Martin Gero, the creator of the next Stargate television series is back to share some breaking announcements and take a few of your questions!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome, everyone, to a joint broadcast with GateWorld.net. My name is David Read. I am the host of Dial the Gate. Welcome to Martin Gero, showrunner, the fourth Stargate series.

Martin Gero:
Hello.

David Read:
Welcome back.

Martin Gero:
Thank you. Great to be back.

David Read:
It is such a treat to have you here, sir. How are things in LA? How’s everything going?

Martin Gero:
Everything’s going great. I promised we’d be back with some progress updates along the way, and we’re here to do that, and announce a couple of really amazing key hires that have been on the show for a bit. And then I’ll try to answer as many questions as humanly possible at this very early stage with my regular disclaimer that the show is still in the early phases, and I’m not being avoidant. I just don’t wanna promise things that might shift down the road, if that makes any sense.

David Read:
Avoidant? You’re here. We’ll take that as a win. Darren, how are you?

Darren Sumner:
I’m doing great. I’m glad to be here with you guys again. Martin, you told us back in November when you announced the show that you were gonna stay in contact and give us some updates. And true to your word, you’re back here again. We’ve been–as folks will see in a few minutes–privy to what you’re announcing today, and I’m super stoked. I’m very excited about what’s coming down the pipe. But we also recognize that as fans, we were brought into this earlier than usual. We found out that the show exists a little earlier than we might have otherwise, so we know there’s a good long wait, as you’ve told us. For people who might feel like the process is dragging, how would you put that in perspective for folks who want to know right now, “What’s the show?”

Martin Gero:
That’s totally fair. This is really unusual, I think, because you guys are involved basically before any key hires were. We came to you before we had a writers’ room, before we had a production designer, before we had a visual effects supervisor, producers, all this stuff. And so, I think Stargate has always tried to peel back the curtain a bit and let people inside of how the sausage is made. And this is happening now in more of a real-time way than I think has ever been done in the show. And I don’t know. As a fan of stuff, I think it’s exciting, and the fact that you guys are gonna see a small taped bit with our production designer and with our vis effects supervisor. But should we just get to it? Should we just start talking about it?

David Read:
Yeah, absolutely.

Darren Sumner:
Let’s meet the first new member of the team.

Martin Gero:
So I wrote a little thing so I wouldn’t mess up, because it’s deep. So our first department head that we would like to announce is our production designer, which obviously on a show like Stargate is so important. And I think we have, arguably, one of the best living production designers working on the show with us. So Nathan Crowley is our production designer. Now, Nathan is an Academy Award-winning production designer whose transformative visual work has shaped some of cinema’s most iconic and ambitious films. And that’s usually a BS thing people put at the front of their resume, but it’s actually true for him. So he is best known for his long creative partnership with director Christopher Nolan, a collaboration that has produced some of the most visually distinctive blockbusters in the modern era. It’s just insane. Let me rattle off a few. We’re talking about Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk, Tenet. Those are just the Chris Nolan ones. Then there’s The Greatest Showman, there’s Wonka, there’s Wicked. Nathan has earned seven Academy Award nominations for best production designer: The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Dunkirk, First Man, Tenet, and Wicked. And then finally won his Oscar with Wicked, which is incredible. And then beyond that, he also received an Emmy nomination for his work on the pilot of Westworld. So this is really his first TV show that he’s doing from soup to nuts. He’s designing the entire season with us. It’s huge. I can’t believe it when I say it out loud, even now.

David Read:
That’s just extraordinary. I can’t believe that. Should we just roll the tape?

Martin Gero:
Yeah. Why don’t we roll the tape and then we can talk about it after?

David Read:
OK. Let’s go ahead and do that. Let’s introduce everyone to him.

Darren Sumner:
Nathan, welcome to the Stargate family, first of all. This is a franchise that’s been running for many, many years. David and I are here as fans of the franchise, who love Stargate and are so excited to see what you guys are cooking up for the next show. Welcome. How did this come about for you?

Nathan Crowley:
I guess it came about through, first, the producer James Skotchdopole, who I’ve known– Actually, weirdly haven’t worked with, but I’ve known him on and off for 30 years, maybe 25 years, just socially ’cause we’ve always been– I used to live in Los Angeles, and he would always work for the Scott Brothers mainly. Tony Scott and I would do RSA commercials. So we ran in different film groups, as everyone does. And then through that, he gave me the introduction to Martin, and really, that’s where it kicked off. And Martin said that you guys were gonna, well, he was gonna relaunch the Stargate series. And he needed a designer, and this was a natural progression of my journey as a designer, was to push into world-building. I can’t do police stations and hospitals anymore.

David Read:
I’m curious, Stargate is very popular across the pond from us here. How familiar were you with it? How much of it has since been homework for you? And do you feel bound in any way, aesthetically, to what came before, in terms of the conversations that you’ve had with Martin?

Nathan Crowley:
That’s a great question because I lived in Los Angeles for most of the ’90s and the beginning of the 2000s. And so I was sort of exposed to it ’cause it was a big TV show. You put it on the TV, Stargate would be on. So I kinda knew it as a sort of passerby. And there are so many footpaths or branches of this series, and how they connect. My idea of design is you have to respect the world it lives in and thus the fan base. So you have to keep one foot in. But because we’re now launching onto something new, we have to put the other foot as far out as we can. And I think it’s essential that we try and push, or as a designer, you try and push as far as you can while you keep the other foot in what’s gone before. And to me, I’m gonna sort of express this as nostalgia, because I think people have a nostalgic view on things. And if you just copy what you think everyone loves, I think you’re gonna fall into a trap. And I think you really have to try and produce something that appears new, but isn’t. And I think there lies the challenge. I think that’s a really, really tough challenge. And ultimately, that is actually why I do it, is because if you can find that middle ground where you don’t upset everyone, but they’re taken away, and you give them a new thing to fall in love with, then I think I’ve done my task as a designer. And it’s very difficult. And Martin, who is all things Stargate to me, acts as a guide.

Martin Gero:
And it’s been great. It’s been a great back and forth because Joe and Brad and I are so steeped in it, there’s stuff that we feel like, “Oh, that’s a third rail. We can’t change that.” And it’s great to have those conversations, though, with someone who doesn’t necessarily have that reverence and wants to challenge. There have been many times where I’m like, “I don’t know. I think it’s gotta look like this.” And Nathan is like, “Let me try, let me try.” And him and his partner, Phyllis, who’s been on with us and is incredible, they’re so fast also. Their ability to iterate design is really incredible. So it allows for a great experimentation where you can go way off to the side on something that you would feel like, “No, that’s sacred. We can’t do that.” But then it kinda comes back to you, and you’re like, “Actually, that’s pretty cool.” And it actually is more reverent than I actually would’ve done on my own, through the process. So it’s been so refreshing, and obviously to work with someone of Nathan’s caliber, who is treating the franchise with this kind of reverence as well, but is constantly challenging, is– So, I think that’s right. I think it’s gonna feel like, for die-hard fans, the show will be recognizably Stargate, but it will feel new and refreshed and not 20 years old, or 15 years old.

Nathan Crowley:
I would add, on every project I ever do, there’s some nostalgia. Perhaps not as large as this, but there is a fan base or a nostalgia that you must respect. So I don’t think I’ve come across a project– Maybe I’ve used nostalgia for something else to allow the audience to understand what it is. And I think these things are– I don’t think I’ve ever not had to deal with this, but maybe not in such a large way.

Martin Gero:
It’s so hard, also, Nathan’s doing an incredible job, because we can’t really say anything specific yet. So, having design conversations in the ethereal is kind of a magic trick. So, kudos to Nathan for being able to articulate what this process has been like.

Darren Sumner:
You guys are anticipating all of my questions in the best possible way. Knowing that I cannot ask you specifics about what this story calls for, in terms of its design, we’re talking generally about the design language. You’re entering into a world that is largely fleshed out. There are certain things, the Gate first among them, that have an established look. But on the other hand, the previous television shows also iterated on what the feature film had done, updated the Gate a bit. It looks a little different. The chevrons are different, it’s a little bit larger. So, how do you identify which are the sacred cows that you need to honor while you are maybe iterating on the language a bit?

Nathan Crowley:
To be honest with you, in my head, I’ve parked the Stargate, because I know that is a slightly untouchable element, and so I’ve parked it. And when you– I often do this. When you come against elements in projects that are a little– You can’t find– They’re a bit cloudy in your head, so you have to park them and you have to go through the process of finding everything around the Stargate to then feed it back into it. It’s such a key element and the symbols are so key. The way it moves is being determined by– No, it’s sitting out there and we’ve parked it.

