Take a look at some (if not most) of the late Concept Artist Ken Rabehl’s work in Season One of Stargate SG-1!

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0:00 – Opening Credits
0:27 – Introduction
1:54 – Call to Action
2:56 – Artist Ken Rabehl
3:38 – Children of the Gods
4:41 – The Broca Divide
6:36 – Emancipation
10:56 – Thor’s Hammer
13:19 – The Nox
17:18 – The Torment of Tantalus
18:42 – Fire and Water
20:48 – Cor-Ai
21:30 – Enigma
22:49 – Solitudes
24:36 – Tin Man
27:54 – Singularity
29:40 – Within the Serpent’s Grasp
32:42 – April Give-Away
33:38 – Wrap-Up
34:46 – End Credits

***

“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome everyone, to Episode 76 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. I hope you are well. This episode is not featuring a guest, not a physical one anyway, or a living one. This episode is featuring Stargate SG-1 Season One concept art by Ken Rabehl. If you are not a Bob Ross fan, if you are not an art fan, I don’t necessarily recommend that you watch this one. You’re going to find it very boring. You’re more than welcome to. This is one of the ones where I’m gonna be checking out the likes and dislikes, and the comments afterwards, see if people got enough engagement out of it for me to do another 16 or so, hopefully with James C.D. Robbins when those episodes come around. I’d like to go season by season with a lot of these and see what happens. A lot of this concept art is not available online, as far as I’m aware. Not a lot of it has been seen. So, this is by no means a complete collection, but there is a lot here, and I think you’d be interested in seeing where things were on the drawing board versus where they became when these locations and these props were given life. And that’s going to be what this episode is primarily about. But before we get started, if you like Stargate and you wanna see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click the Like button. It does make a difference with YouTube’s algorithm, and will definitely help the show grow its audience. And please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. This is key if you plan on watching live. So, let’s get to the art and see what’s in here. An artist by the name of Wong, I’m trying to find more information on him because I’d love to have him on, was responsible for a lot of the concept art that was developed for the pilot, for “Children of the Gods.” I do not believe any of this is in his collection, is it any of his work, and I’ll be keeping my eyes open as I go through it just to make sure. But that’s my understanding here. I’d love to get in touch with Mr. Wong. Ken Rabehl was a concept artist for Stargate SG-1 for a number of years, through Season Five. And interestingly enough, this is a major oversight on their part, he’s not mentioned in the Stargate wiki. I don’t understand why that is. His work is extensive. Even my buddy, Howard Lyon, from Stargate Worlds has a page. So, hopefully that’s something that they will correct once I start showing you some of these. So, let’s go ahead and get to the goods. He did create at least one piece of concept art for “Children of the Gods,” and that is this. This is the City of Chulak from afar, the view that ended up being in the episode, and used as stock footage at least once more, in “Family.” And my light is going out. Sun, please come back. So, I love the little notes here, “columns on right side,” or “or right side.” There were columns in the actual original episode, so… I make no bones about the fact that I am not an art student. I can’t comment on form or medium used. I think most of these… I don’t know what some of these are. They’re just so beautiful, and that’s why I have them, and that’s why I love them. We’re gonna move forward to “Broca Divide.” A lot of concept art was made for this one. This is the Land of the Dark in “Broca Divide,” so the side of the world… One of my more favorite episodes in terms of the concept. There was a light side of the planets or the country and a dark side of the country, and this is depicted in this absolutely gorgeous scene. I love the color. I can comment on the color, I’ll say that. But pretty much everything else, not entirely sure about his medium. