Regener-Gate!
Thomasina Gibson, Cult Times #117, May 2005
Stargate SG-1 Executive Producer and writer Robert C. Cooper explains what drew him back to the show for its pivotal 9th season: “I got excited about the story. I got excited about reinventing the show and creating new bad guys. We’ve been talking about the Ancients for a long time and where they went to, but then we thought, ‘What if they didn’t come from here [Earth]’? What if they came from somewhere else and we find a way to go and communicate with them or the people they left behind in the galaxy far, far away and they’re not quite the people we had hoped they were? What if they have a whole different philosophy and a whole different religion and they worship some Ascended Beings that are not quite as benevolent as our lovely Ancients?”
That’s the premise of Stargate’s ongoing journey and it’s an idea that has sparked the imagination of the writers, designers and actors and continued through to every aspect of the production. Everyone Cult Times spoke with seemed to be throwing them?selves into this latest season with renewed vigour. Cooper is relishing the opportunity to bring a totally different perspective to the team’s adven?tures. “I mean, the Goa’uld are sort of defeated, and they are going to be a thorn in our side from time to time, but we [the writers] felt like we had done all that story arc to death and it was time to really start afresh. Also, we were invigorated by Atlantis. We found that it was fun to write Atlantis and actually go forward instead of back. See, we’d been ending SG-1 for so long. We’ve been ending that show for three years and we were tired of writing endings. We were tired of writing ‘The End’ and wanted to write ‘The Beginning’. So we started to write beginnings for the next stage of our journey and we are having a hoot.”
Though the adventures are inspiring in themselves, the new cast members are adding to the magic. “Claudia Black has been a real injection of energy in the show and Ben Browder is just fantastic,” en?thuses the executive producer. “And quite frankly, the whole storyline revolves around Daniel Jackson, and Michael Shanks truly has never been better. He has risen to the occasion. We’ve challenged him and he’s come through with flying colours.” Mindful that he is the boss and has some decorum to maintain, Cooper begs, “Don’t tell him that I said he was that good… He won’t fit through the Stargate.” But we’re putting it in print anyway because we like Mr. Shanks.
Not that he needs much of a boost. He’s got his own support system right there on set. His wife, Lexa Doig, has joined the personnel at the SGC, so it’s good news all round. “Lexa actually auditioned. Can you believe it?” gasps Cooper. “I would have cast her if I had known she was interested but she came in and read and was head and shoulders above the rest. Now, in the show she is fantastic. She really is. She plays Dr Lam, a role where she gets to show a side of herself that she never really had the opportunity to show before.”
At the time of our visit, the gang is mid-way through the season opener, but asked which episodes we should be antici?pating most, Cooper exclaims, “All of them! They’re that good.” Pushed for a little more detail, the man relents, “I wrote the opening three-parter. As usual I didn’t set out to write a three-parter, I set out to write a two-parter and I am so darned long-winded that I got a third of the way through the first script and went, ‘I got a three-parter here’. So I ended up writing the first three episodes that kind of set everything up. Then Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie [promoted to executive producers themselves this year] wrote a wonderful romp – an amusing trip through Vala’s [Claudia Black] backstory – for the fourth episode. The fifth episode was written by Martin Gero, one of our writers on Atlantis, called The Powers That Be. It’s very funny and ultimately very poignant and furthers the introduction of our new baddies, one of whom is played by Julian Sands. He’s a wonderful, wonderful, creepy bad guy and he plays it beautifully. Then Brad Wright wrote Beach Head, which is a big Space Opera battle thing with some Goa’uld thrown in there for good measure. So it’s very cool.”
As for the return of Lt. Col Samantha Carter to the series after Amanda Tapping’s maternity leave with new baby Olivia, Cooper reveals that “She walks through the door. I mean that quite literally. She doesn’t come through a Stargate or anything dra?matic like that. She just walks in the door. She’s been looking after Area 51 and she’s been looking after a little personal commitment.” Cooper goes on to say, “I have to say,” announces Mr Cooper, “that the segment of the fan base known as the ‘shippers’ may be a little disappointed with Season Nine because there isn’t as much of that kind of thing going on. It’s more like Seasons One and Two, with big adventures and a lot more story-based stuff. We do learn about our characters’ personal lives but there’s not a lot of romance going on between these char?acters. It’s more serious business going on here. The galaxy is about to become a very dangerous place again and there’s no time for all that romping around.”
“I think that Stargate Season Nine is more like a Season One of a new show and we’re hoping that this ends talk of ‘Will there be another season?’ Judging from what we’ve been doing so far, I think this rejuvenated show could go on for another five years.”
Buy Cult Times issue #117 online to read even more about what’s in store in Season 9!
“When asked what effect he thinks adding new characters to the show will have on keeping Stargate SG-1 alive and successful, Michael Shanks has a fairly blunt response. “Bringing in new characters doesn’t do squat for anything. Bringing in dynamics that create drama, chemistry, entertainment, comedy, action and all those things is what we are here for.” The actor says that he thinks Season 9 is going to be entertaining people and that, he feels, is what they are there (on the show) to do. Yet that’s not to say he isn’t excited about what the new characters have brought to Stargate SG-1 in its ninth season.”
Throughout Prometheus Unbound, viewers are left guessing as to whether Vala (played by Farscape’s Claudia Black) is a villain or a heroine. Black feels that the ambiguity that surrounds her character creates a lot of potential for Vala’s six-episode story arc at the beginning of Season Nine.
More tidbits on the Season 9 premiere three parter “Avalon” [Robert Cooper] from the appearance of Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge at this weekend’s Grand Slam Creation Convention:
The Site Admin at the online BBoard ‘A Galaxy Of Stars’ posted this news for Gary Jones fans on his official message board on 3rd March: