Stargate SG-1 season 8
Stargate SG-1 | |
---|---|
Season 8 | |
Starring | Richard Dean Anderson Amanda Tapping Christopher Judge Michael Shanks |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Release | |
Original network | Syfy |
Original release | July 9, 2004 February 22, 2005 | –
Season chronology | |
The eighth season of
Production
Cast and characters
The regular cast members of season eight are
The first season of
Among the notable guest stars in season eight were
With the defeat of the
The main technician (played by Gary Jones), who sported the name "Norman Davis" on his uniform for seven years, was officially renamed "Walter Harriman". In the episode "2010", O'Neill referred to him as "Walter". Simply renaming the character to "Walter Davis" did not clear, so he was renamed to "Walter Harriman" after Hammond had called him "Airman", which sounds similar to "Harriman", in the pilot episode.[5] Joseph Mallozzi explained the resulting incongruity by positing that Harriman is Walter's married name.[6]
One scene in "Zero Hour" featured Pierre Bernard as a technician. Bernard is a graphics designer for the NBC show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and was offered the cameo on SG-1 after a rant on Late Night in which he said the show was better without Daniel Jackson. The show's writers named his character "O'Brien" as a tongue-in-cheek reference.[1][6][7] The Stargate producers later invited Bernard back to the set for a scene in the 200th episode of SG-1.[8]
Writing
After production wrapped on season seven, the writers came together and pitched ideas for Stargate's eighth and presumably final season.[3] Seasons five through seven had previously been expected to be the last, but the show was renewed each year.[9] The team ultimately agreed on about ten initial episodes, two of which would comprise a two-hour premiere intended to address issues remaining from the season seven finale.[3]
In the first draft of "New Order, Part 1," Richard Woolsey assumed command of the SGC, but in the end the writers decided that the character of Dr. Weir suited the story better because of her background in diplomacy. She also offered a link to the Atlantis spin-off and was seen as a better candidate to offer O'Neill his promotion.[3] The end of "New Order" with Fifth creating Replicator Carter was also not in the original outline. Robert C. Cooper came up with the twist while he was writing the script.[3] Originally, Anubis was planned to end up on a fiery planet at the end of "Lockdown", but Joseph Mallozzi opted for the frozen world instead.[3]
The idea for "Icon" came from Damian Kindler pitching a story in season seven "in which Carter is stranded off-world, struggling to survive, while the rest of the team mounts a desperate bid to rescue her". In November 2003, in preparation of season eight, the writers felt that they already had enough Carter stories and attempted to redress the balance by making it a Daniel story with the working title "English Patient Daniel".[10] "Affinity" was originally intended to air after "Covenant". Airing "Affinity" first creates the minor continuity error of Daniel already knowing the name, disclosed in "Covenant", of the newly formed Trust.[4]
The writers always wanted to do a "fish out of water" story wholly dedicated to Teal'c and his attempts to fit into Earth society, but later felt that the only opportunity would have been in season one.[4] The script of "Full Alert" called for a large military build-up and a potential worldwide confrontation, but the show's budget was limited. As such, screens were erected to sell the point of an impending military conflict on a global scale. Furthermore, stock shots of jets landing on aircraft carriers and missile silos opening were used to accommodate financial concerns.[11]
Plot
The eighth season begins with the
Filming
The eighth season of Stargate SG-1 was filmed over an eight-month period, with twelve-hour days five times each week. Filming started at 7:00 am, broke for a half-hour lunch break in the afternoon, and ended at 7:30 pm.[12] The directors usually received scripts around two weeks before shooting started.[13] Early seasons had 7.5 days to shoot an episode but with careful planning, season eight reduced this time to six days.[13] Richard Dean Anderson only worked 3.5 days out of 5 working days a week during season eight. Owing to his limited availability some episodes, such as "Zero Hour", were shot over longer periods of weeks.[1] "Zero Hour" was shot as the seventh out of the 20 episodes of season eight.[1] The producers do not treat two-part episodes as a different episode but as one longer episode, though the episodes are still legally broken up into two with the actors, for example, being paid twice.[14]
Stargate SG-1 has several regular directors. Andy Mikita is known to shoot much coverage because he likes having the choices during cut-and-edit. Peter DeLuise, however, lets the cameras roll, which makes things more difficult for the script supervisor and the editors later.[11] The video tapes are not reusable and are archived in a library.[11] "Lockdown" was the first SG-1 episode to be shot in high definition (HD) instead of on 35 mm film.[13] Since no one was used to filming in HD, they had to get a new HD crew and lost about an hour per day.[13] The HD video tapes cost around 50 dollars, and previously 7000 feet of film were shot each day, costing possibly a million dollars a year in film.[11]
Episodes such as "Zero Hour" and "Prometheus Unbound" reduced costs by being shot mainly on the standing sets
The first episode filmed after the hiatus was "Lockdown", which aired third. The writers thought it would be fun to test O'Neill in his new position as general of the SGC early on and to have him prove his worth.
