For 15 years fans the world over worked to build an exact replica of the Milky Way Stargate. They succeeded. And they are going further. Come meet the team and witness how they did it!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome to episode 350 of the Stargate Oral History Project, Dial the Gate. I’m David Read. I appreciate you being here with me for this episode. In October of 2020 I started this show to give me something to do other than just climbing walls, as many of us were. And it has turned into something far greater than I had hoped to achieve. For the 350th I was planning on covering Stargate SG-1 The Alliance with Ben Lenzo until I got an email a few days ago from EMG — Las… I’m not going to butcher it. The English translation is “The Children of MacGyver.” This is a team of people who have been planning on, and have succeeded in, creating a one to one scale Stargate. First the Pegasus gate, and then the Milky Way gate. The Milky Way gate was always the original plan. But they have created this thing from scratch. Almost. They had some elements from the Propworx auctions hat I was a part of from 2010 and 11. We’re going to talk about that. We’re going to talk about the design process, the indigestion that this thing caused in terms of bringing it to life and everyth8ng in between that went into making this possible so that conventions and exhibitors can have this and Stargate fans can share in this thing together. Along with a few other surprises. This is a long episode, but I really recommend that you stick through it. And if you have a little trouble with the accents turn on the closed captions because we were sure to make absolutely certain that everything was accurate and precise just as they would have it to share this information with everyone. And if you want to contribute in any way, shape or form, if you have the man to do so, stick around until the end because you will find out how. Let’s go over to Switzerland and bring in the team from EMG and a prop that you will not believe is not the original: their Stargate.

Christopher Judge:
Tek’ma’te, my friends.

Michaels Shanks:
I know you guys have been sitting there paining yourself what it would actually be like to go through the Stargate

Alexis Cruz:
Everybody wants to have adventures far away from home.

Jacqueline Samuda:
Now, all the fans are gonna get that moment of just passing through and imagining what it’s like to enter a whole new galaxy, a whole new world.

Corin Nemec:
I am here with Project SG 1:1.

Tony Amendola:
I’ve heard a rumor…

Enrico Colantoni:
My friends here, the MacGyver’s children…

Jacqueline Samuda:
Les Enfants de MacGyver

Colin Cunningham:
They’re actually starting something from nothing, just like their father.

Alexis Cruz:
And it’s gonna be amazing.

Christopher Judge:
Now, everyone knows about MacGyver, who really could make anything out of nothing.

Alexis Cruz:
These guys at MacGyver’s Children are doing something really, really incredible.

Enrico Colantoni:
They’re building a full-scale replica of the gate.

Jacqueline Samuda:
Six meters in diameter. Big enough to actually walk through.

Christopher Judge:
Now, what makes it special is that it is a fully functioning, working Stargate.

Colin Cunnigham:
Like a real real Stargate that goes around with the chevrons and everything and it locks in place and all that kind of stuff.

Christopher Judge:
What you say? Crazy?

Tony Amendola:
Crazy.

Paul McGillion:
Absolutely fucking crazy.

Christopher Judge:
Crazy naughty kids.

Paul McGillion:
Absolutely bonkers.

Christopher Judge:
Yes, it is.

Alexis Cruz:
And these guys have been working really hard

Paul McGillion:
In Geneva. In the guy’s backyard.

Alexis Cruz:
Just some schematics, some plans.

Colin Cunnigham:
And it’s not made of Styrofoam. They actually got a lot of original props, a lot of original stuff from the show.

Jacqueline Samuda:
How cool is that?

Alexis Cruz:
A dream and a lot of heart and a lot of passion. And that’s what it takes to get everything going. That’s what it takes to go through the stars and become something.

Jacqueline Samuda:
I still remember my very first time walking through the Stargate on the set of SG-1, and it was such a cool experience.

Fulvio Cecere:
Now, who wouldn’t want a full-scale replica of the gate? I know for one, I would.

Michael Shanks:
We’re all curious as to know how that’s gonna turn out and see what it’s like to actually build Stargate.

Tony Amendola:
I think everyone ought to get out and support this dream to build an actual replica of an SG Stargate so it will live on forever.

Alexis Cruz:
I really support this project. I hope you will too. You’ll be hearing a lot of about this.

Colin Cunnigham:
So, I just wanted, for you, if you can, to hit Twitter and Facebook and all that kind of stuff and see if you can help them reach their goal.

Paul McGillion:
Thumbs up. Very nice job. Congratulations. You’re very sexy by the way.

Christopher Judge:
I think it’s a great project and they’re crazy.

Corin Nemec:
As soon as they’re finished, I’m gonna be the first one to go through.

Alexis Cruz:
And it’s gonna be fantastic.

Michael Shanks:
Party at my place.

David Read:
It is such a pleasure to finally be talking to you, gentlemen. How are you?

Quentin Brichet:
We are perfectly fine. A bit tired. Always at the workshop.

David Read:
Is that so?

Ian Bernardo:
Very happy to be here.

David Read:
So, who am I talking to? Quentin? Hello.

Quentin Brichet:
Hi.

David Read:
And then I’ve got Sylvain.

Sylvain Poulet:
Yes, hi.

David Read:
Ian.

Ian Bernardo:
Hi.

David Read:
Hello. And then behind the camera I’ve got Anthony.

Anthony Vallée:
Hello.

David Read:
And then Benoit.

Benoit Lecanu:
Hello.

David Read:
How many countries are represented in this room?

Quentin Brichet:
In this room, we have two countries. We have France and Switzerland. Because the whole project is from Switzerland.

David Read:
The whole project is Swiss. Wow. And how many countries were responsible for physically building this thing? How many countries were physically involved?

Quentin Brichet:
There is physical building but for everyone who participated, I think there are four or five, because we also have USA, of course, for the sources and everything. We also have Belgium. England. Something like four or five. Deutschland a bit. Germany.

David Read:
Quentin, this is your brainchild, right? This was your idea?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, I’m the one who started this thing.

David Read:
Will you please tell me about yourself?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course. So, I’m Quentin. I’m working in theater on plays and that’s a way I can add to the project. So, that’s my main occupation. Also, I’m a huge geek, of course. I like science fiction a lot and one day I decided to do this just for fun, mostly. And what else? I like to know a lot of things. I really like to learn a lot of technical things, so I’m a bit working with electronics, metal, wood, everything. I’m also… When I was younger, I was a magician, actually. So, I was on stage since the age of seven, I think.

David Read:
Wow. So, you’ve got the right background for this. Quentin, tell me about your team. Introduce everybody to me.

Quentin Brichet:
OK. So, a bit about Sylvain. He got in the association in 2022. He’s a mechatronician, which means he works in electronics and mechanics and puts everything together. So, mostly robots and pretty cool things, actually. Drones… He’s working a bit on everything. We really like to share between the two of us on technical aspects, how we will work on the structural parts, moving parts, and everything.

David Read:
Metal fabrication, wood, metal, electronic. Man, you are a jack of all trades, sir.

Sylvain Poulet:
Yes. 3D printer. CNC. Something like this. I have my own stuff, and I use it in the association to build some stuff.

David Read:
Alright. And Ian. Can you introduce Ian for me?

Quentin Brichet:
So, Ian is a bit of a software engineer. He’s working on everything using computers. Also, a bit of electronics. Working with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. He likes to try new things. Sometimes that are a bit out of the range that what we are doing right now. But then we are finding the right spot to put it. Always. And that’s really interesting. Just so you know, he built a whole way to browse SG-1 episodes to find key frames. So, actually it’s an AI. It’s called Alexandria and you go in there, you are, like, “I wanna see someone fishing,” you put “fishing” and you’ve got all the episodes, every pic where you see fishing in the series.

David Read:
I’m gonna have to hear more about this. That might actually be helpful to my work.

Quentin Brichet:
You do. Maybe later.

David Read:
Is it just SG-1, or is it the whole TV franchise?

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, we built it for SG-1 and maybe later we can expand.

David Read:
OK. There we go. So, you developed the technical control interface for the Stargate. I’m interested in hearing about that in as much English as I can. And then the two folks behind the camera, Anthony and Benoit, can you briefly tell me about them?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course. So, Anthony, he joined also around 2021, I think, this time. He also does a lot of everything.

