INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT C. COOPER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

STARGATE SG-1

TRANSCRIBED BY MORJANA COFFMAN

PAGE 1

Robert C. Cooper -- radio interview of June 16, 2003 on:

Sci-Fi Overdrive

http://www.interstellartransmissions.net/

Interviewers: Erich Landstrom and Lauren Urban

*********

Check out the web site in a few days, hopefully an .mp3 of the interview will be online at:

http://www.interstellartransmissions.net/sfod/past.php

*********

Erich: "Welcome to this broadcast, Mr. Robert Cooper!"

RCC: "Hello, everybody."

Erich: "First of all, it is fantastic to have you here, at the start of the seventh season, because we all have to admit, it didn't look like there was going to be a seventh season. It looked like everything was going to wrap up with the sixth season. So, as somebody who has been a writer and a producer for the program -- could you take us back, could you tell us about the travails and triumph of getting the seventh season of Stargate SG-1 on the air?"

RCC: "Well, I was sitting in my rental house, with pretty much everything in the house packed in boxes, and my suitcases packed, and my plane ticket, ready to go home."

Erich: "You were ready to go home?"

RCC: "Well, we honestly -- we had had our wrap party. We were holding our sets over, waiting to hear. And the decision came in awfully late. It was late October before we really heard that we were going to start. We had wrapped shooting early in September. We're all sort of looking at each other, wondering what to do for the next month and a half or two, because usually we spend the end of season developing the following year. Planning stories, writing scripts. So we all just took a long vacation.

Actually, you know, it's funny -- it's funny, but I think that actually helped us. Because, we were all very fresh when we finally did hear we were coming back. We got together in November and had a little meeting about, now that we've heard we're going to do another 22 shows -- what are going to do? It was a great story session, because everyone had a clear head and had a little rest."

Erich: "Fantastic. Now this is really great, if we can, for those of our listeners who have NOT watched Stargate SG-1, and if you haven't, shame on you, how could you miss it? As it metamorphosed from Showtime to Syndication and finally to SciFi Channel. Tell our listeners what the program is about and how it differs from the movie version of Stargate?"

RCC: "Well, there's this big round ring that you step through and it takes you to other planets. In the movie, there was really just one other planet, and the issue was how to stop the alien on that planet from becoming a threat to Earth. In the series, in the pilot written by Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright, they really did, I think, a wonderful job of taking this core concept of the ring that goes anywhere you want it to go, and expanding that concept so that it basically created a whole universe where the Goa'uld were these villains who had taken human beings from ancient cultures in Earth's past and transplanted them all over the galaxy. In a way, sort of stunted their growth, used them as slaves, for their own Goa'uldish evil benefit. And we sort of open the gate again, seven years ago in story time, and start exploring those worlds, and try to free the people who were enslaved. Collect technology that would protect us, Earth, from the Goa'uld."

Erich: "Right. The series starts about one year after the events of the movie, and the movie you can usually catch in rerun on like USA or get it from Blockbuster. And it should be pointed out that the Stargate is actually in control of the military, it's located under Cheyenne Mountain Complex…"

RCC: "We're endorsed by the actual Air Force, and all our scripts are vetted and read by them. We had the actual, the real Chief of Staff of the Air Force do a little cameo on our show."

Lauren: "I heard he was a fan of the show."

RCC: "Yes, a big fan. And in fact, the new Chief of Staff -- they do rotate them every now and then -- one of the first things he said to his staff, when he came on, was, 'So, when do I get to be on Stargate?' So we're having him up this summer, hopefully, he was supposed to be on the show in April, but apparently he had this whole war thing that he had to deal with, and had to postpone being on Stargate."

Lauren: "You had an episode, your 100th episode, "Wormhole X-treme", which I really loved, which pretty much spoofed and sent up the whole show. You actually referenced that, I think you had Jack O'Neill going to the other show, claiming that he was an advisor for the new show. So do you have an Air Force guy right there, giving you tips and everything?"

