Multiplicity in Motion
The highly-anticipated episode “Ripple Effect” will make its broadcast premier this Friday, January 20, at 8pm on the SciFi Channel. In this story, something has caused alternate realities to converge through the Stargate at the SGC. Multiple versions of SG-1 travel into “our” reality and not all of them are configured the same.
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Alternate realities are nothing new to Stargate. Season One’s “There But For The Grace Of God” introduced the Quantum Mirror and alternate realities where everything can seem the same, but could be slightly different. The theory is that alternate realities, or parallel universes, are created at forks in the road of possible outcomes. For instance, what if it had been Daniel who died in “Heroes” instead of Janet Fraiser?
Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi stated the story of “Ripple Effect” “hints at what could have been/could be.” The story explores some of these possibilities with director Peter DeLuise at the helm.
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According to an interview done by Mallozzi for TV Zone, the idea for the story was pitched a year or two ago by Brad Wright. For whatever reasons, the story was shelved. Mallozzi, who penned the script, said, “It was the most fun script to write in year 9. Not only did it give us the opportunity to inject some humor into the show after a very serious Collateral Damage, but it also references certain aspects of the show’s history as well as brings back dead characters.”
How many alternate SG-1’s come through the Stargate is still unknown, but actors Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping have both commented on the filming of this episode in various interviews. The actors had filming days which included up to six wardrobe changes.
Keeping each version of Daniel Jackson apart became confusing and Shanks stated, “It was like, ok, the one dressed in brown is the bad guy, the one in black is good and the one in tiger stripes is the crazy one.” (Edited: Joseph Mallozzi has let it out that one of the actors appears in his underwear in this episode as well. )
Tapping said, “I play several versions of my character, and in one scene alone there are 15 different Carters. That was just one massive motion control exercise when it came to the filming of it.”
This is not the first time Tapping has had a motion control exercise. For the filming of Season Eight’s “Gemini”, she played both Lt. Col. Samantha Carter and her Human Form Replicator double.
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In the DVD commentary for “Gemini”, director William Waring and director of photography Jim Menard discussed the use of motion control technology. Menard said, “If you’ve got money and time, we do what’s called ‘Motion-control’, where you can actually do a pass with your camera, and it’s recorded and it’s on a geared head that will repeat the motion. And then you can put two people in the same shot on different passes.”
Waring warned, “In a situation like this, we have to be very judicious how we use that kind of technology because it takes so much time.” What is time consuming about the process is the setting up of the shot. The actor being duplicated needs to be conscious of his/her changing placement in the frame with each pass. Motion control technology repeats the camera’s moves faithfully, but the operator must be able to program it correctly to start. The director’s use of storyboards is a must.
When “Ripple Effect” was filmed, the crew used state-of-the-art technology called “Mo-Sys” which was fitted to the crew’s own camera equipment. The provider of the motion control technology, Kontrol Freax, describes the Mo-Sys “frame-accurate, multi-pass motion control” system as affordable, portable, flexible, lightweight, and easy to use. All of these are operating concerns while on set and are addressed by the company’s website. Along with Stargate, Kontrol Freax’s list of latest projects includes Rome and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
The solution to the convergence of the alternate realities should prove more of a technological challenge than setting up the filming of the episode, but you’ll have to tune in to find out!
- Kontrol Freax website
- TV Zone Special #67
- “Best of Both Worlds” interview with Amanda Tapping, TV Zone #194
[Thanks to SueSV, Sandra, and sgeureka for their posts on the OS and GW forums which provided interview and commentary quotes and inspiration for this piece. — DeeKayP]