Category: SG-1

Multiplicity in Motion

The highly-anticipated episode “Ripple Effect” will make its broadcast premier this Friday, January 20, at 8pm on the SciFi Channel. In this story, something has caused alternate realities to converge through the Stargate at the SGC. Multiple versions of SG-1 travel into “our” reality and not all of them are configured the same.

A shocked alternate SG-1 is greeted by armed SF’s

Alternate realities are nothing new to Stargate. Season One’s “There But For The Grace Of God” introduced the Quantum Mirror and alternate realities where everything can seem the same, but could be slightly different. The theory is that alternate realities, or parallel universes, are created at forks in the road of possible outcomes. For instance, what if it had been Daniel who died in “Heroes” instead of Janet Fraiser?

Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi stated the story of “Ripple Effect” “hints at what could have been/could be.” The story explores some of these possibilities with director Peter DeLuise at the helm.

“Ripple Effect” brings back dead characters

According to an interview done by Mallozzi for TV Zone, the idea for the story was pitched a year or two ago by Brad Wright. For whatever reasons, the story was shelved. Mallozzi, who penned the script, said, “It was the most fun script to write in year 9. Not only did it give us the opportunity to inject some humor into the show after a very serious Collateral Damage, but it also references certain aspects of the show’s history as well as brings back dead characters.”

How many alternate SG-1’s come through the Stargate is still unknown, but actors Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping have both commented on the filming of this episode in various interviews. The actors had filming days which included up to six wardrobe changes.

Keeping each version of Daniel Jackson apart became confusing and Shanks stated, “It was like, ok, the one dressed in brown is the bad guy, the one in black is good and the one in tiger stripes is the crazy one.” (Edited: Joseph Mallozzi has let it out that one of the actors appears in his underwear in this episode as well. )

Tapping said, “I play several versions of my character, and in one scene alone there are 15 different Carters. That was just one massive motion control exercise when it came to the filming of it.”

This is not the first time Tapping has had a motion control exercise. For the filming of Season Eight’s “Gemini”, she played both Lt. Col. Samantha Carter and her Human Form Replicator double.

Motion Control

In the DVD commentary for “Gemini”, director William Waring and director of photography Jim Menard discussed the use of motion control technology. Menard said, “If you’ve got money and time, we do what’s called ‘Motion-control’, where you can actually do a pass with your camera, and it’s recorded and it’s on a geared head that will repeat the motion. And then you can put two people in the same shot on different passes.”

Waring warned, “In a situation like this, we have to be very judicious how we use that kind of technology because it takes so much time.” What is time consuming about the process is the setting up of the shot. The actor being duplicated needs to be conscious of his/her changing placement in the frame with each pass. Motion control technology repeats the camera’s moves faithfully, but the operator must be able to program it correctly to start. The director’s use of storyboards is a must.

When “Ripple Effect” was filmed, the crew used state-of-the-art technology called “Mo-Sys” which was fitted to the crew’s own camera equipment. The provider of the motion control technology, Kontrol Freax, describes the Mo-Sys “frame-accurate, multi-pass motion control” system as affordable, portable, flexible, lightweight, and easy to use. All of these are operating concerns while on set and are addressed by the company’s website. Along with Stargate, Kontrol Freax’s list of latest projects includes Rome and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The solution to the convergence of the alternate realities should prove more of a technological challenge than setting up the filming of the episode, but you’ll have to tune in to find out!

• Kontrol Freax website
• TV Zone Special #67
• “Best of Both Worlds” interview with Amanda Tapping, TV Zone #194

[Thanks to SueSV, Sandra, and sgeureka for their posts on the OS and GW forums which provided interview and commentary quotes and inspiration for this piece. — DeeKayP]

10.01 FLESH AND BLOOD

Summary

Vala gives birth to her child while the space battle with the Ori’s invasion force rages in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Details

Vala gives birth to a daughter and witnesses her child’s rapid growth as she matures to meet her destiny — to lead the Ori on a bloody campaign for galactic domination. Vala names her daughter Adria, after her own mother whom Vala admired as a strong woman.

