The World of Stargate

The Impact of Stargate

The "Stargate" movie opened up a whole new means of interstellar travel for science fiction audiences. Spaceships were suddenly rendered irrelevant to storylines. Many science fiction, or space opera, movies set on spaceships are really just raygun swashbucklers. Their characters and stories could just as easily be set on wooden sailing ships of the 16th through 19th centuries, and they would be just as interesting.

With the wormhole technology of the stargate, adventurers can now travel to distant worlds which share an ancient connection to Earth. And the idea that humans taken from Earth might inhabit those worlds eliminates the usual technobabble about similar lines of evolution. The story-telling thus is less driven by the technology and becomes more focused on the impact of the technology which links the two societies.

Another cool thing about "Stargate" is that it marked the first time since the old Battlestar Galactica television series that anyone worked up a reasonable storyline utilizing ancient mythology. In fact, whereas Battlestar Galactica's use of ancient mythology is considered a bit cheesy and over-the-top, "Stargate" is considered to be innovative in taking the old ancient-aliens-colonized-Earth idea and treating it more seriously.

The television show revolutionized science fiction television by making spaceships a secondary means of travel. Distance takes on an entirely different significance in Stargate-SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis because the writers seldom have to fumble with calculations about how long it would take a rescue mission or a message to reach a stranded team on an alien world.

The television shows also tackled the sticky question of why so many humans are found on alien worlds in science fiction television by offering a plausible explanation. Future television shows will now be under pressure to explain their alien-but-human creatures.

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