SG-1 – Page 24 – Solutions Blog

Unofficial Buzz: Stargate in Stages

There has been some “unofficial” buzz going on about the Stargate franchise from various sources, including executive producer Joseph Mallozzi (in interviews and in his personal blog) and fan reports of actors’ recent appearances at the various conventions around the world. Hopefully, we’ll be getting “official” announcements (i.e., through MGM or the Sci Fi Channel) soon.

Stargate SG-1 Movies

We’ve been given a tentative date for the release of the first DVD, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, by Robert C. Cooper in Joseph Mallozzi’s blog: March 11, 2008. He didn’t want to be quoted for that date because it is merely a tentative one, and at the time of his statement, he qualified this release date as being specifically for North America. According to Ben Browder at Creation’s Farscape Farewell Con, held this past weekend, the actors will be given a premiere viewing of the movie in December. Script coordinator Alex Levine had said in his scifi.com blog that the final touches on the mix were due soon after the producers got a viewing of the first mix on October 19. (see Solutions Blog: “The Ark of Truth” Almost Ready for Release)

There has been no more buzz about the release date for Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum. However, word from Michael Shanks at the Creation Con in Secaucus this past weekend is that Brad Wright is currently penning a script for a third movie. Christopher Judge also mentioned a third Stargate movie during his appearance in New Zealand in October. As to whether or not the script includes Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O’Neill still remains a mystery, but Wright has said in the past that he couldn’t imagine a Stargate story without him.

Stargate Atlantis

According to Joseph Mallozzi, co-showrunner for Stargate Atlantis, the fifth season is already under way with the pitching and breaking of the first half of the season (of a 20-episode season). Mallozzi has stated that the current Writers Guild of America strike will not affect the production of Season Five, and that he hopes that each writer will have two scripts each to work on before they reconvene in January 2008. The writers for this season are the same as for last season, except for maybe the absence of Robert C. Cooper who wrote and directed Season Four‘s “Doppelganger”: Carl Binder, Martin Gero, Joseph Mallozzi, Alan McCullough, and Paul Mullie. Recently producer N. John Smith started working on the director slate for Season Five, and it is possible that Ken Girotti may be added to the list, which included Robert C. Cooper, Andy Mikita, William Waring, Peter Woeste, and Martin Wood during Season Four.

New episodes of Season Four are currently being aired on the Sci Fi Channel on Fridays at 10pm Eastern.

Stargate Universe

Stargate Universe is the working title for the third Stargate TV series and is being created by Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright. According to Darren Sumner of Gateworld, Cooper and Wright recently pitched the new series to the Sci Fi Channel, and according to Mallozzi, it was a “revised pitch”, meaning that some things have changed from their initial outline. Early versions of the new series’ premise included its taking place in the present and offering chances for current Stargate characters to cross over. Whether or not the ninth chevron premise still applies is also unknown, since we don’t really know what parts of the pitch were “revised”.

"The Ark of Truth" Almost Ready for Release

Writer, director, and producer Robert C. Cooper recently visited Joseph Mallozzi’s personal blog to answer some questions about his recently-aired Stargate Atlantis episode “Doppelganger”, and while he was there, he answered some questions concerning his direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth.

Mallozzi wrote that the producers got together yesterday to watch the movie on the big screen at Sharpe Sound Studios in North Vancouver. In attendance were Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Martin Gero, and Alex Levine. Not wanting to give away spoilers, Mallozzi simply stated, “Suffice it to say, this is a movie that will richly reward longtime fans.”

The version of the movie that the producers watched was a mix — a version that now includes visual effects and a soundtrack. Mallozzi said, “As for yesterday’s surround sound experience – another WOW goes out to Joel Goldsmith for an incredible score. He has truly outdone himself on this one.” Goldsmith had commented in an interview done about a year ago that he was planning on using an orchestra because the movie’s budget (around $7 million) allowed for it.

Script coordinator Alex Levine commented on the mix in his scifi.com blog recently, “Apparently there are 240 VFX shots (240!) that will be finals in the next week or so.” The time needed to create these visual effects was given as one of the reasons for the movie’s postponed release (see Solutions Blog story).

