Stargate SG-1 - "Children of the Gods" (TV Episode Review #1)

It is often said that most TV shows need to “take time” to get good.  Some of them have a good start (e.g. Farscape), but others might awkwardly struggle to come to life at first (e.g. Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Walking Dead).  Stargate SG-1 is a rare exception to this rule.  The series’ pilot episode, “Children of the Gods”, premiered on Showtime on July 27, 1997 and is a true gold standard of TV pilots.

As a continuation of the 1994 Stargate movie, “Children of the Gods” plays more like a feature-length sequel to the film than a traditional TV pilot.  Co-creators Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner put together a strong, tight, and at times gut-wrenching script, supplemented by a direction and cinematography that made it feel truly cinematic.  Joel Goldsmith’s music score apes David Arnold’s score from the movie, but he does enough to make it his own.  In addition to his reprisal of the original theme song, he also composed many of the most iconic themes and motifs from the series just for this episode.

Also worthy of note are the set and costume designs.  In lieu of futuristic science fiction imagery, most of the sets are inspired by ancient and medieval architecture.  The Ancient Egyptian design of the planet Abydos returns from the movie, while the juxtaposition of Greco-Roman and medieval architecture on Chulak blended surprisingly well with the environment of British Columbia, where the episode was filmed.  This gives it a mystical atmosphere more akin to fantasy than science fiction.

Every pilot episode’s job is to introduce the main characters, and “Children of the Gods” excels at this.  The two central characters of the movie, Col. Jack O’Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson, are once again the main characters here.  Jack is already showing his more humorous side—early signs of the snarky wisecracker who would eventually become one of sci-fi’s most iconic heroes.  Daniel has grown as a character since the movie, having taken a leadership role and caring about the well-being of the Abydonians.  Still, that does not mean he has lost his geeky affinity for history and archaeology, as he is still uncovering Abydos’s secrets even a year later.

The episode does a good job at laying groundwork for the new characters, too.  From her introduction, Cpt. Samantha Carter is already shown as a science geek and know-it-all who can’t shut up with her technobabble.  Gen. George Hammond is known today as the patient mentor of SG-1, but in “Children of the Gods” he comes off as quite staunch at first, very skeptical of the project and of O’Neill’s methods.  And then there is Teal’c.  For being the most complex character in the episode, his arc is executed very subtly—and Christopher Judge’s underplayed performance sells all of this perfectly.  Many of his actions may not seem like much at first, but in hindsight they are brilliantly hidden hints of his true intentions.

Teal’c starts as the First Prime (the second-in-command) of Apophis, the Goa’uld System Lord who impersonates the Egyptian god of the same name.  Apophis is set up outstandingly as the central antagonist, firmly established as thoroughly threatening, effective, and leaving a permanent impression on the heroes by the end.  It is an impression that sets the tone for this episode.

For a series that is known to be very fun and lighthearted, “Children of the Gods” has quite a dark and harrowing tone.  With the movie’s original creators, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, leaving the exact nature of Ra’s race open-ended, Brad Wright & Jonathan Glassner had to fill in the blanks themselves.  What they ended up creating was one of the most horrifying antagonists ever put to screen: the Goa’uld.  Wright & Glassner took parasites taking control of a host (a popular trope in sci-fi) to a whole new level, managing to fuse body horror and psychological horror together with such cold brutality.

In addition, “Children of the Gods” pulls no punches with how returning characters from the Stargate movie get treated.  Besides Jack and Daniel, the other returning characters—Sha’re, Skaara, Kawalsky, and Ferretti—are all not safe in this, and this helps raise the sense of danger and vulnerability for Jack, Daniel, and even Sam.  In the long run, it all establishes the Goa’uld and the Jaffa as a serious force to be reckoned with.

Despite its overall dark tone, “Children of the Gods” also displays the first dosage of the warm and lighthearted fun that SG-1 would become more known for.  Jack O’Neill is already showing his more humorous side, such as when he tests whether or not Daniel really did survive on Abydos by sending through the Gate...a box of tissues!  It’s a funny subversion that establishes a departure from the serious colonel in the movie.  Another memorable funny scene is Sam and Daniel in the Abydonian map room.  Watching them go back and forth on analyzing the coordinates is simply hilarious to watch, and Amanda Tapping & Michael Shanks’s chemistry shines for the first time in this scene.

Lastly, there is the ending.  While the final battle acknowledges the darker scenes from before with how it plays out, there is a sense of triumph with what the heroes get to accomplish in the end.  SG-1, for how far set back they are by Apophis, get a taste of victory.  Although “Children of the Gods” places the heroes in an intense and difficult situation where the odds are in the villain’s favor, there is a sensibility that they will find a way to strike back.  In doing so, it opens so many doors for so many future plotlines to explore—and over the course of the next 10 years, the series delivered on the directions it would eventually explore.