Stargate refers to the science fiction media franchise that began in 1994 with the feature film Stargate. The subsequent body of works detail an elaborate fictional universe where Earth battles hostile aliens possessing superior technology or supernatural powers. The film's story is continued in novel form, in two live-action television series (Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis), one animated series (Stargate Infinity), and in other derivative works.

The franchise, owned by MGM, continues to be successful 14 years after its inception.^[1] Due to multiple developers working separately and independently on the franchise over the years, the various Stargate productions are not entirely consistent with each other: no set of works forms a "correct" or official canon. The largest fanbase exists for the story that begins with the original film, and continues with Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007) and Stargate Atlantis (since 2004).^[2]

Stargate productions center on the premise of a "Stargate", a ring-shaped alien device that enables personal teleportation to complementary devices located cosmic distances away.^[3] Most Stargate episodes are set in the present day.^[4] The United States civilian government holds the Stargate's existence a secret, so story lines present no contradiction between the episode's events and reality.^[5] In the story, many Earth mythologies are in fact based upon events involving aliens who visited or controlled Earth civilizations in the distant past.^[6] Although initially the only hostile alien race depicted, the Goa'uld (as they become known in SG-1) become utmost among a series of Earth foes in subsequent franchise incarnations. Posing as gods, the Goa'uld enslaved the inhabitants of ancient Egypt, creating its culture and religion,^[7] using Stargates to move laborers from Earth to other habitable planets. The aliens were forced to flee Earth following a successful rebellion by the humans, and the Stargate was buried and forgotten until its rediscovery in Giza, 1928

Wikipedia.com