After viewing the mix, the producers wrote their notes that will go toward producing a “Final Mix” — the released version. Mallozzi stated, “Anyway, we sat back, took assiduous notes, and when the lights came up, tossed ’em Rob’s way: take down the sounds of the streaking ships, hit the jumping into and out of hyperspace a little stronger, and, oh yeah, lose the space crickets. And that was pretty much it. See you at the premiere!”

And when exactly is the premiere? Cooper said, “Right now the target for release of Ark (notice the ‘k’) in North America is March 11, 08. But don’t quote me. That could change.” It was interesting that Cooper qualified this release as only for North America, whereas before it was thought that the DVD would be released at the same time world-wide by MGM and Fox Home Entertainment.

As far as casting is concerned, Cooper confirmed that Sarah Strange (Morgan Le Fay) is in the movie and gave his reasons why Richard Dean Anderson didn’t appear. “I know a lot of people were disappointed that O’Neill doesn’t appear in Ark. The story didn’t really call for it and I didn’t want to wedge him in as I know you would have accused me of doing afterward. But in our tireless effort to please all the people all the time he is back in a big way in Continuum.”

When Cooper and Wright talked about the new format for their stories after the show was canceled, they emphasized that they’d have as much time as they needed to tell the story rather than be limited by the regular 44-minute run time of an episode. Cooper has also said that his story was what was originally really meant to be spread across the course of Season Eleven, but had to be condensed into this one movie instead. In Mallozzi’s blog, he addressed this by stating, “As far as whether the story in Ark feels rushed, while I’m sure diehard fans would have like to see the beats play out over a whole season richly textured with detail … the trade off is that in one jam packed 90 minute movie you get a lot more impact as the big moments unfold. I hope.”

Fans attending Comic Con in San Diego were treated to an action-packed trailer for the movie (see Solutions Blog story), but, surprisingly, the trailer has not appeared on any of the recent Stargate DVD releases. Cooper stated, “There will be trailers for Ark emerging shortly. I believe Fox intends to put them on other DVD releases prior to March.”

Keep up with the Stargate SG-1 movies by visiting the SG-1 Movies index page in the Stargate Wiki (spoilers).

Tapping on Carter as "Spark from SG-1"

Stephanie Sanchez of IESB.net has compiled the entire interview conducted between several journalists and Amanda Tapping and Jewel Staite about their roles on Stargate Atlantis and in science fiction in general. During the lengthy interview, Tapping talked about how Carter fits into the Stargate universe, since she’s appearing in both of SG-1‘s direct-to-DVD movies and Season Four of Atlantis.

Because Carter leaves her team SG-1 to become the commander of the Atlantis Base, many fans have wondered how that will affect Carter’s position in Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. Tapping clarified, “I mean even though we shot them concurrently when I talked to Rob Cooper and Joe Mallozzi and Paul [Mullie] about it, Sam crosses over after the two movies.” The mere knowledge of that spoils both movies in that Carter, as a member of SG-1, survives any and all threatening events she might face in the two adventures. The realization of that made Tapping exclaim, “Damn, I gave it away.”

Joseph Mallozzi had already indicated in his personal blog that Carter “will be a Full Bird Colonel for both the movies and Atlantis’s fourth season” (see his June 14th entry), so her promotion will first be “seen” in Stargate: The Ark of Truth. She’s also seen wearing the SG-1 patch in this season’s second episode of Stargate Atlantis, “Lifeline”, which premieres tonight on the Sci Fi Channel at 10pm Eastern (see image at left), indicating that she’s still a member of that team until she becomes the commander of the Atlantis Base (in next week’s episode, “Reunion”, in which Christopher Judge also makes a cameo appearance as Teal’c).

Because Carter is no longer a member of SG-1 and is living in the Pegasus Galaxy, how will this affect any future movies involving Carter and SG-1 (there is already talk of two more movies, according to Mary McNamara of Multichannel News, Charlie Cohen at MGM said, “Our hope is, of course, is that these things are very popular. Our desire is to keep making them. We’ve already started thinking about numbers three and four.”)? Tapping replied, “The movies would have to sort of work as autonomous little anomalies out there. I’ve stormed myself of Brad Wright’s floor and held my breath and counted on the floor with… so I don’t think he wants to see that again, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be back on if more movies happen.”

