MGM Announces New Original Series "Stargate Origins"

[Falcon Horus]

The gate looks like plastic and too modern (yes it's higtech, but the ancients made those gates rugged on purpose! They aren't polished and shiny! The only shiny gate I know was made by the Tollan! Even Pegasus gates don't look that shiny and they supposedly are the last ones made by the Ancients!)

The gate in the trailer actually looks like an unfinished 3D-render, like they ran out of money to texture it or make it look more realistic. It wouldn't surprise me if the shot is really an unfinished render and it will perhaps look better when it's streaming.

I don't plan to buy the all access pass, but I was kind of hoping that if it was good we might have a chance to purchase all the episodes at once, like on DVD. I think the short episodes would drive me nuts to watch separately.

If it makes any difference, Mercedes Bryce something something, the director, said she approached as a film so therefore the 10-minute episodes are more likely to easily flow into one another. It might make the transition from one episode into the next less jarring perhaps.

If this is released on DVD some day, you won't even notice it was once cut up for a webstream.

[mooseman]

There's still a chance they can follow canon. Remember, Littlefield was the first gate usage they had records of. Even then in the episode they acknowledge the records they have could be incomplete. It could be simply Prof. Langford's account of the Origins event was lost (probably in the box next to the Ark of the Covenant). Now, the problem is why didn't Catherine know? I have theories, but I'll keep them to myself for now.

[mooseman]

This was posted by the Official SGC account in the SGC forum regarding a thread about canon:

"We do have some hardcore fans on the team, and every member of the team gets that canon is important to fans. In that spirit, every move we made was checked against it."

>snicker< Uh-huh. We'll see.


http://www.stargatecommand.co/forums...d6b319f3f382a2

[Falcon Horus]

Ernest Littlefield says that they tried hundreds of permutations when they were turning the ring around -- aimlessly hoping they would get something out of it. That it would do something.

If Langford Sr. knew how the gate operated and had access to an address -- why were they spinning the wheel like hoping to make a connection? Guessing around?

Also, just a notion... but why does it look like Langford's working together with Colonel Bridge -- or is that just a clever way of trailer editing, cause it looks like he's working with the Germans here.

[NickEast]

There's still a chance they can follow canon. Remember, Littlefield was the first gate usage they had records of. Even then in the episode they acknowledge the records they have could be incomplete. It could be simply Prof. Langford's account of the Origins event was lost (probably in the box next to the Ark of the Covenant). Now, the problem is why didn't Catherine know? I have theories, but I'll keep them to myself for now.

But the flashbacks in that same episode say differently. They are supposed to present a context beyond the known records, also because it was being told by Catherine herself, from her perspective. And that shows in many ways that she was never involved, mainly because her father believed it was no place for a young woman. Catherine and her father are vastly different in Origins (at least suggested by the trailer) than their depiction six years later in "Torment of Tantalus". In fact, Connor Trinneer's appearance is closer to Erik Holland's appearance in the 1994 film, than Langford's appearance in "Torment".

Which brings me to my next point, how are they going to explain the fact that the gate looks different? I understand the budget limitations, but why did they make it look like the gate from the film? Why is the top chevron different, why does every chevron "lock", and why aren't they red? If I see the whirlpool behind the gate as it activates, like in the film, I'll lose it. The gate never magically changed appearance, since the 1945 flashbacks/footage still show the SG-1 design of the gate.

My point is, the problem isn't just canonical, it's also aesthetic. And both Catherine and her father are vastly different than their portrayal in Torment of Tantalus, concerning both the knowledge they appear to possess, and their personalities. Missing records can't explain all of it, and writer tricks sure as hell are a rookie mistake. As an aspiring writer I constantly hear experienced writers saying that you should be honest and not hide behind tricks to make a story make sense.

Also, just a notion... but why does it look like Langford's working together with Colonel Bridge -- or is that just a clever way of trailer editing, cause it looks like he's working with the Germans here.

Maybe the writers read the RPG book, it makes sense. The book (written before Continuum revealed that the gate was brought straight from Egypt to America in 1939) told that Langford was actually German (as opposed to Norwegian/Swedish) and brought the gate to Germany. When WWII broke out, he and Catherine fled to America while the Stargate was used by Nazi occultists to unknowingly travel to another planet (a third one, neither Abydos nor Heliopolis) which they called "Heaven" for obvious reasons. Eventually, Langford convinced the US government to steal the Stargate and bring it to America, leading to the events in 1945.

