Tag: Michael Shanks

Articles including content about actor Michael Shanks

Shanks on Continuing SG-1's Saga on DVD

Daniel Jackson in "The Ark of Truth"

With ten seasons and two direct-to-DVD movies portraying Dr. Daniel Jackson under his belt, Michael Shanks has a long-timer’s perspective on the journey both his character and SG-1 have taken. Shanks offered some of his insights in an interview conducted by Brian Gallagher at MovieWeb.com.

The interview starts off covering the events that led to the making of the two direct-to-DVD movies, Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum. The Ark of Truth just made its world premiere on March 11 in North America, and Continuum is scheduled for a July 2008 release.

“Our producers had been bugging MGM to try and find some format to do features of some capacity for years and years, since the fifth season, because we always thought that, after five seasons, to do a feature film the way the franchise started with a feature film,” Shanks told Gallagher. “Brad Wright, who’s our showrunner and created the series, he’s always been adamant about doing a feature, so this was his dream from square one.”

Dr. Daniel Jackson

Concerning the method of storytelling the movies have to offer, Shanks said, “What I appreciated about it was, we had gotten used to, in the series, the idea that the powers that be wanted us to be accessible to new viewers. There was a constant need, as the characters wandered through everything, to keep explaining, expositorily, every detail about everything that we’re seeing and how it relates to this happened before. New audiences who watch it for the first time – well, frankly they’re going to be confused anyway – but it’s going to be a bigger chore as the seasons went on because the mythology kept building and building. I appreciated that we left a lot of the expository stuff on the floor, and we dealt more with the emotions of the characters and the specifics of the situations themselves as opposed to delving into back story and whatnot. That was a nice relief from the usual stuff we’ve done on the show.”

The new DVD format for continuing SG-1’s story is appreciated by Shanks, who saw The Ark of Truth at a special screening in Vancouver. “When I first saw it, I saw it up on the big screen, and it had a great cinematic feel to it. It’s great. It’s a great feeling to watch it and to have it not feel like it doesn’t fit in that environment. That it does feel bigger, and larger than life, and certainly larger than the television screen than we’ve been on. It’s nice to get to this different level, and I’m excited to see what else we can do with them. I know there are other possibilities being thought up for them as we speak.”

Daniel, Teal

To emphasize the positives of switching to direct-to-DVD format for the movies, Gallagher and Shanks discuss two of the featurettes included on the DVD, Stargate SG-1: The Road Taken – Prelude to Stargate: The Ark of Truth and The Ark of Truth: Stargate at Comic-Con. Shanks himself didn’t attend Comic-Con (July 2007), but was the target of best friend Christopher Judge’s jokes when Judge made a phone call from stage hoping to get Shanks. Shanks said that he was in the car at the time and not in the bathroom as Judge suggested. On a more serious note, Shanks said of the Prelude featurette, which gives an overview of the Ori storyline from Seasons Nine and Ten, and similar DVD extras, “Yeah, I think that’s a wonderful thing, especially with a straight-to-DVD release. Obviously, you’re not going to get the chance to do that if it’s a theatrical release, but with a DVD release, it gives you the chance to add these extra features and allow people to access it that would be looking at these things going, ‘What the heck is that supposed to be?’ Instead of having your sister explain it, you can tune into the special features. I think it’s a great addition to get people up to snuff. Whether they’re going to realize that’s available going in or not, we’ll have to wait and see, but I think it’s a great idea.”

Daniel and the Doci ("The Ark of Truth")

As far as covering specific character moments, Shanks didn’t go into too much detail for either movie, but what he said about Daniel’s many deaths and the possibility of more in Continuum may raise some fans’ concern. “Yeah, it’s almost become a running joke. It’s taking the jeopardy out of the situations our characters are put in. If you can die from every situation, and still manage to come back for the next episode, it takes the gut-wrenching, climactic feelings out of the audience’s because the belief that they might not see this guy again. It certainly is testing the realms of believability, I guess. As Brad Wright was quoted as saying before, ‘There’s nothing better than being able to kill your regular character.'” Shanks did laugh several times as he said this, though.

The final questions of the interview permitted Shanks to offer more insight into the future of the SG-1 saga in its new medium. “We wanted to switch formats to go to something that was going to be larger than what we were doing before, that’s going to take less time than what we were doing before. It was necessary, because the show was being cancelled and we wanted to finish that storyline, and if we wanted to get together for like a reunion once a year or something like that, to tell some more stories, and we had to find a medium for it. Obviously, the DVD medium is the perfect one. We don’t have the money available to us to do a large theatrical release and have a huge impact, but we had enough to do more than your average television show.

