Stargate Sg-1 Season 6 Episode 1

[Malva Ferster]

StargateSG-1 is a military science fiction television series created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner. The series resumes the story of the 1994 Stargate film, where a military team led by Colonel Jack O'Neill and supported by the archeologist Daniel Jackson use an ancient alien artifact called the Stargate to travel to a planet where an alien named Ra oppressed the planet's people by posing as a god. After the Earth team defeated Ra, O'Neil returns to Earth while Daniel Jackson stays on the planet. The series pilot, which takes place roughly one year after the events of the film,[1] reveals that Ra was not the only alien to use Stargates to transport human slaves to many worlds for thousands of years.

Stargate SG-1 premiered on July 27, 1997, on the subscription channel Showtime. After five seasons on the same network, the Sci Fi Channel bought Stargate SG-1 and would air it for five further seasons, totalling to 214 episodes in ten seasons (seasons 1 through 7 consisted of 22 episodes each, and seasons 8 through 10 had 20 episodes each). Since the American broadcast splits each season to allow the production to catch up, the British channel Sky One aired the second part of some seasons before their American counterpart. Stargate SG-1's finale episode premiered in the United Kingdom on Sky One on March 13, 2007. The Sci Fi Channel concluded the tenth season on June 22, 2007. All seasons of Stargate SG-1 are available on DVD, and two direct-to-DVD Stargate films have continued the series, the first released in March 2008, the second in July 2008.

The cast of the first five seasons consisted of Richard Dean Anderson starring as Col. Jack O'Neill, Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson, Amanda Tapping as Cpt./Maj. Samantha Carter (who would be promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in Season 8 and to Colonel in the films), Christopher Judge as the Jaffa alien Teal'c, and Don S. Davis as Maj. Gen. George Hammond. Michael Shanks left the series after Season 5, and his function was assumed by Corin Nemec as the non-earth human Jonas Quinn in Season 6. Shanks continued to have a recurring role in season 6, rejoined the cast in Season 7, and stayed part of the main cast until the series' end. After Don S. Davis' departure from Stargate SG-1 after Season 7, Richard Dean Anderson's character was promoted to Brigadier General in Season 8; Anderson left the series' main cast after that season, but continued to appear periodically. Ben Browder and Beau Bridges replaced them as Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell and Maj. Gen. Hank Landry in Season 9, respectively. The last actor to join the main cast was Claudia Black, who resumed her previously recurring role as Vala Mal Doran in Season 9.

After the SciFi Channel's decision to not renew Stargate SG-1 in 2006, the SG-1 producers and rights-holder MGM expressed a desire to continue SG-1 as a movie, mini-series, or an 11th season on another network.[20][21] Brad Wright confirmed the production of two direct-to-DVD films in October 2006,[22] which eventually became Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. A special edition of the two-hour pilot episode "Children of the Gods" with re-edited scenes, all new visual effects, and a new score by Joel Goldsmith was released in July 2009.[23] In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third new SG-1 film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008.[24][25] However, this last project (entitled Stargate: Revolution) was put on hold and eventually got shelved permanently in 2011.[26]

The first season of the military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 commenced airing on the Showtime channel in the United States on July 27, 1997, concluded on the Sci Fi channel on March 6, 1998, and contained 22 episodes. The show itself is a spin-off from the 1994 hit movie Stargate written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. Stargate SG-1 re-introduced supporting characters from the film universe, such as Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill and Daniel Jackson and included new characters such as Teal'c, George Hammond and Samantha "Sam" Carter. The first season was about a military-science expedition team discovering how to use the ancient device, named the Stargate, to explore the galaxy. However, they encountered a powerful enemy in the film named the Goa'uld, who are bent on destroying Earth and all who oppose them.

The 100-minute premiere "Children of the Gods", which aired on July 27, 1997, at 8 p.m,[1] received Showtime's highest-ever ratings for a series premiere and ranked as the highest-rated original movie to premiere on Showtime at the time. The show got a 10.5 rating in Showtime's approximately 12 million U.S. households, which equaled approximately 1.5 million homes in total.[2] Season one regular cast members included Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis.

