Stargate (film)
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| Stargate | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Roland Emmerich |
| Produced by | Dean Devlin |
| Written by | Roland Emmerich Dean Devlin |
| Starring | Kurt Russell James Spader |
| Music by | David Arnold |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Carolco |
| Release date(s) | October 28, 1994 |
| Running time | 121 min. |
| Country | United States France |
| Language | English Norwegian |
| Budget | $55,000,000 (est.) |
| Gross revenue | $196,567,262 |
| Followed by | Stargate SG-1 |
| IMDb • Allmovie | |
Stargate is a 1994 science fiction/action film, directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Dean Devlin and Emmerich, with a soundtrack by David Arnold.
It is the beginning of the franchise of the same name. It was originally intended as the first of a trilogy of films, but creators Emmerich and Devlin moved on from developing the sequels and produced Independence Day. Instead, it inspired the television series Stargate SG-1, which concluded its ten-year run in 2007, as well as its spin-offs, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, and other related media.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Col. Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil: Kurt Russell
- Dr. Daniel Jackson: James Spader
- Ra: Jaye Davidson
- Skaara: Alexis Cruz
- Sha'uri: Mili Avital
- Kasuf: Erick Avari
- Lt. Kawalsky: John Diehl
- Lt. Feretti: French Stewart
- Gary Meyers: Richard Kind
- Barbara Shore: Rae Allen
- Catherine Langford: Viveca Lindfors
- Major General West: Leon Rippy
[edit] Plot
The film begins in 1928, where a massive stone ring is discovered in the sands of Giza, Egypt. The expedition commissioner’s daughter takes an amulet inscribed with the symbol of the sun god 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 controversial theory that the Pyramid of Khufu wasn't built in the Fourth dynasty of Egypt. Curious, Jackson accepts the offer and is taken to a U.S. military installation inside a mountain in Colorado. Jackson translates the hieroglyphs on the stone ring's coverstones, which read:"A million years into the sky is Ra, Sun God. Sealed and buried for all time, his Stargate." Formerly retired Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neil arrives to take command of the project and declares all information regarding it classified.
Jackson makes an accidental breakthrough deciphering strange symbols on the coverstone after noticing that the symbols resemble star constellations. Jackson reveals his findings to the Air Force 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 Air Force decides to show Jackson the stone ring or Stargate; Jackson identifies the seventh symbol and the sequence is entered into the Stargate, creating a wormhole. A probe sent through the Stargate reappears on a planet at the other end of the universe. Images sent by the probe reveal that the Stargate on the alien planet has a different set of symbols on it, making a return to Earth impossible unless the symbols on the other Stargate are translated. Jackson 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. The old woman gives Jackson her amulet as a good luck charm. Arriving on the other side, the team finds themselves inside a pyramid in the middle of vast sand dunes. After Jackson 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 an atomic bomb. Outside, Daniel follows tracks and discovers a mining village inhabited by humans. 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 members of the team who remained behind seek shelter in the pyramid.
Jackson 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, the villagers believing he is the leader because of his Ra amulet. Sha’uri shows Jackson catacombs full of hieroglyphs after he attempts to communicate with her. Jackson learns that the language of the people is a dialect of Ancient Egyptian, which he can understand because of his research background.
During the storm, a huge alien craft lands on top of the pyramid. The team members inside the pyramid are attacked and captured by unknown soldiers. In the city, O’Neil locates Jackson, who manages to translate the hieroglyphs in the catacombs. The writing reveals that the Egyptian god Ra was actually an alien life-form, the last of his kind, who was attempting to extend his own life. Ra traveled to Earth and encountered humans, whom he enslaved with his advanced technology. Ra used a young boy as a host body and appointed himself ruler of Earth. Humans were transported from Egypt to the other planet through the Stargate and used to mine the mineral on which all of Ra’s technology is 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, but the seventh symbol is eroded away. O’Neil orders the team to return to the pyramid, where they are attacked by soldiers and taken to the pyramidal craft. O’Neil and Jackson are escorted to the throne room, where they meet Ra, who reveals he has O'Neil's hydrogen bomb. Despite wearing fearsome armor, Ra's gods and servants are humans. O’Neil attempts to disarm the guards and kill Ra, but relents when Ra uses his children courtiers as human shields. Jackson is killed during the altercation. O'Neil is thrown into a dungeon with the captured team members, while Jackson is regenerated in a sarcophagus. 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 Jackson and everyone who has seen him unless Jackson kills the rest of the team to show the villagers that Ra is their one true god.
