So with Akemi out of town (freezing her cute little butt off in Yellowknife), I thought it would be a good a idea to do a little cleaning up around the house. Truth is I have so much “stuff” in boxes, on shelves, in closets, and squirreled away in the darkest recesses of my crawlspace that I’d need at least a month to do a proper job of it. Still, every little bit helps. Thus I dedicated a significant part of my afternoon today to tidying up. In all honesty, I didn’t really clear anything out as much as I moved things around – but, in so doing, I did come across THESE:
And what, pray tell, are THESE? you are no doubt wondering. Well, THESE are Art Department handouts from Stargate: Atlantis’s fourth and fifth seasons covering everything from wall panels to sconces and buttress designs. I was about to recycle them when I stopped myself and thought: “Hey, you know who might like these? NOT me!”. But, maybe, a diehard fan might be interested in perusing the details that went into the making of an Atlantian Ship North Corridor Light Pillar or a Lantian Chair Room Weapons Chair Gak Box. Hell, these sketches, schematics, floor plans and blueprints are so comprehensive you could actually recreate your own Atlantis set if you so choose (and have the time, money, and manpower). And, hey, it’s not all minutiae. Amid the Core Room Console Base Brackets and Athosian Tent Placements are the occasional genuinely interesting finds: the Core Room Core Unit & Console, Aurora Pods, even the Midway Station!
So, interested? The amount of supporting material varies from episode to episode, but I’m sure there’s still plenty to thrill most discerning Stargate fans. Give me a little time to figure out the best way to award and distribute the swag. Unless you have some suggestions…
Meanwhile, let’s continue our trip down SGA memory lane with season 5’s second episode –
THE SEED (502)
In her first appearance on Stargate, actress Jewel Staite was unrecognizable underneath all that prosthetics and make-up in season 2’s Instinct. She did such a terrific job in the role of Elia, the tortured wraith, that we ended up casting her as a completely different prosthetic-free character, Dr. Jennifer Keller, in the show’s 4th season. But old habits die hard and, when an early episode called for someone to get infected by an alien pathogen, we automatically thought of Jewel for two reason: 1. She’d done such a terrific job the last time and, most importantly, 2. She didn’t complain. And #2 is key since the episode required her to be in at 4:00 a.m. every morning for a three hour body cast session.
*jumps up and down, waiving hand* Oh, oh, meeeee! Pick meeee!
There. That saves you time time having to choose. 😉 Seriously, sign them and give ’em out at random.
*WAVING, that is. Yeesh, I wish we could edit our comments!
Hey, I’d be interested in one of those handouts! What’s funny is that rewatching “The Seed” (which was excellent, of course) I kept getting distracted by the wall sconces in the conference room in the opening scene, one of which is now lighting the top of my first level stairs! (Thanks, Propwerx!)
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/gforce2002/EABF6538-73F9-49F8-A4FF-D3C99DDC74A0-2583-0000030773584DD5.jpg[/IMG]
Question: When Beckett says “This isn’t a case of the hives”, was that an intentional reference to the fact that it actually WAS technically a case of the “hives”? If so – brilliant.
Don’t know if that link worked, so:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/gforce2002/EABF6538-73F9-49F8-A4FF-D3C99DDC74A0-2583-0000030773584DD5.jpg
Interested? YES! I’ll take the Midway Station, thankyouverymuch. 🙂 Glad you didn’t recycle these, Joe! I always laugh at the toilet placement in “Midway”, can’t imagine how you’d, well, you know. One of my all-time favorite episodes.
Riley woke up this morning lame as could be (rear leg), so had to take her to the vet this afternoon. Seems it’s just a sprain, but no idea when she did it as she was ok when we went to bed last night. If she doesn’t improve in the next couple of days, we’ll get some x-rays. She’s going to be a year old next month, and she’s a little over 60 lb now. Incredible how time flies! She’s a bit of a drama queen, but all in all, has turned out to be a really nice dog. 🙂
I think you should give the drawings to someone with experience in accounting for characteristics of, interpreting, and approving engineering drawings. Such a person would be able to appreciate them properly.
Or, to assure their distribution to the most interested of fans, someone with a healthy eBay rating.