Adria is the Ori’s Oracle. She possesses advanced knowledge and powers — as much as her human body allows. She admits that she is limited, but has genetic programming which gives her the powers demonstrated by the advanced human Ancients before they ascended.

Adria is strong and determined. She believes that the Ori are in the right and the Ancients were the ones who tried to wipe them out long ago. She also believes that it is the Ancients who sap the life from the humans whom they created in order to give them the power they need to destroy the Ori. Adria believes that the Ori’s goal to wipe out humanity in this galaxy if it can’t be turned to Origin is the right thing to do — it will prevent the Evil from becoming too powerful.

Vala values Adria’s life above her own and tries to reach her daughter’s humanity to stop the death and destruction, but the Ori’s genetic programming may be too strong.

Meanwhile, the Odyssey, under the command of Emerson, is still intact from the battle. Unfortunately, the Earth ship Korelev wasn’t as lucky. The Free Jaffa fleet is being led by Bra’tac and the remaining members of SG-1 (Mitchell, Carter, and Teal’c) are also in the midst of the battle. While the Lucian Alliance, led by Netan, gives the Earth ships trouble, Ori ships are near Chulak and one has actually landed on the planet!

Daniel is separated from his team and Carter hopes that he is still alive. Little does she know that he is also in the middle of the battle, but onboard one of the Ori ships which is targeted to be destroyed!

Guest Characters

Odyssey Crew: Col. Emerson, Maj. Marks, Kvasir of the Asgard
Free Jaffa: Bra’tac
Lucian Alliance: Netan
Ori Invasion Force: Tomin (Vala’s husband), Adria (Vala’s daughter; seen at 7 and 12 years of age; called Oracle by Ori followers), Prior

Production

Written by: Robert C. Cooper
Directed by: William Waring
Before cameras: February 20-28

Spoilers are subject to change as this episode is in production.

Cameron Mitchell: The Pilot

Premiering this week in the U.S. is the twelfth episode of Season Nine, 9.12 “Collateral Damage”, and we’ll see more flashbacks into Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell’s past. These flashbacks are brought on through the use of adaptations of the memory recall device used by the Goa’uld and Tok’ra.

Executive producer and writer Joseph Mallozzi has shared a few insights into this story. “Collateral Damage” was written by Mallozzi and production and writing partner Paul Mullie and directed by William Waring. Originally entitled “Remembrance of Things Past”, the story delves into SG-1’s newest member’s past by bringing to the forefront painful memories which shaped his relationship with his father and recap some of his piloting experiences before his fateful crash in Antarctica.

There were two F-16s used by the crew for filming this episode. The F-16C is a single-pilot “Fighting Falcon” aircraft and is currently being used by the famous precision flying group, the Air Force’s own Thunderbirds.

According to Stargate SG-1 military advisor Ron Blecker on his Galaxy of Stars bulletin board, “Fighter pilots sometimes work with many different aircraft during their career and sometimes they stick with just one. I would imagine that F-16 training would prepare someone for flying the F 302.”

When actual aircraft are used in filming, they are accompanied not only by their pilots, but also a ground crew. According to Blecker, “It’s all part of the package.” He added, “Having practical aircraft is always better than CGI in certain circumstances…”

Not only did actor Ben Browder get to sit in the fine aircraft, but he also got to meet and talk with real-life Air Force pilots during the episode’s filming. In a recent interview posted at GateWorld, Browder relates Mitchell’s new team leader status with that of an actual Air Force pilot who also became an established team’s new commander. Browder said, “New leaders are brought in routinely into units from one place to the next. The guy who is commanding the Thunderbirds, when I arrived there, had not been commanding the Thunderbirds before. He was brought in to command the Thunderbirds. And this is what the military does. They bring people in to these positions. This is the way things lay out.”

Tune into the SciFi channel at 8pm Eastern this Friday, January 13, for the premiere of “Collateral Damage” to see Mitchell and his F-16 in action.

Joe Mallozzi has been blogging and answering fan questions at his Blog on Gateworld, the Ask JM Thread on Gateworld, and right here on the Solutions forum Q&A with Joe Thread. Wiki editor DeeKayP has been diligently updating our Season Ten page with all episode spoilers revealed by Joe or anyone else, but we thought it would be of interest to summarize what Joe has revealed about character arcs and directions in Season 10, especially those that are not episode-specific. Joe’s words are presented in quotes.

