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Every one of you volunteered for this
and you represent over a dozen countries.

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You are the world's best and brightest.

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And in light of the adventure we are about
to embark on, you're also the bravest.

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l hope we all return one day
having discovered

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a whole new realm
for humanity to explore.

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But as all of you know,
we may never be able to return home.

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l'd like to offer you all one last chance
to withdraw your participation.

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Begin the dialling sequence.

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OK, Atlantis.

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lt started with, obviously,
the movie Stargate.

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There was a ring,
it took you to other places.

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There was the show Stargate SG-1.

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There was a ring,
it took you to other places.

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Now there's Atlantis and there's a ring
and it takes you to other places.

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At the end of Season 7 of Stargate SG-1,

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the heroes of that show find an alien
outpost in Antarctica, under the ice.

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And it reveals the location of the
long-sought-after lost city of the Ancients.

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The Ancients are the race of aliens
who, we believe, built the Stargates

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and deposited them all over the galaxy.

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Since Season 1 ,

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we introduced the concept
that the original Stargate on Earth

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was in Antarctica -
that was the episode ''Solitudes''.

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So, in a way, l've been planting the seeds
for this spin-off series since then.

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The original premise for Stargate Atlantis

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was that the city that we find
was indeed under the ice of Antarctica.

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When Sci-fi approached us with MGM

27
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and said that they wanted to do
both series simultaneously,

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Robert and l had to go and come up
with a variation on that concept,

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which was that, yes,
we find an outpost in Antarctica

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but that leads us
to where the real lost city is

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which is, in fact, in the Pegasus galaxy.

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The whole city upped and flew away
and went somewhere else.

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The Ancients' city, which is actually sorta
more of a ship-city than a city, or a ship,

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it's kind of a city that flies.

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lt takes off and goes
to another whole galaxy.

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Once they're there,
they basically do what they do,

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and that is, build Stargates, put them
on a whole bunch of other planets, then,

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kind of like a big, galaxy-wide
science experiment, start life, human life,

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on all the planets
capable of supporting human life.

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And this changed
the series concept significantly.

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Originally, it was going to be set
in our galaxy.

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But the beauty of setting it
in another galaxy

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is that we're essentially resetting
the whole adventure back to zero.

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We're starting in Pegasus
in a place very similar

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to where SG-1 started in our galaxy.

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- What have we missed?
- Not much.

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Here, as before,
we built a system of Stargates,

48
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so that fledgling civilisations
could travel between the stars,

49
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exchange knowledge and friendship.

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But it wasn't a perfect place.
lt wasn't Eden, after all.

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Eventually, they found out that there was
a sleeping enemy there called the Wraith.

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These were sort of super-bad guys
who were equally as powerful,

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even more so than the Ancients.

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As it turns out, these Wraith kind of
liked to suck the life energy out of things.

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They grew to kinda like the taste
of the life energy of humans

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and started to feed on the humans
that were in that galaxy.

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lnitially, the words
that came down the pipe were gothic,

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and dark, and that the Wraith
were a breed of vampires,

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not in the standard sense of the word

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because they didn't suck blood,
they were essence stealers.

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Then we had
to physically flesh these guys out.

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Quite honestly, it was very wide open
from a creative standpoint.

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At that point, the Wraith had wings.

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We were looking at them more
as animalistic rather than human form.

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But after initial drawings
started going out,

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it became very evident that their view
of the Wraith was that they were dark,

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they were evil and yet they had
an underlying beauty to them.

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We went through
a multitude of stages after that

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where the look changed subtly
from drawing to drawing to drawing.

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The wardrobe concepts
went back and forth.

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Ultimately,
it was gloriously hideous on the day.

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The Ancients were undermanned,

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completely overwhelmed
by this terrible enemy.

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The survivors of that siege
that went on for maybe 100 years

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decided that the only thing they could do
was to sink the city under the water

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on this alien planet in the Pegasus galaxy.

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That's the story Plato heard.

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He heard the story that 10,000 years ago

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this ancient city
that was great and powerful

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sank into the ocean during a great war.

