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jadelotusflower · 1 year ago

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Rewatch: Stargate (1994, dir. Roland Emmerich)

What to do when there's so many shows and movies on the to watch list? Revisit shows and movies I've seen many times before of course! Maybe I'm just in need of some comfort viewing right now.

I can't remember when I first saw Stargate. It certainly wasn't at the cinema, but probably rented from the video store (yes, I am an Old) and was certainly keyed to my preteen interests: mythology and Soft(TM) male protagonists.

Over the years and though several rewatches, online fandom, and my love of behind the scenes featurettes, director's commentaries, and retrospectives, I've also gleaned quite a bit of background tidbits and trivia, and I have many thoughts! Most of them through the lens of nostalgia, but that can't be helped.

Are you ready to go back to Titanic Stargate?

The much maligned Pharaoh's head, but it makes for a symbolic opening, trying to find the meaning to the different patterns before the whole picture becomes clear.

David Arnold's theme remains a banger. One of the GOATs.

I'm watching the Extended Edition/Director's Cut, which opens in the North African Desert 8000 BCE to depict Jaye Davidson being abducted, which is only seen in flashback in the theatrical cut. It's atmospheric, but it does tip the hand of the narrative a bit. The stronger opening is probably:

Giza, 1928, where the Stargate is unburied. Even this scene is extended, where the fossilized head of an Anubis is also found. It reveals the sinister undertone far too soon, imo, and it was the right choice to cut it.

Present Day! Love of my life Daniel Jackson ruins his career by arguing that the Egyptian pharaohs of the IVth Dynasty did not build the great pyramids. He does not claim (as the show later does) that aliens built the pyramids. Important distinction!

"Is there a lunch or something, that everybody...?" lol, James Spader is great. This was the first role I ever saw him in, and didn't realise this was actually playing against type a bit, but I have been a fan of his ever since.

Shoutout to Viceca Lindfors, who plays Catherine with steely grace.

Jack O'Neil (one L) aka Kurt Russell (two L's), in a great character introduction that is ruined by some voiceover exposition. We get everything we need to know from his scene without it, except that Tyler shot himself with Jack's gun, but honestly it would have been more impactful if that detail was held back from the audience and revealed in the later scene with Daniel.

The great Richard Kind everybody! He will later appear in an extremely tone deaf episode of Stargate: Atlantis, but here he's Dr Gary Michaels, aka the guy Daniel gets to show up by swanning in and correcting his translation.

Daniel: That's a curious word to use, isn't it? Michaels: ...Yeah

Rae Allen plays Barbara Shore - you may remember her as reporter Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees. It's a shame neither of these characters ever turned up in the show, I like them both.

"You must have used Budge, I don't know why they keep reprinting his books." LOL, Daniel with his petty academic grudges. Although as I understand this is a valid criticism, as Budge's translation methods were very much outdated by the 90's. But Budge conceivably could have been a contemporary of Catherine's father, which is interesting to think about.

Jack arrives with his haircut to correct Daniel's assumption that the hieroglyphs are 5000 years old - they're actually 10,000 years old, which Daniel ironically finds ludicrous. To pick some nits, according to the opening Ra arrived on Earth in 8000 BCE which is presumably where the 10,000 number came from, but doesn't take into account Ra establishing a culture and ruling on Earth for however long before the rebellion, which is when the coverstones would have been carved.

Leon Rippy plays the General West and his utter disdain for Daniel despite him solving "in fourteen days what they couldn't solve in two years" kind of gives me life. His surly "any time" and passing over the reference materials without looking at them is so great. Fantastic performance in a tiny role.

Several people are smoking in this scene, including Jack and Barbara. It's easily forgotten just how common casual smoking was back in the day - 1994 seems a little late for it to be so prevalent, but it gives the room that atmospheric haze.

Emmerich was also a big smoker, so ...

Unrealistic that Daniel would be presenting his theory without running it past Catherine and the team first, but hey it's a movie, dramatic effect and all that.

Important to note that Daniel's contribution isn't only realising that the symbols were star constellations, but the purpose of the symbols, being a map to determine a course and destination. He also deduced that seven symbols were needed, realised that the seventh symbol was below the cartouche not inside it, and then identified the seventh symbol on the gate itself.

This is a really nice illustration to Daniel's core strength - he's not just a repository of knowledge, he's a puzzle solver.

Some small character beats - Michaels questions Daniel twice, while Shore reaches out to pat Katherine's hand in victory when West orders Daniel be shown the Stargate. Again, they should have been brought back for the show!