John Symes approached Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson of MacGyver fame.[3] Although Anderson was never a real fan of the science fiction genre, he believed the original concept of a "Stargate" was a good vehicle for a series.[5] Anderson agreed to become involved with the project if his character Jack O'Neill was allowed significantly more comedic leeway than Kurt Russell's character in the feature film. He also requested Stargate SG-1 to be more of an ensemble show, so that he would not be carrying the plot alone as on MacGyver.[6] The American subscription channel Showtime made a two-season commitment for 44 episodes in 1996.[3] Principal photography began in Vancouver in February 1997.[7]

"The First Commandment" was the first Stargate SG-1 episode written by Robert C. Cooper, who would later become an executive producer and co-creator of the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. Paul McGillion, who played young Ernest Littlefield in "Torment of Tantalus", would go on to play the recurring and later main character Dr. Carson Beckett in Stargate Atlantis. The outside scenes of "Solitudes" were filmed at Pemberton Icefield.[8] The rest of the episode was filmed in the studio, which was filled with fake snow and ice and kept at a low temperature.

Lead production designer Richard Hudolin flew to Los Angeles, 1996 to gather material from Stargate for reference and found the original film prop stored outside in the Californian desert. Although the prop had severely disintegrated, he could take a detailed mould for Stargate SG-1 production to build its own prop. The new Stargate was engineered to turn, lock the chevrons, and be computer-controlled to dial specific gate addresses. A portable Stargate prop was built for on-location shoots and required six workers and one full day to set up.[3][9] Since visual effects are sometimes faster and cheaper,[9] a computer-generated Stargate was occasionally used in on-location shoots in later seasons.[10]

The design of the Stargate Command (SGC) base was supposed to match the real Cheyenne Mountain complex as much as possible.[9] The set had to be twice as high for shooting as the 22 feet tall Stargate prop,[11] but one of Hudolin's original plans of a three-level SGC set was rejected in favor of a two-level set.[9] The gateroom was the biggest room on set and could be redesigned for other scenes.[10] Two multi-purpose rooms were frequently redecorated into the infirmary, Daniel's lab, the cafeteria or the gym.[9][12] The SGC set and all other sets from the pilot episode were constructed within six weeks in January and February 1997, incorporating some original set pieces from the feature film.[9]

The initial season had five main characters getting star billing. Richard Dean Anderson portrayed formerly suicidal United States Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill. Michael Shanks played the American Egyptologist Daniel Jackson. Both O'Neill and Jackson appeared in the 1994 film Stargate. Amanda Tapping played astrophysicist and United States Air Force captain Samantha "Sam" Carter. Christopher Judge portrayed Teal'c, a Jaffa from Chulak and former First Prime of Apophis. Don S. Davis played George Hammond, the new leader of the Stargate program, taking over after General W.O. West. Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline, including: Teryl Rothery as Janet Fraiser, Gary Jones as Chevron Guy (later identified as Walter Harriman), Jay Acovone as Charles Kawalsky (portrayed by John Diehl in the 1994 feature film), Tom McBeath as Harry Maybourne, and Ronny Cox as Robert Kinsey, among others.

The original airing of "Children of the Gods" on Showtime featured full frontal nudity during the scene showing the possession of Sha're (Vaitiare Bandera) by Amonet. While this has never been repeated on network television and subsequent airings as well as this episode available on most streaming platforms have had the nudity cut out for syndication; it was rated R by the MPAA.[13] The DVD, iTunes and Netflix prints of this episode retain this scene. According to Brad Wright, the Showtime network had insisted on the full frontal nudity despite Wright's vocal opposition; Wright told fan site GateWorld that he would cut the nudity scene from the 2009 direct-to-DVD recut of the pilot episode.[14] The DVD version, in fact, only retains a portion of this scene, with full frontal nudity being cut and a partial syndicate friendly back nudity version used. Likely because of the nudity, the original version of this episode as well as the next two episodes of the series are the first and only ones in the series to be rated by the MPAA (it is rated R), while in the UK the episode is rated 18 by the BBFC (all other episodes have generally been rated PG, or 12, very occasionally 15).[15] It is rated M in Australia, recommended for (but not restricted to) viewers 15 and older. The version available on iTunes and Netflix is the uncut, original version of the episode.

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