Interview Stargate SG-1

MARTIN WOOD

MR DIRECTOR

The veteran Stargate SG-1 director talks about two of his Season Five episodes

Also interviewed: Lynn Smith (location manager), James Tichenor (Visual FX man), plus our Gate Watch on Season 5 including Wormhole X-Treme

New Season Challenges

"As you may have already guessed by the title Red Sky, something happens to the sky in this episode," says the director. "It turns redder and redder each time SG-1 steps foot on the planet. We had to do some major brainstorming to figure out how to achieve this effect. In the end we did what's called a bleached bypass.

"The sky starts out ultra bright, which provides a heightened contrast as it goes briefly normal but with a red tinge, and then gradually becomes a deep red. If SG-1 saves the day it [the sky] will go back to its ultra bright state. Hey, I don't want to give too much of the story away," he laughs.

At the time of this interview, Wood was wrapping up work on Beast of Burden. The episode marks the return of Chaka (Dion Johnstone), who is the young adult Unas that Daniel Jackson made friends with last year in The First Ones. Daniel and the rest of SG-1 are faced with a moral dilemma when they discover that Chaka and thousands of his people have been enslaved.

"This is a wonderful story written by Peter DeLuise," says Wood. "I remember when I first started reading the script I thought, 'This is going to be big'. I didn't know why, I just felt it. Now that I've finished directing it I can honestly say that, yes, it's big, and that's because each of our characters has a different take on the whole slavery issue. "Beast of Burden sets up an interesting dynamic between O'Neill and Daniel," he continues. "Daniel explains his point of view but doesn't want to be petulant about it. He's not about to stamp his feet and go, 'I'm not leaving until such and such happens!"

Steven Eramo

Martin Wood
Directing Credits

Season One
A18 Solitudes
A21 Politics

Season Two
B2 In the line of Duty
B4 The Gamekeeper
B13 Spirits
B22 Out of Mind

Season Three
C1 Into the Fire
C3 Fair Game
C5 Learning Curve
C7 Deadman Switch
C18 Shades of Grey
C22 Nemesis

Season Four
D1 Small Victories
D3 Upgrades
D5 Divide and Conquer
D7 Watergate
D9 Scorched Earth
D14 The Serpent's Venom
D15 Chain Reaction

Season Five to date
E1 Enemies • E3 Ascension • E4 The 5th Man
E5 Red Sky • E12 Beast of Burden

Get TV Zone Special #42 for much more coverage of Stargate SG-1

Stargate SG-1 images ©MGM / Showtime
Feature © Visual Imagination Ltd 2001. Not for reproduction