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August 04, 2006
Excellence in all we do…
Okay, that sounds a little conceited, but I’m not talking about us here at Stargate actually. That’s one of the core values of one of our key partners, the United States Air Force. I mean… we also believe in that. A lot. And our mission: to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests. Oops. Actually that’s the Air Force again. Our mission is to deliver sci-fi entertainment options for the improvement of global minds, or something like that. I’ll have to work on that one.
So… did you know that when Air Force personnel appear in public on duty they should be in service dress? Did you know that the black tie equivalent for Air Force personnel is mess dress? Did you know that female Air Force personnel must have their hair up when in uniform? Well… neither did the powers that be when they started this show, so they asked the US Air Force to help. And since the beginning we’ve had very valuable support from the Air Force for accuracy in all matters Stargate – this includes our characters’ personal histories, costumes, weaponry, locations of bases and all sorts of other help… we’ve even had two Generals appear in SG-1 – General Ryan and General Jumper.
In fact, I’m looking at a copy of “Airman, the book” right now. It was given to me by Doug Thar, one of our liaisons with Air Force Public Relations. Doug actually just retired, so I’m going to take this opportunity to thank Doug for all of his help and encouragement over the years. Thanks Doug! The other person who helps me out regularly is Captain Mary Danner. Thanks Mary!
Okay… enough about the Air Force! Let’s talk about Sateda and Insiders.
Sateda is as action as Stargate gets… this episode is loaded with fight scenes. I talked with James Bamford (aka “Bam Bam”, aka “The Silent Assassin”, aka “the Man with the Plan”), and he told me the action sequences in Sateda are very fast paced and stylistic. I asked what that means, and he said Rob Cooper, the director, used different film stock, played with variable frame rates, and used alternative shutter angles to achieve a non-stop action packed festival of Wraith killing wonder! Bam Bam told me Jason was seriously beat up at the end of the shoot – bruises, pulled muscles, fatigue – he had some very emotional scenes as well. In Bam Bam’s words, “he went balls out from the moment the camera started rolling until the final window shot at the end of the episode.” So I guess you can tell that James Bamford is a big fan of actors who can step up to the plate and perform their own action scenes and make it look as spectacular as planned!
In Insiders, all I have to say is you get to see all the Baal’s in the air at once. Yup… CLONES!
ATL
Posted by Alex Levine at August 4, 2006 06:52 PM
