The Legacy FAQ

Well boys and girls, here we have the 'Offical Stargate Legacy FAQ'. I didn't write it and nor have I proof read it so bare with the gramatical errors (Sorry Alex :-P)

What Is Stargate Legacy?
Stargate Legacy is a By-the-Fans-For-the-Fans Machinima Series.

What is a Machinima?
"Machinima" is a Film or Series which has been made using mostly or entirely computers. Some groups that develop machinima use 3d Graphic programs like "3d Studio Max" and/or "Lightwave". Others prefer to use Computer games, like the popular Half life mod-come-full game, Counter-strike. In our case, we are using the game "Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force", or "EF" for short. In Game machinima, particularly, where FPS games are used, the Maps serve as locations, and players do both camera and character work. Instead of spending hours on just designing costumes, "skinners" create pictures that the game then takes parts of and renders on player models, effectivly, skinning them. Much cheaper and easier then buying clothes and having to stitch it to how we need.

Why Elite Force?
Well, the decision to use EF came from, that its a Low-spec game, has good community support and theres many existing maps we could adapt to serve as locations. Also, Co-producer and Series Co-Creator Alexander Mcpherson, prefers EF to other games because of his hardware limitations.

What is the story of Legacy?
A team of archeologists find a stargate address in egypt, the sgc finds out, and sends this bunch of guys and gals on an expedition. no not to atlantis, here, theyre sent to somewhere in the galaxy , a region of space previously unexplored. And when the expedition arrives, they find a abandoned Goa'uld Facility, 'Heliopolis', seemingly in prestine condition. soon after thier arrival they find that the activation of the facility alerted a race nearby, a Dangerous race. And that race sends a ship to investigate. That is the story behind the pilot, so i wont go into further detail. more will be released as we near production/post-production.

Who are the main characters?
Well, theres the Colonel leading the expedition, Female head of Security, Witty stargate team leader, a serious genuis, a curios archeologist and a shall we say, dangerous pilot/engineer, and an Alien that is the expeditions guide to the region. these are the 7 series 'Regulars'.

Who are the main recurring characters?
Well right now we have a large list of characters we want to do but we doubt we have enough time this season to develop most of them.

Will we see new races?
Most definately

Who is this dangerous race?
They are the show's Villains.

Where is the series set?
The series is set in a isolated part of the Milky way galaxy, in a region of space called "acheron". more info on this region will be available later.

When is it set?
The show is set sometime in Season 8, at the moment we are in discussion about referencing particular events in several episodes so we can keep track of timelines.

Will we see the Goa'uld , jaffa, Tokra, Asgard, or any other 'big' SG-1/SG-A race in the series?
While im nto sure on the Goa'uld point, one of the episodes we have pitched has some jaffa in it. The Tokra will play a small part in the series from a few episodes in, but asfor, Asgard, well theres no ideas to include them. Other races from the show we may/may not include later are the ancients, but considering our writer is adamant that the ancients not show up... currently i cant think of any other show races we might include.

Will we see characters from SG1 or Atlantis
We don't know about anyone Atlantis but the odds are good we'l be seeing a budding genius that hasn't been seen for about 3 years on SG1. If we can get voice-actors that can do pretty darn good impersonations and the writer can do parts for them that are right for those characters, maybe.

Why not see if the actor/actress will do it for 2 or 3 lines in part of it?
Well, I doubt they would considering the work load and that this is a fan-fiction, MGM may be able to, i dont know, may be able to shut us down. dont ask why they would but its happened before with game modifications v_v. right now were best playin it low-key till we know wether mgm will let us go on or not.

Who is making Legacy?
Legacy is being made by a group of dedicated Stargate fans. The list includes amatuer writers, artists, directors, actors, skinners and mappers. theres a nice list on the crew page.

When the episodes have been filmed, how will they be released?
Well while we all probably dream of seeing our show on TV, (sky one uk, Sci fi usa, dont know about the others ;-) ) We will be releasing the episodes in several qualities online. perhaps if legal sitatuation allows, CD/DVDs of the seasons, hell i wouldnt mind seeing atleast snippets of our episodes on the official sg1 dvd's hehe.

There you go guys, so some of your questions answered hopefully. Also I have now made it so you don't need to be registered to Blogspot to comment on my posts so please feel free to post your thoughts.

Inspiration for Legacy

What inspired me to do Legacy? A few things were actually inspiration for Legacy. Over the last few years, I had found an interest in script writing and I put that interest to use in writing scripts for Alien vs Predator fanfilms but eventually my interest in that franchise slowly disappeared because of the quality of recent products - bad basically. So joining GateWorld and getting more active with my other favorite franchise I ran across a post about Stargate Legacy on the Forum.

I had actually written for a Machinima series before so I thought I'd ask if they needed a writer. I wanted to get involved with the fandom side of Stargate aswell so that increased my desire to get involved with Legacy. Now the story and ideas I had for Legacy all take root from things I've done elsewhere. I actually started writing a script for a series of Fan Comics but gave up when I couldn't find any artists so I jumped at the chance to implament it into this machinima series.

Right well before I get into the evolution of the story - I'll save that for another post- I take into alot of things for inspiration. The idea for the main location and back story behind the location obviously came from Egyptain Mythology with the idea of using Thoth and Heliopolis. SO if anyone else if out there, inspiration can be drawn from anywhere from just sat in the bath mulling over your thoughts to watching an another film and getting a great spin-off idea.

I'm The Head...

I'm more of the one incharge of the Creative Staff as well as the writers. It's been my job so far to seek out new Writers/Proof-readers and Concept Artists and this I find is alot harder than writing. So far, I have recruited Justin McNeil, Legacy's proof-reader and occasional writer and Mike Biggs, our character designer. While both are very talented, I still find we're alittle under-handed.

And to this extent, if there is anyone out there reading this blog that might be interesting in doing concept art for us, specifically locations such as the Gate's on other planet, temples or spaceship bridges. If you're a writer and would like to get involved as well then don't hesitate to contact me. E-Mail me for more information

It's All In The Eye Of The Beholder

Well I've just finished Act One of 'Eye of the Beholder'. This episode is the sixth in the season and is the first episode after 'Heliopolis Parts One & Two' in which we meet the Benkari, the series main enemy. I have been looking forward to writing this episode since I came up with the story idea. For a number of reasons:

It's set on a desert planet, which means desert BDUs. I love both desert planets and desert BDUs. We also get to learn alittle regarding one of the mysterious species of the series and that's going to be exciting to write. We also get development on Tel Hannar and I'm looking forward to writing some of his history.

On regards to the website, Alex, our producer, has said he has a PHP version of the template I was using so I've handed over the website for him to finish. I do appologise, I was looking forward to having the website up this week!