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So it did happen,
it just didn't happen on Earth.

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And now we go there
kind of seeking new power sources

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for our own Ancient technology
that we've discovered,

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that we're using in the defence of Earth
and to fight the Goa'uld,

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and also to possibly meet
some of those Ancients

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and, you know, see what's going on
in this other galaxy.

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We end up getting trapped there
and have to deal with the scary Wraith.

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That's just the short version.

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The old saying, if l ever had a chance
to do this again, we're getting that chance.

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Everything, hopefully,
that we learned in those seven years,

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now going into eight years, of SG-1,
we're applying to Atlantis.

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Things like the puddle jumper.

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This framework in the set represents
the dimensions of a puddle jumper.

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Now we can have a vehicle,
because we didn't build it,

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because it was of Ancient construction,

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that can fly through the Stargate and take
us wherever we need on the alien planet.

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lt's something that we just simply
couldn't have purpose-built

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anywhere in the early years of SG-1.

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Of course, by the time we were thinking
of Atlantis, l wanted to save it for that.

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- Gate ship one ready to go, sir.
- Gate ship one?

101
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- No, no, no, that's all wrong.
- What do you mean?

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lt's a ship. lt goes through the gate.
Gate ship one.

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A little puddle jumper like this?

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lt's the first series
l've ever had a hand in creating.

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You know, l started as a story editor
on Stargate SG-1 in the first season.

106
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l was at the read-through of that pilot.

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l have sort of moved my way up
to being an exec producer.

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This opportunity to sort of spin off

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from what has been
an incredibly successful run on SG-1

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is an opportunity
that l think nobody could've passed up.

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When Brad and Robert first came to me

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about doing the end of Season 7,
the Lost City two-parter,

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l was thrilled because l thought, this is a
great way to set up whatever comes next,

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possibly a movie, possibly a new series.

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l had no idea it was going to be
what Atlantis has turned into.

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Atlantis is absolutely an amazing way
of continuing the Stargate saga.

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l think when you're trying
to create a spin-off you have two choices.

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One is that you can take a character
or two from the established series

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and throw them into a new situation

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and it all becomes about the characters
carrying on their own story.

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Or you can take the idea, the mythology,

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that you have in an established series
like Stargate SG-1

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and then you spin
that mythology off in a different way.

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This is what Brad and Robert do well.

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This is why when you do a spin-off with
the same creators, you do the best thing,

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which is you hold the integrity
of the series, of SG-1,

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and you put it into a brand-new package.

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The danger is that your fans
will be disappointed when they see that.

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They're looking for SG-1 and
they're not gonna find it in a new series

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unless that continuity
of the mythology is there

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and you find interactions with characters
that will take them onto the next level.

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So they still get the idea of Stargate SG-1,
still get the mythology of Stargate SG-1,

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that they're very familiar with,
and you get it in a new package,

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and the new package
is absolutely astounding.

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Cut! Very nice. Print that one.
Print both of them, please.

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We had planned, pitched and talked
about Atlantis for some time.

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lt just took a long time
to get the deal done.

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When it finally did get done
in late November,

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the Sci-fi Channel asked us if we could
deliver the show so it could air in July.

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July '04, this year. That was a very short
window to get a series up and running,

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especially while we're doing
Season 8 of SG-1.

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Even though we had pitched the show,
Atlantis,

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we had not started writing a script.

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We didn't have a deal.
Writers don't write without deals.

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So Brad and l thought it over
and talked about it at length.

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But because of the really short window

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and the fact that such a massive set
needed to be built,

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and so many aspects
of the production needed to get going,

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we actually started development
before the script even began.

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Brad and l were looking at plans for
the set before we'd even typed ''Fade in''.

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l remember l had actually sat down
to start typing

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in early December, on the scenes
l was supposed to be working on,

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and Brad called and said, ''l just went into
the stage and the floor is in on the set.''

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''Type faster!''

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Literally, the script was evolving
as the set was going up.

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Granted, we finished faster than they did,
but they had a lot more to build.

