Stargate (VHS, 1995)
In this visually creative space adventure from the team that would go on to give the world INDEPENDENCE DAY and GODZILLA, a timid, glasses-wearing Egyptologist (James Spader) uncovers an ancient portal to another planet and is dispatched there forthwith--along with blundering, clodfooted government troops (led by Kurt Russell). The downtrodden populace they encounter, ruled by godlike, androgynous King Ra (Jaye Davidson, in his first role after becoming a star in THE CRYING GAME), must be led to literacy and freedom; Ra must be defeated; the intellectual must find his machismo; and our boys must return to Earth.