“The DVD market has always been good to the franchise so it’s obviously a strong tool out there for giving fans what they need if they don’t have a regular weekly window for it. I believe for the studio, for MGM, keeping the brand name out there is an important thing with the video game coming out and the possibility of another spin-off in the works, it’s a great tool to keep the series alive. In terms of keeping the show resurrected [on the air as a regular weekly show], I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

And finally, Shanks wanted to say to the fans, “Thank you. Thank you for continuing to support the franchise and we’ll look forward to spending more time with you in this year and in the years to come.”

To read the full interview, which also includes discussion on a new project entitled Rage of Angels that he’s producting with Judge for MGM, visit EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Michael Shanks Dishes on Stargate: Ark of Truth.

Browder, Shanks Discuss "The Ark of Truth"

Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell

SCI FI WEEKLY has published an interview with Stargate stars Ben Browder and Michael Shanks about the soon-to-be-released direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth, making its world premiere tomorrow, March 11, in North America.

Instead of gaining an eleventh season of Stargate SG-1 to continue the Ori storyline, the movie is meant to wrap it up. Was Browder satisfied? “The question of satisfaction with the wrapping up of the show, I think that lies in the hands of the audience, not with a relative latecomer like myself. There’s so much information, and such a plethora of mythology and storyline within 10 years of Stargate, that I don’t think you can entirely wrap it up [in a single movie], nor do I think is that the intent. So then I guess the question is, does it satisfy the major story arcs of the last couple of seasons of Stargate? I think it does, but nonetheless it’s still a question for the audience. The audience is the most important active ingredient in any story being told.”

Shanks, on the other hand, offered, “It’s almost like you want to take the six episodes or eight episodes of season 10 that were devoted to just the Ori story, and do more of those—just eight hours, a mini-series if you will, of resolving the Ori storyline. After two years of building these guys up, [Ark’s fewer than] two hours seems a really short period of time, a really short-handed way of finishing them off. I would have liked to have seen more—that’s the best way to put it.”

Concerning the development of his character Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, Browder said, “I think that after two years, Mitchell is far more comfortable with his position within the course of the team—as he should be. It is a development from the first season, where, in comparison to the rest of the team, he’s quite obviously out of his depth. Yet, theoretically, he’s in a position of responsibility.

“Over the course of the two years and into the movies, I think he’s grown into that position and he’s very comfortable with it. There’s an ease about him as he develops, which is probably more true to the character; it’s just difficult to do that in the very beginning, when you walk in and you’re dealing with what are essentially legendary characters within the mythology of the show. Because if you walk in straight off the streets and you start ordering around these legendary characters, both from an audience perspective and a storytelling perspective, it’s going to ring as false. Or it’s going to ring as hubris. And I don’t think that was ever part of Mitchell’s character.”

Dr. Daniel Jackson

Shanks, who has had the opportunity to develop Dr. Daniel Jackson for over eleven years, told Perenson about some of the things he might have done with the character, but didn’t have the chance to do. “You know, I could find things in his backstory. The more I look at the character and what his backstory is, the character has always been an explorer. In my imagination, he’ll always be that way. He lives out there, traveling among the stars; he’s never going to stop.

“Is there anything I’d have liked to have seen? Hey, Daniel will be going over to Atlantis this year, which I want him to do again. And in my imagination beyond that, he’ll always still be traveling everywhere else. I’ve gotten a lot of chances throughout the show to do many different things with the character, and I love the fact that I don’t have to feel unsatisfied. I can just close my eyes and picture him out there, doing whatever he wants to do—and be satisfied with that.”

To read the full interviews, visit Ben Browder and Michael Shanks find Truth in a new straight-to-DVD Stargate SG-1 movie. There are some spoilers for the movie in the interview, especially where Browder and Shanks discuss specific scenes and turning points for their characters.

Unreality SF Covers Upcoming Stargate Audio Dramas

Vala Mal Doran

Unreality SF interviewed James Swallow, one of the authors for Big Finish Production’s Stargate audio dramas. Each season of the series includes three stories each from Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. “They’re kind of a halfway house between a talking book and a full-cast audio drama,” Swallow explained, “similar in format of Big Finish’s Doctor Who: Companion Chronicles discs. Basically, we have two actors – one lead voice, one supporting voice – and the story is ‘told’ to you by the lead.”

Swallow has written other audio dramas, including those for Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, and Star Trek, among others. In the interview, he talked about his latest efforts in some of these “universes”.

For Stargate, Swallow revealed the plots for his upcoming season one dramas. “Shell Game is set in season ten of Stargate SG-1; it’s a Vala Mal Doran story, featuring Daniel Jackson. The plot involves Vala’s past coming back to bite her in the backside, when a crime she once committed is revealed to have a very serious consequence.

Dr. Radek Zelenka

“Zero Point is set during season four of Stargate Atlantis; it’s a Radek Zelenka story, featuring a new character in the supporting role. The plot for this one has an alien force threatening to destroy everyone on Atlantis, and only Zelenka and the crew of the starship Apollo can stop it.

