For Dial the Gate’s 450th episode, we are heading to Metz France to talk with Swiss Stargate fan Quentin Brichet and see his extraordinary 1:1-scale Stargate in-person!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
I’m with Quentin Brichet of EMG, the Children of MacGyver. And it is a pleasure to meet you in person, finally.

Quentin Brichet:
For me, too.

David Read:
This is the first time that it’s been unveiled to the public.

Quentin Brichet:
It is.

David Read:
That big round thing back there. We met Rick today. You’ve been working on this for 12 years.

Quentin Brichet:
Thirteen.

David Read:
Thirteen years. I stand corrected. What is this like today? Are you numb? Is it chaos? Has the sense of accomplishment caught up to you? I know you’ve had private unveilings, but this is on another level.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. It’s a bit of everything. I am definitely numb for working for two months on this, preparing for this. But slowly, it’s coming to me that we did it. It’s here.

David Read:
You did it.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s nice. People are happy with it. I’m pretty happy myself with everything.

David Read:
What was the hardest part of pulling this thing off?

Quentin Brichet:
You mean the whole Stargate thing or just this event?

David Read:
Not just this event, but getting this to life. Was it COVID? Was it materials? Was it cost? What really almost pounded you to dust?

Quentin Brichet:
I think the hardest thing is to be able to keep up. There is a time you’re always asking yourself, “Is that the time I stop? Will I stop there now? Is that enough or should I continue, keep it going, and go to the end of this?” So, this part is hard because you really have to keep up and to find reason to do it. And I think what helps to say yes or no is really, are there people working with me that are still there, still motivated to do it? And if they are, it means I have a bit less things to do. So, it’s still doable. But I think my level of doable is way higher than other people.

David Read:
Not everyone can create that. And also at the same time, we’re talking about 150 people over 12, 13 years?

Quentin Brichet:
A bit more than 100. Maybe not 150.

David Read:
But I can’t fathom what that would take. And the perseverance, not willing to give up, the indomitable spirit, just pushing and pushing to make it happen. I’m not gonna belabor the point. Congratulations.

Quentin Brichet:
Thank you.

David Read:
And thank you for allowing us to experience this with you. Can we get a tour?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course. I’ll be happy to.

David Read:
All right. So, we’re gonna start at the Gate and then we’re gonna work our way down through the whole thing that they have here. So, stick around ’cause we’ve got a few surprises for you.

Quentin Brichet:
So, this is the Gate. This is the most perfect replica we know of in the world for now. That was our goal. We are very happy to be as close as this because we were able to make a real copy directly on the real section from the real Stargate from the SGC. And it’s six meters in diameter, very big. We really spent a lot of time seeing it flat on the floor because there was a lot of work to go.

David Read:
So, is it six meters exactly?

Quentin Brichet:
Not…

David Read:
22 feet?

Quentin Brichet:
20 feet.

David Read:
20 feet. In actuality it is 20 feet.

Quentin Brichet:
In the series they say 22.

David Read:
But it’s actually 20 feet exactly.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s exactly.

David Read:
More or less.

Quentin Brichet:
Mostly.

David Read:
And my understanding is it spins 13 degrees a second.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, that’s it.

David Read:
Under normal conditions.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, exactly. And we are working on this. It’s not spinning right now, but we are almost ready to make it spin. We have all the elements. Some of them we have to get, but we know what we need exactly. We just need time. That’s it. With time, it will spin. So, here you can see, we even made the ramp. It’s really based on the real one. There still is a few details that we have to work on that are not accurate. For example, here there are two pipes that are going down. It will be the same here. That was a small mistake from the people making this. We had to really measure it, calculate everything. And to do this, actually, we had to use a box of tissue. Because in the series, when you need a close up with some reference to it, first episode, Daniel is sending back the box of tissue for O’Neill. And it’s just put there on the grate. And if you measure it, you take the measurement from the box. You can know exactly what kind of grades they used to make the ramp, which means from there you can start to count how many elements there are. You have 800 of them or something. So, you can know exactly where the sides are starting and ending, what is the size of the ladder and everything. So, it’s all based on a box of tissue.

David Read:
Now you told me that you guys built in flaws into the design that carried over from the original.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
Like a truly artisan-level replica, you were keeping everything intact. And you said when we last spoke over the Zoom chat that you weren’t gonna show me any of those details. Is there anything here that you have kept intact from the original that wouldn’t have been on a real Stargate, but it is on the prop that you could share with us?

Quentin Brichet:
Let’s see. Let me watch if we can see it from there. Maybe here. Maybe that’s too hard to see, but there are some scratches just there. I think some weathering. Just here, all the way here.

David Read:
And that was in the original?

Quentin Brichet:
That was in the original. And it’s definitely voluntary. They did it on purpose. But there are a few things that are there that you see, and that are not always mistakes but sometimes it’s just not precise. For example, that’s the example I wanted to tell you about when we last spoke. It’s the glyph of the Earth actually.

David Read:
Earth?

Quentin Brichet:
A lot of people are remaking this glyph, making one half and doing a mirror of it because it makes sense.

