Prompting legendary Ô90s SF schlockmeisters Dean Deviln and Roland Emmerich to dub your TV spin on their cinematic concept "like watching somebody murder your children" isn't really the sort of PR executive producer and writer Brad Wright would want of his and co-producer Jonathan Glassner's Stargate SG-1. But then the Godzilla and ID4 supremos, who first hit the Hollywood big time with their SF actioner Stargate, haven't seen the show's ratings. Stargate SG-1 has been a staggering success worldwide.

Currently midway through its second season on satellite here in the UK and on the Showtime cable network in the US, the series is gaining a brand new audience as it launches into syndication across the main American TV networks. And with a four-season commitment from parent company MCM, it's looking in good shape, despite the face-changing necessitated by its new TV-honed home. Richard Dean Anderson has replaced Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O'Neill and James SpaderÕs nerdy scientist Daniel Jackson is now portrayed by Michael Shanks. Adding televisual flourish to the mix arc newcomers Teal'c (Christopher Judge), a turncoat warrior from the enemy side, and Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), an Air Force astrophysicist.

"When Jonathan and I saw the Stargate movie, we knew it would make an excellent TV series," enthuses Wright, "and knowing that it was in MGM's library, we approached them about writing the pilot episode. What I think is fabulous about the concept is that there are 39 symbols on the Stargate, and that means that there are millions of possible combinations and Stargate locations across the galaxy. The idea of a network of them carne to us immediately." Wright, who also worked on the revamped The Outer Limits as well as vampire cop saga Forever Knight, notes similarities with the former on his latest project. "I ended the world a lot on Outer Limits, but we could because it was an episodic show! I always saw its theme as a series of cautionary tales, whereas with Stargate SG-1 we're about embracing the unknown, the adventure and the awe of the Stargate. We have a lot of humour a well - I don't think we had one joke in four years of The Outer Limits!"

Indeed, the producer compares Stargate SG-1's action-adventure blend to that other success story: the original Star Trek. "They embraced humour in that show, as we do. We're so fortunate to have a cast like this. I've worked on a lot of shows and I realise how lucky we are to have a cast who are not only good actors but wonderful people at the same time, and they constantly challenge us to write to their strengths. As an ensemble, they just come together so well." But the first season bad its problems - notably exterior shots filmed in British Colombia looking like yet another Canadian forest... Wright says they've learned some tough lessons. "We've done a lot more in studio for season two, which gives us more range than we ever had." He points out episodes like "Cold Lazarus," shot on location at a sulphur works among alien-looking yellow dunes, and "Message In A Bottle," which opens on an airless lunar surface. "But a lot of our stories take place on Earth-like planets, and those have to have trees! We did a script where a local girl is showing Daniel Jackson around and she says, 'Look - we call these trees...' and Daniel says, 'Yeah, so do we...'"

Another helpful factor is the idea that all these ancient Earth cultures have been transplanted to distant worlds via the Stargates: it gives the writers more creative freedom. "The licence that we have is that these cultures were transplanted thousands of years ago, so we can presume a degree of evolution iv that time. We just did a story featuring a West coast Native American culture, and we could have gone completely by the book in terms of our art direction, but we have to presume there would be changes, so we started at that point and extrapolated. We've done that a few times, plus we have the influence of the bad guys, the Goa'ulds, to consider. The cultural elements are never the whole story." The success of Stargate SG-1 to date has so convinced the Showtime network of its commercial viability that the company has already committed to a full four years of 88-episodes. With such a long lead-time, Wright and Glassner are eager to construct far-reaching arc plotlines.

"We can take them a long way," says Wright. "You're going to see stories grow over the year and you'll see some of them resolving. But we're not that structured. We're very aware of the stories that need to be arced, but we're also going to bring back other elements as well." As an example, he cites "Tin Man," a show that ended with robot duplicates of the SG-1 team stranded on a distant planet. "We're going to go back there. Continuity is something that science fiction fans love, and so do I!" Leading the SG-1 team and the struggle against the evil alien Goa'ulds is actor Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O'Neill (played by Kurt Russell in the movie). Michael Greenberg, co-executive producer on the series and partner with Anderson in his Gekko Film production company, answers the oft-asked question when the two actors are compared: "I think Richard's O'Neill is more like Indiana Jones and Han Solo than Kurt's."

