Prometheus or X-303 and later BC-303 is a fictional starship that appears in the military science fictiontelevision seriesStargate SG-1. The ship was first introduced during the shows sixth season in the episode titled "Prometheus", and would go on to become a recurring setting over the remainder of the series as well as being depicted in various spin-off media.
The ship was first written into the show by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, and was designed by production designer Bridget McGuire. As well as McGuire, Mullie and Mallozzi, executive producer Brad Wright and art directors James Robbins and Peter Bodnarus also played a significant role in conceptualising and designing the ship.
Modern day naval vessels were the main influence for the ship's design, with McGuire basing much of the interior on submarines, whilst destroyers and aircraft carriers helped inform much of the ship's exterior.
Development and Production
Concept and initial design
Prometheus was first introduced in the episode of the same name, which was written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Work on designing the spaceship began in 2002, with the Prometheus being imagined by the shows writers as Earth's answer to the Goa'uld mothership.[1] Mullie described wanting to create a ship that was "exactly the opposite of the Goa'uld ships, which are basically big empty rooms", explaining that executive producer Brad Wright wanted a set with objects that could be interacted with by the actors, such as screens, buttons, chairs and flashing lights; none of which could be found on the shows Goa'uld sets.[1] The shows production designer Bridget McGuire and her team began their work around five weeks before filming commenced.[2][3] According to McGuire, the writers wanted a ship "that looked less like a hi-tech alien vessel, and more like one that had been built for the USAF".[4]
McGuire focused in on the idea of having contemporary sea-going military craft inform both the interior and exterior of the ship's design and had Assistant Art Director Noeleen Tobin research a collection of reference images and schematics to help the process.[4] Tobin came back with reference material the designers could use for inspiration. Images of ship bridges, engine rooms and other areas of various United StatesAircraft carriers and submarines.[5][2] McGuire wanted to "incorporate many features we see in military vessels today, and adapt them for space travel", imagining Prometheus as "more or less a destroyer in Space".[6] McGuire specifically wanted to include "confined spaces, low ceilings and plenty of exposed conduits and piping" from submarines and aircraft control towers into the ship's design.[4][6] In her concept, McGuire knew the ship would focus around a bridge space, engine room and that the ship would also contain a hangar bay to house the smaller X-302 fighter craft, although they would not initially be building that part of the set.[4][6]
After putting together some sketches, McGuire shared her concept with art directors Peter Bodnarus and James Robbins, both of whom then built upon McGuire's ideas, coming up with their own drawings before reconvening to decide upon a more definite, final look for the ship.[3] Robbins was then responsible for developing the exterior schematics and the interior workings of the ship.[3] In his plans for the ship, Robbins purposely chose "function over form", making the ship "utilitarian" in its design, describing it as "not a pretty ship".[7] Furthermore, Robbins reflected the writers desire that the ship "had alien technology in it, but we didn't see that".[7] Robbins created deck plans for the ship, including positioning all of the different components and systems vital to the ship's function.[8] Robbins also imagined the ship's propulsion, armament and crew compliment in his specifications.[9] Although ultimately not used, Robbin's conceptualised that Prometheus would have its own unique hyperdrive whereby the ship travelled through hyperspace on rails that projected from the nacelles, as opposed to forming a window like other ships from the series.[10][11] Meanwhile, Bodnarus was responsible for developing drawings of the set interiors, such as the bridge, corridors, engine room and air lock.[3] Bodnarus began by building a three-dimensional or virtual set on the computer and set about experimenting "with various views and develop a sense of depth" in the interior spaces of the ship. Once completed, Bodnarus was responsible for creating the final blueprints from which the set would be constructed.[2]
Construction and sets
The set was originally constructed on Stage 6 at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, Canada.[12][13] The set was designed and built so that it could be easily taken apart, either entirely or as individual sections; with walls, windows and doors built on wheels or hinges allowing them to be moved for better access during filming.[14][15] Two main spaces were initially constructed, the bridge and a multi-purpose room, which were interconnected by a hallway.[6] The multi-purpose room was designed to be redressable, initially serving as the ship's engine room, dining room and storage room.[16] The hallways were constructed in a figure of 8 configuration allowing for walk and talk scenes to loop round and round the ship as per the needs to the scene, whilst doors and bulkheads could be moved into place to change the layout of the hallways.[17][18][19] Construction of the set was done to a "very tight schedule", with set decorator Mark Davidson describing it as "an incredible collaboration of different departments to get it as fast as we did".[20][21] Three different build crews were put together, one for constructing the beams, another the bulkheads and the third crew built the windows and walls.[2] As the set was not going to be entirely complete by the time filming was scheduled to commence, the story for the first episode to feature the ship was changed slightly to reflect the fact that the ship was still under construction.[12] Once filming commenced on the episode "Prometheus", set decorator Mark Davidson and the construction team were still actively building the bridge set, meaning director Peter Woeste was limited to only filming in the multi-purpose room for the first day of shooting.[22][23]
