Image via MGM
Published Nov 5, 2026, 2:58 PM EST
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wonderful wife and precious daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, interviews, and breaking news on select occasion. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own, from supernatural thrillers to historical fiction. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" in 2025 from the Western Writers of America, of which he is a member. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
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For those who love Stargate, it’s no secret that we’ve been waiting for the franchise to continue for some time. After Amazon canceled its planned revival earlier this year, fans finally have another reason to be hopeful. Last month, news broke that WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer is developing a new Stargate series for Amazon MGM Studios, potentially bringing more adventures across the galaxy — and through the gate — to Prime Video. But several years back, in honor of Stargate SG-1's 20th anniversary, MGM briefly revisited the franchise in a mythology-rich 10-part miniseries that aired across several weeks in 2018. If you're looking for a quick sci-fi-flavored binge on Prime Video this weekend, look no further than Stargate Origins.
'Stargate Origins' Calls Back to the Franchise's Roots While Telling a Standalone Story
Stargate Origins was originally released on the now-defunct streaming platform Stargate Command, which was devoted entirely to the Stargate franchise. However, since the streaming platform folded and Amazon purchased MGM, the entire franchise catalog has been folded into Prime Video — which is great news for fans looking for a new binge. Although the last entry in the franchise to date, Stargate Origins is a prequel that takes place even before the original Roland Emmerich-directed film.
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Movies/Science Fiction/Survival Assessment
Collider Survival Assessment
Which Sci-Fi World
Would You Survive?
8 questions · 5 worlds · one honest verdict
Five of the great screen futures, and not one of them is built for comfort. Answer eight questions about instinct, loyalty and the line you would cross, and the scan will tell you which one you would still be standing in. Worlds in range
▦︎The Matrix
◈︎Mad Max
◑︎Blade Runner
▲︎Dune
✦︎Star Wars
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Question 01 of 08INSTINCT
The world as you know it ends overnight. What is your first move? No wrong answer. There is a wrong hesitation.
AFind out what is really going on behind all of it BGrab a vehicle and as much fuel as you can carry CKeep your head down and show up to work anyway DLearn the rules of whoever is in charge now EFind other people and start organizing
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Question 02 of 08RESOURCE
You can stockpile exactly one thing. What is it? Choose carefully. You are not getting a second run.
AInformation nobody else has BFuel CClean money and cleaner documents DWater EA ship that can get you off-world
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Question 03 of 08THREAT
Which kind of enemy scares you the most? Be honest about what keeps you up.
AOne that can be anywhere, wearing anyone's face BA convoy of people who want what you are carrying CSomeone who looks exactly like you DA rival family that has been planning your downfall for generations EAn empire with unlimited resources and no patience
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Question 04 of 08AUTHORITY
How do you handle the people in charge? Every world has them. Even the ones that pretend otherwise.
AAssume they are lying and work around them BNobody is in charge where I am CFollow the orders, file the report, stay invisible DStudy them, get close to them, outlast them EJoin whoever is fighting them
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Question 05 of 08ENVIRONMENT
Pick the place you would rather wake up in: You will be there a while.
AA grey city that feels slightly too perfect BAn endless desert highway CA rainy neon street at three in the morning DA dune sea with a fortress on the horizon EA crowded spaceport full of strangers
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Question 06 of 08ALLIANCE
Who do you want standing next to you? Pick one. You only get one.
AA guide who knows far more than they are telling you BOne person you trust and nobody else CNobody. You work alone DA loyal circle you grew up with EA crew of misfits who argue the whole way
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Question 07 of 08MORALITY
Which line would you cross to survive? Everybody crosses one.
ALying to the people closest to you BTaking what you need by force CLooking the other way DPlaying a long game that costs other people dearly EBlowing something very expensive up
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Question 08 of 08PURPOSE
What are you really fighting for? Last question. Make it count.
AThe truth, whatever it turns out to be BTomorrow. Just tomorrow CSomething that finally feels like a real life DYour family's name EEveryone who cannot fight for themselves
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Scan completeYou would survive
▦︎ The Matrix The Resistance, Zion You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
You would survive The Matrix because you were never fully sold on the version of reality you were handed. You notice the seams. You ask the second question. In a world built to keep people comfortable and incurious, that instinct is the whole fight, and it is why Morpheus would have found you long before you found him. From the Collider file
- The Wachowskis' 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film Editing.
- Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the actors.
- Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot, recovering from neck surgery the whole time.
- It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the world in front of you.
Red pill energy Pattern spotter Built to question
◈︎ Mad Max The Wasteland Oh, what a day. What a lovely day.
You would survive the Wasteland because you do not waste energy mourning the world that ended. You move, you improvise, and you are very good with whatever is bolted to the thing in front of you. Furiosa would let you drive. That is not a compliment anybody earns easily. From the Collider file
- Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year.
- George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a script.
- The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and real stunt performers.
- Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024.