[mooseman]

Maybe Langford was purposefully avoiding the Abydos address in the 1945 experiments.
And perhaps in Origins, Bridge has the DHD.

The Torment flashbacks were told from Catherine's POV, so provides only what she knew at the time.
Maybe Langford kept the events from Origins from Littlefield.

I'm guessing they used the film gate design to match the 1994 footage they're using.

[NickEast]

I'm guessing they used the film gate design to match the 1994 footage they're using.

Which proves most of our points here that it's not following canon, because SG-1 changed the appearance of the gate for a number of reasons, and MGM said they are following canon. They also said (well Stargate Command said it) that everyone who works on it are fans of Stargate, but then I'm wondering what Stargate? The film? Or the TV franchise? Because they have considerable differences, which it appears are being ignored by the writers.

[Falcon Horus]

Maybe the writers read the RPG book, it makes sense. The book (written before Continuum revealed that the gate was brought straight from Egypt to America in 1939) told that Langford was actually German (as opposed to Norwegian/Swedish) and brought the gate to Germany. When WWII broke out, he and Catherine fled to America while the Stargate was used by Nazi occultists to unknowingly travel to another planet (a third one, neither Abydos nor Heliopolis) which they called "Heaven" for obvious reasons. Eventually, Langford convinced the US government to steal the Stargate and bring it to America, leading to the events in 1945.

Well damn...

Though Ellie Gall has distinctly American accent in the trailer, so if they were German Catherine would be speaking with a German accent instead of an American (cudos to Ellie whose Australian accent is never heard once in the trailer -- by which I mean, that sometimes British, or Irish or Australian actors miss the beat (Lena Luthor by Katie McGrath missing a beat gives me warm fuzzy feelings hearing just a tinge of her Irish accent)).

[mooseman]

Which proves most of our points here that it's not following canon, because SG-1 changed the appearance of the gate for a number of reasons, and MGM said they are following canon. They also said (well Stargate Command said it) that everyone who works on it are fans of Stargate, but then I'm wondering what Stargate? The film? Or the TV franchise? Because they have considerable differences, which it appears are being ignored by the writers.

Or they simply wanted to avoid having to explain why they have the film gate when they unbury it and then the SG1 gate in Langford's facility.

Regardless, I think the gate looks bad. I know they probably had severe budgetary restrictions, but dang.

[Falcon Horus]

Regardless, I think the gate looks bad. I know they probably had severe budgetary restrictions, but dang.

Maybe it's not finished yet -- sometimes unfinished renders are used for trailer/teaser purposes, especially in low-budget productions, so perhaps it'll look spectacular later.... (but if it doesn't then it's just sad)

[NickEast]

Or they simply wanted to avoid having to explain why they have the film gate when they unbury it and then the SG1 gate in Langford's facility.

Yet there's a scene from the episode "Memento" where a Stargate on another planet is unearthed in a similar way which had been used several times to re-enact the scene from the film, specifically because of the differences between the film and show prop. There is no excuse here. They shouldn't have used the scene from the film (at least not the parts that showed the gate). If their excuse is as you say it, then how would they explain the differences with the gate in SG-1?

On that note, the film depicts both Catherine and her father to be Scandinavian (either Norwegian or Swedish, since Erik Holland who plays her father was Norwegian, and Viveca Lindfors who plays Catherine was Swedish), yet suddenly, they both have American accents in Origins, through "Tantalus" and "1969", back to Swedish in 1995/6, and back to American in SG-1.

On the note that the gate looks like a fake 3D render, to me it actually looks like a proper prop (no pun intended). It just looks like real physical material as opposed to CGI.

[Falcon Horus]

On the note that the gate looks like a fake 3D render, to me it actually looks like a proper prop (no pun intended). It just looks like real physical material as opposed to CGI.

Correction, I didn't say it looked fake. I just mentioned, it looks like an unfinished 3D render. They are quite real, you know.

[mooseman]

The gate is a physical prop. All Access >ahem< has a short featurette about it being assembled.

Good point about the gate recovery footage in Memento, I had forgotten about that.

[NickEast]

Aha. Well, I think, aesthetic differences aside, it looks decent. I mean, it does look somewhat plastic, and low-budget of course, but decent enough with some metallic shininess to it. And it appears to spin and the chevrons move, so sure.

[mooseman]

Yeah, it's the plastic look to it that's off putting to me.