Small Victories

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“Small Victories (Part 2)”
Stargate SG-1 episode
Major Carter and Thor, with a Replicator in the background
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 1
Written by	Robert C. Cooper
Directed by	Martin Wood
Guest stars	Colin Cunningham as Major Davis Teryl Rothery as Dr. Fraiser Dan Shea as Sergeant Siler Yurij Kis as Yuri Dmitry Chepovetsky as Boris
Production no.	401
Original airdate	June 30, 2000
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Nemesis (Part 1)" "The Other Side"
Episode chronology

"Small Victories" is the first episode from Season 4 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, and first aired on the American subscription channel Showtime on June 30, 2000. The episode resumes the story of the Season 3 finale, "Nemesis", where the SG-1 team encountered the Replicators for the first time. With the Replicators threatening Earth and the Asgard home galaxy, the team must split to master their job.

Penned by Robert C. Cooper and directed by Martin Wood, "Small Victories" was another visual effects milestone for the series. The Replicators and the Asgard character Thor were computer-animated for parts of the episode. Some scenes were filmed in and outside of a Russian Foxtrot class submarine. "Small Victories" was nominated for Best Special Effects in 2001 for an Emmy, a Gemini Award and a Leo Award.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Effects 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Confident that the destruction of Thor's starship in "Nemesis" has ended the Replicator threat to Earth, the SG-1 team return home through the second Stargate that has been put up at Stargate Command. However, they learn that a Russian Foxtrot class submarine has been hijacked by creatures with descriptions matching the Replicators. Meanwhile, Thor arrives through the Stargate and asks SG-1 to aid him in the war against the Replicators in the Asgard galaxy. As Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c go to deal with the hijacked submarine, Major Carter goes with Thor to help find a way to stop the Replicators.

O'Neill, Daniel, and Teal'c try to obtain some intelligence on how to stop the Replicators before they can take control of the submarine. When the little robotic invaders begin to attack, the team is forced to fall back. With Daniel's new theory that the Replicators are made out of the same materials they consume, the team may easily be able elimatinate the Replicators through sinking the submarine as long as the surviving Replicator from Thor's ship is destroyed beforehand.

Meanwhile at the Asgard homeworld, Carter is told about the O'Neill, an incomplete Asgard ship designed to fight the Replicators. She witnesses a short, one-sided naval battle in an attempt to stem the advance of the Replicators, and five Asgard ships are lost. Although at first unable to come up with a plan, Carter notices that Replicators are attracted to new technology. She decides to use the O'Neill as a lure to draw the Replicators into hyperspace and destroy them by making the O'Neill self-destruct. Thor eventually accepts the plan, and the Replicators take the bait and are destroyed.

Back on Earth, O'Neill and Teal'c penetrate the submarine and find and destroy the original Replicator, but the other Replicators take full control of the submarine. After ordering the forces outside to destroy the submarine, O'Neill prepares for the end, but Thor beams the team onto his ship before the explosion occurs. With the imminent Replicator threat over for now, Thor promises that when the Asgard defeat the Replicators, he will come to assist Earth in the war against the Goa'uld.

[edit] Production

After filming the Season 3 cliffhanger finale, "Nemesis", visual effects supervisor James Tichenor approached Robert C. Cooper and explained his confidence in being able to do a water episode. By that time, Robert C. Cooper had already written the outline of what would become "Small Victories".^[1] The episode, directed by Martin Wood, was filmed over the course of seven days like most SG-1 episodes.^[2] The first three seasons of Stargate SG-1 were filmed with 16 mm film except for shots incorporating visual effects, where experience had shown 35 mm to work better. After the successful test run with the new gauge in "Nemesis", Season 4 switched to 35 mm film for all filming purposes.^[3]

The story of "Small Victories" is split into two parallel storylines, with the events surrounding the submarine as the A story, and the scenes onboard Thor's spaceship as the B story. The submarine scenes were enhanced with money that was originally allotted for the space shots.^[3][2] Some scenes of "Small Victories" were filmed in and outside of a real Russian Foxtrot class submarine.^[2] Since only three people would fit into the 25-feet-long submarine for filming, a matching set was designed to allow taking out the walls for filming.^[4][2] The logistics of the submarine filming was difficult and time consuming. The background place needed to be filmed, then the video had to be rerecorded for the playback monitors. First unit was with the actors, then second unit for the video, then effects shots were added and were reshot appearing on monitors later.^[3] Lighting on the submarine was done through the characters' helmet cameras.^[2] Martin Wood held the shots tight because the submarine was so narrow.^[2] Wood chose an agitated shooting style and handheld the cameras himself.^[2] The scene where a Replicator piece is removed from Teal'c's shoulder was trimmed from the original version of the script because the actors felt the scene beat around the bush.^[2]

