Author: DeeKayP

Interview written by Steven Eramo for Visimag’s TV Zone Special #64

Stargate SG-1 continues to find new enemies to fight and new stories to tell. The series has reinvented itself in Season Nine, which will lead to further adventures for the new SG-1 team.

Most people would see it as a monumental task to try to reinvent a TV series in its ninth year. Nonetheless, the creative minds behind Stargate SG-1 decided to accept that challenge. Last season, the SG-1 team finally ended its long-running battle with the Goa’uld, and with that it looked like SG-1 would be finishing as well. However, the show proved to be more popular than ever in its eighth season, so MGM and the Sci-Fi Channel decided to renew it for a ninth year. That came as a pleasant surprise to executive producer Robert C Cooper.

“When we were done last season I didn’t think we could have ended SG-1 any better than we did with Reckoning Part 1 and Part 2, Threads and Moebius,” says Cooper. “Funnily enough, we’ve spent the past few years anticipating this show’s swansong, but obviously it’s not ready to end just yet. As a writer, I’ve grown creatively tired of writing endings. I want to write beginnings again. Writing Stargate Atlantis, for example, was very exciting.

“So when Season Nine of SG-1 came about and it became clear that we’d be making as many changes to the show as we were, I pitched very strongly the idea of revamping the series on more fronts than just adding new characters. I wanted to bring in new villains and change SG-1’s mission. We were all very reinvigorated with Season One of Atlantis and seeing how new adversaries like the Wraith could make a difference to the storytelling. We wanted to do the same with SG-1, so we approached the beginning of this year as the start of a new show, or a pilot if you will.

“We’ve always tried to ground SG-1’s stories as well as mythology in some form of Earth mythology and put a twist on it. Previous to this it was Egyptian mythology and the Goa’uld posing as Egyptian gods. Going forward, we had to decide what mythology we were going to next play on. We hadn’t done the King Arthur/Avalon/Merlin mythology before. With Merlin being one of the more famous magical figures, I thought it would be interesting if we revealed he was an Ancient. That Merlin had, in fact, returned to Earth from Atlantis after the war with the Wraith and settled on our planet.”

That discovery leads viewers to where the Ancients came from, and also paves the way for the introduction of SG-1’s new bad guy. “In re-tooling the show we wanted to stay true to many of the ideas that we’d already established,” notes Cooper. “This included the theme of false gods and what it is to be a god and whether or not you believe in that. We wanted to continue to explore that concept and I think our new villains, the Ori, actually provide greater opportunity for us to do that. With the Goa’uld there really was no question. They were bad guys with snakes in their heads and who used technology to enslave people. With the Ori, it’s not quite so clear to everyone as to whether or not they’re worthy of our devotion.”

Visit the Visimag webpage for more from this interview and see about picking up a copy of TV Zone Special #64 which features Stargate SG-1 on its cover.

[Thanks to Sueb45 for the tip — DeeKayP]

Interviews with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Gary Jones

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Times is helping her readers gear up for Stargate SG-1‘s impressive ninth season, premiering Friday, July 15, at 8PM Eastern on the SciFi Channel. She had the opportunity to interview three of SG-1‘s cast and get their take on their new and evolving roles.

Concerning his new character, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, who takes command of SG-1 and puts the team back together, Ben Browder said, “From my standpoint, Mitchell’s still a work in progress. Until I see the final cut and stuff goes out to the audience, I don’t want to be saying who this guy is. Quite frankly, TV is a highly collaborative medium, and everyone — the viewers, the writers, the editors, the actors, the directors — will have a view of who the character is and what he is. I have an opinion too, but I don’t want to be judged as failing to achieve what I want to achieve, so I’ll let the audience make up their own minds.”

Browder relates his first experiences on the set and how welcoming everyone was. “I have to say, everyone has been very, very nice up here, the cast, Michael Shanks, Chris Judge made my transition to the show very easy, Amanda Tapping didn’t come on ’til the sixth episode, but those guys made my transition easy.”

For Claudia Black, who recreates her character named Vala from Season Eight’s “Prometheus Unbound”, the opportunity to play in six more episodes was a gift. “Vala is instrumental in kickstarting the story for the season. I was very spoilt in that regard, it was wonderful to be in the eye of the storm as far as the story was concerned and also to be given so much comedic work to do, it was such a joy for me to do those scenes with Michael Shanks, who is a fantastic comic sparring partner.”

As far as Vala’s returning for additional episodes after her first six, “The window isn’t closed on Vala. That’s for sure. It really depends on if I’m available, and they can get what they want [storywise]. It’s a nice position to be in, to be in love with a character you’ve played, who may live on again, who you want to go back to. I’ll leave you with the image of the australian coat of arm, which has the kangaroo and emu on either side, two animals that are incapable of walking backwards. I as an actor am incapable of going backwards. It’s been an interesting challenge first on “PK Wars” [to go back to Aeryn], it’s nice to know Vala could [come back as well.]”

Gary Jones, who plays the ever-popular Chevron Guy (Sgt. Walter Harriman), is also quite enthusiastic about the new season. He’s seen his character go from being a background character to one who drives part of the action. “Now my character is a little like Radar O’Reilly [from “M*A*S*H”], he knows how things run and he’s handing [Beau Bridges’ character] files before he needs them and doing stuff for him before he knows he needs it done. They gave me a promotion to Chief Master Sergeant, it’s the highest rank I think you can be without being an officer.”

Jones will also do an episode of Stargate Atlantis, “Critical Mass”.

To read all the interviews, as well as one with David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay of Atlantis), where Hewlett kisses and tells about his character’s love scene with Dr. Carson Beckett (played by new regular cast member, Paul McGillion), just click here.

[Thanks to Sueb45 for the tip — DeeKayP]