The local people gather before the pyramid craft to witness the execution of the people from Earth. Skaara signals to Jackson that he and the rest of his friends have recovered the team's weapons. Jackson then shoots at Ra while the kids fire into the air to create a distraction. O’Neil, Jackson and the rest of the team flee Ra's ship and take shelter in a cave with the boys. Jackson confronts O’Neil about the bomb, and O’Neil reveals that he was given orders to destroy the Stargate if any threats were found. Jackson reveals Ra’s plan to send the bomb back to Earth, and O’Neil declares he will stop it. Jackson wonders why O’Neil would be willing to throw his life away; O’Neil reveals that his son accidentally shot himself with O'Neil's gun. The next morning, Skaara draws a picture of the people's victory against Ra, which depicts three moons over a pyramid. Jackson realizes the picture represents the seventh symbol needed to reactivate the Stargate.
Ra's guards search for the escapees by keeping an eye on the locals coming in and out of the city. A guard locates Jackson and is shot dead by O’Neil. Jackson reveals the truth to the locals about their ‘gods’ and pushes the stub on the guard’s mask to reveal his face as the armor retracts. The people who saw Ra and his guards as gods now believe otherwise. The team poses as a caravan that is delivering a mineral shipment to Ra in order to deactivate the bomb. O’Neil, Daniel and Sha’uri make it to the Stargate, although Sha’uri is shot and killed. O’Neil sets the timer on the bomb to seven minutes. Just then, the transporter rings activate and Jackson uses them to transport onto the ship with Sha’uri’s body. One of Ra's warriors transports to the pyramid in Jackson’s place and engages O’Neil in combat
Jackson uses the sarcophagus on the ship to revive Sha’uri. The two of them return to the pyramid using the rings. When the locals begin an open rebellion against Ra's troops, Ra decides to retreat and prepares his ship for takeoff. O’Neil discovers that the bomb cannot be turned off due to tampering, and so transport the bomb to Ra’s ship in orbit. The bomb explodes, killing Ra, and the team is able to return to Earth.
Jackson 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. Jackson gives O'Neil Langford's amulet and instructs him to tell her it did bring him luck. The film ends with O’Neil returning to Earth through the Stargate.
[edit] Sequels
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 stated that he was in early discussions with rightsholders MGM about finally bringing the final two parts to the screen.[1]
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."[2] 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.[3]
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."[2] 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.
[edit] Rating
Stargate has a MPAA Rating of PG-13 for sci-fi action violence. It is rated 14A in Canada for violence.
[edit] Reception
Stargate received mostly poor reviews gaining a 43% rating on review collection website Rottentomatoes.com. Most of the negative reviews focused on the overuse of special effects, thinness of plot and excessive use of cliches with Roger Ebert going so far as to say, "the movie Ed Wood, about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for Stargate." However the positive reviews stated that it was an "instant camp classic", and praised the film for its special effects and entertainment value,[4] with Chris Hicks of the Deseret News calling it "Star Wars meets Ben Hur".[5]
The film received a warmer reception from the public, grossing $71.5 million at the US box office and $196 million worldwide.[6]
[edit] Coverstone hieroglyphs
These are the hieroglyphs that were on the inner track of the coverstone found on top of the Stargate. Daniel Jackson deprecated the original translation, saying it was wrong because it relied on the work of E. A. Wallis Budge.
