STARGATE SG-1 - BIG FINISH VORTEX MAGAZINE ISSUE # 39 - AUDIO DRAMAS WITH MICHAEL SHANKS AND CLAUDIA BLACK - SERIES THREE
RE-OPENING THE GATE
Paul Spragg introduces the third season of Stargate adventures, featuring the return of Michael Shanks and Claudia Black as Daniel and Vala – and they’re once more taking on Ba’al...
... A FULL CAST
I didn’t want to lose any of these elements for the third series of audio adventures, but it’s a lot to ask any writer to cram in. First, the basic requirements were laid down: the third series, after much demand, was to be full cast. Not featuring the entire SG-1 or Atlantis team (which might have bankrupted us before we’d started!), but featuring a full cast of speaking parts, not just two people. Our two stars would be Michael Shanks and Claudia Black, returning as Dr Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran.
Their chemistry in both Stargate SG-1 and our series one audio Shell Game was Fantastic, and it was a no-brainer to once more pair them up. They also open up such a wide range of possibilities: with Daniel you can go to town on the archaeological and historical side of things which underpins the entire Stargate series, and with Vala you’ve got an outsider looking in on Stargate Command commenting on its faults, and a wild card who you’re never quite sure you can trust to do the right thing. It’s an unlikely yet hugely rewarding pairing.
Then, at a US convention, executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery and I were introduced to Cliff Simon, who said he’d love to be involved in the Stargate audios. And if you want a villain for a series, who better than Ba’al, the last of the Goa’uld System Lords, the aliens who set themselves up as gods and who SG-1 took great delight in beating from one end of the cosmos to the other.
All of this was presented to script editor Jim Swallow, who assembled a team of writers, some who’d written Stargate audios before (himself, Sally Malcolm, Sharon Gosling) and others who were newcomers to the range (Stargate book author Peter J Evans, Richard Dinnick and Steve Lyons). There was early consideration of doing a six-part story, but I felt that as nothing had lasted longer than three episodes on TV, we shouldn’t be stretching something out that long lest the story dragged and we pushed the limits of our audience’s patience. So two trilogies were conceived, but each story had to be self-contained so it could be enjoyed on its own. There’d be an overall arc, but you wouldn’t get confused coming in part-way through...
Stargate SG-1 Series 3: Part One
Release Date: May 2012
Synopsis
A shooting in the heart of Stargate Command is only the beginning for Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran.
Suddenly it’s friend against friend, none of their allies can be relied upon and they’re the universe’s only hope to foil the latest scheme concocted by the last System Lord, Ba’al.
Will Daniel, Vala and a few of Vala’s less than savoury friends be enough to stop a conspiracy that reaches deep into the heart of Stargate Command and threatens to destroy everything they’ve spent years building?
Written By: James Swallow, Sally Malcolm, Steve Lyons
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Cast
Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran), Cliff Simon (Ba’al), John Schwab (Major Hunter), Andrew Collins (Keto), Stephen Hogan (Olssen), Susan Franklyn (Rix), Alex Mallinson (Airman/Robot/Jaffa), Paul Hyu (Lt Colonel Yin), Andrew Whipp (Zoder), Regina Reagan (Wellan), Anna Tolputt (La’rath), John Banks (Korek)
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