Category: SG-1

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]

Joseph Mallozzi reveals episode stories in his blog

We recently reported that Joseph Mallozzi revealed the names of the episodes which were being worked on by the writers of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Mallozzi didn’t distinguish which show each episode was slated for until just recently.

Stargate SG-1
– Collateral Damage
– Ripple Effect
– Ethon
– Stronghold
– Off the Grid
– Untitled: “off-world ambassador story”
– Untitled: “return of THAT character story”

Stargate Atlantis
– Critical Mass
– Grace Under Pressure
– Untitled: “Sister City story”
– Untitled: “Genii story”
– Charlie

Stargate SG1Solutions Forum – Discuss both shows here!
Links to discussion threads for Season Nine episodes on our Stargate SG1Solutions Forum
Stargate SG-1 Season Nine Guide

Get Ready For Something New

Images from the SciFi Channel’s promos aired June 6, 2005, and June 10, 2005, have been added to the Season Nine page in the StargateWiki. Viewers were treated to learning more about Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, who comes to the SGC to reunite the old members of SG-1. Mitchell finds himself quickly learning from the best, but apparently getting a little overwhelmed, asking for directions to the Stargate!

It is a fun view of what’s coming up, including a formidable foe in the form of the Doci from “Origin”. This representative of the Orii, the fiery gods, is met by Daniel Jackson on the planet Celestis in another galaxy. The Orii are ascended beings who manifest themselves in a wall of fire, seen behind the Doci in the screencap.

Also included is a quick glimpse of Gen. Jack O’Neill. It appears at first that it is Mitchell who is speaking with him, but further close examination revealing the rim of eyeglasses leads to the conclusion that it is Daniel instead.

The “Get Ready For Something New” promo mixes many older action shots from earlier seasons. Included are glimpses of scenes from “Full Circle”, “Lost City”, and “Moebius”. Current Season Nine images of Lt. Col. Samantha Carter are not yet available, it appears.

Season Nine of Stargate SG-1 will premiere on Friday, July 15, at 8PM Eastern on the SciFi Channel.

Links to discussion threads for Season Nine episodes on our Stargate SG1Solutions Forum

S9 Spoilers: “Collateral Damage”

Initial spoilers are available for an episode likely to air in the second half of the season.

9.1x “Collateral Damage”

Written by: Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Directed by: Will Waring

Summary:
On an alien planet, Col. Mitchell is accused of a brutal murder, and his own memories confirm that he did indeed commit the crime. SG-1 and the SGC must protect Mitchell while they prove his innocence, and find the real killer.

Detailed Spoilers:
SG-1 meets an advanced civilization on a planet that was once occupied by the Goa’uld but that has been under the protection of the Asgard for many generations. Scientists on the planet, led by Dr. Reya Varrick, have converted a memory recall device left behind by the Goa’uld into an instant teaching device: memories and knowledge from one person can be instantly ‘spliced’ into another person for use as if they were their own experiences.

Reya learns that the Emissary of their planet has moved forward testing of the device and is bringing in the military to participate in the project. She is incensed by the idea that the project will not remain under civilian control in spite of the Emissary’s assurances to the contrary. Angry, she leaves the meeting. Col. Mitchell sympathizes with her and offers to help her, and she asks him to escort her home. She serves him a drink and kisses him. He is interested but knows it is not appropriate and stops things from going any further.

The next morning, Mitchell is found unconscious on the floor of her home with blood on his hands, and Reya is found murdered. Mitchell has memories of having killed her by bludgeoning her with a statue. Mitchell is charged with her murder based on those memories.

Colleagues of Reya, Drs. Amuro and Marell, believe Mitchell is innocent and sets out to prove that his memories of killing Reya were spliced into him from someone else who wanted to silence her protests against military involvement. However the splice was done very expertly and evidence of it is difficult to find. Amuro and Marell, with Carter looking on, instrument Mitchell and have him relive the memory over and over looking for signs of the splice, which they eventually find. Along the way he also remembers key moments from his own past.

The Emissary wants nothing but for Mitchell to return to Earth, in the interest of continued diplomatic relations, but Mitchell does not want to live with the memory, and Daniel insists they have a responsibility to find the real murderer.

