Monday, December 3, 2012

Now a Gater

October 28, 1994.

Cinemas in the United States were jam-packed with crowds eager to see the birth of yet another science fiction franchise.

And I was just 9 months old when the Stargate franchise offically began as a MGM movie starring no less than Kurt Russell and James Spader, and 3 years later was followed by the Stargate SG-1 TV series with Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge starring together with the late Don S. Davis and Teryl Rothery with the brief participation of Corin Nemec in the 6th season and with Ben Browder and Claudia Black joining them in the 7th and 8th seasons onward with actor and ex-United States Coast Guard veteran Beau Bridges. It had a great 10 year run nationally and even became an international hit. Other starts who joined in include Gary Jones, Colin Cunningham, Lexia Doug and Cliff Simon. It was indeed a great follow-up to the movie that started it all, first aired on Showtime and later on the Sci-Fi Channel (later SyFy) and resulted in an animated spinoff, Stargate Infinity, which ran only for a season.

This was followed by two more series. First was 2004's Staragte Atlantis with Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett (himself a SG-1 veteran guest), Paul McGillon, Rachel Luttrell, Rainbow Sun Francks, and Torri Higginson (who left in the 3rd season). Another SG-1 veteran guest, Robert Picardo, was also a frequent guest star but on season 5, he became a regular replacing no less than Tapping herself who appeared in the 4th season. Jason Momoa replaced Francks in the second season becoming a hit among fans of all ages. Paul left in the 3rd season and his role as the chief medical officer fell to then guest star Jewel Staite, later a regular on season 5 but would come back in the 4th.  Mitch Pileggi joined them in the 4th season as the CO of the space cruiser Daedalus, COL Steven Caldwell. And from the very start, Czech-Canadian actor David Nykl joined in playing a Czech scientist and Kavan Smith as the base XO, albelt in secondary positions. This had a great 5 year run only to give way to Stargate Universe, which ran for almost 2 years with Robert Carlyle at the helm with David Blue, Brian J. Smith, Jamil Walker Smith, Lou Diamond Philipps, Ming-Na, Elyse Levesque, Alaina Huffman and Louis Ferreira leading the cast, assisted by Patrick Gilmore, Peter Kelamis, Lisa Park, Mike Dopud and Michael Karl Richards to name a few. It's cancellation in 2010 and final episodes aired the next year shocked the fanbase so much that an ongoing online campaign has been waged by its supporters for its renewal on Facebook.

It was summer time and my 3rd Year HS studies that briefly brought me to that franchise. And this year, as part of my rediscovering of past programs watched, I became a full time fan of the franchise.

Just a year and 2 months after SGU's final episode on Victory Day 2011.

Now I realize what this series means to me. Being a grandson of a military veteran made me think that going through that Stargate in Colorado Springs would lead me to lands unknown and new adventures to go on.

Well, I think that as the series begins the long road towards its 20th year, the time has now come to bring it back. Once and for all. As a fan I can't wait for its return. Will you be content with no SG or wait for the comeback that you've been hoping for?

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