David Read:
It’s not symmetrical.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s not symmetrical. Absolutely not.

David Read:
The glyph itself?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, the glyph itself. And it’s in your face, and you don’t see it because you don’t pay attention. But a lot of people are drawing it straight, the base. But actually it’s lightly open like that, and the angle there is not the same as the one here on the feet. So, that’s funny and we kept that because actually you don’t see it, but you feel it.

David Read:
You feel it.

Quentin Brichet:
If you see it, you can know for sure, OK, there is something strange about this. I don’t know what, but there is something and I have to keep searching for what’s different. So, that’s one of it. And there was a bit of a mistake on really the top of it.

David Read:
On the pyramid.

Quentin Brichet:
Of the pyramid. On the inside, when they went with the router, I think they went a bit on the side. So, if you are watching closely, it’s not going that straight. And we didn’t keep that one.

David Read:
OK. You drew a line.

Quentin Brichet:
We always draw a line.

David Read:
Nice.

Quentin Brichet:
I see what you did there.

David Read:
So, one of the things that you were pointing out was that you created a section of this. And then you got to acquire an original. And you were wrestling with, do we quit and just go ahead and use the exact one so that it’s precisely real? How do you feel about that now?

Quentin Brichet:
I feel totally OK. It was more a question for the team. I needed to be sure everyone was happy with the decision, because if we chose that and people were like, “Oh, no, again…” I couldn’t go forward with it. So, I really needed people to be happy that we spent time discussing it, and with this choice. But we had fun building it, trying to get every detail precisely, and we really wanted to compare. Because once you have the real one in your hand, you can say, OK, all these parts are perfect. OK, here, I thought it was like that, but it’s like this. It’s really interesting.

David Read:
Wait, what’s happening? Uh-oh. Are there any thoughts at making the 12:00 chevron snap down and back up?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, absolutely. The same way we want to make it spin, we also want the main chevron to be able to lock itself. And we are working on it. We already know how much it’s going up and how much it’s going down because I never thought about it before, but the crystal of the chevron is going up while the big V part, the real chevron, is going down. So, actually, it’s not going like this, but like that. And you really have to pay attention to see it, and it’s not the same measurement between both of them, so we can’t use the same mechanism for both of them because we could, and it will go like this, but actually it goes like that.

David Read:
That’s exactly right. And are you going to make the piece underneath the chevron flex like it did in the show? Or is that gonna stay the same?

Quentin Brichet:
No.

David Read:
It was so obvious to me, but other people I meet are like, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t notice it before.”

Quentin Brichet:
I think you’ll have to see for yourself because we won’t try to replicate it. But as most of what we did, we ended up doing the same thing as the crew who built it.

David Read:
Recreate it.

Quentin Brichet:
Maybe it will happen.

David Read:
All right.

Quentin Brichet:
And it will be out of our hands.

David Read:
There you go.

Quentin Brichet:
And if it happens, maybe we will keep it.

David Read:
OK.

Quentin Brichet:
I love to present the back of the Gate because I feel like, the same way we were speaking about the side with all of those details, there are actually more than 800, I think, on this, I really like to think that we don’t see that much in the series. And most of the time in series and movies, they only build what is seen by the camera. And for this, because they knew they had three seasons, that’s right, to begin with, they really built the whole thing saying, “I want something that is credible, so we have to build the whole thing from every angle possible.” And that’s really interesting to see that they went for it. Maybe it’s also because in the movie they did it, so they had the parts to do it, so maybe it was quicker to also do it. And we only see a few shots of this part and it’s actually very intricate, a lot of different details, and we can see that, for example, when it was designed, they chose to put the chevrons back in the design itself. You can see that this part is actually the same as this one. Not exactly, but it represents the same thing.

David Read:
It’s echoing it.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. And the design is beautifully made. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this one, because I was in a moment in time in my life, I was like, “I want to do something big. Oh, this seems nice.” And really looking at the props and the sets of different series, movies, I was drawn to this. I really always liked the behind the scenes of the technical parts, how they did it, the makeup, and everything. But it’s a prop, but also it’s a set, and there is not a lot of things that were built for movies and series that are that kind.

David Read:
They’re just grand.

Quentin Brichet:
Between prop and– It is. And all the details, when I started, a lot of details I really didn’t know how they were drawn, what they were. I had just that in mind: it’s a circle, more circles inside it, it’s spinning, some symbols in the front, and that’s it. You start from there, and you’re like, “OK, but how is this drawn? How many are there? Oh, that’s interesting because here the bevel is not at 45 degrees, but it’s actually rounded.”

David Read:
If you look really closely on each of the segments, you see where they have to kind of cheat in terms of the designs. I mean, if you see here, this is where the seams are.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly that.