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We had roughly seven weeks of prep after
everyone had the script in their hands,

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which is a very, very frightening thing

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when starting up a series,
especially science fiction,

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that depends so much
on props and sets and visual effects.

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The visual effects are already going.

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We have four people working on
computers and doing what we call pre-vis

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and actually doing the visual-effects
shots before we shoot the actual footage,

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which seems a little bit backwards

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but is the only way we're ever gonna get
everything complete and together

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in order to air the show on July 16th
the way we had promised we would.

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- A warm welcome.
- How did you manage to...?

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Keep my ass
from getting blown out of the sky?

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00:12:30,727 --> 00:12:33,685
The exceptional flying
of Major John Shepherd.

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00:12:33,767 --> 00:12:36,440
- He likes it here.
- You like it here?

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00:12:36,527 --> 00:12:39,963
Shepherd is a pilot like Jack O'Neill is.

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00:12:40,607 --> 00:12:46,842
He has the same ''we don't leave people
behind'' core belief that Jack O'Neill has.

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00:12:46,927 --> 00:12:50,920
He uses humour to disarm a situation

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00:12:51,007 --> 00:12:54,363
just like Jack O'Neill does,
or Richard Dean Anderson does.

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00:12:54,447 --> 00:12:59,680
But it comes from, and l think Rick would
back me up on this, a less cynical place.

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00:12:59,767 --> 00:13:04,158
Rick is naturally a cynical person
and that's why he is so funny.

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00:13:07,367 --> 00:13:13,761
ln Joe Flanigan, we found that magic
quality that l think you have to have

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00:13:13,847 --> 00:13:16,315
in the person
who is the centre of your show.

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He is very personally charming,
very personally witty.

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00:13:20,407 --> 00:13:23,956
But he is also a smart actor.
All those things are on the surface.

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00:13:24,047 --> 00:13:28,359
He's also adding a layer of complexity
to his scenes,

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finding those things that you didn't
even know were in there

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00:13:31,567 --> 00:13:34,445
because he's added them,
and that's what stars do.

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l'm playing the part of Dr Elizabeth Weir,

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and she is, like myself, new to all of this.

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00:13:42,407 --> 00:13:46,161
She sort of comes from
a much more political background.

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She fought against the military.

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00:13:48,207 --> 00:13:51,563
From what l understand,
that's also an interesting turn.

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00:13:51,647 --> 00:13:54,286
l believe that Stargate
is very military-based.

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00:13:54,367 --> 00:13:58,599
l don't think she even was aware
of interplanetary relationships

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until a few months
before all this happened.

192
00:14:01,967 --> 00:14:05,164
The first time you meet her in,
l think, Season 7 of Stargate,

193
00:14:05,247 --> 00:14:08,364
that's her first introduction
to the idea of aliens.

194
00:14:08,447 --> 00:14:10,165
So she has a crash course

195
00:14:10,247 --> 00:14:15,196
and all of a sudden finds herself
in charge of a whole new Stargate.

196
00:14:15,287 --> 00:14:21,760
l wanted, from the get-go, to have the
leader of the Atlantis team to be a woman,

197
00:14:21,847 --> 00:14:25,726
because l didn't want a general
to be at the heart of this.

198
00:14:25,807 --> 00:14:30,881
l wanted a civilian leader.
You cannot militarise Antarctica.

199
00:14:31,407 --> 00:14:37,357
So, l thought, well, why not extend that
to the expedition to find Atlantis?

200
00:14:37,447 --> 00:14:41,520
lt is an international team
that is essentially not and cannot be led

201
00:14:41,607 --> 00:14:45,441
by any one military commander
from any given nation,

202
00:14:45,527 --> 00:14:49,156
so that's why Dr Weir
is the perfect candidate.

203
00:14:49,247 --> 00:14:52,523
She is a negotiator.

204
00:14:52,607 --> 00:14:54,996
We wanted somebody
who was a negotiator

205
00:14:55,087 --> 00:14:59,365
at the heart of the leadership of Atlantis
because that is that role.

