Synopsis:

In the earlier part of the 20th Century, a young girl accompanied her father on an excavation of Egyptian ruins. What they found was beyond the farthest reaches of their imaginations. Some 60 years later, that same girl has matured and spent the whole of her life trying to define and decipher the object her father unearthed. Professor, Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is a gifted student of history who has been met with less than enthusiastic responses to his concepts on the origins of civilization. On the day their paths cross, a journey will begin that will span both time and space. The Stargate is just that. A gateway to another time and place. Her perseverance and dedication coupled with his genius and naiveté' present an opportunity both have waited a lifetime to experience. The gate however, does not engender benevolence on the part of those on the other side. This is a problem they'll soon realize. Stargate is a rousing adventure loaded with stunning visuals and an amazing story. Definitely a must see!

Audio/Video:

The audio for Stargate is presented in a very full and active DD5.1 experience. There is more than enough activity from every aspect of your HT to recreate an excellent aural experience. The center is clean and the dialogue is easily understood and unencumbered. The surrounds are quite active and the sub is at times thunderous. The surrounds are at their best during the strafing runs on the alien planet. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself doing an awful lot of ducking.

A Director's Commentary is included featuring Director and Producer (respectively) Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. More self-congratulatory than anything else, the two drone on for what seems an eternity trading pat-on-the-back gestures. What little actual film information that's included identifies the additional 9 minutes of footage included in the Special Edition of Stargate also found on the disc. As well as the struggles that presented themselves in the making of the film.

The video for the film is no where near as impressive as the "Special Edition" title usually conveys. The errors in the opening title sequence are both bad and obvious. One moment it looks fairly clean then the next moment it appears milky and grainy. Hopefully, someday when a "true" special edition is released the transfer of this title will live up to that moniker.

Extras:

The only real extras on the disc are the inclusion of those 9 minutes in the Special Edition, the commentary track and the film's teaser and Theatrical trailers. Truly this Special Edition is one in name only. Where were the making of segments and the cast and crew interviews, storyboards, SFX shots and the whole kit and caboodle? They really missed the boat in issuing a real Special Edition of this film. Needless to say, this means that they'll revisit this disc with a full-blown special edition making then, three (3) versions of this disc available on DVD. Sometimes you just wanna scream!

Overall:

Stargate is a cool film with great effects and an interesting storyline. It's only marginally better than the previous edition on the market but, the addition of these meager extras is a pleasant change from it's barebones cousin. If the video presentation had been better I might consider this a highly recommendable title. That gripe aside it's still a Good film, and quite enjoyable. Recommended.