STARGATE SG-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn I love this show!
It is a show I think I take too much for granted. If people ask me the my favourite sci-fi show, I will automatically, without any thinking, just say Star Trek or classic BSG. But I am not sure that is entirely true. As I watch Stargate practically everyday, it is always on our Space Channel seven days a week, so I always have it on always in the background. I purposedly sat down and watched the entire series in order on dvd on three different occasions over the many years. The show never grows old or feels tired.... for me, it definitely never jumped the shark.
I think because the series was so well produced, so consistently of good quality in terms of character and writing, that it just became my always reliable go-to-show without really thinking about why.
While I enjoyed the theatrical STARGATE, it was far from perfect in terms of story and direction. But the concept was simple and brillaint. And producers Wright and Glassner took the idea, remixed and polished it, and it became something BETTER (imo) than the original.
They retro-conned the film in small ways... Ra was not the last of his evil people, but just one of many tyrannical System Lords. Abydos was not in some far away galaxy but in the nearest habitable star system to Earth. The Stargate was no longer seemingly all powerful, but had limits.
In essense, Wright and Glassner created RULES for their universe and stories. Rules they mostly stuck by for the entire run of the franchise. And when a Rule did get broken, it was acknowledged and given an explanation. The producers respected their fan base and treated their supporters as being intelligent, and never tried to slip something pass them.
Wright and Glassner, along with Robert Cooper and others, did some incredible world building over the course of the franchise. It has one of the richest, complex and CONSISTANT (Star Trek can not say that lol) mythologies of any sci-fi series produced. It continues to be a joy to watch for me.