Development and broadcast history
When Brad Wright watched the original fiction film Stargate, he saw a wide range of possible sci-fi storylines that could take place in present-day. Wright and Jonathan Glassner, who had worked together on The Outer Limits, independently approached MGM afterwards and proposed Stargate SG-1 as a television spin-off of the film.
The American subscription channel Showtime made a two-season, 44-episode commitment for the series in 1996. Richard Dean Anderson, who starred in ABC’s MacGyver from 1985 to 1992, said he was drawn to the role of Jack O’Neill by the opportunity to stretch, using Showtime’s freer parameters of language and content. Anderson had worked with John Symes, president of MGM during his Macgyver days. Symes asked Anderson to become involved with the project, and after Anderson had watched the original movie a few times, he decided that it was the perfect vehicle for a series. Although Anderson was never a real fan of the sci-fi genre, he was open to try anything once. Production began in Vancouver in February 1997.
The first episode was broadcast on July 27, 1997 on Showtime at the 8 p.m. slot in the US. MGM made a deal with FOX in 1998 so that all 22 Fox stations would rerun the first 44 episodes over a two-year span after the debut on Showtime. Episodes aired in syndication approximately one year after their original broadcast on Showtime. Showtime ordered another two seasons of 22 episodes each in July 1998.
Showtime produced and aired the show’s first five seasons. Beginning with season six, it was produced and aired by the Sci Fi Channel. A spin-off series, Stargate Atlantis, began airing in 2004. The two shows ran in tandem for three years, with occasionally interconnected plots and simultaneous story timelines.
The writers considered replacing Stargate SG-1 with a new show named Stargate Command after SG-1’s eighth season, but the Sci Fi Channel decided to continue SG-1 for two more seasons instead.
Design
Production designer Richard Hudolin joined the project in October 1996. He had been approached by Brad Wright and Jonathan Wright directly. He flew to Los Angeles to gather some of the material from the feature film as a reference. Models were made, and some set pieces were integrated into the set. 15 people from the construction business were hired to analyze his drawings of the set so that it could be built in January 1997. They had six weeks to finish the contructions of the main set and every set from the pilot episode. The art department worked closely with decorators, the props department and the construction crew. The art department has to be 3 or 4 weeks ahead of the shooting schedule.
The fictional main setting of the show, Stargate Command (SGC), is part of the (real) Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado, who (of course) deny fan theories of the existence of a Stargate in their Command Center. The difficulty of the art department was to match the real silo and the military complex as the heart of the show. One of Hudolin’s original plans included a three-level SGC set, although this idea turned into a 2.5 level set. The set also included two multi-purpose rooms, one of which would be used for e.g. the infirmary or Daniel’s lab, and another one for the cafeteria or the gym. The gateroom was the biggest room on set and was re-designed for other scenes as well.
Half a dozen stock shots of Cheyenne Mountain were filmed on-location at the beginning of the series and were re-used until season 8, but the producers did not decide until the beginning of season 9 to film new shots, thinking that Stargate SG-1 would be cancelled after each current year. The interior of the SGC base, together with the Atlantis set, was filmed at stages 5 and 6 at The Bridge Studios in Vancouver, Canada. The SGC set was largely dismantled to make room for the Icarus Base set of Stargate Universe.
A second Stargate prop was built that was portable for on-location shoots. Because of its size, it required six workers and one full day to set up. Sometimes it is faster and cheaper to do visual effects then to build. A computer-generated Stargate was occasionally shown in on-location shoots in later seasons. The show uses special effects developed by e.g. Rainmaker Digital Effects.
The costume designers usually got the scripts four weeks in advance of shooting but have to finish the costumes in about seven days. Because the fictional human races had been displaced and had developed independently from their Earth equivalent, the designers took elements of e.g. Egyptian, Roman or Mongolian cultures, used modern fabrics and gave them a historical bent, and added elabroate trims and chains. This combination gave the costumes an otherworldy appearance. Over a hundreds costumes were created for the pilot episode.
