Stargate - Universe, Atlantis, SG-1

Robert Cooper Interview - Stargate Magazine #33

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 -0800

An interview with Robert Cooper as featured in issue #33 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

Dr. Nicholas Rush looks through the microscope and examines the tiny droplets of water on the specimen slide. Frowning, the scientist sits back in his chair; clearly his findings are not good. He and Lt. Tamara Johansen explain to Colonel Everett Young that the ice brought back to the Destiny from a planet they recently visited is contaminated. Everyone, including the three of them, has been infected and unless a cure is found and soon, they are all going to die.

“Cut! That was great; let’s try it one more time,” says Stargate Universe co-creator/executive producer and on this episode, director, Robert C. Cooper.

Although he loves writing and, of course, producing, it is obvious from the look on his face and enthusiasm in his voice, that Cooper equally enjoys his work behind the camera as a director.

Experience Applied

Stargate Universe is Cooper’s third outing with the Stargate franchise, having previously been one of the writers and directors, as well as executive producer, on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and a co-creator alongside Brad Wright of Atlantis and Universe. Even with all that combined experience, though, getting this latest dramatically different installment of the franchise off the ground was just as difficult as launching any new TV series.

With Universe being given the go-ahead, Cooper and Wright began penning its pilot episode, Air. What started out as a two-hour episode eventually became a three-hour adventure, and the show’s direction took a slightly different turn even before going in front of the cameras.

“Writing the first episode of anything is always a struggle because you’re trying very hard to come up with something that introduces your characters to the world,” explains Cooper. “It’s very easy, though, to get pilot-oriented and write something that is overly focused on the introduction. For us, what made the pilot work was its actual structure where we tell two stories that are inter-cut, one story being the present situation of the team appearing on the Destiny, and then the other story of how they got there, which is told in flashbacks. I think that helped propel us forward with regard to how we wrote the pilot.

“As far as the filming of Air, we’d talked a lot about the style of the show and what we wanted to try to do. To then actually see it happen and come to life was great. There is a certain magic that comes out of this specific type of filming, which is documentary style and having the cameras sort of hang back and just try to capture the action that’s happening on the stage. It’s much more like watching a play unfold. Right away it was clear that we were getting something we’d hoped for but weren’t sure was going to happen, which were stronger and more natural performances. That’s obviously a testament to the high quality of our cast.”

Read the full interview in issue 33 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine - on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine, CLICK HERE.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, CLICK HERE.

Brian J. Smith Interview - Stargate Magazine #33

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:19:29 -0800

An interview with Brian J Smith featured in issue #33 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

When Lt. Matthew Scott signed up for military service, he never imagined just how much it would one day change his life. People who do join may expect to serve their country, while some are following in the footsteps of family or friends, and others want to make a better life for themselves. Few expect to find themselves hurled across the galaxy with a random bunch of strangers, with little chance of returning to Earth.

While Scott faces his predicament head-on, Brian J. Smith—the actor who plays him on Stargate Universe—has his own challenges. “My character is fresh out of [military] training, so he’s very much by the book,” explains Smith. “Scott could probably tell you what the manual says and the procedure for handling a certain situation, but he’s actually now in a position where he is forced to experience the stress of being a leader in a really visceral way.”

Right off in the show’s pilot episode [Air], we see Scott starting to come into his own. He’s got a big military heart, and as we’re watching him grow, we’re also seeing him making mistakes and losing it, sometimes more than he should.

“Scott is a very emotional kid, and that’s not surprising considering his past. He lost both his parents in a car accident when he was very, very young, and the man who raised him, a preacher, drank himself to death when my character was around 16 years old. Scott then got a girl pregnant, so he had to face that aspect of himself, which was extremely disappointing and disturbing to him. The thing that saved him was the military. Instead of running away, turning to drugs or becoming a delinquent, he bucked up and decided to make something of himself.”

Positive Support

Although he has only been working in the industry for a few years, Smith has been an actor long enough to know what makes such a career rewarding for him.

“It’s all about the people,” he says. “You hear terrible things about the stars of some TV shows and the terrors that they’ve put people through. I’ve never had to deal with that. I’ve had wonderful role models and people who have always set a great example, worked hard, were positive and supportive of their fellow actors.”

