Jack Maher posted on 9news.com 11 months ago:

Stargate SG-1 legacy lives on

One of the longest-running sci-fi series in tv history is back as a movie. We talked to Stargate SG-1's Christopher Judge ("Teal'c) and Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) about The Ark Of Truth on 9News 5 a.m.


For ten seasons, Stargate SG-1 followed and expanded upon the Egyptian mythologies presented in the big-screen Kurt Russell movie that started it all.

Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain is the fictional underground top-secret home of Stargate Command from which the SG-1 team ventures to distant planets.

Fans were upset when the series was canceled last year, but producers are keeping the storyline going through two DVD movies. The Ark Of Truth is out now. Continuum is set for release in the fall.

The current movie has to do with wrapping up the Ori storyline, which is the storyline that took prominence for the last two years of the show. Continuum is a time travel story taking SG-1 to the past.

"For years we'd been talking about doing a DVD feature or a theatrical release feature of some kind when the series concluded," says actor Shanks. "That was the logical time for such a project. What had happened in previous incarnations is just.... the series wouldn't die!"

Shanks knows fans will appreciate the DVD movies, but is still hopeful the franchise will one day crossover to the big screen. "It's always been talked about, especially by Brad Wright, our executive producer and show runner. He's always dreamed of finishing SG-1 the way the franchise began: with a theatrical film."

For the moment, he and the cast are happy to keep the storyline alive in a direct-to-video format. "There's a lot of stories left to tell in the Stargate universe. If we can get all the pieces together at the right time, I think it's a pretty good idea to do one of these a year or something like that."

Shanks still looks back with fondness on his many years playing Dr. Daniel Jackson.

" A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge. At that time (when the series first started), I was twenty-six: I was two years out of theater school and looking for a job of any kind that didn't involve waiting tables or asking if you wanted fries with that."

"I was couch surfing in Toronto, and this was a job that I thought would give me some great experience in the industry–good technical experience. But you know, TV series based on feature films didn't have a terribly successful track record at the time."

"I think M*A*S*H was the only one that had stood its ground. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still in its infancy at that point. So I didn't really have high hopes for the possibilities of this thing. Even the initial promise, which was a two-year guarantee–44 episodes–sounded like a bit of a falsity. I said, "Oh they'll cancel us. There's got to be something in there that'll let them pull the plug on us at some point."

"So I was just hoping to have a couple of years of employment, at best, and get some experience and move on. I certainly didn't foresee everything that's gone on since then. It's been quite a ride."

For more on Stargate: Ark Of Truth please visit:

http://stargate.mgm.com/

Editor's Note:

Guinness World Records recognized Stargate SG-1 as the longest running consecutive sci-fi series. But many sci-fi fans have written us to point out the show is actually second to the Doctor Who series, which holds the title for longest running sci-fi show overall.

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