David Read:
We are on the forefront of so many new technologies, Nathan. Is there any piece of technology that you’re looking forward to cutting your teeth on with this thing? And what are you most excited about in terms of tools at your disposal?

Nathan Crowley:
Again, that’s fantastic, because technology– My true belief in design is you use everything to create the best image. Our job is to make you believe you’re in this place and that Stargate could work, and then you could go through spacetime to another galaxy. So we have to put you there, and now we have more technology to do that with. The task for me is always, can I make you forget that you’re watching the TV series and fall into it? So I find technology super exciting, and I would say if you rely on one thing only, inevitably the illusion will be given up. ‘Cause we are sort of illusionists and we have to– And a lot of that is in edit. So you edit between technologies. And if you start with something very real, like the bookshelf behind you, and then it opens and you go into some digital world, and then you finish with you closing it up, I kind of believe it, ’cause I’ve grounded you. So can we use every tool we have, to one, push the design further? And I think we use everything that is out there, without a doubt. Or we go and investigate it, and everyone should investigate it. And I think if you’re creative, you will try and investigate it for your purpose and how it can improve the image, rather than make it easier to– You’re not looking to make it easier. You’re looking to make it better. And I think, in answer to your question, I love technology. Even though I’m renowned for doing things practically, I use every bit of technology before I make it practically.

Martin Gero:
Nathan started the day the writers started. Nathan and Phyllis have been there from the beginning, so that as the show is building, our room is just propagated with all this incredible art as it starts to grow, and it’s a back-and-forth conversation. That’s what’s really incredible, is I can say to Nathan and Phyllis, “We don’t know exactly. We think it’s this. What is– I don’t know, we…” And so many times Nathan has come back and been like, “What about this?” And we’re all like, “Heck yeah. That’s way better than anything we would’ve thought of.” So it just allows this conversation that honestly I haven’t had since the original Stargate, because in the old Stargate, the art department was just down the hallway. And so if I was typing, I could just walk down the hallway and be like, “I don’t know. Could we build this?” And they’re like, “Yeah, absolutely.” So it really does feel like we’re connecting to that old energy of just being able to be in constant conversation with the art department, with vis effects, as we start to figure out how do we build this. And they’re having as much input on the story, honestly, as we are having on the design, just through that conversation.

Darren Sumner:
It sounds like an exciting, collaborative process. Let me ask you this question and then qualify it before you answer it. How would you describe the scope and the ambition of this show?

Nathan Crowley:
Brilliant. I would say it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a genre film, it’s a TV series, it’s a low-budget film. I’ve sort of been across everything. You have to start with the ambition of the whole world-building journey, and then really where your budget comes into play is about efficiency in what you actually need that tells that story, and which part of the pie you need to then make and spend your money on and which you don’t. I think the most important thing is not to waste. And I think sometimes you can– As Martin said, if you’re in a hurry and you’re going, you could be going down the wrong road, and that’s where the waste happens, and it happens because you don’t realize it, and then you get into an edit room and you end up with problematic visual issues and story issues, and also, you end up with visual effects having to fix it, and then you lose the believability because they’re doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing. Everyone has their bit to do to take the audience away. So really the planning is very cheap at the moment with a writers’ room, me and Phyllis. Phyllis is my wife. She’s always worked with me. She’s my concept designer. So, you have to be efficient, and you just get more. I mean, I’m often accused of doing giant films, which I do do, but we do them quite economically, or we do them in old places, or our methodologies are built around spending the money on going places.

Martin Gero:
The scope of this show is the one we had the ambition for in the last version of the show, but didn’t have the means, and now we have the means, and quite frankly, the time. We haven’t even started official pre-production yet. And so, to be able to start pre-production with not only the idea of what we wanna do, but the logistical understanding of how many sound stages we’re gonna need, what locations we’re gonna go to all over the world. Again, just being able to put those tent poles around us early has really affected the ability to really blow the doors off what the show’s gonna be visually. What has been so useful is when you’re writing a show, you have all the cards up on the board as like, OK, well, this is our season. But what Nathan and Phyllis are also allowing us to do is to create that visually so that we can look at it visually as a season. And so, as we start to have these conversations about budgeting and everything, it allows us to be like, “Wait, that’s super important. All of the money has to go there, and it’s gotta go there,” and then, “OK, this, how do we make this a little more manageable?” But having the season visually at a glance as we’re in these early starts of creation has just been truly invaluable on every level.

Nathan Crowley:
It’s also great fun. I mean, myself and Phyllis, we’re having a great time. We speak to Martin, we get on our Zoom and say, “What do you think about this?” And he often says, “You can’t touch that.”

Martin Gero:
Come on, that’s not true.

Nathan Crowley:
And then we say to him, “It’s great. It is great,” and I say, “Well, we did touch that.”

Martin Gero:
We’re having a blast.

David Read:
It’s tremendous that we got you. Thank you.

Nathan Crowley:
Thanks very much.

Martin Gero:
Incredible. Thank you, Nathan.

Darren Sumner:
That’s Nathan Crowley. Wow.

David Read:
Man.

Martin Gero:
Crazy.

Darren Sumner:
Guys, we’re back here live with creator/showrunner Martin Gero. That was fun. What does Nathan bring to the table that excites you?

Martin Gero:
I don’t know. Do you have an hour? I think it’s like, we, the first hire we really did was this incredible producer, Jim Skotchdopole, who, it’s a fun game you can play with him, he’s made so many movies, also an Academy Award winner, but he was the youngest member of the DGA. A storied life and career. A fun game you can play with Jim is when you’re just talking about any movie be like, “Jim, did you make that movie?” And one out of four is like, “Yeah.” He says, “Yes, I did make that movie,” or he at least was like, “No, but I was on set,” or he has got some stories. A universally beloved dude who, again, has access to these incredible pockets of talent, and when he brought Nathan Crowley up, I was like, “Sure. Yes. OK. It’d be great if Nathan Crowley did Stargate.” I was like, “Sure. Why not? Why not?” And then he’s like, “No, let’s meet him,” and then we had a great meeting. The vibe was right, and the timing was perfect, and he really loved the pilot. And then we just started talking about what we both thought there was room for innovation for, not just in Stargate, but in sci-fi in general, and he got really excited and I got really excited. It’s been great. We had done some pre-vis work without him, to get the show sold, so I think he mostly wanted to know how dogmatic we wanted to be about that, and we were like, “Whatever.” But there was this one ship that I had designed that I was, or not designed, but I had helped design and was like, “Ah, this is the only thing that I think is so cool,” and he was like, “OK, OK.” And then literally, the first image he ever showed me, he was like, “Look, I know you love that ship. I know you think that ship is so cool, and we can totally do that if you want, but what if it looked like this instead?” It’s the coolest— This first image he showed me, I just show everyone that is involved with the show, or that we’re enticing to be in the show, and they’re just like, “Damn!” And I was like, the old idea was gone.

Darren Sumner:
Good thing he didn’t stick with your idea.

Martin Gero:
No, I’m so glad he didn’t stick with my dumb idea. It’s been great. And again, his wife and partner, Phyllis, has been so incredible. And again, I think I said it in that piece, but this is how it’s supposed to be done. The visuals and the stories are created hand-in-hand. To be able to go down to James’s office back in the old day and say, “Hey, what about this?” And Phyllis has such an amazing sci-fi mind, ’cause we come up with these crazy ideas and then they have to make them into reality, and part of that is justifying everything in the design. It can’t just be there because it looks pretty. It starts these conversations that are very grounding to a show in a moment where we’re not really in hyper-detail mode, but when you’re doing the design, suddenly you have to be. And that flow of information and having to make decisions about stuff has been great. And I know I’m talking about this in a very opaque way. But it’s been great. It’s very exciting.

Darren Sumner:
I just wanna ask this follow-up question. Did we hear him right when I think he said that the Stargate was the one thing that you guys had parked? Does that mean that he’s approaching the Stargate as the icon, the most familiar piece, that that’s the piece that’s not gonna change in the production design?

Martin Gero:
It may change a little. What he meant by that is it’s so iconic, we can’t start there. We’re doing all of the other design work first, what will the room be that the Stargate is in? What is all of that? What does it look like? And then he has a very holistic approach. Again, we just talked about it, but seeing the season as a whole visually really informs all of the other parts of it as well. So you’re not looking at it as this scene or this episode, but as a season of visual diversity. I think we’ll all land upon the right tweak of the design for the Stargate.

David Read:
OK, so you’re not prepared to comment on which Stargate we’re looking at exactly yet?

Martin Gero:
Heavens no.

David Read:
OK, understood. All right. Darren, is this a question for Nathan, or is this a question for Martin?

Darren Sumner:
We could have asked this question of Nathan just as easily. But it’s for Martin. The question is, when you look at Stargate and the way that the new show’s gonna fit with the franchise that exists, do you look at it– SGU was visually different.

