22.Aug.09
Posted in Articles & Updates, SG-1, Views at 11:06 am by michelle
Children of the Gods Remix
Frequent contributor and wiki editor Aurora Novarum presents her review of the recent DVD release of a remixed version of the Stargate: SG-1 pilot, “Children of the Gods”. Enjoy, and let us know if you find it helpful!
The latest to come out of the Stargate franchise is actually an old classic. Brad Wright, co-creator of all three Stargate TV series, spearheaded a revisit of the Stargate SG-1 pilot, “Children of the Gods”.
Initial suspicion that Wright was “pulling a Lucas” transformed into pleasant surprise. The final cut version of “Children of the Gods” is a wonderful new look at an old friend. Sharper, clearer imaging (you can actually read the name-tags on the poor red-shirt airmen in the opening sequence), new music, and various alterations of camera angles give a different look and feel, while maintaining the core story, and even giving a stronger portrayal for many of the characters.
It’s amazing how much difference the new soundtrack has made. Emmy nominated composer Joel Goldsmith has always been talented in creating the feel of the various Stargate series, but the first pilot relied heavily on the original Stargate movie soundtrack, and sometimes the ubiquitous music didn’t fit the scene. This new soundtrack, more judiciously used than the original version, subtly enhances the tone of the episode.
It’s difficult to explain how the new variation compares with the original. Wright and the editors went back to the original dailies and started from scratch. Sometimes it’s a matter of seeing a wide shot of all the characters rather than a single or dual shot, or vice versa. Sometimes it’s a completely different angle. For example, the forest scene on Chulak had a major flaw in the film, and so a lot of footage was unusable back in 1997. New technology allowed them to repair the damage and thus the editors had more options in how to portray the scene cinematically. Another factor is with high definition and widescreen TVs now the norm, the editing could take advantage of the 16:9 aspect ratio film standard and have more action/character moments showing within a frame.
Many of the special effects were redone for the pilot, but most are more subtle. The biggest change was a more uniform Stargate “puddle”–the original pilot used three different outside firms. The most noticeable change is the space ships in the climactic scene. The over-sized death glider that rings down the Goa’uld at the Stargate has been replaced with the canonically more accurate tel’tak cargo ship, introduced in Season Three’s “Deadman Switch” as the Goa’uld standard “sedan” transportation.
The Characters:
A major change for the film was Christopher Judge’s performance as Teal’c. Judge re-recorded all of his dialogue, and instead of the hesitant “Yul Brynner alien” performance (as Wright refers to it), Teal’c’s voice is the deep resonance of Judge portraying the centenarian character he molded for over a decade. Between that and the newly cut footage, the road to Teal’c’s betrayal of Apophis flows organically as what happens to Weterings, Skaara, and Sha’re affects him. Mixed with only slightly altered moments of him studying this new Tau’ri technology, when O’Neill tells him, “I can save these people”, Teal’c’s response is natural.
Carter’s introduction to the team has been shortened, including removal of the infamous “reproductive organ” speech, giving her less of a chip on her shoulder when introducing herself to Jack O’Neill. But screen moments have been added during the arrival on Abydos, showing Carter’s first true love–-technology, specifically the DHD and later the Cartouche room. There’s also new cuts between her and Daniel in both the Cartouche and prison sequence, cementing that friendship. Overall a stronger set up to the Samantha character.
The alterations to Daniel are seconds added/altered here and there, but they have an impact. There’s more of a homey feel to Daniel’s presence on Abydos, not just with Sha’re, but with all the Abydonian “boys”. His angst and despair at leaving them is profound, the speech leaving Abydos is more intense than the first edit. It echoes throughout the rest of the movie, from the moment he’s so lost, Jack takes him to his place, all the way up through his attempt to share Sha’re’s fate in the prison scene, which plays out slightly differently than the original pilot.
Daniel’s concern over Sha’re is echoed in Jack’s relationship with Skaara. The “shoulder bump” bypassing Daniel is seen from a different angle, emphasizing Jack isn’t so much dismissing his friend from Earth as focusing on the Abydos boy. The extended feast scene also cements that relationship, which plays out through the rest of the movie, making an appropriate final moment of Daniel and Jack worried for Sha’re and Skaara. However, the focus on that has narrowed the breadth of Jack’s introduction as a character. Gone are the early banter with he and General Hammond taking their measure, as well as Hammond noting Jack’s grey background, unnecessary for the standalone nature of the movie.