Dressing the set, the naval theme was continued, whilst also looking to make the decor slightly more "futuristic" and a "cross between military and alien". Initially 15 flatscreen monitors were used to decorate the ship, whilst the older CRT monitors were built into set pieces, with cutouts over-the-top "to make them look a little more high end".[24][25][26] Ladders were installed around the ship to give the impression of the scope of Prometheus and that the ship had multiple levels.[27] Numerous pieces of electronic test equipment were also purchased and then taken apart, reconfigured, combined with various pieces made by the model shop and then built into various consoles and set pieces to provide the actors with switches, buttons and lights to interact with.[28][6][1] Other features, such as the star-map console on the bridge were made from plexiglass whilst Davidson constructed the ship's crystal trays from mainframe computer draws.[29][30] Davidson combined the more futuristic elements with what he thought of as more "retro" pieces, such as corded telephones and fire extinguishers and a sink/toilet unit from an aircraft.[31][32][33]
As a cost saving measure the Prometheus set was redressed to also serve as the Earth ship Daedalus which was introduced in the second season of Stargate Atlantis. The set would then be reused again as the setting for more Earth spaceships and stations, including the Apollo and Midway Station in Stargate Atlantis, Odyssey and Korolev in SG-1 and finally the Hammond in Stargate Universe.[34][35] The set was expanded upon for its use as subsequent ships and stations, with new consoles, fixtures, corridors and rooms.[36][34][37] In 2010 at the end of the first season of Stargate Universe the set was taken down and placed into storage, before eventually being entirely dismantled for auction.[38]
Filming and lighting
The set was fitted with hundreds of fluorescent lights built directly into the walls, ceilings and floors. Director of photography Jim Menard noted that this meant filming could often rely on the practical lighting, "we can shoot with just the ship lighting and then do if you do a close-up you can fix up their shadows on their eyes and things".[39][40] When it first came to filming in the set, director Peter Woeste along with chief lighting technician Rick Dean and directors of photography Jim Menard and Andrew Wilson had to work very quickly on their initial lighting design for Prometheus, only having access to the set from the day before filming commenced.[13][20][41] Wilson and Woeste decided that whilst the Prometheus was still in the hangar it, as it would be in earlier scenes of the story, it would be under white industrial interior lighting, allowing for some leeway in fully realising the ship's fully-operational look.[42][43] After its introductory episodes of "Prometheus" and "Unnatural Selection", Menard felt the ship's lighting was a "little bit red, white and blue" and hoped to "get away from that", whilst director Peter DeLuise felt it was "too bright" onboard and along with Woeste wanted to take the look of the ship "darker" and "moodier" for future episodes.[44][45] The pair implemented their changes in the episode "Memento", looking to more closely mirror the bridge of an aircraft carrier, relying predominantly on dark-blue lighting with DeLuise believing this could be justified as this was the first time the ship was being depicted as fully-operational.[46][47][48]
CGI models and exterior
The Prometheus ship model was created entirely as a computer generated image by the visual effects studio Image Engine, with the studio basing their work on Robbin's drawings. Rainmaker Digital Effects also worked on various shots of the ship over the course of the show.[49][50][7] Many of the visual effects shots were designed to be reused throughout the show as a money-saving effort.[51] This included the shots such as Frank Simmons (John DeLancie) being blown out of an airlock in the episode "Prometheus", which would later be altered for the episode "Memento", replacing Simmons with the hyperdrive core module.[52] Shots of the Prometheus flying by or landing on different planets were also altered and reused in episodes such as "Memento" and "Beachhead".[53][54][55]
Outside of the bridge set a greenscreen was hung allowing for visual effect shots to be added, however as a cost-saving alternative to a star field visual effect production could swap the greenscreen for a black curtain that had small pieces of mirror attached, which when lit gave the effect of a star field.[19][56] The multi-purpose room window also featured a window and greenscreen which would be used for shots of the ship's engine core.[6]
In season six through eight the ship had two pods, or nacelles on either side. Onscreen and in Robbin's original drawings these were intended to be a form of propulsion.[57][10] In season nine, these were reconceived as hanger bays from which the F-302 could launch.[57]
Writing
In order to justify the expense of building such a large set Prometheus was intended to be featured throughout multiple episodes of season six.[12][58] At this time executive producer Brad Wright expected that this would be the final season of Stargate SG-1 and felt that it was "time to start seeing some of the benefits, some of the repercussions of what we've learned and the technology we've brought back from all the places we've been", imagining both the Prometheus and X-302 as being technical developments that had come about from the Stargate program.[59][60] Wright also expected that the season would build towards a showdown with Anubis, and planned on using the Prometheus in a Stargate SG-1feature film that would have concluded the show and setup the spinoff series Stargate Atlantis.[60][61] In conceptualizing and writing material set on board the Prometheus, the writers spent time theorising what "the United States Air Force do with a big ship in outer space", combining elements of not just the Air Force, but also the Navy and imagining how it would work.[62]