Martin Gero:
Yeah.

Darren Sumner:
Deliberately took some changes with the style, with obviously the way that it was shot, with the way that it was lit. But granting that, does Stargate have a sort of common aesthetic that you would say extends across all three shows, and now to a fourth show?

Martin Gero:
Who I think answered this question better than I’m about to is the next person that we were gonna announce. Should we announce that person, let him answer that question, and then we can keep talking about it? Is that OK with y’all?

Darren Sumner:
Yeah, for sure. As if a production designer, a world-class production designer was not enough, you’ve got another announcement.

Martin Gero:
This is the last announcement I’ll be making today, and then we can just shoot the breeze. But as important at this point in the process is our visual effects supervisor. And honestly, this guy was number one choice for me. We’re excited to announce that Mohen Leo is our VFX supervisor. He is an Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor. He won the Emmy for outstanding special visual effects in a season or a movie—love the long title names—at the Emmy Awards for his role as production visual effects supervisor on Andor, which is I think the high bar for sci-fi right now. And on the feature side, he also received an Academy Award nomination for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, sharing that nomination with, among others, the great John Knoll. He’s got a long, storied history. He joined ILM in 1996 as a technical director and effects animator, contributing to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Perfect Storm, Pearl Harbor, before leaving to work on Matrix Reloaded. He’s just done everything. And he also, this is a cool asterisk, but I think it’s dope. He also co-created, I think, the story for the three-part Vader Immortal virtual reality series game, which was so great. So he’s somebody that has such a holistic view of storytelling and visual effects. Shall we play the…

David Read:
Yeah, let’s have that conversation. Again. Here’s Mohen. Mohen Leo, welcome to the Stargate family, sir. How are you?

Mohen Leo:
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

David Read:
It’s a true treat to have you in this fold of people, because your work speaks for itself. Anyone who googles you will be like, “Yep, this is acceptable.” Are you a Stargate fan? How familiar were you with the franchise before this? I’m really curious.

Mohen Leo:
I very much remember watching the movie for the first time, and at the time, that was one of the big sci-fi event movies, and I particularly love the combination of science fiction with the ancient history and mythology and all that. But I’m really excited to be part of this. It’s certainly a franchise that I’ve been aware of over the years and have seen how passionate people are about it, and how deep it is also in terms of lore and the world and everything. So, I’m very excited to dive in.

Darren Sumner:
That’s my first question, Mohen. You’re stepping into an existing franchise with a lot of material already in the stew. How do you approach as a creative collaborating with Martin and his team, and figuring your piece of the visual language, or the style, the aesthetic of Stargate?

Mohen Leo:
I really think collaboration is at the core there, especially with something that is so big as a universe and has had so many talented people touch it creatively. So really, it’s gonna be a collaboration between Martin and Nathan and then myself to find the pieces from that that are most in line with the vision that Martin has for this project. And then I will take their lead on that. I think one of the things creatively also that we talked about that’s really important is that in spite of both the sci-fi and the mythology aspects of the franchise, we wanna create something that is still grounded, that is grounded in reality. Martin mentioned that at the heart of it are the characters and their story. And I think one of the things that I’ve always felt with past projects as well is that in order for the audience to really care about the characters and participate in their emotions, you have to make sure that the world itself is believable and relatable. So I think to a large extent it’s gonna be taking all of those sci-fi/mythology aspects, but then grounding them in something that really feels like the real world so that people can engage emotionally with it.

Darren Sumner:
That’s Stargate.

David Read:
For sure. There are a host of tools that are available now. Where do you begin when you start your creative process, and what are you hoping to leverage with this team?

Mohen Leo:
I think for me, to the point of being grounded, one of the things that I always try to find is what are the things in reality and the real world that we can draw on both as inspiration and as reference? So that even if you create something that is fantastic, you can always reference back to something that feels relatable and that feels familiar to the audience, that feels like something that is tangible. So, I think one of the things I always end up spending a lot of time on early in a project is just looking what’s in the scripts, looking what’s in the artwork, and then really trying to Google and Wikipedia as much, what are the inspirations from the real world that we can take into this? ‘Cause quite often you really then find unexpected things in the real world, details or little mechanics of how something works that can suddenly make something both more interesting, more original, but also just feel more real. As far as the tools go, I think one of the things that I always felt is that you wanna ideally have every shot be grounded in something real. So as much as you can, when you can shoot a real location, a real set, that becomes the foundation of what you then build visual effects on top of. Because it also allows everyone from the start to really know what you’re doing, the director, the production designer, the director of photography can actually look at the monitor and go like, “OK, we’re shooting a real location here, and we know that we’re gonna turn it into something else, something fantastic later on. We’re gonna extend the set.” But there’s intention to what you’re doing when you’re shooting it. You’re not shooting into a blue screen and figuring out later what you’re trying to put there. So, I think that is really for me a sort of a foundation that you shoot as much as you can practically, even if you know that in the end you’re gonna replace a lot of it with visual effects.

Martin Gero:
And I think as far as toolset, one of the things that we’re all aligned on is we wanna use everything. We wanna use the oldest tricks from the early 1900s to the most advanced stuff right now. And I think it’s– I think where shows like this start to get a little trapped is if they get locked into one methodology. And that’s what we wanna avoid. It’s a kitchen sink approach. Whatever the right tool for that sequence is what we’re gonna do. And I think that’s what’s incredible about having someone like Mohen, is he’s done so much, and knows the drawbacks of even some of these newer technologies and knows their strengths. And it’s just a balancing act, and it’s why it’s so critical that he’s with us so early, that him and Nathan are with us so early. So that as we’re trying to budget and figure out and schedule and everything, all of these decisions aren’t being made in a bubble. Everyone is given an equal voice to figure out what’s the best way to achieve the creative.

Mohen Leo:
And I think we always start with the creative there as well. We don’t start with the technology and say, “This is how we’re doing,” and then try to fit the creative into that. It’s the other way around. You look at what are you trying to achieve creatively? And then what are the best tools that we can use for that, and what is the split between what’s practical, what’s digital? So that really every department can contribute the most and does what they do best.

Darren Sumner:
I wonder if you could articulate a bit more for fans who don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of how visual effects work when you have two different kinds of shots? You’re on set, I think, largely, you or someone from your team, for those practical, where you’re augmenting something with the performer or with the set in it, versus the shots that you do, space battles that are entirely CG. What’s the workflow for those two different kinds of shots?

Mohen Leo:
For the locations or sets where you’re shooting in a real environment, I think we, on set, are trying to make sure that we capture all of the data that we need. We capture all of the measurements and the lighting and everything, so that ultimately later on, we can add our digital creations on top of that. Even there, it’s important to be really well-prepared. So, concept art is critical for that. We are doing things like pre-visualization, rough 3D models, blocking out what shots are gonna be, so that when you’re showing up on set, you look at the monitor, you see what’s there, but in your mind, you have a clear idea of what’s missing, what visual effects then still has to do to complete the shot. For the fully digital sequences, like spaceships and things like that, it’s usually a close collaboration with the showrunner, with the director. DP can often start the storyboards, trying to get rough ideas of what the flow of the sequence is. And then we often do explorations with 3D models. So, we’ll set up a simple scene, and you can have a little viewfinder, just an iPad that you’re using almost as a digital camera that you can fly around. You can find angles. You can find shots. And then you start with a pre-visualization team to build out the sequence, sort of like early PlayStation 2-quality graphics. Just the general flow of it, so that everyone, again, has a clear understanding of, “OK, this is the edit. This is the flow of it.” And then you can figure out what the technical pieces are that are required to put that together, either fully digitally or where do you shoot elements, where do you have to shoot actors or explosions or things like that practically.

Martin Gero:
For this franchise in particular, this is brand new ground. Because this show came up in the late ’90s and early aughts, and when we were editing the shows, there would literally just be a black card that says, “Space battle goes here, 10 seconds.” Those things would have to be locked before the cut was locked, before the vis effects were even started, and then the vis effects had to back in to whatever. So no matter the type of planning, the handoff between production and vis effects and editorial was always a leap of faith. What’s incredible now about this workflow is that it’s so early. Everything is decided on. We’re not just looking at our vis effects supervisor on set and being like, “Good luck.” For us, it’s about keeping the money on the screen too. It’s about making these decisions early in a way that is sustainable for the show.

David Read:
There’s a certain 32-ton elephant in the room that I want to touch on a little bit here. You are dealing with something that has a great deal of reverence to many millions around the world. And I am very much caught in between the two worlds of I want you to deliver what’s come before, but technology has advanced, and it would be criminal to make it look exactly the way it looked before. How do you walk that tightrope, Mohen? How are you gonna pull that off?