“I’ve found that once again with Stargate Universe. There could have been one of 10 other actors sitting here, but for whatever reason, the cards played out in my favor. It’s a miracle, so why not enjoy a miracle when you’ve got one, and I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy more than one so far. Believe me, I have no complaints. I’m one very happy guy.”

Read the full interview in issue 33 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine - on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine, CLICK HERE.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, CLICK HERE.

Win Convention Tickets!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:29:41 -0800

Win 2 gold tickets to the official Stargate convention in Chicago!

The official Stargate Magazine has a sensational prize up for grabs for one lucky winner - two gold tickets to the official Stargate convention on August 27-29, 2010 in Chicago, IL.

The soon to be sold out gold tickets entitle holders to a host of sensational perks, including complimentary in-person autographs with guests and exclusive access to the Saturday night party.

Guests will include: MICHAEL SHANKS (Dr. Daniel Jackson), JASON MOMOA (Ronon Dex), CHRISTOPHER HEYERDAHL (Todd the Wraith), ROBERT PICARDO (Richard Woosley), JOE FLANIGAN (Lt. Col. John Sheppard), DAVID HEWLETT (Dr. Rodney McKay), ANDEE FRIZZELL (Wraith Queen), with many more to be added...

To enter, CLICK HERE.

SGU Nominated for WGC Award!

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:32:56 -0800

Congratulations to Stargate Universe executive producer Robert Cooper on his nomination for the episode "Time" in the Episodic One Hour category.

The WGC Screenwriting Awards honours excellence in screenwriting and will celebrate the winning words of 2009 on April 19 at the 14th Annual WGC Screenwriting Awards held in Toronto.

This year, more than 148 scripts vied for the judges’ attentions. The entries have been narrowed to 43 finalist scripts across 11 categories, including screenwriting for feature film, episodic half-hour and one-hour, documentary film and more. In all, 76 screenwriters are up for awards. The winners will be announced at the 2010 WGC Screenwriting Awards on Monday, April 19, 2010, at Maro in Liberty Village, Toronto. Several special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, will also be handed out at the event.

Episodic One Hour

Stargate Universe "Time." Written by Robert C. Cooper

Flashpoint "One Wrong Move." Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern & James Hurst

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Bred in the Bone." Written by John Krizanc

Cra$h & Burn "Trust." Written by Jackie May

Murdoch Mysteries "Mild Mild West." Written by Derek Schreyer

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Shallow Graves." Written by Jason Sherman

For a complete list of nominees click here.

Brad Wright Interview - Stargate Magazine #32

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:26:59 -0800

An interview with Brad Wright featured in issue #32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

Invasions from outer space, wormholes, parasitic life-forms, alternate universes—such phenomena are ‘alien’, no pun intended, to most people, but for Brad Wright, they have become second nature.

For much of his career as a writer/producer, he has been part of creative environments where out-of-this-world beings and situations are embraced. Since 1997, Wright has served as a co-creator/executive producer for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Earlier this year, a second spin-off was added to the successful franchise’s stable in the form of Stargate Universe. The show was conceived in much the same way as SG-1 and Atlantis, but its actual ‘birth’ came slightly out of the blue.

“The germ of Stargate Universe began as a movie by Robert Cooper [series co-creator/executive producer], as do many of our ideas,” recalls Wright. “We always come up with a movie, pitch it to MGM, and they say, ‘Terrific, let’s make it a TV show.’ When we were spinning the film idea, we knew deep down that Universe was really a series because it had so much scope.”

“Oddly enough we pitched Universe a couple of years before we actually thought we were going to end up doing it. We went to the Syfy Channel with the idea and it appeared to be really well-received, but then a very long time went by without us hearing anything more. At one point we thought, ‘Oh, well, it looks like it’s not going to happen,’ and then we received the series order. It came as a little bit of a surprise. Honestly, I expected Atlantis to go another year, and then we’d either have another year before Universe started up, or we would just wind up doing a couple more direct-to-DVD Stargate movies. Now, however, we’re doing Universe, which, believe me, is great.”

The Reality of Science Fiction

Along with its very different set of characters, the look of Universe is unlike that of either SG-1 or Atlantis, and the writing also differs in a way that will further help the series establish its own identity.