David Read:
They have to– The circle is very hard to create, inorganically. There’s only so much you can do to pull it off and there are gonna be things that you’re gonna have to kind of fake. Because it’s fake. It’s not real, so it’s there to sell an illusion and make the story possible.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. And that’s something that’s really important for me, is that people are feeling like it’s really there, it’s massive, and it’s real. Not that you can go on another planet with it, but that you feel that maybe it’s a machine, maybe it will do something, and when it spins, it does actually, but I really didn’t want people to feel like we just brought to you a set. We actually brought to you something, a thing that you can feel, and that’s the idea. So, that’s why it’s important for me to have the sound, the lights, and everything. It helps a lot, I think, to feel this.

David Read:
For those of us who love it, we have a visceral reaction when we see it and when we experience it. When I first came in, I didn’t want to look at it.

Quentin Brichet:
I saw that.

David Read:
Once I open that package from under the Christmas tree, that’s it.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, you can’t do it again.

David Read:
And it was really bizarre. It took me about an hour to work my way over to, “Okay, I will acknowledge you now.” But isn’t that weird? But it made sense to me. I had to wait for the right moment.

Quentin Brichet:
I know, when you unwrap the gift and there are people going, “Kch, yeah, nice.” And there are people like, “Eh.”

David Read:
The next? No, there is no next. This is it.

Quentin Brichet:
Maybe.

David Read:
That’s it. Wow. The back is beautiful. It never– You’re right, it doesn’t nearly get enough attention.

Quentin Brichet:
And it’s funny, in Universe, they are actually lighting up the chevrons from behind which never happens in the series. So, I never knew if people were thinking that behind it was lighting up or if it was just a choice to change things. I always felt like that’s normal, that only the front is lighting up, but maybe not.

David Read:
There were certain design improvements and then there were others that just, “Let’s try it this way and OK.” Going from the gear to the chain. And certain technologies evolve after 14, 13 years.

Quentin Brichet:
The LEDs– That’s a good improvement because they started with halogen lamps, and you can see on the original parts, they are made of resin. And there are actually a lot of bubbles in them because …

David Read:
They burned.

Quentin Brichet:
… they burned. And they lost their color. So on the side that there is the light, it’s more like yellow, and on the parts that never touch the light, it’s more like an orange-red, exactly like there. When we had to decide, should we keep the orangish color–

David Read:
Which season are you doing?

Quentin Brichet:
So, we decided to go for the start.

David Read:
Everything is a compromise. Wow.

Quentin Brichet:
And we are always happy with the choice. It’s a choice, but at the end it doesn’t really matter. But you want to be accurate so it can be one or the other, not the in-between.

David Read:
It’s funny that we’re doing this now because over here is the man himself. So, Richard Dean Anderson is signing autographs and you had kind of a moment with him earlier today. Can you tell me about that?

Quentin Brichet:
It was very quick.

David Read:
But it happened.

Quentin Brichet:
It happened. I’m happy that it happened. I didn’t like that part.

David Read:
What did you not like?

Quentin Brichet:
I love to be able to be with him. I’m really happy that we have nice pictures with him. It means a lot and the team is very happy. It was so stressful and so quick and I felt like, “Ah, I wish would have done this like this or like that.” We spent a lot of time in the cave working on this and we are now going out, so we have a lot of figuring out and how to manage the actors coming on the set. I think we will have to figure this out for ourselves too.

David Read:
Did he make any comments about the Stargate?

Quentin Brichet:
I said, “Mind the steps.” And I was like, “But you know it.” And he was like, “It’s pretty close to the real thing.” I love this part. We had a small talk with Richard Hudolin earlier. And it was really quick, but we had the opportunity to share a few things and one thing that we learned from him is that when they brought the set in the studios, they actually had the ramp going all the way to the floor which actually makes sense because they have to send the M.A.L.P. …

David Read:
The robots.

Quentin Brichet:
… and the F.R.E.D. and actually they saw that with the camera they were not able to catch when people were going all the way down the ramp. So, they actually had to chop it down onsite, with the small time they had before they started to shoot, so that’s funny.

David Read:
And also, your Stargate is arguably the more complete because all nine chevrons light. Whereas none of the Stargates ever manufactured had nine working chevrons.

Quentin Brichet:
They didn’t?

David Read:
Not underneath, not with lights.

Quentin Brichet:
There were no lights under this?

David Read:
OK. No, Destiny, yes, ’cause that was complete, like this one. SG-1, the chevrons weren’t completed. If you go back and you look at Moebius, you can see them exposed.

Quentin Brichet:
Because they actually removed the panels around the motor. And they never placed them again because it was not necessary because they never shot that part. It’s more complete because it’s not chopped down here. And actually, we will keep it that way, even with the motor inside. We were able to figure it out. So, the motor is like that size.

David Read:
That will make it spin?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. It’s pretty small. And we were about to find a place where to put it inside the structure that’s inside the Gate. So we won’t have to make holes in the panels. It will still be the most complete Stargate in the world. The inside is narrower than the outside. And a lot of people, when they try to replicate the Gate, they think it’s like a rectangle. It’s the same size on the inside as on the outside. But actually, it’s more like a triangle from the inside. It’s actually just four or five centimeters wide here. And on the outside, it’s like 40 centimeters wide. Something like that.

David Read:
Did you figure this all out at the CAD development level on the computer? Or did you have …

Quentin Brichet:
No.