Mohen Leo:
To some extent, I think we are figuring that out certainly with the creative team. But having dealt with similar situations in the past, what’s often a good way to think about is not necessarily what exactly did it look like 20 or 30 years ago, but how do you remember it? In your head, you have a memory of what that was, and you’re trying to hit that with now the most advanced technology, the best quality that you can. And that often can then open up enough creative space to stay true to what you did before but basically plus it out for a modern audience.

Martin Gero:
Capturing the feeling of Stargate exactly is more important to us than capturing the exact aesthetic look. Does that make sense? It’s been 15 years. The technology is a lot better. That’s a perfect way of thinking. How you imagined it when you were watching it is what we wanna try to get closer to.

David Read:
As if you could see it with a greater deal of fidelity than you saw it before, or are we thinking of, “Well, in the ’60s, they could only do this with Kirk’s bridge, and now we’re gonna do Strange New Worlds with it?”

Martin Gero:
Stargate was old enough that it actually was in that moment where it went from standard-definition, four-by-three television to HD. And all of the assets that we had had and created needed to get plussed up, assets and sets, quite honestly, that were built for a different era. And so, we had to go over with a fine-toothed comb, make it so that when you’re now looking at it in HD, and God forbid, 4K, at this point, it’s gotta look great. There’s still a stewardship over some of the iconic things in the franchise that we don’t wanna mess with, but we wanna make them as great as you remembered them.

Darren Sumner:
I appreciate that. That’s wonderful. More how it feels. It feels right. It feels authentic with today’s technology. You guys are full steam ahead towards principal photography, I think, later in the year. What does it look like from the VFX side? Are you waiting for a lot of this work to be in the can before your team really gets to work? Or are you already doing pre-vis and other steps at this early pre-production stage of the process?

Mohen Leo:
We’re definitely already part of the conversation as scripts are being developed. I think that it’s super helpful to be able to see how everything takes shape, to be able to weigh in where potential challenges are or where there are opportunities maybe to make the scope even greater. But I think the other thing is that we’re starting to work with Martin and with Nathan also, to play around visually with ideas. We’re not fully in pre-vis. We’re not at a point where we’re cutting sequences together, but we’re definitely at a point where we can start taking some of the toys out of the toy box and playing around with them and looking at them from different angles.

Martin Gero:
Mohen’s on the clock. The work has definitely started. And again, the more we can get done now, the better it’s gonna be. The more runway we give ourselves, the better it’s gonna be. And the more we can line up with everybody, the director, director of photography, production designers, so that the entire crew has a clear image of what each piece needs to be.

David Read:
I loved your work in Andor.

Mohen Leo:
Thank you.

David Read:
Are there tent-pole sequences in this that you’re looking forward to tackling? Or is it all of a piece?

Mohen Leo:
There are, but I can’t say what they are.

David Read:
I do not want– So, there are specific …

Mohen Leo:
There are already things …

David Read:
… major moments. OK.

Mohen Leo:
… that I’m very excited about.

Martin Gero:
What made Mohen stand out from the pack, outside of obviously his incredible credits and all of the amazing shows that he’s worked on, is there’s an innate creativity there. This is somebody that we feel great confidence giving him a sequence and saying, “Yeah, go run with this,” and, “Let’s see, come back with something amazing and let’s talk about it.” When you can have a collaborator at this level, part of putting together a team is you just want great people and then empower them to do amazing stuff. I personally, just as a viewer, am like, “I wonder what he’s gonna come up with. This is gonna be so cool.” No pressure. But for us, it really is that we’re in a very collaborative and experimental point right now where we can take a lot of big swings and all get on the same page as to, “That feels right, this feels wrong,” as we’re refining what we all think the look of the show is gonna be. More to come.

Darren Sumner:
Mohen, we’re so excited to see the work that you guys are doing. Thank you for being here. Thank you for joining us.

Mohen Leo:
Thank you.

Darren Sumner:
And giving us a little early teaser.

Mohen Leo:
Thanks for having me.

David Read:
Martin, I can’t believe this question’s about to come out of my mouth. Among other studios, ILM is gonna be working on Stargate?

Martin Gero:
Yes.

David Read:
Oh my God.

Darren Sumner:
Shoot for the moon.

Martin Gero:
It’s pretty nuts. And again, I’m a huge Andor fan. And I think the visual fidelity on that show is bananas. It just looks so great. Just having Mohen, obviously it’s a very different show, but his level of creativity and his understanding of how to execute has been incredible for us. Like he’s saying, we’re in the play-around stage, which is something the old show was never afforded. You would be lucky if you could even see an asset before it was rendered in CG. At some point, I remember we were not even really ever seeing the HD versions of the shots because they didn’t know how to transport them physically to the office. That’s how old the old show was. So anyway, we’re so lucky to have these two on. And these are the two I can tell you about right now. We’re slowly expanding as we ramp up, but again, for us it was critical that the show be, if we’re gonna do a new big version of it, afforded this level of talent to help bring it back. And so we’re thrilled.

David Read:
It’s just wild, man. Darren?

Darren Sumner:
I’m blown away by the news. Both of these guys, if you had your wish list, who would you go after? And I’m hard-pressed to think of any two better picks.

Martin Gero:
Truly, world leaders making historically great stuff that have left a huge imprint on the media landscape. And so, for them to be lending their talents to us for the next couple of years is really incredible.

David Read:
Absolutely, man. Can we pivot for a little bit?

Martin Gero:
Yeah, please.

David Read:
Is there someone that you wanted to bring in, by any chance? I did. If it’s OK, we are– This is a writing room day, so we are writing.

Darren Sumner:
I wanna ask how the writing room is going.

Martin Gero:
Fan favorite Joe Mallozzi is here.

Joseph Mallozzi:
I’m sorry, Mr. Gero. Sorry to interrupt. Many of the writers have finished painting the house, and were wondering if you could start working on scripts now.

Martin Gero:
No. How many coats? Come in.

Joseph Mallozzi:
We painted the house last week.

Martin Gero:
OK. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Joe.

David Read:
Good to see you, Joe.

Martin Gero:
Joe Mallozzi.

David Read:
Hey, welcome, Joe.

Joseph Mallozzi:
OK, bye.

Martin Gero:
We’ll have to be closer, both for the mic and this split screen.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Hello.

Martin Gero:
Here, take care. Here, go. Absolutely.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Hello.

David Read:
And representing Omni Consumer Products, of course.

Martin Gero:
Exactly. Incredible.

Darren Sumner:
Joe, how’s it been going?

Joseph Mallozzi:
It has been going great, actually. I must say, I’m very impressed with the way Martin runs the room.

Martin Gero:
Wait a second.

Joseph Mallozzi:
No, seriously. He is very welcoming of all ideas and there’s– First of all, coming into the room, I was anxious, because I didn’t know any of these other writers, and there’s always that one individual in the room who’s always the eccentric or the kook. Originally, I thought, “We don’t have one in this room,” until I slowly realized it was me. Yes. But …

Darren Sumner:
If you can’t figure out who the eccentric one in the room is, …

Joseph Mallozzi:
… I have to say …

Darren Sumner:
… it’s probably you.

Joseph Mallozzi:
… we have the writers, and then we also have support staff. We have script coordinator and assistants. Everybody is welcome to pitch their ideas and best idea wins, as always. I have to say, I’ve never seen– This is a first for me, to be in a Martin Gero-led writers’ room.

Martin Gero:
I learned from the best, ’cause I was in a Joe Mallozzi-led writers’ room, so…

Joseph Mallozzi:
I wanted to say, I don’t wanna say surprised, but I wanna say I’m pleased. I am really pleased, and I’m loving my time here. I’m loving what we’re creating. I think Stargate fans are gonna love the new show, is all I can say. And I’m actually sorry to leave, because I’m gonna leave in a couple of weeks, head back to Toronto and deal with stuff back on the East Coast.

Martin Gero:
No more free lunches. You’re gonna have to Zoom with us.

Joseph Mallozzi:
It’ll be sad.

David Read:
Guys, has it felt–Joe, I’m particularly looking for you on this–has it felt like the alchemy from Bridge has translated into this space? Or is this something completely new?

Joseph Mallozzi:
No. I feel like the magic is still there. And this is one of the things that Martin mentioned to me, I think after the first week, and he was like, “Isn’t this wild? Doesn’t this feel wild, coming together again? And creating a show, and coming up with story ideas?” And it is. At the same time it feels very new and very exciting, yet, at the same time, there’s a familiarity there, just because it’s Stargate.