I’ve got a great idea. Once Upon A Cure (Trey & Debbie Purcell’s charity) would probably love to get them and auction them off for charity. They could decide how many. They are already set up on EBay to do it. I’d bid. I’ve already bid on several items from Stargate from them, like autographed pictures, etc.
Hope Akemi is having a great time. Hope the pups aren’t missing her too much (and you, too, of course).
@Deni A year old already? I hope she heals soon. Sometimes Maddie slips on our floors and I cringe at the possibility of a $2500 ACL repair surgery. My first golden had to have two of those.
I meant Deb and Ryan Purcell (Trey is their son).
How about giving them to someone who could auction them off at a convention on behalf of a charity – oh…say…me for example. 😉
I would love to just study one, let alone be the actual owner of it!
I’m so glad you didn’t recycle that art dep’t stuff! Hope you can distribute it to a variety of fans!
The Seed was a really interesting episode, and again, thanks for the Shep Whump at the end!
I always thought it would have been a good idea to have Keller complete the process of becoming a Hive Ship but then having her/it be loyal to our guys. Perhaps Todd could have become commander and Jewel could have played an avatar or something that appeared when needed.
PS – Hope Akemi is having a good time!
Oh God, Joe! What I won’t do for one of those beauties…
Elminster
@PBMom: She’ll be a year old, but we’ve only had her 9 months. 🙂 Still, time flies!
Oh, boy! Oh, joy! 😀
1.) You’ll need a temporary P.O. Box, or a PayPal account, so we can send you money for packing materials (envelopes & sturdy cardboard) and shipping costs.
Do the drawings ever have People/character representation in them?
2.) I would LOVE to have a schematic that includes Carson Beckett or a scene he was in.
a. – Either Beckett sitting in the Ancient’s chair, flying Atlantis, from “Enemy at the Gate,” OR
b. – Beckett & Rodney crammed in the Wraith Dart aboard the hive ship (comedy!), from “Outsiders,” OR
c. – Beckett & Alison talking at the table in the creepy cabin set, from “Whispers.”
This feels like Christmas! 😀
Jewel is still pretty even with the, uh, er whatever it is she is wearing all over.
PS – And I think it’s hilarious that that one photo has a title on it that says “Sheppard Impaled (again)” Love it!
Cool behind the scenes pictures and info once again, really appreciate it, Thanks. 🙂
My suggestion: Auction the “Swag” off and donate the proceeds to a dog charity, or any other favorite charity you have. 🙂
Ohhhhh…schematics! (What else would an engineer say?) Of course I’d be interested, but I’ll admit the charity auction is a good idea.
@Tam Dixon on TVs at CES:
Do you mean the super high-def 4K TVs? I haven’t got a look at those since I’m stuck at the Encore doing an automotive center-stack demo. We’ll see if I get a chance later in the week.
Another neat gadget shown here is a laser projection TV. This is a device about the size of a matchbox that projects a super-sharp TV image onto walls, screens or even windows. Because it’s laser based, it doesn’t need to be focused and it remains very sharp no matter the surface. The technology uses silicon micro-machined mirrors to aim the lasers.
Another division of my company makes it and you should start seeing it on cellphones and portable media players later this year. There are plans to scale it up to larger and brighter formats, meaning you could eventually see a projection TV for a whole wall of your house that is no bigger than a small paperback book. Mounting angle doesn’t matter as the unit measures the distance to each pixel (via timing the light pulses with an optical sensor) and then it automatically corrects for keystone.
I might try to put some pictures of it up on the blog early next week
Now that is some cool “new” Stargate stuff! Which will keep us busy untill you ask Robert Cooper or Brad Wright to weigh in on all things which was planned for SGU and the canned TV movies.. And anything else Stargate related that we’ll most likely never get to see on air :”(
You do have treasures…great idea to share. Love the behind the scenes photos. 😊
I want one too!! That would be so cool!
Have a great night!
I have a way to fairly distribute them. Send them all to my house and i will make sure no one else gets them. sound good?
@JeffW: Those laser TV’s sound very cool – and very futuristic. Just like we should have in the 21st Century!
