Stargate literature
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Stargate literature are the novels and short stories in the Stargate fictional universe, either based on the original Stargate film or on the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis television shows.
There are three series of novels based on the Stargate franchise and short fiction has also been published in the official Stargate Magazine. It becomes difficult to discern what is and what is not canonical due to the fact that much of the literature is based on the canon, whilst some of even this type of work deviates from the main productions, or is later contradicted. There's no official word from MGM about the canonicity of the Stargate written fiction. MGM does, however, approve each stage of novel's production, from initial outline to final draft.[1] It remains up to the fan's discretion whether or not to accept Stargate literature as part of the combined Stargate universe.
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[edit] Movie-based
[edit] The movie's novelization
Written by the movie creators, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the novelization of the original Stargate movie was published by Signet Books, an imprint of Penguin Books, in December 1994.
The novelization greatly fleshes out the backstory of the movie, placing emphasis on matters only lightly touched upon in the film, such as the prehistory of the ancient Egyptians, Ra's conquest of Earth and the following creation of Egyptian religion and culture, and insight on the background and personalities of the main characters.
[edit] Movie sequels
A series of five novels written by Bill McCay were published from 1996 to 1999, based on the story of the 1994 film, Stargate. Each book was also produced as a book on tape read by David Fox. These were produced by consulting the original notes made by film director Roland Emmerich, in an attempt to envision where the film "would have gone". Neither party has commented on whether McCay's interpretation was correct. The film's producer, Dean Devlin, had his own ideas, but he did not bring them to light until interviewed much later, after the publication of all the novels. The subsequent television series Stargate SG-1 was an entirely independent development, making no attempt to reconcile with the plot line of the books. This marked the first major branching of the franchise.
The story continues immediately after the events of the film, with the US government (military) interested in the mineral that is mined for Ra by the Abydonians. As conflict arises in many forms on the planet of Abydos, a new threat comes when other gods from Ra's pantheon (namely Hathor) come looking. Bits of the Ancient Egyptian myth, The Destruction of Mankind, is acknowledged in the novel's construction.
The first three books form one complete storyline:
- Stargate: Rebellion (October 1995)
- Stargate: Retaliation (September 1996)
- Stargate: Retribution (October 1997)
The last two continue after the events in the first three books, but move the story forwards by dealing with the Abydonians and the events which happen at the climax of the trilogy.
- Stargate: Reconnaissance (May 1998)
- Stargate: Resistance (October 1999)
[edit] New characters
[edit] Hathor
Although Hathor wears the Mask of the Cat in the books, the Hathor from ancient Egyptian mythology was personified by either the cow or the hippopotamus, and was known as a gentle goddess, not a fierce warrior. However, a mythological tale developed by Lower Egypt regarding the factual event of Upper Egypt's Pharaoh, Mentuhotep II, taking control of Lower Egypt, describes the warrior goddess Sekhmet as becoming much like gentle Hathor at the end of the tale. A cult soon arose which described Sekhmet and Hathor as being one goddess, who was sometimes depicted as a lioness. It is possible that this version of Hathor is the one Bill McCay chose to portray in his novels.
[edit] Sebek
Like all the other "Egyptian gods" created by Ra, Sebek was a human taken from his people at a young age, and raised to serve Ra, later wearing the Mask of the Crocodile after traditionally assassinating the preceding Sebek. When Ra took a routine trip to Abydos, he took Anubis, the head of Ra's warriors, leaving Sebek behind. When neither Ra nor Anubis returned, Sebek became the new leader of the warrior caste.
However, Sebek's rule was reasonably short-lived; when Thoth woke the sleeping Hathor from Ra's secondary sarcophagus, Hathor's first goal as successor to Ra was to take control of the warrior caste. To do this, she personally assassinated Sebek, gaining entrance to his inner sanctum by posing as a prostitute. Upon assaulting and beheading him, Hathor established herself as leader of the warrior caste; she did not take his place as the next Sebek, as was traditional.
[edit] Thoth
Thoth wore the Mask of the Ibis. He was homely and overweight and was referred to derogatively as an "accountant god". Thoth was the one responsible for waking Hathor from Ra's secondary sarcophagus.
[edit] Ptah
Ptah was Ra's chief engineer and husband of Hathor, he was in charge of maintaining Ra's spacecraft. An accident involving exposure to a ships engine exhaust forced him to graft limbs made of the quartz element onto himself, to replace the ones that had been damaged.
[edit] Differences between the books and Stargate SG-1
In the books, Ra is the last of his race, and all of his lieutenants (such as Hathor and Ptah) are actually loyal humans who pose as the other Egyptian gods created by Ra to enslave the populace. The movie version of Ra inhabits a human body by possessing the human with his soul, rather than as the parasitic snake as seen in the SG-1 TV show.
The books focus more on politics, with budget issues and human rights considerations playing a large role. The book's version of O'Neil is much more of a straight soldier, while Jackson remains the idealistic maverick scientist. The quartz-like mineral (called Naqahdah in SG-1) remains unnamed. The city that Kasuf and Sha'uri live in is called Nagada and more cities on Abydos are shown.
While the first three books focus on the plight of the Abydan (called Abydonian in SG-1) people and the war between Ra's humans and the humans from Earth, the last two books introduce other worlds and other races.
[edit] Series-based
There are two series of novels, one based on Stargate SG-1 and the other on Stargate Atlantis.
[edit] Stargate SG-1
There are two series of Stargate SG-1 novels, one published by ROC and the other by Fandemonium Press.