206
00:14:59,447 --> 00:15:04,965
Then Torri came and did this part and she
was spectacular. She nailed the character.

207
00:15:05,047 --> 00:15:09,882
What Torri gives is a strength to Weir
that is a natural strength.

208
00:15:09,967 --> 00:15:12,925
Cos she just comes across
as a strong person.

209
00:15:13,007 --> 00:15:18,604
Without being supported with overly
heavy-handed dialogue, she's just strong.

210
00:15:18,687 --> 00:15:21,679
l did sci-fi when l first left
theatre school years ago.

211
00:15:21,767 --> 00:15:24,565
l didn't get it
and l don't think l had the joy of it

212
00:15:24,647 --> 00:15:27,115
cos l didn't understand how to play with it.

213
00:15:27,207 --> 00:15:29,198
So it's something l'm excited about now.

214
00:15:29,287 --> 00:15:32,085
l've worked as an actor
for the last ten years,

215
00:15:32,167 --> 00:15:35,443
and l've learnt a lot about this medium,
television medium,

216
00:15:35,527 --> 00:15:39,202
which is different from theatre,
and l've learnt how to have fun with it.

217
00:15:39,287 --> 00:15:44,236
And just that's very exciting. The amount
of play that's gonna be involved in this.

218
00:15:44,647 --> 00:15:48,560
Yeah, l'm gonna be playing
the character of Teyla.

219
00:15:48,647 --> 00:15:53,198
She has become the leader
of her people, in a sense.

220
00:15:53,287 --> 00:15:58,680
Her father was the leader
and he was killed a number of years ago.

221
00:15:58,767 --> 00:16:02,726
Her mother was taken away
by the Wraith.

222
00:16:02,807 --> 00:16:09,360
They've forced my civilisation
into a kind of mediocrity, in a way.

223
00:16:09,447 --> 00:16:12,883
We used to be this great,
powerful, beautiful civilisation.

224
00:16:12,967 --> 00:16:19,725
Now we're kind of living in tents
and our settlements are very temporary

225
00:16:19,807 --> 00:16:23,402
because we have to pick up
and leave at a moment's notice.

226
00:16:23,487 --> 00:16:29,084
My character, she's very intelligent.
She is very strong.

227
00:16:29,167 --> 00:16:33,080
She has a wonderful physical ability.

228
00:16:33,167 --> 00:16:38,366
She can run faster
than any of the other people on the team.

229
00:16:38,447 --> 00:16:41,439
And she's a great fighter.
She's a very good warrior.

230
00:16:41,527 --> 00:16:44,997
Here's a tough task.

231
00:16:45,087 --> 00:16:48,318
l mean, here we're trying
to find a particular feeling.

232
00:16:48,407 --> 00:16:54,004
The character Teyla is supposed
to be a leader among her people,

233
00:16:54,087 --> 00:17:01,402
so we need someone with strength
and passion and the ability to lead people,

234
00:17:01,487 --> 00:17:07,881
but also a soulfulness
and a little bit of sadness

235
00:17:07,967 --> 00:17:10,640
because of what her people
have been through.

236
00:17:10,727 --> 00:17:16,085
l honestly think she was all round
the best actress we saw.

237
00:17:16,167 --> 00:17:20,001
lt was a nice bonus for us
that she's also a Canadian.

238
00:17:20,087 --> 00:17:25,002
l'm thrilled. l have never really had
a chance to do sci-fi.

239
00:17:25,087 --> 00:17:31,560
And yeah, l'm kind of a sci-fi girl.
l love reading fantasy. l eat that stuff up.

240
00:17:31,647 --> 00:17:33,558
l am very excited about it.

241
00:17:33,647 --> 00:17:37,401
l know my dad will be a big fan regardless
of whether or not l'm on the show.

242
00:17:37,487 --> 00:17:41,958
He's a huge sci-fi guy.

243
00:17:42,047 --> 00:17:45,357
He's probably the one
that instilled it in me.

244
00:17:45,447 --> 00:17:47,836
Yeah, l'm really looking forward to it.