Martin Gero:
Obviously, we’re trying to put our own stamp on it. We’re not doing a direct photocopy of what this show was. It’s built for a different era. It’s on a streaming platform, versus doing 22 episodes. So the storytelling is slightly different. But it’s been great to have Joe here. He’s worked on even more Stargate than me, but I think it’s great to have somebody that I can look to and be like, “I don’t know. Are we fucking this up?” Sorry. Saying, “Oh, no, are we messing this up?” And him being like, “Yes.” And then also, “No.” To know that there are lines that we should be pushing and there are some that we should not. Balancing the right tone constantly. We got into a problem on an episode last week, where it just wasn’t working. And we were like, “Well, let’s– How do we make it more Stargate?” And in doing that, found the solution, I think, on how to bring that episode to life. Look, it’s a first-season show, and we’re going through the high highs and low lows of, “Oh, we nailed it!” And then being like, “I don’t think it’s there yet.” But it’s been such a blast.

Joseph Mallozzi:
I’m heartened by the fact that Martin is very respectful of what came before. So we’ll build stories, and it’s very easy to, let’s say, find a solution that runs counter to canon. And there will be times when we’ll go a certain way, and then I’ll point out, “Actually, SG-1 established this.” And rather than hand wave and say, “This is a new show,” Martin has said, “OK, we have to consider this and find a way to work around it or how to operate it.

Martin Gero:
We’ve been on GateWorld a lot. We’ve been using the Omnipedia a great deal because we’re like, “What are the rules with that, specifically?” And then hilariously, ’cause it’s been some time, and we both wrote a lot of them. Every now and again, one of us will have written the episode that has the solution that we need, and we’re like, “Oh yes.”

Joseph Mallozzi:
But what’s crazy is, I love him saying, “I’m the guy, the keeper who will remind people of this, we did this and we did that.” But at the time, I honestly don’t recall what I even wrote.

David Read:
There’s a lot of stuff in there. I’m curious, guys, Martin, you brought Joe into this space here. We know he’s helping you as a producer. Are you prepared to say if he’s penning any episodes?

Martin Gero:
I don’t know what I’m allowed to say about that. Mostly just for Guild rules, but yeah. He’s gonna write a script. Absolutely.

David Read:
That’s great.

Darren Sumner:
That’s great news.

Darren Sumner:
Are there any other obstacles that you guys have encountered, I wonder? You’ve got the Stargate knowledge. You’ve got the resources and the back history, but you also have a room full of people that you’re bringing along. Whether it’s walking the wrong way through an open wormhole, or other sorts of creative obstacles, anything that you’ve had to help the new team along with?

Martin Gero:
Definitely, I was reading an outline the other day where someone went through the Gate and then walked back and said, “Oh, wait.” And I was like, “Oh no, you can’t. Once you’re through, you’re through.” It’s small stuff like that, that we can’t expect everybody to know, the exact inner workings of every part of the show. They have watched a tremendous amount of it. The room is really educating themselves. But also, I think it’s important. I really didn’t watch any of it my first year on Atlantis, and it was a tremendous benefit, I think. Because Atlantis was a spin-off, there was gonna be some new audience there, and it was great to have someone in the room that’d be like, “I don’t understand. What does that mean?” I won’t single her out, but we have a writer in the room who’s not the biggest sci-fi fan even, and I can see all the life drain from her face when we’re talking about deep lore, canon-y problems. But it’s on us to figure out, how do we say that in one sentence now? We’ll talk about it for two hours to try to get it right, but then what is the one-sentence version of the show?

Joseph Mallozzi:
‘Cause she will be a large part of our audience as well.

Martin Gero:
Huge.

Joseph Mallozzi:
So, we want to appeal to those viewers, and she’s perfect in that respect, in that she’ll say, “Well, now we’re getting a little in the weeds here.”

David Read:
How much of the time are you guys balancing the writers’ room with discovering and incorporating new ideas, and how much is figuring out how to execute your overall plan as the creator of the show?

Martin Gero:
It’s impossible to put a number on that, because what the show is is constantly evolving. The show that we thought we were making even four weeks ago has changed. We’re in that time now where the show is allowed to change a lot, where we’re both in the design process and in the writing, because this is the time where it’s the easiest to change your mind. The deeper you get into a process, it’s like working with wet cement. At this point, it’s all sloopy and wet and we can put it anywhere and we can build whatever shapes we want. And it slowly starts to harden where you get to a point where the amount that you can change starts to dwindle. So for us, it’s very freeing to be like, “OK, this is for sure it.” Then to talk about what that ending is and then be like, “Ah, I don’t think we’re earning that,” or, “I don’t think we’re getting to the right place there,” the balance of character and story and mythology and all of this stuff. We’re all figuring it out. I don’t know. I don’t want to sound like we’re being wishy-washy. But this is the time where we should be failing and failing often, because we want to stress test these ideas. And again, Amazon’s been amazing too because it’s a real split there between diehard fans and people that have never seen the show before. And we need the show to hit for both of those partners as well.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Conceptually though, we’re still operating within the framework of the show that Martin sold everyone on, that got everyone excited. So we’re operating within that sort of creative framework.

Martin Gero:
The pilot has remained unchanged. The characters have remained unchanged. Most of their arcs, honestly, have remained unchanged. It’s just how best to tell this story?

Darren Sumner:
That’s great. So, schedule-wise, does this mean that, it sounds like an environment with a great deal of creative freedom to sort of mess around and play with it, but at some point it sounds like you guys are gonna hit a spot where the concrete starts to dry. Do you have to have basically the whole season set, locked down in terms of your scripts, before filming starts? Or they kinda overlap a little bit?

Martin Gero:
Ideally we’ll have it all written before we start filming. That’s our goal at least. And then obviously things change as you do pre-production and the physical realities of the world, or you’d need to put this scene somewhere else for this actor and stuff like that. So there’s writing until all the edits are locked, but most of the scripts will be done ideally before production.

Darren Sumner:
Yeah, and I ask because you guys have told us many stories over the years of sort of finding, for example, a character’s voice once it’s been cast and we’ve got a couple episodes in the can and you start writing for the performers. Is that more of a Season Two thing with a streaming show like this, given the timetable?

Martin Gero:
Because that is the type of writing you can do once all the scenes are locked. Does that make sense? You are able to finesse voice and finesse all of that. And also we hope to have the actors cast before we start shooting the show. And that process also informs a great deal of that, but it definitely still allows for that. Again, the show is not done being written until the final edit is locked. There are revisions constantly.

Darren Sumner:
That’s good. So it can still be a living organism.

Martin Gero:
Absolutely.

David Read:
We’ve got some fan questions for you guys, if we can pepper a few in here?

Martin Gero:
Please.

David Read:
Stargate Seed would like to know, Martin, regardless of the number of episodes in the season, do you feel that you have the flexibility if the spirit takes you in the story, or Joe for that matter, to do a 90-minute show? Or are you shooting for around a specific period of time for every episode with a specific number of acts?

Martin Gero:
That’s a really awesome question. I think the answer is yes, but we’d have to figure out a way to pay for it. So it’s just a question of, we have a set amount of money every season. There’s a certain amount of time that we have to deliver for that certain amount of money. Anything above that is on us to make room for. I don’t think right now there’s a 90-minute episode. There definitely are some longer ones and some shorter ones. But also we’re trying to make it relatively consistent, like the old show.

David Read:
Darren, do you have one?

Darren Sumner:
Lots of excitement in chat on GateWorld about Mohen and Nathan, what they’re gonna bring to the look of the show. Also lots of folks asking how I can be involved in the show if I wanna be an extra and I live in London?

Martin Gero:
I actually don’t know.

Darren Sumner:
Is that part of the process, and maybe accessible?

Martin Gero:
I’m sure there is a way. I actually have no idea. That’s a great question. Let me figure that out because there’s a huge difference–

Darren Sumner:
I imagine if you’re connected to the community in the UK, that some sort of casting call goes out at some point.

Martin Gero:
I believe so. I believe they are union positions, so I don’t know that anyone can do them, but I honestly don’t know.

David Read:
OK. John Morgeneier wants to know, around when do you wanna begin casting? How far are you away from your preliminary stages of casting?

Martin Gero:
We are in the preliminary stages of casting.

David Read:
You are, OK. Very good. All right. Could we begin to hear some announcements by summer perhaps? Or do you think it’ll be a little bit later? Or is that not under consideration yet?

Martin Gero:
No, no. I don’t wanna get specific with dates on that yet. That stuff leaks very quick for some reason, so you’ll hear it as close to those deals getting done as possible.

Darren Sumner:
Got a couple of people asking, can we get a project title or working title? Or is it just SG4? Is it just Stargate for now?

Martin Gero:
It’s just Stargate for now. I actually like the title Stargate right now, ’cause we’re trying to lower the bar for people that maybe haven’t seen all 350 episodes of the last show. So, there’s something punchy and great about just Stargate, but that’s all in consideration right now.

