Dailies for Stargate‘s first day of shooting came back with a scratch down the middle of the film.
Stargate SG-1 ended its 10-season, 254-episode run as a pillar of contemporary science fiction. But work on the series had a less than auspicious beginning, including a rough first day of filming on location in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Series lead Richard Dean Anderson and the young cast were filming “Children of the Gods” in February of 1997. Day 1 included several scenes on the planet Chulak, where the team travels after their loved ones are abducted by Apophis (Peter Williams). The weather was rainy and very cold, and the production suffered from some early setbacks.
“I remember once we finished the first day [it felt like] we were about one week behind schedule,” director Mario Azzopardi laughed. A native of Malta, Azzopardi helmed the show’s 2-hour pilot. (His credits also include Stargate Atlantis, The Outer Limits, Total Recall 2070, Highlander, and many more shows we love from the 80s, 90s, and 00s.) In an extensive conversation with “Dial the Gate,” he remembers shooting the episode and dealing with numerous practical challenges – from the Vancouver weather in February to the show’s ambitious visual effects (for 1990s cable TV).
“The standing joke [is that] when I go on set every day I always welcomed my AD [assistant director] with, ‘OK, what’s the problem for the day?’ Because like that, whatever comes in, it’s going to surprise. I go in there knowing that there’s going to be a problem!”
Check out this clip from the conversation:
Not only were conditions on location difficult for the cast and crew, but back at The Bridge Studios the show’s producers made an unfortunate discovery the next morning. SG-1 initially shot on 16-millimeter film, and when the dailies came in they showed a dark scratch all the way down the film.
“We are all professionals, [and] these things happen,” Azzopardi said. “You go into your Winnebago, you close the door, you close the windows … you swear a lot! And then you put on a nice face, a nice smile, you calm down, you ask for a coffee and they bring it to you — and you say, ‘OK, what’s next?’”
With 1997 technology, production would be forced to make due as best they could — cutting around the spoiled shots, or spending money to take on the labor-intensive process of digital image repair. (When Children of the Gods — Final Cut was released on DVD in 2009, the team was able to revisit the episode with newer technology and rescue some of those unused takes.)
Head over to “Dial the Gate” on YouTube to find the full interview with Mario Azzopardi. And subscribe to GateWorld’s YouTube channel for more Stargate content in 2025!