245
00:17:47,927 --> 00:17:54,765
l'm Rainbow Sun Francks and l play Ford
on the old Stargate Atlantis.

246
00:17:54,847 --> 00:17:58,601
l'm just overwhelmed. l'm actually
getting my first look at the sets now.

247
00:17:58,687 --> 00:18:00,757
l've only been here a couple of hours.

248
00:18:00,847 --> 00:18:04,157
lt was an interesting time
at home in Toronto.

249
00:18:04,247 --> 00:18:07,637
Out of nowhere,
l guess about three or four days ago,

250
00:18:07,727 --> 00:18:11,322
l got a call like,
''You've got a chance to do this.''

251
00:18:11,407 --> 00:18:13,796
''All right, agent, just calm down.''

252
00:18:14,487 --> 00:18:17,160
''Give me these four pages.
Tell me what l've gotta do.''

253
00:18:17,247 --> 00:18:20,956
l went and put myself on tape
and l guess l got a blessing,

254
00:18:21,047 --> 00:18:23,720
something that rarely happens
in this industry

255
00:18:23,807 --> 00:18:27,117
where l got cast for this role
solely on tape.

256
00:18:27,847 --> 00:18:31,920
Now l'm here playing Ford
and l hope they give me two guns.

257
00:18:32,007 --> 00:18:34,475
l'm coming for you. l'm coming for you.

258
00:18:35,407 --> 00:18:38,444
High energy when l'm here.

259
00:18:38,527 --> 00:18:41,121
Am l ever high energy?

260
00:18:43,167 --> 00:18:47,524
l think that it may be slightly unique
that Brad and l tend to have a philosophy

261
00:18:47,607 --> 00:18:49,723
that we want to put the best actor
in the role.

262
00:18:50,167 --> 00:18:57,039
lf we have to alter our idea of what that
character is in order to do that, we will.

263
00:18:57,127 --> 00:19:02,042
We felt that we maybe hadn't found
the exact right guy yet for Ford.

264
00:19:02,127 --> 00:19:04,402
The deadline was getting real close.

265
00:19:04,487 --> 00:19:07,718
l watched the tape of the first kid
who l'd asked for.

266
00:19:07,807 --> 00:19:10,799
Then there was this other audition
on there afterwards.

267
00:19:10,887 --> 00:19:15,085
l said, this guy's great. l showed it
to Brad and he agreed immediately,

268
00:19:15,167 --> 00:19:18,716
and everybody loves him
and he gets the part.

269
00:19:19,847 --> 00:19:22,680
Literally, Thursday night
he flies up, gets the part,

270
00:19:22,767 --> 00:19:26,442
and is at the read-through on Friday,
and we shoot on Monday.

271
00:19:26,527 --> 00:19:28,245
You might take him the wrong way.

272
00:19:28,327 --> 00:19:30,921
You might look at him
and think he's a young boy.

273
00:19:31,007 --> 00:19:35,239
He doesn't know what he's doing but gets
the job done. That's the important thing.

274
00:19:35,327 --> 00:19:38,399
The coolest thing for me
being on this that l look forward to

275
00:19:38,487 --> 00:19:40,762
is going through the gate.
lt's teleporting.

276
00:19:40,847 --> 00:19:45,363
l'm a big sci-fi head so for me to be on
a series like this is gonna be a lot of fun.

277
00:19:45,447 --> 00:19:47,438
Oh, l can't... This is overwhelming.

278
00:19:48,007 --> 00:19:52,125
David Hewlett played
the Dr McKay character

279
00:19:52,207 --> 00:19:54,482
on Stargate SG-1 on Seasons 5 and 6.

280
00:19:54,567 --> 00:19:59,641
He was the scientist, the core guy,
that we were looking for.

281
00:19:59,727 --> 00:20:03,800
- We need the Zed-PM to power the gate.
- What?

282
00:20:03,887 --> 00:20:07,084
Zee-PM. He's Canadian.

283
00:20:08,207 --> 00:20:11,165
- l'm sorry.
- Zero Point Module, General.