Anthony Vallée:
Hi.

Quentin Brichet:
He helps with everything. He is very technical. It’s very easy for him to work with his hands. So, every time we need to go on something, most of the time we try something, then when we are sure, we show [it] to Anthony, and he does it. And most of the time, we also discuss together before we do this. So, he is part of the whole thing, and he knows [how] to do a bit of everything, really.

David Read:
Perfect. And Benoit?

Quentin Brichet:
He’s the Swiss Army knife even though he’s the one from France.

David Read:
And Benoit?

Quentin Brichet:
And Benoit. He’s just coming. Benoit is a bit of the same than [sic!] Anthony. The same as Anthony. He’s doing a bit of everything. He’s the strongest in the association and he’s doing really nice pictures, actually. Maybe you will see a few of them in the workshop later. And what more? And he’s the doing really good food, which is really helpful when we are working in a workshop during long hours.

David Read:
I saw the notes here. “Known for excellent cooking.” Very good. Guys, welcome to Dial the Gate. I really appreciate you being here.

Quentin Brichet:
Thank you so much.

David Read:
And this has been a dream that has been a long time coming for you. I remember hearing about this so long ago, just looking at the video that we ran at the top of the show, that so many of the talent were so much younger. You’ve been working on this… When did the popcorn kernel originally pop in your mind, Quentin? What year was this?

Quentin Brichet:
I think it was in 2010, which means 15 years from now.

David Read:
15 years ago.

Quentin Brichet:
And the main thing, I[‘m] always saying the same thing, but it was just after a LARP, you know, like, when you’re doing a role-playing game live action. So, we were just finished with this and we were really tired. It was 3 a.m. in the morning and we were speaking about what we could do next. And one idea was, we could build a Stargate. And I don’t know why, but when I thought of this prop, this set, I was, like, “I don’t really wanna make something out of cardboard just for a one shot. I’m really interested in building it the same way they did in the series.” So, I said, “Let’s do that.” The people who were around at that time, they were, like, “Yeah. Of course. We could….” And it [stuck]. I just said, “OK. Let’s try. Let’s see if it’s possible. How can we do it? What we need to do it? What’s the cost and everything? And then I’ll see if I’m ready to go through that, because I know it will be something big.” But I didn’t think it was something [for] 15 years.

David Read:
15 years and 22 feet across. This thing is… You thought of it, and you made it.

Quentin Brichet:
Except… I’m sorry.

David Read:
Stargate is 22 [6.7 meters] feet in diameter.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s 20 [6 meters].

David Read:
It’s 20?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. We have a lot of that but actually…

David Read:
I thought it was 22.

Quentin Brichet:
I don’t know where it emerged from. I think in the series, the idea is that it’s 22 feet, but the real prop is [closer] to 20 feet.

David Read:
I did not know that.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s nearly exactly 20 feet.

David Read:
I’ve been wrong for years. Thank you for correcting me.

Quentin Brichet:
But in the series, it’s 22. They say it in the series. 22. But that’s wrong in [relation] to real prop.

David Read:
They exaggerate it.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, they did.

David Read:
Interesting. My gosh. Wow. How much did this think cost to create?

Quentin Brichet:
A lot, of course. We don’t have the real number for what we used for this version. We have the number for the whole project and the whole 15 years, which is way more than the cost of the Stargate. But let me just say…

David Read:
Are you willing to say?

Quentin Brichet:
Because I don’t wanna people to be crystallized on this idea of a lot of money, is that it’s more than what the real “outworld” Stargate prop was sold in the auction. It’s more than that.

David Read:
Which was 75 thousand dollars.

Quentin Brichet:
Yes.

David Read:
North of 75 thousand dollars.

Quentin Brichet:
That’s more than that.

David Read:
My heavens. Did you take donations for this project?

Quentin Brichet:
A bit but they are sparse. Sometimes, people wanna give us a bit of money. It’s always possible. We have a link on our Facebook page but it’s not our main outcome. I think the main outcome is from our own pockets. But sometimes we got a bit of that. For example, that was really nice. We had a bit of money come from the Stargate project from Germany, who is another group of fans from Stargate, and I think they were raising a bit of money to do the same kind of thing and then they discovered our project, and they were, like, “I think this money is better with them.” It wasn’t that much but they thought, “Yeah, it’s maybe better with them because they are already on it.” So, we got a bit from them. And it’s always a bit like that. So that’s really nice to have… To be together with fans, group of fans working together on the same thing.

David Read:
Wow. OK. So, EMG. What does that stand for?

Quentin Brichet:
EMG in French, it stands for Les Enfants de MacGyver. In English it’s The Children of MacGyver. The whole idea… We were searching for a name. It didn’t just pop. We were trying different things and when we created the association, we toyed with the fact that we were coming from something, so we wanted to build anything from anything really, from scratch. So, that was the side of MacGyver. And also, it was a nice way to remember Richard Dean Anderson was the main character in both series. So, that’s why we are now The Children of MacGyver.

David Read:
Wow. Are you all MacGyver fans?

Ian Bernardo:
Oh, definitely. I know I am.

Quentin Brichet:
I really like the idea. It’s fun. But I didn’t see a lot of it. And I don’t think I could sit on a watch party for a whole MacGyver series, actually.

Ian Bernardo:
I think it’s just a perfect name. Because there’s curiosity and ingenuity and those are some things we really enjoy expressing through the association.

Quentin Brichet:
I’ve always been really happy with the name and the logo, from the beginning, and it sticked and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Ian Bernardo:
It’s a great name.

David Read:
Absolutely. It works because you guys are building something from scratch. I think, at least in English, to MacGyver something is to take something that was not designed for what he’s using it for and to repurpose and to make something new. Basically, to do what Tony Stark did with the Mark I Iron Man suit in the original film. He MacGyvered that suit. What you did was not a MacGyver. What you did was systematic, thought out, methodical. You created this thing from design documents and it’s just extraordinary. Let’s have a look at it and then we’ll go into… We’ll get to know you guys a little bit better if you don’t mind. So, the original… Let’s just… Can you take me for a ride? Can you pick me up and walk me around?

Quentin Brichet:
Let’s go. When we started, the first thing we needed was to understand how it was built and what it looked like. So, we [did not have] a really precise idea of this. Because we know the Stargate. It’s a circle. There are a lot of details on it. Some stripes, lines everywhere. But how is it [arranged]? How many of these lines are everywhere and everything? So, one way we [got] a bit of the sources was to use the original blueprints because during the Propworx auction at the end of the franchise, they were sold. So, we were able to contact the people who bought them, and then they were kind enough to do a high-resolution copy from them to send [to] us. And then we discovered a lot of technical details, physical details everywhere, secrets, how it works, how [it was] meant to spin and everything. So, that’s the first thing. Then, I decided to buy one full back panel from the original SGC Stargate, and actually in the auction lots there was only the panel, and all the other lots were the whole section from the SGC Stargate each time. So, I didn’t have that much money. I didn’t know I wanted to put that much money [into] the project at that time. So, I only bought one back panel from the series. This is the original one that we see right now.

David Read:
I remember having it.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course.

David Read:
Hey buddy, how are you doing?

Quentin Brichet:
It’s doing fine. I think we modified it just a bit because we wanted to do a mold out of it right away and we didn’t wanna redo everything, like no 3D print of the whole thing. And at that time to was harder to 3D print everything. So, we did a bit of modification just to feel the gaps, the bubbles. Because when you look at it really, really close, you can see a lot of detail and actually parts a bit broken, bubbles, screws everywhere. I don’t know if it’s good to say it to your viewers, but once you know there are screws everywhere on the Stargate, you can see it even in the opening credits everywhere.

David Read:
Oh, very much so. It’s right there in front. When the chevron is snapping in place, the fiberglass underneath bends. You can see it doing it. And we just say, “Oh, that’s normal.”

Quentin Brichet:
And when you don’t think about it, it’s just cinematic. It’s a real Stargate. It’s made out of metal and it’s perfect. And once you start to try to look at it, then you know, and you can’t come back from this. So, sorry everyone, but now you will see the screws everywhere.

David Read:
Quentin, it looks far more than the back panel that you guys managed to get. I’m looking at all of these pieces and it looks just like the ones that we sold to the sci-fi museum in Seattle. Are you guys sure that you didn’t go in there and take it and this is the original off-world gate? Are you sure about that?

