Every one of you volunteered for this and you represent over a dozen countries.
You are the world's best and brightest.
And in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you're also the bravest.
l hope we all return one day having discovered
a whole new realm for humanity to explore.
But as all of you know, we may never be able to return home.
l'd like to offer you all one last chance to withdraw your participation.
Begin the dialling sequence.
OK, Atlantis.
lt started with, obviously, the movie Stargate.
There was a ring, it took you to other places.
There was the show Stargate SG-1.
There was a ring, it took you to other places.
Now there's Atlantis and there's a ring and it takes you to other places.
At the end of Season 7 of Stargate SG-1,
the heroes of that show find an alien outpost in Antarctica, under the ice.
And it reveals the location of the long-sought-after lost city of the Ancients.
The Ancients are the race of aliens who, we believe, built the Stargates
and deposited them all over the galaxy.
Since Season 1 ,
we introduced the concept that the original Stargate on Earth
was in Antarctica - that was the episode ''Solitudes''.
So, in a way, l've been planting the seeds for this spin-off series since then.
The original premise for Stargate Atlantis
was that the city that we find was indeed under the ice of Antarctica.
When Sci-fi approached us with MGM
and said that they wanted to do both series simultaneously,
Robert and l had to go and come up with a variation on that concept,
which was that, yes, we find an outpost in Antarctica
but that leads us to where the real lost city is
which is, in fact, in the Pegasus galaxy.
The whole city upped and flew away and went somewhere else.
The Ancients' city, which is actually sorta more of a ship-city than a city, or a ship,
it's kind of a city that flies.
lt takes off and goes to another whole galaxy.
Once they're there, they basically do what they do,
and that is, build Stargates, put them on a whole bunch of other planets, then,
kind of like a big, galaxy-wide science experiment, start life, human life,
on all the planets capable of supporting human life.
And this changed the series concept significantly.
Originally, it was going to be set in our galaxy.
But the beauty of setting it in another galaxy
is that we're essentially resetting the whole adventure back to zero.
We're starting in Pegasus in a place very similar
to where SG-1 started in our galaxy.
- What have we missed? - Not much.
Here, as before, we built a system of Stargates,
so that fledgling civilisations could travel between the stars,
exchange knowledge and friendship.
But it wasn't a perfect place. lt wasn't Eden, after all.
Eventually, they found out that there was a sleeping enemy there called the Wraith.
These were sort of super-bad guys who were equally as powerful,
even more so than the Ancients.
As it turns out, these Wraith kind of liked to suck the life energy out of things.
They grew to kinda like the taste of the life energy of humans
and started to feed on the humans that were in that galaxy.
lnitially, the words that came down the pipe were gothic,
and dark, and that the Wraith were a breed of vampires,
not in the standard sense of the word
because they didn't suck blood, they were essence stealers.
Then we had to physically flesh these guys out.
Quite honestly, it was very wide open from a creative standpoint.
At that point, the Wraith had wings.
We were looking at them more as animalistic rather than human form.
But after initial drawings started going out,
it became very evident that their view of the Wraith was that they were dark,
they were evil and yet they had an underlying beauty to them.
We went through a multitude of stages after that
where the look changed subtly from drawing to drawing to drawing.
The wardrobe concepts went back and forth.
Ultimately, it was gloriously hideous on the day.
The Ancients were undermanned,
completely overwhelmed by this terrible enemy.
The survivors of that siege that went on for maybe 100 years
decided that the only thing they could do was to sink the city under the water
on this alien planet in the Pegasus galaxy.
That's the story Plato heard.
He heard the story that 10,000 years ago
this ancient city that was great and powerful
sank into the ocean during a great war.
So it did happen, it just didn't happen on Earth.
And now we go there kind of seeking new power sources
for our own Ancient technology that we've discovered,
that we're using in the defence of Earth and to fight the Goa'uld,
and also to possibly meet some of those Ancients
and, you know, see what's going on in this other galaxy.
We end up getting trapped there and have to deal with the scary Wraith.
That's just the short version.
The old saying, if l ever had a chance to do this again, we're getting that chance.
Everything, hopefully, that we learned in those seven years,
now going into eight years, of SG-1, we're applying to Atlantis.
Things like the puddle jumper.
This framework in the set represents the dimensions of a puddle jumper.
Now we can have a vehicle, because we didn't build it,
because it was of Ancient construction,
that can fly through the Stargate and take us wherever we need on the alien planet.
lt's something that we just simply couldn't have purpose-built
anywhere in the early years of SG-1.
Of course, by the time we were thinking of Atlantis, l wanted to save it for that.
- Gate ship one ready to go, sir. - Gate ship one?
- No, no, no, that's all wrong. - What do you mean?
lt's a ship. lt goes through the gate. Gate ship one.
A little puddle jumper like this?
lt's the first series l've ever had a hand in creating.
You know, l started as a story editor on Stargate SG-1 in the first season.
l was at the read-through of that pilot.
l have sort of moved my way up to being an exec producer.
This opportunity to sort of spin off
from what has been an incredibly successful run on SG-1
is an opportunity that l think nobody could've passed up.