284
00:20:11,247 --> 00:20:16,844
The Ancient power source we recovered.
lt's now powering the outpost defences.

285
00:20:16,927 --> 00:20:20,761
l have determined that it generates
its enormous power from vacuum energy

286
00:20:20,847 --> 00:20:24,078
derived from a self-contained region
of subspace-time.

287
00:20:24,167 --> 00:20:28,638
That was a waste
of a perfectly good explanation.

288
00:20:28,727 --> 00:20:30,763
The answer's no.

289
00:20:30,847 --> 00:20:36,285
So, our core team now
is Joe Flanigan as Shepherd,

290
00:20:36,367 --> 00:20:38,562
Torri Higginson as Dr Weir,

291
00:20:38,647 --> 00:20:43,846
Rainbow Francks as Lieutenant Ford,
and surprise, surprise,

292
00:20:45,047 --> 00:20:51,885
set today, on the second day of shooting,
David Hewlett as Dr McKay.

293
00:20:51,967 --> 00:20:55,357
lt's very exciting. We're finally cast.

294
00:20:55,447 --> 00:20:57,961
Welcome to Atlantis.

295
00:20:58,047 --> 00:21:02,279
Lieutenant Aiden Ford.
Welcome to Atlantis.

296
00:21:02,367 --> 00:21:04,927
(director) And kiss her.

297
00:21:05,007 --> 00:21:06,998
Cut! Nice!

298
00:21:08,047 --> 00:21:10,800
l love it, this Stargate show.

299
00:21:10,887 --> 00:21:16,359
We're just about to look
at the previous shots for the Athos gate.

300
00:21:16,447 --> 00:21:18,438
Cut, cut, cut!

301
00:21:21,007 --> 00:21:22,884
Coffee runs this set.

302
00:21:22,967 --> 00:21:28,485
lt's the only way l can perform.
Liquorice. All right.

303
00:21:28,567 --> 00:21:31,400
l may not look like a peanut-butter guy.
l am one.

304
00:21:33,167 --> 00:21:34,919
Get that out of here.

305
00:21:41,167 --> 00:21:44,921
Now that we're in the home
of the Ancients, what does it look like?

306
00:21:45,007 --> 00:21:50,320
This is what it looks like. Here we are,
this the main room for Stargate Atlantis.

307
00:21:50,407 --> 00:21:55,527
lt's what we call a gatrium. This is a new
gate, new and improved gate, mind you.

308
00:21:55,607 --> 00:21:57,996
lnstead of actually rotating the gate,

309
00:21:58,087 --> 00:22:00,840
it's a series of lights
that have been programmed in.

310
00:22:00,927 --> 00:22:04,806
lt took them, l don't know,
20 years to make this thing.

311
00:22:04,887 --> 00:22:09,642
You can actually wiggle the Stargate. lt's a
problem for us that we have to figure out.

312
00:22:09,727 --> 00:22:12,480
We have to spray it
with some anti-wiggling stuff.

313
00:22:12,567 --> 00:22:17,595
This one here says, ''Welcome to Atlantis.
Please, no smoking.''

314
00:22:17,687 --> 00:22:20,360
lt's all in Ancient,
so it doesn't matter what it says.

315
00:22:20,447 --> 00:22:23,359
Nobody on Earth
actually speaks Ancient any longer.

316
00:22:23,447 --> 00:22:26,996
This is the control room.
Here we've got the controls.

317
00:22:27,087 --> 00:22:29,043
Unfortunately, they're plastic.

318
00:22:29,127 --> 00:22:33,245
You know what? We couldn't get away
from the blinky light units that we love.

319
00:22:33,327 --> 00:22:36,922
We built a bunch more of these
to make light units we can take with us.

320
00:22:37,007 --> 00:22:41,398
Here's a conference room. Notice these
things are all pointing at one another.

321
00:22:41,487 --> 00:22:45,321
You hit this thing here and it shoots the
person across there. That's my concept.

322
00:22:45,407 --> 00:22:47,398
ENHOH