Sets and locations
Sets from previous seasons were reused: The Goa'uld transport ship, a standing set in the NorCo Studios, was originally built for a particular episode in season one but has since been reused in "New Order". Despite its cool looks, it is hard to shoot in.
Art director James Robbins designed the set for Fifth's space ship,[16] which was only about 10 feet long and 6 feet wide.[12] For the scene where Carter is embedded in Replicator tiles, the model shop used cut-out vacuform pieces and slabs that had been made to fit Amanda Tapping.[16] The Prometheus set, the producers' answer to the Goa'uld ship design, was used in several season eight episodes. Instead of big empty rooms, the Prometheus set had seats, screens, buttons and switches.[11] "Endgame" required the interior of a Goa'uld ship to hold a Stargate, an effect which has not been used since season one.[18] The Puddle Jumper space ship, usually part of Stargate Atlantis stories, also had its first appearances in SG-1; it appeared in "It's Good to be King" and "Moebius". "Threads" used the diner set from Dead Like Me.[19]
Although "Lockdown" was filmed mainly on the existing
The idea for the plants in "Zero Hour" came from Brad Wright, who in season four had the notion of the SG being overrun with plant life and the gate being literally buried under foliage.[6] For "Icon", one of the locations used was a house built in the early 1900s.[21] Like "Birthright" one year before, exterior scenes for "Sacrifices" were filmed at High Point Properties in Langley, British Columbia. The Goa'uld ceremonial tent in the episode was designed to be re-usable, with the concept loosely based on the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.[22] "Reckoning", in which Carter attempts to open the Ancient Wall, was filmed at a sound stage at NorCo Studios, a former bicycle factory. The ventilation is questionable, and when the director decided to add smoke for the light to catch to give a dramatic dusty air feeling, the oxygen supply decreased, which made acting harder.[14] Daniel's class room in "Moebius" were shot in the conference room of the Outer Limits production at Bridge Studios near the set of SG-1. SG-1 crew members had originally scouted a real school but lost that location. Carter's office room in the same episode was right down the hall from the conference room.[23]
Stargate SG-1 was shot in
Design, props and special effects
Before the season began, director
To save money, props and footage were re-used from previous seasons. The chairs used in "Avatar" are the same used in the season two episode "The Gamekeeper", but since they had been cut up and changed around completely for a previous SG-1 episode, and re-adjusting them would have cost as much money as building new ones, they were used like they were.[25] Catherine's amulet that was shown in "Moebius" is the same used in the movie.[23] In "Reckoning", some shots of the replicators in the SGC are re-uses of footage from the episode "Menace".[14] At other times, whole scenes were cut. The original scripted teaser for "Lockdown" would have cost US$100,000 for visual effects, with Anubis in the space ship.[13] The falling Replicator chips and the resulting mess on the ground in "Reckoning", however, was animated in VisFX because it would have been more expensive to have the mess be tracked.[14] Image Engine created the bug effects in "New Order". One scene involved hundreds of Replicator bugs running in a forest, for which they went from singly hand-animated bugs to replicated effects.[11]
Season eight was the first year that used a rear screen with an LCD projector projecting the puddle for the Stargate wormhole effect. Before that time, this was too expensive and not bright enough.[9] The outside of the Puddle Jumper space ship in "Moebius" also used a rear screen projection, for which a dune at a real location was filmed and then projected on a screen behind the Puddle Jumper windows. This allowed to move the camera around and not be locked off. The on-set Puddle Jumper is only about 2/3 the size of that of the actual space ship.[23] For dramatic effect, the episode "Zero Hour" had longer scenes filmed in green.[1] "Gemini" had scenes filmed in infrared.[9]
Release and reception
"New Order" and "Moebius (Part 2)" both earned a 2.4
In 2005, the second part of the season opener "