The loss of Stargate SG-1 was felt by its fans when Stargate Atlantis premiered without its sister show last week. To encourage fans of other SG-1 teammembers to watch Atlantis, Tapping talked about Judge’s appearances in Season Four (in “Reunion” and “Midway”), “It was great fun having him on the show and I’d love to see Michael [Shanks] come over.” Mallozzi recently stated in his personal blog that if there is to be another member of SG-1 to make an appearance on Stargate Atlantis in the future, “Daniel would be a priority given his connection to Atlantis.”

But as it stands for Season Four, Carter is the only former member of SG-1 to have a major presence in Stargate Atlantis. Tapping commented, “I think Atlantis stands on its own really well. And I think, you know, I mean, me crossing over hopefully, you know, in spite of some disparaging comments from some fans or some sections of fandom, I think for the most part people are pretty excited about it, so, if there’s any spark from SG-1, it will be little old me.”

To read the full interview, visit IESB.net: Interview: Amanda Tapping and Jewel Staite from Stargate: Atlantis!

Sci Fi Wire: Shanks Talks Stargate Movies

SCI FI WIRE‘s Ian Spelling talked with Michael Shanks about filming for the two upcoming direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, set to be released in 2008.

Most of the interview has to do with the filming of Stargate: Continuum, which has had a great deal of publicity concerning their Arctic filming location and the use of two of the Air Force’s F-15s.

Shanks wasn’t able to go to the Arctic because he was filming his three episodes of FOX’s hit show 24, but Dr. Daniel Jackson is still present in some of the Arctic scenes. They accomplished this by refrigerating a soundstage. Shanks said, “I was part of one long day where we were filming on a frozen set, and that was fantastic, because we had this big, refrigerated set and this ship they’d built. It was a recipe for pneumonia, going in and out of the Vancouver sunshine, which was really warm, and this refrigerated set, but it was a lot of fun, because we could take our time a little bit more than we’d been able to in the past. And the look of it as fantastic.” Fans can see a few pictures taken behind-the-scenes for that filming day where Tapping and Shanks sit outside the set to thaw out in the Vancouver sun by visiting Joseph Mallozzi’s blog entry for June 13.

The Air Force had a news report about the two F-15s that were brought up to Vancouver for two days of filming for the movie (see Solutions Blog article). The news feature mostly focused on the two Air Force officers being played by Amanda Tapping and Ben Browder and didn’t mention the presence of Beau Bridges and Michael Shanks in the filming of these crucial scenes. Sharp-eyed fans have carefully examined the footage of the broadcast and have determined that Daniel rides in the second seat of Mitchell’s F-15. Of that experience, Shanks said, “So we got to sit inside those for a couple of days and press some buttons and switches and learn the lingo they use and get pulled around a tarmac in these $30 million planes. It was one of those moments as an actor where you sit there and go, ‘I can’t believe I get paid for doing this.'”

To read the full interview, visit SCI FI WIRE: Shanks Talks Stargate Movies. More plot details and other production information for both movies are available from the Solutions Wiki: SG-1 Movies index.

E-Bay Auctions "Continuum" Memorabilia for Charity

Richard Dean Anderson shows duffle bag for auction

Stargate SG-1 fans might be interested in putting out their bids for two duffle bags being auctioned by the Cast and Crew of Stargate SG-1 at e-Bay to benefit “The Canadian Society for Mucopolysaccharide & Related Diseases Inc. in support of Trey Purcell, son of crew member, Ryan Purcell. Trey is a beautiful 3 year old boy who suffers from an illness called MPS II or Hunter’s Syndrome, a Lysosomal Storage Disease that inhibits the body’s ability to break down and recycle specific mucopolysaccharides. Trey’s dad, Ryan, works in the Camera Department as a Steadicam Operator, and is currently working on the television series, Stargate Atlantis.”