Speaking of shows, in particular, The Transporter, I have seen that a couple of episodes have hit the bittorrents. I had to watch the first episode (I’d like to see all of them!), and of course, I have to find the cookie of Spock and Kirk in stained glass in a shot.
Geeky and nerdy!
When are we (legally?) going to be able to watch this show?
THanks!
Ooh OOH! Architectural drawings and schematics and sketches of cool stuff like maybe even Wraith tech? Excellent!
I have been an avid reader here for at least six years, dating into the old, non-WP pages – and never felt the need to write. Until now, when I write for purely selfish reasons.
I would be grateful for just a few of the drawings. I am a budding architectural illustrator, and the drawing styles used on the show are very cool. Is there a mechanism where I could get some of drawings/plans? Self-addressed, stamped envelope? Pony express?
Thank you….
I just watched The Seed again. I noticed that light dimmer. I thought it was a little strange that they would put it on a table, taking up table space. I wondered why it wasn’t on the wall like most light switches are, or maybe mounted to the side of the table. I kinda got stuck on it. Weird how you would mention it. I loved The Seed! It is one of my favorites! Reminded me of a Twilight Zone show or an Outer Limits show. Spooky! Woolsey was pretty stiff in his first crisis, but in the end he was already softening up. (Ronon’s hair looked good) 🙂 They got Beckett out of the freezer just in time to help out. 😉 You and Paul did a great job writing this and of course Will Waring was as handsome as ever!
Any of them fancy drawings for Broken Ties? I’d be very interested in that episode. I think I remember there were some sword drawings and maybe one of Ronon? 😀
@ Deni – Wow, I can’t believe either Riley is that old already!
@ JeffW – Are you at the Las Vegas gadget show?? The local reporters are there too. Today they reported on what Texas Instruments is showing off. I think it is what you are talking about. It is a small little thingy and it goes in a projection lamp thingy and show crystal clear images. Something like that… 🙂 Geeze, I really know my technology, don’t I? 🙄
I enjoyed working on those light dimmers. We did have a lot of fun putting all that detail in. Most of it barely gets noticed. …then again, sometimes it gets noticed really well, and people are all trying to translate the wraith and ancient text I got to put everywhere 😀
I think the time honored tradition would be to throw them up in the air and yell “SCRAMBLE!”
@Sparrow_hawk and Tam Dixon:
This is current model laser TV (from LG) is going for about $10K.
http://www.gizmag.com/lg-100-inch-laser-tv-ces/25708/
The beauty of the system I saw today (which is not on the market yet but is being demoed by my company at CES) is that the scanning system in the new technology is much lower cost, much much smaller, and higher precision than the existing LG set…meaning we should see smaller (paperback book sized), more efficient, laser TVs under $1000 in the next two years. After that, I expect it to fall below $500 in 2016/17.
The laser/micro-mirror module is small (5mm x 1.5mm x 1.9mm) and its first use will be in cellphones (which should come out later this year), but that will be a lower power unit suitable for sizes up to 7 to 12 inches. Brighter (i.e. larger display sizes) will come later.
Sorry for the pseudo press release; I guess that’s one of the hazards of being at CES 😉
I would love to have one. I would promise to buy a pretty frame for it and everything. Although, I must say, I would prefer sconces to tent poles. 😉
I would love to have one, my dad and I are big fans.
@Ponytail:
Yep, I’m at the “gadget show” (well, actually I’m at a set of invitation only suites in the Encore where we’re showcasing our technology to the manufacturers that are at CES).
The TI system I think you’re talking about is called “DLP” (also based on micro-mirrors), but it is different in concept and it doesn’t use lasers, so it’s not quite as versatile as the laser based displays; i.e. – it needs focusing lenses, has manual keystoneing, and it’s not as efficient as a laser, meaning that it consumes more power for the same brightness.
The laser displays are simply point (at a surface) and done…I’ll see if I can take a video this week and put it on YouTube; if I do I’ll post a link to it later on my blog.
More TV and movie memorabilia to clutter up my house? Oh hell yeah!
A couple of general questions:
1. I notice that yours and Paul’s EP credits appear in the end credits while all the other EP’s credits appear in the opening credits. What’s the difference?