Jack will be referenced from time to time but “you can only do so many one-sided phone calls before it begins to feel like that season of Three’s Company…”

Joe acknowledged that Jack’s new position as head of Homeworld Security was not stated explicitly, and it seems this was almost an oversight by the production staff. As for whether RDA will appear in Season 10, “It’s entirely possible. It’s just a matter of finding the right story for him.”

Daniel will finally go to Atlantis and spend time there, in episode 3 of Season 10. This implies we will see some of the Atlantis crew and locations in that episode. Joe says there was heated debate in the writers’ room as they were breaking the story. As to why: “That you’ll have to wait and see although, at the time we were discussing it, it was intended to serve as the launch for a significant, potentially very controversial story arc for one of the characters.”

As for speculation that Daniel will be darker in character in Season 10: “I’ve been sworn to secrecy on this one.”

There are no plans to give Daniel a medal for his contributions. “I don’t think Daniel would place much importance on things like medals or awards. What was and continues to be important to him are the contributions he makes (and is able to make).”

Mitchell and Carter share command of SG-1 depending on the circumstances. However, this is not discussed between the two characters in Season 9, and they will not act in an obvious way as co-leaders in Season 9.

As far as Mitchell’s prominence in the stories, “Mitchell will have his hands full in the season premiere and throughout season 10, believe me.” He also said, “All of our main characters will get their opportunities to shine, either in individual stories or within bigger stories.”

Vala’s introduction as a show regular will include a lot of debate at the SGC as to whether she is worthy or trustworthy enough. An added element that we don’t know about will help sway the arguments. Still, “Vala will not be getting a free pass.”

In fact, we should not assume that Vala will actually be joining the SG-1 team. He was surprised to read talk of a ‘team of 5’ and, as for whether Vala will eventually join SG-1, said only, “it’s possible.”

Vala will be living on Earth, but her particular living situation (e.g., on base or off) will depend on her behavior.

As for Vala’s motherhood status, “What child? Well, let’s just say if she was pregnant and did have a child, then, yeah, we would probably see that child in season 10.”

There will be an “angsty” scene between Daniel and Sam in Morpheus.

Teal’c will have a chance to step up in a non-Jaffa story in Morpheus.

There is no Sam/Jack ship planned for Season 10 or for the foreseeable future. “To be perfectly honest, there are more interesting and important stories to tell at this point.”

There are no plans to ship Carter with anyone else, either.

In fact, there are no plans for any pairings or romantic sub-plots at all in Season 10.

The first eight or so stories for the year will not have Carter crossing over to Stargate Atlantis. That may happen later as the needs of the shows dictate.

We may actually see the Furlings in Season 10. The writers had serious discussions about having them appear in the landmark 200th episode.

We may see the Tok’ra again in Season 10.

There are no plans for Young Jack to return, since without senior Jack there as a comparison, the character doesn’t work at all.

The episode “Counter-Strike” “affords a bonding opportunity between two characters with a rocky past.” Also in that episode, Daniel will tell Vala about Share. One may infer that it’s Daniel and Vala who have the bonding opportunity, but that’s not certain.

There will be a ‘significant loss’ in “Counter-Strike.” Asked to assure the loss will not be Jack, he said “This early, I can’t assure anyone of anything with regard to who or what, exactly, is lost in Counter-Strike.”

It is not possible for a person to become a Prior unwillingly.

There are no plans for Peter DeLuise, Michael Shanks, or Chris Judge to write scripts this year, but they are welcome to suggest ideas.

Filming of Season 10 will begin in the third week of February.

Watch this space for more tidbits as we hear about them.

Update: 31 December 2005

Here are some more updates from Joe Mallozzi’s various posts.

“Vala’s character will evolve. She’ll essentially remain the character we’ve come to know, but will gain added depth.”