According to the website, these are authentic North Face Base Camp Duffle Bags used during the filming shoot in the Arctic for Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum and are signed by Richard Dean Anderson (Maj. Gen. Jack O’Neill), Ben Browder (Col. Cameron Mitchell), Amanda Tapping (Col. Samantha Carter), Christopher Judge (Teal’c), Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson), Beau Bridges (Maj. Gen. Hank Landry), Martin Wood (Director), Brad Wright (Executive Producer, Robert Cooper (Executive Producer), N. John Smith (Executive Producer), and John G. Lenic (Producer).

The auction will expire on September 24 at 12:00:00 PDT. Additional descriptive information about the two bags is provided at the auction site, which also includes additional images of the bags and Trey.

The reason for the auction is stated by the Cast and Crew at the site, “There is no cure for MPS II. Stargate SG-1 wants to help find a cure and asks for your help in finding a cure. Go to www.treypurcell.com for more information on Trey and his family’s journey to finding a cure for MPS II.”

SG-1 Spoilers: Fighting in "The Ark of Truth"

TV Zone Special #77 celebrates Stargate SG-1‘s ten-year history with interviews with actors, producers, and crew. One of the features is an interview with James Bamford, stunt coodinator for Stargate Atlantis and fight coordinator for Stargate SG-1. Bamford talked about one of the fights he choreographed for Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the first of the two direct-to-DVD movies to be released in 2008.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth closes the Ori story arc that was started in Season Nine. Already described as being like a feature film in scope, the movie includes something for everyone as SG-1 goes directly to the Ori’s home galaxy to finish the war. The team appears to split for a time, as Michael Shanks said in Starlog #358 (see MSOL for quotes), “So one side of the story is Daniel and Vala looking for this ark, and the other deals with some enemies at home – people who appear to be helping us, but decide to do things their own way and cause lots of problems for Mitchell and Carter.”

Cooper revealed in a Gateworld interview that someone fools around with the technology left behind by the Asgard (10.20 “Unending”) and it nearly means galactic disaster. Possibly, the IOA has something to do with this misuse of the technology, and Carter and Mitchell have to address the problem, along with the IOA’s representative, James Marrick (played by Currie Graham). Amanda Tapping recently revealed in Issue #18 of the Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Magazine that “Carter spends a lot of time on the Odyssey, fixing a major problem there because we’re dealing with Replicators and a whole myriad of other nasties.”

Whether or not Marrick himself is one of the nasties or is also fighting against them remains to be seen, but Bamford gave some interesting details in the TV Zone Special about the big fight he coordinated for the movie. “Finally, we brought Ben Browder and Currie Graham in to rehearse and they were just so gung-ho. When we were done rehearsing, I felt confident that they knew the fight, and if necessary we could fit in some extra rehearsal time.”

They were given three days to film the fight, which would have normally been given four hours during episodic television filming. The stunt involved coordinating with production designer James Robbins concerning the set, three wire gags, interactive lighting, visual effects, and blood. As a matter of fact, there was enough blood in this fight sequence for Bamford to comment, “It’s probably the bloodiest stunt we’ve ever done on Stargate.” Fans can get a glimpse of how bloody Mitchell gets by checking out the behind-the-scenes pictures Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi published in his May 9th entry in his personal blog.

In the end, they shot the whole fight in under two days, and Bamford concluded, “I attributed that to the preparedness of the actors, who did a lot of the work, the crew and all the departments involved.”

TV Zone Special #77 hit the stands on August 21 and may still be available. Or, you may order the magazine online from their website.

MGM: Movie Behind-the-Scenes Featurette and Teaser

MGM’s Official Stargate website has added two new videos to their collection to promote the two upcoming direct-to-DVD movies: They’ve added a teaser for Stargate: The Ark of Truth and a behind-the-scenes featurette for Stargate: Continuum.

The teaser for The Ark of Truth is the same one that was included in the Season Ten box set recently released in July for Region 1. There is no footage from the movie in this video. Written, directed, and produced by Robert C. Cooper, Stargate: The Ark of Truth will be released directly to DVD in the Spring of 2008.

The behind-the-scenes featurette for Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum includes comments from Martin Wood, N. John Smith, and Wright about how the Navy gave the production crew the opportunity to film in the Arctic using their nuclear submarine. Brad Wright enthusiastically said, “This is a feature; this is a movie, and the scale is larger than anything we’ve ever done before.” And director Martin Wood’s closing remarks add to the suspense in having to wait for a year for this movie’s release (Fall of 2008): “The interesting thing about this movie is the stuff in the Arctic is not the biggest thing we did.”