Quentin Brichet:
Actually, the blueprints [were] really the Ba’al’s project, and we decided to go and steal every Stargate of the universe. Really. No, I’m kidding. Actually, we started from this because it was way more interesting for me at the time, because I was alone at the time [working] on this, to start from just a part and do everything else. So, if you wanna see, maybe Anthony, you can show the other ring on the table? For example, we tried from scratch to recreate the outer ring of the gates, so we had to actually draw all these tiny pieces.

David Read:
Oh my God. And all of the different layers.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. With actually low-res sources from the series. And it’s really, really, difficult. And we got quite close to the real thing. So, we are really happy, and this one was really, really beautiful to do. So, I’m really happy that I did that. But then, after we did a lot of different things, also we 3D printed a few things to try, I decided, and we had the opportunity to buy a full section from the gate. The one we didn’t buy on the original auction. And we had to decide, “Do we keep our work until now or do we start again?” And it was already a few years in the making so it’s pretty hard to say, “OK. Everything goes to trash, and we start again.” But we decided that we really wanted to be the ones remaking the Stargate from SG-1 and not just making a Stargate.

David Read:
So, what I’m looking at right now, that’s the original chunk of Stargate.

Quentin Brichet:
The one you’re looking at right now is the original one. Yes, exactly.

David Read:
From SGC or from the location gate? Where is that from?

Quentin Brichet:
It’s from the SGC. You can see the small hooks that were there. I think it was for the iris and maybe for the green screen. I’m not sure about that. I really have to talk with someone from the show to be sure, but I think it was to just put something in place here. But yeah, that’s the original one. It’s from the SGC, and when it was dismantled, actually, it was in parts. So, when we got it, we got every panel, every part of the chevrons just everywhere, out of place. And we had, actually, to remake the shape of the whole thing from the panels themselves, “How they fit together? Is that OK?” And also, from different pictures from the show, like, “How much gap do I have between this part and this part?” It’s actually pretty hard because if you try to think of one shot of the gate from the side, in the show, are you able to find it in your mind? The side of the gate. It’s pretty hard to find. There are not that [many]. So, of course we saw a lot of Stargate again, and when I was watching the series with my peers and was always stopping on it, like, “Stop, stop, stop. I have to take a screenshot,” for everything. It was before we had Alexandria from Ian.

David Read:
So, the original Stargate was fiberglass, the outer shell, and it was bolted onto a steel frame.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, exactly. It’s a resin fiberglass. The same way you make boats and some cars. It’s really, well made, actually, because I think at this time when you needed something made of fiberglass in cinema or in the series, you go to the ones knowing how to do it, which means you will have actually professionals in fiberglass making who will come and help you do it. I’m pretty sure that was it at the time. So, it’s really, really well-made. When you see it from the inside, it’s just perfect. But from the outside, you have a bit of different small bubbles and everything, and it can actually break easily because we didn’t have, I think, at that time, that much material that [was] meant for that. Because now we have a lot of resin that are made for the movie industry. Really just made for that, for this. So, yeah, it’s made of fiberglass and resin from the outside. Then in the series, it was directly screwed in the steel frame that was soldered so it was full circle. It couldn’t be disassembled. I’m speaking of the SGC gate.

David Read:
That’s right.

Quentin Brichet:
And they did directly use screws that go into the metal so it’s right into it.

David Read:
That’s just absolutely wild. Now, how did you get the glyphs so accurate? Did you have any sections of the constellations that you could use as a guide, and did you reconstruct the rest? I wanna see these in their full glory. You guys have done a great job. So, if these aren’t the original, I really wanna know how you did that. Because keep in mind, the blueprints are not the ones from the show. Richard Hudolin told Dial the Gate that he wanted a shadow to be cast in certain situations. So, he raised them rather than lower them into the other piece.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. It’s not actually in… In the Stargate from the movie, it’s carved in the glyph track, so the glyph track is the one moving. And in the series, it’s out of it and also there’s a small bevel going on the side on everything. And we had to calculate the difference between just the height, then the start of the bevel and everything. But that’s a great question. Actually, of course we started from the section we have, which was… Then we were able to know exactly how it was made. So, the glyphs were made from ABS plastic sheets that were carved probably using CNC, but maybe by hand. I think it was CNC at the time. And then we tried to extrapolate from that, so we used mainly, actually, the auction book from the Propworx auction.

David Read:
You’re welcome.

Quentin Brichet:
Thank you. Because the pictures are really nice and flat, which is hard to get in the series. Because you know you have the lens that is changing the shape of everything.

David Read:
And the lighting.

Quentin Brichet:
[Not always filmed from the front]. So, it was really nice to have that way, the panels flat on the surface, and to have those pictures. And also, we were able to contact a few different people who have actually the other sections from the SGC gate from the auction. So, actually, one of them is one of the biggest… How do we say…? Actually, we know one of the biggest collectors of Stargate props, original props, in the world, and he’s living next [to] me, mainly. I can go see him in 10 or 20 minutes. And he has one of the SGC gate sections. A few other people from USA, Germany, everywhere. And when we got their contact information, we were able to discuss with them and ask them for really precise drawing from them. Most of the time, we ask that they take a pencil, a piece of paper, put it on the glyphs and then go at it exactly like…

David Read:
You’re rubbing. Like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade.

Quentin Brichet:
Exactly. And then to scan it and sell it to us. So, it was, for me, the perfect way to get all the details and be really, really close. And it’s as close as there are… They are not perfect. They are perfectly like the real ones with their imperfections. So, for example, this one, there is a secret. We won’t show you exactly what it is but on the Earth symbol, there is a detail that is a bit wrong, and we made the same one on it. Because we… It’s an easter egg, you know.

David Read:
It’s a Persian flaw. You know what that is?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. We are not trying to make a faux… from the Stargate. We are not trying to sell a replica saying it’s the real one, but we really wanted to… Actually, that’s important to say. I [did] this project also to say thank you to all the people working behind the scenes on these things. And that’s a huge thing to do. And it’s always a lot of different skills involved. That’s not just one thing you do every day. You learn to do one new thing every day in this work. So, these people are really amazing, and I think the idea [of putting] back a few different things like that on our own, is a way to say thank you because we saw it’s hard to do. We did it also. We made our own mistakes, but we wanted to… I don’t know how to say it.

Ian Bernardo:
A homage, a labor of love.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s an homage.

David Read:
It’s an homage. A sign of respect. Let’s pause for a second guys. So, are we gonna… Do you wanna cut to a few minutes of you guys putting the original Atlantis piece together and creating that? Can we cut to that pretty quickly or is this just gonna be shots over the top of this interview that are gonna fill in that detail? What would you like to do with this? I would really like to hear voiceovers of the people who put this thing together and, like, three, four, five minutes of assembling it, like the video that you guys posted a few years ago, to insert here, even if it’s the same one.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, we can do that. I can come from this, go back to Atlantis to say…

David Read:
That’s what I’m about to do.

Quentin Brichet:
“It wasn’t always like this.” But we are losing the chronological order, actually, and so I go back to the Atlantis gate, and we can place the video here and I can explain this part of the story. No Problem.

David Read:
OK. Perfect. So, what we’re seeing here is actually not the original gate that you guys made. What shocked me, Quentin and Ian and Sylvain, and everybody else, is that you got rid of it.

Quentin Brichet:
We did it again.

David Read:
You made this… You did it again. You made this beautiful piece, this Atlantis Stargate, and then you transformed it into the SG-1 gate. I was floored that you guys made this amazing piece and it’s, like, “Yeah, OK. That’s seen its day. Now we’re gonna go for our real game plan,” which is to create… Was it always the original…? Was it always your intent to do Atlantis first and then weave that version into SG-1? How did the choice come about to do Atlantis first? Because it was simpler? Because it’s the digital version?

Ian Bernardo:
It’s happenstance.

David Read:
Oh, it just happenstance?

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, I think it is.

Quentin Brichet:
The main goal, from the beginning, the goal always has been to make the Stargate from SG-1. Because we wanted it to spin.

Ian Bernardo:
It’s so much cooler to make it spin.

