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Stargate SG-1 Creator Reveals Real-Life Star Wars Tech That Could’ve Made “All the Difference”
Real-life sci-fi tech has come a long way in a few decades.
A key piece of the puzzle for the long-running SYFY series Stargate SG-1 was the promise of visiting a brand new world every week, as the series followed a team of modern day explorers as they mapped out the galaxy one planet at a time.
Which means for the folks making the series, it was a major challenge to dream up and bring to life a different planet design week-in and week-out — all while shooting the beloved sci-fi hit largely in British Columbia in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Series co-creator Brad Wright opened up about the task in a Reddit AMA looking back at his lengthy genre career, and noted it did get hard to keep the worlds looking fresh and unique as the series ran deeper into its 10-season run. That challenge was exacerbated by the way the city of Vancouver continued to grow itself over time, as more and more of the woodlands they’d use as nature locales were developed.
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The one thing he believes would’ve been a game-changer if the series were made now? The massive screens and virtual set technology pioneered on more modern shows like The Mandalorian. With that type of tech a few decades ago, who knows what types of worlds they could’ve dreamed up for the SGC crew?
“Yes, it grew increasingly difficult and frustrating to go out into the woods of British Columbia and pretend it was another planet," Wright wrote. “Especially since Vancouver kept growing into the open spaces we were using. Video walls like those used by the 'Star Wars' series would make all the difference today.”
Stargate SG-1 ran from 1997-2007 and remains one of SYFY’s biggest original hits. The series, based on the 1994 Stargate film, also spawned two spinoff series in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, as well as a few direct-to-DVD sequel films.
Stargate and SG-1 Creators' New SYFY Series: The Ark
Some of the key creatives behind SG-1 and the Stargate film recently reunited for the new SYFY original series The Ark, which was co-created by Dean Devlin (co-writer and producer of the original Stargate film) and Jonathan Glassner (co-creator and longtime producer on SG-1).
The series has much of the same charm, following a team traveling through space the old fashioned way on a ship, instead of a ‘gate. The Ark is set a century in the future and follows the ragtag crew of a spaceship searching for a new planet to call home. The series stars Christie Burke, Richard Fleeshman and Reece Ritchie. Season 2 premieres Wednesday, July 17 at 10/9c. Catch up on Season 1 of The Ark streaming now on Peacock.