The writers were conscious of comparisons to science fiction series Star Trek, with Paul Mullie acknowledging that by setting episodes onboard Prometheus "You might say we're sort of straying into Star Trek territory now", whilst Peter DeLuise called the episode "Memento" "a lot of fun being able to do our own Star Trek-type thing".[63][64] Despite this, Joseph Mallozzi stated that the show wouldn't turn into Star Trek, whilst Cooper justified earth building ships like the Prometheus as "a natural progression", proclaiming "I love the ships. I think they're cool, and I think ship shows are cool. I don't think we're ever in danger of becoming Star Trek".[65][66] In writing episodes set on board the Prometheus, writers such as Damian Kindler felt that it was important that he not lose sight of what Stargate SG-1 was about and in writing "Memento" explained "you can't get too in love with the fact you've got a new big toy to play with", believing that stories involving the ship should all come back to the Stargate.[67][68]
In season seven, the Prometheus registry was changed from X-303 to BC-303. Writer Joseph Mallozzi confirmed that the ship was no longer deemed "experimental" and that BC was short for Battle Cruiser.[69] As the show continued into its seventh and eighth season, Joseph Mallozzi felt that Prometheus had become a character that the show needed to "to check in on now and again" and executive producer Robert C. Cooper would encourage the writers to set stories on board the ship in order to justify keeping the set up, resulting in episodes such as "Memento", "Grace" and "Prometheus Unbound".[70][71][72]
Daedalus, the sister-ship of Prometheus was originally imagined as an "improved version of the Prometheus" by art director James Robbins when blueprints of the ship were first shown in the episode "Moebius", however these plans were abandoned with art director Peter Bodnarus entirely reimagining the Daedalus as its own new class of ship.[73][36]
Destruction
In writing the ninth season of Stargate SG-1, executive producer Robert C. Cooper made the decision that the Prometheus would be destroyed. This was in response to the Prometheus set at the time also being used as the Earth ship Daedalus in spinoff series Stargate Atlantis.[74] Whilst based around the same set, the two ship interiors had a number of differences, such as the main window, a number of the consoles and other fixtures on the bridge, which had to be changed over depending on which ship was being used in the scene.[36][75] To save production the time and money of flipping the set, Cooper decided that destroying the Prometheus would instead allow Stargate SG-1 to introduce its own Daedalus-class ship - the Odyssey.[74][75]
The destruction of the ship would take place in the episode "Ethon", at the hands of an Orisatellite weapon. Cooper wanted the destruction sequence to be "Titanic in space", feeling that it was important to show SG-1 and Prometheus "mess everything up" and result in a "massive, massive tragedy" occurring.[76][77] Playing off the imagery of the Titanic sinking, Cooper wanted the Prometheus being destroyed "to take a long, painful time" and encouraged visual effects supervisor Michelle Comens to make the visual effects shot as long as possible.[78][79] Writers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie had originally written scenes for the episode "Ripple Effect" that would foreshadow the destruction of the ship, however they were ultimately cut for time.[80][81]
Depiction
The X-303 is first mentioned in the second part of the season six opening episode, "Redemption".[82] The Prometheus, also known as X-303 first appears in the episode of the same name, where it is still under construction in a secret underground facility in Nevada. The ship has been constructed by the United States Air Force using a combination of human and alien technology that has been acquired by Stargate Command over the years. The incomplete ship is stolen by rogue NID operatives, including Frank Simmons and the Goa'uld, Adrian Conrad.[83] After Prometheus is recaptured by SG-1, in "Unnatural Selection", the AsgardThor enlists SG-1 and the ship to help deal with a Replicator threat on the Asgard homeworld.[84] In the episode "Memento", Prometheus undergoes its shakedown flight and is now under the command of Colonel William Ronson. During testing, the hyperdrive engine overloads and the crew are forced to eject the core, stranding them on a world called Tagrea, where they have to locate the Stargate which has been buried.[85] Without a working hyperdrive engine, the Prometheus remains stranded on Tagrea and in the episode "Enemy Mine" Stargate Command are mining the alien mineral Naquadah to construct more BC-303 ships.[86]
In the episode "Grace" the ship begins it voyage back to Earth using a hyperdrive acquired from a Goa'uld Alkesh in the episode "Avenger 2.0".[87] Once back on earth, General George Hammond assumes command of the ship to defend the planet against the forces of Anubis in "Lost City".[88] After the battle, in the episode "New Order" Colonel Lionel Pendergast is made the commanding officer of Prometheus and in "Endgame" the ship undergoes a refit, with the Asgard installing beam technology and a hyperdrive engine.[89][90][91] General George Hammond once again assumes command of Prometheus in the episode "Prometheus Unbound" when he leads a rescue mission to find the Atlantis expedition, but on route is hijacked by Vala Mal Doran and are ultimately forced to return to earth.[92][93] The Prometheus was due to be fitted with new railguns, however these were instead sent to Atlantis to help defend them against the Wraith in the Stargate Atlantis episode "The Siege".[94]
