Audiences have watched Richard Dean Anderson’s hair grow greyer with each new season of Stargate SG-1 since it first aired in 1997. As the longest running sci-fi series in TV history, creator Brad Wright has a lot to be proud of, but upon recently watching a re-air of the feature-length episode that started it all, he realised “he could do better”. It’s for this reason that Wright decided to return to the editing room twelve years later to re-cut and remaster the entire first episode, Children of the Gods, making it the way “it should have been from the beginning.”

It’s understandable that some fans might see this re-cut as an act of pure blasphemy, believing Wright is tampering with a classic for his own self-indulgence. Conversely, I’m sure a number of fans will side with him, arguing that the film deserved to be retooled so that it is up to the same standard as later episodes in the series. As a casual watcher of SG-1 since it began, I tend to lean towards the latter. It’s hard to deny that Wright, having now had ten seasons to refine his craft, has made a slicker, more definitive cut of the pilot episode. That being said, I don’t think enough has been enhanced to warrant prospective newcomers to buy Children of the God’s over, say, a Season 1 box set.

The events of Children of the Gods occur one year after the conclusion of the 1994 film Stargate. Richard Dean Anderson replaces Kurt Russell as Jack O’Neill, a charismatic and sarcastic Colonel of the US Air Force who distrusts anyone with a higher IQ than his. Colonel O’Neill was the first to helm a mission through the mysterious Stargate; a cross-planetary portal that was planted on earth millions of years ago by the Goa’uld, an alien race that were depicted in Ancient Egyptian engravings. But when thought-to-be-dead Goa’uld ruler Ra (Peter Williams) unexpectedly emerge from the Stargate, killing four soldiers and kidnapping another, General Hammond (Don S. Davis) of Stargate Command calls Colonel O’Neill back into duty.   A team called SG-1 is assembled with O’Neill at the helm, and much to his dismay, General Hammond places brainy astrophysicist Samantha “Sam” Carter (Amanda Tapping) under his command. Their mission is to go through the portal to the planet of Abydonia and discover how Ra managed to come to Earth, given the Stargate on the other side is being guarded by Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) and the Abydonian people.  What they discover there is that the Stargate network might be much larger than they originally thought.

Children of the Gods is a respectable start to a tremendously successful series, but it’s undeniably a film made for television. Even when considering this modernised version, it’s clear that the production values aren’t anywhere near that of the 1994 film (which is to be expected). The episode is predictably plotted, as Mario Azzopardi’s direction makes sure every twist can be seen coming well in advance, but it does possess enough excitement and originality to make you hunger for more. The dialogue is noticeably more rigid here than it is in later episodes, yet the staple chemistry between O’Neill, Jackson and Carter is great to watch blossom, even if the cast are still trying to find their feet. Anderson is certainly no Kurt Russell, but he does turn in a solid performance as O’Neill that tends to get better and better as the series progresses.

Final Cut Changes:

While this is essentially the same episode that aired in 1997, there are a number of welcome changes made to Children of the Gods to bring it into the 21^st century.  In order to compare the original episode with this new cut, I borrowed the Series 1 DVD from a friend and had the two playing on adjacent screens.  Straight off the bat, I noticed the introduction has been redone to feel more cinematic, doing away with the slow panning close-up of a pharaoh’s mask from the series’ title credits, which tended to break up the flow of the original by appearing 6 minutes in.  Next I noticed that the dialogue has been condensed throughout for the sake of narrative relevance, but also to mask the often sloppy and clearly scripted nature of some lines. The remodelling of the dialogue is most apparent during Sam Carter’s introduction, which has been made less ballsy to keep in sync with her character as it later appears in the series.

Upon returning to the editing room, Wright has re-cut the action so that it’s significantly tighter than it was in the original, with shorter edits adding a greater sense of urgency. He has also shifted the chronology of some scenes around, namely those taking place in Ra’s temple, to make the story flow far more logically (it’s a wonder why it wasn’t plotted like this in the first place). It’s also during these scenes that Joel Goldsmith’s re-score is most welcome, as it creates a far more menacing atmosphere than it did the first time round.

The most publicised aspect of this reissue are the updated special effects, which are certainly evident during the activation of the Stargate, where the gooey blue portal appears more fluid and tangible. Changes have also been made during the climactic air attack, where the alien aircrafts have been significantly revamped with modern CGI so that they look less like model toys and more like intimidating death machines. It’s by no means up to par with the visual effects you’ll see in recent big-budget Hollywood films like Star Trek, but it’s a worthy revision nonetheless.

So is Children of Gods worth the purchase? The answer to that greatly depends on what you’re expectations are. Approach it as a standalone film, hoping for a sequel to the 1994 blockbuster, and you’ll likely be somewhat disappointed by the lower production values and a cast still learning the ropes. But approach it as the beginning of a hugely successful television series, and this more streamlined version will delight the same way it did 12 years ago.

DVD Special Features:

Considering there’s been 12 years of Stargate since the episode aired, it’s almost criminal how few features there are on this single disc release. Aside from a 7 minute featurette on why Brad Wright decided to go back and rework the pilot, there’s an enjoyable feature-length commentary with Wright and a very casual Richard Dean Anderson.

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