2. There’s a lot of Dell computers and NEC monitors used all over Atlantis. Were they paid for product placements or just kit that the set/prop people could easily get?
And a couple of comments/questions about The Seed:
1. I initially scoffed when the team that were searching the corridors to see how far the red tube things had infiltrated were pointing their guns as if someone was going to jump out at them. Then Zelenka got grabbed by the tubes and Teyla shot them and it made sense why they were leading with their guns. Although Teyla was very quick to shoot directly at Zelenka and the power conduit. She must be a good shot!
2. Did Rachel use her new baby for some of the baby scenes or was it someone else’s baby or that rubber baby?
oh. look… It’ll be my **BIRTHDAY** in about 3 weeks!! 😀 “Additions” to my HOARD are *always* WELCOMED!!
BTW, what PATRICIA said would be good! — Seeing as you have soo much of IT, donating some to a few FAN-run Conventions would be excellent! – Start with POLARIS [they may have changed their name again..?] in Toronto, then perhaps SHORE-LEAVE in Baltimore..? STUFF like THIS actually raises more Charity money in LIVE-auctions rather than online ones.
And then again, you can always go the “STAR WARS” route and PUBLISH THEM! But, then you’d have get all of those “copyrights” crap together… nah. forget it! — Donate some of Them! AND, use the Rest as “GIFTS”!
Hey! Do you have a RE-gifting “Closet”? Cause, that would be a good spot to relocate Them to, if you’re looking for an “excuse”…
oh hey! I just remembered… Apparently, the Original “BAT-MOBILE” is going up for Auction..? — Maybe You can **TRADE**..??!! 😀
Loved that episode! Then again what’s not to like about Sheppard getting impaled two episodes in a row!
How about a haiku contest for swag?
I’ll start.
Atlantis went dark
The ZPM needs power
Friday night is cold.
Good luck with your cleaning up. Give Bubba an extra head pat for me. Hope Akemi is having a great time. 🙂
Interested? DAMN SKIPPY!
As for the best way to distribute? I’m going to go with…mail? 😛
Hey !
There seems to be at least 50 diffrent sheets (if not more), I guess that it could be great to give the maximum of people a bit of it (maybe for a “grand prize” winner more or “better” parts (Core Room, Core Unit & Console, Aurora Pods, etc).
Besides… I would looove the midway station blueprints! Deaedalus even more!
All the best, Fab
@JeffW: That laser projection TV sounds amazing! Keep us posted on updates. Now if there was only something worthwhile to actually play on it. Joe, get to work on that! 😉
Still having troubles posting here for some reason. The site especially seems to hate my apple computer, but it looks like my ipad slips under the radar of whatever internet demons are plaguing me.
Once again your generosity is overwhelming. that’s some really neat “stuff” you are offering to your readers. Perhaps the readers themselves could cooperate, agreeing to share the drawings from an episode between themselves. Thus, one episode would bring joy to three or four fans. Perhaps you could donate a few of the drawings to organizations or conventions where they could be auctioned for charity. However you do it, your kindness to your readers is truly overwhelming.
So, the decision to make Jewel the victim in the seed is based on her willingness to put up with the long hours and tedious makeup process? Do the actors and actresses know how you decided such matters? Good to see such professionalism in a field where people have the reputation of being divas, but then, the Stargate Franchise has always been great at choosing the best quality actors.
Keep us informed of how Akemi is doing, and when do we get some more doggie pictures?
Re: Schematics/Blueprints/Drawings
Auction gets my vote – see below 🙂
Let me just say how glad I am that you didn’t throw these away! I hope you will decide on a good way to distribute.
In agreement with PBMom: Auctioning these goodies seems like the fairest way … possibly with varying prices/limits in order to allow everyone the opportunity to buy something, however small.
Back in the day when we held online fandom auctions we always added items ranging from a few dollars to the pricey ticket items such as costumes and phone calls. I know it doesn’t apply in this instance but it does allow ALL fans to purchase memorabilia.
Competitions (however fun) limits the numbers who are likely to win anything and not everyone will be able to attend a Convention; whereas Auctions are international, fun and a place where everyone on this blog (and beyond) will be able to participate.