By the episode "Avalon" the ship has been fitted with Asgard sensors, which it uses to assist SG-1 in locating an Ancient structure beneath the Glastonbury Tor.[95][96] After the Ori attack a Free Jaffa world in "Beachhead", SG-1 travel on board the ship to attempt to stop the Ori invasion and ultimately halt construction of the first Ori Supergate.[97] The ship's Asgard transporter is used to help thwart Ba'al from destroying part of Downtown Seattle in "Ex Deus Machina".[98] In the episode "Ripple Effect" SG-1 along with another version of the team from an alternate reality use the ship to close a breach in space.[99]Stargate Command is asked by Jared Kane to help destroy an Ori satellite that has been built by his people, The Rand Protectorate, who intend on annihilating the rival nation on their world, Caledonia. SG-1 and Prometheus travel to Kane's homeworld of Tegalus, but soon realise the satellite is more than the ship can handle. As the ship is disabled, Pendergast helps transport the crew to safety before going down with the ship.[100] Around a year later whilst stuck in an alternate reality, Samantha Carter is taken on board the Prometheus, which is now being used as Air Force One by President Hank Landry.[101]
The Prometheus was included as a non-playable vehicle in the cancelled video game Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, that was in development around 2004.[102][103] In 2021 the Prometheus was added as a controllable vehicle in the mobile gameAstroKings, along with other elements from the Stargate television franchise.[104][105]
Impact
Sean Ferrick for WhatCulture called Prometheus "something of a symbol for the earlier to middle age of the show, bulky but still fully functional", noting the storytelling possibilities that the ship created for Stargate SG-1 in expanding beyond just using the Stargate "while still keeping the show grounded where it needed to be".[106] Also writing for WhatCulture, Alastair Greenwell called the ship's introduction "worth the wait", believing that the teething issues in episodes such as "Memento" "only endears the ship more to the fans".[107]Keith DeCandido for Tor.com felt the ship was representative of Earth "becoming an actual power in the galaxy as opposed to an irritant".[108] Darren Sumner, founder of fansiteGateworld disliked the design of the Prometheus, and despite finding it exciting that Earth had developed an interstellar battlecruiser, he thought it was "ridiculously ugly".[109] Fansite Dial the Gate host David Read shared Sumner's sentiments, and also highlighted his dissatisfaction at the existence of the Prometheus not being set up or foreshadowed prior to its reveal in episode of the same name.[110]
In discussing the role of spaceships, including the Prometheus, and how it impacted Stargate SG-1, Gateworld's David Read felt that the Stargate and the ship were often in conflict with each other as storytelling devices, and was of the opinion that ships should "carry stories as minimally as possible", fearing that the show could turn into Star Trek. Sumner felt that in season six and season seven the spaceships "were not infringing" on the Stargate, but believed in season nine and season ten they were "really encroaching on the Stargate as the centre-piece of the show", believing that episodes such as "Memento" and "The Pegasus Project" were "good examples of using our ships tell to interesting stories that I think build on the world of Stargate, instead of replacing the Stargate".[109]
Set auctions, models and toys
Many of the set pieces were reworked into the later Daedalus-class ships' sets. After being deconstructed in 2010 some set pieces and props from the ship were sold at auction, this included the pilot and tactical consoles which sold for US$600 and US$1,250 respectively, whilst the captain's chair sold for US$1,750.[111][112][113][114][115] Bridge chairs, control crystal trays, girders from the corridor set and control panels were also auctioned off.[116][117][118][119][120] The 23-page set blueprints were also sold at auction for US$1,600.[121][122]
In November 2023, toy company BlueBrixx announced their Stargate line, which included a buildable Prometheus.[123] Also in November 2023, Master Replicas released a model of the ship.[124][125]
References
^ abcMullie, Paul; Mikita, Andy (27 February 2006). "Full Alert" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 31:48 minutes in. The Prometheus, going way back, was our answer to the Goa'uld ships. We wanted to build something that was exactly the opposite of the Goa'uld ships, which are basically big empty rooms. You know, we always used to complain that we'd fly in those Goa'uld ships and there was nowhere to sit, no screens, no buttons to press, so when we came up with the idea for the Prometheus, back whenever that was, season five or whatever, Brad was like 'I want buttons, I want switches and flashing lights'. I think the original concept was to look like an aircraft carrier.
^ abcdBodnarus, Peter (March 2003). "Design: Prometheus". TV Zone. No. Special 50. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 56. ISSN0960-8230. WE HAD ABOUT FIVE WEEKS from the time Bridget came up with the initial concept of the ship and how big it was supposed to be until the cameras began rolling. So we gritted our teeth, hunkered down and got to work. The inspiration behind the Prometheus was modern day military technology. So we had to look at interior images of aircraft carriers and submarines and then mix those with a bit of alien technology. Basically I began by building a three-dimensional or virtual set on the computer. That allows me to experiment with various views and develop a sense of depth. This step is instrumental because if I can get everything to work on the computer, then it will all fit together in the real world. From these drawings I then developed the blueprints from which the actual set was built. We had three construction crews working independently on the same set. One built the beams, another the bulkheads. and a third group built the windows and the walls. Much to our delight all the pieces fit together perfectly. There's an incredible amount of creativity and a great deal of discipline that goes into a project like this. Everyone really pulled together and it shows.