Hammond’s characterization has also narrowed. Without some of these lighter moments in the O’Neill introduction, Hammond is more the hard-edged military commander hinted at in earlier edits, before more of Davis’s influence by the grandfatherly mentor became established. Understandably he’s focused on the invasion of his base by aliens, a recalcitrant colonel and a smelly academic forcing his way back into an active role on the base. Even the President disagrees with George’s opinion. This hard edge wars with the single scene where he keeps Samuels from sealing the Stargate for as long as possible, with the effect of that quiet moment having more of an impact.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of some of the major changes (Spoilerphobes beware!):
What’s Out?
- The harem. There is no harem in this new version. The story-line of this new CotG differs the most dramatically in that Amaunet’s rejection of Sgt. Weterings is the impetus for Apophis to go to Abydos and capture Sha’re and Skaara.
- “I never knew you had a kid.” Kawalsky’s lack of knowledge about Charlie O’Neill has been cut, which actually improves canon since later eps like “Gamekeeper” reveal Kawalsky and O’Neill had a familiarity with each other aside from the original Abydos mission.
- The nudity. One of Wright’s oft quoted reasons to revamp the series was to cut the frontal nudity on the original “Showtime”/DVD version of the pilot. The impact and horror of the sequence is still intact (and with the musical changes, much more powerful than the syndication cut), but lacking some the graphic nature that would keep this from being family fare for at least some in the American audience.
- O’Neill & Hammond introduction: Jack’s explanation of jokes and the classified nature of his work has been cut as extraneous to the movie setup of CotG, and they go “straight to business”. It keeps the story flow with the urgent call to drag O’Neill to the mountain, but it also cuts some characterization.
- Carter’s entrance. “Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside…” Apparently Wright and Glassner battled over that line for years. Ironically, the mocking references to it over the years in “200″ and “Moebius” have cemented it in canon, and its presence is obviously missed. Unfortunately, losing that line also meant the appellation lines needed to be cut, and thus there’s no “Captain/Doctor” debate either in this scene or on Abydos.
- The MacGyver line. This loss is my biggest regret in the recut version. The cute “insider” joke Tapping’s Carter makes at Richard Dean Anderson’s previous iconic character has been replaced with the originally written dialogue of “jury rigging” the SGC’s computer.
- Samuels/Hammond waiting. At least one scene between Samuels and Hammond while awaiting word from the teams was cut from this new version, but to be honest, if they hadn’t mentioned it in the commentary, I would never have caught it.
- Teal’c’s surrender of his staff weapon. The original version makes a big show of Teal’c peacefully handing his staff to Carter. This sequence is cut and the weapon just magically disappears while Teal’c and the giant prisoner escape.
- Kawalsky’s fate. Wright has set up this new cut to be an “independent movie” rather than the pilot to the series, and so the cliffhanger of Kawalsky getting Goa’ulded has been judiciously cut. It’s not as if the events don’t happen to change the later canon of “Enemy Within”, but it’s not visible on screen, and the denouement is properly on Jackson and O’Neill’s concern for Sha’re and Skaara.
What’s New?
- * A Stargate Dial. One of the “pilot” errors was not explaining how Apophis and crew got out of the SGC in the first scene, since Stargate canon is “no two-way wormholes”, which has caused various fan theories throughout the years. Peter Williams actually came in for new filming to have Apophis bark Goa’uld-y orders to manually dial up the Stargate.
- Female Jaffa. One of the Jaffa revealed in the SGC makeshift morgue was a female warrior. It had been cut when they were still not sure whether there should be women Jaffa.
- The Abydos Feast. The whole arrival on Abydos has been recut, so the angles are all different, but there’s also some added moments while they’re cooking; even the crushed MALP parts were recycled as frying pans. The entire sequence is rich with minor moments.
- The Abydos Cartouche. This too has been recut with wider shots. Carter’s recording of the walls is clearer as is an entirely new and slightly different sequence of dialogue amongst the expedition. Tapping and Shanks agreed to come and redo their dialogue for at least this scene.
- Abydos attack. The aftermath of the attack has new angles and a fresh view of the confusion and panice after the Jaffa leave, including the farewell between Daniel and his adopted people.
- A completely new briefing room scene right after the return from Abydos. We learn how many addresses were part of the Abydos cartouche and see a bit more of Hammond’s skepticism about Dr. Jackson.
- Kawalsky’s team. While “Planet Kawalsky”’s line is gone, the scene is much more intense amongst the members of SG-2 and their waiting and worrying for their comrades as well as more screen time when they come to SG-1’s rescue in the climax.
- The prison sequence. The sequence seems more streamlined and extended, from the point of Daniel waking up through to the picking of the “children of the gods”. There’s much more interaction between Sam and Daniel woven in with Jack and Skaara, and Daniel’s attempt at self-sacrifice has a slightly different spin.