David Read:
“Make it spin. It’s round. It’s gotta spin.”

Quentin Brichet:
It’s so much cooler. But then what happened [was], we were nearly finished [making] all the panels and the chevrons, all the parts from the resin casts. And then I was contacted by someone called Reis Martin, who was from near London. He was working in a school at that [time]. The Royal Central School of [Speech and Drama]…

Ian Bernardo:
Royal House?

Quentin Brichet:
No. Royal Central School… It was something like a graduation project he had to make. It was pretty nice, actually, when we [saw] it. Because everyone in the school [has] a project to showcase and you can go through it, and it’s a school that’s doing everything about theater and technics, from the one doing the wardrobe to the ones doing the lights, the sets and everything. And he was working on sets, and he contacted me, and he said, “Can I have your panels? And I build… I assemble it” and we worked together to do this. So, the idea was, “I give you panels, you give me structure.” Because I was a bit lost at that time. I knew a few things were possible, but I had a hard time choosing what was the best way to do it, actually. And he helped me because he had one year to do this. So, with the time he had, the time frame helped to make some choices. We had to make some choices at that time and it’s really hard for me to make choices. So, it was really helpful and he’s the one who made also the wooden structure inside the gate. So, if you wanna know how it’s made for us, there is an aluminum frame, like a truss when you have a big event, like concert.

David Read:
Just like they make jet airplanes.

Quentin Brichet:
You can see there are trusses everywhere. So, their base is a truss. Then around it, you have a wooden skeleton. And Reis also did that because he is a CNC machinist, a professional CNC machinist. Before he did this school. So, he made that, too. And we put it together. His team worked most of the things about the painting[ing] and everything, and I was there with a team member who is Guillaume, who you know, I think.

David Read:
I know Guillaume. Crazy guy. He’s brilliant.

Quentin Brichet:
And we flew to London to work on the end thing with this, and we put it up for 48 hours. And it was it. Because that wasn’t the project from the start. So, that was, like, a proof of concept. You try it one way and it works so we can go on, we can do the thing we wanted to do from the beginning. So, actually we did that, and it was… His team was amazing. One of them… His showcase work was to work on the lights of the replica. So, we have the whole glyph track lighting up using actually a light desk that was used for theater show[s], normally, and people were able to play on a DHD, which wasn’t that accurate but was really well-made for that. It was really fun to be able to use it, to hear the sound and to dial it for real. So, that was really, really nice, and we really thank Reis and his team for helping us with that part.

David Read:
For the Atlantis Stargate?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, that was the Atlantis Stargate.

David Read:
Man, oh, man. So, you guys have prepared a short film for us that’s gonna be an overview of the creation of the Atlantis Stargate that you guys started off with. When you first drafted the blueprints for what you were gonna make, when you first started assembling this thing and fabricating the parts to when you powered it on for the first time, how many years of development was encapsulated in that right there?

Quentin Brichet:
When we started making things, the real things that ended up…

David Read:
Fabricating the parts. That’s right. To turning it on. How much time are we talking about?

Quentin Brichet:
I think that’s not that much to do the panels until we put it up the first time. The Atlantis version. I think it was three or four years. Something like that.

David Read:
That’s a lot of time as far as I’m concerned. Wow.

Ian Bernardo:
In the grand scheme of things, pretty short time.

David Read:
Well, in the grand scheme of things, we’re even. No. Absolutely. We’ve only… The solar system’s only been around for how many billions of years? That’s nuts. So, I really wanna see what you guys went through to bring this thing to life. Can we show everyone now?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course.

David Read:
You guys have done yourselves immensely proud and I hope the Atlantis cast got a chance to… At least some of… Did anyone get a chance to see it from the Atlantis cast? Did anyone comment on it?

Quentin Brichet:
A few people from the cast. I think David Hewlett, because he’s always very, very supportive with the fans and the fan base and all the projects they have.

Ian Bernardo:
He’s such a nerd.

David Read:
He’s very much a nerd. He’s Rodney but without the personality.

Quentin Brichet:
I think he is the one who said, “Replica? It’s better than the real one.”

David Read:
That’s a good question. While we’re on that subject, I was gonna ask. There were certain design improvements that I think you could argue were made. There are a couple that I notice that, I’m gonna be honest with you, I question. The LED lights in the Stargate. I think you’ve done an amazing job with the SG-1 lighting. Whatever you did to mimic the glow from red to orange is chef’s kiss. The Atlantis one, it was almost like the chevrons were translucent, were not absolutely… Were less opaque than the ones from the show so it scattered light differently underneath. And the colors, especially when they’re photographed, were not the same. Was that intentional or was that “Well, we’re done at this point, let’s go with that because we got no choice?” Or was it just an accident that it happened that way, and what other changes were made because there were just improvements in technology?

Ian Bernardo:
So, with regards to the lighting, that’s a source of conversation. Of endless conversation.

David Read:
I bet it is.

Ian Bernardo:
Because, as you said, we really want to be as accurate as possible. And what’s really interesting is, actually, that if you liked the original chevron, the way they did it in the show and then try to transpose that one exactly, it doesn’t really photograph that well. It’s hard to get on video. So, what you see is actually some tricks we use to make it perceptually the same as what you saw on the show, which is what we really were aiming for. We really want for people to take a picture, and it looks exactly like a still frame from the show. And that’s really hard because we have a few constraints. The first one is that the resin, those crystals as we call them, are cast… They were painted on the original. Whereas we elected to add some pigments directly into the resin. So, they are cast in a single color. So, that adds a bit of difficulty because then you have to shape the light in a way so as to create this very nice, elegant gradient that you see. We don’t think we have perfected it just yet. There are a few tweaks that we need to make. You can see that some of those… This part is supposed to be a slightly more… Fade to black a bit more. It looks a bit like, I don’t know, some black body emission effect that we need to recreate. But the original was using halogen and that emitted a lot of heat.

David Read:
Halogen bulbs are very hot.

Ian Bernardo:
And you can actually see some discoloration on the original crystals. So, for fire safety mainly plus, as you said, technology evolving, using LED lights, we actually elected to use LEDs, dimmable LEDs, to try to recreate the thing. Actually, the fun is… Some fun fact here. When I joined the association, one of the first task Quentin came to me with was, “OK. You get to do the curve that… When the light turns on, you have to recreate the halogen curve of the light.

David Read:
Ramping up?

Ian Bernardo:
Exactly. Thank you. The ramping up of the light. Because LEDs, obviously, are just on and off by default. You have to recreate that ramp. And we actually did hundreds of tries to match exactly the light emission from a halogen. I have Excel sheets full of it. Full of data.

David Read:
Is it just code? Like trying to code the software so that it creates that pattern?

Ian Bernardo:
Exactly, yes. We actually used a lux meter to measure precisely the emission of the halogen. We went way overboard to recreate the effect.

David Read:
You guys are insane. You are certifiably wacko. Three fries short of a happy meal.

Quentin Brichet:
There’s so much of this that I forget about this. I totally forgot what I put him through. Because everything is like that, always.

Ian Bernardo:
That’s a lot of fun.

David Read:
Fun?

Ian Bernardo:
So, just the lighting part is a story that we could tell for days. It’s really fun.

David Read:
Guys, it is so extraordinary what you created. I can’t fathom the patience. Were there times where it was very much, like, “This is not happening. I wanna make this happen. We don’t have this. We don’t have the money. We don’t have the time.” In this past 15-year period were there those days and how many times did that happen?

Quentin Brichet:
I think I will answer this one.

David Read:
I would hope so.

Quentin Brichet:
It happened quite a lot, actually.

David Read:
At least he’s honest.

Quentin Brichet:
Not directly when there was a fail[ure]. A lot of things fail, of course, because you learn from what you failed. So, there [were] a lot of fail[ures] to go through, and they were good. So, what never happened is, “No, this didn’t work. I’m out.” We didn’t have this. Never. What happened is, when you tried to go on and mainly at the start of the project when I was mostly alone with a few people around it, we weren’t as many as needed, actually, to do this. So, of course…

David Read:
You were understaffed.