^ abcdBodnarus, Peter (July 2002). "Peter Bodnarus Set Designer". SG1 The Production Design Team. TV Zone. No. Special 46. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 42. ISSN0960-8230. The X-303, though, is a lot larger than the X-302. This design has been jointly developed and the process is always the same. It starts with Bridget, who comes up with a concept. She'll give me some quick sketches from which I'll do some basic drawings. We'll then work together to decide on a more definite look. With the X-303, James [Robbins] developed its exterior schematics and Interior workings. Meanwhile, I was responsible for developing the actual set interiors including the bridge, corridors. engine room and air lock. "Much of the inspiration for the X-303's interior came from contemporary American aircraft carriers," adds Bodnarus. "At the very beginning of the design process, the art department researcher Noeleen (Tobin) will put together a book of photos based on the look we're going for. Bridget will then be given a copy of that material and she'll refer to those images when working up her initial concept. With the X-303, we felt that the high tech environment of an aircraft carrier was perfect. So that's what we're working on at the moment.
^ abcdMcGuire, Bridget (2004). "Prometheus". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion: Seasons 5 and 6" (Interview). London: Titan Publishing Group. p. 78. ISBN184023606X. Production designer Bridget McGuire beams with pride when asked about the subject of the episode, the custom built Prometheus: "This project has probably been one of our most challenging of the year, and it certainly needed all of our collaborative ingenuity. We were asked to design a spaceship, which was great because spaceships are a lot of fun to design and build! In this instance, they wanted one that looked less like a hi-tech alien vessel, and more like one that had been built for the USAF. We decided to incorporate many features we see in military vessels today, and adapt them for space travel. Basically what we have with the Prometheus is a destroyer in space, so we started by looking at lots of elements from current sea-going military craft. The ship has the capacity to be aircraft carrier, for the X-302, so we adapted some of the elements of an aircraft control tower. We also wanted to have a proper bridge, so we have this wonderful area that has the captains chair, with navigation behind, and systems and operations up front along with the gunners. There's also the requisite big window that looks out into space. In the story, the ship is a work in progress," the designer confirms, "so there are still elements waiting to become fully functional. We do have a control room for engineering, complete with consoles, monitors and the like." The interior of the Prometheus was designed to resemble the inside of the a submarine. "We've incorporated low ceilings, confined spaces and everywhere you look there's exposed conduits and piping," McGuire says. "It's a huge vessel, but if you really were on board with a full complement of crew, then it would be pretty claustrophobic."
^Tobin, Noeleen (July 2002). "Noeleen Tobin Art Researcher". SG1 The Production Design Team. TV Zone. No. Special 46. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 38. ISSN0960-8230. One of Tobin's biggest undertakings so far this season was doing research for the X-303 spacecraft. "They wanted to go with the look of an aircraft carrier," she says. "Well, I was on the Kitty Hawk when I was 12 years old, but my memories of that were a little bit cloudy! So instead I had to use a variety of resources and was able to provide Bridget, the production designer, with pictures of the bridge, engine room and other areas aboard US aircraft carriers. It's really cool to see how a number of these images have now been re-created on our set.
^ abcdefMcGuire, Bridget (July 2002). "The Art of the Design". SG1 The Production Design Team. TV Zone. No. Special 46. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. pp. 46–47. ISSN0960-8230. We were asked to design a spaceship," she enthuses, "but not a futuristic alien craft. This spaceship is one built by and for the US Air Force. It's more or less a destroyer in Space and we're using lots of elements found in an aircraft control tower and a submarine. These include confined spaces, low ceilings and plenty of exposed conduits and piping. We have a bridge, which is a proper bridge insofar as there's a place for the captain to sit. Navigation is behind you, systems and ops up in from along with your gunners as well as a window that looks out into space. "The ship has the capacity to be an aircraft carrier, so we can land the X-302 in its hangar base. We haven't actually built a hangar, but the spaceship has been designed to accommodate one if need be. There's also an engine room, or should I say a control room for engineering. It's equipped with consoles, monitors and lots of fun little screens the room also has a window that looks out onto the ship's massive CGI [computer-generated imaging] engines. In the story, the ship hasn't been finished being built yet. It's a work in progress. "This project has probably been one of the more challenging this season mainly because of time," continues the designer. "Spaceships are loads of fun to design and build. You want to make them really special but co be able to do that in a short space of time isn't easy. One of the most time- consuming jobs is creating the panels with all the small detailed controls that the actors are going to touch. The only way to get the job done within the time we have is to have everyone working on it simultaneously. "We have one person who's designing the layout for all the buttons and switches. However, he first worked up a template that he's given to the guys in construction so that they can start building the console to fit the board he's now working on. A copy of that same template was also sent to the model shop. The people there are preparing all the buttons, switches and dials that will be placed on the board. The board itself will then be sent over to an outside shop to be wired up. This is all happening at the same time.
^ abMikita, Andy (2 February 2004). "Unnatural Selection" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 1:01 minutes in. This set we built in Stage 6 at The Bridge Studio facility and we put it up rather quickly and had to light it rather quickly as well. As you were saying, Andy Wilson the director of photography on the part 1 "Prometheus" episode, directed by Peter Woeste, he had to do a lot of the lighting very, very quickly before they started shooting and you [Jim Menard] had a few things that you had changed.
^Mikita, Andy (2 February 2004). "Unnatural Selection" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 10:48 minutes in. This is a really great set design that Bridget and the rest of the design and construction people did. The wall are all on hinges and slide out very, very easily.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 2:00 minutes in. It's quite a large set, it actually takes up the entire interior of a warehouse. This is the bridge, we have hallways, an engine room which we change over to dining rooms, storage rooms, what-have-you.
