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{{work|wppage=Stargate}}
[[File:Stargate.jpg|link=Cool Gate|frame|Earth's Stargate]]
''Or even a ship!"''<ref>Eventually, though, they ''did'' get a ship.</ref>
|The writers of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', singing [[With Lyrics|the theme tune]]}}
To most of the earth-bound humans in it, the
▲{{quote|''"Stargate!<br />
▲It's a crazy trip!<br />
▲You can go quite far and you don't need a car<br />
▲Or even a ship!"''<ref>Eventually, though, they ''did'' get a ship.</ref>|The writers of ''[[Stargate SG 1 (TV)|Stargate SG 1]]'', singing [[With Lyrics|the theme tune]]}}
▲To most of the earth-bound humans in it, the [[Stargate Verse]] is [[Plausible Deniability|indistinguishable from the universe in which we viewers live]]. It's present-day, there isn't a whole lot of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that you'd notice, and human history has unfolded just the way you remember, so far as you know. About the only difference is that there's about 80 billion dollars in the US military budget that no one can adequately account for. Oh, wait.
In fact, human history unfolded in a radically different way than they teach in school. First, [[Ancient Astronauts|the pyramids were built by aliens]].
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Many millions of years ago, aliens that looked exactly like humans evolved elsewhere in the universe, advanced to a stunning level, and filled the galaxy with really nifty [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] before [[Energy Beings|buggering off to a higher plane of existence]]. Some time later, a race of parasitic aliens called the Goa'uld invaded Earth, built pyramids, inspired (or assumed the personalities of) the various mythological gods, and created a human diaspora in order to serve them as slaves on other worlds, resulting in large populations of ''Homo sapiens'' throughout the galaxy.
Really, the defining element of the
Fortunately, we're really good at it. So, as of 2010, while to most of the people on Earth, it does not seem like anything interesting is going on, we actually have offworld colonies, two expeditions to distant galaxies, and ''five'' (intact) intergalactic starships (''Daedalus,'' ''Apollo,'' ''Odyssey,'' ''George Hammond,'' and ''Sun-Tzu''; two older intergalactic starships, ''Prometheus'' and ''Korolev'', have been destroyed).
Works set in the
* ''[[Stargate (
* ''[[
** ''Stargate: [[The Ark of Truth]]'', direct-to-DVD sequel to ''SG-1'' concluding the Ori <s>[[Incredibly Lame Pun|ark]]</s> [[Story Arc|arc]].
** ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''Stargate: Revolution'' and ''Stargate: Extinction'', planned direct-to-DVD movies of SG-1 and Atlantis respectively. Scripts were written,
* Some [[Big Finish]] audio plays.
The
The other defining element of the
Another relatively unusual feature of the
* Humans, who
* Goa'uld, a race of [[Starfish Aliens|snakelike parasites]] who, until recently, ran most of the galaxy by pretending to be [[A God Am I|gods]]. Goa'uld require an individual of another race or species to host them in order to survive, and most Goa'uld take full control over their host. They steal technology, filling their "parasite" role in multiple ways. Oh, and their sarcophagus technology, which they can use to heal themselves (or to bring their corpses [[Back
** Some Goa'uld, however, decided that this system of involuntary symbiosis was evil. They call themselves Tok'ra, which means "Against Ra" (who was the Goa'uld emperor [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|at the time]]). Tok'ra live in voluntary symbiosis with their humanoid hosts. [[Not So Different|Usually]]. Also, they don't use the sarcophagus technology.
* Jaffa, a human-descended race genetically modified by the Goa'uld to serve as their [[Slave Race|soldiers]] and as [[Body Horror|organic life support systems]] for juvenile Goa'uld. After the fall of the Goa'uld, the Jaffa attempt to form a democratic, egalitarian society despite the fact that their history consists entirely of killing one another over their masters' territorial disputes. It turns out about as well as you'd imagine.
* Nox, an ancient and super-advanced race of peaceful tree-huggers who keep to themselves. It is likely that many of Earth's various legends of "The Little People" or "[[The Fair Folk]]" are actually about the Nox.
* Asgard, an ancient and super-advanced race with the classic "gray alien" appearance, who inspired the Norse gods, and occasionally bail our sorry backsides out when we get in over our heads (now supposedly extinct -- however, it was revealed in Stargate Atlantis episode "The Lost Tribe" that the Asgard SG-1 is familiar with aren't the only Asgard...). Unlike most such advanced species the Asgard have proved to be friendly, helpful (as much as they can) and all things considered actually decent and polite as well, capable of acknowledging humanity's flaws compared to themselves (and acknowledging where humanity can help them) without coming across as condescending and [[Can't Argue
* The Ancients, an [[Exactly What It Says
* Furlings, an ancient and super-advanced race (notice the pattern?) who have, as yet, not bothered to show up. (A [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade is hung]] in the episode "Citizen Joe", wherein one of Joe's readers is annoyed that he keeps mentioning them even though they never actually appear.)
** Although this may be because they are dead, since [[SG
** Also parodied, like many other things, in the episode ''200'', where the furlings finally appear - and their first on-screen action is having their planet blown up. It was just an [[Imagine Spot]], though.
