Stargate SG-1 takes place mostly in the Milky Way galaxy. Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner tried to stay true to the feature film, but also wanted
Stargate SG-1 to be unique in its own way.
Stargate SG-1 gradually evolved away from the basic premise of the film and developed its own unique mythological superstructure.
Stargate SG-1 elaborated on the film's Egyptian hybrid mythology and mixed in other historical mythologies, coming up with a mythological superstructure that explains the existence of all of the other mythologies in the overarching
Stargate narrative. The series expands upon
Egyptian mythology (notably the Egyptian gods
Apep/Apophis, and
Anubis as
Goa'uld villains),
Norse mythology (notably the god
Thor as an
Asgard ally),
Arthurian legend (notably
Merlin as an
Ancient ally), and many other mythologies like
Greek and
Roman mythology.
SG-1 does not introduce new alien races as often as some other science fiction television series. Most civilizations that the Goa'uld had transplanted maintain much of their original Earth culture, and
Stargate SG-1 does not equate civilization with technology like many other sci-fi shows do. Newly encountered races or visited planets are integrated into the mythology, although plotlines of individual episodes are often new, self-standing and accessible for new audiences, giving a compelling internal coherence. The writers had to strike a balance in the interaction between the explorers from Earth and advanced races (of which there were only few in the story) so that alliances could be developed where the advanced races do not give Earth all their technology and knowledge.
Stargate SG-1 emphasized its present-day-Earth story frame by frequently referencing
popular culture, like
The X-Files and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer had done before. According to one critic in 1997,
Stargate SG-1 was designed to have no nationality, which might appeal to viewers all over the world. The final episodes of season 7 (2004) brought a more global approach to the scenario when the
Stargate Program was revealed to over a dozen nations, which further helped the international appeal of
Stargate SG-1.
Alliance of four great races SG-1 learns in season 1's "
The Torment of Tantalus" that although most known habitable planets in the
Stargate universe are populated by humans, there was once an Alliance of four great races. In season 2's "
The Fifth Race", the
Asgard tell Jack O'Neill that this
strategic alliance had consisted of the
Ancients, the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox, and that the humans from Earth had taken the first steps towards becoming "the Fifth Race". (This comes full circle in the
Stargate SG-1 finale "
Unending", when
Thor declares the humans from Earth the Fifth Race.) SG-1 had encountered the Nox in season 1's "The Nox", a
fairy-like people that wants nothing to do with humanity, viewing them as "young" and having "much to learn". The Nox can live to be hundreds of years old and have a great desire for wisdom and understanding. They are extreme pacifists and never employ violence for any reason, even to defend themselves. Although they outwardly seem to be primitive forest-dwellers, they possess superhuman intelligence and advanced technology beyond that of the Goa'uld, including a floating city. As they have the ability to render themselves and other objects invisible and intangible, as well as the ability to resurrect the dead, they never need to fight. The Nox also appear in "
Enigma" and "
Pretense". However,
Stargate SG-1 revealed virtually nothing about the Furlings, beside making them the story backdrop of an abandoned site in season 6's "
Paradise Lost". Furling skeletons were originally planned to be featured in the episode, but the production of such proved to be too expensive.
Jack O'Neill concludes that the Furlings must be cute and cuddly creatures, based solely on their name. In "
Citizen Joe", another character equates the Furlings to
Ewoks based on their name. The length of time that the Furling nature remained a mystery in the series turned into a
running gag. When Executive Producer
Robert C. Cooper was asked "Will we ever meet the Furlings?", his answer was "Who says we haven't?". The writers later went on to state that apart from showing Furling technology and legacy, no member of the Furling race has ever appeared on the show. Producer
Joseph Mallozzi claimed that more about the Furlings would finally be revealed in
SG-1s tenth season, which turned out to be an imagined scene from a movie script based on the fictional television series "
Wormhole X-Treme!", a
parody of
Stargate SG-1 set in the
Stargate SG-1 universe. The Furlings were depicted as
Ewok-like, or koala-like creatures that are destroyed by the Goa'uld soon after making contact with SG-1.
