Behind the scenes

Next stop, Vancouver

Like so many space shows of the 2000s, Stargate SG-1 was filmed in Canada, in Vancouver. The reason was down to earth: tax credits made production far cheaper, and the region offered city, forest, mountains and desert all within an hour's drive.

The Bridge Studios

The heart of the shoot was the Bridge Studios in Burnaby, just outside Vancouver. The place has a history: it was once a plant of the Dominion Bridge Company, a builder of steel bridges. At one point it housed one of the largest soundstages in North America.

Sets that never moved

The gate room, the Stargate itself, the corridors, the control room, the briefing room, the general's office: it was all one permanent set, built on Stages 5 and 6. Year after year, the crew came back to the same SGC. That's what gives the base its feeling of a place people actually live in.

The forest that played every planet

When SG-1 steps through the gate onto a wooded world, it's almost always the same woods around Vancouver. The parks and forests of British Columbia stood in for dozens of different planets; a change of light or weather was enough to make them unrecognizable.

One home for the whole saga

The same studios went on to host Stargate Atlantis, then Stargate Universe. A whole chunk of the franchise was born in one place, partly with the same technical crews moving from one show to the next.

Ten years, a rare feat

SG-1 ran for ten seasons, from 1997 to 2007. By the end of its run, it was the longest-running American sci-fi series in consecutive seasons, a record that says a lot about how loyal its audience was.

The on-set Stargate

The gate in the gate room wasn't just a digital effect: it was a massive physical prop, ring and chevrons included, and the actors played in front of it for real. The inner ring could turn, and the chevrons really lit up as an address locked in.

Two gates, two looks

The gate from the 1994 movie and the one from the series aren't identical. The symbols, the color and the shape of the chevrons all changed between the big screen and TV. Fans can tell at a glance which one they're looking at.

The event horizon

The rippling blue liquid surface that appears when the gate opens is one of the most recognizable effects in the genre. And everyone remembers the famous kawoosh, that burst of energy surging forward that would vaporize anything in its path.

The kawoosh was born in water

To get that distinctive surge, the effects teams first filmed real fluid phenomena, clouds of material released into a tank, before reworking them in post. The saga's most futuristic effect has very handmade roots.

Props that became iconic

The DHD, the staff weapon, the zat'nik'tel, the communication bracelet: props invented for the saga that fans now recreate as full-size replicas. Some fandom craftspeople build them down to the millimeter.

The GDO and the SGC codes

To get home without being splattered against the iris, a team sends its identification code with a small transmitter. Details like that, never explained at length, give the universe its consistency: you can tell everything was thought through.

From miniatures to pixels

In the early days, some of the ships and distant sets still relied on miniatures and practical effects. Season after season, CGI took over, all the way to the huge space battles of the later years, which would have been impossible to film any other way.

A homegrown studio

For a long time, the franchise worked with visual effects teams based in Vancouver, right next to the shoot. That proximity meant an effects shot could be adjusted to match what had actually been filmed on set.

Weapons fire

Zat blasts, staff weapon bolts, the trails of the gliders: every faction has its own light signature. Added frame by frame, these effects shape a people's identity as much as their costumes do.

Beaming and rings

The Asgard beam, the Goa'uld transport rings: two very different ways to get from one place to another, and two distinct visual effects. The saga likes every technology to have its own on-screen language.

Field gear

SG teams head out on missions in recognizable military gear, with the SG patch sewn on the shoulder. Simple, believable, instantly identifiable. The SGC's olive green became a color of the saga in its own right.

Jaffa armor

The Jaffa who serve the Goa'uld wear armor and helmets modeled on the gods they serve. The Horus or Anubis helmet is Egyptian mythology cast in metal, with snakes and animal heads that fold back from the face.

The forehead mark

Every Jaffa wears the gold symbol of the System Lord he serves on his forehead. A makeup detail, but one that tells a whole story of allegiance: when Teal'c betrays Apophis, that symbol becomes his mark of shame, and later of freedom.

Goa'uld splendor

The System Lords love gold, silk and excess. Their whole look serves a single purpose: passing themselves off as gods. The more powerful the Goa'uld, the more overwhelming the costume.

The Atlantis uniform

The Atlantis expedition trades SGC green for color-coded jackets: red for military command, blue for the scientists, and so on. One glance tells you who does what in the city.

The fathers of the movie

The 1994 Stargate came from Roland Emmerich, who directed, and Dean Devlin, who co-wrote and produced. Their film set the stage: a gate, another planet, a false god to overthrow.

