An interview with Brad Wright featured in issue #32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine.

Invasions from outer space, wormholes, parasitic life-forms, alternate universes—such phenomena are ‘alien’, no pun intended, to most people, but for Brad Wright, they have become second nature.

For much of his career as a writer/producer, he has been part of creative environments where out-of-this-world beings and situations are embraced. Since 1997, Wright has served as a co-creator/executive producer for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Earlier this year, a second spin-off was added to the successful franchise’s stable in the form of Stargate Universe. The show was conceived in much the same way as SG-1 and Atlantis, but its actual ‘birth’ came slightly out of the blue.

“The germ of Stargate Universe began as a movie by Robert Cooper [series co-creator/executive producer], as do many of our ideas,” recalls Wright. “We always come up with a movie, pitch it to MGM, and they say, ‘Terrific, let’s make it a TV show.’ When we were spinning the film idea, we knew deep down that Universe was really a series because it had so much scope.”

“Oddly enough we pitched Universe a couple of years before we actually thought we were going to end up doing it. We went to the Syfy Channel with the idea and it appeared to be really well-received, but then a very long time went by without us hearing anything more. At one point we thought, ‘Oh, well, it looks like it’s not going to happen,’ and then we received the series order. It came as a little bit of a surprise. Honestly, I expected Atlantis to go another year, and then we’d either have another year before Universe started up, or we would just wind up doing a couple more direct-to-DVD Stargate movies. Now, however, we’re doing Universe, which, believe me, is great.”

The Reality of Science Fiction

Along with its very different set of characters, the look of Universe is unlike that of either SG-1 or Atlantis, and the writing also differs in a way that will further help the series establish its own identity.

“Stargate has grown over the years,” explains Wright. “SG-1 began with the concept that the Goa’uld took hundreds of human cultures and transplanted them across the galaxy. So we would arrive on a planet and find Polynesians or whoever, with the Goa’uld masquerading as their Gods. We did that for a while, but then the show evolved because it had to. Had it not, I doubt we’d have stayed on the air for 10 years. As the show grew, it developed its own mythology, but it was basically this grand story of us fighting the Goa’uld or some other English-speaking aliens. Atlantis was the same, with the Wraith being the reason for the existence of the human-to-alien relationship in the Pegasus Galaxy.

“So both those shows were about fighting big bad guys. With Universe, our stories are much more character-based and those interactions and relationships are what drive the stories. Sometimes it’s very fundamental. A murder can take place on Universe, and that could be the whole story, where on SG-1 it could be just a story beat and an act. That doesn’t mean this series is slow-paced or less interesting, but we do reveal less all at once.”

“We set out to make a show that’s not your father’s Stargate, and I think to a lot of peoples’ surprise we’re actually doing it. Most people probably thought, ‘Yeah, they’re saying that, but they’re going to do [the usual] Stargate.’ Sure, there are elements of Universe that I feel are the touchstones of Stargate, such as the humor and people from the here-and-now, with a 21st century sensibility and everything that comes along with that. However, this show also has a different energy, a different dynamic and a different look. Even the Stargate itself is different, and I think it’s the most beautiful Stargate we’ve ever had. It’s the first one that the Ancients built and it has a whole new set of limitations that will make for interesting storytelling.”

Read the full interview in issue 32 of The Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis/SGU Magazine - on newsstands now!
 
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