Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: Season 2, Disc 4 Special Features

Special Features

Profile on David Hewlett
A profile of my favorite Stargate Atlantis actor, David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay). Yay! He says fans didn’t like the McKay character on SG1, but I loved him. I think that had a lot to do with David Hewlett’s performance. If I knew a guy like him in real life, on the other hand, I’d want to hurt him. His least favorite shoot? Duet.

Stargate Atlantis Stunts
Stunt Coordinator James “BamBam” Bamford tells us how stunts are done on Stargate Atlantis and how they ensure the actors are safe no matter what the stunt. Also, it’s just fun to say “BamBam”. Everyone agrees, Duet was hard to shoot. Dangling Hewlett by his leg with a fight going on in front of him was tough on everybody.

Audio Commentary for Critical Mass
Director Andy Mikita, actor Rachel Luttrell, Director of Photography Brendon Spencer. They love crossover episodes, and so do the fans. We also get a reminder that SG1 is “sanctioned” by the United States Air Force, which vets scripts, advises, and sometimes provides real equipment and personnel for use in the show. I always thought that was so cool. Rachel didn’t realize that the establishing shot of the SGC exterior is the real Cheyenne Mountain facility. LOL, the guy who places the hateable Cavanaugh is actually a really nice guy. He plays jerk ass so well, though. Oh wow, they’re right: Cadman’s military, so her hair should be up, not down, even if it’s sexier down. Oops. They also talk about the effort that goes into designing the show. I think that’s something viewers almost take for granted, but good design is how the viewers are taken out of their real world and plunked into the fantasy world of the show. And who knew Rachel was so critical of herself that she can’t watch the dailies? They also had to get her to make her voice less polished when she sang, since Tayla obviously would not be a professional singer.

Audio Commentary for Grace Under Pressure
Director Martin Wood, writer Martin Gero, actors Amanda Tapping and David Hewlett. Amanda and David introduce themselves, but we don’t hear much from them until a midway through the commentary. They needed a “cheap” episode, so they put McKay in the back of a jumper at the bottom of the sea. They threw Carter in to make it interesting. It worked. And how! However, they think they made us care about the Red Shirt before killing him off. I disagree. They explain how they made the jumper set shake, look like it was cockeyed, and take on water (they had a second jumper for water). They lit it with flashlights and McKay’s tablet until McKay figures out how to get the lights on  in the compartment. It’s apparently very hard to light dark scenes. Amanda Tapping liked the pink outfit her character wore because it was nothing Carter would pick out for herself, another sign that she’s not the real Carter, she’s McKay’s version of Carter. I can’t believe they actually had Carter do that Finding Nemo “I speak whale” thing, but cut the scene. Can you imagine Amanda Tapping doing Ellen DeGeneres talking to a whale? Heehee. They got awkward thank you letters from fans about Amanda Tapping in her bra.

Audio Commentary for The Tower
Producer Paul Mullie and director Andy Mikita. They address the issue of reusing local Vancouver actors and how they have to wait a few years before using the same actor for another role. It’s fun to figure out which SG1 or SGA episode you’ve seen this or that actor in before. They also talk about locations and finding fruit and animals (or creating it) that look “alien”. Pity they don’t go through that effort where trees and shrubs are concerned. Apparently they had trouble costuming this episode, but the costumes helped the actors get into their roles. They also talk about how they try to make the aliens sound like they’re aliens, even though they’re speaking English: It’s all in the cadence.

Audio Commentary for The Long Goodbye
Director Andy Mikita, actor Torri Higginson, Director of Photography Brendon Spencer. They loved the old woman who played comatose Phebus. All she had to do was lie there, but when she wasn’t in the pod she would do song and dance to entertain the crew. Fun! They usual shoot an episode consecutively over the course of a week, but they had to keep coming back to this one to do pickups for at least a month. They love the lighting, which was supposed to be warm sunlight. Torri did most of her own fight scenes in this episode, rather than having her stunt double do them. It was also the first time she’d shot a P-90 and was a little intimidated at first, but by the end of the episode she was totally into it. They talk about how tricky it is to shoot in the dark. You need some kind of lighting, but very little so it still looks like everyone’s in the dark.

Production Design & Photo Gallery