Entertainment
This $6M TV Pilot Accidentally Created a Sci-Fi Franchise That Lasted Nearly 30 Years
The science fiction genre has given birth to iconic franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek and Blade Runner, but the one that’s had the longest shelf life is Stargate SG-1. Based on Roland Emmerich‘s cult classic Stargate, Stargate SG-1 showcases its titular team of military operatives using the device known as the Stargate to travel to different planets; more often than not, they encounter alien lifeforms that were based on mythological gods (or rather, those gods were based on these aliens in-universe). Stargate SG-1 was also immensely successful, as it lasted for 10 seasons; a large part of that success can be traced back to the pilot episode “Children of the Gods.”
“Children of the Gods” had a lot of heavy lifting to do. Not only did it have to introduce the concept of Stargate to people who might not have seen the movie, but it also had to find actors who could step into the roles of Kurt Russell‘s Jack O’Neill and James Spader‘s Daniel Jackson. Luckily, Showtime was willing to draw up a two-season order and devote $6 million to the pilot’s budget, per a Hollywood Reporter article from 2006. Those resources allowed executive producers Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner to craft a story that picked up on the events of the movie, while also casting Dean Richard Anderson as O’Neill and Michael Shanks as Jackson. In the process, the duo also set the stage for SG-1’s longevity.
‘Stargate SG-1’ Survived Multiple Creative Changes
“Children of the Gods” set up multiple characters and concepts that would define Stargate SG-1 throughout its run. Chief among them was the fact that the Stargate was part of an intergalactic teleportation network, meaning that future episodes would bring something different to the table. SG-1 would also feature two characters that’d become a major part of Stargate lore: Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and the genetically modified Teal’c (Christopher Judge), who formerly served the alien race known as the Goa’uld. These concepts were born when Brad Wright watched the original Stargate movie, and saw potential for an entire television series.
“I recognized immediately that there was a terrific series there, simply because there’s a gate that can get you to other planets. Our feeling was that if you had the capability of stepping through to another planet, the first thing you’d do is create an early NASA-like organization of small teams who go off and explore…And Jonathan had a notion that Ra was not the last of its kind, so you could have any number of ancient gods.”
Stargate SG-1 would become a ratings powerhouse, not to mention a beloved series in the halls of sci-fi. Yet it had to deal with multiple creative changes, including a shift in networks. Showtime kept requesting full-frontal nudity, which the showrunners bristled at and critics rightfully pointed out as unnecessary. Season 3 would see Glassner departing his showrunner duties, while Showtime opted not to pick up Stargate SG-1 up after its Season 5 finale. The Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel was more than willing to pick up the show, and SG-1 lived out the rest of its tenure there, with its final season airing in 2005.
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‘Stargate SG-1’ Launched an Entire Franchise
Before Stargate SG-1 moved to the SyFy channel, Brad Wright was planning to close out the series with a feature film. The series once again exploded in ratings and popularity, leading him to retool the idea into what eventually became Stargate Atlantis. This was only the start of a full-blown Stargate franchise, as another series would be launched with Stargate Universe; there was also the short-lived animated series Stargate Infinity and the webseries Stargate Origins, which weren’t as well recieved as SG-1. Wright and fellow Stargate showrunner Robert C. Cooper even got to make their own Stargate movies with Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum.
Stargate is making a return to television thanks to Prime Video, and it’s got plenty of advantages in its favor. Not only is Martin Gero, a longtime Stargate writer, serving as showrunner, but Brad Wright has been tapped as a consulting producer. Gero has also brought together a writers’ room, hinting that the series is starting to take shape. If the new Stargate wants to reignite love for the franchise, Gero should revisit “Children of the Gods”, as it contains the keys to what makes Stargate endure.
- Release Date
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1997 – 2007-00-00
- Showrunner
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Brad Wright
- Directors
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Martin Wood, Andy Mikita, William Waring, Bill Gereghty, David Warry-Smith, Brad Turner, Mario Philip Azzopardi, William Gereghty, Peter F. Woeste, Dennis Berry, Ken Girotti, Charles Correll, Jonathan Glassner, Robert C. Cooper, Allan Eastman, Bill Corcoran, Jeff Woolnough, Jim Kaufman, Allan Lee, amanda tapping
- Writers
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Dean Devlin, Damian Kindler, Katharyn Powers, Alan McCullough, Jeff King, Christopher Judge, Terry Curtis Fox, Martin Gero, Carl Binder, Hart Hanson, James Tichenor, Jarrad Paul, Tom J. Astle, Ben Browder, Corin Nemec, David Rich, Jacqueline Samuda, John Sanborn, Michael Shanks, Sam Egan, Alex Levine, James Taylor Phillips
- Franchise(s)
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Stargate
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amanda tapping
Samantha Carter
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