There are some major Stargate connections throughout Dark Matter, but more so than usual in the Season 2 premiere. For instance, director Amanda Tapping played the part of Samantha Carter on the long-running SG-1. Other cast and guest stars with a Stargate past include Jodelle Ferland (Five), Mike Dopud (Arax, pictured) and Carlo Rota (Warden Treihan). Dark Matter creators and executive producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie also served as long-time writer-producers on the franchise.
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MILD SPOILER: This episode and Episode 12: "Sometimes In Life You Don't Get to Choose" hold the distinction of being the only two episodes of the Dark Matter's second season in which the title doesn't appear as a line of dialogue in the finished episode. In this case, "Welcome to Your New Home," uttered by head guard Durand upon the Raza crew's entrance to Hyperion-8, ended up on the cutting room floor.
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The impressive scope of Hyperion-8's Gen Pop area was helped along by Visual Effects Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson and his team as they utilized blue screen to triple the size of the section.
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The decontamination sequence that opens the episode also included a moment in which an electrical charge pulsed over the prisoners ... but the effect was cut for time.
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Also cut for time was a few seconds off the top of the first Warden scene in which Six checks out the pictures hanging on the walls of the Warden's office, artwork from "a bunch of first graders over at Admiral Farragut Elementary on Torren-5's third moon." One particularly awesome picture is accompanied by the words: "My dad stole thingz and in your jail now. Say hi from Timmy."
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The 'sim yard' scenes were shot on one of the coldest, most miserable days in December. The crew would shoot and then quickly head back to a heated tent between set-ups.
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The prison food dispensers are featured in close-ups but never appear in any wide shots. They were so heavy and moving them required so much effort that the decision was made to sideline them at the risk of slowing down the shooting day.
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In an early draft of the script, Derrick Moss’s lawyer, Felicia Brand, is also shot in the episode’s closing sequence. Also, the part of Felicia Brand was originally going to be played by director Amanda Tapping but the episode proved very demanding and the role was given to Trenna Keating (who, by the way, played Doc Yewll in Defiance).
