Examples of the Stargate Franchise in Popular Culture

I recently played a “Stargate Scenario” in paintball hosted by my friend Mark at ThePaintballProfessor, and was reminded how much Stargate has permeated our culture.

Some of the most popular science fiction shows took our world by storm. From Battlestar Galactica to Stargate, popular culture has been forever changed by the values and lessons that we have learned from these shows. Stargate is a film that has inspired quite a cult following. The franchise began as a film in 1994 and from then spawned books, comics, games, and three different television series.

Stargate takes the ideas of an Egyptian myth and turns it into a science fiction show that tests the ideas of time and space travel while still uses bits and pieces of the lore of the Egyptian myths. It has quite a few million dedicated fans that were heart broken when the shows were cancelled. This is one of the most popular franchises in science fiction history and the television show was on for longer than any other science fiction show in North American history.

With rumors constantly swirling around about a possible film version of the three series coming out, fans were truly excited. These rumors however, seem to have only been just that. Many of the fans are still patiently waiting for this alleged film release. Although, many science fiction websites have suggested that the Stargate story will begin again with a new television series to be released that will start at the very beginning of the legend. Fans keep holding on to that idea in hopes that they will see their favorite characters on the screen again.

All of these ideas can also be seen in popular culture. With the great amount of fans of Stargate, we can see examples of Stargate everywhere. One of the most recent examples of Stargate showing up in popular culture is on the television show, the Big Bang Theory. The characters on the show are science fiction fans to the fullest. They are constantly talking about shows like Battlestar and Stargate and at least once an episode one of the characters will mention these shows in reference to real life situations. The characters also use different characters from the show as references and one would say it is a hard show to watch unless you are a fan of Stargate and other science fiction shows.

There are many references to September 11th in a few episodes of Stargate and books have even been written about these references in popular culture. One of those books, “September 11 in Popular Culture: A Guide” lists many science fiction shows and how they took on the tragedy of September 11th. Stargate and Battlestar Galactica both took on the rulers and government on the shows and put their own little twist on them as a dedication to September 11th.

Stargate is always in the press and still seen as a very prominent force at comic conventions today. At pretty much any of these conventions, you can find fans dressing up as their favorite characters and members of the show and movie appearing on panels for fans to interview and chat with. This show has put its name in popular culture and will be around for a long time to follow.

History of the Stargate Franchise

The Stargate franchise is a series of films and TV shows which are based in the Stargate universe. The first film, Stargate, was the one that started the franchise. It starred Kurt Russell as a military commander who is sent through the eponymous Stargate to visit another planet.

The idea is that the Stargate was found during an archaeological excavation of ancient Egyptian ruins. The Stargate was an advanced piece of ancient alien technology which worked as a device which would send people or objects to another planet. On the other side of the Stargate was another Stargate which was located on an alien planet.

The back story is that the pyramids were built by ancient humans who were enslaved by the alien race using the Stargate to travel back and forth between their planet and ours. There was a revolt where the humans turned against their alien overlords and buried the Stargate. The Stargate then waited for thousands of years to be discovered by the archaeologists.

The whole idea is based around a theory called the “ancient astronaut” theory, which was popularized in the 60s by Erich von Däniken in a book called “Chariots of the Gods.” In this book Erich hypothesized that ancient alien beings had traveled to the Earth. Then they taught ancient man how to build pyramids and other hallmarks of civilization.

In the film an Egyptology professor, played by James Spader, works together with Kurt Russell’s military commander character to travel to the alien planet. Once they arrive they realize that they cannot return to Earth. This is because the Egyptology professor, who deciphered the hieroglyphics which control the Stargate, is unable to figure out how to send everyone back to Earth.

After the Stargate film came out in 1994 it was rather well received. Then, in 1997, a Canadian production of a TV series based on the Stargate film was created. The TV series was called “Stargate SG-1” and was based around the same characters from the film. In 2004 another TV series called “Stargate Atlantis” was made. In 2009 another TV series in the franchise was made, called “Stargate Universe”

The idea for each of the different TV series was that there were many Stargates that they could travel through. Therefore the characters would spend each episode visiting a different planet through the Stargate. The Egyptology professor character would align the Stargate using the hieroglyphics in order to tell the Stargate on Earth to send them to a different planet each time.

The premise is that the alien race who had enslaved the humans in ancient Egypt were an interstellar species. Therefore they had traveled all over the galaxy and used the Stargates to travel between different planets. The Stargate is a useful device as the speed of light, which limits all travel in the universe, means that it can take hundreds of years to travel between different stars.

By including a device, like the Stargate, which allows instant travel between different planets, the creators of the franchise have allowed for a way for the characters to visit different planets. This is without the hundreds of years it would take in real life. In real life the characters would have died of old age before they arrived at the different planets.