David Read:
… to physically create some of these pieces before you started determining that? I would think it would be a little bit of trial and error one way or the other.

Quentin Brichet:
We didn’t go the way you think we did. We didn’t plan this to do it like you will do it for a set. If you create a set, you will be like, “OK, what’s the design?” I draw it. Then maybe I do it with computer 3D. Today, we all do that. Then you send it to the workshop. The workshop is figuring out, “OK, how can we do it?” They make their blueprints, annotated, modified, and then they build it. And then you still have smaller blueprints for details and you build it and you finish it. What we did is we figured it out on the way. So we actually never did a CAD before we needed it for other things. You don’t need a CAD to reproduce this Stargate if you have the whole section physically. You just have to make a copy of it, also physically with silicone molds and everything. So actually, we finished the Gate before we made a CAD file.

David Read:
That feels totally backwards.

Quentin Brichet:
It does.

David Read:
If that’s the process that got your goal the quickest, then there you go.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
Otherwise, you’re just a madman.

Quentin Brichet:
If you don’t need it, you don’t need it.

David Read:
I’ll do this later.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
And I’m not completely convinced that you’re not totally not mad. Just saying.

Quentin Brichet:
We are all mad down there.

David Read:
That’s it. Exactly.

Quentin Brichet:
Actually, the most accurate CAD file that exists in the world is the one from Bertrand, who made the small-scaled Stargate, who is also a member from the EMG and started from the beginning with me, before even the association existed. He did an incredible job and I’m really happy that I talked him into coming here today, because now we can see the small Gate with the big Gate, and that’s really something.

David Read:
Please tell me you got some photos of the two of them …

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course.

David Read:
… across the room.

Quentin Brichet:
Of course. He has a video. You can see it on the Ants Replicas Instagram and everything. He starts from his Gate and then he moves and it reveals the Gate behind it.

David Read:
Oh, cool. ‘Cause they’re the same.

Quentin Brichet:
That’s really good. Even the “Keep Clear” sign on the floor. We were not sure about the color.

David Read:
Because of the lighting. You can print something and put it in another environment, but when you see it on the screen, it’s always under a specific studio lighting. It doesn’t mean when you print it, it’s gonna be exactly what it was and function in different lighting.

Quentin Brichet:
You have no way to know because even if you work on the white balance, there are still spotlights with colors. So it’s not possible. Actually, the best picture we have is someone going on the set for a tour because they didn’t put the spotlights on at that time. That’s the best sources we can have. And we search for years and years and years above that to get some closeups, the real color and everything. It takes time.

David Read:
Could you have done this without the online fan base helping out here and there?

Quentin Brichet:
Not like this.

David Read:
It would’ve taken twice as long.

Quentin Brichet:
I don’t think in term of time, but in term of accuracy. In term of time, I think we would have taken the same time, but it would be less accurate. Of course. Because there is a moment you have to say, “OK, we don’t have what’s needed for this. We have to do it now, so it doesn’t matter. We will do it anyway. And it will be nice. People will be happy with it. But maybe it’s not exactly the same, so let’s go.” And then, two weeks later… It’s always like that. Two weeks later, you have someone calling you and saying, “Ah, I have something for you. Look at this.” And you’re like, “OK. I finished it and now you show me that it’s not accurate enough.”

David Read:
So I heard there were a couple instances of you, maybe more than a couple in this project going, “Nope, do it again.”

Quentin Brichet:
Of course.

David Read:
“It’s not right. It’s 99.9% there, but that is not the same.” At what point do you leave well enough alone? At what point is perfection the true enemy of completion?

Quentin Brichet:
There is an answer to this.

David Read:
Let me ask you this way. I don’t need an example necessarily, but a situation where you were able to listen to someone else’s perspective and say, “OK, I will back off of this. This is where it’s at. This is good enough. This other thing over here will be sunk cost fallacy. It’ll take too much work and be too much, for what? For a little tweak of a difference that only I will know about.” Were there instances like that?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, it’s pretty easy. I think it’s when you look at it and you feel the same, then when you look at the real thing, that’s it. I just need that. Not exactly because you can be pretty not accurate and feel the same thing. So I still need a bit of work on this, but when you are working on it, for example, the paint, it really happened on the paint. We were in 2022, in Flumet, first time we put it up, and we had one week to finish. And at the end, we had one night to do the whole paint job. Really one night. We were assembling it onsite while they were painting it at another place at the same time. They were like, “OK, Quentin, come and see. Is that OK for you?” And I was like, “No.”

David Read:
“Try again.”

Quentin Brichet:
“No, try again.”

David Read:
Maybe another time.

Quentin Brichet:
They were crying.

David Read:
It’s devastating.

Quentin Brichet:
But not because of that. When it happened, it was actually Roxane who made the whole paint job with a few other people. And it’s amazing. It’s very accurate. And she was like, “I made a mistake. Look, I did this stroke of paint and it’s really not OK.” I was like, “I love it. I want more of this.” Because the whole idea of a paint job like that is you need to have mistakes. You can’t go with the brush and go all the way the same way, always the same stroke …

David Read:
Are you talking about …

Quentin Brichet:
… and everything.

