The second set of ten episodes from Stargate Universe‘s first season is out today (July 27) in Region 1 (North America) in both DVD and Blu-ray formats.
David Blue: An Interview with the Creators of SG-U
Brian J Smith: An Interview with the Creators of SG-U
Alaina Huffman: An Interview with the Creators of SG-U
Designing a New Race: Space Aliens
Tanked! Elyse Levesque Goes for a Swim
Chatting with the Cast: Peter Kelamis
Chatting with the Cast: Julia Benson
Chatting with the Cast: Jennifer Spence
Chatting with the Cast: Patrick Gilmore
Finding Destiny: A Tour of the Destiny Set with Chris Beach
The Destiny of General O’Neill
A Day in the Life of Louis Ferreira
Out for a Spacewalk with Jamil Walker Smith
A Behind the Scenes Look at “Incursion”
Two-for-One: Behind the “Incursion” Double Ratchet Stunt
Kino Video Diaries
One Long Endless Night
Horrible Accident
We Volunteer to Do This
Wait for It
Drop the Sirs
Like a Hug
Painful Moments Part 1
Painful Moments Part 2
All the Stages
The Blu-ray edition has an extra feature that the DVD doesn’t have: SGU: Survival Instinct video game in which you try to make it through time loops to get back home to Destiny, a storyline derived from Robert C. Cooper’s episode “Time” from the first half of the season. MGM has a demo at their website.
A complete set of all 20 episodes of the first season is already available from Amazon UK, but won’t be available in Region 1 until 2011.
The Official Stargate Magazine will cease publication after its September/October 2010 issue, its 36th, according to an announcement in the July/August issue of the magazine (see image at right). The glossy, color magazine is produced in London by the science fiction publisher Titan Magazines and has been released bi-monthly for nearly six years. The magazine started while Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis were still on the air, and now will be outlived by Stargate Universe.
Its issues have been rich in photos, interviews, analyses, retrospectives, and news, although much of the latter has repeated what was already available on-line.
Titan Magazines is part of Titan Publishing, and its sister company Titan Books publishes the Stargate novels. There is no word from the company on why the magazine’s run is ending. Given the current difficult market for print media and magazines in particular, the publication may be yet another victim of the economic times.
If we hear more, we’ll announce it here. Back orders of the magazine may be purchased here at Titan Magazines.
Big Finish Productions‘ Stargate audio dramas are going to take a different direction for their third season, presently planned to premiere in Q3 2010.
Season Three will consist of six SG-1 episodes featuring Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran
Thus far, each season has had six episodes, three of them for SG-1 and three for Atlantis. The third season will see two SG-1 trilogies instead, meaning that there will be no Atlantis episodes for an entire year of the dramas’ run. What’s more, all six episodes of the two trilogies will have Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran, voiced by Michael Shanks and Claudia Black, as the leads. Cliff Simon is also expected to voice System Lord Ba’al in the first trilogy. The storyline for the second trilogy hasn’t been revealed. (Source: Big Finish May Podcast, transcribed in part at MSOL)
Author and story editor James Swallow wrote in his LiveJournal about the additional change in format for the third season of Stargate stories, “The third series of Stargate audios are moving from the ‘narrated’ style of the first two series to full cast dramas. … The audios will be set during the last season of Stargate SG-1/prior to Ark of Truth.”
As far as who’ll be writing these six episodes, Swallow elaborated, “I’m writing episode one (entitled Half Life) as well as story editing. … Joining me are; Sally Malcolm, who has written several Stargate audios (Gift of the Gods, Perchance to Dream, Savarna) and Stargate novels (A Matter of Honor, The Cost of Honor, Rising); Steve Lyons, author of many excellent Doctor Who novels and audios (including The Fires of Vulcan, Colditz and Blood of the Daleks); Peter J. Evans, author of the Stargate Atlantis novel Angelus and the Durham Red novels; Sharon Gosling, writer on the Stargate series guides and audios (A Necessary Evil, Pathogen, The Kindness of Strangers, Lines of Communication); and Richard Dinnick, writer of Space 1889: The Lunar Inheritance and Sapphire & Steel: The Surest Poison.”
Swallow also visited the Gate Pages LiveJournal Community to “offer some perspective” to smooth over some of the hurt that Atlantis fans are feeling in reaction to a year without new stories. “Firstly, any suggestion that Big Finish have ‘given up’ on Stargate Atlantis is incorrect. A lot of factors affect the choices made for a production like the Stargate audio dramas, and these include the availability of actors, budget concerns (some Stargate cast members are just beyond our means), and interest on the part of actors/agents (some cast members aren’t interested in doing audio stories); but for a small company like Big Finish, the key ones are sales and audience support. The decision to make series three exclusively Stargate SG-1 and alter the format was not made lightly, and certainly not because of any ‘anti-Atlantis’ agenda.
“By far the best way for SGA fans to show interest for future Atlantis audio dramas is to support the six current SGA releases from series one and two of the Stargate audios, by purchasing CDs or downloads directly from BF’s website here – http://www.bigfinish.com/Stargate-SG-1-and-Atlantis.”
What do you think of this change in direction for the audio dramas? Let us hear from you in our comment section below.
SGU 1.5 DVD CoverTV Shows on DVD has published an updated release date for SGU 1.5: July 27.
The DVD release will come on 3 discs running 537 minutes long, presented in widescreen video. Audio is in both English: 5.1 Dolby Digital and with an option for Spanish: Dolby Surround. Subtitles are English, Spanish and French. Cost will be $29.98 SRP in the USA, and CA$37.98 SRP in Canada. […]
The Blu-ray Disc version will also be a 3-disc set for these 10 episodes Video is high-definition widescreen, and audio options on the BD release are for English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio or for Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. English, Spanish and French subtitles are available here as well. Price will be $39.99 SRP in the USA, and CA$49.99 SRP in Canada.
