n 1994, MGM's Stargate became the sleeper hit of the fall—raking in around $70 million. Not too shabby for a film from the pre-Independence Day production team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. While the duo talked big—an envisioned trilogy of Stargate films—ultimately, the project went no further.
But others saw the potential in the project. Producers Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright (both of whom worked on The Outer Limits for MGM) each envisioned the concept of the Stargate—an ancient relic left by another civilization that enables travel through a wormhole—as something which would translate well to a weekly series. MGM agreed, brought aboard Richard Dean Anderson, and in 1997 a series was born.
Five seasons later, the series has reached its milestone 100th episode—and we spoke with several members of the cast and crew about what to expect from the 100th episode, and what makes the show what it is.
Stargate can currently be seen on Showtime and nationwide in syndication; the series is also seen in nearly 70 countries. Next June, SCI FI will start airing season six of Stargate. The series' 100th episode—"Wormhole Xtreme"—airs Sept. 8 on Showtime.
Richard Dean Anderson plays Colonel Jack O'Neill, the irreverent yet on-the-ball leader of the SG-1 team that explores new planets through the Stargate.
What's your take on the 100th episode?
Anderson: The 100th episode is so anachronistic and so full, it's more of a thank-you to our cast and crew and the writers. And everyone who works for the show who wanted to be on camera gets on camera.
How has your character, Colonel Jack O'Neill, evolved since he was first introduced in the movie?
Anderson: Well, as set forth in the movie, there was a residual demon that O'Neill was harboring—the death of his son at the hands of his own handgun. So as we launched him into the series, we still had that element, that issue to deal with. And we did, in the first season.
In your opinion, what types of stories make the best Stargate adventures?
Anderson: What we've heard consistently, and the thing that sets us apart, is that there's a humanity involved in our storylines, both in terms of character portrayal and in subject matter, in story. When you have those two elements—and we really have a great cast of actors—who can more often than not bring more to an idea than is there originally, which makes it a wonderful team effort.
What's it like working on a show that's so true to real-life military structure?
Anderson: Because my character is a little off the wall for a military colonel, I asked General Michael Ryan, who we had on for a cameo once, "Do you have colonels in the Air Force that behave the way I do?" And he stopped mid-sentence and said, "Yes—and worse." I said, "Thank you very much, I'll take that as a compliment." And he said, "You're doing a good job, son." So there it is from the source.
What are you looking forward to as the series moves toward its final year?
Anderson: What I'm looking forward to now that we've been picked up for a sixth year is that we're going to be able to arc the rest of O'Neill's story. But, as far as I'm concerned, it will definitely be my last year with the show.
Amanda Tapping plays Major Samantha Carter, SG-1's second-in-command and resident physicist.
How did you prepare for your role?
Tapping: I saw the movie [when it was originally released]. And I rented it again when I was going down to L.A. for the audition. I thought, "What a great concept." It actually makes for a better series in a way, because the possibilities are endless. We visit different races who are basically plucked from different periods in our history of our planet by going to other ones. It also shows how fallible we are as human beings, and how egomaniacal we can be—and how many mistakes we make as a culture because of that. I like that moral aspect of it.
Are there any episodes that stand out in your mind as favorites?
Tapping: Yes. In season one there's an episode called "Solitudes," and Richard Dean Anderson and I are stuck in a glacier and we're stuck in this deep crevice and we're going to die. We shot it in a refrigerated studio in real life, and it was challenging, physically. But it was also the first time my character showed her true emotion and fear, and how much she cared about her commanding officer. And in the first season episode, "Singularity," I had a chance to show this character's ability to love, and to be loved, and it showed her more nurturing and motherly side. And any episode with my father, who's played by this wonderful actor named Carmen Argentiano. After that, it's a blur.
Do you like the dramatic episodes or the emotional ones?
Tapping: You go through phases as an actor. I did an episode called "Point of View," where I played two versions of Carter trapped in the same reality. That was a hugely emotional episode, and it was amazing to be able to play that. I love those kinds of stories, where you get to really dig deep and find the dark places. And then, if you do a few of those in a row, you want to go running around in a field and shoot at things. That's when the action episodes become really fun, and the fight scenes become really fun.
Writers Paul Mullie and Joseph Mallozzi have been with Stargate since season four. The duo wrote the comic 100th episode, "Wormhole Xtreme."
What was the origin of the 100th episode?
Mallozzi: It was actually Brad Wright's idea. We had written the episode "Point of No Return," and introduced the character of Martin Lloyd as a very comic character and a nerdy kind of guy to be a foil for O'Neill. We knew we wanted to bring him back, but we just didn't know how. Then Brad had the idea for the spoof TV show, and he gave us the story to start working on.
Mullie: It's fun when it's something special for the fans, because we not only spoof sci-fi in general, but our show in particular.
As co-creators and executive producers, Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright shepherded Stargate, the series, since its inception—building on the foundation set in place by the film, and adding to the mythology to tailor the concept for television. (Glassner has since left the series to helm Invisible Man.)
What was the potential you saw in Stargate, the film?
Glassner: When I saw the movie, I was thinking, literally, this would make a better TV series than a movie. Because of how they set up the technicalities of how the Stargate works, the implication is that it goes a whole lot of places. But [Devlin and Emmerich] played the movie like it only goes to one place. In the movie, I kept thinking, "Why does it have 39 symbols on it if it only goes to one place? And why would they make it that way?" Things kept popping into my head that were holes in the movie that were easily filled by making a series.
Brad Wright: I liked the first half of the feature film, and I think the mistake that Devlin and Emmerich made, is that they used the first stumbling blocks that they encountered as the entire plot of their film. And obviously, in trying to create a television show, you need to go beyond those first obstacles; people speak English.
What sorts of tweaks were necessary when you first changed the idea of Stargate for television?
Wright: We needed there to be more than one enemy. So we decided that Rah was one of many of his kind. And we created the Jaffa to serve them, because obviously they needed an army. And we've explored the pantheon of Egyptian gods in order to create more characters that operate the same way that Rah did in the feature.
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Also in this issue: Jeepers Creepers' Gina Philips and Justin Long
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