When Brad and Robert first came to me
about doing the end of Season 7, the Lost City two-parter,
l was thrilled because l thought, this is a great way to set up whatever comes next,
possibly a movie, possibly a new series.
l had no idea it was going to be what Atlantis has turned into.
Atlantis is absolutely an amazing way of continuing the Stargate saga.
l think when you're trying to create a spin-off you have two choices.
One is that you can take a character or two from the established series
and throw them into a new situation
and it all becomes about the characters carrying on their own story.
Or you can take the idea, the mythology,
that you have in an established series like Stargate SG-1
and then you spin that mythology off in a different way.
This is what Brad and Robert do well.
This is why when you do a spin-off with the same creators, you do the best thing,
which is you hold the integrity of the series, of SG-1,
and you put it into a brand-new package.
The danger is that your fans will be disappointed when they see that.
They're looking for SG-1 and they're not gonna find it in a new series
unless that continuity of the mythology is there
and you find interactions with characters that will take them onto the next level.
So they still get the idea of Stargate SG-1, still get the mythology of Stargate SG-1,
that they're very familiar with, and you get it in a new package,
and the new package is absolutely astounding.
Cut! Very nice. Print that one. Print both of them, please.
We had planned, pitched and talked about Atlantis for some time.
lt just took a long time to get the deal done.
When it finally did get done in late November,
the Sci-fi Channel asked us if we could deliver the show so it could air in July.
July '04, this year. That was a very short window to get a series up and running,
especially while we're doing Season 8 of SG-1.
Even though we had pitched the show, Atlantis,
we had not started writing a script.
We didn't have a deal. Writers don't write without deals.
So Brad and l thought it over and talked about it at length.
But because of the really short window
and the fact that such a massive set needed to be built,
and so many aspects of the production needed to get going,
we actually started development before the script even began.
Brad and l were looking at plans for the set before we'd even typed ''Fade in''.
l remember l had actually sat down to start typing
in early December, on the scenes l was supposed to be working on,
and Brad called and said, ''l just went into the stage and the floor is in on the set.''
''Type faster!''
Literally, the script was evolving as the set was going up.
Granted, we finished faster than they did, but they had a lot more to build.
We had roughly seven weeks of prep after everyone had the script in their hands,
which is a very, very frightening thing
when starting up a series, especially science fiction,
that depends so much on props and sets and visual effects.
The visual effects are already going.
We have four people working on computers and doing what we call pre-vis
and actually doing the visual-effects shots before we shoot the actual footage,
which seems a little bit backwards
but is the only way we're ever gonna get everything complete and together
in order to air the show on July 16th the way we had promised we would.
- A warm welcome. - How did you manage to...?
Keep my ass from getting blown out of the sky?
The exceptional flying of Major John Shepherd.
- He likes it here. - You like it here?
Shepherd is a pilot like Jack O'Neill is.
He has the same ''we don't leave people behind'' core belief that Jack O'Neill has.
He uses humour to disarm a situation
just like Jack O'Neill does, or Richard Dean Anderson does.
But it comes from, and l think Rick would back me up on this, a less cynical place.
Rick is naturally a cynical person and that's why he is so funny.
ln Joe Flanigan, we found that magic quality that l think you have to have
in the person who is the centre of your show.
He is very personally charming, very personally witty.
But he is also a smart actor. All those things are on the surface.
He's also adding a layer of complexity to his scenes,
finding those things that you didn't even know were in there
because he's added them, and that's what stars do.
l'm playing the part of Dr Elizabeth Weir,
and she is, like myself, new to all of this.
She sort of comes from a much more political background.
She fought against the military.
From what l understand, that's also an interesting turn.
l believe that Stargate is very military-based.
l don't think she even was aware of interplanetary relationships
until a few months before all this happened.
The first time you meet her in, l think, Season 7 of Stargate,
that's her first introduction to the idea of aliens.
So she has a crash course
and all of a sudden finds herself in charge of a whole new Stargate.
l wanted, from the get-go, to have the leader of the Atlantis team to be a woman,
because l didn't want a general to be at the heart of this.
l wanted a civilian leader. You cannot militarise Antarctica.
So, l thought, well, why not extend that to the expedition to find Atlantis?
lt is an international team that is essentially not and cannot be led
by any one military commander from any given nation,
so that's why Dr Weir is the perfect candidate.
She is a negotiator.
We wanted somebody who was a negotiator
at the heart of the leadership of Atlantis because that is that role.
Then Torri came and did this part and she was spectacular. She nailed the character.
What Torri gives is a strength to Weir that is a natural strength.
Cos she just comes across as a strong person.
Without being supported with overly heavy-handed dialogue, she's just strong.
l did sci-fi when l first left theatre school years ago.
l didn't get it and l don't think l had the joy of it
cos l didn't understand how to play with it.
So it's something l'm excited about now.
l've worked as an actor for the last ten years,
and l've learnt a lot about this medium, television medium,
which is different from theatre, and l've learnt how to have fun with it.