David Read:
OK. Jack Greenberg: “Are romantic relationships going to be a consideration in this first season where you’re building whatever group of people are going to be built for this thing?”

Martin Gero:
Jack, are you asking me out? The answer is yes. A thousand times yes.

Darren Sumner:
I assume there will be behind-the-scenes romances.

Martin Gero:
Look, it’s a show about characters. It’s an ongoing show and it’s a serialized show. So, I think it’s fair to assume that that will be part of it. It won’t be part of everyone’s story, but it will be part of some people’s story, for sure.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Before you raise the alarm, we’re gonna be exploring various aspects of the various characters and their interrelations, so that’s one part of it.

Martin Gero:
It’s not the centerpiece of the show at all.

Joseph Mallozzi:
You don’t have to worry about turning into a soap opera or anything.

Martin Gero:
But there are living breathing humans that are having relationships.

David Read:
Is it gonna be joint military and civilian again? Or are you not prepared to comment on that at this stage?

Martin Gero:
I don’t wanna comment on that at this stage.

Darren Sumner:
Let me ask Joe, as somebody who worked so tirelessly for the fans and reviving the show, if you have general impressions about not only is it happening, not only is it in good hands, but you’re in that writers’ room, participating in the work.

Joseph Mallozzi:
I mean, it’s wild because for the longest time, whenever fans asked, “Is Stargate coming back?” it was a no-brainer that it would come back, and I always said, “Sooner than later,” and it turned out to be a lot later than sooner, to be honest with you. But it couldn’t be in better hands. One of the things that I kept on saying throughout the lead-up to the launch was that, no matter who’s in charge, as long as they respect canon, as long as they respect fandom, the show will be great. And having Martin in charge and pursuing his creative vision for the show is really the absolute best of all possible worlds. First and foremost, because he …

Martin Gero:
I’m gonna see if I have any money around here.

Joseph Mallozzi:
… is a veteran of the franchise, …

Martin Gero:
Do not talk about this aspect of it.

Joseph Mallozzi:
… he respected the franchise enough to reach out to Brad and I very early on, and we were the first ones to read the script, his pilot. We gave notes and we were involved very early on. We were rooting for him, and then for him to call us up and finally say he got the green light was very, very, very exciting. And then for him to bring me in as part of the writers’ room, I’m incredibly appreciative of the fact that he brought me in because I know a lot about the franchise, as you know, …

Martin Gero:
That’s not why.

Joseph Mallozzi:
… but also, I appreciate the fact that he recognized my talent, especially–

Martin Gero:
No, Joe’s an incredible writer. Every showrunner is different, but I would love to do the least amount of work possible. And not in a bad way, but there’s so much to do as a showrunner. There’s not enough hours in a day. Joe just sent me an outline, and it was great. And when you read something like that, you’re just like, “Ah, great.” I can now spend my time on other stuff that I don’t have to just rewrite Joe. So, it’s great, ’cause again, there’s a chemistry here that has always worked. And also, Brad’s not physically here, but Brad just sent me a bunch of thoughts on some outlines, and he had incredible notes that I thought were really, really smart. And he’s a showrunner too, so he understands where to note, where not. He’s like, “I know this is a pain in the ass, but you have to do this.” And you’re like, “I don’t know!” And then you think about it for two minutes and you’re like, “Ugh, no, he’s absolutely right, I gotta do that.”

Joseph Mallozzi:
He’s right.

Martin Gero:
So, it’s just been very fun.

David Read:
Aaron Michael Read wants to know, have you selected a composer?

Martin Gero:
Yes.

David Read:
Awesome. All right. Darren?

Martin Gero:
Who is already writing music, which is really fun.

David Read:
Really?

Martin Gero:
Because we have the time. Our goal is to have about four hours of music written before the show starts shooting. One, so that we can vibe the cast and crew out with what we’re going for, but also, editorially, you may or may not know this, but usually when you’re cutting a show, you use temp music. You use music from other shows to give the idea of what it would be like, and that’s useful, but then people get very used to the temp music, and then the sound of the show starts to essentially be a graft of what was used in the temp. To be able to use original music for our temp music in editorial is really exciting.

Darren Sumner:
I apologize, somebody mentioned Buffy earlier. I apologize, I don’t know who the name was, but Sara Lu asks, “How can we fan support the show at this time? So many things are getting canceled, like the new Buffy reboot. Is Stargate safe? Or is the show gonna happen? And how can we support it?”

Martin Gero:
Look, it’s a wild industry, so I can’t 100% guarantee that everything is gonna go as planned. Buffy is a very different situation because they were making a pilot first, and then everyone was gonna evaluate based on the pilot whether to go forward in the series. We’re not doing a pilot. We’re just doing the first season all in a row. The thing you can do to support Stargate is to keep watching Stargate, honestly. That really is it, the metrics and also sharing your excitement after announcements like this. Staying active online, all of that is being monitored now through various crazy smart AIs just about fan engagement. So, do what your comfort level is of engaging with the show and your excitement about the show. That’s really it. And eventually watch.

David Read:
Sara Vaneerde, “Can you speak anymore to Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich’s involvement?”

Martin Gero:
I don’t know. They’re executive producers on the show. I’ve talked to Dean. We hope to have Dean into the writers’ room. I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, quite honestly. They’re definitely executive producers on the show. And when I say I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, I realize that sounds opaque. And it’s how information is doled out and when it is doled out is not up to us. So, it’s not a dodge as much as it is, I don’t wanna relay information before the time.

Joseph Mallozzi:
This is very different for me. Throughout Stargate and my own show, Dark Matter, I was very open with the fandom and taking photos on set, and all the way up through pre-production and production. Whereas here, I have to be very careful. I was gonna take a picture of my double fried mortadella sandwich the other day. And I’m like, “Oh, no. I can’t even do that because what if the photos have the geolocation on them?” So, very difficult.

David Read:
There’s a whole process to that, for sure. Where was the one that I just– And it’s gone now. Darren, save me. I just had one, and it’s missing.

Darren Sumner:
Folks are really excited. We’re seeing some questions that we asked you on the last stream, I think, that I know it’s probably too early to speak to. But for example, Nemesis ST, “Can we pitch an official Blu-ray release for the shows to Amazon?”

Martin Gero:
I would love a 4K steel box. It is rare in streaming because they ideally would love you to watch it on the platform. But it does happen. Stranger Things is about to release their entire series as a box set. So it really is gonna– That’s honestly up to the fandom. If that’s something that the fandom demands then I think that’s a conversation that could be had. But it’s atypical, certainly.

David Read:
phia9896: “Can we expect the same balance between technobabble, drama, and comedy?”

Martin Gero:
I think so?

Joseph Mallozzi:
I think so. Definitely the humor is there. So, fans can rest relieved that we’re not gonna be going super dark like a lot of sci-fi shows. The technobabble, we really try to ground it as much as possible, and at the very least, theoretical plausibility.

Darren Sumner:
Bryce Orzebrack asks, “To what extent does this new series need to draw from MGM’s archives, like Star Wars has done, in order to retrieve information from earlier series, such as props, blueprints?” How have you guys dealt with the sort of archival process of coming in 10, 12, 15 years later?

Martin Gero:
It’s real tricky because the movie was actually made from Carolco Pictures, which then sold it to various places to distribute. But a lot of that library-type stuff is strewn all over the world. I think I’m allowed to say this, but we couldn’t find blueprints to the Stargate, and so I emailed these guys. And was like, “Hey, do you guys have the blueprints at Stargate?” And David was like, “Yeah, I can get them to you right now.” And took all the …

David Read:
I did.

Martin Gero:
… photos, and then we sent that to Nathan and Phyllis and everybody. Honestly, I swear to God, we use GateWorld every day. That really is, I think, the gold standard right now as far as what exists or where information is and who has what.

David Read:
All the more reason. It’s one of those things where if they wanted my help in getting it right, bam! I’ll help you, of course.

Martin Gero:
Nathan just asked. He was like, “What is the exact measurements of the Stargate?” And I was like, “I don’t know the exact measurements.” And so it’s great to have that archival stuff so we can make sure that our Stargate isn’t like– It’s like, “You idiot. This was supposed to be 22 feet. It’s 22 inches!”

Darren Sumner:
There’s only six chevrons. What’s going on?

Martin Gero:
Exactly. It’s just this Spinal Tap, Stonehenge comes down on set, and it’s just this big. We’re trying to avoid those mistakes.

David Read:
It’s one of those things where at one point in the show, it’s mentioned, I think it’s 22 feet in diameter, but it’s actually, I think, more like 20. So even the show was fudging it a little in terms of real life. Darren, do you have any more before we wrap it with these guys?

