|
|
Once there, the Colonel meets up with Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (Spader in the film and played here by Michael Shanks)--who remained on Abydos and now has evidence that other planets have their own stargates.
"The first two-hour [episode] of the show is quite a direct sequel of the movie. It picks up where the movie left off," explains Jonathan Glassner, co-executive producer and sometime writer of the series. "Every week we discover more about what happened way back when and who's behind it all."
Even though science-fiction TV is ever more popular, the makers of Stargate SG-1--a hybric of Indiana Jones and Star Trek with an Alien gene or two--know they are taking a risk in transferring a movie hit to the small screen, considering the poor success rate of previous film spin-offs (with the rare exception of M*A*S*H). The series producers believe the premise of the film, which grossed $200 million, provides endless story oppurtunities. They are confident enough to have bankrolled a $5 million budget for the two-hour pilot and $1.3 million for each hour-long episode.
"The movie has a lot of holes, which actually turned out to be to our benefit," says Glassner. "Filling those holes gave us a whole mythology to explore. There are 39 symbols on the stargate and it takes a combination of seven of them to work. If it only goes to one planet, why are there 39 symbols on it? Why not just seven? It must go to a bunch of other places and there must be a reason they haven't figured it out yet."
Despite all this travelling through space and time, the producers emphasize Stargate SG-1 is boldly going places other shows haven't. "We're priding ourselves on trying to stay as different as we can from Star Trek," says Glassner. "Let's face it, both shows go to other planets, but one of the huge differences is the stargate is set in the present and the people who are travelling through the gates are not exactly trained or prepared."
"We're not the perfect, flawless human beings of the 23rd century Roddenberry conceived, which makes our show more accessible," adds co-executive producer Brad Wright. "No one is as perfect as Jean-Luc Picard. As a result out influence on these planets is going to snap us in the butt as often as it's going to succeed."
"I had no business trying to replicate the work of Kurt Russell, whom I admire at great deal," says the actor (best known as MacGyver). "I insisted on lightening things up, giving Jack O'Neill a wry sense of humor punched with cynicism and sarcasm. A 44-episode minimum is way too long a time to be as stoic, hard and edgy and all of those things Kurt was."
Daniel Jackson--Michael Shanks: Lovable and bumbling, the bespectacled Egyptologist (played by James Spader in the film) is proficient in both ancient languages and the techo-babble that Colonel O'Neill hates so much. Jackson, who is plagued by allergies, is still regarded as a "geek" by O'Neill but since the historian saved the Colonel's life, O'Neill feels slightly more friendly towards him. He had felt he'd found his home with new wife Sha're on Abydos, where he is embarrassed to be regarded as the planet's savior. Now Sha're has been kidnapped, his raison d'etre is to save her.
"Daniel is a dreamer...am idealist," says Shanks. "He has a boyish curiosity, a love of humanity and life and a romantic viewpoint. He's driven to search out the best in people."
"The great thing is that she is one of the guys...an equal," says Tapping. "She's smart, strong and has a certain compassion--which I don't think is solely female. But certainly it's in evidence when she comes into certain situations."
Teal'c--Christopher Judge: Reminiscent of the evil ancient Egyptian-style sun god Ra (Jaye Davidson in the film). But Teal'c is not a villian--in fact he was Ra's adversary. He is a marsupial human who carries in his pouch an infant form of Ra's parasitic race.
Says Judge, "I'm actually an incubator for these godlike characters...it's kind of disturbing."
General Hammond--Don S. Davis: Hammond replaces the film's General West. He is angry that O'Neill disobeyed orders to destroy Abydos but agrees to send a team to investigate who was responsible for the kidnap.
"I like the fact that there can be a General who has a human side," says Davis (Scully's father in The X-Files). "He may be a pillar on the battlefield and yet cultivate bonsai trees at home."
