Here’s the list of a week’s worth of upcoming events to add to your calendars concerning our Stargate stars! (This article might be updated if new information is made available after publishing.)
Television/Interviews/Releases:
Rachel Luttrell – Audio interview with Sci Fi London, Monday, August 3. James Swallow, who has written some of the Big Finish Audio Drama stories (for both SG-1 and SGA), will also be interviewed.
Joe Flanigan – Warehouse 13 episode “Elements”, Syfy, Tuesday, August 4, 9PM (ET/PT).
Stargate Atlantis Fans’ Choice Blu-ray – Tuesday, August 4.
Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods – Final Cut – Wednesday, August 5, in Region 4 (Australia)
Make sure to follow what’s happening right now in the world of Stargate by visiting Solutions’ new Stargate Twitter Superfeed that shows the Twitter accounts of actors, producers, network and studio reps, and the press who are all about the franchise.
USA Network has put up the full video of the Burn Notice Panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con. The panel was hosted by Michael Shanks, who played the recurring role of “Victor” in Season 2 of the series. The video can’t be embedded here, so visit USA Network to see it!
The public relations forces behind Stargate Universe were out in full force at Comic Con, and the cast and crew granted many interviews. The resulting articles show both the press reaction to the show so far, and some tidbits fans had not heard before. Here’s a selection of articles covering both the SGU panel and the interviews afterward.
While at the MGM party on the rooftop of San Diego’s Salomar hotel last Thursday night, ‘Stargate’ major domo Brad Wright revealed to CinemaSpy that the third series in the ‘Stargate’ franchise, Stargate Universe, had an episodic budget fully $1M beyond what had been available when shooting Stargate Atlantis.
Did any of the actors feel any trepidation about joining a long-running franchise that has a strong fan following? David Blue spoke to this – described himself as a huge scifi fan and so he was very aware of what he was getting into. But even though he was nervous, he was also “excited to contribute” to a franchise he’d followed for all these years.
This is also not your typical Stargate. Though there is a bit of humor to it, expect the show to travel down into the rabbit hole and bring a darker side to the franchise, while upholding the integrity of the show. Says Wright, “I think there is a lot of speculation of what the show is going to be like and anticipation from fans. Many people are talking about it in terms of being darker and grittier. It really is still Stargate.”
And why did they get Robert Carlyle? Cooper said that when they phoned him first he initially said: “Why do you want me, I’m not the Typical Stargate Actor?”.
“Well, we didn’t WANT the Typical Stargate Actor,” he responded, which is a somewhat touchy idea to place to a room full of super-fans.
Walker Smith describes Greer as “when shit hits the fan he is someone you want on your side.” Greer is your typical marine who is “no better friend no better enemy.” He will have a lot mystery though with a strange past and a temper problem.
“It had gotten to the point where everyone was a superhero and a genius,” said Cooper of the previous series in the Stargate franchise. “[SGU] is trying to make the characters identifiable” and put them through some major challenges early on. But it’s not all doom and gloom as Cooper promised “humor and hope” among the narrative elements.
Ming-Na said she loved the fact that while her character is initially perceived as a troublemaker, she has a good heart and truly cares for others and believes she is acting in their best interests. She also understands that people want to justify what they do, and that no matter what they do or how it is perceived, if they feel it is right, they are going to do it anyway. After all, she said, “no one decides to be evil.”
Levesque: It’s just so massive. It’s really impressive to see all the people, all the fans and they’re so committed and they’re standing in line for hours and hours at the crack of dawn to meet you… It’s just surreal, for me.
#8: Stargate Universe
The Stargate franchise is rivaling Star Trek for number of consecutive years on the air, and number of shows with things like SG-1 or DS9 after the franchise name. So there’s been some doubt as to whether SGU would be true to Stargate and feel fresh and interesting. But the new trailer got people ramped up, and the producers said the right things about keeping this show true to the franchise’s traditions. And then Robert Carlyle said the thing about how everybody was going to die. And we were pretty much sold. We also overheard tons of hallway conversations from people surprised they were stoked about Stargate again.
Here’s the list of a week’s worth of upcoming events to add to your calendars concerning our Stargate stars! (This article might be updated if new information is made available after publishing.)
Releases:
Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods – Final Cut – Monday, July 27, in Region 2 (Europe)
Writercon – Minneapolis, Minnesota – July 31-August 2: Martha Wells (author, SGA novels Reliquary and Entanglement).
Make sure to follow what’s happening at the San Diego Comic Con by visiting our Stargate Superfeed that shows the Twitter accounts of actors, producers, network and studio reps, and the press who are in attendance.
SCI FI WIRE has a brief report on the Stargate Universe panel that was held at 10:30 this morning (Pacific time) at the San Diego Comic Con. Also, make sure to visit theirs, Syfy’s Craig Engler’s, and MGM’s Twitters for pictures taken during the experience.
If you’d like to catch up on the Twitters as a whole, make sure to visit our San Diego Comic Con 09 Stargate Superfeed (which will possibly feature Sanctuary’s panel that’s being held tomorrow at 12:30 pm Pacific).
It has lots of spoilers, but it’s fun! And a certain Stargate SG-1 star is in it! Fused Film has published a new exclusive trailer that we’ve embedded here:
The San Diego Comic Con for 2009 start Thursday morning. We expect lots of Stargate-related news and tidbits to come from it, not just for Stargate itself but also shows featuring its stars, such as Burn Notice and Sanctuary. So in the vein of providing our users a one-stop shop for Stargate news out of Comic Con, we present our “superfeeds” page where you can follow the twitters of actors, production, and press who’ll be at the event and likely to tweet about Stargate or its actors, past and present.
Please follow our superfeeds page, or click on the big box on our home page!
In the July 21 entry in his weblog, creative consultant Joseph Mallozzi published two video clips of the early testing of the Stargate for Stargate Universe’sDestiny! They are really great to watch and show how this Stargate differs from the ones in the Milky Way (Stargate SG-1) and Pegasus (Stargate Atlantis).
Mallozzi also published in an earlier entry a picture of the concept drawing for the Stargate, which details the Stargate’s operation.
Each symbol has a name rather than a constellation glyph, which makes sense since the Destiny is moving through several galaxies and constellations change. First impressions after seeing the Gate Symbols have ranged from Morse Code to the counting beads found on an abacus. Like the Stargate of Atlantis, Destiny’s Stargate has 36 symbols versus the original Stargates’ 39. And instead of having an inner ring that spins, the entire Stargate spins!
According to the design document, “The lights on the chevrons ALL power when the Gate is activated; the ’star names’ light as each one ‘locks’ under the floor.” A flatscreen on the floor in front of the Stargate lights up with the symbol as it is locked. The symbols’ panels on the Stargate itself remain lit as well. Steam vents open as the Stargate “kawooshes”.
A second design document shows the stages of the Stargate’s dialing, leading up to activation. (Click on the image to the left to get a closer look.)
Close-up examination of the Stargate can be found at MGM’s new Stargate website where you can interactively tour the Gate Room aboard the Destiny, but seeing Mallozzi’s video clips brings the Stargate even more to life!
[Many thanks to Joseph Mallozzi for his images of Stargate Universe. You can see them all by visiting his weblog.]