Goa'uld The
Goauld are the primary adversaries in
Stargate SG-1 from seasons 1 to 8.
Stargate SG-1 creators
Brad Wright and
Jonathan Glassner established in
SG-1s 1997 pilot episode "
Children of the Gods" that the film's unnamed alien race and the Goa'uld are the same. As such, the look of the series' Goa'uld, including the early archvillain
Apophis, was based on Ra in the feature film. The Goa'uld are introduced as the first and most prominent alien race in the Milky Way, and are also one of the few nonhumanoid species to appear in the early seasons of the series. They are a
parasitic species that resemble finned snakes, which can burrow themselves into a humanoid's neck and wrap around the spinal column. The Goa'uld parasite (generally referred to as a "symbiote") then takes control of its host's body and mind, while providing longevity and perfect health. The Goa'uld are branded as evil by their pretending to be gods and forcing people to submit to their quasi-religious pronouncements. The Jaffa rely on the symbiotes for their immune system or will die a slow and painful death that can only be avoided by either acquiring a new symbiote or by lifelong regular injections of a replacement drug called Tretonin. Ordinary Jaffa bear a black tattoo symbol of their Goa'uld master's insignia on their foreheads, and the highest-ranking Jaffa in the service of a Goa'uld is known as the
First Prime, who has the symbol branded in gold. SG-1 encounters three notable Jaffa factions: the all-female '''Hak'tyl''' ("liberation") led by
Ishta in season 7's "
Birthright", the
Ancient-worshipping
Sodan in season 9's "
Babylon", and the
Ori-worshipping
Illac Renin (meaning "Kingdom of the Path") in season 10's "
Talion". The planet
Dakara, a holy ground for the Goa'uld and Jaffa alike, is the turning point in the Goa'uld–Jaffa power struggle in season 8's "
Reckoning"/"
Threads": It is where the
Ancients first landed in the Milky Way Galaxy after fleeing the Alteran Galaxy and later built a powerful device, capable of destroying existing life or creating it where there was none before, long before the galaxy was colonized by the Goa'uld or the humans. Since season 8 was intended to be the show's last, the producers had finished it with the defeat of the Goa'uld and the
Replicators. However, when the
Sci Fi Channel renewed the series, the producers had grown tired of writing endings. Having had good experiences with the first season of
Stargate Atlantis, the producers decided to revamp the series by more than just adding new characters, new villains and new missions. Thus they considered the beginning of Season 9 as the pilot of a new show and replaced the Goa'uld with the
Ori as the main villains. The Goa'uld still appeared in the show, but on a regular basis under the command of
Ba'al.
Ori A major threat in the cosmos, the Ori are Ascended beings who use their advanced knowledge of the universe to force lesser beings to worship them. In essence, they used to be Ancients, however they split into separate groups due to different views of life. The Ori are religious while the Ancients prefer science. The Ori sway lesser-developed planets into worshipping them by promising Ascension through an invented and empty religion called "Origin". This religion states that they created humanity and as such are to be worshiped by their creations. It also promises its followers that, on death, they will Ascend. However, Origin was designed to channel energy from the human worshipers to the Ori. As such, the Ori never help anyone else Ascend because then they would have to share the power that they sap from their worshipers. Their ultimate goal is to completely destroy the Ascended Ancients, who they know as "the Others". All of their efforts, including their technology, are for the purpose of garnering worshippers. As Ascended beings, the Ori do not interfere directly in the mortal plane. Instead, they use humans called
Priors, which they artificially evolve so that they are one step from Ascension, giving the Priors godlike powers. Because the Ori have worshipers across the entire home galaxy of the Ancients, and use their knowledge to spread, they are nearly unstoppable. For example: Ori warships, built using conventional means while operated through the supernatural abilities of the Priors, are generally considered to be the most powerful vessels in the Stargate universe. The Ori might be regarded as a shadow form of the Goa'uld, with the significant difference that the Ori promise ascension to their followers but never provide it. ==Mythology of
Stargate Atlantis ==