Anderson himself adds that his take on the character is a lot less serious than Russell's, with the lion's share of cynical quips coming from his mouth. "I'm having an absolute ball playing him. Probably more than I should," he laughs. "I was very up front with MGM at the beginning, stating that I could not replicate Kurt's portrayal of the character. He was more stoic than I want O'Neill to be. But I feel that we have freedom to find new and different aspects of this character than we saw in the movie. O'Neill has feelings that were created and left over from the end of the movie. The series starts after he's had time to ponder his life. He was affected greatly by the events that transpired on Abydos, so a new attitude was born. His inquisitiveness is also piqued by the idea that you can travel to other planets through the Stargate." While O'Neill's attraction to the Stargate comes from a desire to "go boldly," the actor's reasons for taking the role also come from an opportunity to try something new.

"There are a few elements that attracted me to the show. I'd worked with John Stymies (MGM TV's president) when he was at Paramount for MacGyver and he asked me to become involved with the project. I watched the movie a few times and decided that it was the perfect vehicle for a series - the concept alone allowed for expansion into a weekly series. Second, I'd never been a fan of the science fiction genre, hut I've always said that I will try anything once... It would've been hypocritical of me not to consider it." Working on Stargate SG-1 has helped the actor shrug off the typecasting mantle of MacGyver. "I've a lot of affection for that show - it's still very popular in Europe - but it's good to progress." Indeed, even in Stargate SG-1's pilot episode "Children of The Gods," there's a sly nod to Anderson's previous role when Captain Carter suggests she might he able to "MacGyver" the damaged Stargate controls...

As the head honcho of the SG-1 team, Colonel O'Neill also seems to he in the frontline for most of the series' unpleasant special effects: he's regressed into a Neanderthal ("The Broca Divide"), been replicated by an alien crystal ("Cold Lazarus"), prematurely aged almost to death ("Brief Candle") and been trapped in a glacier ("Solitude's") - and that's just during the first season! Anderson sighs manfully at his character's constant confrontation with effects-laden danger. "Acting with effects is just part of the job. It's not the same thing as performing in theatre or doing Shakespeare in the Park, but it's part of the tools that are available to you as an actor. It enables you to create a reality or a fantasy."

FANTASTIC IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM THE mind of stoic astrophysicist and second-in-command Captain Samantha Carter. Fortunately, the actress who plays her Amanda Tapping, thanks to an extensive pedigree as an improve comedienne, is anything hut serious. "I'd heard of the Stargate movie, but I'd never seen it until I auditioned for the role," she recalls, smiling. "I loved it, and I realised straight away that the possibilities for a series were great. I'm thrilled the writers have written a strong female character like this. They're giving Carter a certain equality that is very refreshing to play. It's such a great challenge and I feel a responsibility to all the women out there to play her correctly. "I think I'm a lot like her," she pipes up suddenly. "What the writers have done is take on parts of our personalities and put them into our characters. They've started to write for us and our interpretations of the roles. I identify with her dedication and her single-mindedness." But doesn't dressing in camouflage gear and uniforms week after week cramp her femininity?

"You know, initially I was so pumped by the idea - no high heels, no pantyhose - but after a while I'm thinking, 'Give me a skirt!' I don't always feel attractive in all of that! I never thought I'd say it, but I'd actually love to see Carter in a dress!" Given Tapping's comic talents, is there a chance Carter might get some funny moments as the show develops? "I hope so! I've asked the writers to lighten her up a bit, make her more warm, and they're certainly doing it. I like her a lot more now than I did to begin with." As to the question of a romance between her character and O'Neill, she's adamant there'll be no bump'n 'grind as far as she's concerned. "No, it's a military thing. He's a Colonel and she's a Captain and that sort of thing just doesn't happen." But she does promise that this season features more in the way of stories focusing on Carter herself, elements of which are already appearing, such as die arrival of her father as a recurring character. "That's a wonderful personal relationship," she trills. "There's also some other big stuff coming up. We've gut more aliens and a lot less trees! The concept has been well established so now we're moving forward, so you're going to learn a little bit more about the characters' outside lives."

