MGM has released a remastered version of the pilot for the first Stargate television series, Stargate SG-1, entitled Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods The Final Cut.
The original Stargate movie, directed by Roland Emmerich in 1994 and starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, has spawned a remarkable number of television series, including Stargate SG-1, Stargate Infinity, Stargate Atlantis and the upcoming Stargate Universe, due for release in October this year. For those unfamiliar with the premise, the Stargate is an alien artefact, a ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole in space allowing travel to similar devices scattered in a network across the galaxy. The US government keeps the existence of the Stargate a secret and in the first series a special team led by Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) must deal with the alien visitations and the new worlds the Stargate opens to them.
This final cut is the result of Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright and editor Brad Rines' desire to fix the flaws in the original pilot, bringing all that the Stargate production teams have learned over more than a decade to the task of making improvements. The result is a brighter, enhanced, more entertaining mix. The original 2-hour pilot was reedited, recut, updated and polished, using updated special effects, different takes from archival footage, rerecorded dialogue, and even an enhanced score using SG-1 composer Joel Goldsmith (the first time round they used music patched together from the Stargate movie).The pilot episode picks up the story one year after the events in the Stargate movie, when an alien similar to Ra comes through Earth's Stargate, killing five soldiers and kidnapping another. In response, a team is assembled with some new members and some from the original mission, including Jack O'Neill, who was played by Kurt Russell in the Stargate movie. They search for the missing solider and try to discover how Ra, who was apparently killed a year earlier, could still be alive.
As well as the additional features already mentioned, there's a commentary featuring Brad Wright and actor Richard Dean Anderson, and a Back to the Beginning featurette.
As with the pilot for any TV series, the dialogue and set ups can be strained and a bit clunky at times (introducing new characters is never easy), but it's great to take a look at the polished, carefully crafted edition with its numerous refinements. If you haven't watched the pilot before, but especially if you are a big fan of the show, Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods The Final Cut is definitely worth a look.
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