Back in June, SCI FI WIRE’s Melissa J. Perenson talked with Robert C. Cooper about the two direct-to-DVD movies, Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum, and about the ongoing relationship between the production team and the US military:
Stargate SG-1‘s warm relationship with the U.S. military began in season one, when the producers needed permission to use stock shots of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, which is the home of Stargate Command in the show’s fictional universe. Eventually, the military vetted scripts for accuracy, and two chiefs of staff had cameo roles as themselves. “As things progressed, we started to say, ‘Hey, send us up a C-130 or a couple of F-18s,'” Cooper said. “There are two F-15s that are parked out at Vancouver airport now that we’re shooting in [for Continuum].”
The two F-15s were from the Air National Guard Unit at Kinglsey Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon, according to a recent broadcast of Today’s Air Force. In this ” long-format, weekly news show” that “tells Air Force stories in more depth,” there was a short segment on the F-15s flown to Vancouver for two days’ worth of shooting for the movie with actors Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping sitting in the aircraft cockpits.
In the segment, which may be viewed at YouTube, writer and producer Brad Wright explains the use of the aircraft in the movie’s plot:
Things go bad in Antarctica, so they have to turn around and try to get to Murmansk [the largest city in the Arctic in Russia]. We have in-flight refueling; we have two of the four F-15s dogfighting with gliders — the enemy’s, the alien’s, fighers, essentially — and they fend off the bad guys while we get to our destination, so it’s basically, they save the day.
This interview has the first mention of Antarctica in the movie’s plot. Antarctica has played a significant role in the Stargate universe as it relates to the Ancients’ presence on Earth from millions of years ago. The Antarctic Stargate was most likely the first Stargate placed on the planet, and the Antarctic Outpost is the site of an advanced weapon that was used to defeat Anubis. Additionally, the city-ship Atlantis was once located there and left Earth five to ten million years ago for the Pegasus Galaxy. Why Carter and Mitchell were in Antarctica and exactly what “things go bad” there are currently unknown.
Stargate: Continuum will be released on DVD sometime in 2008, following the release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth, which closes the Ori storyarc.
Visit Solutions’ SG-1 Movies guide for more information about both movies (lots of spoilers!).
The F-15’s are from my town. WooHoo and both Amanda and Ben are wearing the Pilot patch from the 173rd Figthter Wing that is based here.
So cool, KirFect! Those two actors certainly had quite an adventure in the filming of this movie!
🙂