Make sure to visit TV Shows on DVD for more information about the content of the release.
'Stargate: Daniel Jackson #1' Cover Art (JOHN WATSON)Word about Dynamite Entertainment’s upcoming release of the comic book Stargate: Daniel Jackson has been published at Comic Book Resources in an official press release:
Official Press Release
Stargate’s popular character, Daniel Jackson, will be featured in his own comic book in June, 2010! Daniel Jackson was first introduced in the 1994 film Stargate, and was originally played by James Spader. In the television series, the character was played by Michael Shanks. Daniel Jackson is a civilian archeologist and linguist who works with the Stargate military project and therefore holds no military ranking.
Written by Doug Murray and drawn by John Watson, Daniel Jackson is seen as the modern version of the scientist/soldier that populated so many SF and Horror films of the 50’s and 60’s. He’s a man who can think his way out of trouble–and prefers doing so to fighting his way out. In this story, he uses both of those attributes; intelligence to solve a very ancient problem and physical ability to save the lives of himself and those around him.
“I wanted to put Daniel Jackson in a situation where he had to rely upon his own smarts and capabilities to solve an age-old problem while dodging many kinds of dangers. Too often in the TV series, he has to protect his teammates or, in other circumstances, rely on them to protect him–in this story, he is his own protection!”
“I’m really excited to be working on such a popular franchise and with such an interesting character as Daniel Jackson,” states artist John Watson. “He’s had a memorable and unique history so far and I hope the fans will like my take on the next chapter.”
STARGATE: DANIEL JACKSON #1
Written by DOUG MURRAY
Art by JOHN WATSON
32 pages $3.99
To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook
Visit Newsarama for an interview with author Doug Murray, who has a deep respect for the character of Daniel Jackson and what he represents, as well as for the actors who portrayed him.
Stargate: Daniel Jackson #1 is not the first Stargate character-specific comic book to be published by Dynamite. Stargate: Vala Mal Doran #1 is due to be published in May, and Stargate: Vala Mal Doran #2 is scheduled for release in June. To read more about these two publications, visit Comic Book Resources for an interview with author Brandon Jerwa.
TV Shows on DVD is reporting from the current issue of The Official Magazine (Issue #33), that there are two upcoming DVD and presumably Blu-ray releases for the first season of Stargate Universe: The second half’s set of ten episodes plus commentaries and extra features (what they’re calling “SGU 1.5” for lack of a better title at this time) is coming JULY 13, while a complete Season One set is scheduled for a 2011 release.
Make sure to visit TV Shows on DVD for the complete report, or pick up the current issue of Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/Universe: The Official Magazine (issue 33) from your local newsstand or from the publisher, Titan Magazines.
Tim Jenson, president and CEO of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME), the developer of Stargate Resistance and Stargate Worlds, talked with Jaime Skelton of the Examiner to address the status of these games in light of the bankruptcy procedures put in place recently.
Concerning Stargate Resistence: “Unfortunately, with the filing of the bankruptcy, CME was not able to raise any funding and the sales of the game were negatively impacted. Without adequate cash flow, CME is unable to meet its financial obligation or pay its employees. CME is not able to have its employees continue working without pay so many of them were laid off. CME is currently seeking ways to keep the Stargate Resistance game operating and growing including partnering with other companies in a joint venture or outsourcing type arrangement.”
Concerning Stargate Worlds (SGW): “I sure hope so [that the game will be produced], but I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t tell you what might happen in the future. I would sure like to see CME, Firesky and SGW doing great and would be happy to help in any way to make that happen.”
Stargate fan Tomaž and his friends have created a new site, SGRStats.com, a place to gather for players of the new Windows-based Stargate Resistance game. The game was recently released and is still in active development despite the financial problems of the game studio.
Visit SGRStats.com to share your scores, check out the shared servers, and keep up with all the news about the game!
Fragland is reporting that FireSky, the publisher of the recently released PC Game Stargate Resistance, will continue to support the game even while the developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) files Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Additionally, the website reports that the CME shareholders are suing former CEO Gary Whiting as being solely responsible for the financial problems that the company has experienced.
The FireSky statement:
Cheyenne Mountain’s corporate structure has undergone some dramatic changes in the last few weeks, and that has resulted in various actions such as the filing for Chapter 11. Certain parties believed that was the right thing to do, other parties do not and this is still being evaluated and may be rescinded. Even if the bankruptcy should go through, however, Chapter 11 simply allows a company to restructure its debt to a manageable plan approved by the courts. It does not absolve a company of debt, and it does not shut it down or otherwise affect its daily operations.
This will all be sorted out in the legal and proper manner, and all of us on the development side of things hope it’s done as quickly as possible.
That said, our entire staff is in-house working on upgrades and expansions for Stargate Resistance, and we continue to be motivated and excited by the response we’ve received from our customers.
See you on the battlefield!
CME’s MMORPG Stargate Worlds was not mentioned in the above statement, so its future is still uncertain.
On February 12, 2010, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) filed for bankruptcy in the Maricopa County, Arizona, superior court. This news was recently reported by MMORPG.com.
CME is the developer behind the recently-released Stargate Resistance PC game and the troubled and delayed Stargate Worlds MMORPG. There’s no official news yet on what this filing will mean for these two products.
The second set of ten episodes from Stargate Universe‘s first season is out today (July 27) in Region 1 (North America) in both DVD and Blu-ray formats.
