Production
Development and writing
Series co-creator and former executive producer Brad Wright made the decision during the shows sixth season that should the show be picked up for a seventh, he would take a "sabbatical" in order to continue developing a potential spinoff series, Stargate Atlantis , making Robert C. Cooper as executive producer. [1] [2] After SG-1 was renewed, Wright sat in on early meetings for the seventh season, but soon left his office at The Bridge Studios, limiting his involvement to just phoning Cooper "almost daily - or at least a few times each week" which Wright described as "almost a courtesy call to let me know what was going on, as much as it was for the occasional piece of advise". [3] [4] [5] Wright did however want to pen "a few episodes", which would ultimately end up being "Lifeboat" and the season finale "Lost City", which he co-wrote with Cooper. [6] [7] Originally referred to as "Voices", Wright had first outlined the idea for the episode in 2002 during the writing of the shows sixth season, however the absence of Michael Shanks, who had left the shows main cast, meant that the episode was shelved. [8] [9] Co-producer and writer Joseph Mallozzi explained "because of the type of story it was, it only worked with the Daniel character, which was why when Daniel came back, Brad dusted off the pitch and wrote the script", with it eventually being retitled to "Lifeboat". [10] [11]
In the episode, twelve different personalities are downloaded into Daniel Jackson's (Michael Shanks) body, three of which are concentrated on: Tryan, who is a loyal engineer on board the Stromos, Martice - the Sovereign leader, and Keenin - who is a young boy. [12] Shanks wanted to make sure all of the different characters he would portray were "clearly defined" as "structurally, they all had to be certain extremities", however the schedule constraints of the show meant Shanks did not have much time in order to flesh the characters out. [13] [14] In order to make the different characters stand out, Shanks used a number of different methods in constructing his performances, looking to "attach a recognisable quirk or trait to each of them" as well as borrowing "from other different shows that I had watched". [15] [16] [17] Shanks initial idea for playing Martice was based around Ralph Fiennes depiction of Amon Göth in the 1993 film Schindler's List , with Shanks giving the character a thick German accent. This was eventually changed more towards what Shanks described as a faux-British accent, inspired somewhat by Patrick Stewart. [18] Tryan, the ships engineer was inspired by Jack Lemmon's character Jack Godell from the 1979 film The China Syndrome . [17] For the character of Keenin, Shanks decided to base his performance on that of actor Ryan Drescher's, who would be portraying the character in flashback sequences. Shanks felt Drescher "had given such an interesting read" and studied his audition tapes, attempting to copy certain mannerisms that he was able to find in his performance and apply them to his own depiction of the character. [19] [20]
Teryl Rothery returns as Dr. Janet Fraiser. James Parks portrays the character of Pharrin and Ryan Drescher plays Keenin, who is Pharrin's son, both who are passengers on board the Stromos. [21] Frequent background actor Dean Redman had originally been cast to portray Tryan, but had to pull out due to another job. [22] According to director of the episode Peter DeLuise, this would have been Redman's first speaking role and that Redman was "mortified" that he could not do it, but DeLuise instead gave him a speaking role in the episode "Enemy Mine". [23] DeLuise instead auditioned background actors on the day, reportedly by going from table to table during a lunch break, asking the extras to recite the line 'Compartment is secure, sir' in a Boston accent and eventually arriving at actor Travis Webster who DeLuise awarded the part to. [23] [22] Gary Jones and Dan Shea reprise their roles as technician and Siler. [21] Kimberly Unger, Rob Hayter, Colin Corrigan and Fraser Aitcheson all portray Stargate Command personnel. Peter DeLuise cameos as a man in a status pod. [21]
Design and filming
For the interior of the crashed alien spaceship Stromos, production designer Bridget McGuire explained "After doing a very stark Sci-Fi type of set in "Revisions", I wanted to go completely in the other direction and create a space that was more traditional and warm, almost Jules Verne-like". [24] Originally, the Stromos interior was expected to feature far less, with only four pages of the script taking place there and only calling for a set wall that would be covered in suspended animation pods. [22] [25] After rewrites, around twelve pages of the script would take place on board the Stromos set, and therefore far more of the ship would need to be seen. [25] [22] In order to not have to build a far larger set, Rodrigo Segovia designed the pods on wheels, constructing around 20 pods total which could be easily moved into different configurations, to give the impression of different rooms and corridors on board the ship. [22] [24] Parts of the interior were then extended using matte paintings. [22] Once background actors were put inside the pods DeLuise recalled that one extra had a panic attack from the enclosed space, whilst another fell asleep. [22]
Whilst not usually the case, in order to help with Shanks' portrayal of multiple personalities DeLuise tried where possible to shoot the episode in chronological order. [17] Richard Dean Anderson was not available for the majority of the episode due to his father passing away. [22] In order to still feature Jack O'Neill, Anderson's stand-in Bill Nykolite was used where possible, whilst DeLuise limited his use of wider group shots. [22] Filming had been otherwise completed by the time Anderson returned to work, with the rest of the cast moving on to other episodes, therefore DeLuise filmed all of Anderson's scenes separately so he could be inserted into the episode. Where possible, DeLuise had cast members return to read with Anderson, however most of Anderson's scenes were filmed either alone or with stand-ins. [22] As so much of the episode would take place in a single observation room on the Stargate Command set at The Bridge Studio and feature just the characters of Daniel Jackson and Janet Fraiser, DeLuise considered it a difficult episode to shoot. In order to "make it interesting for the viewer" DeLuise, who would normally spend much more time blocking but instead allowed Shanks and Rothery to move around the set much more freely, with DeLuise keeping the camera locked on them. [26] DeLuise and Director of Photography Peter Woeste also opted to light just the actors in the observation room scene, giving the impression of a dark, black room. [22] DeLuise had Teryl Rothery play some of her scenes with Michael Shanks in different ways. In one take, Rothery described having "Janet blow her stack, which is quite rare because she is usually very contained and in control", whilst in other takes were not as heated. [27] [28] For some of the shots of characters watching Daniel Jackson and Janet Fraiser from the observation rooms gallery, DeLuise took influence from the film The Rock , panning from a live video feed of Jackson and Fraiser on a monitor, to the characters in the room itself. [22] For some of the most abrupt, rapid personality changes between that Michael Shanks was portraying, DeLuise took inspiration for his filming and editing from the way Gollum/Sméagol was sometimes shown in The Lord of the Rings film series, making quick, close-up cuts between camera angles. [22]
