“This was a tragedy. The hero always dies at the end of a tragedy. It’s a dark story about a lonely man with a broken past who sees a chance to be a hero and possibly end his life-long pain,” writer and director Robert C. Cooper said of “Vegas”, the penultimate Stargate Atlantis episode, when he stopped by executive producer Joseph Mallozzi’s weblog to answer questions gathered by Mallozzi from his readers.
Cooper was quick to give credit to several others for their contribution in seeing his vision come to fruition. “I have to credit Charlie Cohen Executive VP of MGM for wanting to make the end of season five as special as it could be,” he started.
Part of the unique feel of “Vegas” is the location shoot done in the actual city. “We had a crew most of us had never worked with that had to be flown in from LA. Getting a casino property to agree to let us do what we wanted was a challenge as well. Planet Hollywood made it all possible.
“Mike Banas cut this episode and deserves a huge amount of credit for how it came together. Surprisingly, this is the first time I’ve worked with Mike. He spent countless hours studying various techniques employed by CSI and a variety of other films and television shows. After he took a first crack, we worked very closely on getting things to where they ended up. His enthusiasm and editing artistry made this episode much better than it would have been without him.
“James Robbins, our production designer and extraordinary artist, came up with much of the visual look. We always wanted them [the Wraith] to have a dark goth-like quality. We were amazed when we all looked back and realized that in five seasons we had never seen a wraith with his shirt off. We decided it was an opportunity to show subtle and not-so subtle differences,” Cooper answered when asked about the Wraith’s nippleless chest.
“Kerry McDowall our post-production co-ordinator put in a lot of extra time and effort negotiating the deals for the songs. I’m very grateful to her for that.” Acquiring the use of these songs helped bring the CSI-like mood to the episode, as well as the work of composer Joel Goldsmith, who wrote all of the other music, including that for the chase scene.
When asked “Did you use stock footage of the A10 Warthogs, or did the Air Force give you a fly by?” Cooper replied, “I guess that’s just how good the VFX department is. They were all CG.” The VXF department also added debris to the shoot-out scene at the end of the episode.
And finally, Cooper gave credit to the creative input of Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, and Robert Picardo that went into making the characters deeper and the story fuller.
The production team learned a lot during the making of this episode, and they want to carry that experience over into the new Stargate Universe. “Vegas was an experiment in many ways. It was an opportunity to break the mold and try something different. Universe will not follow the style of Vegas but it will most definitely be much different than previous Stargate series. The shooting style and use of more contemporary music are part of what will hopefully make Universe stand out.”
Visit Joseph Mallozzi’s Weblog for the complete and informative Q&A.