David Read:
… the paint, or are you talking about the scratches on top of this here? Because it’s existed underneath the earth for so very long.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah.

David Read:
And I get what you’re saying about you have to feel that it’s right because you don’t want to look at it and think that it’s fraudulent. That it’s not complete. You have to find the balance to make it work.

Quentin Brichet:
You have to feel like it’s natural because in the series, it’s some kind of alien metal. And if you just copy and paste the effects, if I had exactly the same thing here and there, no one will believe this. They will be like, “OK, they just put a picture here and here, it’s a set and everything.” But we really want to be able to show that it’s natural and not by design. We don’t design metal. It just exists, then we work with it.

David Read:
Very cool.

Quentin Brichet:
And to bring this here, what took the most time, we were actually ready to just build the ring itself. But what took two months before we came here was to design and plan all the experience. Because we didn’t have that. We are just working in a workshop to put it up, to test it, and get a few friends to come. That’s OK, that’s easy. But then you have to think, OK, we will have that much people, and maybe more. What will happen now? Maybe they will be happy to have some cosplay to go with this. So you have to design everything and plan everything because–

David Read:
Are you guys pleased with the turnout, with the lines?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, the line is always full, but we have to close it in order to have breakfast or everything. But there are always people waiting for it and they are pretty happy because they managed, the team, to be able to go all the way through it in 30 minutes, half an hour, which is pretty good.

David Read:
Quicker than a Disneyland attraction.

Quentin Brichet:
I think people are pretty happy with it. A lot of people are like, “I could have waited more, but I’m happy that it goes really quickly.” And some people are coming back actually.

David Read:
That’s good to hear.

Quentin Brichet:
We’re very happy with that.

David Read:
I’ve never seen this color. Really beautiful.

Cosplayer:
Thank you.

David:
Very nice.

Quentin Brichet:
A few things we did, I was talking to you about the glyph of the Earth there. You have to know, we work a lot on this. We didn’t draw it, but here, there is a small mistake on t he real one. And you can see that it’s really not the same angle here and there. It’s wider here. There are always a lot of differences. You can also see that that’s the center of every glyph panel.

David Read:
Center.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s not centered at all. We also reproduced every line. These are exactly the same as in the series. This folder was made by Bertrand too. We started to work like that.

David Read:
Pencil sketches.

Quentin Brichet:
A lot of lines everywhere, but to be able to reproduce them on the picture, you have to mind that the camera is not in front of the glyph. It’s on the side, and sometimes you have a lens that is deforming the design. So you have to retrace lines.

David Read:
Pegasus.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. We did the same for Atlantis, too. We were about to reproduce what we called in the community the, how do you do it?

David Read:
Constellation names.

Quentin Brichet:
No. The part that is behind it.

David Read:
OK.

Quentin Brichet:
People could help me with that. I don’t know. You have a matrix behind it.

David Read:
Little marching ants?

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
These little patterns?

Quentin Brichet:
Everything here, because in the series, they were able to display any glyph anywhere on the Gates.

David Read:
They had to be able to light every position?

Quentin Brichet:
So, you have to have a matrix behind it with all the LEDs, and they did it at the time, we didn’t have Arduinos and all of that things that are making this easy. So, I’m really amazed by what they were able to do. So, this is the first presentation we did in 2016.

David Read:
Is this the pitch that went to the actors when they–

Quentin Brichet:
Yes. Some of them. You can see picture of the actors with actually this file. That’s the part where–

David Read:
That’s Cheyenne Mountain. That’s the one at Stargate Worlds.

Quentin Brichet:
No. That’s–

David Read:
It’s not?

Quentin Brichet:
That’s ours.

David Read:
Really? OK. It sure looks like it. OK. Wow.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s in a museum in Belgium.

David Read:
Excuse me.

Quentin Brichet:
You can see the molds and the size of it.

David Read:
I took those. You got these.

Quentin Brichet:
You know where they are coming from. These pictures.

David Read:
Very much so. Santa Ana, California. Very nice.

Quentin Brichet:
So, we were able to get the original blueprints, which Hudolin said, “I never wanted to make new blueprints for the series. I really wanted to be able to take back the one from the movie.” So, we are always asking ourselves, OK, is that from the movie or the series? It’s actually from the series because they want it to be as close as possible to the original, and it’s pretty funny that we are doing the same thing. We are really walking in their steps.

David Read:
It makes some sense because you also arrive at the same conclusions. So, you’re approaching the same problems.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. We were talking about the lights and how when it’s lighting up, you can see it’s dark, it’s black. And we said, “OK, we try to find something in the world that is working like that.” And we were thinking about car lights actually, because in tuning they are always putting a smoky clear coat on them. So when it lights up, it’s dark and when it’s on, it’s white, yellow and orange.

David Read:
It’s like a sunset.

Quentin Brichet:
So, we thought about that. And Hudolin said, actually, “We did it basing ourself on traffic lights.” Because it’s the same thing, when they are lighted, they are colored, and when they light up, they are dark. So it’s pretty funny to compare. I have to show you the main thing.

