Stargate (movie)

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Stargate
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roland Emmerich
Produced by	Dean Devlin Oliver Eberle Mario Kassar Joel B. Michaels
Written by	Roland Emmerich Dean Devlin
Starring	Kurt Russell James Spader
Music by	David Arnold
Cinematography	Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Editing by	Derek Brechin Michael J. Duthie
Studio	Canal+ Centropolis Film Productions Carolco Pictures
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Artisan Entertainment(1999 DVD release only) Pathé (UK) VHS
Release date(s)	October 28, 1994
Running time	121 minutes

A misfit archaeologist joins a military team in travelling through an ancient doorway to a far-away planet, where they must liberate an enslaved people from a powerful false god.

Stargate is a 1994 movie, written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, and directed by Emmerich. This film originated the Stargate franchise.

Summary

• A team discovered a coverstone and the Stargate in Giza, Egypt, in 1928.
• Dr. Daniel Jackson, a misfit archeologist, discovers the point of origin.
• A military team travels in subluminic speed to a planet located at the far end of the known universe.
• They will discover people originated from Earth.
• They will face a false god Egyptian mythology-related.

Story

The different acts correspond to the Blu-ray disc chapters.

Act 1

Egypt, Giza Plateau, 1928. A car goes full speed towards the Great Pyramids, with Professor Langford and his daughter Catherine on board. Inside a tent, an Arabic interpreter hears the horn blaring ang gets out of the tent to welcome the Professor. When they go together in the Giza archeological diggings, the interpreter declares they found something beautiful, a very big surprise. Langford meets Foreman Taylor who shows him a big circular coverstone.

Meanwhile, Catherine is visiting the tents with all the discoveries they made in the diggings. She discovers a necklace with the symbol of Ra. Then, Langford calls her daughter back. She picks up the necklace and comes back to her father. They go to a place where many workers are erecting a big and heavy circular artefact with ropes. Professor Langford wonders what kind of object it is. Taylor says he wished he knows.

Act 2

Present day, Park Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, an old woman is climbing the stairs. She's wearing the necklace found in Giza—she is Catherine Langford. She goes to a room where a young archeologist, Doctor Daniel Jackson, is leading a symposium on Ancien Egypt. Jackson states then that the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty didn't build the Great Pyramids. A Professor mentions the discovery of Khufu's inscription by Colonel Vyse. Jackson declares it's actually a fraud. An other Professor asks to Jackson who build the pyramids. When Jackson replies he has no idea, the audience laughs at him and leave the room. Just only one person remains.

Soon after, Jackson is outside the hotel, under a heavy rain. A US Air Force officer approaches Jackson and invites him to get in a car as someone wants to speak to him. Inside the car, Catherine Langford, with Jackson files, is waiting for him. When Jackson gets in the car, Catherine Langford proposes a translation job to Jackson insisting that this is his chance to prove that his theories are right. She gives him travel plans. At the same moment Kawalsky opens the car's door and invites Jackson to get out. Oustide, just as the Air Force car's leaving, Jackson is checking his travel plans.

Meanwhile, in a suburban street, an other US Air Force sedan parks near a house. Sarah O'Neil opens the entrance door and comes back to the kitchen doing the dishes. Two officers come in and ask to Sarah O'Neil if it's possible to speak to her husband. She lights a cigarette and says to them: "You can try." Upstairs, they open the door of Tyler's bedroom where they find Colonel Jack O'Neil. He holds a hand gun he hides quickly under the pillow when the door opens. Major Johnson announces to O'Neill from General West that he has been reactivated. O'Neil doesn't say a word. When they come back to the car, the other officer is surprised to see O'Neill like this. Johnson replies that his kid shot himself accidentally and died.

