Random Movie Discussion #3: Stargate (1 Viewer)

[Scott Weinberg]

What did you all think of this one?
That is all.
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Scott Weinberg
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[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

The first half hour was great, moody and tense.
Then it turned into a braindead action movie. Which I normally would like, but this was too silly and predictable IMO.
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[Neil Joseph]

The first time I saw it, the film had a big effect on me. I liked the theory as to how this Alien altered our civilization and the mirrors between the people in Egypt and the alien planet. After a few viewings, the effect has worn off. I no longer have the DVD in my collection.
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My Favourite Movie

 

[Ross Waite]

Stargate remains one of my favorites. Yeah...its a bit mindless at times...but so what. At least it has the virtue of being original. I love the combination of Egyptology and futuristic Sci-fi. Good action and decent performances. Granted, Stargate is/was not Oscar material, but it is great fun. I only wish the 2 versions of the movie currently on DVD were anamorphic...
Just my $0.02 worth...
-Ross
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[ace peterson]

Too bad MacGyver wasn't in the movie.

 

[Marshall Alsup]

I dig this flick. I also like the mix of Sci-Fi and Egypt mythology. I have it in the collection and probably watch it once or twice a year, mainly when someone comes over and wants to watch it. I only wish they would have done a little more of the mythology and a little less of the mindless action. Overall..... pretty good
Later,
Marshall

 

[Christine Warren]

It was a film recommended to me by my students when we were looking at the concept of parallel universes and black holes (it was a gifted and talented class of 14 - 15 year olds).
I loved the basic premise on which the film was based and the combination of Egyptology and Sci-fi. On checking out the website I read the section about the language spoken - the use of an expert in Hieroglyphics to work out how the language may have ben spoken in Ancient Egypt and then how it would have evolved over several thousand years.
I tracked the guy down (the joys of the internet) and emailed him asking for more details - and much to my surprise got a wonderful explanation with the offer of more detail if I needed it.
Christine

 

[WoodyH]

Christine -

I tracked the guy down (the joys of the internet) and emailed him asking for more details - and much to my surprise got a wonderful explanation with the offer of more detail if I needed it.

Would you possibly be able/willing to forward that on to me, either posting it here or e-mailing it to me? Sounds like fascinating stuff, and I'd love to see it.
As for the movie, I get a kick out of it. Getting the expanded edition on DVD was nice, it definitely fleshes out the film a bit.
On a side note, it makes the first part of an interesting 3-part digression in Devlin/Emmerich films (of course, all of the following is IMNSHO

)...
Stargate - Good plot + good effects = good flick.
Independence Day - Bad plot + good effects = brainless but fun flick.
Godzilla - Bad plot + bad effects = unwatchable dreck.
Anyway...
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Woody Hanscom
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[RobertR]

The combination of Erich Von Daniken silliness and brain dead action picture didn't appeal to me at all.

 

[Brad_W]

I absolutely love this movie! It's very cool to see a primitive existence mix with an advanced existence. I know that the director/producers put in the element of societal oppression in there too. I also viewed the "gods" theme as showing that religion can be a farce. That is my opinion and I don't believe that director/producers intended that notion to be construed. I love Egyptology (a lot because of the symbolism that permeates it's society) and this is a great way to play on this subject. I know for the most part the general theme is sort of brainless, but if you look at it on another plane, you can see these ideologies begin to surface. OR I'm looking too deep into "just another" sci-fi movie.
Edited once for spelling and the second for: I also own the "special edition widescreen" VHS along with the special edition DVD of Stargate. The VHS version came with a CD-ROM with interviews, drawings, and the like.
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[Edited last by Brad_W on October 24, 2001 at 04:12 PM]
[Edited last by Brad_W on October 24, 2001 at 04:18 PM]

 

[Geoffrey_A]

Stargate had so much potential that was completely wasted in the film. There was a lot of intriguing stuff there, but it feel down about half an hour in and turned into your standard sci-fi/action cliche. I think the best thing to come from the movie is the excellent television series based on it. Far and away my favourite sci-fi program on tv. The series manages to salvage the ideas of the film and utilize them effectively. The movie is a mediocre diversion, the series is some great sci-fi.
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Geoff
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[Bruce Hedtke]

As soon as it switched from being an awe-struck, wondering of the origin of species film to one where standard action and military involvement are common-place, it lost all credibility and watchability to me. The last hour was horrid, lame and boring. It held no sense of suspense or intrigue. "They are the enemy. Let's blow them up."-such tired and overused themes for a film that held so much promise at the start.
Stargate

Bruce
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Welcome aboard the Satellite of Love

 

[Christine Warren]

I'll go for a hunt for my copy of the email at the weekend Woody, as well as the original site - it was the oficial film site - not sure if it's still around now as it was a few years ago now, but I know that I did print it all off at the time.
Christine

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

I really liked the movie. My favorite line:
"Say hello to King Tut, a$$hole."

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I had fun watching this one. I don't know why, but I for some reason forgot that David Spader and Kurt Russell were in this one.
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[Dan Hitchman]

It's like they put the negatives in a Cuisinart on high speed. Choppy, choppy, choppy! Ugh!
What a waste of a good concept.
Dan
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[Qui-Gon John]

A few questions.

1. On the DVD, what are the differences between the Director's Cut and the Theatrical Cut?

2. At one point one of the soldiers says that Earth could just dial-in and then they could go back through the gate. Someone, I think Daniel, says no, it doesn't work that way. But other than this, we get no explanation as to why it would not work like that. Did anyone else catch an explanation I missed, or was there none.

3. The credits list Anubis as a character, but I do not recall seeing him. Also over at Gate World, they have info on each character and nothing in that bio would indicate he was a character in the movie.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

A few more things I noticed, (I watched this again last night, well except I skipped most of the "action" scenes), I wanted to watch for the science, archealogy, linguistic, etc. scenes.

Anyway, when they are first talking about what the probe shows, the officer and general also say that they would have to decipher the symbols and dial to get back. Daniel agrees and says he can do it. But they never really say why this is so.

Also, they say Abydos is in some other galaxy and also the far side of the universe. But in the pilot of the series, they say Abydos is one of the closest gates, that's why the planetary drift didn't matter.

 

[Michael Harris]

Also, they say Abydos is in some other galaxy and also the far side of the universe. But in the pilot of the series, they say Abydos is one of the closest gates, that's why the planetary drift didn't matter.

There are a number of disconnects between the film and the TV pilot. The Goa'uld being "snakes" is another one. The producers had to do some fancy footwork in order to get everyone back to Abydos and set up the whole gate network concept. Guess they hoped no one was paying close attention to the film, or cared. For the most part though, they did a good job linking the series with the film and even went full circle with the last two episodes of the just ended 8th season.

 

[Kain_C]

This was before I came to realize that Roland Emmerich can pretty much make nothing but complete and utter crap. My friend and I had high expectations for this film. While sitting in the theater, we were chatting with strangers who were prophesying that this was the "next Star Wars". While I never for once believed that, I figured this would be damn entertaining.

It began interestingly enough. But then, there came a point where in the film I realized how mindless, cliched, and plain boring the film truly was. The acting was pretty dismal and I absolutely cannot stand Spader which didn't help the cause at all. I don't remember specifically what it was because I saw this film once and it was a good while back, plus I didn't dwell on it because it stank so much, but it's probably the same thing I hate in all of Emmerich's 'films'.

When the lights came on at the end, my friend and I expressed our feelings on how terrible it was aloud. I get a chuckle out of the fact that those same people we were chatting with liked it and were surprised when we 'announced' our very different feelings.