If you liked the movie of the same name starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, you will enjoy the series which has a movie length opener (Wednesday 8:30pm).

The producers of the 44-part series made by MGM Television for the Showtime (pay-TV) Channel have been clever in cashing in on the 1994 movie that took $200 million at the box office worldwide.

Instead of aping the film, they have picked up where it left off, with Colonel Jack O'Neill returning to Earth through the stargate, leaving Daniel Jackson behind with his new love and her enslaved people.

Then, except for the lead role of Colonel O'Neill, played in the film by Russell and here by MacGyver's Richard Dean Anderson, the producers have found lookalike actors to ease the transition from big screen to small.

Michael Shanks (Highlander, The Commish) plays the Spader role of the bespectacled Egyptologist Jackson, left behind on the planet of Abydos. Peter William is the Ra god alien impersonator Apophis (played in the film by The Crying Game's Jaye Davidson) and Vaitiore Bandera is Jackson's gorgeous love interest.

Even more impressively the producers have maintained the high production standards, including the wonderful stone stargate machine itself - found in Egyptian ruins and originally deciphered by Jackson - and the sphinx-like metallic headpieces and futuristic staff-shaped weapons of the bodyguards of Apophis and Ra.

There are flaws, of course. Some of the supporting cast, particularly the Earth-bound military, are weak. The token super-clever female, Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Topping, see interview) is a perfect example of creative excess. And the snapdragon-headed, snake-like super aliens, who use humanoid slaves as their host bodies, are almost laughable.

In a surprise for an American series, there is even a scene where Bandera, full-frontal naked, is rolled on her back wile the snake-alien penetrates her.

But, these glitches aside, Stargate the series is a mostly palpable sci-fi adventure with great special effects.