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The first episode of the TV series Stargate SG-1 takes place one year after the events in the 1994 Stargate theatrical feature. After quickly establishing that the Stargate portal was developed by an ancient Earth civilization in order to contact other solar systems, the focus of the story shifts to Col. Jack O'Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), who has been in retirement ever since defeating the megalomaniac Ra on the planet Abydos. Restored to active duty by General Hammond (Don Davis), who is now in charge of Earth's Stargate Project, O'Neil is instructed to rescue scientist Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), who may have survived the destruction of Abydos' Stargate. Assembling an exploratory team including his old comrades Kawalsky (Jay Acovone) and Ferretti (Brent Stait), as well as astrophysicist Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), O'Neill manages to locate Jackson, who has found a huge cartouche in hieroglyphics, indicating that there are thousands of Stargates throughout the galaxy. The trick now is to hide this valuable information from the evil Apophis (Peter Williams), a revived mythological Egyptian god who intends to use the Stargate technology to take over the universe. Originally telecast as a two-hour episode, "Children of the Gods" has since been divided into two hour-long installments for syndication.