Idle Ramblings

Star Trek SG1

The Star Trek/Stargate crossover continues as Enterprise NX01 engineer Trip Tucker heads through the gate to the Pegasus Galaxy. Connor Trinneer is apparently set to make a guest appearance on Stargate: Atlantis as a Wraith turned human. He joins a growing list of former Trek stars which includes: Colm Meany, Rene Auberjonois, Marina Sirtis, John Billingsly, John DeLancie, Robert Picardo, Jolene Blaylock, and possibly other Trek regulars I may have forgotten about.

Robert Picardo, who will be returning to Stargate SG1 this season, has also stated that like David Hasslehoff, the Stargate is big in Germany and other parts of the world and is even bigger than Trek. Well, maybe. We'll see in 40 years.

But I will say this, Stargate has become one of my favorite franchises. And yes I realize I used to say some unkind things about it, but that was probably based on a partial episode watched several years ago when I already had too many sci-fi TV shows to watch already and no Tivo.

I really liked the original movie. It was a cool concept which the TV franchise took and ran with, expanding the universe, the back stories, adding new characters. There's also a lot of humor. Much more than Trek. And that really adds to its appeal. Some of the writing, especially early on, was kind of inconsistent, but it hit a stride and has managed to keep it even after switching to the Sci-Fi Channel where it really took off.

This season especially, Stargate SG1, which has entered its ninth season, has stepped up a bit by adding some big (relatively) names to the cast. I was kind of surprised when Louis Gossett, Jr. joined as a recurring character and Beau Bridges joined as a regular cast member. The coolest addition has been Julian Sands as the creepy leader of the brand new threat to the galaxy. He is really good at being a creepy bad guy. Even his publicity photos look creepy.

I don't know if in 40 years people will look back at Stargate like they look back at Trek and still hold it in such favor. Probably not. Trek broke ground in so many ways. It has endured all sorts of adversity and I'm sure will continue inspite of what was done to it by Rick Berman.

In the meantime, I'm glad that there are some decent shows like Stargate and the new and vastly improved Battlestar Galactica that are keeping my interest.

posted by Joseph @ 8/26/2005 12:50:00 PM