- Teal’c. Teal’c’s betrayal of Apophis has a more continuous arc in this final cut. Some is the nature of the vocal performance being less stilted, but a lot is a second or two reaction shots throughout the movie. When he confronts Jack at the pivotal moment, his allegiance switch is much more believable.
- The escape. There’s added footage of SG-2 coming to the refugees rescue and the interplay in the battle/escape to the Stargate (especially regarding the big man…who obviously was captured with his family.
- Dedication. The end credits dedicate the film to Don S. Davis, the actor who played the beloved General Hammond in both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis
Extras
An opportunity was lost here for added content considering this is a re-release, not a new original movie. Only two “extras” means many people excited about Easter eggs and added content will be disappointed. One is a short interview with Wright and a few others discussing many of the major film changes. It includes side-by-side glimpses between the original and new version. The main extra is the audio commentary by Wright and Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O’Neill), which is candid and friendly. Anderson happily offered to do more, to which Wright responded “You tell me this NOW? After 300 episodes?” (Note to Mr. Wright and MGM: The other episodes of the first three seasons have no commentaries attached. Put those, deleted scenes, and bloopers in make it an easy re-purchase for a lot of fans.)
The Bottom Line
A chorus of franchise viewers and fans legitimately wonder why they should buy the new CotG when for a few dollars more, they can get a variation of the same story plus twenty more episodes in the Season One DVD set. Many fans may be perfectly happy with keeping/getting the original pilot, but it’s definitely recommended viewing for:
People who are just getting introduced to the franchise (yes, there’s still new fans getting introduced to the show…as Wright and Cooper realized at the Stargate Universe panel at Comiccon). This show has a lot of the heart of the series to come, without the cheesiness and faltering steps that often happens with any pilot.
Family fans concerned about the nudity aspect of the pilot. This is a wonderful addition/replacement to the original airing, and much better than the hacked up version of the cut used in syndication.
Big fans of the franchise. Of course the uberfans have probably already added this to their library, but for those sitting on the fence, there’s definitely enough freshness to the tale that it’s worth viewing.
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12.Aug.09
Posted in Atlantis, Merchandise, Press Watch, SG-1, Views at 11:46 am by michelle
Stargate executive producer Robert C. Cooper gave an interview over the weekend about the prospects for new SG-1 and SGA direct-to-DVD movies. In this exclusive interview, he cites the current economics of DVD sales as the major stumbling block:
“We’re ready to go,” Cooper said in an exclusive interview over the weekend in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting SGU at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “We’re just waiting for the right opportunity,” he said. “We want to be successful with it. The studio wants to be successful, and we really don’t want to proceed with something in the wrong climate, which I think financially it is right now.”
Two previous SG-1 straight-to-DVD movies, Continuum and The Ark of Truth, sold well, but the current economic downturn makes DVD premieres less lucrative than they were in the past.
“It’s tough, because we were very successful with the first two SG-1 movies,” Cooper said. “Since then, the economics have changed a little bit. DVDs aren’t selling the same way they were when we released those even just a year, and a year and a half ago.”
This line of reasoning matches what producer/writer Joe Mallozzi has said numerous times in his blog, for example, here, as we discussed here back in June.
Fans may wonder why the studio can’t look at alternative distribution methods to DVD, such as iTunes, Amazon UnBox, and other pay-for-download media. Consumers aren’t watching fewer movies; they’re just watching them differently. In any case, this confirms what we suspected back in June: the movies are by no means a sure thing. Filming for Stargate Universe wraps at the end of October, and the producers had hoped to keep the crew on board to move directly to filming the movies. With no green-light nor deals in place, this becomes ever more unlikely as the weeks pass. David Hewlett recently expressed doubts via twitter as well:
cast has heard nothing about Atlantis movie. I think the chances of it happening now are slim to none…such a waste!
Watch this space for more news as it arrives.
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13.Jun.09
Posted in Atlantis, Merchandise, SG-1, Views at 10:59 am by michelle
Fans anxious to hear definite word about the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis DVD movies must resort to reading the internet tea leaves, as no “official” word seems to be forthcoming, one way or the other. We’ve heard rumors of filming dates, but none of the cast has said they have a deal in place, and we know the scripts are not yet finalized.
Based on recent hints, fans might need to prepare themselves for yet more uncertainty and delay. First, MGM Studios, which has to fund the movies’ production, is in deep debt amid the current financial turmoil. As the New York Times reported:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the 85-year-old movie studio behind “The Wizard of Oz” and the James Bond franchise, has hired an adviser to help restructure its mountainous $3.7 billion in debt and keep its film pipeline running,
[...]
