Which stargate to watch

During the first seven seasons, this four-person team operates in a top-secret base in Colorado, traveling to other planets and facing all manner of alien threats. Here's where things start to get a little complex, but it's nothing too crazy.

Both of these shows take place in the same universe and happen simultaneously. The good news is that SG-1 and Atantis are roughly independent of one another, since they take place in different galaxies and have entirely different storylines and ensemble casts, but there are a few episodes when the shows reference one another in some way.

You don't have to weave the episodes, but it's probably best to start watching Stargate SG-1 season 8 and Stargate Atlantis season 1 together.

At the end of Stargate SG-1 season 7, the show introduces a lost city called Atlantis. The members of the team discover its location, which is extremely deep in space. Stargate Command sends a permanent team there, which sets up its own base and essentially lives as a colony in the city of Atlantis.

Stargate SG-1 season 8 continues its threads, and by the season finale, the team finally defeats its two biggest opponents, the Goa'uld and the Replicators.

Meanwhile, Stargate Atlantis season 1 introduces the new characters — and, of course, their own powerful enemy, the Wraith. Again, you don't have to go back and forth between the shows, but it'll help to watch these seasons back to back since the events they depict take place at the same time. With many long-running shows, expanding salaries and assorted behind-the-scenes drama often leads to onscreen changes, and season 9 of Stargate-SG-1 is no exception; longtime viewers found themselves watching a markedly different show.

Both Jack O'Neill and General Hammond became minor characters because the actors playing them wanted to step down. As a result, a new SG-1 team forms. Additionally, Vala Mal Doran Claudia Black becomes a main character: She's a very clever but morally ambiguous human alien with a strong infatuation with Doctor Jackson.

We're also introduced to a new race of villains called the Ori, who learn of humans living in the Milky Way Galaxy. So they begin a violent crusade into our regions of the universe, planning to convert everyone to their religion, Origin. They're very technologically advanced, so SG-1 has to come up with innovative ways to defeat them.

Meanwhile, in Atlantis, the team tries to develop a retrovirus that will turn Wraith into humans. But their experiments aren't exactly perfect, with subjects producing ambiguous results at best. The Wraith, who feed on humans, learn of Earth's location and decide to fly there for its rich feeding grounds. This is the last time you have to watch both shows at the same time, but once again, you are going to watch a season of Stargate SG-1 and a season of Stargate Atlantis together.

Season 10 is the final season of Stargate SG-1 , and it wraps up several plot threads. Without giving anything away, the series finale ties up a bunch of different long-running plot threads, including the fate of at least one fan-favorite couple and the climax of the battle against a series big bad. After dozens of episodes, that's finally it for Stargate SG-1 — now dust off your hands and head over to Stargate Atlantis season 3, which you should watch at the same time. In Stargate Atlantis, the team manages to prevent the Wraith from assaulting Earth, but they also fail to develop a retrovirus for changing Wraith into humans.

They continue to battle the Wraith through the season as well as yet another adversary — a new enemy called the Asurans, which are self-replicating nanobots. The Asurans threaten to destroy the city of Atlantis, so the team fires up the city's hyperdrives yes, the city can freaking travel through space and take off for the stars. But soon after this evasive move, the ship is damaged, and our heroes are left adrift in space.

Before you watch the next season of Stargate Atlantis which has five seasons in total , you have to first watch Stargate: Ark of Truth, a direct-to-video movie whose plot picks up right after the end of Stargate SG Ark of Truth wraps up the Ori arc left dangling in the SG-1 series finale, effectively eliminating the enemy once and for all.

The movie begins by explaining the existence of an ancient device known as the Ark of Truth, which can defeat the Ori. Naturally, the team is eager to find it, but unfortunately, it's on the Ori homeworld.

Despite being a suicide mission, they visit the planet and retrieve the device. But in the process, they also resurrect an old enemy — the replicators. The Ori gather their forces for a final assault on the Milky Way, but SG-1 activates the Ark of Truth, and it defeats the Ori, albeit in an unexpected way.

The device shows the Priors that the Ori are not gods. The Priors are humans who serve the Ori and promote their religion, which includes plans to invade Earth. The effect of the Ark of Truth is that all Priors in the galaxy become aware of the truth and thus leave their religion and the Ori altogether, and the film ends with SG-1 preparing to go through the Stargate on yet another mission, implying the story will go on.

Now that you've finished Ark of Truth , head back to Stargate Atlantis and watch season 4. At this time, there was a bit of a transition in the Stargate franchise. This will help contextualise the Stargate mythology and allow you to gauge how much content you need to work through. As noted above, Stargate began life as a movie in Stargate SG-1 was conceived as a continuation of the original film, albeit with new actors taking on the lead roles.

This continuation proved popular with audiences and the show remained on air, with Seasons Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven following between and The following year, the show was revived and concluded via two television movies — Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. Meanwhile, Stargate Atlantis remained on air for two additional seasons, concluding with Season Five in It was then followed by a new spin-off show, Stargate: Universe , which aired two seasons between and Although this seemed like the end of the Stargate story, the mythology was revived in for a new web series.

The series — Stargate Origins — acted as a prequel to all of the movies and TV shows that had come before, and detailed events at the very beginning of the timeline. Below is a list of all the Stargate movies and TV shows in chronological order. This order starts at the very beginning of the timeline, with Stargate Origins set in as the first entry, followed by Stargate largely set in as the second entry, and so on.

While this list does its very best to put everything into chronological order, it should be noted that there will be a few blips along the way.

This is because some seasons of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis aired at the same time, so the events of some seasons do overlap. Where overlapping occurs, I have placed the seasons in the best viewing order possible. In addition to the above list, there are two Stargate anomalies which I need to draw your attention to. This movie does not appear on the above list as it is in essence a recut of the pilot episode of Stargate SG-1 , albeit with new visual effects and some additional scenes.

As for Stargate Infinity , this is an animated show set in the future long after the events of Stargate Universe. The show is not considered canon, is largely ignored by fans, and is for Stargate completists only. If you work your way through the Stargate timeline, and become a fan of the mythology especially the Stargate SG-1 mythology then you may wish to check out Stargate: Children of the Gods , which is available on DVD.

You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we hold your personal data, please see our privacy policy. A few years later, the series moved into the television space with Stargate SG-1 which proved to be a huge hit, running for almost a decade and spawning more than episodes.

Atlantis came on the air during the same time, which causes some debate among fans over the correct chronological order to watch the series see next section , while Universe is the most recent full-length Stargate series. The franchise did make a brief return in in the form of Stargate Origins, a web show comprised of minute instalments, which was later compiled into a feature-length version. If you want to attempt Stargate in the chronological order, things are a little more complicated — as is often the case with sprawling sci-fi sagas!

The original film still leads the pack as the ultimate introduction to the franchise, but afterwards, Stargate: Origins is the next instalment in the chronology.