Darren Sumner:
You mentioned one of your writers earlier. Ocean Stars is curious, “Are there any female riders on the team?”

Martin Gero:
Yeah.

David Read:
Hannnahh-k wants to know, “Are any props, mock-ups being built at this early stage or is there anything physical that’s being created at this stage?

Martin Gero:
Not yet. Typically, that stuff gets done in and around 10 weeks before production. We’re further than that out at this moment.

Joseph Mallozzi:
However, we do have concept work on some stuff that is absolutely wild. Amazing. Really amazing.

David Read:
All right. RedFiveRED: “Are there going to be any Wizard of Oz nods that you hope to add to this season?”

Joseph Mallozzi:
I think I generated a list once of the top 10 Stargate in-jokes, and we may see a few of these in the new show.

Martin Gero:
Does Nathan count? Nathan was the Oscar award-winning production designer for Wicked. So does that …

David Read:
Yes.

Martin Gero:
… count? Would that …

Joseph Mallozzi:
Yeah.

Martin Gero:
… at least– We’re merging the worlds, canonically.

David Read:
Makes sense to me, for sure.

Darren Sumner:
That’s great. Nathan is the Wizard of Oz reference for the day.

David Read:
That’s it.

Darren Sumner:
I love it.

David Read:
Guys, thank you so much. Any final thoughts?

Martin Gero:
No, we’re so excited and we honestly thank everyone. We’re not responding to every DM and every comment on everything. But we see them and we feel them, and what we’re trying to show is we’re trying to honor and elevate. Our excitement is spreading. And the people that we have been able to infect with this excitement as we’re pulling in to put some respect on Stargate’s name and really do a show that we all know that we’re capable of doing, that the fandom and the world can enjoy.

David Read:
Wow. Thank you so much. It means the world to have you guys.

Darren Sumner:
Thank you, guys.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Thank you.

Martin Gero:
And more soon.

Darren Sumner:
Good. Joe, you gotta work on an apology for Sharky for taking him out of the warm climate.

Joseph Mallozzi:
He’s loving it here. Actually he’s not the only one who’s gonna miss it, I’ll be honest.

David Read:
I got to go for a walk with him the other day and he’s having a good old time. He’s a good little boy. Got to give him some kisses. So please take care of him, Joe. And you guys take care of yourselves.

Martin Gero:
I think it’s important to point out that Sharky is a dog for those that don’t know.

Joseph Mallozzi:
By the way, Kevin keeps pushing, “Is there a possibility for Sharky to have a cameo on the show?” And I’m like, “Well, it’s still too early to tell.”

Martin Gero:
We’ll see.

Joseph Mallozzi:
But he’s very–

Martin Gero:
He does look very alien.

Darren Sumner:
It’s too early to tell, but I’m getting Furling questions daily.

David Read:
Thank you guys. Be well.

Martin Gero:
Bye.

Joseph Mallozzi:
Bye.

David Read:
Bye-bye.

Darren Sumner:
Thanks, guys.

Martin Gero:
I’m gonna close this. Is that the right thing to do?

David Read:
Be my guest. I’ll switch modes here.

Martin Gero:
There we go. Bye-bye.

David Read:
Bye-bye. All right. Boom! Check that out. Wow! What do you think, man? Was that not a wild download? And to get to see Joe as well?

Darren Sumner:
Yeah. That was a pleasant surprise. Really thrilled. And I’m again still blown away by Nathan and Mohen, what they’re gonna bring to the show, what they’re already working on that they talked to us about.

David Read:
I think we have an embarrassment of riches on our hands here because you could switch them out with a couple of other folks that I can think of. But you wouldn’t get better quality. You would just get different, like apples and oranges. The fact that they’ve got these two industry vets in such key roles for this, I cannot wait to sit down with them and talk with them about their careers and about their process of creating, because you have so much legacy experience just with the two of them combined. It’s a dream come true to have them involved in Stargate. I’m really excited.

Darren Sumner:
Guys, we appreciate you being here with us live. Except my chat just disconnected.

David Read:
Uh-oh.

Darren Sumner:
Please wait. OK, now it’s reconnected. YouTube, you do your thing. Thanks, guys, for being here and hanging out with us. We’ve got a few more minutes, I think, between me and David if you guys want us to talk about any of this. I wanna continue to debrief a little bit of what we just heard. It’s really fun but challenging, as folks are probably figuring out, to walk the line of these guys are here, they are as much of an open book as they can be at this stage in the process. But we also recognize we can’t ask them certain questions yet. They’re just not gonna be able to tell us.

David Read:
That’s the thing.

Darren Sumner:
So, as much as we would like to pepper them about questions of, is this actor gonna come back? Is this plot thread gonna be revisited? Those answers I think are gonna come in due time. But I feel like they’re being absolutely as transparent as they can be at this early stage of the process.

David Read:
That’s right. You could so easily go with the approach that, “Well, this is gonna be a total media blackout until Episode One gets released,” and I don’t think that that’s going to be what’s going to happen. I think that they’re very strategic about doling out specific pieces of information, because they recognize that this is something that has to be handled with care and consideration, considering what it represents to all of us. So, when we go in saying, “Where’s this piece of information? Why can’t we have this piece of information?” we have to accept the fact that it’s because we collectively have such great reverence for this, and they collectively creating it do as well, that things are going to take the amount of time that they’re going to take. And I’ve certainly had conversations with you about this, Darren, offline. The fact of the matter is, we’ve been waiting 15 years for this thing. What’s one more?

Darren Sumner:
Knowing that it’s coming, and knowing that we get to have conversations with the people who are making the show on a regular basis, I already feel like Stargate’s back. I wanna watch the show for sure. We’re gonna spend a lot more of the year, even when the show gets renewed for a second season, and they go back into writing scripts and production. Most of the weeks out of the year are gonna be without a new episode. Just the fact that there’s something in production, it gets me excited. I don’t know how else to say it. Lori Steinley in the GateWorld chat wants a recap, ’cause she wasn’t here when we started. So, the two big announcements that we got from Martin Gero today are they’ve hired a couple of big department heads. Stargate’s new production designer is Nathan Crowley, who did a lot of Christopher Nolan’s movies. He did Prestige. He did Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises. He did Interstellar, which is one of my favorite science fiction films. And he recently won an Oscar for the production design on Wicked. And then the second announcement we got, Mohen Leo from ILM, Industrial Light & Magic, is gonna be the visual effects supervisor on Stargate. And he’s got some Star Wars in his background. He did the second and third Matrix films, and then came back to ILM and was a visual effects supervisor on Rogue One, and worked on Andor, was visual effects supervisor on Season Two of Andor, and won an Emmy for that. Amazing, you couldn’t ask for two sort of higher-caliber creatives.

David Read:
No, I completely agree. Just tickled. Man, all the way back to The Phantom Menace. It just goes on and on with these guys. There’s so much institutional knowledge that’s in place here. This is an embarrassment of riches. What do you have going on for GateWorld that people should be excited about? What do you need help with? And what’s going on as we spin up the excitement on our sides for the fourth show?

Darren Sumner:
There’s a lot in progress. I went a longer period of time than I intended to between videos, in part because I was working on a really big video that was taking a lot of work. That was the four great races. And now I’m trying to work through my backlog. I have, like, four videos at different stages of production. So, what we need from fans over at GateWorld is to keep showing up. GateWorld has a new Discord if you wanna join the Discord and chat with us there. And then if you’ve got skills and talents that you think is gonna help elevate our game for GateWorld or for Dial the Gate, if I can speak for you, we are fan-run productions, and we’re looking for other folks who’ve got talents who we can help to showcase.

David Read:
Yep. Specifically for me, I’m looking for a couple of things. We shot a video in December that needs a great deal of help with motion jitter. Anyone who has video editing experience, who’s really good at taking some shaky cam and making it look like it’s smooth as silk, please get in touch with me. [email protected].

Darren Sumner:
We could use editing work, for sure. We’ve also got a couple of interviews from our trip to Vancouver in December that need editing.

David Read:
There’s a couple left, and then that’s pretty much it. The other thing I need help with is someone with some web HTML expertise. I want to make our trivia episodes from past Dial the Gate shows accessible to fans, and I want you to be able to sit there and play it in real time, and have them disappear, and then reload another one, and also have a leaderboard as well, looking to completely revamp for a 2.0 look on dialthegate.com. So, if that is you, and you’ve got the time, and you wanna work closely together, reach out to me, [email protected]. And Darren, where do people go if they wanna help you?

Darren Sumner:
You can go to gateworld.net/contribute, or you can just email me, [email protected].

David Read:
Sweet. There we go. Awesome.