Analysts have also grown concerned about the studio’s ability to raise financing for new film production amid the depressed credit markets. MGM has scaled back its ambitions to produce as many as 12 movies a year.
It’s likely that as DVD-only movies, the two Stargate films would not be counted among the 12 productions; still it does not bode well in that MGM doesn’t seem to have capital to invest in anything remotely risky. The SG-1 movies were by all accounts more successful than expected, but the DVD market has since been in decline, as reported here.
In his blog entry for 12 June, Joe Mallozzi also described some financial realities:
In addition to the stark realities of a suffering DVD market (the victim of a perfect storm of circumstances – the evolution of alternate media platforms, the recession, and – my #1 suspect – Blu-ray). In order to set an official date for the commencement of principal photography, the studio – which is taking the lion’s share of the risk by bankrolling the production – must first sort out a number of issues. Still, as I’ve been saying all along, we all want to make this movie (me most of all as, from a purely mercenary standpoint, I’ll be producing it – and not for free), and we now have a first draft script in place.
These hints point to the need for fans to adjust expectations about filming in 2009. Perhaps we can give MGM the confidence it needs to fund the movies by buying the upcoming Stargate DVD releases: the SG-1 Children of the Gods remix, and Stargate Atlantis Season 5. Strong sales will prove DVDs still have a place on the shelves of Stargate fans!
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29.Apr.09
Posted in News, Press Watch, SG-1, Universe, Views at 9:17 am by DeeKayP
SCI FI WIRE has a brief interview with Michael Shanks about his cameo appearance in the series premiere of Stargate Universe.
In interviews past, Shanks has always been sensitive to the needs of the new cast. He repeats that sentiment in this recent interview, “It’s a cameo. It’s a popping in, popping out kind of thing. They’ve got a lot of cast that they definitely need to facilitate. Certainly the Stargate audience knows my character and Richard’s character and Amanda’s character and the others that show up very well. So they have to spend some time developing their world and fleshing out their characters. So I’m just a face.”
We here at Solutions don’t agree that Dr. Daniel Jackson is “just a face”—he’s much, much more than that to us—but we do understand that the newest addition to the franchise is a very different animal from its predecessors and needs to develop in its own unique way. Shanks explained, “I don’t expect to be popping in [again] anytime in the near future. Because it is such a different tone to the show, I don’t know how disruptive it would be to have characters from a different-feel Stargate show come in. It’s just a very different aesthetic to it and a very different emotional dynamic to it, that it would be very strange to see familiar characters in this environment, at least initially.”
Make sure to visit SCI FI WIRE: Michael Shanks dishes Stargate Universe, other projects for the complete interview, which also covers the the third SG-1 movie, Living Out Loud, Burn Notice, and The Eastmans.
Stargate Universe is currently filming in Vancouver and is slated for a fourth quarter premiere on the Syfy Channel (most likely, early October).
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16.Apr.09
Posted in News, Universe, Views at 11:55 pm by DeeKayP
SPOILER WARNING FOR STARGATE UNIVERSE EPISODE “LIFE”
We here at Solutions have had a pretty good history of reporting spoilers concerning the episodes in production with some degree of accuracy, but it’s always a good thing that we publish a disclaimer in the report just to make sure that our tail end is covered. The one we’re using this year goes something like this: ALL SPOILERS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WHILE THE EPISODE IS IN PRODUCTION.
Yes, it’s in bold and in all caps: a sure sign that you need to proceed with caution.
Recently, spoilers have been published for Carl Binder’s “Life” in two separate articles here at Solutions (check them out HERE and HERE as a foundation for the “rant” that is to follow). These articles were based on two sources of information: character breakdowns from Spoiler TV and audition sides for actors that we’ve actually purchased with our own hard-earned money, just like struggling actors do.
So when we got this breakdown recently from Spoiler TV for the same character that we just read the audition sides for, SHARON—”[SHARON] 35 years old, Camille Wray’s (Ming-Na’s.) long term partner. Sensitive, soulful. Strong emotional scenes. Possibly recurring. GUEST LEAD. Please submit all ethnicities. NAMES ONLY”—we had to combine it with what we already published to arrive at a new conclusion: SHARON is WRAY’s long-time lesbian lover, not MUNROE’s.
It appears that the production office is now using a big Find-and-Replace-All on character names! So, WRAY is easily replaced with MUNROE. And, unfortunately, the changes don’t stop there for this particular script. Find-and-Replace-All MARY with SHARON and RUSH with BENTON (but make sure you verify that all occurrences of “rush” replaced with “benton” make sense).