So how does Stargate SG-1 compare to her other various experiences on genre TV, among them guest shuts in Forever Knight, The X-File's, The Outer Limits and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues? "Well, doing this every day as a series regular is a lot more hard work than being a guest star. It's more like a real job! But having done a lot of episodic work before, I feel I can get a better handle on the character in a regular role. I think this is our generation's way of telling heroic stories around the campfire. Our stories have evolved to the point where our myths are all science fiction. We have these human people with their everyday foibles and characterisations thrust into this world that is pure sci-fi. But we don't just stick to the science fiction elements. We have a lot of human stories as well." She picks out two episodes as her most recent favourites - "Solitudes," where Carter and a critically-injured O'Neill are stranded in a glacier (shot on a refrigerated soundstage) and "In The Line Of Duty," where Carter is temporarily possessed by a rogue Goa'uld.

An "outsider" character in any ensemble show is always a given, particularly in SF, where such a role enables the audience to see humanity from an alien perspective. As Teal'c, the former Goa'uld elite soldier and personal guard of the villain Apophis, actor Christopher Judge has to handle all these elements and more - with only the warrior's stony face to carry it off. "Bring Teal'c day after day is very tough," he admits. "With him, it's all in the small gestures and in the eyes, the tilt of the head. All of that has to communicate his feelings. I'm a big guy, but I can't use that physicality to get my message across, so it's difficult." Not that the actor himself is anything like Teal'c. "I'm always cutting up between scenes because "I'm always so serious on the show! I'm outgoing and gregarious, but like TealÕc at all."

Formerly an American football player during his college years, the actor is no stranger to wearing chunky suits of body armour, as TealÕc is so often called to do. "It's like I'm back in college again - all I need is some cheerleaders, a crowd and a hall to make it all compete!" His opinion of the original Stargate flick, however, is mixed. "I liked the beginning a lot, but I thought the ending fell apart. I felt it could be better. But I heard about the show when a friend showed me a copy of the pilot script. He was auditioning, and after I read it I called my agent and said, 'Get me on this show!' My friend will probably never speak to me again! We're not in space on a starship or spacestation on this show - we're real people from Earth. That's what makes Stargate SG-1 so unique."

He admits that he's never touched the SF genre before. "I was impressed that science fiction fans are very active and they're very articulate as well. They're not afraid to tell you if they think you are good or bad in a particular show." For the second season, Judge reveals that Teal'c will lighten up a little and lose some of his grim streak. "He's at a point now where he realises that there may actually be a light are the end of the tunnel. In season one, he abandoned what he knew for his beliefs and that was really difficult for him, but now he gets his wife and sun back from Apophis [in "Family"] and starts to think that maybe there'll be freedom for his people."

Like co-star Richard Dean Anderson, actor Michael Shanks was also faced with the difficult task of making another actor's character his own when it came to portraying the bookish scientist Daniel Jackson, whose wife has been kidnapped by the Goa'uld lord Apophis. "You just have to deal with it," smiles Shanks. "I admire James Spader's work very much, and I think he did a great job playing Jackson in the film. What I had to do was what theatre actors do all the time: come in and take over a role that someone else has been handling and just play it to the best of my ability. I had to ask myself what was it about that person that I could take on board, what elements would I take into my portrayal. Any actor who takes over a role wants to make it their own."

But he has a soft spot for the character, despite the challenge: "I admire Daniel's na•vet*, passion, innocence and curiosity. He's like a little child lost in the universe, trying to find something. He doesn't know what it is yet, but he's enjoying the ride. Initially it was easy to kind of give in to his sense of wonder, but its got harder as time has gone on. Sometimes it's hard to be enthusiastic every day. He 's go t so much excitement for what he does!"

As "an avid reader of books on cultures and myths," Shanks is also eager to bring other elements of his own personality into the role; he's certainly keen to bring out the character's "dark side" after Spader's limp portrayal. Having previously guest-starred on other Canadian-located genre shows like Highlander and The Outer Limits, Shanks also regards Stargate SG-1 as a potent blend of science fiction and action adventure. "We're not just an SF show. We use a lot of those sci-fi elements in the background, but that's largely a vehicle for more humanistic stories about people. We've got some great developments coming up this year, as well."

Well into the next millennium, Stargate SG-1's missions across the galaxy look set to be an established fixture on the SF TV landscape. Executive producer and co-writer Jonathan Glassner puts it best: "We're not bound by reality and imagination is limitless."