Television series

Stargate SG·1

Name: Stargate SG·1
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Released: 1997
Cast: Christopher Judge, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Richard Dean Anderson, Don S. Davis

Stargate SG-1 is what happens when Star Trek's optimism meets special-ops swagger: a four-person team steps through an ancient portal into a new alien crisis almost every week, for ten seasons. It's proudly episodic, packed with wormhole physics, tyrant gods and a fierce found-family dynamic. Comfort television for people who like their space opera with a military haircut and a sense of humour.

TVMaze rating

8.8

If you liked this

Star Trek: The Next Generation1987

The show that taught Stargate its episodic rhythm and moral optimism—an ensemble crew solving a new problem every week, anchored by a captain who leads with reason instead of a gun. Same comfort-food structure, done first.

But Slower pacing, more talk than action, and some seriously dated effects and fashion by today's standards.

Farscape1999

Same Sci-Fi Channel era and lost-team-far-from-home DNA, but wilder—puppets, stranger aliens, a hero genuinely marooned. If SG-1's sense of adventure appealed, this turns the dial up considerably.

But Tonally messier and more soap-opera in its middle stretches; the puppetry is a real barrier for some.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine1993

Trades away-team missions for a fixed outpost but keeps the political intrigue, false gods, and long-game alien warfare SG-1 leans into at its best. Denser, angrier, and more rewarding on rewatch.

But Starts slow, and the serialized arcs demand more patience than SG-1's grab-and-go weekly missions.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Rick and Morty2013

Stargate's whole engine is a device that opens a doorway to a new alien world every episode; the portal gun here does the literal same job, just handed to a nihilistic scientist and his terrified grandson instead of a special-forces team.

All the 'step through a hole in reality into someone else's problem' plotting you love, filtered through pitch-black comedy and animation that can go anywhere a live-action budget can't.

But Deliberately abrasive, crude, and emotionally cruel in ways SG-1 never is; the tone whiplash could be a dealbreaker.

Babylon 51993

A space station instead of a stargate, but the same appetite for ancient enemies, alliance politics, and mythology planned five years ahead—one of the shows that proved sci-fi TV could commit to a plan.

But Uneven early effects and acting; the eventual payoff requires sitting through a rocky first season.

Stargate Atlantis2004no page yet

The direct spin-off, with the same crew culture but a younger team, a lost city, and the Wraith standing in for the Goa'uld. If you just want more of this exact flavour, start here.

But It's a spin-off in every sense—less mythology-shaking, more comfortable repetition of what already worked.

Star Trek: Voyager1995no page yet

A crew stranded far from home, forced to improvise diplomacy and firepower in equal measure—closer in spirit to SG-1's scrappy problem-solving than the cosier Trek shows.

But Reset-button plotting frustrates some viewers, and character growth is inconsistent across its seven seasons.

The Expanse2015

The same appetite for alien-tech politics and factional warfare, rebuilt for a harder, grittier, more cynical decade—this is where that genre grew up.

But A much slower burn, heavier on solar-system politics than quippy team banter—expect grit over gags.

Eureka2006

Same channel, same decade, same fondness for a tight ensemble solving a new crisis weekly—but off-world missions become a small town full of genius mishaps. Lighter, funnier, cozier.

But Lower stakes throughout; if you came to SG-1 for galaxy-spanning war, this will feel small.

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda2000no page yet

A scrappy crew rebuilding a fallen civilisation across the stars, led by a captain with SG-1-style stubborn optimism—same pulpy space-opera pleasures, different galaxy.

But Budget and writing are shakier than SG-1's, especially through the show's messy behind-the-scenes years.

The Time Tunnel1966no page yet

Three decades before Stargate, this show already ran the exact format: a secret government project, a device that flings a small team into a new world every single week, with a race to get them home threading through the whole run.

The direct ancestor of the 'gate-of-the-week' structure, made when networks demanded a self-contained crisis every episode—see the format in its rawest, campiest, most sincere form.

But Cheap 60s production values, wooden performances, and plotting so formulaic it can feel like homework rather than adventure.

Band of Brothers2001

Strip away the aliens and you're left with SG-1's real emotional engine—a tight unit that trusts each other completely, sent somewhere hostile again and again on someone else's orders. This is that bond, in a real war, with none of the pulp cushioning.

The camaraderie-under-fire that makes SG-1's team feel like family, done as grounded, unflinching history—a masterclass in what military brotherhood actually costs.

But Genuinely harrowing and sad in ways SG-1 is built to avoid; this is not comfort television.