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he made this on a larger piece rather than 11 by 17. It’s possible that he did. Stargate in jungle. A lot of the artwork does feature Stargates. Those are obviously more iconic than something that’s more typical of, it could be any sci-fi show. And another piece from “Broca Divide” that you will recognize was definitely used as a matte painting right here, Teal’c running back toward the temple. Actually, it’s called Teal’c enters council chamber, matte. So, once the trouble began, he’s like, “OK. What the heck’s going on? I need help. Please explain this.” So, that’s what this shot is about. And they reproduced it with some pretty good detail, right down to the wardrobes of some of the characters. That looks like Tuplo on the right. Let me get some more light in here if we can, and then we’ll continue. I usually don’t have everything open all the way because my face gets blown out. But right now it doesn’t matter, it’s about the art. “Emancipation” is the next episode that I have artwork for. More Stargates in this one. Stargate site concept, “Emancipation,” Episode 6. This was created June the… let me see here. When was that? 6-4-10. Wasn’t 2010. Oh, got it. July 4th, or I think it’s April the 7th, 7-4. In Canada, I’m guessing the month is in the middle. 1997. So, some kind of a drilling bit there on the ground, it looks like. Some kind of excavation tool. Another one from “Emancipation,” from the Stargate’s point of view. And I don’t know why my camera is having trouble with focus, but it is. There we go. Another one he punched out the same day. I often wonder in looking at these just how many he was able to produce and how frequently. I talked with James C.D. Robbins a little bit about this. At a certain point, you would have to have a general idea of how much inventory you could pump out, and how long it would take for you to create content. Not everything that Ken did or that the concept artists rendered were landscapes. In some cases, they were costumes. In other cases, like this, they were cave drawings. Yes, I’ve seen the cave drawings. Hanson’s Cave. Wonderful use of color. And apparently, a very useful use of spears if they’re planning on eating them. It’s antelope or something, some critter with little stick figure legs. This is the stuff that I just love because it’s so, not medieval is the word, but I mean, it’s just, it’s… I just love the art. I love the art factor. Another of Hanson’s Cave. Little bit of a Stargate influence there. And then anticipation for what comes at the end of the episode. Someone lost their shirt. So, apparently, the intent was to put the Stargate down on stones. I don’t think we get this angle of it in the episode, not quite. We do get a side view of it, for sure. And a lot of those earlier kawooshes were just magnificent ’cause they were all practical, pretty much all of them. We have a lot from “Emancipation.” Because when the sky is orange, it’s good. Dual emission energy shield, set is gonna be the rock quarry. Another one, 4-10, April the 10th, 1997. And again. “Note: Undulating waves and ripples of energy on top of shield umbrella will give dimension and shade to shield.” It’s funny, you can see these drawings again and again, and not always read the notes. I may have read that, but I do not recall that. That’s interesting. Let’s jump ahead to “Thor’s Hammer.” Goa’uld weaponry may not work in the chamber, but Earth weaponry definitely does. His rendering of O’Neill was rather interesting, if that’s supposed to be who that is. Ruins room interior labyrinth. This is on Cimmeria. And again. the Hammer chamber. Interior, Hall of Mjolnir. Set location is studio. This one was created June the 4th ’97. You have to wonder what keeps the lamps burning with that magic Asgard technology. And then, you have concepts that actually appear on screen, like this one. I have no problem with Marvel Studios’ Thor, but it’s never gonna be my Thor. Just puttin’ it out there. And again. Guess those are the ice creatures, if I’m not mistaken. What were they called? Whatever Loki’s race apparently was, at least in the Marvel universe. What were they called? Can’t think of it. Sorry. Not sorry. All right. Let’s look at the Nox. We all remember our friend Fenri, you wanna take a good look at the Fenri? Hummingbird-like flying creature, head detail. Never got a good look at him. Hair-like spikes on the segmented sections. Hair-covered mandibles. Note: Between the plate-like body sections should be high-gloss black connective tissue. Rear eye stalks are shorter than forward ones. So, this guy can look, he has four sets of eyes, can see in all directions. No wonder he can move so fast. But remember, the Fenri does not make the Fenri disappear, the Nox do. And Lya’s costume. Let’s have a look at Lya’s early concept art. In this she’s called Lyra, and she has natural hair rather than twigs. If anyone has an ear to Frida Betrani, she might be interested in seeing this. Love the detail. And I suspect you knew this one was coming if we’re covering the Nox. There were different versions of this, which I find to be absolutely fascinating. The Nox City matte. They tried a couple of rounds of this. I don’t know if that’s because it wasn’t working or they wanted a few different ideas, or Ken said, “Let me throw some multiple ideas at you.” Nox City matte again. I’m guessing that’s NTS there with Jack, or Daniel. Here is it colorized. I did not realize until really recently, I guess the