Quentin Brichet:
Yes. So, of course when you need people to work on this and you are the only one or the few ones to work on this, it’s really hard. And I was always the one having the gate in the garden. So, I was the one who was able to work on it outside of the holidays or [things] like that. So, I was the one always working on it, always having it in one corner of my mind or 90 percent of my mind. So, it was pretty hard. I think I said it like 100 times, “Guys, I really need you to go on with this and to take your part and to try to develop things, to be on your own on part of the project.” And at the start it did not work that well. Because I was actually gatekeeping a lot of information. Because I knew all the tiny details and I really wanted everything to be perfect. So, I really wanted to check everything. So, of course, if someone was starting to try something, I was always on his or her back to say, “No, it’s not really that way.” Or “Can you wait for a moment that I have the time to see if it’s really right?” And it wasn’t the way it should have been because you can’t do this like that. So, when we had more people, it was really easier to get people involved in their own ideas, their own thing they wanted to develop. And I let it happen that time and it really worked out. So, that’s one of the whole…

Sylvain Poulet:
New, fresh idea. To develop new stuff on it.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. I like having ideas coming from those guys and not me because it’s freeing, actually.

David Read:
Well you want to collaborate. This is not just you. You’re not hiring a bunch of drones. You’re hiring people – I can’t just go and work on this as much as I would like to. I would have to sit down with someone for at least several minutes just to figure out how to apply the scratches on this version to age it like it was under rocks for several thousand years. You are hiring technical people who have a trade, either electronic or welding or building. CNC. And look at all the autographs from everyone who contributed on this. And I’d like the total number of people who have laid their hands on this project and their names to add them to the credits of this because I think it’s important. They all have to come together in their own disciplines to pull this thing off. And I think it’s a testament to you, Quentin, and your leadership, that you were able to achieve this at all. Because how many fans do we know have got these wild ideas? I knew one guy at the Propworx auctions. “I’m going to buy all the Daedalus parts. The Bridge. I’m going to rebuild the bridge.” You went and you took the most iconic piece from the series, one of the most iconic props in all of television history. Certainly one of the biggest, if not the biggest. And you recreated it. That’s extraordinary. And you did it without destroying yourself. It’s pretty amazing. So what are you going to do with it now? Well you know what, let’s get to that in just a second. How many total people were involved in bringing this thing to life? If you had to sit down and add everybody up?

Quentin Brichet:
It’s something like more than one hundred people. For example, in 20.. in 2022, it was really the time I wanted it to be kind of finished. We made a workshop during two months, two whole months. We had, like, 60 persons that time, coming. Just coming to help a bit. To do a bit of sanding or some things like that … A lot of sanding, sorry. Not a bit. We are always sanding things.

Ian Bernardo:
We actually converted a parking lot, the parking lot right outside the workshop, into a sanding workshop. You had people sitting on the floor sanding more stuff.

David Read:
On the ground, yeah.

Ian Bernardo:
It was quite a site to see.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, so 60 people right there, then all the ones helping us to find sources on social media. Even a small comment somewhere saying, “I know a guy.” It can really help. All those people, we are past one hundred. At the start we were like, of course, one. Then something like three, because we had Bertrand Wagon who is a 3D modelist. He worked on the 3D models. He is actually the one who made the most perfect replica of the Stargate scaled down. You have to see that. I love his work. Even though he’s a friend and everything, but I love his work because he’s doing things perfectly.

David Read:
So you did a CAD file first of all of the parts that you created? You created a 3D version of it?

Quentin Brichet:
Not directly.

David Read:
But you used it for reference?

Ian Bernardo:
It was not a prerequisite, but we built it along the way and refined the 3D models so that we think that we have, right now, the most accurate 3D model of the original gate, yeah.

David Read:
Wow. That’s just extraordinary. The work that you guys put into this thing, and everyone who was responsible. It’s just ridiculous. So taking the Atlantis Stargate and turning it into the SG-1 gate. How much of the Atlantis Stargate is still behind you guys? Or did you do new molds?

Quentin Brichet:
That’s a good question. Actually what happened just after London was COVID.

David Read:
Really? I completely missed that. What — what’s that?

Quentin Brichet:
You don’t know about it, right? Nothing [got] out of here because of that. And during COVID it was really hard to continue. Actually we left gate outside in the garden during months, from cold weather to really hot weather, and it actually destroyed all the panels.

David Read:
The temperature changes?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. So it was really hard. We talked about failing things, and that was a big fail. Epic fail.

David Read:
You make mistakes. Accidents happen!

Quentin Brichet:
Big mistakes. Exactly. It was pretty hard during COVID, on everyone, and same for me. I went into some kind of depression. It was right there outside the window, so at any time I could’ve said, “OK, let’s just remove the panels, put them in the house, and then it’s OK. They will be OK.” And it was too much. At that time. And at that time of the project, after everything we went through, it was too much really, at that time. So this is what happened. We decided to go on, of course, as always. I think one thing, when you say I was able to get this leadership to have everyone involved, one of the things that helps people to be stuck with the project is that we never stop. We go on. Anything happening, we go on It seems impossible to do, let’s do it anyway and we’ll see. So we did. That time it was around 2022. We still had all the panels that you actually can see. The old panels we used for the Stargate from Atlantis. They are just stacked there waiting. They are a bit out of shape. They are still pretty nice. In 2022 I really thought we could reshape them. Actually we have a whole jig made for this but it was made from a resin that you can’t really reshape that way. So we have to put them aside. And that time we asked a professional working with resins and everything. He actually does some sculptures and everything. So he’s more of an artist and we asked him to make the panels we now have. So that part we didn’t directly do because that part we already did actually. So we didn’t have more to learn. We are not perfect. We don’t know exactly how to do a fiberglass panel perfectly.

David Read:
But if anyone’s going to figure it out, I would think that it would be you guys. ‘Cause you’re willing to get your hands dirty. And I mean, the skeleton underneath is the same. It’s essentially the same thing.

Quentin Brichet:
The skeleton is the same. The truss is the same. Most of the wood is the same, but we had to change a lot of things. Actually, I think you can speak about that part.

Sylvain Poulet:
Yes. When we have the new panel the big difficult[y] is to make some alignments with all panel[s] and all section[s]. So we need to change the wood parts to make [a] new I don’t know new stack of wood to make some alignment[s] to adjust every panel, because whole panel, it’s not perfect. Sometimes you have a panel with one cm of higher, sometimes less, sometimes more. So every stack, it’s every stack it’s unique.

David Read:
Wow. That’s just absolutely extraordinary.

Sylvain Poulet:
What’s actually pretty fun is that in the chevrons we used the same reflector that was used for Gate one, for the Atlantis one, sorry. So we used the same reflector that was used in the Atlantis Stargate in London. That was used actually behind the glyphs because the glyphs [were] lighting [up]. So we needed a kind of reflector, but something cheap. And they actually use turkey trays to do that. And I really love that. So yeah, it’s a running gag, a running joke with the team from Reis Martin. It is a turkey tray inside the gate.

David Read:
It’s all that you need.

Quentin Brichet:
So that that’s pretty funny. We used that again. We actually yeah reuse things. And that’s the MacGyver part, I think.

David Read:
That’s right. I had the location gate. It was my responsibility to for its safekeeping for nearly a year and, it’s like you guys have it. You’ve recreated it. It’s just a beautiful piece. Is there any consideration to building another skeleton and getting the Pegasus Stargate back on its feet again next to its older brother?

Quentin Brichet:
I mean, it’s not just up to me.

Ian Bernardo:
Well, there was a there was a silver lining to letting the Atlantis gate outside to rain, and to the elements. We actually learned a ton. Those panels are much lighter, much easier to handle. They are easier to work with. We can bend them into shape. I mean we’re not saying no, I guess, but we really need to finish this, to see this one through. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the SG-1 version before we recreate Atlantis. I think what we’re learning — we’re learning so fast right now. It feels like, really, like we’ve cranked it up to 11 now because we know how to assemble, disassemble, the gate. We really got a lot experience now with the SG-1 gate. We have still a few upgrades we want to make. Let’s not promise anything. |

David Read:
The the more exposure the better, guys. The fact of the matter is, and we’ve alluded to it a little bit in this. I saw the pictures of it outside where you guys took it on display in Switzerland and had your teams photographed and taken it to a couple of events. But it didn’t spin yet. And now you’re telling me, like General Hammond said, you want it to — well puppet General Hammond — you want it to spin. And how feasible is that? Is this going to happen?

