# Why are the special effects on the TV show Stargate-SG1 so good?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 20, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304 "2003-05-20T05:18:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304/1 "2003-05-20T05:18:06Z")

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Amazing what these people do on the budget of a TV show, and I’m not just talking CGI stuff. The sets are large and detailed and appear to be very high quality. I’ve seen recent big budget movies that don’t have have special effects as this show produced week in an week out. What’s their secret?

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304/2 "2003-05-20T05:29:58Z")

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PIMF - I’ve seen recent big budget movies that don’t have special effects as good as this show produces week in an week out.

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**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304/3 "2003-05-20T05:35:25Z")

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My guess is because the first few years were produced by Showtime, which seemed to have a better budget for its shows. When it got picked up by SciFi, the CG went a little crazy with all the spaceships, but the sets were still there.

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**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304/4 "2003-05-20T16:04:47Z")

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Stargate is filmed in Vancouver, using American dollars, so the same budget does go quite a bit further.

Add in crews that actually want to work (as opposed to, say, unionistas who see their job as an entitlement), and you’ve got even more incentive to turn out a quality show.

I have several friends who have appeared on the show. Usually they die 🙂

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-special-effects-on-the-tv-show-stargate-sg1-so-good/176304/5 "2003-05-20T16:23:27Z")

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I always wondered how Farscape did such amazing effects as well.