last couple years, that the flashback scene in the clip show moment at the end of Out… in “Out of Mind” that features the City of the Nox, the city was redone. And I was like, “Oh, wait a second. That’s not the same.” And if they actually went into the city, here’s what it may have looked like. So, this is the kind of thing that I love, ’cause this is something that the episode does not provide to us, but is absolutely valid, ’cause it was a concept of something that they considered. Some of my documents are out of order. This is Cimmeria from “Thor’s Hammer.” This is supposed to be Brit Dot, Britty or Brit, the sand pit. If anyone in Vancouver knows where that is or what that is, or if I’m screwing it up like a foreigner. You can see the transmission device there that sends them away to the chamber. I don’t honestly know where this comes from. This is for “The Torment of Tantalus,” one of the two pieces that I personally have. It does not look like it was made for the episode. It looks like they pulled this from somewhere. But then again, I don’t know who created it. It doesn’t have Ken’s name on it anywhere as far as I can see. And obviously it’s the machine that’s on Ernest’s planet, but it’s unlike anything else in the collection. And it’s definitely beautiful, but I just don’t know who created it. And again, I don’t know if you call it the book device or the projection machine. They call it dome device. One of my favorite episodes from the entire series right there. And then when Daniel died, or when we thought that he died, the volcanic world. Jericho Beach. Focus. Come on. There we go. Fire and water. I have stood on this beach. Got several of these. Interesting trees. This was one of the cooler planets. If they had really fleshed it out, it would’ve been really interesting. But it’s a budget thing, I get it. They did what they could with it. Volcanic world. All right. And Nem’s lab. Got a lot of seafaring creatures. This is an early concept for Nem. Definitely didn’t go that way. He’s kind of like Ferengi-ish, or at least that’s how it looks to me. Alien lab with semi-transparent equipment. The episode was called, the tentative title was Funeral for a Friend at this point. So, this script was sent to Shanks over his break to screw with him. And then, I don’t know if the entire script was there or not, or if they just sent him the teaser, but he was definitely under the impression, at least for a little bit, that he was getting bumped. That’s pretty cruel, man. Interior trial room, the trial, Norco Studios. So, that was the studio that was actually more of a warehouse, where during production we were sworn to secrecy about it, not to tell where it was. And this is from “Cor-ai.” One of my favorite episodes. And again. How about “Enigma?” The introduction of the Tollan. Exterior Tollan planet Enigma, virtual set. I love the ones with the gates. I think that design is just beautiful. Would you like to see a proposed Tollan costume? This would’ve been insane had they actually gone in this direction. Some of these you have to just wonder, “How could they have done that if they had done that?” The Tollan concept art for their costume. This guy was just a genius. I’m really disappointed I never got to talk to him. And you shippers out there, maybe the one you’ve been waiting for. Exterior glacier, “Solitudes.” And there’s an arrow pointing to Carter. I know they took a helicopter and went way up north to get this one. At least I’m assuming they went north. Wherever this was, I would love to go up there and hike with the proper shoes, of course. The rest of these are in color. This is Martin Wood’s first episode. Interior ice cave from “Solitudes.” Trying to get at the DHD. This is over at Norco Studios as well. And perhaps my favorite from all of Season One. Trying to get the Stargate working. Ken, your stuff is fantastic. Over to “Tin Man.” Ahh, Comtrya. Subterranean cavern, “Tin Man.” Port Man, the substation. Man with an extra N on the end of it. This is a place I would not mind visiting, if it allowed visitors. Probably not right now especially. Interior lab, “Tin Man.” Interesting Carter. Interesting onesie. He drew people interesting sometimes. Not necessarily always to scale or proportion, I should say, in some of these, but interesting nonetheless. Harlan’s little workstation down there. The prison, or the chamber where they’re kept. Living quarters, “Tin Man” living quarters. Fitting for an android. I’m glad they went a different direction with the clothing. The black with the stripes. Something simple. Doesn’t need to be complicated. And more of the subterranean cavern. Port Man substation again. All right. And the machine. Android synthesizing chamber. This was done pretty true to what this is. Medical-like life support equipment. Septic tank as basic shape. Frosted mesh over plexiglass. Frosting should