Children of the Gods

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“Children of the Gods”
Stargate SG-1 episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Written by	Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright
Directed by	Mario Azzopardi
Guest stars	Jay Acovone as Major Charles Kawalsky Vaitiare Bandera as Sha're Robert Wisden as Major Samuels Peter Williams as Apophis Brent Stait as Major Ferretti Gary Jones as Walter Harriman Alexis Cruz as Skaara
Production no.	101A, 101B
Original airdate	July 27, 1997
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Stargate (film)" "The Enemy Within"
Episode chronology

"Children of the Gods" is the pilot episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. The MPAA rated it R for a scene of nudity.^[1] This episode was nominated for a Golden Reel Award in the category "Best Sound Editing - Television Movies of the Week".^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Differences from the film 3 Original and subsequent airings 4 Special Edition re-make 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

One year previously, in the events of the movie Stargate, Colonel Jack O'Neill led a team through the Stargate to the planet Abydos. After killing the System Lord Ra by rigging a nuclear bomb onto his ship as it left Abydos, O'Neill returned to Earth with two survivors of his team, leaving behind Dr. Daniel Jackson, who remained with his new love Sha're and her brother Skaara.

In the present, Apophis and his Jaffa come through the Stargate, killing several people and kidnapping a female airman. Soon after this event, Jack O'Neill is recalled to Cheyenne Mountain by Major General George Hammond. He is questioned, along with his former teammates Ferretti and Kawalsky, about the events leading up to their return to Earth from Abydos. When they refuse to reveal anything other than what is in their reports, General Hammond chooses to send a nuclear bomb through the Stargate to Abydos, believing that the aliens could only have come from Abydos and hoping to destroy whoever came through.

With this threat hanging over his head, O'Neill reveals that he had lied about using the bomb to destroy Abydos. He admits that while the alien Ra was destroyed, the people of Abydos are still alive and living in freedom, with Dr. Daniel Jackson living among them. After talking to his superiors, Hammond allows O'Neill to send a tissue box through the Stargate. When the box is returned with "Thanks. Send More," scribbled on it, proving that Jackson is alive and well, O'Neill is recalled to active duty, regains his rank of Colonel and is given permission to take a team through the Stargate to Abydos to investigate the alien invaders.

A team is assembled and includes Colonel O'Neill, Kawalsky, Ferretti, and, much to O'Neill's reluctance, the astrophysicist Captain-Doctor Samantha Carter, along with several others. When the team arrives, they find a group of Earth weaponry-armed Abydonians waiting for them. They are reunited with Daniel, Sha're, and Skaara.

Daniel leads O'Neill, Kawalsky, and Carter to a large cavernous room that has innumerable hieroglyphs on the walls. The archaeologist reveals that he believes that the hieroglyphs of the cartouche match the various symbols on the Stargate, leading him to believe that the walls are actually a map of the coordinates of a vast network of Stargates across the galaxy.

While O'Neill and the others are gone, the Abydos Stargate is opened and the camp is attacked by the same invaders that attacked Earth earlier in the episode. The leader's eyes glow, leading many of the survivors to believe that he was Ra. The invaders take Sha're and Skaara with them.

Determined to save his wife and brother-in-law, Daniel accompanies O'Neill and his team back to Earth. When the injured Ferretti is able to reveal the symbols that the invaders used to leave Abydos, General Hammond is given permission by the President to form nine teams who will use the Stargate to gather information about threats to Earth. O'Neill is given command of SG-1, with Sam Carter as his second-in-command and Daniel Jackson accompanying him, due to his determination to find his kidnapped wife. Kawalsky is given command of SG-2.

Turbaned guards drag away the female airman who was kidnapped from a room of young women to be stripped and inspected as a possible host. Protesting that she's a US Air Force Sergeant, she is subdued by a ribbon device, stripped, rejected and then killed. The goons return to the seraglio and grab Sha're, who passes and is made host for Apophis' Goa'uld Queen.

Meanwhile, both SG teams leave Earth for the planet where the invaders went. As SG-1 forges ahead, they meet a group of monks who escort them to the nearby town of Chulak (a name which, incidentally, soon begins to apply to the entire planet). During a meal they find out that Sha're has been taken, and when Daniel runs to her they are taken prisoner.

In the dungeon the team discovers Skaara and Daniel explains that it was not Ra who kidnapped Skaara and Sha're, but Apophis, named for the Egyptian serpent god of night. Before Skaara and the team can escape, Apophis and the possessed Sha're enter with several guards, including the leader of the guards, the First Prime Teal'c. Several other Goa'uld come forth and begin to pick people out of the crowd of prisoners who will become hosts to the children of the Goa'uld. Skaara is among the few to be chosen and is dragged away, screaming frantically for O'Neill. Also Daniel wants to be picked to be with his wife but he isn't chosen.

Apophis orders that the rest of the prisoners be killed and departs which causes panic among the prisoners. As the serpent guards prepare to execute his orders, O'Neill shouts desperately to Teal'c that he can save the people. Teal'c believes him and turns on his fellow guards, helping the prisoners escape. Although he is shocked about what he has done, he decides to go with SG-1.

