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I had only seen TNG until two years ago. I knew almost every episode past season 2, and really loved it. Still do.

But then I watched Deep Space Nine, and wow. I got hooked. I "only" watched about 80 episodes that are the plot arc + a few outstanding solos, but still. The quality of the acting, the more "on the nose" social messaging, the darker side of the Federation, the racial struggles between the crew - if I hear anyone make fun of DS9, I send them on their way (which doesn't happen much like it did in the 00's).

I have some friends who liked SG-1 as kids, maybe I should take the time to watch it. But it can't be better than Battlestar Galactica :)

Stargate Atlantis might be a better starting point. It had the benefit of a fully-built world before the protagonist power creep hit its stride.

I have watched Stargate Atlantis but not SG-1 or SGU. I loved Atlantis and thought it was a very fun show. Looking forward to starting SG-1 when there is time...

I did a full rewatch of SG1 a few years ago, and what surprised me is how instantly the show found its footing. If you watch the first and last season of any Trek show, you can see how the writing and characterization takes a while to settle into place. Character development is part of that, but it goes beyond that.

If you watch the first and last season of SG1, the writing has its footing nailed down immediately. Not many shows find their footing so effortlessly.

That may have been helped by the fact that SG-1 got the green light for 4 full seasons right off the bat, so it gave showrunners the opportunity to write a cohesive and comprehensive story which really laid the foundation for the franchise after the original movie.

I don't have a source handy, but I recall reading about that many years ago.

Wikipedia says they were picked up for 2 seasons, totaling 44 episodes. So while it's not 4 seasons, that's still a lot of stability for a show to start with. That would explain how they felt comfortable enough to plan ahead.

I agree with all of this, but especially the last bit.

It sets up the stories to come, even if some of it borderline contradicts SG-1. The characters that go from the movie to the TV show are much more likable in the TV show.

>Also strongly recommend binging the first season in particular; they did a very good job of conveying the feeling of humans blundering about not really knowing what they are doing in the big new universe, and it really comes across when watched relatively quickly on top of each other.

One thing I've never enjoyed about Star Trek is how the Enterprise/DS9/Voyager and its crew are the ones that always save the day/week/universe.

I've never watched Stargate, but I do know that occasionally the show shows other exploration teams enter/exit the gate. Does the franchise go further than that, and implicitly/explicitly state that the Stargate team that the show focuses on is just one of many doing comparably cool things?

I'd go with, yes and no, probably mostly no the way you mean it. They are always the elite team. It's clear others are functioning, yeah, but while I haven't watched this in a while I don't recall SG-4 ever saving the galaxy as we know it.

Stargate: SG-1 series takes its name from SG-1 - the first of many teams USAF sends through the gate on a regular basis. The show focuses on that team, and in this way, it's similar to how Star Trek shows tend to focus on its eponymous ship/station. They somehow end up with most of the cool adventures and do most of the world-saving.

Where it feels more believable/acceptable than Star Trek is:

- SG-1 being special is at least somewhat justified. It's the first team Stargate Command sent through the gate (after the events of the original movie), so they got to be the first to make new friends and enemies.

- The show constantly reminds you about existence of increasing amount of other teams, through namedropping, discussing them, showing them, or showing multi-team missions. While SG-1 may be the tip of the spear, you know that SG-2 through SG-whocankeeptrack are following close behind.

- Unlike in Star Trek, in Stargate, humans start having no idea what they're doing. Quite often, it's them who need to be saved by more powerful forces, whether aliens or institutions.

Stargate: Atlantis starts with a focus on wider cast - so the gate missions are more fluid, you don't care much about who's assigned to which gate team on any given day. The whole ensemble of characters work similarly to a Star Trek series crew. But it makes sense for the same reason most of ST:Voyager made sense: Atlantis expedition is very far away from Earth, alone and with (at least initially) no backup.

> I kinda recommend the Stargate movie first... [...] But I will say that if you kinda dislike it, continue on to SG-1 anyhow.

Thanks for pointing this out. Watched the movie as a kid, didn’t like it, and thus never even bothered to check out the tv series.

Then I'd also add that while SG-1 does improve in my opinion as it finds its own footing as most shows do, if you don't at least somewhat enjoy the first episode of SG-1 you can walk away with your head held high. I don't think you have to give it half-a-season like many shows (or 2 seasons like TNG...), they came out very strong at the beginning. It's not the best episode by any means, but it's a fair representative.

(Also as mentioned elsewhere in the thread the third episode is pretty weak.)

(Some versions may have a quite literally gratuitous nudity scene in the first episode. Apparently Showtime demanded one, but a bit bizarrely, left them alone after that and that's the last such thing in the series. I suppose in this era of Game of Thrones this will seem less bizarre than it may have at the time, but it is worth pointing out this is a one-off. So if that happens to be the only reason you like SG-1's first episode, you can stop. :) )