James Bamford during rehearsals for “First Contact” (image from MGM)
Steve Eramo at the SciFiandTVTalk’s Blog has posted an interview that he did with Stargate Atlantis stunt coordinator James “Bam Bam” Bamford concerning his work during Season Five of the show.
They cover the coordination of the fight scenes between Tyre and Ronon in “Broken Ties” and the fact that Ivon Bartok recorded much of the process for a DVD feature. Bamford confides that the fight was edited due to time constraints, but that the DVD feature should show the entire sequence.
Other episodes in which Bamford had key scenes to choreograph included “Tracker” and “The Prodigal”. Bamford himself played a key role in “First Contact” as one of the three aliens raiding the city for the key to the Attero Device (and for Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Daniel Jackson as icing on the cake).
The intense and pivotal confrontation between Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell and the Replicators in Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth was also something that Bamford worked on as fight coordinator for that production. “I think we had three days scheduled to do the main fight involving Ben Browder, which is way over and above what we usually get,” Bamford recalls. “I mean, we usually get four to six hours to do a fight, so three days was fantastic. Because SG-1 is such a well-oiled machine, we managed to get it done in a day-and-a-half, which was terrific. I had previously worked with Rob on [the season three Atlantis episode] Doppelganger, which had a large fight sequence. He enjoyed the choreography that I’d brought to Atlantis and wanted to extend that type of feel and look onto Ark of Truth. Needless to say I had a blast.”
To read the complete interview, visit SciFiandTVTalk’s Blog: James Bamford – Action Man!
Bamford is continuing his stunt coordinating for the franchise with his involvement in Stargate Universe, which is currently filming its first season and due to premiere on Syfy in October.