Visit MGM’s Official Stargate website’s Video Gallery for these features and others related to both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

Visit Solutions Wiki for more information about the two direct-to-DVD SG-1 movies.

SG-1 Spoilers: Producers and Cast on "The Ark of Truth"

Thanks go to our on-site forum member SueS for gleaning out some spoilers for Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth from the lastest edition of the Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Magazine (issue #18):

Robert Cooper: “The movie I’m doing, The Ark of Truth, is the two-parter that I was going to do as the cliff-hanger ending of season 10 and opening episode of season 11. We were never going to get the resolution that we get in the movie, the movie is a much more climactic condensation of the arc that we were going to tell in season 11. That makes it more exciting. So many big things happen in the movie, it’s got a scope to it that normal episodes of the series just don’t have. Not just in terms of the money we’re spending on it, or the time we’ve taken to make it, it’s more the story and how big that is.”

Brad Wright: “Robert’s story, The Ark of Truth, is just great fun too. They’re both very ambitious and we’re throwing out every trick we know. What we’re really doing is telling a longer, more complex story than we do with our television episodes. It’s not a long episode – it’s different. We’re very excited.”

Ben Browder: “The thing is we’re back to shooting (The Ark of Truth) on 35mm film, and I love the look of 35mm. Robert (Cooper) is moving the camera in a way that we didn’t move it on the series, and that’s exciting. The first movie is more related to the last few episodes of the series …”

Amanda Tapping: “The Ark of Truth is really a wrapping up of the Ori storyline. Carter spends a lot of time on the Odyssey, fixing a major problem there because we’re dealing with Replicators and a whole myriad of other nasties. It is a big wrap up of the Ori storyline so there’s a lot of Daniel and Vala and Adria.”

Beau Bridges: “In these two movies it’s really kind of time for the Ori to get theirs! One of my favorite lines that I have in the movie is when I look this one Prior in the face and say, “You go ahead and burst into flames!” They know they’re going down, and they do. It’s so much fun to be back with the old crew … these guys and girls, they’re a terrific group, and the people behind the scenes, a lot of the same ones are back for these two movies. I hope we do some more. In the end they kind of leave it open-ended and there’s a feeling that it will go on, and I hope it does. I feel like I’m kind of in a dream being back with everyone. It’s wonderful.”

Michael Shanks: “In the first film we are tying up what we didn’t get a chance to tie up at the end up the series, which is the Ori storyline that we’ve been doing for the last couple of years. It’s a very complex villain that we’ve created, it seems trite to cheat them in any way without fulfilling some sort of huge mission to take them down piece by piece, and we kind of have to do it all at once. I think the audience will be satisfied with the closure of the story, and some nice team moments and emotional moments, and everybody gets something to do which I think our audience usually enjoys.”

Pick up your copy of the Official Magazine on newstands now, or order through their website. Keep up with the spoilers for the movie in our movie guide in the Solutions Stargate Wiki.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth is due to be released worldwide on DVD in the Spring of 2008.

TV Guide Interviews Michael Shanks

Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson

Introduction

TV Guide’s Ileane Rudolph caught up with Michael Shanks at the end of his time off with his family to talk about his upcoming role in Sci Fi Channel’s top-rated original program Eureka, his possible appearances in Stargate Atlantis, and his upcoming project Rage of Angels. They also talked about the two direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, and the possibility of more of these movies to come.

There are plot spoilers for the Stargate movies and Eureka in the following:

The Ark of Truth

The two direct-to-DVD movies cost about $14 million to make, which gave the cast and crew the opportunity to tell “bigger” stories than in television episodes. Not only did composer Joel Goldsmith have the opportunity to include an orchestra in his soundtracks, but producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper were given more budget for visual effects (which were part of the reason for a delay in the release of the movies until 2008). Shanks commented, “We had a way bigger budget than we ever did for the series, so the action scenes will be that much better.”

