The Netflix space opera that makes The Expanse look small

Space on TV is usually so cosy it feels like a commuter village. Not so with The Expanse – that show actually gets across just how vast, treacherous, and politically messy life among the stars might be. I'm constantly impressed by the way it juggles power games between the United Nations of Earth, the Martian Congressional Republic, and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), all while picking apart modern evils like authoritarianism and class warfare. It’s perhaps one of the best-looking sci-fi series ever made, unless you’re the type who thinks Star Wars and Star Trek have already set an unconquerable bar.

But, and it’s a big but, you can’t really crown The Expanse as king of cosmic TV unless you’ve spent some proper time with Stargate SG-1. For some reason, SG-1 doesn’t get mentioned enough in these conversations, and that’s just wrong if you ask me. Let’s get into it.

The Many Lives of Stargate

First off, Stargate wasn’t always a TV thing. It started off as a cult hit sci-fi film from 1994, dreamed up by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. Then, in 1997, it morphed into Stargate SG-1, a series that ran for a frankly ludicrous ten seasons and won itself eight Emmys along the way. The thing wasn’t just successful – it mutated into an entire mini-universe:

• Stargate Infinity – the animated oddball
• Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Origins, and Stargate Universe – live-action spin-offs
• Plus a couple of direct-to-video films: Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum

Try getting through that lot in a single summer and you’ll probably lose touch with reality.

Didn’t Expect Greek Gods, Did You?

I’ll admit it upfront: I almost never gave Stargate SG-1 a go. The clincher? Someone told me the show mixed in not just generic aliens, but all sorts of myths – Greek, Roman, Norse, even a bit of King Arthur legend for good measure. Instead of endless episodes of trigger-happy US Marines, you get a team (SG-1) jumping from planet to planet via an alien portal, dealing with problems ranging from snake-like parasites (the Goa'uld, who are basically evil overlords using humans as meat suits) to homicidal robots (Replicators) and bad-news religious fanatics (the Ori).

I got so sucked in, I told my kid sister the Powerpuff Girls were cancelled just so I could have the TV to myself. Not proud, but I stand by that life choice.

What makes SG-1 hold up – even after a recent rewatch – is how much attention it pays to the cultures and tech the team encounters. There are plenty of scrapes and shootouts, but the show isn’t just about military tactics. Some episodes are slow and really dig into the sci-fi 'what ifs', like season four’s 'Window of Opportunity', which finds our heroes stuck living the same day over and over. (Imagine Groundhog Day, but with more sarcastic banter and slightly less jazz piano.)

What The Expanse Gets Right—and Where SG-1 Still Wins

The Expanse is what you call proper grown-up sci-fi: lots of complex ideas, proper world-building, and a habit of giving a voice not just to the powerful, but the downtrodden. Some of its darker corners feel a bit of their time, but by and large, it’s all top-drawer stuff. Still, it doesn’t — and probably can’t — ever match Stargate SG-1’s sheer ambition or bonkers sense of scale.

The Expanse clocks in at a relatively svelte 62 episodes across six seasons; Stargate SG-1, meanwhile, racked up 214 episodes. Count up everything in the Stargate franchise and you’re talking serious binge territory. The Expanse never got a spin-off, either. After Syfy binned it after three seasons (not a sign of gigantic popularity, to be blunt), Amazon swooped in to give it a stay of execution with three more. But still – the audience for SG-1 was in an entirely different league.

How Big Was Stargate’s Audience?

This bit blew my mind – according to The Vancouver Sun, Stargate SG-1 aired in over 100 countries and managed a weekly global audience of around 10 million. Reel West adds that it shoved Syfy up into the top 10 of US cable networks, which is not something most genre shows can claim. In every way that matters, SG-1 was massive.

The Joy of Gradually Upgrading Your Weapons

Unlike Star Trek, where everyone’s got fancy kit from the get-go, the Stargate crew started out with bog-standard guns and gear. As seasons rolled on, they earned upgrades—including alien tech, which usually exploded spectacularly at least once. It’s details like these that keep the show feeling rooted in a familiar world, even when it’s going off on wild mythological tangents.

The Main Cast

• Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O'Neill, the team’s dry-witted leader
• Amanda Tapping as Major Samantha Carter, scientist and problem-solver-in-chief
• Michael Shanks as Dr Daniel Jackson, linguistics expert and empathetic heart of the group
• Christopher Judge as Teal'c, former Jaffa warrior with a formidable stare
• Don S. Davis as General George Hammond, Earth’s gruff but lovable SG program chief (seasons 1-7)
• Ben Browder as Lt Colonel Cameron Mitchell (seasons 9-10)
• Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran (seasons 9-10)

A quick quote from The Vancouver Sun captures the buzz nicely:

'The series was sold to more than 100 countries and garnered a global viewership of about 10 million a week.'