Anyway, that’s my two cents worth!
Nod to (for the love of Beckett) Yeah, me too! I would love to own a schematic/drawing which included Carson Beckett. 🙂
Oh midway station would be awesome!!! Or a puddle jumper… Would defiantly have to get it framed and displayed 🙂
JeffW: Cool laser TV! Hubby says he saw something like that years ago but it was the size of a washing machine then. I have a physicist friend that owns a DLP TV. He’s had it for a few years. When his apartment caught on fire the “second” question I asked was “Did you save the TV?” He did. 😉
After that 2% tax hike (http://grcentral.wzzm13.com/news/news/76062-majority-americans-will-see-2-tax-hike-next-paycheck), I probably won’t be buying anything big for a while. Plus, to offset the increased government taxes on private insurance-the company is passing that cost onto its employees. Double whammy. When global warming terraforms Canada into the tropics, I’ll be packing my bags to move up there.
Good luck with your projects Mr. M.! When are the ladies coming back? Girl trips are so fun!
My, my, you certainly have made many hearts go pitty-patter!
Yes, I am deeply interested in sconces. Or scones. I forget which, and that can make for confusing and painful breakfasts.
Go with a charitable donation, for sure. I’m going to run out and file for non-profit status just now… and it is my birthday next week. And I have a bad cold and need cheering up.
Raising money for Pug rescue would be apt, yes?
I went to the two Stargate live auction events(Seattle and LA) and I got to see a lot of the prop and art departments’ handiwork firsthand. They do truly amazing work! So many of the items had such intricate detail that even in HD, it’d be hard to see every little thing they added to the pieces. Thankfully, I was able to buy pieces and costumes from each of the three shows from those events and from VIP on eBay. I even have a few art dept. prints of various items, most notably one for Ronon’s sword. I marvel just as much at the art prints as some of the costume pieces I have. I guess, like it was suggested earlier, it’s because I’m an engineer and can understand and consequently appreciate technical drawings. Also because, at the end of the day, it’s still a piece of one of my favorite shows ever to grace the small screen. Now, this is in no way a plea for free goodies, I’m just letting you know that it seems there’s a broad scope of us, even your blog’s semiregulars as you put it, that would thoroughly enjoy getting our grubby mitts on that art department stuff.
Personally, I really like the smaller items like wraith grenades, “staple guns”(aka replicator neutralizers), light sconces, dimmers(like the one you showed), and so on because the prints they’re on tend to be more complete and are usually colored as well(like my print for Ronon’s sword). I personally have a penchant for the SGA stuff because of James C.D. Robbin’s work, some truly inspired works of sci-fi art! I find myself often staring at episodes of SGA at times instead of watching them because everything is so pretty!
As for handing these things out, with the sheer number of them, it might get a little time consuming. You might need to organize them and group them into smaller groups of like items(or even the same items) or even grouped by episode to make it easier. You could do a trivia contest and draw from all the people who get the right answer or even do another few rounds of “Vote for you favorite….” polls. Maybe this time include Cookie Monster’s reviews! How ’bout favorite “clip show” episode? Favorite “bottle” episode? Favorite love interest that was never explored? Favorite one-time guest star you wish wouldn’t have died? Favorite First Prime? Favorite bounty hunter? Least favorite overly convenient plot twist(I’m looking at you “Wormhole Drive”)? Favorite guest star under 18? Favorite Earth-bound episode? Favorite Simpsons reference? Favorite South Park episode? Ok, I’m running out of ideas, obviously.
How about people who won money in their fantasy football leagues again this year? I’m sorry, too soon? 😉
You’re a creative and fair guy, Joe. I trust you’ll be able to come up with something. 😉
-Mike A.
By the way, I called shotgun on Midway Station. 😉
Oh wow, definitely don’t throw those out. I would do almost anything for some Stargate swag. being in New Zealand make this a bit awkward as it can be hard to obtain.
I agree with some of the suggestions here, if you can auction them off(Assuming you want too) why not just auction them off and donate a certain percent to charity, like 90-100 percent. That way you’re helping charity and giving Stargate fans what they want.
