How STARGATE Rebuilt and Improved the Movie's Iconic Prop (Dial the Gate)

WATCH the full interview here, premiering August 20! • 216: Richard Hudolin, ...
ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES between the original Stargate feature film and the television series is often overlooked by casual viewers: it's the gate itself.
The prop on STARGATE SG-1 was completely rebuilt from scratch, after the gate from the movie was retrieved from storage and found to be in very poor condition. Production designer Richard Hudolin and his team gave the new Stargate its signature look, with some subtle changes (symbols on the inner track are raised) and some more obvious (the chevrons glow with red jewels).
In his upcoming appearance on "Dial the Gate" Hudolin talks about finding the original gate, and designing something new and updated for the television series. He also talks about making the Stargate fully functional, able to spin under the power of a motorized mechanism ... which the original gate actually couldn't do.
This clip is from Dial the Gate's full-length, 90-minute conversation with Richard. The full interview premieres Sunday, August 20, and you can watch it here: • 216: Richard Hudolin, ...
RELATED ►
★ Stargate (Omnipedia): www.gateworld.net/wiki/Stargate
★ "Stargate" the Movie: www.gateworld.net/movies/star...
★ "Children of the Gods" (SG-1 Season 1): www.gateworld.net/sg1/s1/chil...
★ www.DialtheGate.com/
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"Stargate," "Stargate SG-1," and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television. The "Dial the Gate" theme is composed by Neal Acree.
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DIAL THE GATE is also on Twitter: @dial_the_gate

[@jeffsummstl]

This would be a good time to remind ourselves that spinning is so much cooler than not spinning.

[@jaylid1358]

"Architects always forget when they build a studio that a couple of water taps and a couple of sinks in the studio are a tremendous help to people like the painters and whoever has anything with water has you know yeah.." This is a great quote. And remember HUMANS! Tremendous help for everyone anywhere. If a builder, architect, handyman offer a source of water!! If applicable it will be forever appreciated!!!!

[@adrianvanleeuwen]

I really liked both the gates in SG-1 and Atlantis. Great detail on closeups and worked great as a prop effect!

[@larsfrommars1378]

we are all starved for stargate content. Thank you so much!

[@cptfarzkizz8823]

I've no idea what Amazon is doing with Stargate but you can bet it's going to be bad without the original writers and creators.

[@animemuse8613]

The best decision they can do is do a reboot that way they can’t ruin the past shows

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@animemuse8613 no, because if it's a reboot, they still ruin the past shows because they make stargate into whatever trash heap they turn it into.

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@cptfarzkizz8823 because of the writers and actors strike, this will only take much longer, it sucks too, because amazon were already dragging their asses this whole time and now we have to wait out this strike too smh.... at this point i don't blame them for choosing to use AI tools to make shows and movies lol, of course that will destroy a show, just hopefully they choose some other franchise to destroy.

[@louisvlleguy]

I never really thought about the actual Stargate prop before. I never thought about how complicated it was!! Cool. 🙂

[@Josiah100x]

i like that they added lights, or more obviouse ones if they were there already, to the series gate, but the movie gate is still the best version of the milkyway gates in my personal opinion. i love the heavy mechanical expressions that each chevron, i have a video of them side by side modeled in a mod for a game. its just beautiful design. either way i love the work that was put in all of the mechanical gates.

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

garys mod huh... i remember years ago trying to download and use that carter addon pack, i could never get that full list of mods to work, evenaually i just gave up, it's sad too, because i was so new to PC gaming and i couldn't figure it out. i was excited when i saw the gate in skyrim, but modders usually give up their ideas after picking such an ambitous project, it sucks too, because this modder had a really good premis for his mod, it just took way to much time for him to get it finished and he had the dialing sequence down and working well enough for skyrim, it was really nice to see. part of his issue was naming the mod into something forgetable, like he didn't even use the word stargate to describe what the mod was about, and now i can't remember what that mod was, i just know it involved searching in the dwemer ruins for some symboles in order to use the gate that would take you to another world space, i was never able to find the complete address, so i had to use the console to find it.

[@Josiah100x]

@@user-tp5yb4hr4w they added the CAP to steam workshop as well as WireMod, required to use CAP, so it's alot easier now. tho i still use the hard way, i trust it more.