Guest Characters: Dr. Lam, Dr. Reya Varrick, Emissary Varta, Dr. Marell, Dr. Amuro

Note: we have purposely not spoiled the ending of the episode nor revealed the identity of the murderer 🙂

Note that all spoilers are subject to change before the finished episode is produced.

Discuss this episode at the Solutions Forum!

Initial spoilers are available for an SG-1 episode set to air just before the mid-season 2-parter in Season 9 (according to JM on Gateworld):

9.09 “Protoype”
Writer: Alan McCullough
Director: Will Waring

In a lab where Anubis had been performing genetic experiments, SG-1 discovers a human man in stasis, named Khalek. They release him and bring him back to the SGC, but Daniel comes to realize that as a highly evolved human, he is a grave threat. Khalek possesses the genetic memories of Anubis as well as the potential to ascend on his own, though he doesn’t know it yet. Daniel wonders whether they should kill him, or at least put him back in stasis. Daniel finally gets Khalek to admit that, through his memories of his ‘father’ Anubis, he remembers Daniel, and he remembers the great pleasure Anubis had in having millions of slaves bow before him. But what Khalek desires most of all is to experience, as Anubis did, the sweetness of killing another being for the first time. He predicts that before it is over, either he or Daniel will have had that pleasure.

Teal’c and Mitchell travel to Dakara to seek advice from the Jaffa So’Kresh. So’Kresh served under Anubis and was aware of his genetic experiments. He’d heard that Anubis was trying to build an army of Mashur, mutants who would ascend to the realm of the Ancients and fight them, in revenge for what Anubis had suffered at their hands.

Meanwhile at the SGC, NID Attorney Richard Woolsey has arrived and tells General Landry that the committee overseeing the SGC wants Khalek to be studied, not placed in stasis, in spite of the threat he poses.

Discuss this intriguing episode at the Solutions Forum!

A few new spoilers for Season Nine

Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi has been keeping us up to date with all of the movies he’s watching in his new home theater, which flavors of ice cream are his favorites, and which television shows he enjoys in his new blog at Gateworld. In addition to answering questions in his “Ask Joe Mallozzi” thread, he places notes of his progress as writer and producer for the Stargate franchise.

His latest entry, dated May 27, has the following to say about production of Season Nine: “As I expected, it was a busy week. We prepped the big mid-season SG-1 two-parter – The 4th Horseman I and II. The show’s 9th season continues to add to its already impressive list of guest stars. Watch for ex-X-Files semi-regular William B. Davis to make a couple of appearances as well as the very talented Cameron Bright (who you may recognize from his performaces in Godsend opposite Robert DeNiro, and Birth opposite Nicole Kidman).”

Although we’ve gotten the titles for thirteen episodes, we think, of Stargate SG-1‘s ninth season, the episode order is still up for grabs. The relatively unknown “The Order” doesn’t seem to have a place, so it gets shuffled around quite a bit. Mallozzi did mention, however, that Vala and Carter appear together in “Beachhead”, and Executive Producer/Writer/Show Runner Robert C. Cooper mentioned only six episodes in his recent Cult Times interview, so “Beachhead” will most likely be the sixth episode rather than the seventh as previous assumed.

Mallozzi continued in his blog entry: “We cut Ex Deus Machina (Chris Judge did such a great job that I immediately went down to set after watching the Director’s cut and told him as much) and Paul cut Instinct [Stargate Atlantis episode] while I started beating out an outline for our next script (tentatively titled “Convergence”) that, if all goes as planned, may see the return of a much-loved, sorely-missed character. Over on the Babylon location, Ben Browder continues to impress, insisting on performing his own stunts and taking a beating (quite literally) for his troubles.”

In “Ex Deus Machina”, the Free Jaffa are tracking down the whereabouts of former System Lord Ba’al. Intelligence gathered by Gerak (played by Lou Gossett, Jr.) had that Ba’al had been hiding on Earth ever since the defeat of the System Lords at the end of Season Eight. Gerak sent a Jaffa to Earth secretly and that Jaffa ends up dead (he was formerly under the service of Lord Yu). Gerak challenges the relationships among the Jaffa, Tau’ri and Tok’ra and that very challenge brings Teal’c’s loyalty under question.