O'Neill, Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c lead the prisoners away from Chulak back towards the Stargate, with serpent guards pursuing. While escaping the town, Teal'c shows O'Neill that he has a Goa'uld in his stomach, much to the shock of the others. He is Jaffa, a servant of the Gods. The larva gives him long life and perfect health. If he were to remove it, he would shortly die. Near the gate SG-1 is pinned down by a death glider. Kawalsky and SG-2 rescue them by bringing the ship down with an FIM-92 Stinger. At the gate they find Apophis leaving with his wife and the other Goa'uld families - Skaara is among them. O'Neill calls out to him, causing him to hesitate and wait for O'Neill to come closer. However, a Goa'uld had already possessed him. Skaara uses a Hand device to throw O'Neill back and then leaves through the gate.

Meanwhile more Jaffa arrive. While O'Neill, Teal'c, Kawalsky, and the rest of SG-2 provide cover, Carter and Daniel lead the prisoners through the Stargate and back to Earth. Just before Kawalsky goes back through the Gate, he is infected with an infant Goa'uld who left a Jaffa strangled to death by one of the refugees.

After everyone has made it safely through the Gate, Daniel and O'Neill reaffirm their determination to find Sha're and Skaara and rescue them before reporting to their debriefing. O'Neill also asks General Hammond that Teal'c become a member of their team but the General only says it is not his decision. As everyone leaves the gate room, Kawalsky's eyes glow.

[edit] Differences from the film

Dean Devlin had originally planned to have two movie sequels pick up the story from his 1994 original Stargate. The first movie already tapped into Egyptian mythology; the second one would have moved into other mythologies; and the third would tie together all mythologies.^[3] Devlin then gave MGM control over the franchise,^[4] who in turn decided to make a TV series based on the movie.^[5][6] Also, author Bill McCay wrote a series of five novels based on Roland Emmerich's notes, continuing the story the original creators had envisioned to Devlin's dismay.^[7] SG-1 showrunners Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner altered the canon by introducing many novel concepts with their mythology of the SG-1 and Atlantis series.

Most notably, many characters were portrayed by different actors in the series, and names were spelled differently.^[8] Daniel Jackson was played by James Spader in the movie and by Michael Shanks in the series. Kurt Russell's character Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil, a rather humorless Colonel, is played by Richard Dean Anderson as Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill (with two L's) in SG-1.^[9][10] French Stewart's character was named Louis Feretti, in SG-1, Brent Stait's character is named Louis Ferretti. The spelling of Daniel Jackson's wife changes from Sha'uri to Sha're, O'Neill's wife from Sarah to Sara.^[11][12] (Similarly, the name of O'Neil's son changes from Tyler in the film to Charlie.^[8])

The Stargate Command setting was transferred from the fictional military facility located in Creek Mountain, to the Cheyenne Mountain military complex.^[8] The planet Abydos from the film changed the distance from Earth from millions of lightyears away (in an entirely different galaxy) to becoming the closest planet to Earth with a Stargate, residing in the same galaxy as Earth. Also in SG-1, Stargate travel is limited to the Stargate network in the Milky Way galaxy (unless a tremendous amount of power is used to lengthen the subspace wormhole of a Stargate to another galaxy's Stargate).^[8] Ra was the last of an unnamed race in the film, being of a humanoid species with large black eyes and a lack of facial features. In SG-1 however, Ra is one of many "Goa'uld System Lords," who are a race of parasitic snake-like creatures.^[5][9] There were also changes to the Stargate. The unique set of 39 Stargate symbols in the film were replaced with the concept of 38 symbols that are the same for each Stargate (Earth's symbols based on Earth's constellations), plus a single point of origin symbol that is unique to that individual gate.^[5] While the kawoosh effect in the movie was created by filming the actual swirl of water in a glass tube, and looked like a vortex on the back of the Gate.^[13] On the TV series, this effect was completely created in CG by the Canadian visual effects company Rain Maker.^[14] (At the beginning of Season 9, however, the original movie wormhole sequence was substituted by a new sequence similar to the one already used on Stargate Atlantis at the time, but being blue as it was in the movie and SG-1, whereas in Atlantis it's green.^[15])

[edit] Original and subsequent airings

The episode's original airing on Showtime featured full frontal nudity during the scene showing the possession of Sha're (Vaitiare Bandera) by Amonet. This has never been repeated, and future airings in the United States have had the nudity cut out for syndication. The DVD version, however, retains this scene. This episode is the only one in the series to be rated by the MPAA (it is rated R), while in the UK the episode is rated 18 by the BBFC. It is rated M in Australia, recommended for (but not restricted to) viewers 15 and older. All other SG-1 episodes have generally been rated PG, or 15, at most.

[edit] Special Edition re-make

A new version of the episode is currently in production, re-edited using footage shot in 1997 as well as updated visual effects. The beginning will be slightly altered and a new scene added, although the final movie will be roughly 7 minutes shorter than the original 2-part episode. Joel Goldsmith will re-score the music. It will be released on DVD in 16:9 widescreen format, and may also be aired on television.^[16]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Stargate SG-1 site. MGM. Retrieved on 2006-06-08. Most of site requires Flash.
• Screenplay (PDF). Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Casablanca Continuity (08/06/1997). Retrieved on 2006-10-18. Also see Google's cache.
• Summary. SciFi. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
• Summary. GateWorld. Retrieved on 2006-05-04.