Sunday, September 5, 2021

Stargate (1994)

IMDb plot summary: An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
Directed by Roland Emmerich. Starring Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, and Viveca Lindfors.

I haven't seen any of the television shows inspired by this story, but it's easy to see why it inspired more stories about it. There's a lot of "ancient aliens" conspiracy theory stuff in here that makes for adventurous storytelling, and the narrative possibilities are almost endless. There's a definite 90s cheesy charm to this as well, seen in the characterization, the dialogue, the score, and the visuals, and that's pretty enjoyable. It does however require some serious suspension of disbelief, and it does that kind of thing where it HINTS at military action and colonizing being potentially a bad thing on this new world but doesn't actually explore any of those concepts. I wonder if the TV shows are more willing to explore the ramifications of space travel in this world beyond just "ooh, THIS planet has weird-looking camel creatures."

How it entered my Flickchart:
Stargate > The Keep
Stargate < Woman in the Dunes
Stargate > Talk Radio
Stargate < Freaky Friday (2003)
Stargate < Murder by Death
Stargate < A Night to Remember
Stargate > Koyaanisqatsi
Stargate < The Abyss
Stargate > Kajaki
Stargate < Rachel Getting Married
Stargate > For a Few Dollars More
Final spot: #1253 out of 3438, or 64%.

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