10 Things You Learn Rewatching Stargate SG-1
Six points in space to set a location and a point of origin to journey to the stars.
There are two hundred and fourteen episodes of Stargate SG-1, each one of them attempting to build on the world that was established in the 1994 Roland Emmerich movie Stargate. If you're an avid fan of the series, then you'll know that it is endlessly rewatchable, with a well-balanced mixture of charming wit and low-key humour as well as character development and well-paced action.
Whether you're starting from the beginning or just looking up a few favourite episodes, there's a lot baked into the fabric of the show to be uncovered time and time again. The characters of the series go through a lot from the start to the finish, but the things that they learn along the way (like the value of friendship and teamwork) are universal constants to many shows. What makes Stargate SG-1 stand out is its attempt to progressively build with every episode.
In a way, the whole series can function as a roadmap in plotting out your own science fiction series, so let's have a look at it as if it were a guide to constructing your own series. So here are 10 things that you learn by rewatching Stargate SG-1
10. Don't Be Afraid Of A Recast
Back in 1997 it would have been utterly ridiculous to have two movie stars come and do a low-budget TV series based on their movie. Thus, Michael Shanks cut his hair to look a bit like James Spader, acted a bit like James Spader and attempted to resemble James Spader, while Richard Dean Anderson... didn't look anything like Kurt Russell.
Of course nowadays there's no such thing as a low-budget TV series, there are streaming services that order high-budget, high-concept shows that are often smattered with movie stars. Back then, of course, TV and Film rotated in very different circles. Of course the charisma of these two recasts guaranteed that SG-1 lasted for 10 seasons.
It would have been easy for the creators of SG-1 to create different characters, there's no shortage of sarcastic colonels and nerdy archaeologists that could have been created to take the place of O'Neil (back when it was just one L) and Jackson. They decided to stick with the original characters and that plan paid off.