Reading Stargate SG-1

In 1997 the series Stargate SG-1 first aired on American cable television and over the course of nearly nine seasons has developed its own unique mythological superstructure. Stargate SG-1 focuses on the dynamic relationships among the show's main characters the four-person first-contact team: SG-1. Each week they are taken to new planets where ancient human civilizations have been seeded as slave populations by the show's arch-villains the parasitic body-snatching Goa'uld. The series' concerns therefore range from ancient cultures and contemporary politics to aliens and advanced technologies all given life with award-winning special effects and anchored by the central icon of the Stargate. Stargate SG-1 has blossomed into a series driven by fierce fan loyalty with lively internet discussion groups growing 'textual poaching' in fan fiction and art and popular annual conventions. It has also generated a spin-off Stargate: Atlantis.<br/>In this welcome critical celebration contributors discuss Stargate SG-1's characters cinematic techniques its themes and its place within science fiction television and film along with its interaction with fan fiction its Canadian setting its ideological framing in the American point-of-view and the tensions between its humanistic morality and its representation of military/political objectives. There is also assessment of the currently fledgling Stargate: Atlantis. Written for both fans and scholars the book also includes an episode guide to the first eight seasons of Stargate SG-1 and to the first season of Stargate: Atlantis as well as a glossary of terms.