This journal is a companion site to Stargate SG-1 Solutions, which covers Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and the new Stargate Universe.

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It is with our sincerest condolences that we announce the passing of Jan Rubes at the age of 89. He was known to Stargate SG-1 fans as Dr. Daniel Jackson's grandfather Nick Ballard. Our Solutions Blog announcement was made early enough that a detailed biography wasn't available, but since that time, our LJ reader sallye found this wonderful article by CBC News Canada. Thanks, Sallye.

The Stargate Franchise

Last week's poll revealed that many of our readers are prepared to buy DVDs to show their support. I put in my vote for Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods (Final Cut) before I read the official synopsis. Their summary was so off-putting that I seriously considered withdrawing my preorder. Did this synopsis dampen your enthusiasm like it did mine? Let's take a vote!

Poll #1424658 Official Synopsis for Children of the Gods Final Cut
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Did the official synopsis for the "Children of the Gods - Final Cut" DVD dampen your enthsiasm for purchasing the DVD?

I got my Stargate Atlantis Season Five DVD set! Did you? What was the first thing you watched? Our very own Michelle watched the Deleted Scenes Features. What is your opinion of the scenes that were deleted? Did you agree with their being taken out?

MGM is revamping their website and preparing for a big reveal (last I read [jeni_blogspot], it was supposed to be this coming Thursday, July 9). Producer Joseph Mallozzi explained, "Hey, to all those wondering what the heck is up, http://stargate.mgm.com/ will be down for a few days as they gear up for their SGU-heavy re-launch. Keep checking back because there are BIG THINGS UNIVERSE headed your way in the coming weeks." This might fill the lull I was anticipating during their month-long filming hiatus that has commenced as of this writing.

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Conventions/Appearances )

Take care! See you next week!

Chicago Tribune is reporting that there will be a couple of Farscape panels at this year's San Diego Comic Con and Stargate SG-1 stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black will be there! Farscape is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Their panel will be Friday, July 24, at 10:15 a.m. in Room 6BCEF.

Additionally, there's going to be another Farscape panel for the comic books!

Amazon.com is running a special today on the Complete Series Collection (all 10 seasons) of Stargate SG-1 for the impressive price of $131.99! That's an incredible savings, so if you haven't gotten all seasons yet, now's your chance at an unbelievable price!

TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted the official description of the re-cut version of Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods.

To be frank, I think it really lacks some very important details and isn't at all accurate (Ra?!?!?!?):

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CENTURY CITY, CA - The thrilling feature-length pilot of television's longest running Sci-Fi series, Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods debuts the way it was meant to be seen, as a re-mastered, re-cut and re-imagined Final Cut DVD July 21 from MGM Home Entertainment. Taking after the author's vision of the pilot, visual effects have been enhanced, the soundtrack has been updated to include an entirely original score, and the new final cut features a more self-contained storyline. Picking up the story nearly a year after the original 1994 Stargate film, Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods follows Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson, "MacGyver") and Major Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping, "Sanctuary") as they join an outstanding Stargate team on a mission to the planet Abydos in order to defeat a band of warriors led by their nemesis Ra. With the threat of the brutal Gou'ald hanging over the entire galaxy, the team must succeed in order to stop General Hammond (Don S. Davis, Stargate: Continuum™) from unleashing his own ominous solution. The only television series ever to receive the United States Air Force Seal of Approval, "Stargate SG-1™" has earned 22 Leo Award nominations - including nine wins - eight Emmy nominations, four Saturn Awards and two Gemini Awards during its landmark run. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes fan favorites Michael Shanks ("Stargate: Universe™") and Christopher Judge (Stargate: Continuum), this ultimate realization of the series' iconic launch includes exclusive all-new bonus features as well as a masterful fine-tuning from series Executive Producer Brad Wright. Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods will be available for $26.98 U.S. / $37.98 Canada.

[...]

Synopsis:

Re-mastered. Re-cut. Re-imagined… Remarkable! The thrilling pilot episode of television's longest running Sci-Fi series is available to own on DVD. With exclusive special features and masterful fine-tuning from series Executive Producer Brad Wright, Stargate SG-1™: Children of the Gods Final Cut is the ultimate realization of the series' iconic launch. Written by Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright. Directed by Mario Azzopardi.

Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter join a formidable Stargate team on a mission to Abydos to defeat fierce warriors led by the vicious Ra. With the threat of the brutal Gou'ald hanging over the galaxy, the team must succeed - or General Hammond will unleash an apocalyptic solution!

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If this is how they re-cut it, I think I just might cancel that pre-order. What do you think? And what's this about Michael Shanks and Stargate Universe?