Quentin Brichet:
That’s a good question. Maybe just before, you [talk] about it because you are the one working on this. At the start of the project, I really wanted it to spin. Then we decided that it wasn’t safe. So we decided for it not to spin. Then with the amazing people we have around we decided, again, to make it spin. So right now we are working on it. What is really interesting is that in the series the one in the SGC was the one spinning but it was in one place and not moving. [It was] literally bolt[ed] to the floor, and the one going outside, that’s why the DHD is existing actually, is for it not to spin. And we are doing one that we can disassemble, go anywhere with it, assemble it again, and make it spin. So that’s a harder thing to do.

David Read:
So is that going to be a separate Stargate?

Sylvain Poulet:
The goal is to expose the Stargate for the fans. So we have nine section[s] of the gate and we need to assembl[e] it everywhere we go. So in every convention it’s difficult to have exactly [the] same alignment for the mechanical parts. So when we build the… in computer the system to spin the glyphs, all [of] it is perfect in the computer. But in reality when you assemble], disassembl[e] it many times, it’s moved. So we need to think [of] some correction[s]. For example for the wagon.

Quentin Brichet:
The carts?

Sylvain Poulet:
The carts, yes. You have many carts on the rails.

Quentin Brichet:
The track?

Sylvain Poulet:
You have many [carts]. Every [cart] needs to adjust its position. Every [cart] needs to adjust its position [in relation to] the track. Because sometimes if you don’t make that, sometimes it goes off the track. Sometimes it’s blocked on the track. So this improvement and we work on it and after we need to make the action of movement, of rotation. So we need to calculate the motor, the engine, the system of “traction”. So we have many possibilit[ies]. For example you can use the friction wheels but we have some issue to integrate the system. After, you can use a chain but it’s a big [gear] for the chain and this [gear] need[s] to [be] cut in nine sections too. So it’s difficult because we need to use a CNC to build every part because it [does] not exist. So it’s a specific part.

David Read:
That’s right. The location Stargate in the show, they only fake the the location Stargate spinning. There’s two instances. The first one is “Icon” where SG-1 comes through in season 8 to is it Rand? I think they come to Rand and – [if] look up. There’s a shot of the gate and it’s like this. I think that they took the SGC gate and superimposed it into the skyline there because that one is spinning. They use sound effects a lot of the time to simulate that the fact that it’s spinning. It doesn’t really need to spin because you’ve got the DHD. But then in “Seizure” in SGU, when they took the location Stargate back from me for the one week that I needed it because our live auction was in Seattle just a couple hundred miles south, they used visual effects to move the inner ring.

Quentin Brichet:
They did. That’s the one with 41 glyphs. I think that’s this one.

David Read:
Oh boy. I’m not surprised. Yeah. So, the original SGC gate, there is a there’s a gear inside and a motor, a crank at the bottom that turns it, and if you’re not careful, the belt will just take you up. [It] was actually exposed underneath the ramp. If you looked under there, you could see it. I’m sure they had to add oil all the time. But with you guys, what you guys are basically doing is not unlike a carnival ride where you’re going from one to the other and once you’re there, you have to assemble this thing so that the roller coasters can run across the top of it. You are having to completely redesign the concept. How far off do you think you are from having a completed product if this thing is feasible? I mean, you guys are obviously still meeting together and working on it. What are you working on coming together right now and doing and how far are you away from making a spinning track and will any of the chevrons lock?

Sylvain Poulet:
Oh…

Quentin Brichet:
I mean, it’s not our main focus right now. But…

Sylvain Poulet:
For me the big issue. It’s the production of every part because I think the idea, it’s okay, but now we need to build some parts and to make a big [gear] in nine section[s] for the chain. We need to have a professional with a big CNC, for example, to build that and to have the… to know the good person, it’s not easy to do that.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah we need to make a prototype, actually. But we know, actually you know which motor, which engine we need to do this.

Sylvain Poulet:
Yes, we have select[ed] the engine.

Quentin Brichet:
We know what kind of gear we want to use which is actually closer to the one which was used in Stargate Universe, which is kind of different because the one in SG1 was a big gear and a small one making it spin, and in [Universe] it’s actually a chain going all around it. Actually I was able to get access to one part of the universe gate in Geneva, and I was able to see and touch the real structure that was used for the spinning gate in universe. So we will be closer to this one. I really wanted to ditch this idea from the beginning but then we discussed it again and I think we will go with that.

Sylvain Poulet:
Yep

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. So the gear — we know we know the number of teeth, everything.

Sylvain Poulet:
We have the ratio to have a good speed for the glyphs.

Quentin Brichet:
So all the technical calculations.

Sylvain Poulet:
All information to make the good equation, we know that now. Now the next step is to build and test some prototypes.

David Read:
The Stargate stood in the SGC, Icarus, the temple on the naquadria planet at the end for SGU, for 13 years. And my understanding, was according to [Richard] Hudolin, it never missed a glyph. It never missed a target, and it never broke down. It’s just extraordinary. And the fact that you guys are going to redo it and anyone who’s going to do it, I think it’s likely going to be –anyone who’s going to achieve the goal that, as a fan, they’ve set for themselves. I think you guys have proven it that you’re going to make it happen. It’s just a question of time and money.

Ian Bernardo :
What we’re really trying — aiming for — is to have people really experience seeing like almost going into the Stargate Command base and really get a sense of how massive and alien-looking this object is. It is quite incredible to stand in front of it and look up and just [be] in awe, really, and we want to communicate that sentiment to as many people as are willing to come and visit. We’re trying to think about how to create, really, an experience that’s immersive for fans. And I think people are really going to enjoy it.

Quentin Brichet:
We really have, like, one day to build it in each convention in each event. So we have to think about that too, right?

David Read:
So that’s the ultimate plan, to take it to events and conventions mainly in Europe? OK.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. Mainly in Europe because we need the contacts. So, anyone who’s wanting to make us come to a convention, they actually can contact us right now. We are trying to put it up and show it to as many people in as many places [as] we can. Uh, but it’s really a question of money, mostly. Because it cost a lot of money to take it from here. It’s really big, so you have to put it in a whole truck and go all the way from, like, Geneva to USA. So that that cost —

David Read:
That would that would require a boat.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, of course. And we can wait a few months for it to get to America. That’s OK. But if we do this for example we really have to manage to have a few different events around the same place and at the same time. So we can go tour, like, USA for a time then go back to Europe. So for now it’s Europe because it’s kind of easier, I think. But really, anyone who is wanting to put the effort to work with us is welcome to contact us and we really want to do that. So we will do everything we can to be able to do this to show it to as many fan[s] as possible. But there are also questions about norms, every technical part, rules you know that are different in every country. We need to attach a big thing – six meters in diameter — heavy thing, because it’s nearly one ton, to the ceiling in one day.

David Read:
Yeah you can’t let it fall over.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. Yeah-Yeah-Yeah. And there is people going to see it, to go through it, and that changes everything. You put barriers around it can be OK. But at [a] time anyone can get access to it it changes everything. Because it needs to be safe.

Sylvain Poulet:
For example the SGC ramp, you have a barrier on it. But in the rules for the convention, for the public, the height of the [the barrier], is too low. So, normally people can’t walk on it normally. So we need to make some modification or something like to give the possibility to the people to walk on it.

David Read:
And I’ve seen you’ve had it outside at events. You have it attached to a crane to keep it stabilized. I mean how long – can it weather, like, rain? Oh wow. You’re doing a ramp. Looks like you’re doing the ramp. Are you doing a ramp.

Quentin Brichet:
Actually, eh, maybe?

David Read:
Maybe? All right.

Quentin Brichet:
Actually you are the first one who has the real information. We didn’t want to tell that too much until now. So in the stream we said it a bit, like we put it on the side on the background, you know.

David Read:
You’re developing. You’re developing. OK.

Quentin Brichet:
We are doing it and you are the one having the main news for that.

David Read:
It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Quentin Brichet:
And actually it’s ready. The ramp is ready. So next time we are in convention, there is a high probability that the ramp is there and that people can actually go through the gate.

