In Part 4 of MGM’s interview with Robert C. Cooper that covers his new direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the writer, director, and producer discussed putting a new face on an old enemy. Cooper said, “When it’s just me sitting down with my computer and I have to fill a blank page, I’ll write something I want to see, and hope that there are enough people out there that are fans like me and want to see that stuff!
“I’ve always loved the Replicators. I thought it would be a nostalgic element to the movie that would kind of recall the ‘glory days’ of SG-1,” Cooper admitted.
This generation of the Replicators is brought forth by the International Oversight Advisory (IOA) as a weapon to end the Ori invasion. The blueprint for one of the first-generation bug-like Replicators was stored in the Asgard Core, the legacy given to Earth by the Asgard in the series finale “Unending”. Cooper continued, “A lot of people often criticize the show for not utilizing the technology that’s given to us, so I thought this was a great opportunity. We do kind of have ‘Pandora’s box’ here. The team is smart enough by now — hopefully — not to just go into those things and do whatever they want. But the IOA is not as cautious as that.”
The Replicators nearly wiped out the Asgard, but with SG-1’s help, the nemesis was finally eradicated … or so it was thought (see Season Eight’s “Reckoning Part 2”). Unfortunately, in the movie, the IOA has programmed modifications into the mechanical critters that makes them even more difficult to exterminate.
In looking for the IOA’s representative who would be considered the “bad guy” in the movie, Cooper instructed casting director Paul Weber to find someone who could pull off being “the adversary and the opponent for Mitchell” and “someone that can almost look unbeatable. It’s that attitude, to instantly be that guy that you love to hate.” Their man was Currie Graham, and Cooper enjoys the the actor’s great sense of humor, but admits that the tone of the movie didn’t offer him the opportunity to do comedic scenes. Graham’s James Marrick is taken down by the very thing that he sets loose when the IOA ignores SG-1’s suggestions and experience and develops their own plan on how to stop the Ori army.
Marrick’s fate is sealed in a most horrific manner, and Cooper admitted that they would have not presented it at the same graphic level when the SG-1 stories were told in a TV show. “You always want to strike a balance between what people will think is cool and belongs in a movie as opposed to on television but not going so far that it freaks out little kids,” Cooper laughs. But in The Ark of Truth, there were opportunities to present a more graphic story. “There were definitely scenes that I know I would have not wanted to see when I was really young. But hopefully it’s cool that there are some darker, more edgier moments.”
To read the full interview, visit MGM: Ark Angel – The Ark of Truth, Part 4.
Previous parts of the Cooper interview:
Stargate: The Ark of Truth made its world premiere release on DVD in North America on March 11. The next known major movie event is Monday, March 24, when the UK’s Sky One broadcasts the movie at 9pm, with a repeat on Wednesday, March 26, at 8pm. The DVD will be released for this region on April 28.