The Stargate Franchise

From last week's poll, it appears that the majority of our readers are confident that both Stargate movies will be made, even while MGM is suffering financially and DVD sales have gone down. Of those who thought only one movie would be made, the majority believes that it will be SG-1's.

Both movies are sitting pretty much in the same position at the moment: the scripts have been completed (at least the first or second drafts) and the sets are still standing (more completely for Stargate Atlantis than for Stargate SG-1, but at least both stages are still being used by the Stargate crews), but no production date has been given. Extra hoops have to be jumped through for the SGA movie because the Sci Fi Channel (they become Syfy on July 7 with the premiere of Warehouse 13) has their hands in the production pie, whereas the SG-1 movie is strictly an MGM-backed deal.

Still, we're hopeful that shooting will begin in November for both movies.

In order to let the studio, network, and producers know that we support them, we have to purchase the DVDs. It's like a ratings thing, but with dollars instead of C3 ratings points. We already know that Stargate Atlantis Season Five will be released starting June 30 in Region 1; Stargate SG-1's Children of the Gods remix, July 21; and a new package of all of Stargate Atlantis' seasons (five in all), October 6 (according to TVShowsOnDVD.com). So, here's the question:

Poll #1421523 Stargate DVD Sales
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which upcoming Stargate DVDs do you plan to purchase? (check all that apply)

Switching gears a bit, the maker of some of Stargate's celebratory cakes was interviewed by the Examiner in Philadelphia. Thomas Haas made a cake that appeared in Twilight's New Moon movie, but he also made SG-1's 100th episode cake and one for SGA. We knew that several of our Stargate actors can be seen in the Twilight productions, but we had no idea that the cakes were also something else the two productions had in common! ;)

And speaking of our Stargate actors, Gatecon 2010 (July 8-11, 2010) tickets are going on sale soon! The guest list hasn't been released yet, but in the past, even seldom-convention-attending Richard Dean Anderson appeared there in 2008. Speaking of RDA, the folks who arrange Amanda Tapping's events, GABIT, and LEGENDS Memorabilia are working on one for "The Man" himself. And what are they calling it? "Meet The Man". This event is planned for August 5-8, 2010, in Vancouver. To keep up with the latest news, visit RDAnderson.com, Rick's official website.

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Big Finish )( Worlds )( Conventions/Appearances )

As always, take care and I'll be seeing you soon!

Congratulations go to Lou Diamond Phillips who won the competitions in NBC's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! last night!

"This experience is head and shoulders and far to the left of anything I've ever done," said Phillips. "No movie set ever compared to this -- this is the real deal and it's been an amazing trip."

Lou played for the Art Has Heart Foundation. Their official website appears to be stretched beyond its bandwidth limits with the news!

Congratulations again, Lou! We're proud of you!

[Cross posted at sgu_destiny]

Visit Stargate SG-1 on HULU to see Season Four! Have you been re-watching?

Season Four is when DVD commentaries began. Make sure to visit our DVD Commentaries feature here on our LJ. An index to all the commentaries that we've done so far can be found in our DVD Extras Index.

The Stargate Franchise

MGM is the studio behind the Stargate franchise, and like many others, its finances are suffering through some difficult times. Because of this, our own Michelle wonders if there is further delay on the movies. Read it and let us know what you think:

Poll #1418227 The future of the Stargate movies
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you think that the Stargate movies will ever be made?

If you'd like to follow an actor who has guest starred on Stargate, Joseph Mallozzi has a list of ten to start with.

Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary Season One boxed set of four discs is coming out September 15 in Region 1 (North America) and October 19 in Region 2 (Europe).

Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Savela now has his own Twitter. He's working on Stargate Universe now, but has had extensive Stargate experience, especially on Atlantis for which his team has won awards!

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Worlds )( Conventions/Appearances )

Solutions

Solutions celebrated its Stargate Wiki's fifth anniversary (or birthday--whatever you want to call it as long as there's cake!) this past week! Thanks to all who use it and work on it to make it special! Here's hoping that the next five years will be just as informative and exciting! :)

Take care and I'll see you next time! :)

TV Shows on DVD has an announcement that the first season of Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary will be released on DVD on September 15 in Region 1 (North America). Visit the announcement to see the box art, which includes Tapping, Christopher Heyerdahl, Emilie Ullerup, and Robin Dunne.

On June 14, 2004, our Stargate Wiki's Main Page was born! Now, we're up to 2632 pages and over 11.5 million hits! :)

Let's party!

Howdy, everyone!

The Stargate Franchise

There's a request that Stargate fans come with all of their collectibles and in costume for auditions for a reality show in Los Angeles! Solutions Blog has the details on how to register. Good luck to all of you who plan to participate! :) [Update: This offer has been canceled due to lack of interest.]