David Read:
This looks familiar.

Quentin Brichet:
We already saw that a few minutes earlier. So, this is actually an original part of the SGC Gate. When they ended the franchise, everything was sold to people wanting to have it. And the one from the SGC was sold by combining all the parts from one section. So there are nine section of the Gate that’s cut between the chevrons. It means there is only nine things like that in the world. The one from the SGC. And here you can see, not mistakes, but how it’s living its life through a set, a professional set. ‘Cause you always have to add something. You have one minute to do it. So, what do I do? OK. I take a screw and I screw it directly in the set, and you can see all the screw holes in it, just to be able to put it in place or to add something for a while.

David Read:
I was looking at these. When I saw this, I don’t remember these being there.

Quentin Brichet:
No, those are not the same screws they used because if you just put some screws in it, in the holes like this, just the screw, you can screw it too tight and it goes all the way through. Because it’s made of resin fiberglass, so it’s pretty fragile. So, we added washers behind it. And it’s not painted. We didn’t paint the screws. But on the real set, they painted the screws. But you can see it everywhere. If you look at the credits, you can see all the screws on the Stargate. That was something we wanted to make really nicely on the one we made. So all the screws on our version are hidden in the design itself. So, we really preferred to put it in part of the design that makes sense. This is round, this is a bit hidden, we put a screw in it. But we don’t want to put it everywhere. And we actually changed a lot of things because we had to be able to take it apart and build it back really quickly. So, for example, in the series, all the chevrons, they just put screw through them, and as they are pretty fragile, we thought it was not that much of a good idea. So maybe I can show you back later if you want. But we added magnets behind them, so if we want to build it, we assemble it, then we take the chevrons and we … put it there. And just to be sure, we put a small wire here, which means, if by mistake they are coming down, they don’t get on the head of the people who are under.

David Read:
Did you pull this apart at all in order to get more details and figure it out? Or have you largely left it alone?

Quentin Brichet:
We didn’t have to put this apart because it was already apart when we received it. It was sent with a lot of foam and cardboard and plastic wrap, but every piece was by itself. And we had to figure out the puzzle. We had to rebuild it. But you can’t just say, “OK. This one is going there. This one goes in there.” You have to think, OK, what’s the exact angle here? So, you have to watch a lot of picture of the series. You have to figure out how much space there is between this part and this one. And you are always thinking about it. So, for a few things, there is a logic, and a few other you just have to figure it out. For example, the wings, you have to place them so it goes the same way than the wing that is behind.

David Read:
You mean these here?

Quentin Brichet:
No, I mean the wings.

David Read:
The wings. Sorry.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s rounded the same than the part that is behind it. I was talking about the paint job here. So, you can see they use brushes. They stamped a few. Sometimes you can see like the mark of a thumb somewhere. You can see a lot of that everywhere. And I was talking about the lines. And what’s actually funny is that the curve of the lines here is the same than the curve here. And we were thinking, there is a few possibilities why this happened. Maybe they just took one of this panel, put it on the other, and trace it. It’s easy. It works. Or maybe when Patrick Tatopoulos designed the Gate, he took his tool to make the circle and then keep it that way and just draw some lines. It’s the same on the blueprints. Not exactly the same lines, but it’s the same logic between both of them.

David Read:
So, they didn’t drive themselves nuts getting it exactly right by starting from square one.

Quentin Brichet:
No.

David Read:
They made it work section by section.

Quentin Brichet:
That’s something that’s funny. As we wanna be able to travel with it, we can’t have elements that are protruding. We had to cut it by four glyphs, and one panel with three glyphs. And what they had was panels with five glyphs and one panel with four. And we cannot do that, so we just cut it there. OK, that’s easy. But the hard part is when you go from a panel to another, the line stops following each other. It starts again from another design.

David Read:
It has to connect to something like a Lego set.

Quentin Brichet:
This line will never go on the next one. They just did one by one without thinking about the continuity. As we had to cut it there, we had to have the continuity between them, which means when I design four of them and I put one on the side, I have to put both side to side and then trace the line on it to have the continuity.

David Read:
Because underneath, it’s the same piece of metal.

Quentin Brichet:
What’s funny is that we discovered when we got it that they put some hooks on the back of it. You can see them here. There, you have these small hooks. And we spent a bit of time thinking about why they did it, and what we think is maybe it was used to put a screen because–

David Read:
A green screen?

Quentin Brichet:
Not a green screen because the whole wall behind the Gate is rolling on the side. And behind it, you have one giant green screen, so they didn’t really need a green screen. But on the later season, I think the event horizon was made by projecting a video directly on the screen. So maybe that’s it. And also maybe that’s for the iris because the movement of the iris was made using CGI, but the iris itself, when it’s closed, is physical. It’s a real thing. It’s round. That’s of something like 4.7 meters, I think. That’s a giant ring like that just put there. So maybe it was also a way to get there. To show you quickly the process, we start from searching for material sources. We have to–

David Read:
We already spoke about this. This is some of the originals that you guys developed. Is that correct?