There's a star map in the control room, implying that they had at least an idea that the Stargate was a transportation device, making the team look even more foolish for not figuring out (in two years!) that a) the symbols were star constellations, and b) that seven symbols (address + point of origin) were needed.

Daniel assures West that he can decipher the gate on the other side in a stunning display of hubris - a character flaw that will stay with him in some form through all ten seasons of the show.

Although West doesn't actually ask Daniel how he will make the Stargate work for the return trip, so that's kind of on him.

Jack correctly deduces that Daniel's full of shit, then goes to look at the Anubis head found in the Giza sequence. Again unnecessary inclusion imo, Jack's motivation works better as ambiguous at this point.

Everyone has their own little character moment before going through the gate - Jack grits his teeth and raises his gun, Brown looks back to the others, Porro kisses a St Christopher medallion.

Daniel toying with the event horizon was a Spader addition (much to the chagrin of the VFX supervisor!)

Foreshadowing for the Abydos point of origin symbol.

"That's a nice tent! Oh, we each get a tent, that's nice."

A snarky Ferretti (the great French Stewart) throws Daniel's suitcase at him, scattering his books on the sand. Daniel is completely nonplussed, starts to gather them up and then sits down to munch on a 5th Avenue bar. I love original recipe Daniel. Don't get me wrong, I love show Daniel too, but the OG, man, just 100% unbothered when antagonised.

Although to be fair, Ferretti's frustration is justified (if not his reaction) so that probably is a factor in Daniel's (lack of) response.

Daniel feeds a mastadge chocolate and gets dragged across the dunes and slobbered on for his trouble. But he doesn't hold a grudge, because he goes from "get away from me" to patting the creature on the snout in about three seconds.

Sha'uri, my beloved!

Important to note that while the other water-bearers keep their eyes downcast, Sha'uri is the only one bold enough to look up and make eye contact with Daniel, who smiles at her.

Daniel, in return, is the only one to say thank you.

She's also very wary of Daniel at this stage, here and on the walk back to Nagada - she laughs at Skaara and Nabeh taking his handkerchief, but tenses up when he looks her way. Does she know at this stage that he has been earmarked as her husband?

It makes me curious, because I don't think that it's ever explicit in the film that Sha'uri is Kasuf's daughter and Skaara's sister (although it's implied), but it makes sense that she is the daughter of the chief and would therefore make a high status offering (ugh I feel gross typing that) for an emissary of Ra.

We know that Ra surrounds himself with child slaves (the creepy implications of which I don't want to think about), and it's unclear how old Sha'uri is meant to be (Mili Avital was 22), but I wonder if the reason why she was not married already is that this was always the role intended for her - to serve Ra in some capacity, perhaps (in tv show timeline) as a host for one of his underlings.

If so, it makes her fate in the show even more tragic.

Brown takes a picture on their approach to Nagada which is a nice little character beat - I wonder where that camera ended up? Derek Webster also had bit parts in Devlin/Emmerich joints Independence Day and Godzilla, fwiw.

"Ferretti, say again." Great line reading from Russell - he gets flack for being humourless/not being Richard Dean Anderson, but I think he has great presence in the role and character at this point - RDA!O'Neill is the product of Russell!O'Neil's experience in this film.

A sandstorm approaches and in the extended sequence there's a miscommunication that Skaara (Alexis Cruz) clears up. I like this addition, as it gives more scope to the connection between Jack and Skaara - he sees that Jack is the one in charge, but also that he's willing to listen, and Jack sees that Skaara is brave enough to face a threat, but also clever enough to diffuse the situation.

"Well that would have been an excellent reason to shoot everyone." lol, and people say snarky!Daniel was a show-only thing.

Trying to learn the word that means "sandstorm" from Kasuf and the incredulous/frustrated little laugh after is a nice touch too.

Erick Avari steals every scene he is - he was also in Devlin/Emmerich's Independence Day ("what's with the golf balls?!?" was an ad-lib), and of course he's great in The Mummy (the delivery of "Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" is perfection.)

He was only 42 during this movie! Hasn't aged a day since.

A great deal of Kasuf came from Avari as well - the role was only a few lines in the script and was mostly developed during rehearsals - the same was true for Alexis Cruz as Skaara.

While "tastes like chicken" was in the script, the clucking like a chicken came from Spader.

Pivotal scene, because it really shows Sha'uri's courage - her fear is palpable, first at her duty to offer herself to Daniel then at what his rejection may mean for her and her people. She is confused by his behaviour, delighted when they are able to exchange names, but guarded again when he draws in the sand. At this point she doesn't know if he is an emissary of Ra testing her resolve, but she takes the chance and fixes his drawing to make the symbol from Earth, then takes him to the hidden catacombs.

