As MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson could fix anything with a toothpick and a piece of string.

In Stargate SG-1, a new spinoff series from the 1995 film of the same name, Anderson could not be more hi-tech as inter-galactive superhero.

He plays Col. Jack O'Neill, the central character played by Kurt Russell in the movie, a soldier who specialises in combating aliens.

The series takes up where the film ended, with O'Neill recalled to duty after invaders break through the stargate, a magical corridor to other planets, and kidnap a female guard. O'Neill confesses to his superior that on his previous trip through the stargate he disobeyed orders by not destroying the planet he visited because he befriended the inhabitants. He also reveals that Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), a scientist believed to have died on that mission, is still living on the planet with an alien wife.

Somewhat reluctantly, O'Neill reforms his combat unit, including astrophysicist Capt. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), to return to the planet to invesitgate.

The result is a do-or-die rescue mission with O'Neill's team on a deadline to return through the stargate before authorities on Earth send a nuclear warhead to obliterate the rogue planet.

Anderson is prefectly at home in the macho role and the special effects, as one would expect from an MGM production, are impressive.

A brief, unexpected nude scene late in the pilot episode seems out of place and sci-fi purists might have hoped for a little more devil in their aliens but, for the most part, Stargate entertains.

After tonight's movie-length opener, the series begins a one-hour weekly format from tomorrow night.