In “Babylon”, Mitchell finds himself in a major fight with the Sodan Jaffa, a group of Jaffa who sought Kheb five thousand years ago, but found a different planet instead. The Sodan worship the Ancients as gods, until a Prior of the Orii happens to make his vie. The leader of the Sodan, Lord Haikon (played by Tony Todd), thinks he has found the true gods in the Orii and Mitchell attempts to tell him otherwise. Mitchell is captured by the Sodan after the fight and is then trained in the fighting practices of the Sodan, just so he may participate in a ritual fight to the death.

Lord Haikon is due to make a reappearance in the season two-parter, “The Fourth Horseman”.

Speaking of “The Fourth Horseman”, Mallozzi advised fans in his Q&A on May 22: “Check out the big mid-season two-parter, The Fourth Horseman, in which a certain someone from her [Samantha Carter] past drops in to lend a hand – with poignant consequences.” This sounds like Orlin might indeed return as originally thought. Mallozzi didn’t mention Sean Patrick Flanery, who originally played the role in “Ascension”, so it is possible that Orlin might return in another form, much like Oma Desala did for Daniel (such as in “Maternal Instinct” and “Meridian”). No word one way or the other has been confirmed, so this is mere speculation at this point. [Edited to add: Mallozzi posted on his Q&A after this article was first released: “We know now that Sean Patrick Flannery will not be playing Orlin again in The Fourth Horseman I and II. Instead, the part will be played by the terrific Cameron Bright. How is this possible, you’re no doubt asking. Well, there’s a very good reason Orlin’s appearance has changed…”]

So, here are the 13 episodes we have thus far — remember the order is still tentative:
9.01 “Avalon Part 1”
9.02 “Avalon Part 2”
9.03 “Origin Part 3”
9.04 “The Ties That Bind”
9.05 “The Powers That Be”
9.06 “Beachhead”
9.07 “Ex Deus Machina”
9.08 “Babylon”
9.09 “The Order”
9.10 “The Fourth Horseman Part 1”
9.11 “The Fourth Horseman Part 2”
9.12 “Collateral Damage”
9.13 “Convergence”

Season Nine on the Stargate SG-1 Solutions Wiki (StargateWiki)
GateWorld: Joseph Mallozzi’s Blog and Q&A

Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell and the Sword in the Stone

When Stargate SG-1 opens its ninth season with a three-part opener (“Avalon Part 1”, “Avalon Part 2”, and “Origin”), the newly-formed SG-1 plunge themselves into another Ancient legacy: Avalon. Arthurian legend wouldn’t be complete without King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur, and knights, and writer Robert C. Cooper rises to the challenge of combining our myths and legends with the mythology of Stargate.

Also rising to the challenge of bringing these stories to life were Stargate SG-1‘s new cast member Ben Browder and show fight coordinator James “BamBam” Bamford. The two men worked several hours in coordinating and executing a sword fight between Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell and a knight after Mitchell pulls the legendary sword from the stone. (The props department displayed this sword at a recent convention and labeled it “Excalibur”.) What is impressive about the sword fight is that Ben Browder performed the stunt himself.

Bamford had this to say about the casts of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis (for which Bamford is stunt coordinator) in his Q&A thread on the GateWorld Forum: “The cast on SGA and on SG1 are both fantastic. Every actor is an individual. Some prefer to do everything themselves…others don’t. It is my job to ensure that the action sequences look their best while at the same time keeping the actors safe and sound. All of our actors enjoy the rush of doing their own stunts as much as I do, but sometimes it is not safe enough to risk the well being of any actor.”

Concerning the broadsword fight in which Mitchell finds himself in “Avalon”, Bamford stated, “Ben has had some prior sword training so he was a natural. I had about 6 hours of rehearsal time in total with Ben, before the shoot date. We always rehearse just before we roll the camera, a couple of times, to jog the brain on the moves. That scene took 1 full 12 [-hour] day to shoot and about 3 hours on second unit shooting to finish. I think you will be impressed with Mr. B!!”

Discuss “Avalon” on our Stargate SG1Solutions Fan Forum.

According to Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer and writer, the primary resource used for the Arthurian legend was Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. Visit Amazon.com (US) or Amazon.com (UK) for more information about Malory’s Morte D’Arthur (Oxford World’s Classics).

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!