^Woeste, Peter (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 11:05 minutes in. it's not apparent in this shot, but the set is octagonal and fairly small. So what we had to do is we had to walk actors through the same area in two different directions and do sort of a figure of eight through the middle of the octagon, and sold the allusion that it's a lot of corridors, and bigger corridors, than were really available to us.
^DeLuise, Peter (2 February 2004). "Memento" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 4:18 minutes in. The design of the ship by the art department was so clever that they put so many blast doors that meant you could change the configuration of the hallways and make it look like a new space every time.
^ abWilson, Andrew (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 12:00 minutes in. this ship was actually constructed on a very tight schedule and really finished only the day before we had to work in there, so Rick and I were in there late one night lighting the ship, literally the night before we had to shoot in the set.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 8:10 minutes in. The art department did do a very good job when it came down to designing this because it was a very, very fast drawing, they did this very quickly within a 3 month period to design the look, to build it, to put all the applicator that you see on the walls. There was an incredible collaboration of different departments to get it as fast as we did. Was that faster than usual? It was, the scheduling made it happen that way.
^Dean, Rick (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 14:10 minutes in. Well they were actually still building parts of the ship whilst we were shooting in there, and we had to shoot around construction.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 8:43 minutes in. When we first did it for the first episode, we were still working in the bridge whilst you guys were shooting in the engine room because we hadn't finished it yet, which of course on the day wasn't a very happy thing for production because of the noise factor. We had to stop between takes.
^Mclean, Krista (July 2002). "Coming Up, On SG-1...". Season Six Preview. TV Zone. No. Special 46. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 76. ISSN0960-8230. The show's graphic artist Krista Mclean has been busy helping come up with the interior look of the X-303. "We're trying to establish a look that is a cross between military and alien," she says. "So that's been a challenge, but a fun one. The basic concept is a battleship in Space. So we're looking at the inside of a real aircraft carrier and then taking that and combining it with something a bit more futuristic in style. For example, we put a number of ordinary radar screens behind a row of cut-outs on the set to give them a different look. When you turn all the lights on it definitely looks like this ship - or set - is ready to fly through Space.
^Godfrey, Boyd (March 2003). "Design: Prometheus". TV Zone. No. Special 50. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 56. ISSN0960-8230. When it comes to my job, which is set decoration and adding details to props, the biggest challenge for me this year was the Prometheus. We knew it was going to be an Earth based spaceship and Peter, the fellow who designed it, basically gave us carte blanche to run with the graphics the way we thought they should look. Of course, it's every little boy's dream to do something like that, and here we were as adults getting to 'play' as well. With this set, the challenge wasn't so much the size of the job but the time frame in which we had to finish the job. We probably could have gone 10 steps further given more time, but they began shooting on the set as the paint was drying. Still, the end result was something to be very proud of.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 10:36 minutes in. The other aspect of this is all of the computers. The monitors that you see, all the monitors in the Prometheus, I believe there's 15 flatscreen monitors and there's a variety of regular old monitors - there's 8 of those but we built them into cabinets to make them look a little more high end.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 12:11 minutes in. To give the allusion that the size of the set, to have a ladder like you saw on the left hand side there, going up to nothing. It's just there to give you feel of the size and scope of the ship.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 14:46 minutes in. Control panels, like you see behind Daniel, they're always interesting to do, cause you have to get a variety of different testing machines and what-have-you and you take the faces off and what you do is you put blinky lights in and you basically put them on a flat surface to make it look like some sort of high-tech mixing machines per se. But then you don't want to make it look too busy or too much.
^Davidson, Mark (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 6:03 minutes in. The star map behind is just basically routed plexiglass that just really reflects nicely off of light sources.
^ abcBodnarus, Peter; Gosling, Sharon (2006). "Illustration". Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion: Season 2. London: Titan. pp. 134–136. ISBN1845761634.
^Dean, Rick (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 13:05 minutes in. It's an amazing amount of lighting, all these white lights in the tops and the bottoms there; each have to have blue and white light in them and it became hundreds and hundreds of fluorescent lights, some gelled and some white.
^Menard, Jim (2 February 2004). "Unnatural Selection" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 6:04 minutes in. The hallways are pretty much practical lights which are built into the set. In here [the bridge] we can shoot with just the ship lighting and then do if you do a close-up you can fix up their shadows on their eyes and things.
^Wilson, First (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 12:30 minutes in. we had a few pictures to go by, but myself, and Jim Menard, and yourself as well Peter, all collaborated to get the basic design of the ship down.
^Dean, Rick (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 12:50 minutes in. one thing that was to our advantage was that the ship was not supposed to be finished in this shot, it was still under construction, so we had some leeway of stuff, the background lights and the coloured lights of the machinery and that stuff didn't have to be on for this.
^Wilson, Andrew (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 13:30 minutes in. my concept really was that when the ship was under construction it was under this white industrial light, and then as it gets powered up and ready to fly the lighting conditions change in the ship; a lot of lights that haven't been on previously come on and also some of operational lights, the large ones you see overhead and also at the feet become blue.
