Not being a watcher of the Stargate series I'm curious to know which show the fans would say is the one definitely worth investing in.
SG-1 is the one to watch. If you want to get a taste for the show without going through a whole season, I would watch the first two episodes and the last three of the first season. Seeing the 1994 movie is not essential, but it does help explain some of the backstory for the series, and their encounter with Ra is referenced more than once.
I'd probably say SG1. I enjoyed Atlantis and Universe seems ok so far. I haven't seen Infinity though.
SG-1, definitely. You know something's wrong when your favorite part of an SG-U episode is the SG-1 character cameos.
Well it depends on what you're looking for. If you want a lot of action and humor go with SG1. But keep in mind a lot of the acting is bad, and the FX are horribly dated, way worse than TNG's. And half of the planets they gate to are just the same forest again and again. The character's are very likeable. It is more of a fun show without getting too deep. Although there are a lot of changes, this show is most similar to the original Stargate movie so you might want to check that out 1st. I can't give you any good reason to watch SGA. That show is wretchedly awful and unwatchable to me. Awful characters, awful acting...just awful. It has the same tone and quality of an average Sci-fi original movie. Nuff said. SGU is darker, has amazing FX and they actually spent the $$$ to hire some good actors. People criticize it for soap opera elements and being kind of slow. Since there has only been one season, it is a good chance to jump onboard with it. And it doesn't require viewing the previous shows to understand what is going on, which is a big plus to someone like me who wasn't a fan of the older series. If you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of SGU and not so much the other shows.. So make of that what you will, but I'd go with SGU.
Stargate SG-1, and that includes "Emancipation" and the last two seasons. Stargate Atlantis tanked after the first season and never fully recovered. Stargate Universe has been intermittent entertainment at best.
SG-1 is not only the best Stargate series, it's one of the best sci-fi shows of the past ten years. Atlantis is decent entertainment, though suffers from bad choices made along the way in regards to cast changes and that by the third season they were running out of ideas. SGU is barely acceptable as entertainment. You get the occasional decent episode, but so far it hasn't impressed me at all. We got two episodes left of the first season, and the show still hasn't grabbed me like SG-1 or Atlantis did at that point.
SG-1 was the most fun to watch. Universe is the only one with enough ideals, even if badly done, that I want to talk about after seeing an episode.
SG-1, the whole Wizard of Oz thing and the whole O'neill/Carter relationship thing SG-A was fine but there was always that impending doom thing and I never got used to it. It was always a constant cliffhanger for the ZPMs too. SG-U It's not even a complete season so it shouldn't even be judged yet. Ummmm, notice no one is complaining about shaky cameras anymore?
Based on the whole show? SG1 for sure... But really, SG1 probably had the worst first season out of the three shows - So it is impossible to give SGU a fair comparison to the other shows. SGU has had the best season 1 so far, I think.
SG-1 by far. I like SGU, but it just hasn't staked out a unique identity. It's still trying to figure out what sort of show it is. SG-1 hit the ground running. They had some clunkers in the first season, but as I watched the series it was really impressive how it got to be very good in the second season and pretty much kept it up until season 8. Seasons 9 and 10 weren't bad, but they were like a different show, and the writing just wasn't on the same level as the glory years of SG-1. Seasons 4 and 5 are probably my favorite stretch of the show. If you don't appreciate gems like "Window of Opportunity," "2010," "Rite of Passage," "Between Two Fires," "Desperate Measures," etc. then SG-1 is probably not for you. It's sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but I liked how it always struck a good balance.
It's hard to see SG-1's first season as worse than SGU's, considering the fact that something actually happened in practically every episode of SG-1 season 1. Most of SGU's first season is utterly worthless from a plot perspective, the writers cop out all the time, the rampant stupidity of a lot of the characters, and a lot of the main characters aren't really likable. Honestly, you could skip from SGU's pilot to Subversion and miss very little thanks to the recaps at the beginning of every episode and the dialogue in the episode.
Well that comprehensively answers my question. I'm rather pleased then, since it's a large body of work. I'm working my way through the whole boxed set of B5 just now, since I find using the treadmill the most boring activity ever invented. Thanks everyone.