FAQ

Generally speaking, the continuity between the shows and films matches the order of their broadcast and original DVD release. In order to maintain the highest degree of continuity in your viewing of the Stargate franchise, follow this guide (don't worry, there are no plot spoilers here):

1) Stargate (1994) Ah, there's no better place to begin than at the beginning. The television series picks up where the Kurt Russell and James Spader flick leaves off. Watch the 1994 film to be introduced to Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Share (or Shauri), Skaara and the rest.

2) Stargate SG-1 (1997), Seasons One through Seven. This covers the show's run from 1997 to 2004, before its spin-off Stargate Atlantis premiered. Starting with the pilot movie Children of the Gods (1997), the story picks up one year after the original.

3) SG-1 Season Eight & Stargate: Atlantis (2004) Season One. During the 2004-2005 season, Sci-Fi Channel paired the two shows on Friday nights and the writers wrote the timeline accordingly. For the most part, the shows' continuity remained cleanly separated (there are only a few passing references, such as in Prometheus Unbound (2004)). If you don't mind going back and forth, be sure to start with SG-1's two-parter New Order: Part 1 (2004) & New Order: Part 2 (2004) and then watch Atlantis's Rising (2004). Then alternate, making sure to watch both parts of the SG-1 season finale Moebius: Part 1 (2005) & Moebius: Part 2 (2005) before The Siege: Part 1 (2005), The Siege: Part 2 (2005) & The Siege: Part 3 (2005).

If you'd rather not alternate between the two series, watch SG-1 first. You can even finish all 10 seasons before starting Atlantis, though there will be the occasional reference to the other show and one big crossover episode, Season Ten's The Pegasus Project (2006).

4) SG-1 Season Nine & Atlantis Season Two. The same goes for the 2005-2006 broadcast season. There are less points of contact in continuity this year, so it's not as big a deal to watch them alternately or to watch SG-1 first.

5) SG-1 Season Ten & Atlantis Season Three. Same for 2006-2007. Stargate SG-1 concluded its television run with Unending (2007) (leaving the primary storyline from the final two years unfinished). Again, there weren't a lot of direct points of contact (beside the occasional aside) during this year.

6) Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008). The SG-1 team's first direct-to-DVD movie wraps up the storyline from the last two years of the show. Pick it up after Unending, no need to finish the third season of Atlantis first.

7) Atlantis Season Four. There's a major cast change with the fourth season of the show, so you'll want to have watched all of SG-1 and The Ark of Truth before continuing on into this season. (The last two years of Stargate Atlantis ran by itself, after SG-1 was cancelled.)

8) Atlantis Season Five's Search and Rescue (2008). The start of the fifth season concludes the Season Four cliffhanger, and ends with another cast change. There's also a line of dialogue which places it immediately before the second SG-1 movie.

9) Stargate: Continuum (2008). Though it is a stand-alone adventure for the team, it is set chronologically just after Search and Rescue. You'll see why. Continuum also wraps up another story (that of a recurring villain) from SG-1's television run.

10) Atlantis Season Five, episodes 2 through 20. After Continuum, pick up with the rest of Atlantis's final season.

11) Stargate Universe (2009) Season One.

The Director's Cut features approx. 8 minutes of new footage not featured in the Theatrical Version. Basically extended plot scenes were added, making the movie a bit more interesting.

It shows two of Ra's petrified soldiers. According to Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, when the uprising happened on Earth and Ra's forces were defeated there, the people quickly buried the Stargate, so no new soldiers could come to Earth to take back control. Apparently, some of them tried; they were directly 'beamed' into stone.