Darren Sumner:
Martin asks in the chat, “Have you heard any news lately on additional Stargate merchandise licensees?” That would be a good one to ask Martin. I kinda wonder how much Martin is gonna end up playing the role of sort of franchise shepherd who might be looking at some licensee stuff and approving new products down the road, at least stuff that’s connected directly with this show. I’m not sure what the answer to that is. But no, I haven’t heard any new licensees. We did just get the news yesterday that Master Replicas is releasing their Zero Point Module. That’s exciting. Read more about that on gateworld.net. Otherwise, I haven’t heard of any new licensees …

David Read:
Is that live now on GateWorld?

Darren Sumner:
… set up. Say again?

David Read:
Is that live on GateWorld? There it is. OK. It wasn’t earlier.

Darren Sumner:
There it is. One second.

David Read:
Perfect. Very, very nice.

Darren Sumner:
So, I predicted that probably by the end of the year we were gonna get some new licensees announced for the franchise. If anybody wants to get stuff out to customers by the time the new show premieres, then they’re gonna have to sign a license and get working on their stuff pretty soon.

David Read:
I would think so.

Darren Sumner:
So, I’m hoping we get some new licensees sign up.

David Read:
Merchandise, please. Take my money.

Darren Sumner:
Give me goodies.

David Read:
And we have a new announcement about the Stargate cruise setting sail in 2027, so that’s gonna be fun. Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Paul McGillion, Rachel Luttrell. So, have you cruised before, Darren?

Darren Sumner:
I have. My wife and I did an Alaska cruise for our 20th anniversary. So, the Caribbean cruise was next on our list, for sure. To have a Stargate convention while we’re at sea, that’s about as good as I can think.

David Read:
That’s it. I’ve already booked my ticket, so got a room and ready to rock and roll, so hopefully we’ll be seeing you guys there on that one. What’s the website for that?

Darren Sumner:
Gatecruise.com. And you chatted on Dial the Gate a couple of weeks ago with Jonathan from Gate Cruise.

David Read:
We did.

Darren Sumner:
We’re gonna have him one week from today, at 2:00 PM Pacific Time. He’s gonna be on GateWorld’s livestream hangout. We’ll talk more about the cruise. So, if you’re thinking about it, you’re not sure if you wanna go, come and ask questions to Jonathan next week. And actually I just heard before we went live that he might have some new announcements for us as well.

David Read:
Really? OK. Fantastic. That’s very good. All right. Anything else, man? Marcia Middleton asked, “Can you slip in a pug or two?” For sure, they had better be doing something like that. Even if it’s just a picture of Sharky. We better see Sharky somehow. Or there will be fans who will riot.

Darren Sumner:
What’s left for me is speculation. I don’t know that we learned a whole lot of new information about the show, like where it’s set. Is it in the Milky Way? Is it gonna be set on Earth? I’m trying to do all the reading between the lines that we usually do in our speculation. But I don’t know that we got anything concrete. I feel like the way that Martin’s talked in the past about Stargate is us, it’s Earth.

David Read:
And spaceships.

Darren Sumner:
I’m guessing that might be his default starting point: Earth in the present day.

David Read:
OK. I was excited to hear that ships were at least being designed or acknowledged in some way. It stands to reason if it’s still us, as much as us can be us in that space, then it’s cool stuff. We really appreciate you tuning in. If you enjoyed the episode, give us a Like. It does make a difference if you leave a comment, especially about something that you cared for or didn’t care for to stir discussion. That helps with each of these episodes. This is a simulcast, so Darren and I are sharing this show in each of our streams. We’ve been delighted in having you, so… I myself have got three or four episodes planned this weekend. Including over at Wormhole X-Tremists, we’re gonna be showing–

Darren Sumner:
What’s going on, Dial the Gate?

David Read:
Dial the Gate this weekend we’ve got… Let me pull this up here. Tomorrow morning we’ve got Robert C. Cooper for a previously recorded interview on Stargate religion and ascension called The Great Path. This has been taken from an editorial that you created out of a piece of an interview that you had with him. I listened to it again last night in terms of assembling it and everything. And I think that I can definitively say this for both of us and for a lot of fans listening and watching, you will not look at ascended beings the same way after this conversation. Because I think you, Darren, definitely pointed out that we don’t really look at them in terms of being free of ego. We look at them in terms of they’re not taking a moral action here, or they are taking a moral action here. What does that mean for a species or a being that has spent thousands and thousands of years releasing your burden, releasing your ego, and just becoming one with this overmind that you’re a part of? And Rob had us reconsider a lot of those opinions, at least certainly me.

Darren Sumner:
It was a fascinating conversation.

David Read:
It was a good conversation. Absolutely.

Darren Sumner:
I was reminded of back when you and I did the GateWorld audio podcast. We would have some of these abstract, esoteric conversations about metaphysics and religion and does a transporter dematerialize your soul? Are you the same person who comes out the other end of a transporter or a Stargate? ‘Cause it’s one of those conversations that allows us to really dig into some of the thoughtful side of Stargate. How about that? The way the show’s writers over many, many years elaborated not just on the mythology of ascension and the Ancients, but what it means to be a human being or a person, a creature, in the universe.

David Read:
I think that this one’s definitely gonna have a lot of comments in it, for sure. I’m really proud that we got this one on the record, and that we’re gonna be able to share it with everybody. Mark Savela, visual effects supervisor for Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe is joining us at– I don’t know why I have 10:00 PM there. I’m gonna update that to 11:00. So, Rob is gonna be joining us at 8:00 AM, and then Mark at 10:00 AM Pacific Time to discuss the evolving industry, and how things have continued to change, and also talk about some of the more impressive effects from the franchise. And then, this is one that I’ve been really looking forward to. Been building this for about five months into the schedule, trying to figure out when I was gonna make things work with him. Paul Weber, casting director for SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe. Everyone from Richard Dean Anderson to Ming-Na, Joe Flanigan, Jason Momoa, Ben Browder. This is a big deal.

Darren Sumner:
It’s a big one–

David Read:
We’re gonna sit down with the guy who cast the leads from the shows.

Darren Sumner:
Obviously the actors get a lot of attention. We love their performances. We love conversations with them. This one is super important. I think it’s gonna be fascinating. It’s gonna be an important part of documenting Stargate’s production history. But this guy’s gonna have so many stories to tell. He’s gonna know so many bodies and where they’re buried. I’m gonna be fascinated to see what Paul Weber has to say about his work on the franchise. That’s on Saturday as well?

David Read:
It is Saturday at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. Yep. And that one will be live, so you can tune in and submit questions for him. Really excited about this. And then, the 22nd, Sunday, Master Replicas’ Ben Robinson is gonna come on, and he’s gonna have a physical prototype of the Zero Point Module to show off for us. We get to see him hold one and get some scale to it. Really excited about this weekend. I don’t know what I was thinking when I planned it, but it never rains, but it does pour.

Darren Sumner:
It’s a whirlwind.

David Read:
There you go.

Darren Sumner:
It’s been …

David Read:
That’s it, man.

Darren Sumner:
… a lot of work. We did these pre-records with Mohen and Nathan on two different days. Feels like we’ve been working on this stream all week. But we really appreciate you all being here.

David Read:
Yes, it meant so much to have all of you. It was a pleasure to sit down and be with you on this again, to get to pull this off. Looking forward to more, for sure.

Darren Sumner:
Let’s do it again. I’m really curious how many more months it’s gonna be before Martin has something else he wants to share with us. He did suggest that when casting starts to happen, they’ll cast somebody, and then it’ll be announced pretty quickly. I feel like we’re gonna start to get casting news over the next several months, in drips and drabs, one or two at a time. I don’t think they’ll be able to keep it under the hat to cast 10 people and announce them all at once.

David Read:
They’re pretty pragmatic about this, for sure. Because I was like, “Oh my God, I’m on the show.” He’s on the show, so– That’s it. That’s what I’ve got. Anything else?

Darren Sumner:
Nope, I’m good to go. I apologize, I’m losing my voice. I went to bed last night with a serious head cold, so this is all the talking that I’m gonna do today.

David Read:
My tremendous thanks to my moderating team for pulling this off. Thank you, Antony. Thank you, Enigma. Thank you, Marcia, Raj. You guys really did yeoman’s work for this one. Means the world to have my production team be a part of this show.

Darren Sumner:
Over on the GateWorld side, Hell Cats, Jeff, Suns and Shadows. Raj is here as well. Lockwatcher’s here. Thank you, guys.

David Read:
Thank you, guys. Appreciate you tuning in.

Darren Sumner:
This is an amazing community.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Darren Sumner:
I love getting to do all this with you.

David Read:
We will be in touch very shortly. Thanks so much for tuning in. See you on the other side.