As far as the wrapping up of the Ori storyline in Robert C. Cooper’s The Ark of Truth, Shanks was a little more enthusiastic about the outcome than in previous interviews when he told Rudolph, “And the fans will definitely be happy with the way we wrap up the series in The Ark of Truth. It reintroduces our villains that we created during the last two years, and we deal with them in a very climactic way. It’s a good payoff.”

Continuum

Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum will be a stand-alone SG-1 movie, the first of many that MGM’s Charlie Cohen hopes will contribute to a profitable future for the Stargate franchise. Shanks stated, “The impression we got from Charlie Cohen, who’s the head of MGM Television, was that he wanted more right away. We definitely got the feeling that this was not the end of the road, which is a very positive thing for those of us who enjoy that environment so much and enjoy the company so much.”

Shanks describes the plot of the movie: “It’s an alternate-timeline story. One of our remaining villains goes back in time and changes our future so the Stargate program is out of the equation. It’s up to Mitchell (Ben Browder), Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Daniel Jackson to try to put the timeline right. But the people existing in that other time don’t want to change and won’t let us do it.”

As far as what is in store for Daniel in the Arctic scenes, Shanks has mentioned in other interviews how Brad Wright changed the story to account for Daniel’s absence while Shanks was filming his three episodes on Fox’s hit series 24 during the crew’s trip to the Arctic. In this interview, Shanks explains the logistics of filming some of the Arctic scenes in refrigerated stages in Vancouver: “We did end up building a frozen ship and part of an Arctic flow in a frozen soundstage in Vancouver. The temperatures in there were minus 7 (19 Fahrenheit) so we didn’t have to act that much because it was cold! As much as everybody raved about their Arctic experience, I was happy not to go, and happy that they brought the Arctic to me!”

Eureka

Shanks talks a little about how his wife Lexa Doig (Stargate‘s Dr. Carolyn Lam) got the part for her episode of Eureka and then how he got his. Because they have three children at home, the two actors like to alternate working schedules so that one of them is home while the other is working. Doig filmed a separate episode of Eureka, “Maneater”, which will premiere on the Sci Fi Channel on Tuesday, September 18. Shanks’ episode, “All That Glitters”, will premiere the following week, on September 25.

Rudolf asked Shanks to describe his role of Christopher Dactylos in the show. “He’s an artist who works in metals, who got fired from Global Dynamics because he and [the former boss] Nathan didn’t see eye to eye. He sculpted a statue of Pythagoras that mysteriously one day turns to gold from bronze. Then other things start turning to gold and they rust, and the town starts falling apart. Finally people get infected in a way that deconstructs them as well, and they die. He’s the chief suspect.”

Shanks continued, “Christopher’s got issues. He’s very smug and self-assured and thinks he’s the only one who’s right. Actually, he’s one of my few bad guys — along with my 24 character [Mark Bishop] — who doesn’t end up dead, so there’s an open door there for the character to be Ed Quinn’s nemesis in the future.”

Stargate Atlantis

Executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi recently confirmed in his personal blog that Christopher Judge will be making two appearances as Teal’c in the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. Mallozzi told fans, “He’ll make a cameo in Reunion and put in a full appearance in Midway.” Judge joins SG-1 veteran Amanda Tapping, who became a regular in the cast as Col. Samantha Carter, the new commander of the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy.

But, will Dr. Daniel Jackson make an appearance as well? Mallozzi commented recently in his blog, “Alas, in response to many who have been asking, Daniel Jackson will not be making an appearance in season four. But, if we get a fifth season pick-up, it’s definitely something we definitely aim to pursue.” In the TV Guide interview, Shanks reinforces Mallozzi’s declaration, “I talked to the producer, Joe Mallozzi, who said they haven’t heard about a pickup for a sixth [sic] season, but if they do, they’re definitely interested in having Daniel visit for a bit. That’s exciting for me.”

Rage of Angels

Shanks also talks with Rudolf about Christopher Judge’s Rage of Angels in which he will play the fallen angel Lucifer. “We have a verbal greenlight from MGM, but we’re waiting for Brad Turner, who worked with us for years on SG-1, and who’s now a supervising producer on 24, to have a window of opportunity to direct. That may not be until next year.” Those who attended the recently held Creation Con in Chicago said that Shanks mentioned in his Q&A that filming won’t start until around February or March next year.

