TÅB

As a newer viewer, but a devoted fan, I wanted to share how Stargate saved my life 3 years ago. Since my story seemed to reach a lot of people on Reddit, I caved and got premium so I could join the #SaveStargate conversation here too: I first saw the Stargate movie while I was in a psych ward against my will, with the tip of my spine dislocated. This injury was missed and my pain was dismissed as being in my head, while I had a neck injury that was almost universally fatal and my mind had given up. I fell in love immediately with the movie, and replayed it in my head for the next four days while I was held there, clinging to a neck brace terrified I wouldn't make it yet having no idea what was so wrong with me. I had no access to the Internet to know a whole world of the universe existed outside that movie, I thought it was just an isolated glimmer of distraction and hope in an unimaginable nightmare. When I was released, my mom and I went directly to pick up a hospital bed from Craigslist because I could no longer sleep in a normal bed.  SG-1 was playing on an old TV in the sketchy mobile home the bed was in. I wasn’t sure if I was going to end my life when we left the hospital, but I took this show’s existence and the extraordinary coincidence that it had been playing as some sort of sign to stay for just a little longer. Somehow each episode kept me going through nights I thought I wouldn't make it, and then nights turned into months. Eight months would pass having no idea if I would walk again, rotting away in that hospital bed from Craigslist. The show became my lifeline, what I would turn to when the world inevitably became too much each day. I’ve had twelve neurosurgeries and relearned to walk since I first saw the movie, all while the show and each variation played on repeat in the background like a soundtrack. As I lay dying from septic shock across the country, unsure if antibiotics could save me. As the youngest person in the nursing home for the two months I needed IV antibiotics afterwards. As I got my second spontaneous spinal dislocation and learned no matter how much better I got, it could be gone in an instant. This show and its books are what have kept me remotely sane. The characters, the vicarious adventures, and the jokes. Life has been passing me by for a while as I go in and out of being bedridden and ill, but this series has always been there. The first time I saw the movie was only three years ago, but in that short time Stargate has had a profound impact on my life. That’s why I think this new series is so important, and why the logic for canceling it over concern that only older fans would enjoy it feels flawed. You don’t have to be a lifelong fan to fall deeply in love with a universe and immerse yourself in it. You don’t know how many people might need this series and not even know it yet. Canceling it not only disappoints the fans who already love Stargate, but it takes away the chance for another generation to find the same escape and hope that me and many others have found in it. (Drawing done during those 8 months bedridden)