DVD Review: Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods (Final Cut)

Written by Pirata Hermosa

The original pilot episode of the long-running television show has just been re-released on DVD. But it is a new version that’s been re-cut, re-mastered, and has new special effects.

Since I hadn’t seen the pilot episode for quite some time, I had to pull out my original copy from the Season 1 box set and compare it to the new version. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a drastic difference or if it was just going to be a marketing gimmick with just a few minor changes to the original.

I noticed the differences immediately in the credits. They began as they would in a feature-length film, and gone was the traditional opening credit scene against the backdrop of the Stargate. But there were a lot more changes than just the credits. The special effects were redone, a lot of the dialogue had been shortened up, and the story had some significant changes.

In the original, Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) has a very gutsy introduction as a woman who can handle her own with the men and even makes a comment about just because her reproductive organs are on the inside doesn’t make her any less of a soldier. It is a little out of character for the Sam we will get to know throughout the series, but I really missed it in the new version.

There’s an awkward conversation between Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and his close friend, Charles Kawalsky (Jay Acovone), where Jack explains about his son’s death that was cut out of the episode. It was an obvious attempt at filling in the audience, but really wasn’t needed and is something a good friend would have already known. In fact, the entire relationship between the two soldiers is much tighter in the new version. There are constant smirks and knowing nods between the two, and at one point they even make the same comment at the exact same time.

Another good change is the fact that the entire plot thread about how the team must return in 24 hours or else be locked out is completely removed. There is some talk of a second nuke going through the gate, but the artificial timetable in the original was just a terrible idea that didn’t work.

The renegade Jaffa, Teal’c (Christopher Judge), who defies his Goa’uld masters to help the SG-1 team, has an overhaul as well. The scenes where he actually picks the slaves to be implanted with symbiotes or killed has been removed, which helps to make his betrayal more believable. There’s also a scene at the end where his voice has been completely redubbed and he gives a much lengthier speech on his reasons for changing sides and how he himself carries a symbiote in larval form.

Article Author: Cinema Sentries

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