Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 8 - Stargate SG-1
Category: Opinion, Science Fiction, Stargate, Television
published November 24th, 2005
Table of contents for top-10-sci-fi-shows
- My Top 10 Sci-Fi TV Shows
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 10 - Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 9 - The X-Files
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 8 - Stargate SG-1
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 7 - Battlestar Galactica
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 6 - The Avengers
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 5 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 4 - Sapphire and Steel
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 3 - Blake's Seven
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 2 - Babylon 5
- Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 1 - Doctor Who
Stargate SG-1 is poised to enter a 10th year of production, making it the longest running US sci-fi show of all time. That alone should at least put it into consideration for a top 10 list. For the first few years of its run I dismissed, without giving it any time, as just another movie spin-off series. When I did finally watch some episodes I quickly realized that it had formed an identity of its own. In fact that identity is noticeably superior to the very limited nature of the Stargate film that spawned it.
Produced primarily for a cable audience with syndication as a secondary channel only, Stargate SG-1 is structured very differently to the Star Trek series that preceded it. While it is clearly an action series, continuity played an increasingly important role as the series developed. Both plots and characters were slowly evolved over the course of several seasons, a luxury which shows aimed at syndication could rarely afford.
Stargate SG-1 also found a solution to the perennial problem of budgets for science fiction programs. The Stargate concept itself allowed the writers to present their viewers with planets and populations which were essentially the same as Earth. This saved a fortune in special effects budget.
In terms of quality, like most long running series Stargate SG-1 has had its hits and misses. Even at its best it is never likely to be held up as a work of great vision or depth. However, taken on its own terms as a weekly action/adventure series it has reliably served up a mixture of drama and comedy for years.
In the last few years when the landscape of television science fiction has looked very bleak in the US, Stargate SG-1 has soldiered on proving that there is an audience for science fiction and that it can be produced on a budget affordable to cable channels.
« Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 9 - The X-Files - Top 10 Sci-Fi Shows: Number 7 - Battlestar Galactica » Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his his website eoghann.com.| 2.9 |
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February 22nd, 2006 -
Well, I guess we all have our opinions. I have been a Scifi fan forever. A trekkie from way back. But I have to say that, at first I was not all that interested in SG1, mainly because I didn’t have Showtime. I caught some episodes here and there on syndication, but didn’t understand the characters. Of course I knew RDA from Mcgyver and enjoyed it. Then I decided to get the first season on DVD, and well, that was it, I was hooked. I have seen every episode, many more that once, have been to a convention, Met several of the actors, all of whom are great people and very approachable, and am going to vancouver for a convention and set tour in March. I just can’t get enough. I am still a huge Star Trek fan, but Stargate SG1 is my favorite. It has that element of time travel, but takes place in present day. That’s all.