The scenes with Amanda Tapping and Thor were filmed at different times.^[3] Andy Mikita did second unit for Thor.^[2] Michael Shanks, who provides the voice of Thor, sometimes read Thor's lines for Tapping.^[2] The Thor character is a practical puppet that requires six puppeteers.^[2][3] As he is neither able to walk or stand, the puppet is often put in a chair.^[3] Thor's top lip of the mouth was broken, and he also makes wizzing sounds because of the motors.^[2] With "Small Victories", actor Christopher Judge started wearing a small blond chin beard, which was dubbed "caterpillar" by the production crew. Judge would wear this beard for several episodes until he acknowledged its silly look and shaved it off.^[2] Martin Wood has a short cameo appearance with Siler (stunt coordinator Dan Shea) in an SGC corridor.^[2] The official Showtime website originally listed Jay Acovone (Kawalsky) as a guest-star in this episode, causing confusion among fans.^[5]

"Small Victories" makes several references to the previous and future episodes. Actor Michael Shanks had had an Appendicitis attack during the penultimate Season 3 episode, "Crystal Skull", which prevented his character to participate in "Nemesis". This plot was picked up by "Small Victories".^[2] The beginning of "Small Victories" shows the conversation of two Russian seamen in their mothertongue. The producers did not provide subtitles because they liked the idea of an in-joke, where one Russian answers that the noise in the torpedo tube might be caused by "one of the bugs from the other episode".^[2] "Small Victories" continues building the relationship O'Neill and Carter, which would find its climax in "Divide and Conquer" four episodes later. Martin Wood used tight shots to show the intimacy. This scene also mirrored a similar scene from "Nemesis".^[2]

[edit] Effects

"Small Victories" passed "Nemesis" as the biggest episode CG-wise and remained one of biggest visual effects works of the season.^[3][6] Nevertheless, the budget was limited so that the one or two major moments of CG had to be chosen well. Visual effects producer James Tichenor believes a major part of making visual effects work is the actors' reactions to something that is not there yet. He also said that visual effects should not be highlighted too much to make them effective.^[3]

The visual effects producers of Stargate SG-1 had first experimented with the look of the computer-generated Replicators in "Nemesis",^[2] of which the best visual effects were shown in the "Previously on" segment of "Small Victories". The following opening sequence of the Asgard ship flying over the ocean until it crashes into the water was completely computer-generated. The Asgard homeworld that was shown at a later point in the episode was completely CGIed and blended with a matte painting, with the finetuning of the lighting proving as the most difficult job.^[3]

Stockshots of the gate were used when Thor enters the SGC.^[4] The scene showed a CGIed version of Thor that was built around the puppet,^[3] His walking down the ramp was intercut with the puppet on a trike. and the puddle behind Thor was an LGC projection.^[2] "Small Victories" was the first episode to show rearscreen projection in the briefing room.^[2] "Small Victories" used replicator models to give the actors an idea what they were looking at, and to match their eyelines. Some of the models were also mounted on plexiglass rods to give the impression of an organic Replicator hologram.^[2] The computer-generated Replicators onboard the submarine required the use of tracking lights, some of which were kept in the show for their nice looks.^[3] The reflections of the green screen ("green spill") on the floor aboard Thor's ship was used to key selective patches for reflecting of the big screen Carter is looking at.^[3]

[edit] Reception

Michael Bender of space.com called "Small Victories "the type of episode you wait for and use to compare to other shows." He praised the animators for making "the Asgard world look great", and mentioned the "great emotional interplay between the characters" and the humor as his favorite aspects of the episode.^[7] Debra Kraft of gateworld.net gave the episode 4 of 4 stars, feeling the episode "has everything you could hope for in a blockbuster movie – tense drama, seat-gripping action, strong plotting and exquisite cinematography – as well as the humorous touches that are so uniquely SG-1." She thought the episode had good humor and a perfect balance of the two temporarily divergent story threads.^[8]

In his book Approaching the Possible, Jo Storm called "Small Victories" "one of the most enthralling episodes" that makes the audience forget that it used nearly the same premise that was used in "Nemesis". He thought the episode was "especially big on the Sam/Jack dynamic" as the characters "toe the line between fraternal teasing and downright chemistry". He saluted Amanda Tapping's comedic opportunities and called her reaction "priceless" when her character tries Asgard food. He also noted the character development of Daniel Jackson in a military environment, constrasting it with the character's attitude in the season one episode "Thor's Hammer" where his military mind was less developed.^[9]

An anecdote Tapping often tells at conventions was how during the filming of one scene on Thor's ship, the puppeteers raised Thor's hand to touch her behind, after which she instinctively slapped it. When she realized what she had just done to the expensive prop, she kneeled down and apologized to the puppet in all seriousness.^[10] Producer Joseph Mallozzi named this blooper moment one of his favorites in the first five years of Stargate SG-1.^[11]

Visual Effects Producer James Tichenor feared that U-571, which came out at the same time as "Small Victories", was the worst competition.^[3] He also said that the few episodes where the biggest visual effects work were saved for, are the most likely to contain visual cues that impress Academy of Television Arts & Sciences voters.^[6] "Small Victories" and the SG-1 episode "Exodus" were nominated for a 2001 Emmy in the category "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series".^[6] In the same year, "Small Victories" was also nominated for a Gemini Award and a Leo Award in the respective "Best Visual Effects" categories.^[12][13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Stargate SG-1 site. MGM. Visited June 8, 2006. Most of site requires Flash.
• Screenplay (PDF). Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Casablanca Continuity (2000-05-22). Retrieved on 2006-10-15. Linked to from Official Stargate SG-1 site.