Stargate UMD

By Spencer . October 26, 2005 . 1:15pm

A tiny movie back in 1994 sparked a TV series that still airs today. Yes, Stargate known by sci-fi lovers everywhere can now be picked up for viewing on your PSP. The movie starts out with a staggering premise, the promise to enter a new world with an Egyptian relic. Professor Daniel Jackson gets the chance to crack the code of the Stargate because of his deep belief that the Egyptians did not create the pyramids. Nearly a third through the movie Jackson gets his big break. The code is cracked, a portal to a new world awaits. Since no scientist is going to journey to an unknown world alone a small army steps in for the adventure. Colonel Jack O’Neil leads the mini militia even though he is haunted by the death of his child by a handgun accident.

Paradise doesn’t exactly wait on the other side. Instead they find a society lead by the sun God Ra who enslaved humans he brought over using the Stargate thousands of years earlier. Trapped in the inhospitable desert world Jackson, O’Neil and the rest of the adventurers battle Ra. Not only to free the humans, but to return back to Earth.

While it may look dated compared to recent sci-fi movies that are nearly all computer graphics, Stargate has a good transfer over to the small screen. The movie is presented in widescreen format, with only a small region taken up by black bar borders. The translation looks nearly as good as a true DVD. As a bonus for picking up this disc there is a feature on the Making of Stargate. This feature made me have greater respect for the title. It goes into detail about how the special effects were imagined and then created. Could you believe a giant air cannon was shot to create the spinning water effect from the gate?

For the sci-fi fan on the go you Stargate will entertain you for a plane ride at the price of under $20.