So, now we need to revise our spoilers because we weren’t in the loop when it came to this new approach taken by the production office to “leak” spoilers. We’re just a small group of fans trying to do a service to the fan community, so when something doesn’t feel right, there’s definitely reason to believe it isn’t and we can comfortably say so. And since we are merely a fan site, we probably can get away with this revision with a little more grace and acceptance by the fans than for-real professional media outlets. Lucky us (and we indeed hope so).
So, is SHARON (aka MARY) Camille Wray’s lesbian lover? Probably. And BENTON is really RUSH who makes a great discovery in the database about the seeder ships that planted Stargates on planets long before Destiny reached them. Is LT. GARY MICHAELS most likely another regular character, perhaps Lt. Matthew Scott, who got a girl pregnant (ANNIE BALIC, or is it JEAN?) and thought she got an abortion when actually she didn’t and he went on his merry way by joining the Air Force about eight years ago? Probably. But who knows for sure?
And it doesn’t stop there, sadly. Is MICHELLE really MICHELLE and WARREN really WARREN and BAKER really BAKER, or are they Find-and-Replace-All substitutes for other regular and semi-regular characters?
Joseph Mallozzi has long complained about spoilers coming from sources such as those for actors’ audition sides. They’re not something that can be faked; actors must study them and go to the audition prepared with something authentic. Mallozzi said they’ve looked into ways to fix the situation, and it looks like substituting character names is one way to go. Clever that.
So, can we trust spoilers from these sources ever again? To be honest, the nature of spoilers has always made the disclaimer necessary because scripts can change quickly and easily. The production office even has a system of colored pages to show these updates. They start off with white pages and then when a change is made, they issue the changes on blue pages. Each and every change thereafter gets a different color until it’s possible for an actor’s script to look like it was printed using a variety pack from a nearby office supply store.
It’s a new twist for us fan sites to maneuver through. Certainly, with enough of a variety of sources, we may succeed in revealing the “truth behind the myth,” but from now on, there will always be doubt. Spoiler reporting may never be the same again and that’s exactly what the production wanted.
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14.Jan.09
Posted in News, Universe, Views at 11:57 am by michelle
The award-winning science fiction novel author John Scalzi has joined the Stargate Universe team as a creative consultant. In his blog entry yesterday, Joseph Mallozzi mentioned he was meeting Scalzi for dinner. Today, Scalzi has announced the reason for the dinner in his own blog entry:
The reason I’m in Vancouver, aside from having dinner at Fuel last night with Joseph Mallozzi, can now be revealed: I have a new gig as Creative Consultant for the upcoming Stargate: Universe television series.[...]
To answer questions that immediately come to mind: What “creative consultant” means in this case is to assist the producers and directors in shaping the direction of the series, to offer technical writing suggestions and advice, and basically to be useful when they want another point of view on something; it’s a background rather than foreground sort of job.[...]
Yes, the producers and writers are very smart folks who have a definite idea of what they want SGU to be, and I think it’s a good and intriguing idea with lots of interesting possibilities, which is why I signed on.[...]
Joe Mallozzi and others on the Stargate production staff, as well as actor David Hewlett, have publicly declared themselves big fans of Scalzi’s works, notably The Android’s Dream and Old Man’s War and its sequels. Visit his Amazon.com store for a complete listing.
Mallozzi also chose Scalzi’s The Android’s Dream as one of his “book of the month club” selections, and Scalzi stopped by to answer fans questions about the book.
Speaking personally and editorially, this is another big coup for SGU, after the casting of Robert Carlyle. Scalzi’s works are engaging, fast-paced, funny, and intensely imaginative. Scalzi’s influence promises to be a creative boon to the SGU production.
Look to Mallozzi’s blog tonight for what are sure to be more details on the deal, and the dinner.
Stargate Universe is due to start principal photography February 4. To-date, the only cast announcement that has been officially released is that of Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, who is to play one of the series’ leads, Dr. David Rush. Mallozzi promises more information concerning the rest of the cast will be released soon.
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31.Jul.08
Posted in Articles & Updates, Fandom, Merchandise, News, Press Watch, SG-1, Views at 7:29 pm by DeeKayP
Here are a few pieces of info about Stargate: Continuum that might be of interest:
- Visit MovieWeb for two exclusive video interviews with Brad Wright and Ben Browder concerning the movie (and other interesting little tidbits).
- Visit io9 for video interviews with Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping. (There’s a mention that both will be in the third Stargate SG-1 movie.)
- Visit Sc Fi Pi for an interview with director Martin Wood.
- Visit MGM for an interview with Amanda Tapping.