When asked how he will prepare for playing Lucifer, the ultimate bad guy, Shanks replied, “You know, that’s the $10,000 question. I think Lucifer is just a guy with daddy issues.”

Visit TV Guide for Rudolf’s complete interview with Shanks, entitled “Michael Shanks Visits Eureka and Returns to the Stargate“. For quotes from Joseph Mallozzi, visit his personal blog. Concerning the filming schedule for Rage of Angels revealed at the Chicago Creation Con, visit MSOL.

Judge on the Movies and Beyond

NOTE: This article contains references to the plotlines of the two Stargate movies and casting information for Season Four of Stargate Atlantis.

Dreamwatch’s Bryan Cairns has posted an interview with Christopher Judge on the Total Sci Fi website. Judge talks about the finale of Stargate SG-1, about Teal’c’s future within the franchise, and about another script project he’s working on (see our previous article on Judge’s other script, Rage of Angels).

Concerning the two Stargate direct-to-DVD movies, Judge said:

The thing that was the most exciting was seeing the scripts. All the things we previously had to cut because of constraints – be it budgetary or time – we were now able to do. The writers were excited about the prospect of being able to write an episode and not have to immediately look at the financial reality of it and start dissecting it.

As someone who has written stuff, it is so freeing. It brings you up creatively to see their scripts and go, “Wow! They really took the ball and ran with it.”

The Ark of Truth

Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth ends the Ori storyline that was started in Season Nine. The movie is a compressed version of the story arc that was originally intended to last throughout Season Eleven.

I liked it because it was done correctly. Sometimes more isn’t better. If the story has to be watered down to make it last for 20 episodes, that is not good either. The Arc of Truth is such a bang but also logical. It is not a huge leap of faith that this happens in one contained story. Looking where we went with it, I’m not sure we could have sustained it, so I like the way it ended.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth movie guide (spoilers)

Continuum

The Goa’uld Ba’al makes a return to the stories of SG-1 in Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum. Directed by Martin Wood, this movie is the first of the stand-alone stories presented in the franchise’s new format. Already there is talk of more films to be done in this manner.

Because Ba’al goes back in time and alters the timeline, Teal’c is no longer a Free Jaffa, but the First Prime of a Goa’uld System Lord. It just so happens that this System Lord is not Apophis, but Ba’al himself.

What is it like being a Ba’al supporter? [Laughs] It was very interesting to revisit where Teal’c initially started from. That is the good thing about the alternative reality aspect of it. You can be in the same situation but your reality can be altered. I really took enjoyment in finding little moments where Teal’c, as we know him, would have reacted in certain ways but this Teal’c, who is in the same predicament of being a slave to the Gou’ald, reacts completely differently.

I really liked that entire concept and let me tell you, the stuff they did in Continuum like going to the Arctic, is incredible. It is incredible that we were able to do the amount of things we are doing in 18 days. I really think our next step is to do features. Certainly, their imaginations are limitless when it comes to different avenues to take the show.

Stargate: Continuum movie guide (spoilers)

Stargate Atlantis

The date of the interview is not known, so at the time, Judge addressed the possibility of reprising his role as Teal’c in the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. Since this time, he has been confirmed by executive producer Joseph Mallozzi to be in the third episode, “Reunion”, and at least one more episode in the second half. Currently, the assumption is that this second-half season episode is the sixteenth on the schedule, “Midway”.

Stargate Atlantis Season Four episode index (leads to spoilers)

Judge’s New Projects

Not only is Judge pursuing a leading role in his own TV pilot script Rage of Angels, but he has also written a movie script:

I am writing on a horror movie. It is called The Hole and is based on a true story. In Washington State, there is a hole that, by their estimates, is at least 10,000 feet deep. The stuff that is happening around this hole….. The U.S. government has taken over this area and made it like another Area 51.

Even from satellite imagery, they have obscured it. It is a very interesting story. Some of the stuff is unbelievable, but it is so well documented and so many people that have previously worked in government circles have come forward and talked about it.

To read the full interview, visit Dreamwatch’s Total Sci Fi: Christopher judges Stargate.