Robert Picardo will be available for autographs and photo ops tomorrow, June 13, at the Frank & Son Collectible Show in City of Industry, California. He's there for Star Trek Day, but maybe you can still talk Stargate with him. ;) See our Conventions section below for details.

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Worlds )( Conventions/Appearances )

Ta-da! See you next time! :)

We've added a few photos of the cast of SGU to our Gallery over at the main site. :)

I'm back! Did you miss me? Thanks to aurora_novarum for doing the reporting last week during my absence. I suffered an injury to my ankle and was resting where there was no Internet connection! But, I'm semi-recovered -- at least enough to get downstairs and get online to talk to y'all. :)

The Stargate Franchise

Rachel Luttrell told Sci Fi Now that filming might begin in November for the Stargate Atlantis movie Stargate: Extinction. This corresponds with the end of filming of Stargate Universe (possibly October 23) and Richard Dean Anderson's availability for a charity lunch on set of the yet-to-be-named SG-1 movie that is supposed to film around the same time.

MGM was in the news during the week concerning selling licensing agreements all over the world. Of course, Stargate was mentioned, since it's been said that it is MGM's second largest franchise after James Bond. The new Stargate Universe is going to be aired in the fall in the United States (Syfy), Canada (SPACE), and the UK (Sky) that we know of, but it looks like MGM is looking to expand on that.

Two other interviews that might be of interest to both SG-1 and Atlantis fans were done by Robert Picardo for Moviehole and director Andy Mikita for Sci Fi and TV Talk. Edited to add: Robert Picardo's episode of Pushing Daisies premieres in the US on Saturday, June 6, at 10 PM on ABC.

Samantha Carter was voted eighth in the "Top Women of Sci Fi" poll conducted by totalscifionline.com and reported in The Press Association. The number one female was Sigourney Weaver's Ripley from the Alien movies.

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Conventions/Appearances )


Until next time...take care! :)

Tonight is the two-hour premiere of NBC's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! contest for charity at 8/7c and Stargate Universe star Lou Diamond Phillips would like your votes! :)

The official website describes the show: "A groundbreaking, live event airing throughout the month of June it's the ultimate "Swiss Family Robinson" as ten celebrities are dropped into the heart of the jungle [Costa Rica] to face fun and comedic challenges designed to test their survival skills. America is the puppet master, controlling their favorites by putting them into challenges and tasks to win food, supplies and luxury items. In each episode, friendships will be tested, hilarity will ensue and viewers will decide which celebrities stay or leave. While all participants will be playing for their favorite charities, the last remaining star will be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle, winning the largest share of the prize for donation."

Phillips' Celebrity biography can be read HERE, but surprisingly enough, neither Lou's selected charity nor Stargate Universe got mentioned! In any case, Lou has asked that you submit your votes for him so that he can stay as long as possible in the challenge, which will broadcast various weeknights from now until June 24 (check your local listings or the NBC website for times).

Good luck, Lou!

If you haven't seen the movie, but do want to enjoy the beauty of the Stargate men in the epic Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, hop over to our gallery of the best of Shanks and Bourne from the recently released DVD of movie... Avoid the horror, bask in the pretty! Warning: page 2 of gallery has spoilers.

Our regular Friday contributor never_at_home is laid up and offline for a bit, so you get substitute briefer me! Heh.

Stargate Atlantis Season/Series Five DVD release dates have finally been announced. Read all about what extras are (and aren't) there at our news entry.

Joe Flanigan (SGA's John Sheppard) has scored a guest spot on SciFi's new series Warehouse 13. Perhaps he'll complete a Stargate "six degrees of separation" with one of the actors associated with the series: prolific actor Saul Rubinek. Stargate SG-1 viewers will recognize Rubinek as Emmett Bregman of SG-1's Heroes Part 1 and Heroes Part 2.

Sadly, the pilot "The Eastmans" which Michael Shanks was due to recur as guest in, did not get picked up for CBS's fall schedule.


The Stargate Universe episode originally titled "Fire" (link leads to spoilers) is now a two parter episode, titled "Darkness" and "Light". (So much for their elements theme). Both to be/have been directed by Peter DeLuise.

In convention news, Creation Entertainment has made announcements regarding its Los Angeles Stargate Convention, scheduled for November 6-8. Guests will include Michael Shanks, Ben Browder (unsurprising since apparently a Farscape con is happening the same time), Cliff Simon, and just announced: Robert Picardo and Paul McGillion.

I think that's the highlights, at least so far as the more cubby reporters like me have found.

The Stargate Franchise

Here is some interesting news concerning the streaming of Stargate SG-1 (and perhaps Stargate Atlantis) on HULU: There's a possibility that fans in the UK will be able to view many American television offerings come this September! There are some kinks that have to be worked out, especially with who will have control over the advertisements, but things do appear to be hopeful (and Stargate was specifically mentioned in the article)! Right now, HULU is geo-coded to the United States and has the first 12 episodes of Season Five of Atlantis and the first three seasons of SG-1, with the promise of more to come. It's a thrilling prospect for HULU to possibly be extending their "borders", if you will, and so we'll have to keep an eye on this as it develops.

