Stargate SG-1 has, up until recently, been a series that I’ve only really had a passing interest in over the years. I’ve watched several episodes along the way, but never taken the opportunity to really dive into the series. Now, Lady Jessica and I are attempting to do just that. Netflix has all ten seasons available via streaming, and I’ve got all of them lined up in our instant queue.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s based on the 1994 Roland Emmerich/Dean Devlin film, Stargate. Emmerich films are a guilty pleasure of mine. They’re always over-the-top, lavish visual effects heavy, frequently silly, and almost always entertaining. Stargate represents probably his best work in terms of being “serious sci-fi.” The basic premise of the film is that humans uncover a ring-shaped alien device in the desert, buried there by ancient Egyptians. The Stargate turns out to be a mechanism for “dialing” a similar device on an alien world, allowing travelers to step into the ring on one planet, and appear on another. A group of humans goes through the Stargate to find humans enslaved by an alien masquerading as the ancient Egyptian god Ra. I won’t go any further and risk spoiling it if you’ve not seen the movie. Since first seeing it as a teenager I’ve viewed it many times in the subsequent years.

The TV show picks up about a year after the end of the movie when humanity learns that there are more of these powerful, evil beings posing as gods and dominating the galaxy. Teams of soldiers and scientists are sent to different planets via the Stargate to explore, learn about ancient Earth cultures preserved by the humans there, and find ways to defeat their new enemy. Pretty compelling sci-fi. If you’re not already interested, I’ve got three words: Richard. Dean. Anderson. That’s right, MacGyver stars in this show.

So far we’ve watched the first twelve episodes of season one of SG-1. I’ll let you know what I think of the first season when we get to the end. For those of you who are long-time fans of the show, who’s your favorite character? What are your favorite episodes? What’s the best season of the show? Sound off in the comments below!