If not that then I guess randomly picking people on your blog to give some too(Would likely be easier) that stuff doesn’t interest me but perhaps it would interest other people on here.
I do so miss this program. How about a movie?
Jewel is the cutest ever.
Joseph- I think it would be amazing if you upload the blueprints to http://www.thingiverse.com – this way, anyone can have access to them and 3D print the designs.
It would allow for a large fan base to have access to them and you’d also know who has seen them and 3D-printed them.
🙂
Would love to have the midway schematics. I choose either auction or competition, or just pick random people on this site. I would to see them scanned and uploaded for all the internet to enjoy looking at them and that least that way they are preserved prosperity and MGM open up the purse strings for more Stargate shows.
Honestly I don’t care who gets the physical copies but even obscure documents like, but just like this blog its a really important historical record of the making of Stargate. I propose it should be digitally archived so that decades from now .
These kinds of documents are invaluable for historical information and we don’t know what somebody doing a reboot of the show decades hence would find useful. It doesn’t take much effort either – you could get it scanned by one of those online document scanning companies for a couple dollars (and then it’s just a matter of putting the few dozen megabytes of PDF files on the internet)
I agree with @sgfan – scan now, swag later!
omg! omg! omg! omg! I’d absolutely loove to have some or one or anything! lol yeah a auction is a good idea. But, i must say. people like me…can’t afford to do that which really, really sux! lol I don’t really have an answer. I guess thats why i allways wondered about a Stargate Atlantis: Ultimate Visual Guide. I could always save up for such a thing. It would be such a heartbreak for any of that to be thrown away. I know i’m not the first to say such a thing but, I do plan on building my own part of stargate…thats if i ever win the lottery. lol I always thought the enbarkation room (probably not spelled right) would be really amazing to to in a home. the whole area is amazing. I love the daedalus bridge as well. I’m rambling. My apoligies.
We lost our little boy (a doll faced persian cat) yesterday… Got a hysterical call from my wife that one of our cats was not able to stand and was just laying on her lap. Rushed home and rushed him to the Vet ER here in NYC, where, like a scene from ER, called over the overhead system some kind of emergency call followed by “STAT”. In come three doctors, two rush out with Cleo and one stays behind to get all of the information.
Five minutes later one of the vets comes out to give me the bad news, it seems that Cleo’s red blood cell count is so low that it does not register. Not much they could do. Less than two minutes later she comes back to say that he has at best, minutes left, that he was in the process of dying. So… I had to make the horrible decision to have him put down so that he would not suffer.
What REALLY kills me is that we have been going to the vet for over six months to get him treated. He had lost a lot of weight and was in lots of pain when eating- needed a dental, but also had a thyroid tumor which was the culprit of the weight loss and other symptoms, so twice a day I had to give him meds (ever try to put a pill down a cats throat?) So, MORE meds- this time antibiotics twice a day and the thyroid meds to stabilize him for his dental. Mind you, we are taking him in every 2-3 weeks for follow-up blood work. He responds to the treatment so is stable enough for his “dental”, our friendly, mischievous little boy seems back. STILL going to follow-up visits. Two weeks ago, go yet again, he is falling asleep standing up. More blood work. All of this , LOTS of money spent and they don’t catch that he has something very serious going on?
I am PISSED. My wife does not stop sobbing and my girls (5 and 3) keep telling me they miss Cleo. Our other cats also apparently realize something is wrong- they are not eating and they are hanging around my wife to comfort her…
Anyway, figured I would vent with a fellow pet lover. I am going to be looking into pet insurance for our other cats as well. Do you have pet insurance? Any recommendations?
Being working on a precise reconstitution of Atlantis’s rooms, for a seriously managed free 3D fan-game, I would of course be really thrilled to get those papers! It would help us a lot in creating the different rooms of the city… let me dream !
Here a pic of my work: https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/546885_10151124572033602_1470777956_n.jpg
Hello,
Has there been any decision on the stack of blueprints? I’d be willing to digitize them, photo, scan, cad format… so that they can be shared with those that would like to have a set.
hey al
l does anyone have any of the production material for the props (crystals and such alike)
Thank you