David Read:
That clang-clang-clang when you walk down it. That is just such a specific sound.

Ian Bernardo:
You put your right on it. It was I was absolutely adamant that we needed to — you can hear it in the background. I was adamant that we needed that that sound. So the way Quentin designed it, the metal, the way it clings together, it sounds absolutely exactly like it did when you watch the show. It’s it’s quite something.

David Read:
You fabricated all those parts?

Ian Bernardo:
We got some help.

David Read:
Well sure! Man, guys.

Ian Bernardo:
Actually we have a fun nugget. This ramp is as close to the original as we could get within safety parameters that Sylvain was talking about.

Quentin Brichet:
And as close as we could do it in two weeks.

David Read:
And it just goes together like a LEGO set?

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah…

Ian Bernardo:
Well, we wish we could get a LEGO set that easy.

David Read:
Right?

Ian Bernardo:
No, it’s a bit hard to assemble, but it’s really heavy. One thing we’re really proud of is that we actually managed to, we think, get the spacing between the elements just about right. We actually used the Kleenex box from the …

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, we did!

David Read:
Of course!

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah! That’s a fun nugget.

David Read:
“Thanks, send more!” Yeah, sure.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, exactly. Turns out it’s it’s a standard.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, it’s a standard size! So you are like, “OK, on the grate you have [this] space between each element and so the whole thing is made by counting how many of these spaces are on the grate. Because we know that the ladder, for example, has like — I don’t know… I say it like that, but it’s like, “30 spaces of grate is one ladder.” And you do everything like that. And you can be pretty accurate like this.

David Read:
It makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Start with the Kleenex box ‘cause it’s physically against the grate in the in the pilot and work your way out from there. That’s nuts. How much rain can it withstand? Can it get rained on?

Ian Bernardo:
We’d rather not get rain on it.

David Read:
Rather not. So, a light spritzing is all it can take.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, a light spritzing is probably fine.

David Read:
And even then you have to clean it afterwards probably.

Ian Bernardo:
We’re actually a bit worried about our wind because it’s so tall. It can swing. Uh, like the first time in 2022 when we got it outside it was making some creaking sounds that we’re not that we’d rather not hear again. I mean, we didn’t we don’t think it broke anything. Well, apparently didn’t, but we’d rather not show it outside too much specifically because with a ramp it’s so large that you need a really level surface — a sizable surface and so usually inside it’s probably better.

Quentin Brichet:
But we are thinking about it. So if possible we want to be able to do it. But not right now. Yeah.

David Read:
OK. Ian, can you do me a favor and tell me about the dialing computer? Did you guys create that from scratch or is that an asset that you took, because I know that there was a couple of folks have done a great job rebuilding the asset from the show. It’s been a screen saver. It’s been all kinds of things for years.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah. So the first step before recreating any proper effect is we do extensive documentation research. And so we use the tool that that I built to reclassify the different versions that we see from the dialing computer. And so what you’re seeing right now is, we think, the most perfect — the most accurate — replica of the dialing program. We actually identified, I think, three generations apparently. [It] looks like they took the one from the movie during the first few episodes. Then they built version one that was very boxy. And then what you’re seeing right now is what we refer to as version two which is a bit more round and has a bit more eye candy. So we use Rive which is sort of the successor to Flash, if people know that technology, for the web. And actually Quentin gets most of the credit for recreating, painstakingly recreating, every little blinking square and color. What you see is frame by frame, handcrafted, to look pixel perfect exactly to the original. We actually adjusted some of even the corner radius on those blinking square[s] are absolutely perfect. The whole dialing computer actually connects to the central nervous system that we developed so that’s it’s perfectly coherent with the way the gate behaves. So you have the central nervous system commanding the lights, commanding the sounds. We even bought some carbon ice to recreate the nice wisps. So that will be actioned as well, and yeah. So people will be able to use the computer. You might have seen the keyboard that we’re recreating as well. We just bought an old CRT, the exact model, from the TV show. We shipped it from the USA. We’re going to project the dialing computer on that CRT screen so people can use and push the button just like Walter Harriman. And they’ll be able to spin the gate, light it up, and dial a planet and have the full experience.

Quentin Brichet:
It’s immersive.

David Read:
What about this Walter AI?

Ian Bernardo:
We actually wanted to have a sort of [an] assistant rather than — the I mean, ChatGPT is fine, I guess, but it’s much more fun to talk to Walter. So we actually recreated some, with clever prompting, the personality of the character from the TV show. And you can actually pick up the the telephone that you might have seen. We have a red phone, the Western Electric 500, the classic from the TV show. We connected it, refit it with IP technology so that you can talk to it and hear Walter Harriman’s voice talking to you through the… through the phone.

David Read:
So just for this experience, if you go and you pick up this phone, you can talk to Harriman.

Ian Bernardo:
Actually, you can talk to a marine as well. We have many, what we call, agents. So you have many characters you can talk to. We created, from scratch, a voice which can… you can actually call anyone.

David Read:
You got to call President Hayes. You got to call the president.

Ian Bernardo:
Actually one fun tidbit is that when you pick it up and you say I want to talk to the president, it actually calls Quentin, like, literally on his phone.

Quentin Brichet:
I don’t know about this! What?!

Ian Bernardo:
You heard it live! Yeah! So new technology opens up a range of possibilities that really make it immersive and really fun, actually, a project to work on. We think people will love it.

David Read:
I saw a certain Stargate logo over there as well. How did you guys get the measurements for that?

Quentin Brichet:
Just so you know the SGC logo was, like, six hours from here and Ian just went to get it for today, yesterday.

David Read:
That’s it? That’s the logo?!

Quentin Brichet:
No, that’s not the real one.

David Read:
I was going to say that’s a that’s a replica.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, that’s a replica. The real one is actually in Geneva. But actually what we did is we got the blueprint for the SGC logo. So we used the blueprint to precisely design it using 3D. For example, I think we worked mainly in SketchUp between me and Bertrand who is the one doing mainly the 3D element[s], the “eye candy” 3D elements, from the association. And from this, both on our side, we decided then to work using the series to see what was the few tiny differences between what was on paper and the real prop, actually. So we found a few ones and then we compared both of the models and then we discussed each element like, “No I don’t I don’t think this one is like this but more like that because I saw that,” and blah-blah-blah. Everything.

David Read:
It’s just extraordinary.

Quentin Brichet:
I’m really happy with this one and this one was made around COVID. I really wanted to do something from start to finish at that time because this [Stargate] takes quite some time.

David Read:
Yeah, “Let’s get something that’ll take half a year rather than four.”

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah! And it’s good to have something that that’s pretty quick to do.

David Read:
It’s so beautiful, guys. I got the original at Propworx, so we sold it. And the original bulb that was inside shattered and it was a custom build. And so, we took it to LA — well, where it was it was stored in Orange County. We had a fabricator build a custom light for it, but we didn’t have time to put blue gels around it. It was just white. I don’t know if they’ve managed to make to make it blue since. I would hope so. But at least we were able to rebuild it because that was we had to sell it with the lighting intact, and we did, in the second live auction. Very proud of that. I’m thrilled that it’s been used to make a little baby SGC logo. That’s awesome. Guys this this is amazing work. What have I missed? Do you have Richard Dean Anderson standing in the wings? And now for your next trick.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, exactly. No, unfortunately not yet. Um… (Crosstalk in French) (Scans the room in French)

David Read:
Ian’s looking around. Did I miss anything? I missed something.

Ian Bernardo:
From floor to ceiling. It’s like filled to the brim with Stargate stuff.

David Read:
Is this just a warehouse or is this…

Ian Bernardo:
It’s a really huge chalet in the Alps.

David Read:
OK.

Ian Bernardo:
And so, yeah. We rearranged it because somebody has very kindly offered to lend it, without pay, for us to use it. And so we are in a secret location, undisclosed location

David Read:
Under NORAD.

Ian Bernardo:
Under NORAD. Um, you can Yeah. So, we’d rather…

David Read:
That’s just amazing, guys. The next time I’m in Switzerland. I’ve been once. I’ve always wanted to go back. It’s just absolutely beautiful, what you’ve what you’ve managed to achieve here. Is there a thought to an iris?

Ian Bernardo:
Oh, yes.

