 
HATHOR AND SG-1
 Probably the most problematic issue in the television series "Stargate SG-1" (referred to below as "SG") is that it doesn't give enough credit to the myths and the gods from whom each of the Goa'uld take their name. In terms of screen time, the audience receives a quick history lesson, and that is it.
Typically, the lesson covers the basis of what a particular deity's role is, how they ruled and how the myth has persisted throughout time. However, when a Goa'uld System Lord takes on a role of a mythological figure, it is usually diminished in mythological scope and many liberties are taken.
In the cameo episode, "Hathor," a team of archeologists could not figure out what an Egyptian sarcophagus was doing in a Mayan tomb. Upon examination, a seal is broken and the goddess Hathor is released1. When she manages to make her way into Stargate headquarters, she identifies herself to the SG team as the mythical goddess. But her actions are not benevolent.
While she plays out the Goddess of Love role, her actions are more of a seductress than a Cupid-figure. This action was demonstrated when she tries to tempt Daniel Jackson to her side (i.e. her new army). Traditionally, Hathor should be good-natured - spreading joy to her fellow gods and the people - but the SG Hathor is nothing like her mythical counterpart. While both tend to flaunt their body for some purpose, the SG goddess' action has that motive to seduce and destroy.
In that mode, she behaves more like Sekhmet, wanting to raze an entire universe. Like the myth, "Story of Ra," she is hostile and unstoppable in her ways; unlike that myth, she had to be entombed by some greater force.
Interestingly, the women of the SG command are found to be immune to her recruitment techniques - a green mist that she secretes - and this is fortunate. This immunity reflects her mythical role as a protector of women and it is concept taken out of context for the sake of the episode. That is, there has to be a way for the SG command to escape Hathor's takeover of the base. The female soldiers fight fire with fire by exerting their femininity to the males and, with Doctor Fraiser's help, by finding an antidote to break Hathor's control over them.
Even Hathor's role as a fertility goddess is taken out of context, as it looks like she breeds Goa'uld larvae in the final act of the episode, "Hathor." They are her children and her future soldiers. When they are destroyed by SG-1 she responds by trying to protect them and ultimately failing.
When she resurfaces in "Out of Mind" and "Into the Fire," her role is more of a protectress, careful to keep her children safe. She then becomes a queen to her new empire. By then, she is no longer the mythological Hathor and she could be compared to the Queen of the Gods, Isis. That is the role she is trying to ultimately achieve in the SG universe, though she fails.
When compared to the myth, "The Distant Goddess," such that when Hathor broke away from Ra, there is also no ibis-headed god of knowledge (Thoth) reluctantly volunteering to retrieve Hathor and to help cure her. In SG universe context, there has been no attempt to return the renegade Goa'uld into the known System Lord hierarchy because she is just that - a renegade.
Breaking from the mythical tradition, the episode "Into the Fire" shows Hathor raising an army in order to overthrow the System Lords but lacking the edge to defeat them. From this point, it seems the writers have run out of ideas in what to do with this character (other than showing her fighting it out with the System Lords), and she is literally put on ice until new ideas come to mind.
If the writers do need new ideas, a curious point that hasn't been expanded on yet is that the episode "Thor's Chariot" reveals Hathor as the mother of Heru-ur (Horus)2, whose father is Ra3. While family structures are created by initiation (the bonding of a snake-symbiote with a host body) the hostility between family members is a definite contrast to the family structure that Apophis has. There is no family feuding at all between Apophis and his son Klorel, and it is a perfect statement in what Apophis' long-term goals is - while the rest of the Goa'uld survives as conflicting factions, each trying to claim a position in their feudal society.
In summary, Hathor's role in the SG universe is one misinterpreted into modern contexts - rewritten, much like Aphrodite in the television shows "Hercules" and "Xena." The Egyptian deity is primarily a seductress and everything about her Egyptian past is rendered unimportant after her first appearance. She is just another Goa'uld who is vying for power.
That is the most problematic aspect of the SG-1 series: not enough time is spent in giving these "gods" an air of mythological importance. None of the current cast of recurring Goa'uld characters come close to recreating the future possibilities that the movie recreated. Making Hathor a redhead is more a trademark of her fiery attitude than anything else (most Egyptian deities - at least as depicted in art - were portrayed with dark hair).
But when compared to the novels, Bill McCay did an excellent job researching Egypt's past and the mythical character. By incorporating as much of the myths as possible into his novels, a taste of a continued life from Egypt's past is recreated. We will turn to this version of Hathor in the next article.
FOOTNOTES
1. The seal was possibly created by Ra to keep her trapped forever.
2. The name "Horus" is a general catchall name (or title) for multiple deities, the most famous of whom is Harseisis (Heru-sa-Aset) or Horus-son-of-Isis (sometimes called Horus the Younger. Depending on the name / incarnation worshipped, it is correct to identify Hathor as the mother of Horus. Other deities, namely Isis, have been identified to be Horus' mother. For most instances, it is correct to name Ra as Horus' father.
3. Depending on the name used (or incarnation worshipped), this statement can also be mythologically true.
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