RCC: "Yeah, yeah, for sure. They aren't actually on site here, they tend to -- they do come up once or twice a year. But they do read all our scripts, advise us and, and have actually provided us, on occasion, with some really cool stuff. We had a C-130 plane that flew up here and we shot it in an episode called "Watergate." And we had some jets that we used, that came up here last year, that we used in an episode. They've really been great partners in the show. I think we've tried to portray the Air Force in a very positive light as well."

Lauren: "And have there been any times where you've gotten the script back from the advisors, and he's going, you know, you really can't do this."

RCC: "Well, all the time, yeah. We're always butting heads about we and can't do. I mean, we say, hey -- wait a minute, we're talking about a Stargate here! We're talking about alien worlds. You can't apply completely real world rules to this. Who's to say the Air Force is going to allow you to do this in an alternate reality. And so, yeah, there's been all kinds of situations where we've kind of disagreements. One of the big ones that I know fans are usually very concerned with, is the sort of O'Neill/Carter relationship. We've sort of played that sexual tension. Which actually originally came from Rick and Amanda -- they started it. We just sort of tweaked into it, to play with it. But the Air Force has said, time and again, that Carter can't even call O'Neill "Jack." That's against regulations; she's got to call him sir. Let alone have any kind of a relationship, that would just not be kosher, so to speak. The Air Force regulations are kind of pretty strict as far as the relationship is concerned. There's no leeway for that."

Erich: "Uhm, it probably wouldn't be a bad question at this point for people who aren't familiar with Stargate SG-1, tell us it's called SG-1 because the primary team, the adventures of who we are following, consists of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, although actually when we start off the series she's a Captain Samantha Carter, and she gets promoted…"

RCC: "That's right. That was actually also a suggestion of the Air Force. They said, you know, at this point, we think Carter has been on the show long enough, we think she should be…"

Erich: "Yeah, that kind of goes back to all those fans who are waiting for Sulu to get his promotion back in Star Trek."

Lauren: "I think it's great that the Air Force is coming up and saying we really want this character promoted. It's about time."

RCC: "Yeah, exactly."

Lauren: "And we also have -- to continue from there -- we've got Teal'c, who is the Jaffa on the show. And then we have Dr. Daniel Jackson, who has been the center of controversy for the past season and a half, because Michael Shanks left the show and then came back, and then left, and then came back. And now he's back for the season."

RCC: "We like to think that he never actually went away. You know, he did sort of request some time off. And he was frustrated, I think he felt that his character was not necessarily taking the track that he had hoped for. But you know what, after five seasons and a lot of different ups and downs for his character, I think maybe he just -- you know, it's a long time to be on one series, and he just needed a little bit of a break. We left the door open for him certainly within the Stargate Universe. He ascended in an episode called "Meridian." Went to a higher plane of existence. He was in three episodes the following year. So it wasn't like he went away completely. And then at the end of the season, we talked, and sort of mutually agreed that it would be great if he wanted to come back. And he has, and I think come back with renewed energy. People who watch the premiere on Friday I guess will have seen a Daniel that very much resembles the season one Daniel. The wide-eyed excited, happy to be here, Daniel Jackson."

Erich: "The one who sneezed when ever he wound up on a new planet?"

RCC: "Yeah, I mean you know -- the story they way in which he comes back, allowed Michael to play that energy.  I think he felt that he wanted to come back, but with that energy, but on the other hand…You know, you get to a point in a season five, where you go to someplace, or you see something new, and the actors -- and you as a writer say, 'Well, you're going to react big to this. You gotta give it the WOW!' And they're like, we've been to a million planets now, and we've seen just about everything, why would we look at this and go WOW?' And so, the way in which we bring Daniel back, he's…"

Erich: "Don't give it away! We've got to go to short commercial break on this broadcast on Sci-fi Overdrive, so stay tuned if you want to find out Daniel coming back."

 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2