Sha'uri's leap of faith here is underrated I feel - she's been watching Daniel so closely and makes a very correct judgement about his character - there is something in him that she recognises, and decides that she can trust. At this stage she probably knows that she is safe with him, but she wants to go beyond that and actually connect with him.

Also she's wearing red here, the same colour as Kasuf and some of the other elders wear, which does imply it's a colour of status.

LOL, this scene would never happen today.

It was almost cut from the movie! The studio's focus was on the action and wanted to eliminate a great deal of the character stuff, resulting in the film testing very poorly. Devlin/Emmerich redid the cut to put everything back in and (surprise surprise!) the next audience screening was much more favourable.

Because Jack's character arc doesn't work without this scene! We need to see Jack actually bond with Skaara, to gift him the lighter, be amused when Skaara mimics him and takes a drag of the cigarette, then for things to turn when Skaara innocently reaches for Jack's gun and he blows up.

"I guess the word dweeb doesn't mean anything to you guys, does it?"

Too good! Too pure for this world!

The hidden catacombs fascinate me - the entrance is blocked with rocks so presumably Sha'uri hadn't been there for some time. Is it something she came across as a child? Was it secret information handed down through the generations, perhaps from her mother?

The symbol for Earth is only visible from inside so she must have explored the catacombs at some point, perhaps wondering what the paintings meant, and she must have been aware that at one point writing wasn't outlawed. I do like the idea that both Sha'uri and Daniel have this great curiosity and yearning to understand - they also share a great capacity for trust and willingness to take leaps of faith that makes them very well matched.

The backstory with Ra changed very late in the process - originally the Egyptian boy was merely appointed as a proxy for the alien creature to rule Earth, not possessed by the alien. This is unfathomable to me and really don't think it could have worked - where's the menace if Ra isn't the actual alien being but just some guy who works for him?

Presumably, it means Spader came back to do reshoots for the tale of Ra's origins, and if you notice he only mentions possession in a closeups where the lighting is slightly different. The frescos in the wide shots also don't match the closeups, which Emmerich himself did.

Brown is the one who gives Daniel a gun. RIP Brown.

Djimon Hounsou as Horus!

The Anubis/Horus/Ra disappearing headgear was one of the few noticeably CGI effects - most of the film was done practically and it shows (in a good way). I will take puppets and props and extras every day over CGI, there's just something more visceral about films made this way.

Daniel dies for the first - but certainly not the last - time.

The extended edition has Daniel walking through Ra's ship after being revived - there's a cat on Ra's throne, and we see more of Ra getting bathed and dressed by his child slaves just to notch up the creepiness.

Whatever happened to Jaye Davidson?

Apparently he had difficulty with the role, no doubt because as written it made no sense, which is why they had to change it in editing, adding the flanges and the glowing eyes.

Davidson was concerned he'd ruined the movie, and apparently was relieved rather than upset to see the final film. I actually think it's a great performance, and Ra has a menace that feels genuinely dangerous.

The Abydonian langauge was based on Ancient Egyptian as developed by Egyptologist Dr Stuart Smith, and apparently great care was taken to make it as authentic as possible. I...don't think the same can be said for the show.

Dr Smith also consulted on The Mummy, fwiw.

O'Neil, Kawalsky, Ferretti, and Guy Who Will Soon Die (Freeman).

Is is Kawalsky or Kawalski? The credits say Kawalsky, but his uniform at the beginning of the film says Kawalski. I personally prefer the latter.

The extended edition has an extra scene following the escape - Jack and Daniel jump on a mastadge which takes off and separates them from the group as Sha'uri and Skaara look on thinking "where are those idiots going?"

They get stuck in a sandstorm where Daniel collapses, and they're only found because the mastadge is so upset about his new friend he wails - this explains why Daniel is coughing and spluttering when they get to the cave.

Many a slash fic has started this way, I'm sure.

I really like Kawalski in this scene - "these kids don't have anywhere else to go" really hits me for some reason. He's bonded with them too.

"I don't want to die, your men don't want to die, and these people here don't want to die. It's a shame you're in such a hurry to."

The pivotal Jack and Daniel scene - this where the reveal about how Jack's son died should have been, so we find out when Daniel does. Then we'd think back on all the previous interactions - Jack knocking the gun from Skaara's hand, being unable to shoot the kids Ra uses as human shields - and be able to read new meaning into them.

A tender moment that I kind of wish they'd let play out a little more, although Avital captures Sha'uri's vulnerability so well. This was her first scene!