be sprayed in patches over metal mesh. And if you can believe it or not, at one point, along the way, Fraiser may have been intending to take an X-ray of the team. So, let’s have a look at ’em, see what they would’ve looked like on the inside. If this is not gonna show up to the quality that it deserves, I apologize. There we go. It’s coming into focus a little bit better, if I can get the angle of the light on it. Come on. There… So, cool. How about “Singularity?” Never thought I’d see one of these. Concepts for the black hole illustration. This definitely looks familiar, in “A Matter of Time.” And “Singularity” also introduces the three-sided Ha’tak. Not a pyramid ship, so it’s appropriate that these appear here. Goa’uld ship, visual effects telescope mat, “Singularity.” It is… Nirrti ship is really obscured. You go back and look at that and it’s like, you can hardly make any of it out. Hull is based on two cones put together in mirror image. Something, TiVo? TiVo cones? Hull is color of naquadah Stargate metal. Power chamber is same light ochre brown of Ra’s pyramid ship in the Stargate feature film. Hull opening showing diamond. Gap between hull shows strut supports. Lights for habitable areas are concentrated in zone between hull halves. This is very important for what came next. These went all the way through Universe. “Within the Serpent’s Grasp,” as you can imagine, a lot was produced for this. Interior gate room. And again. They really wanted to get this one right. And it’s basically that hull was used again and again, that principle design, for years. Pretty much until Season Five. The glider bay. And then the first examples of the Goa’uld steering column for the Al’kesh, and a lot of others. It’s a little more extravagant, but the insect-looking design is there. Gunner’s controls and heads-up display, “Within the Serpent’s Grasp,” Ken Wibbel. Some of these, especially in the later seasons, were produced to absolute accuracy based on what the designer had created. And others, they’re like, “Let’s take some of this, let’s take some of this, and let’s leave this and this.” And you have to ask yourself on some of these, like this one, how would that have really come off and looked? It looks a lot like the CG effects that were designed for the time device at the end of Continuum. But it’s just magnificent work no matter how you slice it. And that’s it, that’s my collection for Season One. A couple of pieces are missing. If I do do a Season Two, if you guys want to go through another round of this, let me know. Otherwise I’ll just abandon this one as, “Well, that was an interesting attempt. No one really liked it.” But if you do, then I’ll dig more up and we’ll go again. So, I appreciate you tuning into the show and checking out some of the stuff that we’ve got for you. We have a giveaway for the month of April. Dial the Gate has partnered with Big J Customs for the month of April to give you a chance to get your very own custom Pop! Figure. This is a fan-made figure from Big J Customs. To enter to win you need to use a desktop or laptop computer and visit dialthegate.com. Scroll down to Submit Trivia Questions. Your trivia may be used in a future episode of Dial the Gate, either for our monthly trivia night or for a special guest to ask me in a round of trivia. There’s three slots for trivia, one easy, one medium, and one hard. Only one needs to be filled in, but you’re more than welcome to submit up to three. And please note, the submission form does not currently work for mobile devices. Get this in to us before May the 1st, and if you’re the lucky winner I’ll be notifying you via your email to get your address. And be sure to check out our partner’s website for more Stargate-related merchandise at bigjcustomsart.com. Really appreciate you tuning in to the show. If you liked this episode, please hit that Like button. If you did not like this kind of stuff, please be sure to hit the Dislike button so we can know if this is the direction that we want to continue to produce content or not. It’s only fair. So, I really want to give thanks to my moderating team: Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys, Antony, Sommer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey, and Jennifer Kirby. These people are the ones who make the show possible so that we can continue to provide you with Stargate content while we’re waiting for the team and MGM to agree to produce a fourth series like we all have been waiting and waiting. But at some point I imagine it’s just gonna happen, it’s just a question of when. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. Thanks so much for watching. Carl Binder is coming up next, a 90-minute program going into a number of the episodes that he created in his Stargate memories. You’re definitely gonna enjoy that one here on Dial the Gate. See you on the other side.