The ATLANTIS City Rising Sequence (Dial the Gate)

ONE OF THE SHOWPIECES for the new spin-off series STARGATE ATLANTIS was the rising of the city itself, one submerged beneath the ocean thousands of years ago by the Ancients. The show's creators even titled the pilot episode "Rising" to reflect this pivotal moment in the story. Our heroes reach the city by Stargate, triggering it to release from the sea floor and rise to the surface.
As visual effects supervisor on the pilot, John Gajdecki led the team that conceived and executed this series of impressive VFX shots. In this video he shows "Dial the Gate" host David Read the early pre-visualization videos for all the different shots, which would be assembled together to create this exciting climax in the episode.
This is an early preview clip from Dial the Gate's full-length conversation with John, premiering SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 (10 a.m. PT)! Watch the full interview here starting on Sunday: www.youtube.com/@DialtheGate/...
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★ "Rising" (Atlantis Season 1): www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s1...
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"Stargate," "Stargate Atlantis," 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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[@taylors8551]

The fact that these have survived all these years even after the show has been cancelled is incredible. Props to John for having archived these

[@lbochtler]

i hope the 3d models and scenes have survived as well

[@djohn1671]

this show deserved better. should have had the 6th season, time to wrap up storylines and a proper ending. great work from David to still have access to these people involved with arguably the best stargate 'franchise'. looking forward to more uploads. many tanks from the UK.

[@lbochtler]

@@djohn1671 i still hope they make a season 6 for it, im sure David Hewlet would be on board with that plan.

[@djohn1671]

@@lbochtler season 6 was planned, with the cast on board but...... look into it.

[@sergentboucherie]

I still get goosebumbs seeing Atlantis rise

[@gunayorbay]

same

[@Jojrre]

That wide shot is such an integral part of the sequence for me. Just seeing this massive wave spread out to truly show the scale of the city. These previz sequences are always so cool to see, especially knowing how far they went with it in the end

[@hoss1003]

Absolutely.. without the ending of the Wave rolling out slowly, makes the ending of the scene awesome..

[@thanksfernuthin]

That expanding ring of displaced water was sublime. He really nailed it thinking of that shot!

[@khomo12]

It's still as beautiful as ever to see atlantis rising!🌟 🌟🌟🏙 🏙🏙🌊 🌊🌊

[@ledrash6079]

I've seen that so many times, and yet, here I am, getting goose bumps... AGAIN.

[@KevinRMoore]

I love rewatching SG-1 and Atlantis all the time on A_Prime Video. Classic sci-fi I get lost in the story without being distracted by polystyrene foam rocks and cardboard sets. Mind-blowing how far we've come in such a short time in regard to computer generated modeling. I listened to Mr. Gajdecki talk about how expensive and difficult it was in the early 2000s to create these scenes. Today one guy and a desktop PC with free Blender3D software could model and render all these clips in a week or less.

[@brunnin]

I love atlantis and the whole show, my favorite with no contender except for SG1. ❤❤❤

[@rocketdude2969]

That's really cooling seening all the shots like that . The opening credits features so much of that and it's just an awesome thing to see. I still think that show was canceled about 5 years to early .

[@Nantana2211]

Still gives me goosebumps after all these years 😍

[@Coltbus]

Great video! 👏👏👏 Watching the work behind something so iconic after so long makes me feel privileged.

[@hoss1003]

Ahhh, Come' onnn... That's a great video, but it wasn't long enough. I could watch this type of video all day long or at least for hours. It would be great if you could make a video series of how they did the VFX on all the VFX scenes in different episodes. I know it would really be time consuming, but I would love to see it, over and over again.. Thanks a Million

[@GateWorldDotNet]

Be sure to catch the full interview on "Dial the Gate" this Sunday then! There will be lots more from John.

[@ydna]

that's super cool to see! I keep hearing the music too, even though I usually fastforward through that now. Guess you can't shake it

[@Dene181]

One of the most important scenes! And it looked damn great, I still love it!

[@andymccurdy5029]

as some one learning blender animation and editing in my free time its good to see the professionals work flow looks like my work flow hahaha

[@jchoneandonly]

Kinda want a version where the city gets launched by its own momentum and plops onto the surface

[@HemisphereCinema]

oh god this is amazing I can hear the music omg

[@philosoaper]

I remember thinking "they stole that line from The Dig!" when Sheppard says "we're moving". The Dig is an adventure game by LucasArts from 1995

[@zimbot_KWB]

It is fun to see all that! I remember thinking at the time I first saw this thatt it was "nice", but not realistic enough to be impressive. This hypothetical event involves an enormous tidal wave being formed at this location. There would be a huge upswelling, not the flat surface we see here that is at the same level as the surrounding ocean. Huge swatches of water moving out of the way would form their own enormous surface interactions with lots of dramatic spray and such -- even before Atlantis breaches the surface! It would even be somewhat confusing, perhaps, as if there is a giant bubble of water coming up with the city (because, in fact there would be). When the bottom of the city starts to clear, there would be a gigantic pressure change, like a vacuum that sucks in all the falling water and spray into that gap. And of course, there would be an enormous hole under it once it emerges, and the raised heaps of sea water all around would come (slowly) crashing back together in the center to form impressive "explosions" of spray, Of course, by the time that happens, the city would be well aloft and clear of it, but it would still be covered by huge sheets of water still draining off of it for probably several minutes! So, yeah, I'm sorry, on the physics/realism side, this was just good enough for story telling, but not impressive.

[@zimbot_KWB]

And, yes, of course, this scene leaves Atlantis sitting at the surface instead of launching upward from there, but I was just continuing in the mental visualization of what such an extension would involve. Anyway, the main point is that there is an entire column of water above the city that is being displaced -- it would way, way beyond what would have made economic sense to put into those effects shots!

[@reignmack]

WOW

[@StefanStefan-uv4cc]

Bro it's set to open with VLC by default, why right clicking on it and usin Open with...😭😭😭

[@metalzonemt-2]

Yeah, one would think he'd be better with computers.🤣

[@gmradio2436]

A common habit of most programers and FX artist I know. It can be summarized as "Never trust the default."

[@chrisschembari2486]

Well, I was happy to see that he at least *uses* VLC, even if he has to use some "old codec".

[@jchoneandonly]

What application did they use to do this?

[@42099alex]

Question: is there any story behind the "umm" in the scene at 9:58? I've heard this on multiple versions of the episode, and it kinda sounds misplaced. Was it actually part of the intended background noise, or was it recorded by mistake?

[@GateWorldDotNet]

That's funny - I'd never heard it before. :) I doubt it was recorded on set - presumably the editor was grabbing some vocals to stand in for the expedition members reacting to their situation. This was ... an ... interesting choice!