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RELEASED:
1994
DIRECTOR(s):
Roland Emmerich
PERSONAL RATING:
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In 1928 at Giza, Egypt,
archaeologist Professor Paul Langford, accompanied by his daughter
Catherine, unearths cover stones (also called pyramidion or capstone)
engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphs and other markings. Beneath he
discovers a large metallic ring of unknown purpose.
In 1994, Catherine invites Egyptologist and linguist Daniel Jackson, Ph.D.
to translate the hieroglyphs. The stones are now part of a U.S. Air Force
classified project overseen by Special Operations Colonel Jack O'Neil.
Jackson determines that the hieroglyphs refer to a "stargate" which uses
constellations as spatial coordinates. He is then shown the Stargate, the
ring device from Giza. They use his coordinates to align the Stargate's
rotating inner track with V-shaped markings (or "chevrons") along its
outside. When all seven chevrons are locked in, a wormhole opens,
connecting the Stargate with a distant planet. Jackson joins O'Neil and
his team (Reilly, Porro, Freeman, Brown, Ferretti, and Kawalsky) as they
pass through the wormhole.
They emerge inside a pyramid on the arid desert planet of Abydos. Jackson
attempts to locate the symbols required for the return journey through the
Stargate but fails. O'Neil orders Kawalsky to set up camp. Jackson sees a
large animal with a harness, which drags him off when he approaches it to
investigate. O'Neil, Kawalsky and Brown follow and they discover a tribe
of humans working to mine a strange mineral. O'Neil radios the others to
secure base camp. Following them back to their city, Jackson realizes that
the people speak a variant of Ancient Egyptian and is able to communicate
with them. He learns that the tribe sees him and his comrades as
emissaries of their god Ra due to an amulet given to him by Catherine. The
tribe's chieftain Kasuf presents Jackson with his daughter Sha'uri as a
gift, and although Jackson initially refuses her, he later becomes
romantically attached to her. O'Neil befriends Kasuf's teenaged son Skaara
and his friends. That night, Ra's ship lands atop the pyramid structure,
and his soldiers capture Ferretti and Freeman while killing Porro and
Reilly.
Through hidden markings and discussions with the tribe, Jackson learns
that Ra is an alien being who came to Earth during the Ancient Egyptian
period to possess human bodies to extend his own life. Ra enslaved these
humans and used the Stargate to bring some of them to Abydos to mine the
mineral that is used in the alien technology. Humans on Earth revolted,
overthrew Ra's overseers, and buried the Stargate to prevent its use.
During this investigation, Jackson comes across a cartouche containing six
of the seven symbols for the Stargate, but the seventh has been broken off
and has worn away.
When Jackson, O'Neil, Brown, and Kawalsky return to the pyramid, there is
a fire fight against Ra's soldiers. Brown is killed and Kawalsky is
injured. Jackson and O'Neil are captured and brought before Ra and his
guards, who are revealed to be humanoids when they retract their armoured
head-pieces. A firefight ensues and Jackson is killed; O'Neil is
incapacitated and is incarcerated with the others. Ra places Jackson's
body in a sarcophagus-like device that regenerates him. Ra tells Jackson
that he has found a nuclear bomb O'Neil secretly brought and has used his
own technology to increase its explosive power a hundred-fold, threatening
to send it back through the Stargate to Earth. Ra orders the human tribe
to watch as he prepares to force Jackson to execute the others to
demonstrate his power, but Skaara and his friends create a diversion that
allows Jackson, O'Neil, Kawalsky, and Ferretti to escape, while Freeman is
killed. They flee to nearby caves to hide from Ra. Skaara and his friends
celebrate, and Skaara draws a sign of victory on a wall, which Jackson
recognizes as the final symbol.
O'Neil and his remaining men aid Skaara in overthrowing the remaining
overseers and then launch an attack on Ra, who sends out fighter ships
against the humans while he orders his ship to depart. The humans outside
run out of ammunition and are forced to surrender to the fighter ships'
pilots, but the rest of the tribe, seeing that their false gods are really
humanoid, rebel against the guards and overthrow them. Sha'uri is killed,
but Jackson takes her body and sneaks aboard Ra's ship using a
teleportation system, leaving O'Neil to fight Ra's guard captain, Anubis.
Jackson places Sha'uri in the regeneration device, and she recovers, but
Ra discovers them and attempts to kill Jackson. O'Neil activates the
teleportation system, killing Anubis and allowing Jackson and Sha'uri to
escape the ship. O'Neil and Jackson teleport the bomb to Ra's ship,
destroying the ship and killing Ra. With the humans freed, the remaining
team—O'Neil, Kawalsky, and Ferretti—return to Earth while Jackson chooses
to stay behind with Sha'uri and the others. |
