Stargate: SG-1: Season 1 DVD Box Set Review

Title: Stargate: SG-1: Season 1 DVD Box Set

Region: One

Genre: Science Fiction TV Series/Action

Episodes: Pilot Episode: Children Of The Gods, The Enemy Within, Emancipation, The Broca Divide, The First Commandment, Brief Candle, Cold Lazarus, Thor’s Hammer, The Torment Of Tantalus, Bloodlines, Fire And Water, The Nox, Hathor, Cor-al, Singularity, Enigma, Tin Man, Solitudes, There But For The Grace Of God, Politics, and Within The Serpent’s Grasp

Stars: Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Don S. Davis, Jay Acovone, Vaitiare Bandera, Robert Wisden, Peter Williams, and Brent Stait

Special Guest Stars: Alexis Cruz, Kevin McNulty, Gary Jones, Alan Rachins, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jorge Vargas, Soon-Tek-Oh, Peter Williams, Ronny Cox, Elizabeth Hoffman, David McNally, Teryl Rotherly, Katie Stuart, Tobin Bell, Garwin Sanford, Tom McBeath, Gerald Plunkett, Jay Brazeau, Keene Curtis, Tony Amendola, Salli Richardson, Armin Shimerman, Peter Williams, Ray Xifo, Steve Makaj, Nichol Oliver, William Russ, Roger R. Cross, Bobbie Phillips, Harrison Coe, Gabrielle Miller, Harley Jane Kozak, Wally Dalton, Galyn Gorg, Vincent Hammond, Tamsin Kelsey, and James Earl Jones as the voice of Unas

Writers: Jonathan Glassner, Brad Wright, Katharyn Powers, Robert C. Cooper, Steven Barnes, Jeff King, Mark Saraceni, Hart Hanson, David Bennet, J. Larry Carroll, Tom J. Astle, Jeff King, David Kemper, and James Crocker

Directors: Mario Azzopardi, Dennis Berry, Jeff Woolnough, William Gereghty, Kevin J. Girotti, Brad Turner, Jonathan Glassner, Allan Eastman, Charles Correll, Jimmy Kaufman, Martin Wood, and David Wary-Smith

Feature length: 16 hours and 35 minutes in total, Pilot Episode: 96 minutes, All Other Episodes: 44 minutes

Extra Features: Featurette With Cast And Crew, Promotional Trailers, Profile On “General Hammond” Featurette, “Captain Carter” Featurette, Behind The Scenes With The Producers of Stargate SG-1, Stargate SG-1 Costume Design Featurette

Languages: English, French, and Spanish Dolby Surround 2.0

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and French and Spanish Subtitles

Packaging: Five Alpha Keep Cases Within A Slip Case Box

Chapter Stops: Pilot Episode: 24, Episode One: 8, Episode Two: 8, All Other Episodes: 5

Sound: Dolby Stereo Surround Sound

Year of Television Broadcast: 1997/DVD Release: 2001

Television Distributor: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Worldwide Television, Inc.

Home Video Distributor: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Pilot Episode: R, Other Episodes: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were pretty upset with the Stargate: SG-1 TV Series because they had hoped to make a trilogy out of the 1994 surprise science fiction hit. Producers Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright quickly saw the potential to turn the film into a serial television series and see it more as a continuation of the film than a sequel. In 1997 it premiered on the Showtime Cable Network and later in syndication. Since 1999, Stargate: SG-1 is the only TV series in production to have the been granted the official seal of approval of the United States Air Force, who now review every script and episode carefully for accuracy in scenes involving military storylines, procedures, conduct, chain of command, and policy. Anyone who knows me well, knows I love science fiction so when MGM released this DVD Box Set of the entire first season of the Stargate: SG-1 TV Series, I could not wait to get my hands on the set to screen and review the five DVD volumes included within the set.

For the record, a few inconsistencies between the movie and series still bother me. The biggest one being the alien that inhabited the human body of Ra in the feature film was not a parasite like the worm creatures in the series, and the production value is definitely lower than the feature film so most of the planets look like the American Northwest and the guards all where cobra like helmets, while the film was a bit more varied. However, the series does feature a good ongoing storyline and Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks in the roles originally played by Kurt Russell and James Spader work quite well together. The pilot even includes the return of Alexis Cruz from the feature film and Mr. Cruz also appears in the season one finale.

Each DVD is dual layered and nicely ornamented with artwork like the Stargate. The first disc features the Pilot: Children Of The Gods, which picks up one year after the events in the feature film and sets up the premise for the rest of the series, which continues onward to the other four volumes included in the box set.

MGM has presented the series in a (1.78:1) widescreen format enhanced for 16 by 9 televisions. Artisan never did that for their Special Edition Release of “Stargate.” While the picture show some grain occasionally, the transfer on all of the episodes still looks great.

The soundtracks are English, French, and Spanish Dolby Surround with English Closed Captions and French and Spanish Subtitles. While the soundtracks are fine, I do not know why a 5.1 remix could not have been done as Paramount has done for their Star Trek: The Original Series DVD releases, but the 16 by 9 transfer make up for the surround tracks being the only choices available at least for me. In fact, the soundtracks are actually Dolby Pro Logic so it is more than just an enhanced stereo effect and the clarity is very impressive.

The first DVD features an animated main menu with the Stargate preparing to teleport the viewer to the next episode while the other volumes contain standard interactive still frame menus that are easy to navigate. Volumes 2 through 5 each contain a special featurette. Volume 2 contains a videotaped featurette on the cast and crew and two promotional trailers for the series while volume 3 contains a short profile on the character of “General Hammond.” Volume 4 contains a profile on the character of “Captain Carter” and a behind-the-scenes videotaped interview with the Producers of “Stargate: SG-1” and volume 5 contains a featurette on the costume designs.

Collectively they give consumers a great insight into the show’s production and wets their appetite for future episodes of “Stargate: SG1” with scenes from other seasons that hopefully will make their way to DVD too. Volumes 1 and 2 are available separately, but volumes 3, 4, and 5 are only available within the box set, which in itself is made of sturdy and solid hard cardboard.

I really liked this DVD set and hope more seasons will be released on DVD soon. If you are a fan of the show, which has just wrapped up it’s fifth season on Showtime, this is must purchase! “Stargate: SG-1” Season 1 DVD Box Set” is available now and is another great example of the high commitment MGM has made with delivering quality DVD Video products into the market.

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