Keeps moving Improviser Good with engines
◑︎ Blade Runner Los Angeles, 2049 All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
You would survive 2049 because you know how to be small in a very loud city. You keep your head down, you do the job, and you hold onto one private thing that belongs only to you. That quiet stubbornness is exactly what both Deckard and K run on, and it is what keeps either of them going when the case stops making sense. From the Collider file
- Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth nomination.
- The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott's 1982 original.
- Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever he could.
- Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the two movies.
Keeps her head down Private Noir soul
▲︎ Dune Arrakis Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
You would survive Arrakis because you think in decades while everyone around you thinks in weeks. You read the room, you learn the customs, you wait. The desert does not reward speed. It rewards people who understand that patience is a weapon, which is the one lesson the Fremen never had to be taught. From the Collider file
- Denis Villeneuve's Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and Original Score.
- Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan's Tenet so he could score Dune instead.
- Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken.
- David Lynch's 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky's unmade one are both their own legends by now.
Plays the long game Reads the room Patient
✦︎ Star Wars A Galaxy Far, Far Away Rebellions are built on hope.
You would survive the galaxy because you never try to survive it alone. You collect people. You end up in the middle of other folks' problems and you stay anyway. Every version of this story, from the Falcon's crew to the Ghost's, runs on somebody exactly like that holding the group together. From the Collider file
- The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects.
- John Williams' score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever.
- Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both seasons.
- The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+.
Collects people Shows up Hope merchant
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Scan filed byCOLLIDERCollider.com · The Sci-Fi Desk
Set in 1938, several years after Professor Paul Langford (Connor Trinneer) and his team first discovered Earth's stargate in Giza, the miniseries begins with a brief flashback to the 1994 film's opening before jumping ahead several years to Langford and his daughter, Catherine (Ellie Gall), who struggle to understand the strange glyphs on the alien device. While Catherine would play a role in both the original feature film and SG-1, this prequel presents viewers with her own adventure through the gate, arriving on the world of Abydos decades before Daniel Jackson (James Spader, Michael Shanks), Jack O'Neill (Kurt Russell, Richard Dean Anderson), and their team would arrive there.
Whether you've seen all of SG-1 or only the original Stargate movie, you'll find yourself up to speed for this standalone prequel. The 10-part miniseries — consisting of 10-minute episodes that run around an hour and 40 minutes total — sets up many of the events in the first film after the professor is forced through the gate by a crazed Nazi occultist, Wilhelm Brücke (Aylam Orian), who aims to use the power of the gods to give the Third Reich an edge on the rest of the world.
In an effort to save her father, Catherine recruits her boyfriend, Captain James Beal (Philip Alexander), and Egyptian native Wasif (Shvan Aladdin) to jump through the gate, finding themselves on an adventure through the stars. In many respects, Stargate Origins comes across as a revisionist pulp story that seems to infuse 1930s speculative fiction with material meant for 2010s audiences. However, you feel about some of that, Origins is rife with inspired references to and set-up for the original motion picture, which featured an older Catherine played by Viveca Lindfors.
'Stargate Origins' Was the Final Entry (Thus Far) in the 'Stargate' Franchise
While the 10-minute episodes are a perfect way to binge the series over a short weekend, folks wishing to enjoy the miniseries all in one go can do so just as easily. For those unwilling to click "next episode" every 10 minutes (or if you just want a more seamless transition), Stargate Origins was re-edited into a "feature cut" by MGM titled Stargate Origins: Catherine. The re-edited version features a revised score and some updated effects, though the story itself doesn't change. Of course, if you're looking for something more like Stargate Atlantis in quality, you'll be out of luck.
While Origins is fun for what it is, the low-budget production is a bit uneven in terms of its performances, adds some strange character choices, and is more akin, in some respects, to a tie-in web series rather than something of the caliber of SG-1 or its spin-offs. But if you love Stargate, it remains a must-see, if only on the basis that it's another entry in the overall series — one that ties so directly to the foundation of the franchise.
Of course, if you're looking to jump into the Stargate franchise and wondering if Origins is a good place to start, despite the name, we wouldn't recommend it. The best order to watch this sci-fi extravaganza is by starting with the 1994 Stargate film. Although the feature was meant to be the first in a trilogy of Stargate movies, the franchise went a different direction entirely by transitioning to television in the form of Stargate SG-1, which picked up with the characters from the original film and continued their interstellar adventures.
At least watch the first movie before diving into Origins (which, again, steals its opening scene directly from the 1994 picture), but if you're looking to better understand the world, SG-1 is the perfect follow-up that will help set the stage for this quick prequel. Of course, with another Stargate series now in development at Amazon MGM Studios, fans may eventually have a new adventure to look forward to. There's no premiere date yet, though, making Origins an easy way to revisit the franchise while we wait.
Stargate Origins is available for streaming on Prime Video.
Stargate Origins
Release Date 2018 - 2021-00-00
Network Stargate Command
Directors Mercedes Bryce Morgan
English (US) ·