^DeLuise, Peter (March 2003). "Season Six Update". TV Zone. No. Special 50. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 52. ISSN0960-8230. One of the challenges with this story was filming the Prometheus. When I'd seen the ship in prior episodes I felt it wasn't as dramatic as it could be. I met with Peter Woeste [director of photography] and explained to him, 'It's too bright inside the ship'. Light in Outer Space is a commodity, and because of this the interior of the Prometheus should be darker and moodier. Peter agreed with me. So in Memento there's an entirely different look to the spaceship. It's very dark with swatches of blue and red in the background, which gives it that aircraft carrier feel. I thought Peter did a great job.
^Menard, Jim (2 February 2004). "Unnatural Selection" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 1:27 minutes in. We had to match pretty much, cause it was a two-parter, but then Peter Woeste has since done another episode and we took the look a little darker. The concept was to be like the bridge of an aircraft carrier, the sort of dark-blue lights so that your eyes are accustomed to the exteriors.
^Menard, Jim (3 May 2004). "Grace" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 5:37 minutes in. Those were the concept drawings I was given; battleships have a blue bridge and we did that in the lighting here - blue in battle mode and then the back half has a little bit of tungsten to contrast it.
^Woloshyn, Bruce (3 December 2005). "Bruce Woloshyn interview". The Scifi World. Interviewed by Gilles Nuytens.
^Woeste, Peter (2 February 2004). "Prometheus" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 38:20 minutes in. We'll see more of this ship, the Prometheus. It was designed to be seen throughout a number of episodes, in fact a number of visual effect shots were designed to be reused in some of the subsequent episodes.
^Savela, Mark; Rorick, James (5 February 2007). "Beachhead" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 18:10 minutes in. Another stock shot. A stock effected shot as we had to change the planet and put our blue forcefield in there. Prometheus looks really good throughout this episode. That's Image Engine for you.
^Mullie, Paul; Mikita, Andy (27 February 2006). "Full Alert" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 33:10 minutes in. This was a stolen shot that visual effect shot, in fact it's actually a shot from another episode where the Prometheus is actually flying away from the camera. We reversed it and put the overlay of the window of the cargo ship, or in this case it's an Alkesh over that shot and reversed it.
^Mikta, Andy (2 February 2004). "Unnatural Selection" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 3:27 minutes in. Outside the window, as you can see right now, there's basically a big black cloth with little pieces of glass mirror attached to it which we call a star-field that's just hanging from a pipe grid off the ceiling of the stage. Along that same grid we also have a green-screen which will go right in place of that star-field whenever there's a visual effect out the window. A good, inexpensive alternative to having a vis effect out the window just by having that star-field.
^Cooper, Robert C. (18 July 2002). "EXECUTIVE DECISION". rdanderson.com (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Ritter.
^Wright, Brad (November 2002). "The Wright Stuff". Dreamwatch (Interview). No. 98. Interviewed by Ian Spelling. p. 43. ISSN1356-482X. Knowing that this is season six and that this is likely the last season of the show, we're going to show the fruit of the technical developments that you you've seen for the past few years.
^ abWright, Brad (November 2002). "The Wright Stuff". Dreamwatch (Interview). No. 98. Interviewed by Ian Spelling. p. 43. ISSN1356-482X. The idea is that it's time to start seeing some of the benefits, some of the repercussions of what we've learned and the technology we've brought back from all the places we've been. That's going to happen on a couple of levels and with a couple of ships, in fact, because we know that Anubis is coming and we're going to have to defend ourselves. We have to get ready for that.
^DeLuise, Peter (2 February 2004). "Memento" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 8:11 minutes in. At the time the story was invented we didn't know that there was going to be a seventh season, so getting the Prometheus up and running was moving towards the idea that the Prometheus was going to help us be a weapons platform and our last line of defence on Earth.
^Kindler, Damian (2 February 2004). "Memento" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 1:45 minutes in. In having the Prometheus, we had to theorise what would the United States Air Force do with a big ship in outer space and how would that work because suddenly your combining elements of not just the Air Force, but also the Navy.
^DeLuise, Peter (2004). "Memento". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion: Seasons 5 and 6" (Interview). London: Titan Publishing Group. p. 78. ISBN184023606X. Now we have seen Prometheus previously, but this was the ship in full working order and ready to go! It was a lot of fun being able to do our own Star Trek-type thing. We've purposely avoided doing a big spaceships show before now - we had a Stargate! - so to end up doing one was a bit ironic.
^Mullie, Paul (January 2003). "Sixth Sense". TV Zone. No. 159. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. p. 26. ISSN0960-8230. You might say we're sort of straying into Star Trek territory now that we've got our own ship and are able to head our into Space. If we could only compensate for the Naquadria problem we'd be all set. However, things could never be that easy
^Cooper, Robert C. (14 April 2006). "Directing the Future". Gateworld. Interviewed by David Read and Darren Sumner.
^Kindler, Damian (2 February 2004). "Memento" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. 2:27 minutes in. after six years of going through this [the Stargate], we were like 'oh my gosh we get to be on a ship and "make it so" and "number 1 meet me in my ready-room" and all this, and it was a little intoxicating.