While I do love the Daniel/Sha'uri romance, I think she gets unfairly dismissed as just the love interest when she's so much more. Sha'uri is the one who starts the Abydonian rebellion - she's the one who decides that "we can no longer live as slaves" and rallies the boys to save Jack and his men - she's the one who passes on the knowledge of Ra's true identity.

At that point it's unclear if she thought Daniel is dead or just captured - her reaction following the massacre in Nagada perhaps implies the former. When Skaara tells her that Ra has called an execution she's been looking at the cave paintings, so clearly rebellion is already on her mind, and she's willing to go against everything she's been taught to try and save - maybe Daniel - but maybe only his friends, to help them overthrow Ra.

Interesting costume change for Kasuf here - he no longer has his outer robes or headdress, nor is he riding a mastadge - has he been stripped of his leadership role? Horus is now in charge.

Also nice little character beat - while the other have their guns pointed at Horus, Daniel is looking back at Sha'uri.

I do love Skaara's defiance - telling the others not to bow when Kasuf orders them to, and later he'll be the most reluctant to surrender, throwing down his gun in disgust before kneeling.

Sha'uri carries a gun into the pyramid, but I think it would have been better to at least see her try and shoot at the horus guard before she is killed.

Ostensibly this is a plot necessity to get Daniel up into the ship to give him a final faceoff with Ra and setup using the rings to deliver the bomb, but I think it's also needed for the Daniel/Sha'uri relationship - if he hadn't almost lost her and been willing to risk his life to save her, I don't think his choice to remain on Abydos with her at the end would have rung as true.

"I am no longer amused." idc, Davidson is great.

The first - but certainly not the last - time Daniel will get his brain friend by the hand device.

Ra's ultimate downfall is his hubris - if he'd never revived Daniel to make an example of him it's likely he never would have been overthrown, or at least not in the way he was. Yes he may still have had the public execution, and Sha'uri and Skaara may have still tried to rescue Jack and the others, but without Daniel to shoot his staff to set off the disturbance it may not have been successful. Jack wouldn't have been able to properly communicate with the Abydonians to form a plan, Daniel wouldn't be there to reveal Horus as a mortal not a god to Kasuf, etc.

It's interesting to me because as I said above hubris is also Daniel's main flaw, although it manifests differently, but that's what really draws me to these kind of characters - people who are a force for good but in such a way that their idealism and drive could easily tip over into ruthlessness/villainy in the right circumstances, and we definitely see this explored a few times in the show.

Also interesting is even though Kurt Russell gets top billing, it's really Daniel who is our protagonist - he's the one who is the true adversary to Ra, they share the relationship and confrontational scenes - Jack's antagonist is really Anubis.

Kasuf arrives with the uprising, and ultimately I do love that all three of our Abydonian family - Sha'uri, Skaara, and Kasuf - play a vital role in overthrowing Ra, even if Jack and Daniel get the credit for actually killing him.

We're meant to be la la la don't think about it re: the child slaves who were presumably still on Ra's ship when it blew up.

And I'm a sap! Skaara and the boys saluting Jack, and getting his salute in return always gets me.

Kawalsky and Ferretti too!

It's very important that Sha'uri is the one who instigates the kiss with Daniel, to balance the earlier scene where he kissed her.

Because it's a relationship that could very easily veer into problematic or feel unearned, but by this point having saved each other's lives, having communicated and bonded and come to understand one another, they do seem to be genuinely falling in love rather than there being any sense of obligation.

I think there might have been an alternate ending - on the bts there's footage of Daniel and Sha'uri walking with the Abydonians. Daniel looks back, presumably at the pyramid, as if reckoning with his decision to stay and a last look back at his life on Earth. Then he puts his arm around Sha'uri and they blend into the crowd as Daniel becomes part of the Abydonian people.

And then they both lived happily ever after and no one ever bothered them again! I choose to see the movie and the show as very similar but different universes/timelines, so hold true to my headcanon that this version of Daniel/Sha'uri got that long and happy life together on Abydos.

But as it is, we get our goodbyes - Skaara gets a handshake of respect from Jack, and Daniel gets some nice closure on his relationships with the three surviving members of the team:

Ferretti - goes from "Isn't there something you should be doing right now? Like getting us out of here?" (throws suitcase) to "I always knew you'd get us back"

Kawalski from - "You're a lying son of a bitch!" to "Thanks Daniel"

And Jack, from "He's full of shit" to "I'll be seeing you around...Doctor Jackson."

Of course this was setting up the sequel in the planned trilogy, but it works well moving on - as I will be - to the show.