[edit] The ROC novels
ROC published four novels written by Ashley McConnell from 1998 to 2001. These novels were available only in the US.
| Title | Date | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Stargate SG-1 | October 1998 | Novelization of the series' pilot, "Children of the Gods" |
| The Price You Pay | July 1999 | Season 1 |
| The First Amendment | February 2000 | Season 3 |
| The Morpheus Factor | February 2001 | After The Devil You Know |
[edit] The Fandemonium novels
In 2004, UK-based Fandemonium Press started a new series of licensed tie-in novels based on Stargate SG-1. Due to the conflict with ROC's license, these books were available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, but not in the US. Fandemonium books became available in the US in 2006. These novels could be described as extra episodes for the show, and remain fairly popular. Also, Fandemonium accepts fan submissions for these novels.
| Series no. | Title | Author | Date | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trial By Fire | Sabine C. Bauer | June 2004 | Season 7 |
| 2 | Sacrifice Moon | Julie Fortune | September 2004 | Season 1 |
| 3 | A Matter Of Honor (1 of 2) | Sally Malcolm | November 2004 | Season 7 |
| 4 | City Of The Gods | Sonny Whitelaw | April 2005 | Season 5 |
| 5 | The Cost Of Honor (2 of 2) | Sally Malcolm | 9 September 2005 | Season 7 |
| 6 | Siren Song | Jaimie Duncan and Holly Scott | 7 February 2006 | Season 7 |
| 7 | Survival of the Fittest | Sabine C Bauer | 7 July 2006 | Season 5 |
| 8 | Alliances | Karen Miller | 15 September 2006 | Season 4 |
| 9 | Roswell | Sonny Whitelaw and Jennifer Fallon | 25 June 2007 | Season 10, between "Memento Mori" and "The Quest" |
| 10 | Relativity | James Swallow | October 2007 | Season 7 |
| 11 | Barque of Heaven | Suzzane Wood | January 2008 | Season 3, just after "Deadman Switch" |
| 12 | Do No Harm | Karen Miller | March 2008 | Season 3 |
| 13 | Hydra | Holly Scott and Jaimie Duncan | April 2008 |
[edit] Stargate Atlantis
In late 2005, Fandemonium launched a new series of books based on Stargate Atlantis. Unlike with the SG-1 books, Fandemonium does not accept fan submissions for the Atlantis books and they are commissioned only to professional writers. These books are available in all English-speaking countries and through online bookstores.
| Series no. | Title | Author | Date | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rising | Sally Malcolm | December 15, 2005 | Novelization of the pilot episode. |
| 2 | Reliquary | Martha Wells | February 2006 | Season 1, just after Hot Zone |
| 3 | The Chosen | Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen | 19 April 2006 | Season 1, immediately following The Eye |
| 4 | Halcyon | James Swallow | 7 August 2006 | Season 2, between Trinity and The Lost Boys (Part 1) |
| 5 | Exogenesis | Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen | December 2006 | Season 2, immediately prior to Michael |
| 6 | Entanglement | Martha Wells | March 2007 | Early season 2 |
| 7 | Casualties of War | Elizabeth Christensen | 25 September 2007 | Right after the events of Progeny and The Real World |
| 8 | Blood Ties | Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen | 25 November 2007 | At the end of season 3 |
[edit] Short fiction
The official Stargate Magazine, produced by Titan Publishing, began publishing short stories written by Fandemonium authors in their 8th issue. The stories alternate between both SG-1 and Atlantis. The magazine is available in the UK and internationally trough Diamond Comic Distributors' Previews catalogue.
| Issue | Series | Title | Author | About | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #7 (Nov/Dec 2005) | Stargate Atlantis | Flipside | Sally Malcolm | How Sheppard ended up in McMurdo | Pre-series until "Rising" |
| #8 (Jan/Feb 2006) | Stargate SG-1 | Archeology 101 | Martha Wells | Archaeological dig gone wrong for Dr. Jackson | Season 2 |
| #10 (May/June 2006) | Stargate Atlantis | Choices | James Swallow | Lt. Aiden Ford | After "Runner" |
| #11 (Jul/Aug 2006) | Stargate SG-1 | Medical Considerations | Karen Miller | Dr. Janet Fraiser | Season 4 |
| #12 (Sep/Oct 2006) | Stargate Atlantis | The Companion | Sally Malcolm | Dr. Rodney McKay gets trapped with a mad hologram | Season 2 or 3 |
| #13 (Nov/Dec 2006) | Stargate SG-1 | Juju | Sabine C. Bauer | The aftermath of Daniel Jackson's death | Season 6 |
| #14 (Feb/Mar 2007) | Stargate Atlantis | A Pebble On The Cairn | Jaimie Duncan | Ronon Dex | Season 3 |
| #15 (Apr/May 2007) | Stargate Atlantis | Course Corrections | Elizabeth Christianson | John Sheppard | Season 3, just after The Return, Part 1 |
| #16 (Jun/Jul 2007) | Stargate SG-1 | The Bitter Hearth | Holly Scott | Teal'c | Near the start of Season 4 |
| #18 (Sep/Oct 2007) | Stargate SG-1 | K-T | Sonny Whitelaw & Jennifer Fallon | Vala Mal Doran | After the end of Season 10 |
| #19 (Nov/Dec 2007) | Stargate Atlantis | Waypoints | Elizabeth Christensen | ||
| #20 (Jan/Feb 2008) | Stargate SG-1 | Outsiders | James Swallow |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Stargate Novels Official Homepage
- Gateworld Reviews of Books
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