Ashley’s Reviews > Chevrons Locked: The Unofficial Unauthorized Oral History of Stargate SG-1 > Status Update

"We had two chiefs of staff of the Air Force do cameo roles; one was even bigger than a cameo. It was like a full bloody part, and he was good, too. I can’t remember his name — Michael was his first name, but I called him Sir — and apparently one of the first things he said when he became chief of staff of the Air Force was, 'When do I get to do my Stargate cameo?'

Amazing what a show not being on the verge of cancellation can do for it. By the end of season one, the production team had an unprecedented, guaranteed order of 88 episodes from Showtime, which meant they had room to breathe and could amortize costs for sets and other production costs, because they knew spending the money up front would be an actual long-term investment.

Every time a person goes through the Stargate for the whole run of the show, it cost $5k. I'm never going to be able to forget this fact. Every time I see someone go through now on rewatches, I'm just gonna be like, mental tally check, $5,000! The last shot of SG-1 would have cost them $30k alone (Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Cam, Vala, and Walter.)

The KAWOOSH when the Stargate activates is actually a practical effect? That's wild.

Poor Jonas Quinn, always an afterthought.

"Chris Judge walked in and he was particularly buff that day and wearing a tight T-shirt, and Rick goes, “Why didn’t you go to the gym first? Don’t you care?” Chris laughed his head off in that Chris Judge way, which is very wonderful and very, very contagious. Jon and I looked at each other and instantly knew that he was perfect for the role."

"Amanda Tapping actually put in the work and understood what she was saying. She absolutely understood the scientific concepts that she was putting forward, the physics she was explaining. She would not just spout that stuff off. And if somebody had a problem with the way she was describing it, she could back it up. She was, like, “No, I looked this up. What I’m saying is actually right.”

"[Richard Dean Anderson] notoriously does not like to talk about the acting process, he just kind of does it and it comes to life. That’s not what he’s in it for. But the fact of the matter is that when you give him a serious script, and you really back him into a corner and force him to 'act,' he will fight his way out of it, creating something absolutely magical in the process."

"What I brought to the table reads of the scripts was the attitude that everything was potentially a setup for a funny line, which doesn’t make writers and producers very happy."

Rick gonna Rick.

Ha! The "everyone speaks English" thing bothers Brad Wright, too! I feel justified. And they should definitely have made some sort of translator.