As I said last week when I gave away some autographed posters, I watched the first few episodes of "Stargate Universe" and was impressed. I thought "SGU" has a great concept and if they do it right, it could be some really cool TV. To help promote the show, Syfy held a press day on the Vancouver set and I was lucky enough to go.
While I usually have to transcribe on-set interviews, Syfy gave us all DVDs of the event! This means you can watch the entire conversation with the cast. And now that many of you have seen the first two episodes of "SGU", I think you'll really enjoy seeing the cast talk about their characters and what's coming up. Hit the jump to see the interview and read my thoughts about the set of "Stargate Universe":
The first thing to know about the set visit is that Syfy was promoting four shows. We started the day on the set of "Stargate Universe", but after that set visit ended, we raced to "Caprica", then "Sanctuary", and closed our day by talking to the stars of "Alice" and the director. So in the coming weeks, expect more coverage of Syfy's other upcoming shows.
I've been lucky to visit many sets, but the level of detail on the "SGU" set was impressive. Also, the size of the Destiny ship surprised me. They clearly built this set to last for many seasons, and walking the hallways and sitting on some of the chairs, I could only imagine how many "Stargate" fans wished they could be there.
While many things impressed me with their level of detail, here's an example of how well the set was designed: In the room with the Stargate, towards the back, they have some stand-up terminals. I casually started pushing buttons on one of them and was a bit shocked that everything I pushed had a light that worked. I felt if I wasn't careful, I could open the Stargate.
As I walked the corridors, I could stare at a wall panel and believe it was funneling energy or whatever was needed to make the ship fly. Another thing that was great about the corridor was the way certain areas would release a vapor of some kind. I guess it was set to go off randomly, so when they were filming you couldn't plan for it, and you would have to react. This level of detail and design that most viewers will probably never notice are proof of the care and effort that went into crafting this amazing set.
Now that I've dazzled you with details of a set you're now dying see, I know you're also curious what the cast had to say. While you can watch the entire interview below, here are some bullet points for some of the things I learned during the interview.
-- They are currently filming episode 19 of 20. The last two episodes are a two part finale and it's called "Incursion".
-- The cast blames David Blue for getting them into Twitter. The press conference has a lot of talk about Twitter.
-- Half way through the season something major happens and you'd think it would be impossible for all of them to live together....but they do.
-- The set has around 3,000 lights
-- They use 5 soundstages for all the "Stargate" shows. They still have the sets for SG-1 and Atlantis up.
-- According to the costume department, some members of the cast have extra costumes and some don't which means some of the characters will be wearing their one costume for a long time.
-- The reason they can travel so far on "SGU" is their Stargate uses 9 chevrons. I learned that the movie and "SG-1" used 7 chevrons when dialing. "Stargate Atlantis" used 8. But the key to traveling so far is dialing with a 9th chevron.
And now, here's the entire press conference with the cast and Brad Wright. As you'll quickly see, they all get along and were laughing at many of the questions and answers. I've been on some sets where the chemistry doesn't seem to be there. This was not one of them.
Finally, let me say one more time, "SGU" is definitely worth checking out. I'd never seen any "Stargate" show before watching this one and I didn't have any problems jumping right into this one. "Stargate Universe" airs Friday nights at 9/8c on Syfy.
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