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. That’s the one we try to reproduce that we can compare with the other ones. A few of those are the originals. So this is the original crystal, and as I was saying, some parts are yellowish brown from the lights. And some parts are more orange and red. And we decided to keep this part. And it’s a bit different in the design because for it, they put a transparent paint on it that is orange. And actually, what we did, we tinted the resin so we are sure that the color won’t come off the parts. And we managed to know that this part is actually the part of the chevron that is just behind the main chevron that’s moving. We can know about this because–

David Read:
Oh, this was the top?

Quentin Brichet:
It’s the top one.

David Read:
It’s on the functional one.

Quentin Brichet:
But it was behind it. And we know that because it’s number one. And we also know that because it’s shorter here. And why is it shorter? It’s because the …

David Read:
Make room.

Quentin Brichet:
… mechanics are here. And this one is also an original.

David Read:
I think this is the one I sold as well. By its own self, right?

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
They used this to mold the back pieces?

Quentin Brichet:
We did. That was the first one we used. I was happy to buy it because it was a way to know we started with a good measurement of everything. And then we tried to make the other elements. And I was never able to understand where it comes from because it’s the 10th of this and there are only nine sections.

David Read:
Maybe they replaced one at some point.

Quentin Brichet:
I’m pretty sure they had to.

David Read:
They must have a spare.

Quentin Brichet:
I think it’s another spare. It’s a bit broken everywhere, so it has a life of itself. But I don’t know. Of course, it’s a spare one or they replaced one at some time. We decided to mold it directly on the real ones for some parts. For example, this one, because we were able to repair a lot of the holes that were in it because of the screws, because of the bubbles when they made it, and it was OK. We felt like we didn’t change it too much because this is history, and you can just cut it down in parts. So we really wanted to respect that. So we were able to do it. But for some other elements, for example, this one, it’s too broken. You can’t just repair that or you would have to put a ton of Bondo on it and go with a file and go for it, and I feel like it’s not OK. We were able to scan it using a 3D scanner and we did it again and built it from scratch, but based on this. Or we took some parts of the real one and put it back together like this one. We were able to see that these parts are OK. They are sound. So we just replicated some parts of it, put them close to each other, and then we were able to make the same part. What’s interesting is that this part is the front of the Gate is the same as this one on the back. It’s exactly the same. Once you have your master, you make a mold on it. You have to figure out how to be able to take it out of the mold. That can be a puzzle. For example, that’s the big chevron part. It has to be transparent.

David Read:
And these are all originals that you fabricated?

Quentin Brichet:
No, those are the ones we made.

David Read:
You made these, yes?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, we made those. Actually, I had some originals in my hand and they are made of wood, put together really quickly, a bit of resin silicone. Because they only had– When we spoke–

David Read:
Late 1996, they had a matter of weeks.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. OK. We were told by Hudolin that they worked for four months to do the whole set, everything. Including the Gate. And we did it in 14 years. So we had the time. So you can see how we did every mold, and some are very big, and silicone is not cheap to use. So you have to make the part that is taking all the details, but you also have to think about what’s behind it. And for example, those parts are empty behind. So you have to create the part, the negative part that removes this part. And some of them are really intricate, it’s really hard to make those. And the paint, that’s an example of where you come from.

David Read:
When it comes out.

Quentin Brichet:
When it comes out, it’s like that. You put a bit of black paint. But then you have to scratch it just a bit.

David Read:
Because it’s been under the earth.

Quentin Brichet:
You can feel it’s not exactly the same. You feel it’s different. Then you add a bit of black paint, actually. You can’t really see it because black on black, but you can feel it’s not exactly the same tone. Then you go for the silver paints. Then a bit of paint that is colored. We can see some touches of color that are a bit orange or a bit of earth used on it. So it’s everywhere. And then you go again with the clear coat and that’s it.

David Read:
Is that all? It’s such a process that you take there.

Quentin Brichet:
That’s a lot. That’s what we are doing every time. We compare and we are like, “Are we close enough to this?” And then you are like, “Ah, I feel we could still be working a little bit.” But we can see it’s pretty close. Actually, we can go on the other side.

David Read:
Let’s go to the other side.

Quentin Brichet:
Sorry. That’s this part. If you feel it’s part of it, then it’s OK. We are close enough.

David Read:
Keep in mind, this lighting is not the best lighting for our purposes here, but yeah. Wow.

Quentin Brichet:
Then you have to pour the resin in, and you have two ways to do that. One is going layer by layer. You put some resin, then fiberglass, then resin, then fiberglass. And the other way is just to pour it in the mold. And you have to make mistakes before you are able to do it correctly. For example, this one, there are way too many bubbles. So we tried a few things using paint on it because it was already unusable. And you have to try different tints of resin to find the right orange. And then you have to find the right percentage. You put four drops for this part, but only two drops for the chevron part because it’s thinner. So it should be more vivid.

David Read:
So, you are feeling your way.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly.

David Read:
Through this entire process.