“Stargate has grown over the years,” explains Wright. “SG-1 began with the concept that the Goa’uld took hundreds of human cultures and transplanted them across the galaxy. So we would arrive on a planet and find Polynesians or whoever, with the Goa’uld masquerading as their Gods. We did that for a while, but then the show evolved because it had to. Had it not, I doubt we’d have stayed on the air for 10 years. As the show grew, it developed its own mythology, but it was basically this grand story of us fighting the Goa’uld or some other English-speaking aliens. Atlantis was the same, with the Wraith being the reason for the existence of the human-to-alien relationship in the Pegasus Galaxy.

“So both those shows were about fighting big bad guys. With Universe, our stories are much more character-based and those interactions and relationships are what drive the stories. Sometimes it’s very fundamental. A murder can take place on Universe, and that could be the whole story, where on SG-1 it could be just a story beat and an act. That doesn’t mean this series is slow-paced or less interesting, but we do reveal less all at once.”

“We set out to make a show that’s not your father’s Stargate, and I think to a lot of peoples’ surprise we’re actually doing it. Most people probably thought, ‘Yeah, they’re saying that, but they’re going to do [the usual] Stargate.’ Sure, there are elements of Universe that I feel are the touchstones of Stargate, such as the humor and people from the here-and-now, with a 21st century sensibility and everything that comes along with that. However, this show also has a different energy, a different dynamic and a different look. Even the Stargate itself is different, and I think it’s the most beautiful Stargate we’ve ever had. It’s the first one that the Ancients built and it has a whole new set of limitations that will make for interesting storytelling.”

Read the full interview in issue 32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine - on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine click here.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, click here.

Coveroo

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:16:13 -0800

Make your personal electronics truly personal.

Get an official Stargate design on a custom cover or case for your phone, iPhone, BlackBerry, iPod or other personal electronic device.

Click here to visit Coveroo today!

SGU Ladies Interviews - Stargate Magazine #32

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:51:52 -0800

An interview with Ming-Na (Camille Wray) featured in issue #32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

Longtime fans of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are familiar with the International Oversight Authority (IOA), a group of bureaucratic busybodies who love poking their noses into our heroes’ comings and goings through the Stargate.

On Stargate Universe, IOA representative Camille Wray finds herself a long way from home onboard the Ancient ship Destiny. Given the IOA’s reputation, she is trying to balance her professional instincts and compassionate nature, especially as one of the mediators between the military and civilians. It is not easy, but actress Ming-Na, who plays Camille, is enjoying the challenge.

“The hardest thing when you’re playing a strong female character is not having her come off as a bitch and someone who everyone wants to hate, and being an IOA official, that’s especially important for Camille,” explains Ming-Na. “Robert Cooper [series co-creator/ executive producer] and I had a conversation where I mentioned this, and they decided to change my character’s job with the IOA from accounting to something else. They suggested human resources and I said, ‘Oh, that would be fantastic, because then she’s a people person.’ I immediately latched onto that.

I think that makes her interesting, because she’s ambitious and you’re not quite sure where she’s coming from, which I love. At the same time, I hope the viewers like her enough to want to keep figuring her out, just as I’m figuring her out.”

An interview with Elyse Levesque (Chloe Armstrong) featured in issue #32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

As an actor, it helps to have plenty of moral support and positive karma when going out for a new job, no matter how big or small. Elyse Levesque is all for that. In fact, prior to her audition for the role of Chloe Armstrong on Stargate Universe, a little voice told the actress in no uncertain terms that the part would ultimately be hers.

“When I initially got the [audition] sides [pages] for this role, my roommate said to me, ‘You’re going to get this,’” recalls Levesque. “She says that all the time, and maybe she has some crazy type of intuition, but in this case she told me, ‘This is going to happen. I feel really good about this.’

“I did the audition, and at the time I didn’t know how it went. But then I’m my own worst critic,” she jokes. “I thought, ‘I could have been better. I didn’t get there emotionally.’ So I flew back to Vancouver and two days later I was out shopping with my mom when my agent called to tell me that things were looking good. It was another two months, though, before I received the official word that I had the job.

“It’s funny, I had all these preconceptions about sci-fi and in particular Stargate. I wasn’t super-familiar with the franchise, but when I read the sides, it was like I knew this woman. Some of the things that Chloe was speaking about in the scene were, quite honestly, things I was going through at the time in my life. So I thought, ‘Yes, this is something I can relate to and sink my teeth into.’”