The creators of the series

Stargate SG-1 was created for television by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner. They're the ones who turned a two-hour movie into a ten-year saga, with a whole mythology to unfold week after week.

The man behind the big arcs

Robert C. Cooper soon joined the writing team and became one of the pillars of the franchise. He's behind many of the big late-series turns, including the Ori arc that relaunched SG-1 after the Goa'uld left the stage.

The house directors

Some names came back season after season behind the camera, like Martin Wood and Peter DeLuise. After shooting the show for so long, they knew every corner of every set by heart, and you can feel it in how smoothly the episodes flow.

The musical signature

David Arnold scored the movie, and his theme, reused for the opening titles, became the tune you hum without even thinking about it. Joel Goldsmith adapted it for SG-1, then wrote the themes for Atlantis and Universe, across hundreds of episodes. His death in 2012 hit the fandom hard.

A loyal troupe

Many actors and crew members stayed from start to finish. That kind of stability, rare over ten years, goes a long way toward explaining the family feel the saga gives off, on screen and in the DVD extras alike.

Wormhole X-Treme!

In one episode, the saga invents a cheap sci-fi show, Wormhole X-Treme!, that looks suspiciously like Stargate itself. A gentle way of poking fun at its own tricks, and one the writers brought back to celebrate big milestones.

The 200th episode

For its 200th episode, SG-1 goes wild: a string of parodies, fake endings and nods to other movies and shows. It's one of the craziest episodes in the whole franchise, an unabashed gift to loyal fans.

The MacGyver nod

Richard Dean Anderson, who plays Jack O'Neill, was already a star thanks to MacGyver. The show slips in more than one reference to that past, playing on the resourceful-tinkerer image audiences already had of him.

A longevity record

With its ten seasons, SG-1 once held the record for the longest-running American sci-fi series in consecutive seasons. Few TV space operas have lasted that long without ever stopping.

Crew cameos

Peter DeLuise, a regular director, loved slipping into bit parts or showing up as an extra. Spotting those appearances has become a game for fans rewatching the show.

The Egypt of the Goa'uld

It's the foundation of the whole saga. The Goa'uld passed themselves off as the Egyptian gods: Ra, Apophis, Anubis, Osiris, Isis. Ra, the supreme System Lord, ruled Earth until a slave revolt drove him off the planet.

The Norse Asgard

Thor, Loki and the Norse gods? They're Asgard, a race of benevolent aliens. Their Thor's Hammer, placed on worlds like Cimmeria, kept the Goa'uld away from the humans they protected.

Arthurian legend

The last two seasons dive into the legend of King Arthur: Merlin was an Ancient, Morgan le Fay his adversary, and the Grail itself, the Sangraal, was the weapon Merlin designed to destroy the Ori. Camelot and Avalon become very real places.

The fire of the Ori

The Ori, sworn enemies of the Ancients, also see themselves as gods and impose their faith by fire. In the saga's twisted logic, humanity's deep fear of fire might be no accident.

Gods of Greece and beyond

Beyond Egypt, the saga borrows from everywhere: Cronus and the Greek Titans, Nirrti from the Hindu pantheon, Svarog from Slavic myth. Every ancient civilization becomes former Goa'uld territory.

Atlantis, a myth turned around

The lost city of Atlantis, swallowed by the sea according to Plato, becomes in Stargate an Ancient ship that left for another galaxy. The franchise loves taking a well-known legend and giving it a science-fiction explanation.

SG-1: canceled, then continued on film

SG-1 ended after ten seasons, while the show was still going strong. To give its arcs a real conclusion, two direct-to-DVD movies followed right after, The Ark of Truth and Continuum, closing out the Ori and Goa'uld storylines.

Atlantis cut off mid-flight

Stargate Atlantis ended after five seasons, it too in good health. A wrap-up movie was hoped for to continue the city's adventure, but it never happened, leaving some threads hanging.

Universe and its cliffhanger

Stargate Universe ended after two seasons on one of the most frustrating cliffhangers in the franchise: the crew in stasis aboard Destiny, headed for another galaxy. The follow-up was never filmed.

Movies that never made it

Several feature film projects were announced to reopen the gate, but none made it all the way. Changes of ownership and strategy at the studio killed off those revivals, much to the fans' frustration.

The fandom keeps the flame alive

Despite all that, the community never let go. Prop replicas, conventions, channels, fan associations: the Save Stargate movement shows that a saga can stay alive long after its last broadcast.