- Pre-order the soundtrack at Joel Goldsmith’s Free Clyde website. The CD will be available August 12 for $19.95 plus S & H at $4.95 (Dom.) or $7.95 (Int.). From the website: “This exciting score has many highlights and is accompanied by an amazing 24-page full color booklet that includes articles by Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, Martin Wood and Joel Goldsmith. Stargate fans will be inspired by the original artwork designed by the FreeClyde team and exclusive photography from the film. … First 100 Orders wil be signed by the composer.”
- The movie is currently #3 in “Top Movies” and #1 in “Action/Adventure” at iTunes! Download your copy at $14.99. The movie will be available for rental download August 28.
Stargate: Continuum’s DVD/Blu-ray release dates (if you know of other dates, please let us know and we’ll add them to the list):
- July 29, 2008: North America
- August 6, 2008: Australia
- August 18, 2008: UK
- September 10, 2008: France
- September 10, 2008: Italy
- September 12, 2008: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
- October 27, 2008: Czech and Slovak Republic
[Thanks to nicolas for France's release date and to heikki for Germany's.]
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16.Jun.08
Posted in Merchandise, Press Watch, SG-1, Views at 7:27 pm by DeeKayP
In a recent interview conducted by MGM’s Official Stargate website, director Martin Wood talked about how the opening scene of Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum introduces Stargate Command to a possibly new audience at the same time it makes the fan feel the comfort of “home.”
The series itself lasted ten years, and there is plenty of history into which to delve, but one of the goals of Wright and Wood was to prove that this movie—and any future Stargate movie—belongs on the big screen and could appeal to a wider audience, including those who might not be as familiar with the characters as fans are.
Wood explains how the opening scene to the movie goes through this history in an elaborately executed camera shot that shows viewers the people of Stargate Command. “I wanted the very first thing that people saw to be home. This is where we’ve lived for 11 years, look at this place, and give you a little tour around it. Everybody’s there, and what’s funny is that they’re sprinkled in weird little ways.
“I just had this thought in my head, ‘You know what? I am missing one element, I need someone to come out of this elevator.’ What’s funny is that all the people you see in there are regular background extras that have been there for 11 years of the show. So they’re all very familiar and I needed somebody that the audience would go ‘Oh!’ There were a lot of different choices that we could have made, and Lexa [Doig] busted me on it. She said, ‘Why didn’t you ask me?’ And I should have done. I should have had them both.”
Whom did Wood choose? “Major Davis comes walking out of an elevator,” he reveals with a laugh. “I asked Colin (Cunningham, Major Davis) if he would do it for me as a favour, and he very kindly said yes.”
Major Paul Davis was introduced in Season Two’s “A Matter of Time” as the liaison with the Office of the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon. He sometimes had to be the messenger delivering unpleasant news, and sometimes, he was caught in the middle of tense negotiations, but always, he presented himself as an officer and a gentleman. He even got to share on a grand adventure with SG-1 in outer space! Some of his latest exploits included negotiations with a pair of bickering alien representatives and instruction in the creation of a democratic government with the fledgling Free Jaffa Nation.
Like Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, Major Davis has read every mission report that has come out of the Stargate Program. He hasn’t been seen in the base since Season Eight, but his name was dropped in Season Nine.
“In that whole shot,” Wood continues to explain Davis’ appearance, “we see Beau Bridges, he doesn’t say anything as he walks by the camera, and there’s Siler and one of the technicians. It’s all saying, ‘This is a day in the life’ and then Major Davis comes out and then we see our team and we land back at the end of our shot, back where we started.”
Cunningham’s appearance in the elevator sounds like a brief cameo, but even so, he was glad to do it. He explained in a Stargate Planet interview, “It was an absolute blast. Martin Wood was actually helping me put together my own project at the time, Centigrade. He was kind of mentoring me through the process of directing. And so, when he called and said that he and John Smith has a little something for me, if I was willing to help them out, it was a no brainer. I owe many people over at Stargate a lot. I truly do. Deluise, Martin Wood, John Smith, Michael Greenburg, Brad Wright, all those guys. And when I needed help, they were there.”
The opening scene Wood envisioned brings the viewer, whether new to Stargate or a seasoned fan, into the story right from the start, giving him the point of view of someone who is walking along the corridors just as Stargate Command’s personnel do every day.
To read the full interview in which Wood provides more details about the technical aspects of the opening shot, visit MGM: Director’s Cut: Continuum (Part 1).
Release dates for the movie (DVD and Blu-ray) are as follows:
- July 29, 2008: North America
- August 6, 2008: Australia
- August 18, 2008: UK
- September 10, 2008: France
If you know of other dates, please leave them in our comment section below, and we’ll update our list. Thanks.