Military installation, Creek Mountain, Colorado. Jackson arrives here with Lieutenant Kawalski. There, Jackson sneezes because of allergies when he travels. In sub-level 28, he meets Doctors Barbara Shore and Gary Meyers. He learns that this facility is actually a reconverted desaffected missile silo. They go to a room where they find the Giza coverstone. Catherine then meets him and expresses her joy to see him joining the adventure. Catherine confirms to Jackson that nobody has seen this coverstone. Meyers tells then that it has two cartouches, the first classical, and the inner cartouche with unknown writing. Jackson guess it's a kind of cuneiform writing. He goes to a blackboard, starting to correct the translation as the translator (actually Meyers) seems to have used Budge. After the correction, he reads this: "A million years into the sky is Ra, sun god, sealed and buried for all time... his Stargate." Jackson ask why the military are insterested in 5,000 years old Egyptian tablets. Then Colonel O'Neil, shaved, the hair cut and wearing a Class A uniform, tells that his report says 10,000 years. O'Neil introduces himself and tells he's taking command from this moment. Jackson is surprised to hear this date as the Egyptian culture didn't exist 10,000 years ago. Shore tells Jackson that sonic and radio carbon tests are conclusive and they found something a lot more interesting near the coverstone. At this moment, Colonel O'Neil tells that everything has become classified and no one has to tell civilians unless he permits it. O'Neil leaves the room. Catherine Langford reaches him and asks why they choose him. He replies, "in case you succeed."

Two weeks have passed. Jackson has tried everything he knows about writings but found nothing yet. He takes the empty coffee carafe and gets out of the room to fill it with water. Then he sees a guard reading a newspaper. Looking at the front page, he grabs it from the newspaper and rushes into the room. The door closes and Jackson asks to the guard if he can borrow it. He grabs a marker an draws a sketch on the Orion constellation picture of the front page. He then climbs on a ladder and compares it to one of the cartouche's symbols. They match.

Act 3

The next day, all the joint chiefs rendez-vous to the military facility. Daniel Jackson is introduced to Major General W.O. West in the Stargate Command briefing room. Jackson is invited to share what he has solved in two weeks, something the staff couldn't solve in two years. He reveals that the writings on the Giza coverstone were actually star constellations. Six symbols are used to form a map with a destination and a seventh symbol is used to determine the point of origin. When Gary Meyers states that there are only six points on the cartouche, Jackson tells that the seventh symbol is below the cartouche, representing a pyramid with worshipers kneeled around. Then Meyers mentions that this symbol is not on the device. As Jackson doesn't know anything about the device, General West eventually orders to show Jackson the device. Behind the whiteboard is revealed "his" Stargate, the device found in 1928 along with the coverstone. Catherine Langford asks Jackson to come with her in the control room. There, Meyers orders to turn on the central monitor on the glyphs. The Stargate inner ring is spinning, showing the different symbols one after another. Then Jackson notices a glyph with a pyramid and a circle above it. He asks to stop, grabs a marker, and draws on the monitor the worshippers around the pyramid and the line on the top. They found the symbol. General West order to begin the dialing sequence. During the sequence, all material is shaking harder and harder until the seventh symbol is locked. Then, a giant vortex on the Stargate is activated, going front and back, and finally stabilizing like a puddle. Everybody are astonished.

West orders to send a probe through the puddle and record all informations from the Stargate.

Notes

• Semantic Stargate Wiki articles are written according to the Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis/Stargate Universe continuity, based on the movie continuity. However, some movie events/characters' names contradict this continuity. See the Canon page to see the differences.
• Kawalski is carriing Lieutenant Colonel insignas on his shoulers. Yet he is called "Lieutenant" in the movie by O'Neil. Usually, we refer to a Lieutenant Colonel as "Colonel", not "Lieutenant". More, to fit the Stargate SG-1 canon, Kawalsky has become Major, one rank below Lieutenant Colonel.
• Feretti is wearing Technical Sergeant insignas on his fatigues' sleeves. Yet he is credited as "Lieutenant Feretti".

See also

• Stargate - Director's Cut, the extended version.