Introduction
Reuters has released an update on the incredible experiences of the filming crew of Stargate: Continuum, the second direct-to-DVD movie to be released this fall. This article contains spoilers about six scenes being shot in their dangerous location.
Reuters: Stargate Filmmakers Risk Lives…
From Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
“Stargate” filmmakers risk lives in Arctic Circle
By Borys Kit:
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – As the submarine slips under the ice, water splashes a cameraman who is lying on the ice’s edge with a submersible camera. Here in the Arctic Circle, the temperature is minus-37 degrees Fahrenheit — the point at which mercury turns solid — and this crew member is in immediate danger of freezing.
Martin Wood, the director of the direct-to-video movie “Stargate: Continuum,” quickly radios for help, and the cameraman is whisked away by helicopter to the base camp. He’s treated and will be OK.
The shoot is taking place as close to the North Pole as possible — at the Navy’s Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, 3,000 kilometers north of Vancouver and 200 nautical miles north of Prudhoe Bay, the northernmost city in Alaska. A team of about 15 crew and actors arrived Thursday for a seven-day shoot of six scenes for MGM’s $6 million-$7 million extension of the long-running sci-fi series “Stargate.”
The article also mentions the crew’s spotting of polar bears nearby, another one of the risks the crew is taking in order to film exciting and realistic scenes for the movie. Wood also talks about the USS Alexandria, the submarine being used in the film, and how difficult it is for the vessel to break through the ice at the right spot marked by an “X”.
Even though the landscape within the Arctic Circle changes constantly, Wood is enthusiastic about the location because the production crew were convinced that it couldn’t be replicated in a studio or generated with visual effects (although, they are building sets in Vancouver to accommodate Michael Shanks’s scenes; see previous story). “I don’t think it could have been done with the same sort of intensity that you’re going to have by shooting it real,” Wood said. “I don’t think you can capture the right feeling and sound if you tried to re-create it in an unnatural way.”
[Thanks to minigeek for the tip.]
I like science fiction that has “credible” science. The original Star Trek, Star Trek Next Generation, and Stargate-SG1 are the best examples of Science Fiction that can keep you believing in the underlying science.
I admit that the Ori are less credible villans than the Goa’uld, and that the show lost some of its luster when O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), and Hammond (Don S. Davis) left the show. But the show was still the best Science Fiction option on the air-waves. I have never been able to enjoy the “Atlantis” show. Partly because the scientist Rodney McKay is too over-the-top and not believable as a scientist. His antagonistic antics and constant whining don’t resemble any scientist I have ever met. Perhaps when Carter joins the team (in the 4th season) it will improve the show. Atlantis also suffers from the “Soap Opera” problem that tormented Star Trek Voyager, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Too much gut wrenching human drama makes a show more like a “Soap Opera” than a Science Fiction show. I don’t want to watch “As the Universe Turns” I want Science Fiction (with an emphasis on SCIENCE).