Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cat.no: PDFM 60002

Cert: PG

Running time: 116 minutes

Year: 1994

Pressing: 1998

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 18 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 & MPEG1 Stereo Surround

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian

Widescreen: 2.35:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index.

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Director:

Roland Emmerich (Godzilla, Independence Day, Universal Soldier)

Producers:

Joel B. Michaels, Oliver Eberle, Dean Devlin

Screenplay:

Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich

Music:

David Arnold (The Young Americans)

Cast:

Colonel Jack O'Neill: Kurt Russell (Backdraft, The Best Of Times, Breakdown, Big Trouble In Little China, Escape From L.A., Escape From New York, Executive Decision, Overboard, Silkwood, Tango And Cash, Tequila Sunrise, The Thing, Tombstone, Unlawful Entry)
Dr. Daniel Jackson: James Spader (Baby Boom, Crash, Dream Lover, Less Than Zero, Mannequin, Pretty In Pink, The Rachel Papers, True Colors, Two Days In The Valley, Wall Street, White Palace, Wolf)
Ra: Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game)
Catherine: Viveca Lindfors (The Adventures of Don Juan, Exiled, King Of Kings, The Sure Thing, Zandalee)
Skaara: Alexis Cruz (Price Of Love, TV: "Stargate SG-1")
Sha'liri: Mili Avital (Invasion of Privacy)
General W.O. West: Leon Rippy (Fixing The Shadow)
Lieutenant Kawalsky: John Diehl (Casualties, The Grave, Mind Ripper, Motorama)

Stargate is the name given to a mysterious circular item found in Egypt eighty years ago and witnessed by a young girl called Catherine. In the present day the government still haven't figured out how it works, that is until reluctant expert Dr. Daniel Jackson has a look at the new-found discovery.

He deciphers the seventh and final code necessary to activate the phenomenon, allowing anyone or anything to cross through time and space to another point in the galaxy. Teaming up with an army team led by Col. Jack O'Neill who has his own troubles - his son shot himself dead accidentally, they set off to explore what's on the other side, finding an enslaved tribe held under the control of an evil God, Ra.

At the start of the expedition, O'Neill and Jackson are on opposing sides, mentally, especially since O'Neill's orders are to make sure those on the other side can cause no harm towards the people of Earth, but once they find their common goal it forces them to overcome their differences and find a way to defeat Ra.

The two main characters played by Kurt Russell and James Spader spar well together. Russell is more used to action/adventure films having been through Backdraft, Escape From L.A., Escape From New York, Executive Decision and Tango And Cash. Spader on the other hand has usually taken the more arthouse/low-budget route through Hollywood recently. Starting in comedies such as Mannequin and Pretty In Pink, he went onto the dramas White Palace and Two Days In The Valley, before Crash-ing into controversy with the censorship board last year.

Jaye Davidson is best known as Dil from The Crying Game, but I won't spoil the 'surprise' of that film for you if you haven't seen it. Out of the entire cast though, Alexis Cruz, as the young boy Skaara, is the only member to appear in the spin-off television series "Stargate SG-1".

The picture quality looks perfect for bright outdoor scenes, but try to replicate this for browns, greys and black areas and it runs into problems with motion artifacts available for all to see, despite having a very high average bitrate of 8.27Mb/s. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 and is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions - thus allowing for higher resolution.

The sound comes in two formats for the English language: Dolby Surround MPEG 1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. For a special effects film, expect the usual whizz-bang explosions usually associated with a Devlin/Emmerich production nicely represented here, not to mention the fact that your room will vibrate when the Stargate powers up for the first time! I don't have a DD 5.1 amp, so cannot compare the sound produced by this disc, but if it's no different to that experienced in the cinema, this will prove a real treat.

Extras :

Chapters :

Languages/Subtitles :

English is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround MPEG 1, but French, German, Spanish and Italian are only available in Dolby Surround MPEG 1.

Subtitles come in nine formats: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian

Menu :

The main menu doesn't come up first though. You have to sit through a brief copyright warning, the usual Pioneer introduction, plus the Dolby Digital "Egypt" intro - quite appropriate here considering where the film begins (worth watching if you haven't seen it before, but afterwards you just want to skip past it).

Then a computer graphic appears showing a swirling 'Stargate'. It stops, three symbols appear one after another, followed by three white strips on which the words "Play", "Chapters" and "Languages" appear. However, why does the screen need to blank before the lettering appears? It looks like someone's made a mistake with this and it spoils the effect.

Overall this is a very good sci-fi adventure film which laid the path for the continuing story in the television series, Stargate SG-1, which has been shown on Sky Television and was based on the belief that there isn't just one Stargate out there but many.

The series began promisingly with stories along the lines of Daniel's girlfriend, Sha'liri, being abducted by the enemy and bad guys storming through the gate and straight into the government compound, but soon turned into a Quantum Leap-style show in which the good guys would solve a problem in one episode and teleport to another world for the next episode which would follow along similar lines. I watched a few episodes of it, but you begin to realise that life cannot go back to normal for any of the crew otherwise it would bring the series to an end (!)

Given that this film has been released in a 131-minute Director's Cut on NTSC Laserdisc, this is rather a missed opportunity especially with its complete lack of extras, but for fans of the film who don't own the PAL Laserdisc this is worth a look.

FILM	 		: ****
PICTURE QUALITY		: ****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: *
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OVERALL			: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.