It’s a time of endings and beginnings for the TV version of Stargate. The second live action incarnation of the show, Atlantis has finished and the third, Universe, is being trailered now with the first episode premiering in the US at the beginning of October. With the original series continuing as a series of TV movies, the original pilot episode of Stargate: SG-1 from 1997 has been rereleased on DVD in a new ‘final cut’. For new and casual fans who want a point of entry into the franchise this makes sense and the new DVD is more film-like than its original transmission as the pilot episode.
Stargate: SG-1 Children of the Gods is now a widescreen experience with new special effects to keep in line with the other Stargate TV movies that were made with recent computer technology rather than 12 year old special effects. Although perhaps not as epic as the original Stargate cinema film, Children of the Gods now opens with a Doctor Who-esque shot of the Earth before panning down to the adventures of the humans on the planet below and continues at a slightly faster pace than the first time around. Rereleasing the film in widescreen has necessitated the cropping of the original 4:3 footage to 16:9 but this isn’t a hack job like the cinema rerelease of Gone with the Wind in the 1950s and 60s, but rather the filmmakers have cropped each scene on a shot by shot basis and used alternate takes where more appropriate. The new CGI also has allowed the widening of certain shots and is more than just a glossier look to the special effects as it also includes new ships and action elements elsewhere.
Alternate cuts are inevitably controversial as changes aren’t always to everyone’s liking and filmmakers don’t always know best (yes, we’re looking at you George Lucas and Richard Kelly), however only absolute purists may balk at the loss of some uncomfortable full frontal nudity that was bizarrely included in the original version which earned it an 18 certificate on DVD the first time ‘round and some unpolished dialogue between two of the leads that took the battle of the sexes into caricature. Christopher Judge has also relooped his dialogue to make his performance more like the rest of the series than the slightly unusual voice he gave in the first half dozen episodes.
The remix of Children of the Gods does mean that anyone picking up the rest of the series for the first time may be now slightly confused by the loss of the cliffhanger and the new special effects and widescreen framing that are more impressive than the following season, but as a casual purchase for potential new fans who have seen the original movie or are intrigued by Stargate Universe’s cinematic trailer, this is a welcome rerelease that will hopefully lead to the production of more SG-1 / SG-A TV movies or maybe the remastering of some of the series’ other 2 parters in this format.
Click here or on either of the images above to order a copy of the DVD from play.com
Alex Fitch / Liz George
Please visit Sci-Fi London next week for our special Stargate podcast, featuring Rachel Luttrell talking about her time on Stargate: Atlantis and James Swallow talking about his experience of writing Stargate audio plays and novels.