Stargate (1994)

An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers:

Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich

Stars:

Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson

6 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil
James Spader	...	Dr. Daniel Jackson
Jaye Davidson	...	Ra
Viveca Lindfors	...	Catherine Langford
Alexis Cruz	...	Skaara
Mili Avital	...	Sha'uri
Leon Rippy	...	General W.O. West
John Diehl	...	Lieutenant Kawalsky
Carlos Lauchu	...	Anubis
Djimon Hounsou	...	Horus (as Djimon)
Erick Avari	...	Kasuf
French Stewart	...	Lieutenant Ferretti
Gianin Loffler	...	Nabeh
Christopher John Fields	...	Freeman
Derek Webster	...	Brown

Storyline

In 1928, in Egypt, a strange device is found by an expedition. In the present days, the outcast linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson is invited by a mysterious woman to decipher an ancient hieroglyph in a military facility. Soon he finds that the device was developed by an advanced civilization and opens a portal to teletransport to another planet. Dr. Jackson is invited to join a military team under the command of Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil that will explore the new world. They find a land that recalls Egypt and humans in a primitive culture that worship and are slaves to Ra, the God of the Sun. But soon they discover the secret of the mysterious "stargate".

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Plot Keywords:

portal | hieroglyph | archeology | stargate | military | 

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Taglines:

It Will Take You A Million Light Years From Home

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

France USA

Language:

English Norwegian Swedish Egyptian (Ancient) Arabic

Release Date:

28 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stargate: La puerta del tiempo

Filming Locations:

Ballroom, Park Plaza Hotel - 607 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$71,565,669

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$196,600,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Centropolis Film Productions, Carolco Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min 128 min (special edition) 130 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SR SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

French Stewart's film debut.

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Goofs

The candy bar that Daniel gives to the village leader isn't melted but still crunchy even after hours spent in the desert in his shirt pocket and being dragged through the sand by the yak-like creature. Even though there is "military grade chocolate" bars, known as "The Desert Bar", created to withstand heat of up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit Daniels bar was clearly not that variety but was a common 5th Avenue chocolate bar.

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Quotes

Arabic Interpreter: [first lines]
Arabic Interpreter: [at the dig site in Giza, 1928] Professor!
[chatters in Arabic]
Arabic Interpreter: Professor! We found something beautiful!
Prof. Langford: Ja?
Arabic Interpreter: Oh, yes! Big, big, big surprise!

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Alternate Versions

Special edition released on Laserdisc and US video substitutes alternate footage for some scenes and includes 9 minutes of additional material.

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Connections

Referenced in Community: Contemporary American Poultry (2010)

User Reviews

A Revolution In Another Part Of The Galaxy

Taking a leaf from Indiana Jones where someone will one day presumably dig up the Ark Of The Covenant out of storage and see how it works, in the inscrutable ways of the Washington bureaucracy, somebody in the Defense Department has taken an interest in something called Stargate and now want to see how it works. The somebody they sent for is archaeologist/linguist James Spader who deciphers some ancient Egyptian writing and poof, the gate is upright and operational.

At that point the military takes over led by a hardnosed professional played by Kurt Russell. He's going through that gate with a team of special forces and with James Spader presumably so they can communicate with whatever life is out there.

Stargate is a teleportation device and the team travels through time and space and ends up across the galaxy on a primitive planet where the people worship a being called Ra played by Jaye Davidson. He and his much technologically advanced confederates enslave the rest of the population.

To see the changes the earth expedition makes and what the connection of this being to the Egyptian sun god Ra you will have to see this very well made and exciting science fiction film, one of the best films made during the Nineties. I saw it in theater when it first came out and seeing it again on the small screen still excites and entertains me. It's one of those films that with repeated viewing you get still another perspective.

I liked best the interplay with Kurt Russell and James Spader. Two very opposite men in temperament and in training over the course of the film gradually gain a great respect for each other. Both deliver performances that would rank in the top five for both these players.

One of the ways that Ra keeps his people subjugated is the forbidding of any of the nomadic types that are under his thumb to learn to write or even create a written language. In that culture and in every culture, literacy is the strongest weapon against tyranny. In fact one of the characters makes quite a sacrifice to secure the permanence of the revolution they've wrought on this world in another part of the galaxy that has a strange connection to our Earth.

Stargate succeeds at being both thinking person's science fiction and also has enough action and adventure to keep you to the edge of your seat, especially in the second half. It's not to be missed when broadcast, ever.