For the official celebration of the filming of episode 200 (appropriately titled “200”), executives from the Stargate franchise’s new owner Sony Pictures Television flew up to the set to join guest star and former leading man Richard Dean Anderson (“Jack O’Neill”) and the entire cast and crew for the big event on Tuesday.
The occasion was such a big event that even customs officials at the airport knew what was going on. At customs, Jeanie Bradley, a vice president with Sony Pictures Television, explained she was on business for Stargate SG-1. Nonplussed, the immigration official replied, “Oh, you here to cut the cake?”
“Believe me, all of Vancouver knows,” Bradley told the audience assembled in the gate room at The Bridge Studios when recounting the incident.
Addressing the media, Bradley kept repeating what a “big deal” it was for the show, now filming its tenth season, to reach this milestone. Among its many records, Stargate SG-1 is now the longest-running science fiction series ever produced in North America, the longest-running drama on cable, and the longest-running series made in British Columbia.
Stargate SG-1‘s 202nd episode will reportedly move it past another Vancouver-based cult favorite, The X-Files.
And it is a very big deal in terms of dollars and viewers. Over 10 million people in more than 100 countries now tune in to watch Stargate SG-1. And the production has been a boon to the Vancouver economy. Over the past nine years, the production of Stargate alone has generated over $500 million in U.S. dollars for the British Columbia economy.
Speaking to the show’s impact, executive producer Robert C. Cooper joked, “We don’t know because we’ve never left this building.”
He and fellow executive producer Brad Wright are very aware of the total amount brought in, and the 400 jobs created. “We know we’ve had an impact here in British Columbia,” he said. “There’s been a lot of money brought into the local economy and we’re very proud of that. I think of this as a Canadian show … that hires out American actors.”
“We employ a lot of Canadians,” Cooper added. “It’s produced here. The visual effects are done here. It’s something we’re very proud of and not a lot of people even here in this country recognize (it) very often.”
According to The Province News, Canadian news media have figured it out. At least seven to eight camera crews were present for the ceremony, including crews from The SCI FI Channel, SPACE: The Imagination Station, and ET Canada.
As to why the show is so successful that it also has a spin-off series, Stargate Atlantis?
“Ultimately, it’s the chemistry,” Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) said. “It’s the tapestry woven by our writers, that’s so rich. And I think it translates on screen. Fans dig it.”
The new seasons of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis premiere this July! Read more about yesterday’s celebration and media event at The Province News.