Summary

In 1928, an expedition searching for ancient Egyptian relics discovers a large metal ring near the city of Giza, which is confiscated by the U.S. military for study. In the present (of the movie viewer), an old woman make a deal with the brilliant but quirky Egyptologist Daniel Jackson an offer he cannot refuse. At a secret U.S. military base, Jackson deciphered the symbols on the mysterious ring. It turns out to be a Stargate, an alien device that enables almost instantaneous teleportation to a complementary device on another planet, and the symbols are encoded dialing numbers.

After a probe is sent, Jackson is sent with a military team led by Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil through the Stargate to a desert planet called Abydos. There, they find a small human civilization enslaved by an alien who the locals worship as Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god. Ra possesses a human body that is continuously regenerated in a high-tech sarcophagus. Ra's guards and soldiers wear animal-head helmets reminiscent of other ancient Egyptian gods, notably Anubis and Horus, but it's not clear whether Ra inspired the legends or is merely playing on them. (The film's novelization indicates that Ra created Egyptian mythology to help keep the human population subjugated.) It turns out that Ra had humans enslaved on both planets, but on Earth humans rebelled and closed the Stargate.

Ra plans to destroy Earth by sending a nuclear bomb built by O'Neil with the naquadah mined by the Abydosians through the re-opened Stargate. Jack, Daniel and the other Earth explorers fight to stop Ra, as well as find a way back home to Earth. To do this they assist in a rebellion with the Abydos population. Ra died in his starship when the bomb was transported onto his ship and blew up in his face- literally. The movie ends with Daniel deciding to remain on Abydos with his wife, Sha'uri, while Jack returns with the rest of the team back to Earth through the Stargate.

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