Quentin Brichet:
You have to figure this out. You are always thinking, “Oh, how did they do it from the start?” For example, this part that’s between the glyphs, I was like, “OK, it looks like tracks. Did they use something that was already existing and cut it down, or not?” And actually, you can be pretty close with tracks that are used for pieces of glass that are sliding in a–

David Read:
Sliding glass window.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. But it’s not this because we were never able to find something that’s that close to the measurements. So maybe it is or maybe not. We will never know if–

David Read:
Everything has to be similar, like the clamps on the Gates at SGC were made out of mop strainers.

Quentin Brichet:
Mop strainers. Mainly that’s it. And now we have to work our way to create more things, to work on the rotation. As I was saying, we already know where the motor is going with the wheel. We designed it completely, so we have to cut it now. So that’s where the chain is going, which is closer to the Stargate Universe design of the Gate. We have everything. We just need time for this.

David Read:
Just time. What are you thinking? What are you hoping for in terms of getting a spinning Stargate?

Quentin Brichet:
What I’m hoping for?

David Read:
2028, 2029.

Quentin Brichet:
Schedule. I’m pretty sure next year it’s OK.

David Read:
You think?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, I’m sure.

David Read:
27?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. I think at the end of 27 maybe.

David Read:
Wow. That’s a replica of the SGC logo, yes?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course. I didn’t think about it. We did a few other things around Stargate, but also around other franchises. But we replicated it. We were able to get the original blueprints. So, we draw it on computer and then, from there, we compared it with the series. That’s how close we want to be. We don’t stop at the design itself. We know that people, when they build something, it can move a bit, so we always compare with the real thing at the end. We have to compare the color of the light and the color of the paint. Because we think the Gate is a bit bluish. In the mind of a lot of fans, the Gate is a bit bluish. But it’s actually absolutely not. It’s black.

David Read:
So it’s not just a black or a gray, it’s got some blue in it.

Quentin Brichet:
No. You would think there is some blue in it.

David Read:
OK. But it doesn’t.

Quentin Brichet:
But it’s because of the spotlights. If you see it right now, there is a bit of blue spotlight on it. So you feel like it’s a bit bluish. But it’s not. It’s black. And that’s the same for the SGC logo. You feel it a bit blue. It’s just dark, and part of it …

David Read:
Lighting.

Quentin Brichet:
… is blue gels …

David Read:
That’s it.

Quentin Brichet:
… in front of the light.

David Read:
That’s how they pulled it off. This is extraordinary work. I’m still blown away by you. I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know what planet you’re from, not from this one. Your commitment to this brand and this idea speaks volumes about our community and everything that you’ve worked to create. Thank you.

Quentin Brichet:
Thanks.

David Read:
It’s wonderful to be able to see it all fleshed out.

Quentin Brichet:
That’s 14 years in a few meters.

David Read:
That’s it! I can’t thank Quentin and his team enough for that extraordinary walkthrough that we got through their whole process for EMG for creating that Stargate. It’s just something extraordinary. My name is David Read. You’re watching the Stargate Oral History Project. If you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this produced on YouTube, please click the Like button. It helps us spread the word and get the show out there further. And if there was any part of what you liked of what you saw – or what you saw that you liked, I should say – leave a comment below because that does help as well. And I cannot get though this without my Patreon members. I’ve put off asking for people to contribute for the longest time but I’ve reached the point now where I’m just … it’s gotten to that point. And this was long before the cancelation. So my tremendous thanks to my Patreon subscribers for helping to continue to make the show possible as we move forward with whatever it is that Stargate fans are going to – whatever hand we’re going to be dealt with down the road. Because we just don’t know what’s in store. But I can tell you something. We’re all in this together. And EMG is not going to stop raising that Stargate. So we’re really excited to see where they show up next. This community is so creative in so many ways, and from all walks of life. Justin over at Louisville Slugger somehow found out that I was a casual baseball fan. Very casual. I follow the Diamondbacks. I lived in Phoenix for years. So he made me this. This is a genuine – as it says! Genuine David Read finest Louisville Slugger. This is so cool with the Dial the Gate logo emblazoned on it. This is… I mean, Damn. There are no words to describe my, well, how thankful I am at how gracious people are. But Stargate fans really are from every walk of life and we may not have a new show come out in the next couple of years here but that doesn’t mean we’re going anywhere. We’re going to stick around and continue to make this one of the best fandoms to be a part of. And I’m just so thankful that you’re here with me to make that happen. I could not have done that episode without Maria’s help. She rushed and got the subtitles done because I found out that my audio was terrible. Of course! One of these days we will figure out remote audio. I’m working on it but it’s slow-going. I’m just really thankful to Maria. I’m really thankful to Dave Connon for making sure that the audio is going to be processed correctly as well on the back-end there. He really helped us out in the editing process as well. That’s what we’ve got for you for this episode. Four-fifty. Fifty more to go to the big five o-o. I have no idea what it’s going to look like. I have no idea what it’s going to be. But we’re definitely going to do it. And I’m thrilled that you’re here with me for it. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. I appreciate you tuning in for this episode and I will see you on the other side.