Season eight was released to DVD in Europe and Australia. The episodes "Gemini" and "Prometheus Unbound" switched sides, and "Citizen Joe" was placed after "Reckoning"/"Threads". Contrary to the Region 1 DVD, the Region 2 did not offer commentaries for "It's Good to be King" and "Citizen Joe". When the season was initially released on DVD in Region 1, the release temporarily contained the shortened 45-minute version of "Threads" until Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) gave in due to complaints.[29] The slimline re-release contains the full 63-minute episode. Neither region has commentaries for "Threads". The release of season nine was held up because of MGM's switch in partners for home distribution, from Sony to Fox.[30]
Cultural references
In "Zero Hour" Dr. Lee says, "Thankfully [the plant] hasn't eaten anyone yet." O'Neill answers, "Well, thank you Seymour." This is a reference to the comedy-musical
In the episode "It's Good to be King", when arriving on the planet of which
O'Neill's last line in "
Main cast
- Starring Brigadier General Jack O'Neill
- Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as Teal'c
- And Dr. Daniel Jackson
Episodes
Episodes in bold are continuous episodes, where the story spans over 2 or more episodes.
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
155 156 | 1 2 | "New Order" | Andy Mikita | Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie Robert C. Cooper | July 9, 2004 | |
Three Fifth. The Asgard's new homeworld Orilla is endangered. O'Neill, with the help of the Asgard, is awakened and helps the Asgard in their fight with the Replicators using the knowledge of the Ancients that's still downloaded in his mind. Major Carter is released by Fifth. Jack is promoted to brigadier general and replaces Weir as commander of the SGC. | ||||||
157 | 3 | " William Waring | Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie | July 23, 2004 | ||
An outbreak of disease is in fact the effect of possession by the ethereal remains of Anubis . Anubis escapes the SGC through the Stargate, though Carter alters his destination to a frozen, barren planet. | ||||||
158 | 4 | " Peter F. Woeste | Robert C. Cooper | July 30, 2004 | ||
When SG-1 goes missing, Ba'al demands a ransom. After giving the SGC a booby-trapped ZPM, Camulus makes a deal to return to Ba'al on an assassination mission. | ||||||
159 | 5 | "Icon" | Peter F. Woeste | Damian Kindler | August 6, 2004 | |
Tegalus is a world divided between two nations engaged in a cold war: the Rand Protectorate and the Caledonian Federation, both of which possess a large arsenal of coup d'etat in the Rand Protectorate triggering a war. | ||||||
160 | 6 | "Avatar" | Martin Wood | Damian Kindler | August 13, 2004 | |
Teal'c is trapped in a virtual reality training machine that delivers electrical shocks when he fails his objectives. Daniel enters the game in an attempt to save Teal'c from cardiac arrest and together they fight against the increasing difficulty of the game. | ||||||
161 | 7[a] | "Affinity" | Peter DeLuise | Peter DeLuise | August 20, 2004 | |
Teal'c moves into an off-base apartment, where he becomes involved with his neighbor, Krista, who has an abusive boyfriend. Teal'c is accused of murdering the boyfriend and Daniel disappears while trying to prove Teal'c is innocent. | ||||||
162 | 8[a] | "Covenant" | Martin Wood | Story by : Ron Wilkerson Teleplay by : Ron Wilkerson & Robert C. Cooper | August 27, 2004 | |
Alec Colson, the powerful leader of aerospace and biotech conglomerates, holds a press conference to announce that aliens exist, that they have already attacked Earth once, and that several governments are aware of this fact. Colson gives the governments involved 24 hours to tell the truth. When the time expires, he shows a living Asgard alien to the media. | ||||||
163 | 9 | "Sacrifices" | Andy Mikita | Christopher Judge | September 10, 2004 | |
Ishta brings the Hak'tyl to the SGC because they believe that their location has been compromised. Carter attempts to find a suitable planet for them. The Goa'uld Moloc captures Ishta on a planet named Goronak. Ultimately Moloc is killed by missiles from the SGC, but his forces are taken over by Ba'al. | ||||||
164 | 10 | "Endgame" | Peter DeLuise | Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie | September 17, 2004 | |
Having recently acquired the Jaffa in the process. Cut off from Earth, Teal'c arranges to be captured by undercover Tok'ra Zarin on P3S-114 to find out if the Tok'ra are behind the attacks. The Trust captures Carter and brings her aboard the Alkesh where the Stargate is, but she's rescued by Daniel and Teal'c who beam aboard and use the Stargate respectively. SG-1 and the Stargate are beamed aboard Prometheus and measures are taken to ensure it never happens again, but the Trust escapes. | ||||||
165 | 11 | "Gemini" | William Waring | Peter DeLuise | December 14, 2004(Sky One) January 21, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
