved indefinitely, which means the end of an era is about to happen for better or worse.

Whether you have been an avid fan of the overall franchise, an occasional viewer during the past 15 years or only aware of the existence of the franchise through advertising (et al) this is history in the making. While the franchise will end on TV, the legacy Stargate and all of its incarnations has made on pop culture will be never-ending.

I, for one, will deeply miss seeing all of these characters that quickly became a cornerstone of my television viewing over the past decade (plus). Be a part of television history and join in with the rest of the sci-fi community by watching the series finale of an iconic franchise on Monday May 9 at 9 PM on Syfy.