Collaboration with the Air Force
The United States Air Force cooperates closely with the producers of the program. Two successive Chiefs of Staff of the USAF, Generals Michael E. Ryan and John P. Jumper, have appeared in the show, playing themselves. Ryan appeared in the episode “Prodigy” because of his fascination with science fiction, especially space exploration. Jumper made a cameo appearance in “Lost City”, the episode that was originally slated to be the show’s last. The Air Force Association recognized Richard Dean Anderson at its 57th annual dinner on September 14, 2004 for his work as actor and executive producer of the show, and “for the show’s continuous positive depiction of the Air Force”. Many of the extras portraying U.S. Air Force personnel are in fact real U.S. Air Force personnel.
Opening titles
Stargate SG-1 had several opening title sequences, but the musical theme, based on David Arnold’s score for the feature film, remained the same throughout the show’s run. Stargate SG-1 shows a teaser act before showing the sixty-second opening titles. The DVD versions of early seasons used different opening titles alltogether.
The first opening title sequence was used in the show’s first five seasons and showed a pharao’s mask in a slowly panning camera move. The producers of Stargate SG-1 had run out of time in season 1 and simply re-used the opening titles of the feature film, although they had accelerated the clip. Richard Dean Anderson was the only actor whose name was shown before the show’s title. In the following years, Brad Wright had approached the art department to produce a new opening title sequence, but the sequence weren’t changed until the show’s move to the Sci Fi Channel in season 6. The first two episodes of season 6 have an opening title sequence where a camera slowly pans over the Stargate prop. The following episodes have this material intercut with live-action shots of the characters from previous seasons. Apart from minor changes for clips and cast changes, this opening title sequence stayed the same in season 7 and 8.
With season 9, the opening titles were changed to reflect the major cast changes and the different direction of the show. Like the season 6–8 opening titles, it showed the Stargate with intercut action sequences, although the Stargate was visibly computer generated. All actors’ names were shown after the show’s title from then on. The Sci Fi Channel cut the opening sequences of the first ten episodes of the season from sixty to ten seconds for the original broadcast of season 9. The sequence only displayed the “Stargate SG-1″ logo and a “Created by” credit, main cast credits were displayed during the teaser. Fans had been very negative about this move. British Sky One only aired the first part of “Avalon” with the short opening sequence. The writers poked fun at this move in the show’s milestone episode “200″ of season 10, showing a five-second clip instead of the full titles.
The direct-to-DVD films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum had new titles alltogether.
Cancellation and future
On August 21, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel confirmed that Stargate SG-1 was not being renewed for an 11th season. Mark Stern, executive VP of original programming for the Sci Fi Channel, stated that the decision was not based on ratings, and that production staff was given enough time to tie up all the loose ends and to create a good ending for the show. Stern also announced SciFi’s plans to use some SG-1 members on the still-continuing spin-off Stargate Atlantis. The SG-1 producers and rights-holder MGM expressed a desire to continue SG-1 through another outlet in the form of a movie, mini-series, or an eleventh season on some other network, as far as the contract with the Sci Fi Channel allowed it. The last day of shooting for season ten was on October 5, 2006. The final episode “Unending” was first broadcast by Sky1 in the UK on March 13, 2007, and was later aired by the Sci Fi Channel in the United States on June 22, 2007.
In September 2006, an IGN report cited an unnamed cast member that instead of an eleventh season, there would be a series of SG-1 TV movies. In December 2006, GateWorld reported the production of two films that would premiere as direct-to-DVD releases in 2008: The first film, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, wrapped up the Ori storyline, while the second film, Stargate: Continuum, was a time travel story taking the SG-1 team to the past.
A third still unnamed direct-to-DVD film is to be filmed in 2009. Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder co-writes the film with Brad Wright. The film will be directed by Martin Wood. Wright stated this film would center on the Jack O’Neill character, and it is Wright’s goal to reunite as many of the SG-1 cast as possible, depending on the cost of the film and actor availability. Amanda Tapping has stated that she will be appearing in the third SG-1 movie and the first Atlantis movie, with both to film at the same time. Michael Shanks has also confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson’s participation. However, Wright stated that he would not be using the character of Vala Mal Doran.
