Stargate SG-1 Seasons 1-10: The Complete Series

 

 

Create your own review

As a former Star Trek nerd, I'm kicking myself for taking so long to get into the world of Stargate. In three words, I love it! But you don't want to hear about that, you want to hear about this product, which is the entire series box set.

I was very disappointed with this box set. It is frustrating that such a fantastic series is ruined by poorly thought out packaging.

The problem? Scratched discs! The sleeves holding the DVDs are simply cardboard, and offer no protection. I first discovered a problem when I was trying to view an episode and the disc started to skip. I looked at the surface and found scratch marks, S-shaped, which correspond to the path the disc would take when you push it back into its sleeve. I pulled out a bunch of other discs at random and sure enough, every one of them had similar S-shaped marks. A few other discs failed to play too.

I ended up returning the entire set. I was originally going to exchange it for another but decided I'll just keep buying the individual seasons separately. Why? Because this box set contains 55 DVDs, and if one or two of them is scratched, you're stuck! And unless you plan to sit down and watch everything in one shot, it could be years later before you discover an unplayable disc...

As a bonus, buying the individual sets makes it easier to find specific episodes you want to watch. Quick, where's that one in Season 7, on disc 4? Good luck trying to find it in the big accordian-fold packaging.

In short: 5 stars for an excellent TV series. 1 star for the awful packaging.

(Don't believe me? Check out the reviews on Amazon.com, you'll see many other complaints about disc scratches. Normally I'd forgive a scratched disc or two -- hey, it happens -- but the sheer number of DVDs in this set means it is going to be a Big Problem.)

I am extremely disappointed in the quality of the product I have several disks that are so badly scratched that they will not play and other disks that there are spots that have to be skipped an there are stutters. I was happy that the product was delivered in good time but when you can't view half of it, it does not really matter.

Most TV shows spun off from movies are uninvolving and uninteresting ("Blade," anyone?), but such wasn't the case with "Stargate SG-1." Starting as a simple exploration series, the series expanded into a brilliant tangle of politics, aliens, and Earth's spirit and guts -- excellent writing, acting, and a sense of humor about itself and its characters.

The Stargate has been inactive for a year. Then a bunch of Egyptian-styled warriors come through and kidnap an officer. General Hammond (Don S. Davis) pulls Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) out of retirement, and sends him to Abydos to find out what happened. O'Neill is reunited with Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) -- only to have Daniel's wife and brother-in-law abducted by the evil Apophis. A rescue attempt sparks off a war with the Goa'uld -- aliens who have been impersonating human gods for many centuries.

So the team SG-1 -- made up of O'Neill, Jackson, scientist/pilot Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Apophis' ex-slave Teal'c (Christopher Judge) -- explore through the Stargate, finding plenty of hostile aliens, strange allies (the Unas, the Asgard), and humans scattered all over. Not to mention the gate-builders, who have ascended to another plane.

Frst they battle the arrogant Apophis, then the devil-imitating So'kar, and the malignant half-energy Anubis and his army of undead warriors. The Goa'uld power structure starts to splinter, and new secret organizations make power plays on Earth, as SG-1 uncovers the hidden legacies of humanity's ancestors.

Even after the Goa'uld storyline ends, things haven't ended for SG-1. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) is given command of SG-1, and manages to gather the disbanded team back together, with the help of a quirky alien mercenary, Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black). Together, they find that the Milky Way faces its most deadly threat ever -- the Ori, evil ascended beings who demand that everyone worship them... or else.

Previously all "exploration" sci-fi focused on people on ships. "Stargate" avoids the usual space opera approach -- even when ships are introduced, the main focus is on walking through a big stone ring. It's also full of real military, political battles (both on and off Earth), and a very plausible reason why everybody in the galaxy (more or less) looks just like us.

It's graced with elaborate, opulant sets, solid special effects, shoot-'em-up action from Marines and Air Force, and some truly kinetic space battles (including one that resembles the climax of "Star Wars IV"). The storyline stumbles somewhat in the last two seasons, with the sudden switch in villains and cast. But all ten seasons are sprinkled with very warm human moments -- Daniel's farewell to his wife, Sam bonding with a doomed little girl, and Teal'c's struggle for freedom.

Best of all is the snappy script. Some of it comes from Teal'c ("Undomesticated equines could not remove me"), but mostly from the tart-tongued O'Neill ("Well, I guess we all start shooting. There's blood, death, hard feelings... it'd suck"). Other characters get great lines too (" I think the circle means 'the place of our legacy'...or it could be 'a piece of our leg', but the first seems to make more sense").

The cast is nothing short of brilliant -- Anderson does a quirky, disrespectful, pop culture-lovin' guy with a hidden tragic past, while Tapping and Shanks are great as an enthusiastic geek and a smart, capable military woman. And Judge is absolutely astounding as Teal'c, who slowly turns from a stoic, tragic warrior to a warm legendary hero.

Corin Nemec had a one-season stint as Daniel's "replacement," and he makes a nice, eager young newbie, and Ben Browder channels much of O'Neill's quirkiness when Anderson left. Black is kind of annoying at times, but she's admittedly quite funny and quirky, with a tragic past of her own.

"Stargate SG-1" is undeniably the best TV spinoff, and one of the best "exploration" shows to make it onto the air... and stay there for a whole decade. Definitely worth seeing, from beginning to end.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 17 customer reviews...

 

4.0 out of 5 stars Kinda weird
I love Stargate, it is really hard to say anything bad about the show. Not so true for the collects edition box set. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Stacy_Face

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this product.
Discs were scratched out of the box. Many could not be played in any of my 5 DVD players. If you do buy this low quality product, make sure you try all discs before you decide to... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Patrick Hamel

2.0 out of 5 stars Buyer beware
My experience with this product shows that it can be a good idea to pay attention to comments that other buyers have made, particularly when dealing with potential technical... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Barrie

2.0 out of 5 stars Beware of the BOX
I recently purchased this box set with over 200 episodes to watch. It will be many months before I will watch them all. What I've seen so far was very good. Read more

Published 7 months ago by JPB

4.0 out of 5 stars Great series, okay packaging
A beautiful boxset for a fantastic show. I had previously purchased up to Season 3 when I found out about this set, so I gladly bought it and gave my 3 individual seasons to a... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Shawn

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome show and views perfectly on Linux
I've been an avid Stargate fan for years ever since the series launched and SG1 is perhaps the best incarnation in my opinion. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Blindsite

5.0 out of 5 stars Stargate SG1 - Series review
Funny how this works. I wouldn't consider myself a Sci-Fi fan, but I started watching Stargate Atlantis on tv and enjoyed the characters so much that I got hooked on the Stargate... Read more

Published 14 months ago by g2k

4.0 out of 5 stars Soo Awesome!
This is the start of typical sci-fi and considering it started back in the 90's, but truly enjoyed it. Read more

Published 22 months ago by +-+

5.0 out of 5 stars Great show and great packaging
I love this show and I have probably watched the entire series 10 times. This complete set was great! Read more

Published on April 15 2010 by Bai-lee Howard

5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy
I bought that for my husband as Christmas gift. He has been watched that everyday since he opened it. He very enjoys it!

Published on Jan 16 2010 by Mikayla

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 17 customer reviews...

Search Listmania!