Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods

I first started noticing episodes of this cheap, campy continuation of a popular popcorn movie in syndication in the '90s, and I have to admit that the series had its appeal. For starters, the premise that we the human race would find an alien artifact in the Middle Eastern deserts that could take us to different planets seemed a lot more plausible than the premise that we would be smart enough to master space/time warp technology and make spaceships that could travel beyond the speed of light. Also, I liked the realism of the series, the fact that it was based on twentieth/twenty-first century America rather than on a pie-in-the-sky utopian pan-Earth society. However, as I recently watched the series' 2-part opener "Children of the Gods," I got a very bad taste in my mouth.

First of all, I thought the show's creators were probably watching a little too much porn (or perhaps too many old alien invasion movies) because the mission of Apophis (what brings him and his alien bad boys across the galaxy to our little planet) is a hunt for women. Come on! Where's the philosophical perspective of the alien from the movie who says to Kurt Russell, "You have mastered the atom," gloating in the civilization he has unwittingly created before attempting to destroy it? For that matter, where's the threat? An alien forcibly abducting women so that he can find a wife? That's hardly something we would spend millions of dollars to prevent (although we might try to resolve the situation by burying the stargate, as General Hammond aptly suggests).

(By the way, since Apophis and his woman-stealin' gang didn't have a dial-up device on our world to bring them back, how did they get the gate open without shooting their way into the base's control room? Anyone who can give me a GOOD explanation for that little plot hole will have my admiration.)

Also, what is up with those teenage kids hanging out in the pyramid on Abydos? Since the last time soldiers came through the stargate resulted in their near destruction at the hands of Ra, couldn't we assume that Sha're, Skaara, and company wouldn't be so happy to see the USAF pay them another visit? At the very least, I would expect everyone to be far more on guard around the gate. (When Apophis and his woman stealin' gang eventually come through, it seems they have no trouble taking apart a USAF squad AND several armed youths who had defeated Ra--all of whom are completely off their guard and unbalanced when the gate opens. What, did they think the Easter Bunny was coming through or something?)

So many plot holes, so little time . . .

(I'm, of course, ignoring the fact that in the movie, the "Ra" alien possesses a young boy via a beam of light, while in the 2-parter (and the rest of the series), the vehicle of possession is a worm, worm, worm.)

(I also won't mention the fact that after this 2-parter, everyone the SG-1 team runs into can speak perfect (or near-perfect) English, rendering Daniel Jackson's amazing linguistic skills useless by episode 3.)

All of these plot anomalies--while utterly ridiculous and worthy of a blog post in and of themselves--lead me to my second reason for having a bad taste in my mouth, and that reason has to do with the way this show portrays the concept of divinity. For all of our tendency to laugh at polytheistic societies such as the ancient Egyptians for their worship of the sun, moon, and stars, no one with any real exposure to ancient history can deny that the ancient Egyptians were deadly serious about their religion. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Babylonians--all of these (and many more ancient societies like them) regarded their gods as beings that EXISTED and that REWARDED them for obedience. These religions were as powerful during that era as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are today.

As a Christian, I know that these polytheistic religions were wrong--but not because I have a problem with attributing my existence to a God. The reason these religions were wrong is the same reason why our worship of money, sex, and television is wrong today--because the OBJECTS of their worship didn't DESERVE their worship. My God, however--a God of unbelievable love and kindness--deserves my worship, my obedience, and my soul.

A far cry from the kind of response that this show is designed to invite from its audience. After all, since the human race is capable of killing ancient Egyptian deities like Ra, then why should we be subject to ANY God? This is the message that, if we are not careful, we as believers will take in. Our era is an era which is quickly seeking any means it can to divest itself of God, and shows like Stargate and Star Trek are very much a part of this movement. If we who call ourselves Christians do not face up to this fact of our present-day existence, we will have a very hard time facing up to the future.