“Shell Game stars Claudia Black and Michael Shanks, while Zero Point stars David Nykl. Also reprising their roles from SG-1 and Atlantis are Christopher Judge, Paul McGillion, Torri Higginson and Teryl Rothery. We’re prepping the next ‘season’ of stories now, and we hope to have more Stargate actors for those.”

Swallow also indicated that he’s already working on his next script, an SG-1 story called First Prime. “You can probably guess who’s going to be the lead character in that…”

Visit Unreality SF for the complete interview. Visit Big Finish Production’s Stargate homepage for more information about the audio plays for season one that are currently available for pre-order.

SGA S5: "Welcome Back to Atlantis, Dr. Jackson"

Daniel first sees Atlantis (SG-1 10.03 "The Pegasus Project")

How many fans said “awww” or “finally!” when Dr. Daniel Jackson first laid eyes on Atlantis from the bridge of the Odyssey in Stargate SG-1‘s Season Ten episode, “The Pegasus Project”? He had been searching for the Lost City of the Ancients ever since he learned of it from that tablet on Abydos from Season Six’s “Full Circle”, and he was the man who discovered that Lost City in Stargate Atlantis‘s premiere “Rising”, but because of the need for him to stay and help in the fight against the Goa’uld and the Replicators, Daniel was kept from leaving with Dr. Elizabeth Weir’s Atlantis Expedition. “I need him here,” Brigadier General Jack O’Neill told Weir. Daniel stood by Jack’s side and watched as the Expedition left without him.

Then, there was that incredibly irritating and nasty encounter with a space pirate/thief/con-artist named Vala Mal Doran who hijacked the Prometheus when it was en route to the Pegasus Galaxy to find out what had happened to the Expedition with whom they had lost contact. Unfortunately, Vala’s little “visit” meant that the crew had to return to Earth because of hull damage that prevented the starship from sustaining a hyperspace window.

And finally, Dr. Jackson missed his ride on the Daedalus when Vala reentered the picture with a tablet in hand that she felt only he could interpret. Their pursuit of the treasure, which Daniel thought meant contact with living Ancients who might share in their knowledge and technology, ended up in a war with the powerful Ascended Beings known as the Ori.

"The Pegasus Project"

Basically, Daniel just couldn’t get a break, but, ironically, during his time searching for the technology that was said to be able to eliminate the evil Ascended Beings, Daniel finally got to go to Atlantis. His setting his eyes on the city for the first time was bittersweet, for he wasn’t there to explore one of the most astonishing pieces of history, but to “save the galaxy.” Dr. Jackson had to put aside his personal desires to explore and ended up in a small room with Vala and Morgan Le Fay for company. “I think I got my tribute paid in ‘The Pegasus Project’ when Daniel actually got to Atlantis and ended up in a broom closet talking to a hologram, but hey, things happen…..I haven’t been spoken to about anything to do with Atlantis, so I guess Daniel will have to wait,” Michael Shanks told Slice of SciFi back in December 2006.

Recently, in the March/April issue of the Official Stargate Magazine, Shanks explained why it would be difficult for Daniel to make an appearance on the spin-off: “Joe [Mallozzi] mentioned to me that they want the character — I’ve always thought that Daniel had a story to tell when it came to Atlantis. I do understand, though, they’ve already got Amanda [Tapping] over there, and some new characters as well. They’ve got a full complement of cast to service, if you will, and stories of their own to tell. I think people, and even the producers, would like to see a little bit more of the character over there, but in reverence to Daniel, I don’t want to go in there and be just an expository character. I think that would be a kind of disservice, but I also know that’s kind of the nature of the guest star too, so it’s a tough situation. As much as I respect totally what they have to do there, I do have the integrity of this character to protect as well. I don’t wanna go over there and betray the trust I have in myself to support him. That’s not an ultimatum of any kind; it’s artistic mesh and we have to make it work!”

Dr. Daniel Jackson

Making it work is a major part of the challenge of writing for one of Stargate‘s most iconic characters. Atlantis co-creator Robert C. Cooper recently described Daniel as having “always been the sociological soul of the series and its conscience.” This is the integrity of the character that Shanks has fought hard to preserve, even if it meant not renewing his contract with the show at the end of Season Five when the producers and he were unable to agree on the character’s role on the team and his place as an actor in the show. His return to Stargate SG-1 in Season Seven was the result of his fans making the actor aware how truly loved and admired he was both as an individual and in his portrayal of the character and of the production’s and his reaching of an agreement that, according to Atlantis executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi, “had everything to do with Michael’s talent, longtime viewers’ familiarity with his character, and the fact that the show was looking at [a] drastically reduced role for Richard Dean Anderson.”

