More on 200th Celebrations: Seattle Post

A new article on SG-1’s 200th episode, from the Seattle, WA Post Intelligencer: Seattle PI article.

Friday, April 21, 2006

On TV: ‘Stargate SG-1’ keeps cruising, even after all these light years

MELANIE McFARLAND
P-I TELEVISION CRITIC

VANCOUVER, B.C. — It takes about 4 1/2 to travel by bus and taxi between Seattle and Bridge Studios in Burnaby, where “Stargate SG-1” is produced.

One couldn’t help thinking about that while standing in front of the stargate itself, a massive prop tens of feet tall on Stage 5 — the gate room. Actual 21st-century travel is brutal in comparison to the “Stargate’s” fantasy — instantaneous strolls across the galaxy.

The tradeoff is that the gate goes both ways. And in the series’ 10th season, which begins in July, the SG-1 team — Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), Lt. Col. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), alien ally Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and newcomer Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) will use it to fend off the Ori, an enemy that seems to be unstoppable.

But Tuesday’s theme was not disaster. It was about celebration. On that day, Sony and Sci Fi held a press conference marking “Stargate SG-1’s” 200th episode, due to air in August. The cast took a break from filming to talk to reporters, sip sparkling cider and eat cake.

The event was a fan’s dream: Richard Dean Anderson was present; he returned from semi-retirement to reprise the role, Gen. Jack O’Neill, he played for eight seasons on the series. Also on hand was Claudia Black, who starred in “Farscape” along with Browder and has signed on as a series regular for the 10th season.

Looming behind them was the gigantic ring, filled with action highlights from the series as opposed to the watery membrane that separates Earth-based Stargate Command from the rest of the galaxy. As workplaces go, it’s not bad. The cast must enjoy it — half of them have been reporting here for almost a decade.

Which is a bit funny, considering that most of “SG-1’s” seasons ended with the cast thinking they were headed for unemployment.

“There were a lot of times where we felt, ‘OK, this is the last year,’ ” executive producer Robert C. Cooper, said, “…’and we’re going to do it justice.’ So we would write spectacular closing episodes that we thought would be series finales, and not season finales. And nobody paid attention to that.”

At this point, with the invigorating effect of creating spinoff “Stargate Atlantis,” Cooper and Brad Wright, his co-executive producer have stopped thinking about the end. Now “SG-1” has reached yet another stage of life with Browder and Black in the mix — and, perhaps, Anderson returning part-time at some point. (He stressed that was up to the producers and MGM.)

“As long as people want to come to work every day, and it doesn’t become a chore, I think this show has a chance to go several more years,” remarked Judge, who has been with the series since the beginning. “With the infusion of Ben and Claudia and Beau (Bridges, playing Gen. Hank Landry) it really reinvigorated us and brought a new energy to the show. And it really doesn’t feel like 10 years — it’s given us new kids to play with in the sandbox.”

Besides, 200 is really just a nice round number on which to hang a party. Exceeding that is important to the executive producers. Episode 202, however, is important to the record books. That’s when “SG-1” becomes the longest-running science-fiction series on North American television, finally beating “The X-Files.” (But a long way from passing “Doctor Who,” which holds the worldwide longevity record.)

It is already the longest-running drama series on cable TV, and every week, the show attracts an average of 10 million viewers worldwide, watching in more than 120 countries. Board games, comic books and theme-park rides have been based on its rich mythology, and its DVDs are brisk sellers.

The series is a boon for the Sci Fi Channel, where it became its highest-rated original after it was first picked up in 2002.

With all that going for it, however, “SG-1” remains relegated to the back of the bus in terms of popularity. Occupying a slot on “best show” lists is a rarity. That glory usually goes to “Battlestar Galactica,” which is heading into its third season and already has snagged a Peabody Award.

“Honestly, it can be a little frustrating,” Tapping admits, “because our show is so successful. And I think we really came into our own, or people started to recognize the show, in our later seasons, which is sort of odd. Usually by season seven, shows are petering out. We were really ramping it up and gaining new momentum.

“So it’s kind of weird to start out floating under the radar, on Showtime, to move to Sci Fi and to start to gain a bigger audience,” Tapping continued. “But now we’re getting sort of usurped by the ‘Battlestar Galacticas’ and the ‘Losts.’ But we’re like the little show that could.”

“Stargate” began airing on Showtime in 1997. That means it arrived on the scene during an era of “Star Trek” updates, making it look like an attempt at capitalizing on that revival.

Where “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Enterprise” faltered after a few seasons, the fan base for “SG-1” continued to grow. Creative regeneration year after year deserves part of the credit for that, but so does its status as a cable series.

“We haven’t had the pressure of having to deliver the meteoric ratings the way network shows do,” Cooper explained.

If “SG-1” had started out on a broadcast network as opposed to Showtime, Wright added, “I think we would have been canceled after six episodes. Honestly.”

Sci Fi Channel’s decision to pick up “SG-1” for its sixth season seemed risky at first. Usually when a channel picks up a long-running series another network has canceled, it manages to extend its life for a couple of years, tops. But on Sci Fi, “SG-1” became the foundation for the popular Friday night block, home to “Battlestar Galactica” and its spinoff, “Stargate Atlantis.”

The writers manage to stay true to the show’s mythology while keeping each episode virtually self-contained, enabling new viewers to drop in at any point. Cooper explains it as creating a little science-fiction film every week.

And after almost 10 years, most people have forgotten that James Spader and Kurt Russell were the original Daniel Jackson and Jack O’Neill.

It may take a little longer for mainstream audiences to recognize its greatness. Because regardless of its records, it still isn’t getting the kind of wide-ranging respect a successful series with a 200-episode run deserves.

“By the way, neither did the original ‘Star Trek’ ” in its time,” Cooper pointed out. “It wasn’t until 30 years later that people started looking back at it and realizing it was a milestone. I think we secretly hope that 10, 15, 20 years from now, that ‘Stargate’ will be considered in the same way.”

Perhaps it’ll happen in time for the cake cutting on episode 300.

P-I TV critic Melanie McFarland can be reached at tvgal@seattlepi.com.