When asked that Joe confirm the truth of the rumor that Vala and Cameron would be paired off more in S10 in order to appease the Farscape fans, Joe responded, “False. Part of the fun of adding Vala to the mix will be in exploring her relationship with each member of SG-1. ”

Concerning who will be on the SG-1 team in S10, “As Carter pointed out in Lockdown, there’s nothing in the regulation that states an SG team has to be made up of four members.” Even so, he confirmed that Mitchell, Daniel, Teal’c, and Carter will be members of SG-1. As for Vala, “Another great question.”

In responding to why some fans have not embraced Mitchell, “He’s a little more difficult to categorize (ie. stoic warrior, scientist, rogue) and, like the others, will acquire depth and a fuller character over time. The problem is, Mitchell was introduced at a time when were introducing a bunch of other major series elements and, as a result, we didn’t get the opportunity explore him as much as we may have wanted to – something that we rectify in the back half of season 9 with episodes like Stronghold and Collateral Damage.”

Joe provided more insights on the SG-1 command issue. He said again that it was debated in the writer’s room and “ultimately decided [that] Carter and Mitchell would share leadership of the team. Who is in charge is entirely mission-dependent.” That said, it was not an issue for Season 9 as the question of who is in charge did not affect any of the stories. This may change in Season 10, in other words, the issue may be addressed more explicitly.

There are still no plans for O’Neill to make an appearance in the 200th episode.

Regarding off-world versus Earth-based stories in Season 10, “Its a fairly even mix to start, but given what we’ve talked about, there should be more off-world stories this season than other seasons.”

Popular actor Michael Ironside was cast to play in Season Nine’s upcoming episode, “Crusade”, written, directed, and produced by Robert C. Cooper.

Ironside has been in a huge number of projects, some of the most popular playing against Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, as Ham Tyler in the sci-fi series V, and as Darryl Revok in Scanners. One of his more recent television appearances was in the recurring role of General Sam Lane in Smallville in 2004.

Ironside will be seen in Season Nine’s penultimate episode portraying the character Seevis, a local barkeep in the village to which Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) was transported in the episode “Beachhead”. This village is on a planet in the Ori’s home galaxy, and the people are simple villagers who are taking part in the Ori’s plan to build and man spaceships destined for a massive invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy. Seevis is a powerful man who runs the village, but is also the leader of an anti-Ori movement which aims to destroy these ships, with their armies onboard, before they ever leave the galaxy. Vala believes his plan to cause the ships to explode upon activation by the Priors will work, but is taken aback by his attitude that eliminating the worshippers is the way to end the Ori’s oppression. Seevis tests Vala’s position through torture, but eventually takes her into his trust. He shows her the Ancient communications terminal which helps her contact the SGC through Daniel’s body.

“Crusade” was before the cameras in the last part of September and is currently in post-production. It will be aired in March 2006.

Solutions “Crusade” Episode Guide
Michael Ironside at IMDB

Camelot is the Season Nine Finale and Cliffhanger

In his recent GateWorld Blog entry, executive producer and writer Joseph Mallozzi made a few casting announcements for Season Nine’s finale, “Camelot”, which recently completed filming (October 6), “The director’s cut of Camelot will soon follow. […] John Noble (aka Denethor from Lord of the Rings) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) guest star.”

John Noble, as mentioned by Mallozzi, played Denethor in the Lord of the Rings saga, and has announced on his website that he will be playing Meurik, the village of Camelot’s governor. Meurik is courteous, intelligent, and strong, but dismisses the threat of the Ori. He strongly believes that King Arthur will return to his throne after finding the “sangraal” (Holy Grail). He becomes furious with Daniel and Mitchell after they disobey his orders and gain access to Merlin’s library and release the Black Knight. After Mitchell impresses him with apparently vanquishing the Black Knight, Meurik offers Daniel and Mitchell his village’s hospitality until Arthur returns with the sangraal.

Katharine Isabelle started as a child actor and played Ginger in the Ginger Snaps movies, and recently appeared as Yarrow in SCI FI’s miniseries Legend of Earthsea. She most likely is playing the role of Valencia, a teenaged girl in the village of Camelot who knows how to use a sword, though she feels that becoming a knight is not possible for her because she is a woman. Mitchell shares some of his swordfighting experience with her and she provides him and Daniel with key information about access to Merlin’s library. Valencia also has a surprising destiny of her own tied to the legend of King Arthur’s return.