“He’s a fun character to play because he does occasionally get to use his smarts to overcome obstacles where aggressive force wouldn’t necessarily do it, and that’s a wonderful thing to play,” Shanks said in his Official Stargate Magazine interview, and it might be that he’ll get to portray this side of Daniel in Stargate Atlantis‘s mid-season two-parter being penned by Martin Gero. Dr. Daniel Jackson holds three Ph.D.s and perhaps he’s been called to Atlantis to use all of his skills as a linguist, historian, archaeologist, and explorer in the story.

Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Rodney McKay (SG-1 10.03 "The Pegasus Project)

Mallozzi posted about the mid-season two-parter in which Daniel will make his appearance in his personal blog, “So far, we’ve got a terrific, BIG two-parter planned. I suspect that the page count in the Daniel/McKay scenes (featuring the two fastest-talking actors in show business) will have the scheduling gurus doing back-flips.”

Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Rodney McKay have worked together twice before. The first time was when they were conducting research at the Antarctic Outpost where McKay studied the Zero Point Module (ZPM) and Jackson discovered the destination of the city-ship Atlantis. The second time was when Daniel visited Atlantis for the first time, but the two men didn’t share much time together other than at the mission briefing table.

The mid-season two-parter doesn’t have a title yet, but Mallozzi tagged it with “Welcome back to Atlantis, Dr. Jackson.” He also has added the words “so far” when stating that Daniel will appear in two episodes in the upcoming season. His only hint about the plot of the two-parter so far has been “Remember that new enemy I mentioned?”

What will await Dr. Jackson when he steps foot in Atlantis once more? Will he be unwittingly involved in waking a sleeping dragon in the Pegasus Galaxy like he was with calling the attention of the Ori to humanity in the Milky Way? One thing that can be said for certain, however, is that whatever happens concerning this new enemy, Dr. Daniel Jackson will not stop in the effort to overcome them. He was once asked, “Do you ever give up?” and his reply was simple: “Not until I’m dead….And, sometimes, not even then.”

Third Movie In Question, Other News

Shanks at Creation Burbank 2007

During his appearance yesterday at the Creation Burbank Convention, Michael Shanks informed the audience that Brad Wright cannot move forward on writing the third SG-1 movie because of the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Brad Wright has pitched his story idea to MGM, but he has to stop there. Although he’s Canadian, due to past writing jobs he is a member of the WGA, so he’s obliged to abide by the strike. The same is true for Robert C. Cooper. Wright and Cooper may continue their producer duties on Stargate, but they can’t write scripts for the third movie or other projects. Either someone not a member of the WGA will have to write the movie script, or it will need to wait for the strike to be settled.

Michael reiterated that Stargate Atlantis will not be greatly impacted by the strike. Of all their regular writers, only Carl Binder is a WGA member, and as Joe Mallozzi already said, Carl has left the studios to join the strike in L.A. The rest of the Stargate Atlantis writers are members of the Writers Guild of Canada only. Michael mentioned that Joe Mallozzi had called him to ask if he is interested in appearing as Daniel in “one or two” episodes of Atlantis Season 5. Michael is interested as long as Daniel isn’t killed off. 🙂

Michael also said production of Rage of Angels can move forward, because creator/writer Chris Judge is a member of the WGC only. Michael and Chris’s production company, Slacktwaddle, is currently in negotiations with MGM for the show, and that is the lengthiest part of the process, he said. Once the deal is in place, the show will be filmed in Canada, presumably Vancouver. Michael’s character, Lucifer, will be a recurring character. Michael is happy with this because it will leave him time for other projects.

A complete con report with pictures will follow soon!

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.

Visit Eureka to See Stargate Stars

For the next three weeks, Sci Fi Channel’s original program Eureka will be welcoming Stargate SG-1 veterans Teryl Rothery (Dr. Janet Fraiser), Lexa Doig (Dr. Carolyn Lam), and Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) to the town for three separate stories.

Starting September 11, at 9pm Eastern, fans will see Teryl Rothery as Diane Lancaster in “God Is in the Details”, a story about a mysterious plague and prayer. The following week (September 18) will be Lexa Doig’s turn as Anny Young in “Maneater”, a story about some kind of bacteria that causes the town’s sheriff Carter to become an object of attraction. And finally, in the season’s penultimate episode, “All That Glitters…”, Michael Shanks will appear as Christopher Dactalos, a scientist-turned-artist who becomes the prime suspect when the town, and some of its residents, begin to deconstruct (September 25).

The Visit Eureka website has more information on the show’s actors, including articles on Rothery, Doig, and Shanks, as well as guides for each episode in the show’s history. The website recently went international by adding the broadcast dates for the show in the UK, Canada, and Italy.

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):

Stargate: The Ark of Truth

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.