(narrator) Since their first adventure,...
..the SG-1 team have been transported to many worlds populated by many cultures.
We are especially honoured today...
..by the presence of those responsible for finding this planet for us.
(narrator) One of those responsible for creating the unique look for each race...
..is costume designer Christina McQuarrie.
Most of these people that we're doing the costumes for are displaced humans...
..that have been taken to these planets by these alien Goa'ulds.
So the idea is that they have evolved in a different way.
They're ancient cultures that have been taken to another world...
..and then they evolve in a somewhat different way from what we expect.
So that's where we have to find twists on the historical basis.
Look, l will not wear this thing over my face.
l don't care how much embroidery is on it. And this... dress! Or whatever it's called.
l mean... l can't move. l can't walk.
lt kinda works for me...
l don't think there's any one particular way of going about it.
Each script gives you things to take off from.
But there is a historical base, because we've done Egyptian and Roman.
We did a Mongolian one, but you take elements of that...
..and work it in a different way.
Sort of in an unexpected way.
And we've often thrown in elements from other cultures.
Somehow you come up with a rather strange mix, which so far has worked.
People, let's go! Let's move!
(narrator) McQuarrie's talents were put to the test from the start.
ln the two-hour pilot, she clothed hundreds of characters,...
..including slaves held captive by the Goa'uld.
This was a character called Sha're from our pilot.
The inspiration for most of this came from Egyptian mythology.
- Sha're? - (distorted) Behold.
Your queen.
lf you look at this one, it's got this serpent head on the top, which is very weird.
Things like that... lt's almost a sense of humour.
A lot of it just comes out of a wacky... you know.
ldeas that come as you keep working on it.
This was one of our Goa'ulds.
These were kind of these... alien gods. lsn't this wonderful?
Again, we used a lot of very different fabrics.
Very modern fabrics in this historical bent.
l guess it's about the only way we can say it.
Lots of elaborate trims and chains. This is a weird, funky, modern chain.
The combination seemed to work and give it an otherworldly appearance.
The inspiration for this came specifically from primitive peoples.
ln the world, there are so many weird things you can draw on,...
..and they are what they are, but if you put them in different contexts...
..they take on an otherworldly quality.
(narrator) ln TV, time is of the essence.
McQuarrie's department must stay one step ahead,...
..especially when creating brand-new styles.
They try and give us scripts a few weeks in advance,...
..because it certainly takes a certain amount of thought and preparation.
Yeah, sometimes it comes on you fairly quickly.
We basically do these in seven days.
So it's fast. Very, very fast.
l am Kynthia. Welcome to our village.
Thank you.
(Christina) And it's very much based on what the art department is doing...
..in terms of their sets.
That certainly influences us as well.
lt's very much a team effort. lt's a huge team effort.
(narrator) The number of costumes...
..McQuarrie and her staff have had to create for this series is staggering.
l don't think l could put a number to it. ln the pilot, we did probably hundreds.
There was a lot in that one.
ln the episodic, it reduces. We haven't done quite as many per show.
But over the course of the series, it's going to be thousands.