Stargate

“Stargate” is one of the most intriguing sci-fi films of 1994-95.

The plot is the usual for one of this genre: a very old woman comes to Professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader), the usual nerd for a Roland Emmerich film (“Independence Day,” “Godzilla,” “The Patriot”) and gives him a job decoding an Egyptian artifact known as the Stargate (hence the films name). When he does, Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell), a depressed military man, after his son accidentally shoots himself with his father’s gun (not shown in film), travel back through the stargate with a crack commando team and James Spader, who is needed to decode the stargate on the other side of “the known galaxy”. As you have probably guessed by now, there are several things which go wrong once on the other side of the stargate.

One of the things which goes wrong was the arrival of the “Sun God Ra” an evil alien whose race is dying out. Ra’s underlings wipe out the commandos (of course) and O'Neil, Jackson, and a bunch of Earthlings (did I forget to mention that they met a bunch of Earth people there?) and they must battle the astoundingly powerful Sun God Ra (no, no. Alien, not God.) before they can find their way back home.

This film has a great plot and characters, the acting is better than usual, however, it does resolve to gunfire, hand-to-hand fighting, and fighters, and an Independence Day-like explosion to win. I only have a few problems with this film.

1. Ra has about five scantly clad male children which follow him everywhere.
2. Ra himself looks like a girl even though he is supposed to be a boy (Hollywood is once again trying to confuse the sexes.)
3. It contains roughly 10 to 12 profanities, most of which are the usual d-words and h-words, however, the characters do take Christ’s name in vain two times. The other two are the a-word and Son-of-a-b.
4. At one point, a young woman tries to take her garment off, in front of Spader, but he remains moral and keeps her from doing it. The scene lasts about 25 to 45 seconds.
5. O'Neil kills one of the bad guys by sending the head up to Ra’s ship, and they show the little red stump at the bottom too.

Hollywood needs to see that plots are not an excuse for foul language. I found this to be true in “Six Days, Seven Nights”, where the plot became a cussing contest to see how far past the limit they can go.

Editor’s comment

Followers of Christ should alert about this film’s promotion of ANCIENT ALIENS or ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS theory, because this is an issue that is truly deceiving a very great number of people, partly because it is presented as scientific and archaeological (both false claims). At its base, it is a lie being used by godless people to “scientifically” explain away Biblical miracles and events—and God Himself.

This tactic started with atheist author H.P. Lovecraft. Years later, this pseudo-scientific idea was famously promoted by Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods) and others. The Director of this film was inspired by von Däniken, and says so. This idea has particularly been used by some whose worldviews are New Age or Evolutionism/Atheism (or both).

The claim is that extraterrestrials with advanced technology came to Earth in ancient times and were mistaken for gods, angels and supernatural activity—and that out of these encounters with naive and unsophisticated humans (who misunderstood what they witnessed), humans began to worship these aliens—and the world’s religions (including Christianity) are the end result.

I have researched these claims in considerable depth, including attending von Däniken lectures. I am in agreement with many other researchers, the so-called evidence for this fantasy is filled with foolish errors and serious outright lies and deceptions.

Nonetheless, many sci-fi books, movies and TV shows have eagerly used and promoted what is essentially a dangerous Atheist-inspired worldview.

What difference does it make? When accepted, this pseudo-science leads people directly away from Biblical truth about Earth’s Creation, mankind’s place in God’s plan, Earth’s history of wicked rebellion against the Creator, and the record of His judgments. Inherent in this worldview is rejection of belief in God and the Bible. People are less likely to perceive their spiritually bankrupt state before God and are more unlikely to want—or listen to—the Gospel.

Entertainment dramas that use the ancient extraterrestrial encounters fantasy and thus promote it some extent…

• “Stargate”
• “Prometheus”
• “Knowing”
• “Thor”
• “The X-Files: Fight the Future” etc.
• “Alien vs. Predator”
• Transformers: The Last Knight and most of the “Transformers” series
• “Outlander”
• “The Fifth Element”
• “Mission To Mars”
• “Star Trek” various episodes, including “Star Trek: The Next Generation—The Chase,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation—Who Watches the Watchers” —Gene Roddenberry, creator of “Star Trek” was an opponent of all beliefs in God
• “2001: A Space Odyssey”—the monolith
• “Earth: Final Conflict”
• “Space: 1999”
• “Quatermass and the Pit”
• 65 (2023)

If nothing else, the mere CONSTANT REPETITION of this view of history in entertainment media is causing it to become embedded in the minds of billions of people, making it somehow seem to them less ludicrous than it really is. Discerning Christians know that we and God have an Enemy who is the father of lies who seeks to deceive the whole world.