RepliCarter informs the SGC that Replicators immune to O'Neill's disruptor, and promises to help them modify the weapon. In fact, her presence was needed to develop the immunity. She destroys Fifth and escapes to lead the replicators. | ||||||
166 | 12 | "Prometheus Unbound" | Andy Mikita | Damian Kindler | December 21, 2004(Sky One) January 28, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
The crew of the Prometheus are incapacitated and removed, except Daniel, when it is hijacked by Vala, a pirate. Vala wishes to trade the ship for Naqahdah, but Daniel succeeds in retaking control of the ship and with the help of the crew in an Alkesh, fends off a Goa'uld attack that leaves Prometheus too badly damaged to finish the mission. Vala ultimately escapes in the end. | ||||||
167 | 13 | "It's Good to Be King" | William Gereghty | Story by : Michael Greenburg & Peter DeLuise & Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie Teleplay by : Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie | January 4, 2005(Sky One) February 4, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
SG-1 finds that Ancient that prophecy SG-1 will defeat the Goa'uld Ares. Ares sends Jaffa to the planet and comes in his mothership, but his forces are defeated by Daniel and Teal'c and his mothership is destroyed by O'Neill with the time traveling Puddle Jumper's weapons. Afterwards, Maybourne decides to remain on the planet with his people and his wives. | ||||||
168 | 14 | "Full Alert" | Andy Mikita | Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie | January 11, 2005(Sky One) February 11, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
Russia and the United States reach the Trust , which has been entirely assimilated. War is narrowly avoided when O'Neill convinces the Russian President of the truth and the Trust ship is destroyed by Prometheus, but the fate of Robert Kinsey is left unknown as he may or may not have been on the ship when it was destroyed. | ||||||
169 | 15[b] | "Citizen Joe" | Andy Mikita | Story by : Robert C. Cooper Teleplay by : Damian Kindler Excerpts written by : Robert C. Cooper, James Crocker, Peter DeLuise, Jonathan Glassner, V.C. James, Damian Kindler, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright | January 18, 2005(Sky One) February 18, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
An Indiana barber who carries the ATA Gene has his life ruined when, through an SG-1 's missions. His life is given back to him when O'Neill informs his nearly-divorced wife of what had been going on. | ||||||
170 | 16[b] | "Reckoning: Part 1" | Peter DeLuise | Damian Kindler | January 25, 2005(Sky One) February 25, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
Teal'c is preparing the Anubis . | ||||||
171 | 17[b] | "Reckoning: Part 2" | Peter DeLuise | Teleplay by : Damian Kindler Excerpts written by : Robert C. Cooper | February 1, 2005(Sky One) March 4, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
Struggling with RepliCarter, Daniel halts the Ba'al to use a combination of the device that dials every Stargate in the galaxy and the Dakara Superweapon to destroy all Replicators. RepliCarter kills Daniel Jackson. | ||||||
172 | 18[b][c] | "Threads" | Andy Mikita | Teleplay by : Robert C. Cooper Excerpts written by : Damian Kindler | February 8, 2005(Sky One) March 11, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
Daniel Jackson must choose death or powerless Selmak are in trouble. Daniel is returned to human form on Earth. | ||||||
173 | 19 | "Moebius: Part 1" | Peter DeLuise | Story by : Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper Teleplay by : Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie | February 15, 2005(Sky One) March 18, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
SG-1 uses an SGC doesn't exist. | ||||||
174 | 20 | "Moebius: Part 2" | Peter DeLuise | Story by : Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper Teleplay by : Robert C. Cooper | February 22, 2005(Sky One) March 25, 2005 (Sci Fi) | |
An alternate-reality SG-1 must go back in time and fix the past to save the future. In the process, the team must re-recruit Teal'c and find the real Daniel Jackson, who is still in ancient Egypt . Alternate-timeline O'Neill and Carter express their love. |
Home releases
DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 (UK) | Region 4 |
---|---|---|---|
Stargate SG-1 Complete Season 8[c] | October 3, 2006 | February 5, 2007 | August 16, 2006 |
Vol. 38 (4 eps.) | — | March 27, 2006 | — |
Vol. 39 (4 eps.) | — | April 24, 2006 | — |
Vol. 40 (3 eps.) | — | May 22, 2006 | — |
Vol. 41 (3 eps.) | — | June 19, 2006 | — |
Vol. 42 (3 eps.) | — | July 17, 2006 | — |
Vol. 43 (3 eps.) | — | August 14, 2006 | — |
Notes
- ^ Trust.
