uried under the desert for 10,000 years, unearthed in Egypt in the 1920s and ultimately reburied in a Colorado missile silo, a mysterious ring, made of an unknown material and carved with arcane symbols, becomes a gateway to destiny for two very different men. One is Professor Daniel Jackson (Spader), an Egyptologist who's at the end of his rope when he accepts a job from a mysterious woman (Viveca Lindfors) who wants him to translate certain cryptic writings. The other is Col. Jack O'Neil (Russell), a soldier at the end of his own rope after the accidental shooting death of his son.
The mysterious ring proves to be an alien artifact, a long-sealed gateway to another world. Once Jackson unlocks its secrets, he joins O'Neil and a military reconnaissance party on a mission to find out what's on the other side. The expedition gets much, much more than it bargained for. The desert world on the other side of the Stargate holds the answers to both men's problems. But only if they can liberate the abducted human slaves they find there and survive a struggle to the death against the immortal Ra (Davidson) and Egyptian gods armed with alien technology.
Taking audiences more or less by surprise with little prerelease publicity, 1994's Stargate was the breakout film for the team of Devlin and Emmerich, who went on to produce a string of SF blockbusters, including Independence Day and Godzilla. While critics found plenty to complain about, the film was a hit with science-fiction fans and went on to spawn a successful TV series, now in its seventh season on the SCI FI Channel.
This "ultimate edition" DVD presentation of Stargate comes as a two-disc set, featuring both the theatrical release and a director's-cut version with a few deleted scenes restored. It features a remastered transfer, Dolby 5.1 and 6.1 DTS audio tracks, commentary from Devlin and Emmerich on the director's-cut disc and a roundup of extras, including trailers, cast and crew filmographies, a making-of featurette and a short documentary tying the film's story to the works of alien astronaut chaser Erich von Daniken.
What's not to like?
No matter how hokey critics find it, audiences embrace Stargate because it promises a good time at the movies and it delivers. Inspired by adventure epics of the '30s and '40s, it serves up red-blooded heroism, likable characters that are just complex enough, cool alien gadgets, a sleek and ruthless villain and a girl worth crossing the universe for. What's not to like?
But how many times are viewers supposed to like it? This is the third time Stargate has appeared on DVD. After a 1997 initial release, a special edition came out in 1999, and now this ultimate edition. Artisan pretty much admits this is an incremental "upgrade" to the 1999 release—it includes a $5.00 rebate coupon for owners of that DVD. That version also contained the additional footage included here on the director's-cut disc. Furthermore, many of the extras appear to have been lifted intact from that release. None of the filmographies go past 1998, and the commentary track appears to be the one from the special edition as well.
Considered on its own merits, though, this is a high-quality package. The commentary track offers plenty of insights, despite occasionally lapsing into simply telling you what you're looking at. The new making-of featurette is also a plus. It repeats some of the information from the commentary track, but appears on the theatrical version's disc, while the commentary is only on the director's-cut disc. If anything, the package is too lavish. The differences between the two cuts of the film are pretty minor overall.
The only real embarrassment is the featurette "Is There a Stargate?" This is a stock-footage romp through von Daniken's crank theories with passing references to the film tacked on at beginning and end to make it seem like it belongs here. The less said about it, the better.
So this is a close call for fans who have the 1999 special edition. There's not much that's new. (Although, shop around and use the rebate coupon, and the price can get down into single digits.) But for more recent converts, fans who discovered Stargate through the SG-1 series, for example, this edition doesn't disappoint.