Quentin Brichet:
Oh, the event horizon and the iris. Yeah, of course. We didn’t think about that.

Ian Bernardo:
That’s the one we were we were missing actually. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. We need to talk about the event horizon and the iris. Let’s start about the Iris.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, this project is so huge that you could talk about it for hours and there is there are still a lot of things we didn’t tell you about. But yeah, for example just the event horizon, the iris… I think we may do something but there are so many possibilities. We are talking about it right now and we already know, like 20, different possibilities to make the event horizon. Ian is actually replicating the effect on the computer.

David Read:
It’s been done. Stargate network did it. They created a program that did math and recreated it.

Quentin Brichet:
We are working with other teams of Stargate fans and actually we are pretty close to Stargate Network, the Stargate Network team. One of the team member[s] from Stargate Network is in our association. Two? Two, actually, I think.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, there’s two.

Quentin Brichet:
And we are always working… Actually there was a time we actually gave our 3D models, the first 3D model we made from the Stargate which was pretty close to the real thing. We sent it to Stargate Network for them to be able to work on it.

David Read:
OK, so Bryce Ors has already got it. Brice already knows all about this. That makes sense.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah, yeah yeah. So we are working together, but again, we are trying to be as close as possible and also to be able to have a user experience that is amazing. So Ian is working on something that will be able to recreate the fact that people are going through it.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah.

David Read:
Wooooow.

Ian Bernardo:
We think we can use the LIDAR from smartphones to actually dematerialize you, using a point cloud, so that you’d be able to film your friends going through the event horizon. Not too many promises, but we have a lot on our plate. But that’s definitely something we want to do. Because it’s going to look so cool if people can film themselves going through it. Yeah.

Quentin Brichet:
People will go crazy if we can be live and just have people going through the gate.

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah. with the correct ripples. It’s actually harder than it looks even for 2025 technology to recreate that in real time and augment it and [stick] perfectly to the to the inner part of the gate. So that’s going to take a bit of work, but we’ll get it working.

David Read:
Yeah. The thing that I what frustrated me about like the later seasons of SG1 when they started to backlight it is that you got the shadow cast from the gate, in in there. You have to hit it with enough light so that that doesn’t happen. And I really hope that you guys have a really, really big bulb. And I cannot wait to go and see it when you guys do that. I cannot wait to finally see this thing in person. I’m going to have a bit of a cry when I do, I’m sure. All right. What do you need help with for all those of us who have stuck with you through this entire interview and are just blown away? What is it that you need to do your next great thing?

Ian Bernardo:
OK, I’ll take it first. The main thing we need right now is for the event horizon specifically, we need people that know how to use Unreal, Unity ,or any 3D shader experience would be nice, because this is what we’re trying to achieve. I think to really display it with — we have the gate, we have the ramp, we really need some interactivity there to for it to look really good. So anybody with experience on using those technologies would be and willing to put up with our very exacting standards are most welcome to contact us. We want to get this right because it’s one of the key special effects that people love Stargate for and we really need to get this right. So yeah, for at least for the that part I think that’s it.

Quentin Brichet:
And augmented reality?

Ian Bernardo:
Yeah, and if people on top of Unreal and Unity have experience using the Apple technologies for augmented reality that’s very helpful.

Quentin Brichet:
So that’s for the event horizon, for example. Then we are currently working on everything that’s safety and norms and in different countries. So if someone knows a lot about them, mostly around events that are like comic cons and everything like that, or even other professional events that’s that are not for fun — but that’s the same norms that are applied — that can be in USA that can be in Europe we really want to be as close as possible. Or to know how we can discuss easily with the people of every event so we can explain, “OK, that’s not exactly precisely as the norm but what we can do together is that, so we are sure it’s safe,” and so on. That’s a very hard part for us really because we built it but then we have to show it and we have all [that] paperwork to do and it’s pretty hard. So if you are from Europe and you know anything about that, or for France, because I think we will be mainly in France for a time and also in Switzerland, and don’t hesitate to contact us because we need your help with that. What other skills would we need?

Ian Bernardo:
And if you want to sponsor us obviously that would be…

David Read:
How can we go to sponsor you, where can we go?

Ian Bernardo:
To sponsor us, you can go to our Web site under our social networks. So follow us, that helps. You can share our content and the website is emg-team.com. And people can get up to date information on the on the on the whole project as well as support us with a nice donate button at the bottom.

Quentin Brichet:
Yeah. And if you are not sure, just send us an email or contact us on social medias and we will answer.

David Read:
I don’t see how anyone at this point would be unsure of anything, guys. I know prop builders who have promised me props for six and seven years now and they want it to be so perfect that they’re paralyzed. We have a saying in English, “Perfection is the enemy of completion.” But also one of my favorite sayings is, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” And your elephant is standing behind you and it’s just extraordinary. So, anyone who thinks that they can contribute in some way to making this continued dream possible where more Stargate fans can come and experience this thing in person, please reach out to them and see if there’s anything that you can provide. Either talent or some other form of resources to make this this thing happen because you guys have proven that there are sci-fi fans who can set a goal and it’s not just a pipe dream. You can will it into reality right there and it’s extraordinary. And I really want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for making my 350th episode so special. One of the things that we have in common besides Stargate is not only a willingness to not give up, but to put aside our own expectations of gain — financial gain, monetary gain — and first and foremost, it is the love of Stargate. It is the love of the brand that we do our mutual projects and the love of fellow fans because we know what this means to people. It doesn’t just represent a portal to other planets and fun shoot-em-up space battles with boombox-voice aliens. It’s a portal to ideas and ideas are more powerful than weapons. They’re more powerful than anything that we can possibly imagine. And you were inspired by a show and you’ve turned around and created this thing to help inspire others. And I don’t know what’s going to come next for you, but I know it’s not going to be boring. It’s certainly going to be interesting to watch and see. And I’m right there with you guys. So, thank you.

Quentin Brichet:
Thank you so much. That was really nice, and yeah, we can’t wait to show it to the fans. So that’s the next step and we are really looking [forward] to it. And of course thanks to everyone who worked on this with us, around us, who helped us. And also who just are around hearing about this all the time. Like, for example, all our friends and parents, they know about it, they hear about it all the time.

David Read:
“Those crazy kids, what are they doing with that ‘Star Gate’ show?”

Quentin Brichet:
Really, thanks to everyone who was involved in [one] way or another because it’s huge, and if we did it, it’s also and mainly because of them. Yeah, I think.

David Read:
Boys, if you could come around and stand on either side, I’d like to I’d like to see all ‘ya real quick. There you go. Thank you guys so much for giving us a tour of your facility. Thank you for entrusting me with sharing this story and for being so generous with your time and your resources over the course of the last 15 years to pull this thing off. It means so much to all of us fans that someone — that a group of people, a small group — have gone to such trouble to create something of such great quality and to not expect anything from fans other than wonder and a smile when seeing it for the first time. So, thank you guys. Means a lot to have you.

Boy. Those Europeans. You could never pull that off in the United States. We’re too spread out to make that happen and there’s a huge Stargate audience in the US but not like that. I don’t know what it is about Europe that has captured the minds of so many people over there in this show, but it’s just the case. Tremendous applause to all of them for pulling this into existence. It’s just absolutely extraordinary what they’ve been able to do. If you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube please click the Like button. It does make a difference with the show and will continue to help us grow the audience. Please also consider sharing the video with a stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes click subscribe. And if you click the bell icon it’ll notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. And clips from this episode will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. Tremendous thanks must go to my producers Antony Rawling, Kevin Weaver, Sommer Roy and Brice Ors for continuing to have my back and make this show possible as well as my moderating team, Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj and Jakub. Frederick Marcoux over at ConceptsWeb, he keeps DialtheGate.com up and running. This was just a tremendous hour and I’m so thankful to have shared my 350th with so many — loyal is the word — Stargate fans who have poured not just money. I’m sure there was some blood spilt here and there. A couple of hang nails. Maybe some back and leg trouble. I’m sure Jack would’ve appreciated that. But the mental power to bring this stuff to life. It’s just extraordinary. And I’m really glad that they contacted now. It’s pretty fortuitous — to share it. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. We’ve got more episodes coming your way really soon. I’ll see you on the other side.