[@ydna]

that's so cool. I live next to a lake and really want to build a big 16 foot ring to put in the yard. Even if it weren't detailed with glyphs, it'd still be an obvious stargate for anybody on the water hehe

[@ethansloan]

That would be so cool!

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

i was hoping to also hear about the other gate designs in this, is there somewhere i can go to see the full video?

[@GateWorldDotNet]

The full interview will be on Dial the Gate's channel this Sunday. However Richard didn't work on Atlantis or SGU.

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@GateWorldDotNet oh ok, do you think you will be interviewing the guys who did the designs for these other gates?

[@guiiza96]

Thanks for this interview it is so interesting ! I have worked on the EMG (Les Enfants de McGyver) version in France and let me tell you, it was EPIC. It is so complex, matching the colors, resins, alignment of the panels, mounting ... A ton of work but so much satisfaction ! So much respect for the men and women who worked on this fabulous prop and made us dream. Ours will be spinning soon too !

[@Thorhian]

Holy crap they machined the spinning ring as one giant gear? Probably out of steel, maybe aluminum? That is gigantic.

[@avon_c6199]

One thing I would've been curious about... when they were dialing adresses were they more or less just winging it and only made sure that the PoO was correct when Chevron-7 was called out, or did the "gate operator" backstage actually have to keep track of all adresses and would always dial (even offscreen) the corresponding ones? I reckon that most of the time this didn't really matter, since I can't remember we ever had a continuous shot of the gate for the entire dialing procedure, or did they actually go that extra mile?

[@LdyButterflyDMG]

Actually, what doesn’t seem to be talked about is how in the first few episodes of SG1, everyone going through a stargate that wasn’t an alien seems to be popsicles/covered in frost. Then it quickly went away. Lol

[@christinacody8653]

They explained it in the SG-1 universe by saying that they corrected the algorithm that dialed the gate it and dampeners minimized the geo effects (minor earthquakes).

[@Niclouyat]

Pls make nore star gate im soooo missing stargate❤

[@user-nm1lf6wj3z]

Also. One way to improve these magnificent interviews. Cut in B roll footage of what is being spoken about while talking about it. Helps a lot.

[@GateWorldDotNet]

Normally I would do that, however Dial the Gate is trying to keep their work free from any potential copyright claims.

[@TuneTamasha]

they made it spin lol... eventually

[@Steve30x]

Is there any plans on an official blu ray release of the SG-1 show? I know there's an unofficial blu ray box set available which apparently went nuts on noise reduction in the picture.

[@baronboy123456789]

The VEI set is official. MGM just licensed it out to VEI. I severely doubt there will ever be a better set. The VEI set isn't great but it isn't as terrible as people make it out to be.

[@TuneTamasha]

it could use less dnr @@baronboy123456789

[@benrichards1]

Where's the gate now?

[@GateWorldDotNet]

SG-1's gate I think was cut into segments and sold at auction. I believe the location gate was sold as a whole to the MOPOP science fiction museum in Seattle.

[@benrichards1]

@@GateWorldDotNet thanks

[@GreenPatriot2024]

Does anyone know how much the Gate weighed?

[@jaydavies1984]

In the show it weighed 64,000lbs, irl no idea

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@jaydavies1984 i doubt that lol. maybe it was more like 6,000lbs but not 64,000lbs that would be like the weight of a house including the concrete basement.

[@thakillman7]

@@user-tp5yb4hr4w In-series it's made of a superheavy element and is practically solid.

[@user-tp5yb4hr4w]

@@thakillman7 oh, ok so he was talking about the in-series weight, well i suppose because shows aren't exactly known for being accurate we might as well just choose any weight lol. ok, i thought he was referring to in real life weight.

[@dotails]

I could make it for far less with machine cut plywood, and 3d printed face pieces. A few thousand I assume.

[@smokeymcbongwater4141]

😂😂

[@Tuning3434]

Did you ever try to 3-print actual large surfaces? Cost be racking up my man. I guess you will be working for less than minimum wage too

[@mikevasquez1103]

NO. It's a forgate because it goes far.😜