NOTE: Wood’s mentoring of Cunningham paid off: Centigrade recently won five Leo Awards out of its seven nominations, including those given to Cunningham personally as the film’s director and lead actor. The short is also now eligible for an Academy Award nomination since it took home an award at Cinequest. To read more about the film visit Cunningham’s Centigrade the Movie blog.
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11.Jun.08
Posted in Merchandise, Press Watch, SG-1, Views at 5:23 pm by DeeKayP
Spoilers … Spoilers … Spoilers … and Spoilers….
In an interview held recently in Vancouver, Brad Wright talked with Bryan Cairns at newsarama.com about some of the character arcs in his first made-for-video movie Stargate: Continuum. “I like seeing characters forced to look at themselves in different ways,” he stated.
Writing Continuum gave Wright the opportunity to explore each of the SG-1 team members in a different light because it is an alternate timeline story. What if the Stargate Program never happened? Where would each of them be?
Each of the three team members who are aware of the change in the timeline—Carter, Mitchell, and Daniel—find that their lives were very different in their new reality.
Samantha Carter
“I have Carter having been an astronaut that brilliantly sacrifices herself, as usual, and saving her crew,” Wright revealed about the Samantha Carter in the alternate timeline. The SG-1 team member had dreamed of being an astronaut before joining the Stargate Program, so this new timeline appears to be very close to the “original” one that was changed by Ba’al when he prevented the Stargate from ever reaching the United States from Africa.
Amanda Tapping described how Carter felt upon realizing her new situation in an interview with Dreamwatch. “We shot this scene two days ago with Beau Bridges where he basically says, ‘You are on your own and we are going to give you new identities and lives.’ That, for me, was probably the most telling scene of the movie. There is that element where we are left to our own devices and we can’t even contact each other. That is pretty scary – to be thrown into a world where you don’t know anybody and can’t even do what you love for a living.”
Carter’s adjustment is made even more difficult because her alternate self is supposed to be dead and was apparently quite famous. It was revealed in another article published by SCI FI WIRE that Wright wrote a scene in which Carter goes shopping in this new timeline. The context of this scene wasn’t revealed in the SCI FI WIRE article, but it could be meant to show how difficult it is for Carter to even do the simple tasks of daily living if she’s easily recognized as this dead astronaut.
Cameron Mitchell
At least Mitchell can be seen in public without potentially being mistakened as his own doppelganger, because, as Wright revealed, “Mitchell doesn’t exist because I wanted to do the grandfather paradox literally for fun.”
In time travel stories, the grandfather paradox goes something like this: A Time Traveler goes back in time and kills his grandfather before the grandfather had any children. Thus, because the grandfather didn’t have any children, the Time Traveler wasn’t born; he doesn’t exist. If he doesn’t exist, then he can’t go back in time to kill his grandfather. Therefore, his grandfather is alive to have children and then grandchildren, including the Time Traveler. And so, it goes…
In Continuum, Wright revealed in a Gateworld interview that Mitchell’s grandfather was the captain of the Achilles, the very ship that Ba’al intercepted that was carrying the Stargate from Egypt to the United States back during the World War II era. It was Ba’al’s intention to detonate a bomb to destroy the Stargate. For Mitchell not to exist in this timeline, it is very possible that his grandfather dies when Ba’al boards his ship.
Wright revealed in the Gateworld interview, “Another heroic figure performs a heroic act of getting the bomb off the ship before it explodes and hence the ship just keeps going on the course it was when they were navigating their way, zigzagging across the Atlantic, and ends up lodged in the ice in the Arctic.”
Mitchell, Carter, and Daniel end up ‘gating into the frozen cargo hold of the Achilles, which starts their adventure in this alternate timeline on Earth. After their rescue and being told to go their separate ways to live new lives, Mitchell visits a farm that he knew as a child. Then, he is reunited with Carter and Daniel, but his fate apparently is left hanging as Wright told Gateworld, “I think the funny part of this movie is people go ‘That was fun,’ and then they start asking questions. ‘Wait a minute, then what happened to Mitchell … ?’” He also teased, “If this were a television series and Continuum was one of the episodes, oh yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stories that I’d like to tell. There’s an interesting period of time for Mitchell that could be a story all by itself.”
Daniel Jackson
What happens to Carter and Mitchell in this alternate timeline is quite serious, but Wright wanted to interject some of Stargate’s trademark humor into the story. He delightedly told Cairns about a scene involving Daniel, who has already suffered quite a bit by this point in the movie, but realizes that his alternate self is alive and has published his theories about the Pyramids.
“Daniel phones himself. That’s kind of a neat scene,” Wright explained. “Daniel reads his own book and phones himself. There is a moment when he picks up the book, wants to tell somebody, and turns it over to see his face. It’s a pretty funny face and that’s the sanest look he gave in the photo shoot.”
