Even though I’m not a huge sci-fi nerd, I did watch Stargate a couple of times. Once when it came out. And once a few days ago.
Here’s the basic plot summary:
“In modern-day Egypt, professor Daniel Jackson teams up with retired Army Col. Jack O'Neil to unlock the code of an interstellar gateway to an ancient Egypt-like world. They arrive on a planet ruled by the despotic Ra, who holds the key to the Earth travelers' safe return. Now, in order to escape from their intergalactic purgatory, Jackson and O'Neil must convince the planet's people that Ra must be overthrown.”
To turn this summary into a one-sentence logline, it might look like this.
A professor and a retired Army Colonel unlock a galactic gate to an ancient Egypt-like world where they become stranded and in order to get back home, they must convince the people that their dictatorial leader must be overthrown.
This simple plot summary of the Stargate movie can be further analyzed with the following breakdown into the 5 main plot points.
The Signup
Daniel Jackson, an Egyptologist and linguist, is invited to a military base to help solve the coordinates of a hieroglyphic “stargate”. If he was never invited, they stargate would never have gotten solved, and thus the story would never have happened.
The Gunshot
Jackson solves the puzzle and opens a wormhole where he and several military members travel to a distant planet. There’s no turning back now. The “race” has begun!
The Halfway Point
One night, Ra’s ship lands atop the pyramid structure and a large-scale battle ensues. Jackson dies, but Ra puts him in a tomb-like healing contraption so that he can heal.
The Wall
Jackson’s love interest, Sha’uri, is killed. He is emotionally at his lowest.
The Finish Line
The people of the planet Abydos learn the true identity of Ra’s soldiers and revolt against the “kingship”. When they join forces with Jackson and his military soldier comrades in the war against Ra, they are able to defeat Ra and win the battle so that the humans can return to Earth.
There are a lot of things that happen, obviously, in between these five main plot points, but this is Stargate stripped down to its essence.
Even if you’re like me, and you’re not a sci-fi nerd, what’s your favorite book or movie in the genre?? Share your comment here.
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