An interview with Alaina Huffman (Tamara Johansen) featured in issue #32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

At the age of 12 most girls spend a great deal of time hanging out with their friends, going shopping, and day-dreaming about the cute boy in class. However, when Stargate Universe actress Alaina Huffman was that age, she had her heart set on other things.

I was scouted by a modeling agency, and at 14 I began traveling around the world as a model and figured that would be my career. When I got older, I moved with my parents from Vancouver to Texas, and was modeling there when an audition came up for a film [Pendulum]. I went in to read, got the job, and realized, ‘This is way cooler than modeling.’ So acting stuck, and I’m very thankful. I’ve been able to work fairly solidly since, and I have a great support system—my husband is amazing, my parents are terrific, and my kids are wonderful—so it’s awesome and I love it.”

Read the full interviews in Issue 32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine - on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine click here.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, click here.

SGU Receives VES Nomination

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -0800

The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank and San Francisco as well as at other facilities in London, Sydney and Vancouver.

“The Visual Effects Society is proud to present these nominations as the most outstanding work in the field this year,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society. “It’s important to keep in mind that it wasn’t machines that created these images but incredibly talented artists. We congratulate them all and look forward to seeing who is chosen as the best of the best at the awards show in February.”

As previously announced, this year James Cameron will be honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for pioneering.

The 8th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 28, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

Stargate Universe episode "Air" is nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series.

Shannon Gurney, VFX Producer

Andrew Karr, CGI Supervisor

Mark Savela, VFX Supervisor

Craig Vandenbiggelaar, Digital Effects Supervisor

For a full list of the nominees click here.

SGU Renewed For Season 2

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:05:46 -0800

Syfy announced that Stargate Universe is renewed for a second season! The series was given an order for 20 episodes, which will begin airing in the fall.

Stargate Universe is currently on its season one mid-season break, and will return on April 2.

Elyse Levesque on Stargate Universe - G4tv.com

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:03:11 -0800

Whatever happens in space, stays in space? SGU's Elyse Levesque joins G4's Chris Hardwick on "Attack of the Show" and chats about the wonderful impossibilities that happen on and off the set of Stargate Universe.

Click here to watch the no holds barred interview.

Cliff Simon Interview - Stargate Magazine #31

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

An interview with Cliff Simon (Ba’al) featured in issue #31 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

Stargate Magazine: As someone who isn’t hell bent on galactic domination like Ba’al, how do you get into that villainous place?

Cliff Simon: I let the dialogue do the speaking for me, and I really try to play a lot of myself. For me, the best way to play a villain is smiling, because he comes across as a lot more dangerous. The dialogue gives me the words that are villainous, so I don’t really have to play it “bad”.

When you play a bad guy “bad” the whole time, he can get a bit boring, so when you play him with a smile, it actually makes him more conniving. That’s the way I play him. I loved it—the minute I put on the beautiful costumes that they made for me, Ba’al’s boots and all that kind of stuff, I just fell into the character—he really became a part of me. I think it was perfect—everything about it was just right. I could have carried on playing that character for another 10 years!

You played a villain for several years—what elements, in your experience, make for a really good villain?

First of all he has to be very cunning, highly intelligent, and he mustn’t be bad. I love watching forensic shows, and if you look at all the most notorious bad guys, the worst serial killers, they were all very charming people—they were predators.

They got people’s confidence by being nice and drawing them in. I think that’s the best bad guy to play, a guy who’s charming and who people think they can trust… then he turns and gets them from behind! That keeps a character interesting. You never know how he’s going to react in a certain situation; he might be very nice, or he might pull out a knife and stab somebody!

When a guy is bad the whole time, you know where you stand with him. With a real bad guy, you should never know where you stand. You should never know if he likes you or if he doesn’t like you, or if you can trust him or not. Those are the elements he has to have—there always has to be doubt.

Having played one yourself, you must have a favorite villain—who’s your all time ultimate bad guy, Stargate or otherwise?

Robert De Niro in Heat. That is my favorite kind of villain, because he was a villain, but he wasn’t really. He was a bad guy, but you felt sorry for him, you had some kind of compassion for him. That’s the kind of character that I would love to play. Characters like Ted Bundy—not that I think they’re great people at all, but characters like that are very dangerous.

In every movie or TV series that you see, it’s always the villain that’s remembered—the James Bond villains are what make the movies. There is a saying in this business: the good guy in a movie or TV show is only as good as the bad guy. So, the bad guy has got to be the extreme, he makes the good guy look really good. The good guy makes the bad guy look badder. They’ve got to complement each other in that way.

