For ten seasons, SG-1 traveled through the Stargate to protect Earth from alien forces. Now their first adventure has been re-released on DVD, but this isn't the adventure as you original viewed it! This new DVD Release of Stargate: Children of the Gods contains a new Final Cut! This re-cut version of the pilot episode contains new scenes, new voice work, new CGI, and more!
Brief Summary
Set one year after the events of Stargate The Movie, the Stargate suddenly becomes active for the first time. An alien strike force lead by a being that looks like the deceased alien RA comes through the gate to Earth and kidnaps a female military officer. Now General Hammond and Retired Col Jack O'Neill (now played by Richard Dean Anderson) must work together to learn more about the aliens and try and recover their missing officer. Now aided by his old teammates Ferretti and Kawalsky and new team member Samantha Carter, Jack reluctantly contacts Daniel Jackson (now played by Michael Shanks), who was left on Abydos a year before. Jack also reconnects with the young boy Skaara who he befriended on the last mission. But things start to go badly when more aliens (now known to be Jaffa) come through the gate and take Skaara and Daniel's Wife Sha're. Daniel returns to Stargate Command on Earth with Jack to regroup. General Hammond authorizes the team to go through the Stargate to learn as much about this new threat but they must return within 24 hours. They travel to another planet called Chulak where they learn that the people being taken are being offered as hosts to the "Gods" who turn out to be a race of symbiotic creatures that rely on human hosts to surive. They also learn that the being they face is called Apophis, the Egyptian god of night. Unfortunately, both Skarra and Sha're have been selected by the Goa'uld as hosts. With the help of the Jaffa known as Teal'c, O'neill and his team are eventually able to escape back through the Stargate to Earth. Now their mission is clear, they must save their friends and stop this new threat before it is too late!
So what is different about this version? Brad Wright went back and cut seven minutes from the original pilot and added some new content back in. So does cutting seven minutes of footage make a big difference? Yes, a huge difference actually. The content that was cut allows the film to flow a lot more smoothly. Wright removed a few scenes from the awkward introduction of Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), and added in new scenes to make her introduction to the series a lot stronger. Additionally there were some shots that were reused from the original movie that Wright decided to remove and update with newly created sequences (i.e. the pyramid shot on Abydos). Some scenes were only added because Showtime wanted them in place (i.e. anything with nudity) so those are gone now. The last major difference was the additional voice work by Chris Judge to plays Teal'c. During the original filming, the weather conditions were quite cold and Judge was having a hard time portraying the character the way that he wanted. So they went back and re-dubbed his voice and now he looks and sounds more like the Teal'c we have grown to know and love. Finally, you will notice that Kawalsky is perfectly fine by the end of the episode and that the events that would lead him to his eventual death are not included…so maybe he wasn't meant to die afterall?
Special Features
-New Edits with Never-Viewed Scenes
-New Enhanced Visual Effects
-Revoiced Performance by Christopher Judge
-Original Score by Joel Goldsmith
-Commentary by Brad Wright and Richard Dean Anderson
-Back to the Beginning Featurette
Overall
This is a great new cut of the episode that started out Stargate as a Television Franchise. Everything has been remastered and looks and sounds incredible. This is a perfect addition to anyone's DVD collection. This is the way it was originally intended to be seen…so why not check it out for yourself?
ComicsOnline gives Stargate: Children of the Gods Final Cut 5 out of 5 CGI Pyramids.
