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Though it was never a mega hit that commanded the kind of wide-ranging cultural influence of many other shows of its generation, "Stargate Sg-1" maintained a cult following throughout its run and remains impressive simply by virtue of what it represented. That is to say, the way in which creators Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner took Roland Emmerich's original 1994 "Stargate" movie and spun a full 10 seasons of intergalactic exploration action was a feat in and of itself.

Emmerich's film was enough of a box office success to prompt talk of an entire "Stargate" trilogy, but the story of the Sg-1 crew would ultimately unfold on the small screen, with Wright and Glassner shepherding the project using a whole new cast of actors that were playing the same characters from the movie. Ultimately, the Syfy channel cancelled Sg-1" in 2007, but by that point the show had run for a full...

This post contains spoilers for the "Stargate" franchise.

Roland Emmerich's 1994 sci-fi drama "Stargate" posits an intriguing premise. An ancient ring-shaped device excavated during an archaeological expedition in Giza turns out to be a two-way portal connecting similar devices on distant plants, using a wormhole as a means to transport people. The film's elaborate plot gradually reveals that extraterrestrial beings enslaved parts of the human civilization, and used the Stargate device to trap them in their home planets across the galaxy. Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner's beloved series "Stargate Sg-1" builds its foundation on the film's lore, expanding a dystopian world where military organizations on Earth use the Stargate to free the enslaved humans and protect the planet from a vicious alien race known as the Goa'uld.

"Sg-1" ran for 10 seasons over a span of 10 years, and birthed a sprawling franchise dedicated to enriching its mythos, so much so...

Come, sit, and hear sad stories of what it was like to be a young British millennial nerd. The nineties were, in many ways, a dark age for British science fiction. Doctor Who was gone, apart from one Children in Need crossover with EastEnders – Dimensions in Time in 1993 – and an American co-produced movie simply called “Doctor Who” (which we would all pretend to hate while treasuring our VHS recording and commemorative Radio Times issue).

Over the pond, TV sci-fi was in the middle of a golden age, with three Star Trek series, Babylon 5, Farscape, The X-Files and Stargate Sg-1 only marking the tip of a science fictional iceberg. But British fans could only watch these episodes months or even years after the fact, particularly if they had only access to terrestrial television, and were forced to paw through magazines and websites for reviews and plot summaries to sate their hunger.

My friend Clare Douglas, who has died aged 73, was a Bafta award-winning film editor of memorable television programmes.

She worked on the adaptation of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), Dennis Potter’s films Blackeyes (1989), Secret Friends (1991), Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), Karaoke (1996) and the four-parter Cold Lazarus (1996), directed by Renny Rye and starring Albert Finney as the writer Daniel Feeld.

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Ryan Lambie Jul 14, 2016

We take a look at some of the most memorable and freaky floating brains and flying heads in the history of cinema...

Nb: The following contains spoilers for The Brain From The Planet Arous and Prometheus.

For some reason we've yet to discover, cinema has, for decades, been home to all manner of sentient, disembodied heads and floating brains. Note that we’re not talking about decapitations here - though goodness knows that cinema is home to plenty of those, from Japanese samurai epics to modern slasher horrors.

No, we’re talking about movies where heads and brains remain sentient even when they’re stuffed into jars or colossal things made of stone. Sometimes used for comedic effect, at other times for shock value, they’re a surprisingly common phenomenon in the movies. Here, we celebrate a few of our absolute favourites - though you’re sure...

Carl Davis and Christopher Gunning claim synthesised orchestras are preferred to the real thing to save money

Two of Britain's leading film composers warn that the quality of music for film and TV is suffering because synthesised sounds are increasingly replacing real instruments in an effort to cut costs.

Carl Davis, whose scores include that for the World at War documentary series, said a synthesised soundtrack lacked "the heart" of symphonic or instrumental music.

Christopher Gunning, who wrote the Bafta-winning score for La Vie en Rose, about Edith Piaf, was even more critical: "A lot of television music has got to the stage where I have to turn it off. There's an enormous amount of programmes where I find the programme content really quite interesting, but can't watch because I find the music so blooming irritating. Part of that is, I am afraid, the poor quality of the musical composition.

We provide a rundown of ten of the most memorable and freaky floating brains and flying heads in the history of cinema...

For some reason I've yet to discover, cinema has, for decades, been home to all manner of sentient, disembodied heads and floating brains. From massive flying stone heads to telekinetic, evil brains from other planets, this list is devoted to the most memorable instances of this peculiar movie phenomenon...

The Brain From The Planet Arous (1957)

It's been several years since I've seen the sci-fi B-movie, The Brain From Planet Arous, but one thing is still clear in my mind: that it features a large disembodied alien brain, a criminal brain, no less, that comes to Earth to control the population with its psychic powers.

The brain, called Gor, seizes control of Steve, a nuclear scientist, who becomes a randy "regular caveman" under the alien's influence. With Steve as his puppet,...

We provide a rundown of ten of the most memorable and freaky floating brains and flying heads in the history of cinema...

For some reason I've yet to discover, cinema has, for decades, been home to all manner of sentient, disembodied heads and floating brains. From massive flying stone heads to telekinetic, evil brains from other planets, this list is devoted to the most memorable instances of this peculiar movie phenomenon...

The Brain From The Planet Arous (1957)

It's been several years since I've seen the sci-fi B-movie, The Brain From Planet Arous, but one thing is still clear in my mind: that it features a large disembodied alien brain, a criminal brain, no less, that comes to Earth to control the population with its psychic powers.

The brain, called Gor, seizes control of Steve, a nuclear scientist, who becomes a randy "regular caveman" under the alien's influence. With Steve as his puppet,...