And just that's very exciting. The amount of play that's gonna be involved in this.
Yeah, l'm gonna be playing the character of Teyla.
She has become the leader of her people, in a sense.
Her father was the leader and he was killed a number of years ago.
Her mother was taken away by the Wraith.
They've forced my civilisation into a kind of mediocrity, in a way.
We used to be this great, powerful, beautiful civilisation.
Now we're kind of living in tents and our settlements are very temporary
because we have to pick up and leave at a moment's notice.
My character, she's very intelligent. She is very strong.
She has a wonderful physical ability.
She can run faster than any of the other people on the team.
And she's a great fighter. She's a very good warrior.
Here's a tough task.
l mean, here we're trying to find a particular feeling.
The character Teyla is supposed to be a leader among her people,
so we need someone with strength and passion and the ability to lead people,
but also a soulfulness and a little bit of sadness
because of what her people have been through.
l honestly think she was all round the best actress we saw.
lt was a nice bonus for us that she's also a Canadian.
l'm thrilled. l have never really had a chance to do sci-fi.
And yeah, l'm kind of a sci-fi girl. l love reading fantasy. l eat that stuff up.
l am very excited about it.
l know my dad will be a big fan regardless of whether or not l'm on the show.
He's a huge sci-fi guy.
He's probably the one that instilled it in me.
Yeah, l'm really looking forward to it.
l'm Rainbow Sun Francks and l play Ford on the old Stargate Atlantis.
l'm just overwhelmed. l'm actually getting my first look at the sets now.
l've only been here a couple of hours.
lt was an interesting time at home in Toronto.
Out of nowhere, l guess about three or four days ago,
l got a call like, ''You've got a chance to do this.''
''All right, agent, just calm down.''
''Give me these four pages. Tell me what l've gotta do.''
l went and put myself on tape and l guess l got a blessing,
something that rarely happens in this industry
where l got cast for this role solely on tape.
Now l'm here playing Ford and l hope they give me two guns.
l'm coming for you. l'm coming for you.
High energy when l'm here.
Am l ever high energy?
l think that it may be slightly unique that Brad and l tend to have a philosophy
that we want to put the best actor in the role.
lf we have to alter our idea of what that character is in order to do that, we will.
We felt that we maybe hadn't found the exact right guy yet for Ford.
The deadline was getting real close.
l watched the tape of the first kid who l'd asked for.
Then there was this other audition on there afterwards.
l said, this guy's great. l showed it to Brad and he agreed immediately,
and everybody loves him and he gets the part.
Literally, Thursday night he flies up, gets the part,
and is at the read-through on Friday, and we shoot on Monday.
You might take him the wrong way.
You might look at him and think he's a young boy.
He doesn't know what he's doing but gets the job done. That's the important thing.
The coolest thing for me being on this that l look forward to
is going through the gate. lt's teleporting.
l'm a big sci-fi head so for me to be on a series like this is gonna be a lot of fun.
Oh, l can't... This is overwhelming.
David Hewlett played the Dr McKay character
on Stargate SG-1 on Seasons 5 and 6.
He was the scientist, the core guy, that we were looking for.
- We need the Zed-PM to power the gate. - What?
Zee-PM. He's Canadian.
- l'm sorry. - Zero Point Module, General.
The Ancient power source we recovered. lt's now powering the outpost defences.
l have determined that it generates its enormous power from vacuum energy
derived from a self-contained region of subspace-time.
That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation.
The answer's no.
So, our core team now is Joe Flanigan as Shepherd,
Torri Higginson as Dr Weir,
Rainbow Francks as Lieutenant Ford, and surprise, surprise,
set today, on the second day of shooting, David Hewlett as Dr McKay.
lt's very exciting. We're finally cast.
Welcome to Atlantis.
Lieutenant Aiden Ford. Welcome to Atlantis.
(director) And kiss her.
Cut! Nice!
l love it, this Stargate show.
We're just about to look at the previous shots for the Athos gate.
Cut, cut, cut!
Coffee runs this set.
lt's the only way l can perform. Liquorice. All right.
l may not look like a peanut-butter guy. l am one.
Get that out of here.
Now that we're in the home of the Ancients, what does it look like?
This is what it looks like. Here we are, this the main room for Stargate Atlantis.
lt's what we call a gatrium. This is a new gate, new and improved gate, mind you.
lnstead of actually rotating the gate,
it's a series of lights that have been programmed in.
lt took them, l don't know, 20 years to make this thing.
You can actually wiggle the Stargate. lt's a problem for us that we have to figure out.
We have to spray it with some anti-wiggling stuff.
This one here says, ''Welcome to Atlantis. Please, no smoking.''
lt's all in Ancient, so it doesn't matter what it says.
Nobody on Earth actually speaks Ancient any longer.
This is the control room. Here we've got the controls.
Unfortunately, they're plastic.
You know what? We couldn't get away from the blinky light units that we love.
We built a bunch more of these to make light units we can take with us.
Here's a conference room. Notice these things are all pointing at one another.
You hit this thing here and it shoots the person across there. That's my concept.
ENHOH