I think Ba’al and Jack as characters complemented each other. Jack would crack a joke and Ba’al would smile at it, so it worked well. It’s funny, actually. Richard and I have got the same-shaped face, and people in LA have mistaken us sometimes. Which is fine with me, I’m more than happy to be recognized as Richard! I wear a cap quite a lot, and one day Stargate had a big billboard up and Richard had a cap on, and I even had friends who drove past and were like, “Cliff you’re up on the board!” I see the billboard and I’m like, “Ah, it’s Richard of course!” I get compared to Jeremy Irons as well!

Read the full interview in issue 31 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Magazine, on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine click here.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, click here.

David Blue Interview - Stargate Magazine #31

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:58:39 -0800

The latest issue of Stargate Magazine features an exclusive interview with David Blue. In the following extract, the actor talks about playing the brains of the outfit in Stargate Universe, computer whiz Eli Wallace…

“Eli knows he’s smart,” explains Blue. “He’s not a genius in that he was born an Einstein, but he can figure things out and see patterns in things. One of the reasons I think he has a good sense of humor is that he can see patterns in the world and find the humor in certain things. That’s who Eli is, and because he applied his intelligence to random things, he never truly found his way. He dropped out of MIT and had a whole bunch of stuff in his life that took precedence.

“People ask me about my character being a videogame geek, and Brad and Robert may disagree, but I’m a huge fan of Eli not being a videogame geek. It’s just that he enjoys challenges. If he sees a challenge, like in the occasional videogame, and someone tells him he can’t beat it, he’s like, ‘Screw that, I’m, going to beat it.’

“So that’s where my character started from. As for where Eli is at now, well, as a kid I liked Star Trek: The Next Generation and like any sci-fi fan, I had that little fantasy that one day Riker [Jonathan Frakes] would ‘beam’ into my living room and go, ‘Yes, it’s real.’ That’s essentially what happens to Eli. All this stuff that he joked about with his friends as being real, and hoped was real, is, in fact, out there. So for the first few episodes of Universe everything with him is, ‘Oh, my God,’ and then life and death struggles ensue. I think we’re at the point with the episode we’re filming now [Time] where Eli is starting to accept that this is his family now. These are the people who he not only needs to rely on, but must somehow convince to rely on him. For that, he has to find his place.”

Read the full interview in issue 31 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine, on newsstands now!

To subscribe to Stargate Magazine click here.

To receive Stargate Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, click here.

Stargate Convention This Weekend

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:44:39 -0800

The Official STARGATE SG-1/ATLANTIS/UNIVERSE CONVENTION returns to Los Angeles this weekend, November 6-8, 2009 at the Marriott LAX Hotel, and you're invited! It is a three day celebration of all things Stargate and Creation Entertainment is ramping up for an especially exciting gathering highlighted by in-person stars (Michael Shanks, Ben Browder, Joe Flanigan, Robert Picardo, Paul McGillion, Cliff Simon, Ryan Robbins and Gary Jones), on-stage events, contests, parties, autographing and photo opportunities. Join fans from around the globe for the festivities!

Tickets to see it all are as low as $25 a day, available at the door. Get full information here.

And, as an extra cool bonus this year, the Farscape Convention will be taking place in the hotel the same weekend! This means 2X the guests, 2X the fans, 2X the fun!

SG-1 Dialing Up Sweepstakes

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:54:55 -0800

Stargate SG-1, the longest consecutive running North American sci-fi tv show is beloved by critics and fans around the world.

Keep the legacy alive! Enter now for your chance to win* a copy of the Stargate SG-1 Dialing Up: The Official Guide to Seasons 1-5. Many will enter, but only 5 lucky winners will be chosen at random!

Enter Now!

*No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited. Subject to Official Rules.

Atlantis Wins 2 Gemini Awards

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:52:47 -0700

Stargate Atlantis received 2 Gemini Awards at the 2009 Gemini Awards industry awards presentation.

Best Writing in a Dramatic Series went to Brad Wright for the episode The Shrine.

Best Achievement in Make-Up went to Todd Masters, Leah Ehman, Holland Miller, Brad Proctor and Kyla Rose Tremblay for the episode Vegas.

For a complete list of the winners and nominees, click here.