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time a million years into the sky is Ra sun god
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sealed + buried coffin forever to eternity for all time
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door to heaven stargate
[edit] Novel sequels
Using some of Roland Emmerich's notes, Bill McCay wrote a series of five novels, continuing the story the original creators had envisioned, which involved the Earth-humans, the locals and the successors of Ra. See Stargate literature.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold and played by the Sinfonia of London[7] and conducted by Nicholas Dodd. It was the second motion picture Arnold had composed and the first major motion picture. At the time of Stargate's production, David Arnold had recently started to work in a local video store in London. Once Arnold got the job, he spent several months in a hotel room working on the soundtrack, spending more time rewriting the music and improving it as delays were being created due to film companies trying to get the rights to release the film.[8]
The Soundtrack listings are:
- Stargate Overture
- Giza
- Unstable
- The Coverstones
- Orion
- The Stargate Opens
- You're On The Team
- Entering The Stargate
- The Other Side
- Mastadge Drag
- The Mining Pit
- King Of The Slaves
- Caravan To Nagada
- Daniel and Sha'uri
- Symbol Discovery
- Sarcophagus Opens
- Daniel's Mastadge
- Leaving Nagada
- Ra - The Sun God
- The Destruction of Nagada
- Myth, Faith, Belief
- Procession
- Slave Rebellion
- The Seventh Symbol
- Quartz Shipment
- Battle At The Pyramid
- We Don't Want To Die
- The Surrender
- Kasuf Returns
- Going Home
Running Time: 65 minutes.
[edit] Stargate: Deluxe Edition Soundtrack
In October 2006 a Deluxe edition was released, which included seven new tracks which added an additional 8 minutes of audio bringing the running time up to 73 minutes.
The new tracks added are:
- Wild Abduction - Track 02
- Bomb Assembly - Track 11
- Eye of Ra - Track 16
- Execution - Track 28
- Against the Gods - Track 30
- Transporter Horror - Track 34
- Closing Titles (Intro) - Track 37
[edit] Media Releases
| Title | Type | DVD release date | Blu-Ray | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (R1) | United Kingdom (R2) | Australia (R4) | |||||
| Stargate | Film | June 17, 1997 | September 7, 1998 | August 29, 2006 | |||
[edit] Differences between Stargate and SG-1
Although the original Stargate film possessed a rich backstory and universe (created and developed through official production notes, scripts, and a subsequent novel and graphic novel series), it was largely ignored and disregarded when MGM, which lost key rights to the original film after its home video release (such rights are now owned by Lionsgate), but did own the rights to the franchise in general, took Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's product and handed the reins to a new team of creators (Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner) for the television series Stargate SG-1. This new team introduced many new concepts and changed many aspects of the film's backstory.
[edit] References
- ^ "Quint chats with producer Dean Devlin about FLYBOYS, ISOBAR, GHOSTING and the STARGATE sequels" (22 August 2006). Aint It Cool News
- ^ a b "Devlin Announces Plans for Stargate Sequels" (20 July 2006). ComingSoon.net
- ^ "Comic-Con 2006: Devlin on Stargate Sequels" IGN
- ^ Farber, Stephen. "StarGate", MOVIELINE. Retrieved on 22 August 2006.
- ^ Hicks, Chris (1994-10-28). "Movie review: Stargate", Deseret News, Salt Lake City. Retrieved on 22 August 2006.
- ^ "Box Office Mojo: Stargate (1994)".
- ^ Sinfonia-Of-London.Com
- ^ http://www.davidarnold.com/cine_menu_11.asp
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Stargate (film) |
- MGM official site
- StarGate - The Motion Picture Fansite
- Stargate at the Internet Movie Database
- Stargate at Rotten Tomatoes
- GateGuide.net - The Stargate Website Directory
- Producer comments from GateWorld. Visited May 14, 2006.
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jurassic Park |
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1994 |
Succeeded by 12 Monkeys |
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