In 1994 there came a movie starring the likes of James Spader, and Kurt Russel. Written by Dean Devlin and directed by Roland Emmerich, Stargate was about an Egyptologist (Spader) who is hired to decipher a set of symbols found on an ancient artifact. Spader comes to realize that these weird symbols are constellations which when identified in the correct sequence will define a specific point in space. This will allow the ability to travel within space. The plot of the movie is to use this interstellar transit device to perform recon on a distant world; Abydos. Based on the information gathered on the far end, they were to make a determination to protect Earth in the best way possible.

While exploring the new world, they encounter a civilization descending from ancient Egyptians, who are enslaved by an alien who poses as the Egyptian God Ra. Kurt Russel’s team of explorers forms an alliance with this civilization to destroy the alien and rid the land of a false God.

The movie did well worldwide totaling over 190 million dollars at the box office, and 16 million its opening weekend. Since this movie, there have been several spin-offs for television.

Stargate SG-1, was created in 1997, and has been on the air for ten years. It started on Showtime, and then went to the SCI-FI channel five years later where it has been since. SG-1 has little to do with the original Stargate storyline. SG-1 beings a year after the movie, when the Stargate is assessed from the outside and the Air Force is alerted that something is not quite right. SG-1 is the first team of its kind to explore the Stargate network.

A second spin-off was created in 2004 entitled Stargate Atlantis. Stargate Atlantis is a spin-off- of the main storyline of season 7 of SG-1 which focuses on a group of explorers trying to find the lost city of Atlantis, in the Pegasus galaxy. They succeed and use the lost city of Atlantis as their headquarters throughout the series. Certain episodes intertwine between the two series, making viewers watch both series to understand completely what has happened. There are other movies in the works to conclude what as originally planned to be a trilogy of Stargate movies, in addition to the made to DVD movies for the television series.

Stargate believe it or not has been in the videogame universe as well. Acclaim released a side scrolling game for the Super Nintendo, and Genesis, and a Tetris type game for the Game Gear and Game Boy.

Sony Online Entertainment in conjunction with Comic Images has brought Stargate fans a new entry into the TCG genre with Stargate TCG (Trading Card Game). The cards are based on people and events from the SG1 series. Stargate TCG can be played as an online trading card game or a traditional trading card game. Like other games before it, such as Magic The Gathering, you have a deck of cards with which to play.

There are five types of cards used in the game. Four are hero cards, when you are trying to complete missions, and one villain card which is used when you are trying to stop your opponent from completing missions. There four hero cards are character, mission, gear and event.