- ^ a b c d Some DVD regions put "Citizen Joe" after the "Reckoning" two-parter and "Threads". "Citizen Joe" however comes before these episodes plotwise in regards to O'Neill's new girlfriend.
- ^ a b "Threads" original airing was 63 mins long; the original DVD version is cut to the standard 44 mins. The repackaged DVD restores the 63 min version.
References
- ^ John Lenicin the audio commentary for "Zero Hour".
- ^ a b TV Zone #58. Page 28-32
- ^ a b c d e f g Stargate SG-1 'In the Making': "New Order, Part 1"
- ^ a b c Stargate SG-1 'In the Making': "Affinity"
- ^ Stargate SG-1 Season 10 DVD featurette "Life as a Tech with Gary Jones".
- ^ GateWorld. Retrieved October 18, 2007.
- ^ "Interview with Pierre Bernard Jr". thescifiworld.net. July 17, 2006. Retrieved October 18, 2007.
- GateWorld. May 5, 2006. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c d 811 Audio Commentary "Gemini" by Will Waring (WW, Director) and Jim Menard (JM, Director of Photography)
- ^ Stargate SG-1 'In the Making': "Icon"
- ^ a b c d e f g h 814 Audio Commentary "Full Alert" by Andy Mikita (AM, Director) and Paul Mullie (PM, Executive Producer and Writer) Part 1
- ^ a b c d e f 801&802 New Order Audio commentary (Andy Mikita, Gary Jones)
- ^ a b c d e f 803 Lockdown Audio Commentary (Will Waring, Jim Menard)
- ^ a b c d Audio Commentary 817 "Reckoning, Part 2" – Peter DeLuise (PDL, director) and Gary Jones (GJ, Chevron Guy)
- ^ TV Zone Special #58, page 20
- ^ a b c TV Zone Special #59. Page 14
- ^ TV Zone Special #58. Page 44
- ^ TV Zone Special #58. Page 59
- ^ a b Audio Commentary 816 "Reckoning, Part 1" – Peter DeLuise (PDL, director) and Gary Jones (GJ, Chevron Guy)
- ^ TV Zone Special #58. Page 22
- ^ TV Zone Special #58. Page 34
- ^ TV Zone Special. Page #58
- ^ a b c d 819 Moebius, Part 1 – Audio Commentary by Peter DeLuise (Director) and Gary Jones ("Chevron Guy")
- ^ TV Zone Special issue #S58, page 26-27.
- ^ TV Zone Special #58. Page 36.
- ^ "Stargate SG-1 recognized as the #1 show in all Sci Fi history by Stargate Command — mp3, nasa, family | Gather". Archived from the original on November 17, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
- ^ a b Jan Vincent-Rudzki. TV Zone Issue #180, page 78.
- ^ "GEOS – Stargate SG-1 Episode Guide".
- ^ On November 17th 2005, tvshowsondvd.com posted information about the trade-in program
- ^ Stargate SG-1 – Fox heads through the gate for Season 9 – Details, Date, Price & Extras! Archived 2009-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
- GateWorld.
- ^ "Stargate SG-1" Prometheus Unbound (TV Episode 2004) – IMDb, retrieved May 20, 2019
External links
- Season 8 on GateWorld
- Season 8 on IMDb
- Season 8[permanent dead link] on TV.com
- SG1 Season 8 on Stargate Wiki