Solutions “Camelot” Episode Guide
John Noble at IMDB and his official website
Katharine Isabelle at IMDB

9.20 CAMELOT PART 2

Summary

SG-1 travels to a medieval village on an alien planet in search of Merlin’s Ancient weapon. The village is known as Camelot, and the legend of King Arthur is alive and well there, complete with a library known to belong to Merlin. The team knows they need to get into the library, but according to the local legend, it is guarded by a Black Knight. Anyone who enters will die.

Details

SG-1 discusses the legend Arthur with Meurik, the governor of the medieval village, Camelot. Meurik is surprised to learn that the legend of Arthur has spread beyond their world. They are joined by Antonius, the village historian. The team learns from them that in their version of history, Arthur triumphed at Camlan rather than being mortally wounded by Mordred as in the Earth version. The villagers believe that Arthur left after his victory to search for the Holy Grail, and that when he finds it, he will return to them. Meurik also believes that the Ori are not a risk to their village.

According to the villagers, Merlin was the product of a human and a demon and therefore was capable of much mischief in spite of being Arthur’s trusted friend.

Antonius tells SG-1 that Merlin left behind a library, his private sanctuary. However it is protected by a powerful curse and a guardian: a black knight.

SG-1 learns about a key to the library from Valencia, a teenage girl who is an excellent swordsman. Once they know about the key, SG-1 is able to convince Antonius to help them get into the library, where they find a secret passageway behind a shelf of books. The passageway leads to a chamber with Ancient technology. However, the black knight has been awakened and must be dealt with.

Guest Characters

Camelot: Meurik, Valencia, Antonius

Production

Written by: Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Directed by: Martin Wood
Before Cameras: 28 September – 6 October

9.19 CRUSADE: Casting

Daniella Evangelista has been cast in the role of DENYA in the upcoming episode, “Crusade”, written, directed, and produced by Robert C. Cooper, according to her official website. “Crusade” is the first part of the Season Nine two-part season finale (to be followed by “Camelot”).

When casting the part of Denya, producers were looking for an actress in the age range of 22-25 who was also beautiful. Evangelista was born 20 September 1982, according to her biography in the Internet Movie Database site, and started her career at the age of four. Her first acting job was at the age of five in the film Lies from Lotus Land, playing opposite Michael J. Fox, while most of her early work was done as a model and in commercials.

The episode’s character Denya is a prostitute who works as a barmaid in a village on the planet to which Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) was sent when her matter stream was captured during the Ori’s attempt to establish a foothold in the Milky Way Galaxy (9.06 “Beachhead”). Vala and Denya become friends who are able to talk to each other woman-to-woman, and Denya is instrumental in getting Vala involved with the Anti-Ori cause which aims to destroy a fleet of spaceships carrying tens of thousands of soldiers to the Milky Way.

“Crusade” is scheduled to be before the cameras through September 27th.

IMDB for Evangelista
Daniella Evangelista’s Website
9.19 “Crusade” Episode Guide

Working real life into story arcs

Alex Levine, script coordinator, has revealed in his blog on SciFi.com that Claudia Black is expecting a baby! Her pregnancy was worked into the Stargate SG-1 story arc for her character Vala Mal Doran in the episode “Crusade” because the producers and SciFi wanted Vala to return this season!

In “Crusade”, written by Robert C. Cooper, Vala is stranded in the Ori’s home galaxy and is pregnant without having had sexual intercourse. She believes that the Ori have something to do with it, but puts her condition aside in order to warn Earth about the fleet of ten Ori spaceships which will be sent to the Milky Way Galaxy in order to convert humanity to Origin or destroy them for their refusal.

No word on when Black’s baby is due, but Levine says that the nature of Vala’s pregnancy will not be explored until Season Ten, “if there is a Season 10.”

See the full blog entry at SciFi.com
9.19 “Crusade Part 1” Episode Guide

[Thanks to ShardsGlass for the tip — DeeKayP]