Before Richard Dean Anderson made Jack O'Neill a television favorite, Kurt Russell made the first trip through the Stargate. His military commander is considerably less pleased about the assignment than James Spader's Daniel Jackson, an Egyptologist whose theories suddenly become much harder to dismiss. Their 1994 adventure helped launch a franchise that would find room for years of interplanetary exploration.
The original movie is still worth revisiting on its own, though. Russell and Spader make an appealingly mismatched pair, with Daniel's curiosity frequently at odds with the priorities of the armed men accompanying him. For anyone whose affection for Stargate began with its television shows, it is a chance to return to the expedition that started everything.
Stargate is joining Pluto TV's free streaming lineup this November, according to the service's announced monthly schedule. The addition gives viewers another opportunity to watch Russell's sci-fi adventure through the ad-supported platform without a paid subscription. A separate arrival date was not specified in the lineup.
Kurt Russell and James Spader Make 'Stargate' Worth Revisiting
Directed by Roland Emmerich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dean Devlin, the movie follows an expedition through an ancient device discovered in Egypt. Daniel's work helps unlock its purpose as a gateway to another world, where the team encounters a civilization ruled by Ra (Jaye Davidson). Emmerich's approach to science fiction gives the discovery the scale of a blockbuster, with enormous structures and a mystery that quickly becomes dangerous.
Daniel is an easy character to root for because discovering this world means so much to him. Spader makes his excitement infectious, even when his eagerness puts him at odds with the expedition. Russell's Colonel Jack O'Neil has reasons of his own for taking the mission, bringing a darker undercurrent to what might otherwise be a straightforward action role. Their different responses to the discovery give the movie much of its appeal. Daniel wants to understand the people they meet, while the military team needs to assess the threat and find a way home. The eventual television franchise would get considerably more time to develop those competing interests, but the original movie establishes an effective partnership between exploration and action.
That premise proved durable enough to support Stargate SG-1 and its successors, with Anderson and Michael Shanks taking over the central roles on television. Viewers familiar with SG-1's much larger universe can enjoy seeing how it all began with one expedition and a spectacularly consequential discovery.
Stargate joins Pluto TV's free November lineup.
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