CULTURAL crossovers. Everywhere you look, films are being made into TV shows and vice versa. The Brady Bunch and The X-Files get big-screen versions and Clueless and Buffy the Vampire Slayer do the reverse.
The latest to make the switch is Stargate, a recent science fiction blockbuster starring Kurt Russell, James Spader and Jaye Davidson. Now it's a TV series, with Richard Dean Anderson taking over Russell's role as Special Forces Colonel Jack O'Neill. You're right, it's MacGyver-versus-the-Martians.
That's no exaggeration. O'Neill is just like MacGyver: the toughest and most skilful fighter in the business, but still with a blokey, all-American sense of humour, so we can like him as well as respect him.
O'Neill and military company (American only, of course) spend most of their time fighting horrible aliens. The storyline in last night's pilot simply resumes where the movie ended. The way the gang can reach the pesky aliens is through a "stargate", a kind of special portal through which they can travel by super-speed to other galaxies.
The first episode, The Enemy Within, finds the trouble is close to home. The Ghouls, a nasty bunch of parasites that take over their hosts, are playing havoc with the mind and body of Kawalsky, an old mate of O'Neill's. He's not a nice feller any more and a showdown soon looms.
Stargate SG-1 is a bit confused, even for a science fiction show, but the special effects are good and lovers of MacGyver - and sci-fi groupies - will probably find it a welcome addition to their summer viewing.