^Kindler, Damian (January 2005). "Stayed Tuned". Stargate SG-1 Season Eight, Part II. TV Zone. No. Special 61. Visual Imagination. p. 60. ISSN0960-8230. Prior to this, we'd done four stories involving the ship. However, Rob Cooper said, 'We have the sets, which are spectacular, and loads of VFX shots revolving around the ship. It'd be great to do another Prometheus episode.'
^Robbins, James (January 2005). "Citizen Joe & Moebius". TV Zone. No. Special 61. Visual Imagination. p. 56. ISSN0960-8230. Fans will also get a glimpse of the Daedalus, which is the new and improved version of the Prometheus.
^ abC. Cooper, Robert (2006). "Ethon". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion Season 9" (Interview). Interviewed by Sharon Gosling. Titan Books. p. 78. ISBN1845763106. Cooper reveals that actually, the idea for 'Ethon' (the name of the mythological eagle that gnawed at the liver of the Titan Prometheus) primarily arose out of a difficult practical problem on set rather than a desire to revisit Tegalus itself. "That one came from a set," Cooper continues. "We had one set that was swinging between the Prometheus and the Daedalus (on Stargate: Atlantis), and every time we went back a forth between them we would have to change them over. Of course, the Daedalus was a really cool looking ship, and we were looking at the Prometheus going, 'Stargate SG-1's ship is not as cool as Stargate: Atlantis' ship - that's not fair!".
^ abKindler, Damian; Hope, Barclay (5 February 2007). "Ethon" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1. MGM Home Entertainment. Barclay: "Was there a reason the Prometheus had to blow up?" Kindler: "There actually was a practical reason for it. We've designed a new class of ship called the Daedalus, and it doesn't look anything like the Prometheus. So in order to basically have two ships, the Daedalus which is in Atlantis, that series, and then we built one this season called the Odyssey. So they're the same class ship, you can have the same interior, use the same exterior. So if you don't need to have another ship, so lets blow it up in a blaze of glory and then just basically use one ship set that we can shoot in and we can call it the Odyssey and the Daedalus.
^Kindler, Damian (December 2005). "Season 9: Part 2". TV Zone. No. Special 67. Visual Imagination. p. 15. ISSN0960-8230. As I developed the story further we actually play a bit of the Titanic with the Prometheus because it comes up against a weapon that is far more powerful than its crew realizes.
^C. Cooper, Robert (2006). "Ethon". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion Season 9" (Interview). Interviewed by Sharon Gosling. Titan Books. p. 78. ISBN1845763106. Since Prometheus had served the show so very well, the producers were loath to simply retire the ship without a fanfare. Writing it out instead gave the writers opportunity to do something that could really take advantage of the VFX departments talents, inspired by the death of another famous vessel. "We thought, 'We've got to have it go out in a blaze of glory,'" recalls Cooper, "and I said, "Let's do 'Titanic in space' with the Prometheus!' That's always what it was meant to be - that scene where you see Titanic go down. for once, we didn't win. We didn't go in and solve every problem, and we got burnt for it. We go in, mess everything up, and a massive, massive tragedy happens. Every once in a while you have to lose some people, and deal with that reality.
^C. Cooper, Robert (2006). "Ethon". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion Season 9" (Interview). Interviewed by Sharon Gosling. Titan Books. p. 78. ISBN1845763106. Visual effects are a huge component of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, and this time, the team would have their work on screen for a protracted length of time, at the specific request of the executive producer. "The visual effects on this show always tend to be very quick. I talked to them all about this sequence when we were spotting," says Cooper, speaking of the process in which the team sits down and works out where exactly the visual effects will appear and for how long. "I said 'This is supposed to take a long, painful time. This is not one of those shots where it gets shot at and explodes. This is going to be the longest shot you've ever done, just in terms of duration.
^C. Cooper, Robert (2006). "Ethon". "Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion Season 9" (Interview). Interviewed by Sharon Gosling. Titan Books. p. 78. ISBN1845763106. To get the tensions and tragedy of Prometheus' destruction to hit the right note, VFX supervisor Michelle Comens and her team were called upon to pull something very special out of their hats. "Our VFX team is top notch", adds Kindler, who was very pleased with the outcome of the scene. "Rob, Mihelle Comens and I had many detailed discussions about how the satellite would look, how it would fire and the damage it would inflict." "Troubling, no one felt at all guilty about destroying a ship that had been a stalwart friend to the team since season six!
^Mallozzi, Joseph (December 2005). "Season 9: Part 2". TV Zone. No. Special 67. Visual Imagination. p. 13. ISSN0960-8230. There are so many scenes that were shot but didn't actually make it into the final cut just because of time. There's one where alternate Daniel's being interviewed by Mitchell and he takes an allergy pill. If you recall, Daniel had these terrible allergies in Seasons One and Two of SG-1 that then just kind of disappeared. Then there's a walk and talk aboard the Prometheus with Daniel and the alternate Teal'c, who remarks how weird it feels to be on the Prometheus because in his reality it was destroyed. Remember that as the season continues.
