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Stargate Special Edition (1994) Starring: Kurt Russell James Spader Viveca Lindfors Alexis Cruz Mili Avital Plot Synopsis: A small group of US troups and an Egyptologist use an ancient device found in 1920s Egypt to transport themselves to a distant planet. There they discover .. err well any more plot would be considered a spoiler. Review: Before they unleashed the idiotic mayhem of Independence Day and Godzilla the idea-stealing team of director Roland Emmerich and producer-screenwriter Dean Devlin concocted this hokey hit about the discovery of an ancient portal capable of zipping travelers to "the other side of the known universe." James Spader plays the Egyptologist who successfully translates the Stargate s hieroglyphic code and then joins a hawkish military unit (led by Kurt Russell) on a reconnaissance mission to see what s on the other side. They arrive on a desert world with cultural (and apparently supernatural) ties to Earth s ancient Egypt where the sun god Ra (played by Jaye Davidson from The Crying Game) rules a population of slaves with armored minions and startlingly advanced technology. After being warmly welcomed into the slave camp the earthlings encourage and support a rebellion and while Russell threatens to blow up the Stargate to prevent its use by enemy forces the movie collapses into a senseless series of action scenes and grandiose explosions. It s all pretty ridiculous but Stargate found a large and appreciative audience spawned a cable-TV series and continues to attract science fiction fans who are more than willing to forgive its considerable faults. Additional Features: DVD collectors may recall that the original DVD release of Stargate was controversial because it was one of the few examples of a single-layer two-sided DVD requiring viewers to interrupt playback and flip the disc in the middle of the movie. Artisan s special-edition DVD solves that problem and offers both the 119-minute theatrical release of the film as well as the 128-minute "special edition" version which contains nine minutes of additional footage not shown in theaters. The commentary by director Roland Emmerich and producer-cowriter Dean Devlin offers explanation of the additional footage (most notably a prologue showing the abduction of Ra (Jaye Davidson) by an alien spacecraft in ancient Egypt) along with various insights about the film s influences and use of special effects. It s fairly routine as commentaries go (sample trivia: James Spader s production driver was one of Susan Sarandon s brothers) but Stargate fans are sure to find it enjoyable. DVD Details: Actors: Kurt Russell James Spader Viveca Lindfors Alexis Cruz Mili Avital Directors: Roland Emmerich Format: Closed-captioned Color Dolby Letterboxed Widescreen NTSC Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Number of discs: 1 Studio: Live Artisan DVD Release Date: October 26 1999 Run Time: 128 minutes
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