* Unas, [[Lizard Folk|big, scary, humanoid and reptilian creatures]], who were common hosts of the Goa'uld before they encountered humans. (While Unas are strong and durable, humans regenerate more readily and have nimbler hands for tool use.)
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* The Unity, a race of crystalline energy beings who only appeared in one episode.
* The A't'trr, a [[Hive Mind]] race of microbes who only appeared in one episode.
* The otherwise unnamed (in the episode at least) "GIANT ALIENS!" from the SG-1 episode "Crystal Skull." Not to be confused with the [[Indiana Jones and
* Then there's the unnamed "foothold aliens," a mildly humanoid, technologically advanced race that briefly conquered Stargate Command using devices that let each of them take on the appearance of a captured human individual. They were only seen in one episode, but their captured devices were used again later. It's not clear what these guys actually look like, as they seem to constantly wear armour or environment suits... unless ''that's'' just their normal appearance.
** For the record, the RPG calls them the Stragoth.
* <s>An unnamed race of aquatic humanoids</s> [[All There in the Manual|Oannes]], who had visited Earth during Babylonian times appeared in one episode.
* Another unnamed race of gill-faced humanoids possessed of shapeshifting and teleportation powers appeared as protectors to a dislocated tribe of Native Americans in one episode.
* The Oranians are another type of [[People in Rubber Suits|Aliens in Rubber Suits]], who are also vaguely reptilian. The species is primarily represented by the unscrupulous businessmen Jup and Tanat. If they are any indication, Oranians seem to be fairly hapless and stupid. When Tenat {{spoiler|finds out that he has been tricked into firing on his commanding officer and is about to die,}} he delivers the hilarious [[Star Trek:
* The Nakai, who are hunting after the protagonists of ''[[
* Ursini, about 1.2m (4') tall vaguely humanoid (seems like a recurring theme with advanced [[
* Berserker Drones, a type of mechanical drones that were created a long time ago with the unfortunately vague directions to "[[Literal Genie|Destroy all alien technology.]]" This backfired on their creators and got them destroyed, and they've been terrorizing their local galaxy ever since, specifically the Ursini. Most of the final episodes of SGU deal with ''Destiny'''s desperate attempts to avoid them.
Despite being one of the newer Scifi franchises (compared to, y'know, the [[Star Wars|other]] [[Star Trek|franchises]] that start with "Star") The
Not to be confused with poetry about stargates.
{{Franchisetropes|Notable characteristics of the
* [[Artifact Collection Agency]]: The SGC fills this role, among others
* [[Auto Doc]]: Sarcophagi.
* [[Backed
* [[The Battlestar]]: For bonus points, the human battlecruisers even bear a passing resemblance to the ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', with a hangar bay mounted on each side of the main hull. The similarities end there, however. The Goa'uld ships instead look like flying pyramids, and the Asgard ships look vaguely like giant hammers or axes. Other ship designs vary widely.
* [[Continuity Overlap]]
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* [[Fantastic Rank System]]: The Goa'uld have the rank of First Prime, which is comparable to a [[Real Life]] Field Marshal.
* [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Unlike in many settings involving interplanetary travel and fantastical conflicts, almost all the protagonists in the
* [[Humans Are Their Own Precursors]]: The Ancients, at least those that haven't become or ceased to be [[Energy Beings]], look identical to modern humans, and many modern humans retain enough Ancient genetics to use their gene-locked technology. Atlantis is indeed their creation, though [[Stargate Atlantis|it's a spaceship city]].
* [[Mildly Military]]: All the television series set in the
* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]: There are many examples of this trope in the verse - almost every category has an example: The Ori are ''Gods'', The Ori Priors have ''Divine Protection'', The Kull warriors are ''Made of diamond'', the Black Knights are ''Made of air'', Human-form replicators are ''The Blob'', the Wraith, the first Unas and the Replicators have ''Regeneration'', Anubis: ''Can only kill part of him'', Ba'al and the Replicators have ''Multiple bodies'' and Apophis had ''Extreme luck'' during the first four seasons.
** Daniel Jackson, while not actually invulnerable in any reliable or definitive way, has managed to recover from death on a frightening number of occasions, arguably placing him in ''Resurrection'' to the point where the fanon has him dying and recovering on an almost monthly basis.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]
* [[Plausible Deniability]]
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* [[Russian Guy Suffers Most]]: [[Up to Eleven|Taken to ridiculous extremes]]. If a Russian character or characters make an appearance in an episode, something bad ''is'' going to happen to them. No exceptions. Russians are basically the SGC's version of Redshirts.
** 1 guess which country's space battle ship is destroyed.
*** Be fair: The Americans have lost more ships than the Russians so far. In fact, a [["Wake
* [[Science Fiction]]
* [[Signature Device]]: The Stargate members' "garage door openers."
* [[Space Is Noisy]]
* [[Sterility Plague]]: The Asgard suffer from the fact that they have totally abandoned sexual reproduction in favor of cloning.
** This is also how the {{spoiler|Aschen}} conquer planets: by mixing sterility-inducing drugs into "miracle medicines". This winds up backfiring when {{spoiler|(thanks to time shenanigans) SG-1 finds out and slips them a list of suggested Gate addresses. That start [[
* [[Subculture]] (military)
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]
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{{reflist}}
{{The Troper Board on Multiversal Travel}}
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