Apparently, Daniel, being his typical Daniel self, found a loophole in the rules about not contacting each other in their new lives…
To read the full interview, visit Newsarama: Writer-Producer Brad Wright Talks ‘Stargate: Continuum’.
Release dates for the movie (DVD and Blu-ray) are as follows:
- July 29, 2008: North America
- August 6, 2008: Australia
- August 18, 2008: UK
- September 10, 2008: France
If you know of other dates, please leave them in our comment section below, and we’ll update our list. Thanks.
NOTE: The Dreamwatch interview with Amanda Tapping, Tapping on the Gate, posted July 27, 2007, has apparently been removed by Dreamwatch from their website. (Former URL: http://www.dwscifi.com/articles/show/759?type_id=4&category_id=34)
[Thanks to the MGM Official Stargate website and Andreas of Repro Images for the images used in this article.]
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11.Nov.07
Posted in Atlantis, SG-1, Views at 1:45 pm by DeeKayP
It has almost become a running joke — the Many Deaths of Daniel Jackon — and maybe even Michael Shanks will join in on it for a few laughs, but after a while, one does have to wonder, “Does Daniel fear permanent death?”
At his recent appearance at the Creation Con in Secaucus, New Jersey, Shanks answered several questions dealing with Stargate character deaths and their impact on the actors who play them. In his usual playful manner, he answered some of them lightly, but for others, there was definitely a sense that he’s pondered the issue a great deal from the actor’s point of view, as well as from the storyteller’s. “It’s kind of losing that cliff-hanging, biting-your-nails, edge-of-your-seat kind of thing,” he told the audience.
Shanks remembers when he read the script for Season Eight’s “Reckoning Part 2″ in which Daniel is brutally stabbed to death through the chest by Replicator Carter. His reaction to writer Robert C. Cooper was, “Rob! Come on, man! This is like what? The tenth time?” Shanks declared about Cooper, “He gets a kick out of this stuff!”
He has even told the story from years back about how Brad Wright handed him the script for “Fire and Water” where in the teaser, Daniel is pronounced dead. Then, Wright devilishly takes the script back so that Shanks couldn’t read the rest of the story. That probably made the actor really start to wonder, but now, he’s taking the adage of “no one really dies in sci-fi” to heart. “I think I lost track at about eight,” he replied when asked how many times Daniel has died. Shanks might want to consider reading Michelle’s con report from the San Diego Comic Con held back in July where it clearly states that Martin Wood said that the magic number for sci-fi deaths is supposed to be “6″. What does that mean for Daniel and his actor, then?
Should Daniel’s fans be worried that he’ll be permanently killed off? After hearing at the New Jersey con about the recent death of Dr. Kate Heightmeyer from this season’s Atlantis episode of “Doppelganger” (which Rob Cooper wrote, by the way), Shanks declared, “Maybe I won’t guest star over there! Wouldn’t that be a mother, huh? Get through ten seasons of Stargate, die a few times, but get killed off permanently guest starring on Atlantis!” Hopefully, when executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi recently talked with Shanks over the phone, presumably to see if Daniel Jackson can make an appearance in a Season Five episode, Daniel’s actor covered the character’s tailbone with a guarantee that he’ll make it out alive.
Even still, Cooper told the San Diego crowd that it wouldn’t be a movie if Daniel wasn’t dying. Cooper is responsible for Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the first of the direct-to-DVD movies that will be released next year. Will Daniel die or come close to it in that movie? That’s not certain, but Shanks had this to say about Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum, the second movie to be released in 2008: “There’s a scene in Continuum that’s very dramatic in the sense that Daniel’s left in a precarious situation where he realizes that he might not make it out of it.” He then says that as an actor who is playing a character who has died and returned to life so many times, “It’s hard to build up the energy … how do I sell this one without acknowledging the backstory?” Shanks offers, “Even he’s stopping to believe in the fact that he might die permanently. So it can have an impact on it, believe it or not.”
For characters such as Dr. Janet Fraiser, Dr. Carson Beckett, Dr. Kate Heightmeyer, and possibly Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Shanks believes that deaths like these are for “dramatic impact”. And as an actor, Shanks understands how a character’s death can have an emotional impact on the actor. “As for starting the trend? As far as I know, I was the first one to go, so, hey, I can sympathize, you know? Death has its effect on actors.”
After Shanks explained to his New Jersey crowd that he only counted “human” deaths, instead of game avatar deaths and maybe alternate reality ones, he closed with a near afterthought that fans might consider a spoiler for the movies: “There’s more on the way.”
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