Because Amanda Tapping starred in both SG-1 and Atlantis, the fact that she did an interview with Moviehole is placed in the franchise section of this report. :) The report at Solutions Blog covers only a small bit of the Stargate portion of the interview, so if you want more details, including those about Santuary, you'll need to visit Moviehole directly.

I also just got an alert in my morning's e-mail about another interview Amanda did for Sci Fi in Australia. This one is definitely focused on Sanctuary more than on Stargate, but it should be noted that Amanda was very positive about having Christopher Judge guest on her new show. Concerning her former co-stars, she said, "Oh, I’ve asked them point blank [to appear on the show]! Chris Judge came and visited our set a few weeks ago. I knew it was him because I was sitting in my trailer and there was this POUNDING on my door. 'Oh wow, this sounds familiar.' And I opened the door and there’s Chris. He was, like, 'why haven’t I been on your show?!' 'Of course. Of course you’ll be on the show.'" Michael Shanks pointed out in a recent audio interview that when he and Amanda touched bases with each other at the Vancouver Creation Con back in April that he would most likely not appear on the show because of Amanda's desire to keep the two franchises as separate as possible, but a role for Christopher on the show has been talked about for quite some time now (when the show was still web-based).

Exclusive to this LJ Companion, there are a few articles that celebrate the achievements of some of the guest stars of the Stargates as they take on leading roles in some of the new shows that got picked up for the 2009-2010 season. Read about Cory Monteith, Jamie Ray Newman, and Morena Baccarin all getting highly-visible roles in their new shows. We'd also like to take the time to recognize a few other actors who had small or one-time roles on Stargate who went on to higher-visibility roles on shows such as Battlestar Galactica, but have also moved on to even larger projects with leading roles: Aaron Douglas, Ona Grauer, and Frank Cassini in the Canadian series The Bridge, which will be on CBS; and (belatedly) Tahmoh Penikett in his second season of Dollhouse. I'm sure there are many others, so apologies in advance for their being unintentionally overlooked.

( SG-1 )( Atlantis )( Universe )( Worlds/Team Stargate Worlds )( Conventions/Appearances )

And, that's a wrap! See you next time! :)

Two of our Stargate guest stars have high-profile leading roles on ABC shows in the 2009-2010 season!

Jamie Ray Newman as Kat Gardener in Eastwick

Jamie Ray Newman, who played Lt. Laura Cadman on Stargate Atlantis, has a leading role as one of the three women given supernatural powers by a mysterious man in Eastwick. This show will premiere in the fall and will air on Wednesdays at 10pm on ABC.

The homepage: http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/index?pn=eastwick
Spoiler TV (videos, pictures, spoilers): http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/search/label/Eastwick

Morena Baccarin as Anna in V

Morena Baccarin, who played Adria on Stargate SG-1, has a leading role as the alien leader Anna in the remake of V. This series was picked up by ABC for a mid-season premiere. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, there could be four seasons of 13-22 episodes each.

The homepage: http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/index?pn=v
Spoiler TV (videos, pictures, spoilers): http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/search/label/V

From The Huffington Post: "Hey, there's a little bit of Minnesota in Malibu, according to June Architectural Digest's "Midwest Meets Malibu," taking us to actor Richard Dean Anderson's home, where the former "MacGyver" star lives with his 10-year-old daughter in a house partly reflecting how the Minneapolis native always "swooned at the sight of the classic barn structure in central and northern Minnesota." It's a neat-looking, rustic combo of his Midwest nostalgia, the reality of a beach lifestyle and, presumably, "MacGyver" residuals."

Pick up the June issue of the magazine for the beautiful pictures. A fan scanned the feature from pages 78-85, but they just don't do it justice!

How would you feel about their making the skit MacGruber into a movie? Seriously. You might ask "They're actually talking about this?" According to these two articles, they are:

G4 TV: The Feed: SNL Sketch, 'MacGruber' To Become A Movie? - Explores the pros and cons, including the confusion with the canon of MacGyver.

Slash Film: SNL to Make MacGruber Movie? - "It works as a sketch, which almost always ends with the bomb exploding. But could it work as a 95 minute comedy? I think I would rather see The Lonely Island guys develop an original comedic project." This site also has the videos of each skit, including the ones that had our very own Richard Dean Anderson reprising his role and claiming to be MacGruber's father! Oy!

Poll #1402585 MacGruber Movie?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you want to see SNL's MacGruber made into a movie?