What am I looking at here? Why tell you about the Official Stargate SG-1 Fan Club?
Well, I was fortunate enough to get the Explorer Unit Field Pack to peruse and review for those most discerning fans out there.
Believe me, I am one of the fussiest people when it comes to joining something and I have the attitude 'What’s in it for me?', 'Is it worth the money I worked so hard for?' and when it comes to my favourite show…'Does it represent what I love most about Stargate?'
So, I know what you are thinking and you are going to ask me, ‘Why should I join the Fan Club?’

To be honest after last year’s pack, I was ready to give up on the Fan Club. MGM messed up the delivering the ‘Behind the Scenes Video’ and instead substituted it with a very dodgy quality video of the third season episodes ‘Jolinar’s Memories’ and ‘Devil You Know’. Now don’t get me wrong, those episodes are fantastic. However, I ask you… wouldn’t any fan worth their salt have got the episodes on tape or if they live in the right area, the DVD’s? This I wrote to the Club about. Evidently it was one of the biggest complaints they had, people were unhappy and so were the Fan Club. I guess they learnt from this experience because this year was a surprise.

Not only is the pack itself better presented and better packaged so that nothing is bent or broken, it looks good. Everything they said would be in the pack actually turned up too, a couple of my friends last year didn’t even have the bits inside complete… The Fan Club quickly rectified it for them, sending out another pack in recompense. They did their best to solve any complaints. Fans were asked for feedback on the pack and what else could the Fan Club do to improve. Their response was to provide an Official Explorer Unit (EU) Fan Newsletter with as many exclusives they could find.

But let’s get back to examining the pack… Is it worth my hard earned cash?

Inside, the greatest prize to me was some of the fantastic pictures on the CD Rom. The pictures are great, you get to see some behind the scenes and you can clearly see that some are taken without the actor’s knowledge, easy smiles and great poses abound.
The CD Rom is definitely one of the gems of the pack, worth viewing and drooling over, if that’s your fancy! When the slide show finished I was disappointed, it left me wanting more. In fact I still do! Ok, so I like viewing behind the scenes pictures…but so do many other people.

The EU Field pack has catered for all fans, those of Daniel Jackson will not be left wanting, nor are those of Jonas Quinn, for each are included in the pack, complete with photos and Personnel – Eyes Only briefings.
A balanced view of the Stargate world prevails; I personally long for the day everyone in the divided fan world would just get along and enjoy the show for what it is. Well at least the Fan Club in this case has not shown bias, or a prejudiced view of any character. The levels of detail are good, even Daniel’s says he’s ascended, but I promise I’ll go into more description about the Personnel information later…

On to the little things in life that are nestling so sweetly in the pack waiting to be looked at…

I just love that little Stargate Key ring!!! Alright, so it’s the little things in life that make you happy. It’s so cute and for those that are in the category of denying to the world that ‘I’m a Stargate fan’, it’s a little bit of your favourite programme to carry around with you. Especially when you don’t want someone to notice a nice big bumper car sticker of your favourite team… some people are just in denial!

The Explorer Unit patch and pin badge are noticeable, although I would have expected the patch to be a little bigger, on more of a par with the patches that SG-1 wear would have been better, but having said that, everyone wearing it are going to be noticed by the distinctive powder blue colouring. Even the little glyphs from the gate are on the patch, so the level of attention to detail is good. The poster, which folds out to a nice size, is of the whole team. It is taken from the sixth season episode ‘Abyss’ with Jack in the bed, in scrubs girls! and the rest of SG-1 including Jonas and Daniel gathered around the bed in easy smiles. It’s a very nice memento of the sixth season.

Let’s examine the Welcome letters and Personnel Eyes Only information…

I liked the watermarked paper; it has a nice quality and feel to it. The watermark is of the gate, just dark enough to see it in shadow. Someone (we hope our heroes) has signed the letters and certificates in the name of Hammond and O’Neill. So it’s not just printed on, I personally hate that, but someone has actually taken the time to sign them all, what a pity not the real deal, as they would have been worth a fortune!
Hammond’s letter is spot on, you can almost hear ‘ole Don S Davis speak the words aloud as our Hammond of Texas. It’s a nice mixture of fact and fantasy and would appeal to kids and adults alike.
I especially like O’Neill’s letter. The beginning a little unfamiliar in his way of speaking but the latter two thirds makes up for it. I did find myself smiling with amusement at his remarks about how he feels regarding clichés and the general content of the letter had me grinning with the familiarity of his characters nuances.
The rest are fact sheets about each character in the form of a dossier of information. All have been updated to include the first half of the sixth season in their Stargate life and include all the main characters. Jack, Sam, Teal’c, Daniel, Jonas, Hammond and Fraiser are all present and accounted for. Things like, what status they are, their background and personal life history in a short paragraph, just like you would expect to see on a report about someone.

That just leaves the nicely presented photos...

Not much to say about photos, I guess because if you are a die hard, “I’m a Stargate fan and everyone needs to know!� kind of fan, you may have one, two or more of the poses. These are a mix of ‘in character’ and publicity shots on rigid photo card with an EU border. The ones of Jack and Daniel are the publicity ones; the other five single shots are of the characters Sam, Teal’c, Jonas, Hammond and Fraiser in character clothing and poses. There are also two team pictures, one from early seasons with Jack, Daniel, Sam and Teal’c. The other is a picture taken from the sixth season episode ‘Sight Unseen’ and it pictures Jack, Sam, Teal’c and Jonas in their desert camouflage. So again, they cater for ALL fans. It is also nice that they are rigid, thereby reducing the damaging of the corner of the photos.

Let me tell you something else that just made my day… I received a coded Explorer Unit EYES ONLY e-mail with an access code to their first Year Two Newsletter, safely encoded only to fan club members… and my, the standard has just got better… Initially the first few last year were filled with articles and information that was old for the internet. Everyone who is familiar with the net will know how quickly information is shared, whether or not it should be. However, waiting for you now is an exclusive interview with none other than our favourite errant, wise cracking Colonel.
Yes, Mr Richard Dean Anderson has given an exclusive interview to the EU Fan Club and it’s brilliant… and I haven’t seen it posted anywhere else…yet. This is an extract of the interview to whet your appetite and see what you are missing… and believe me when I say this, it was tough to choose which bit to show you in this long interview, nearly ten thousand words, taken from the EU Fan Club Newsletter, who have kindly granted me permission to show you and it's written by Kate Ritter…

Even within a heavily dramatic episode such as "Abyss," it is the lighter character interactions on which he focuses. "What's interesting about those scenes is that they do deal with kind of a serious matter, but there's a lightness, at least initially. And part of that's born of the acting exchange relationship with Michael, because I know he's there, and he also has the rhythms, and he knows mine, and he's as patient as he can be with those things. But he also feeds into it, or feeds along with it. So even though there's some serious emotional stuff going on there, there's still a build, a rhythm that is light and, sometimes, comedic." Yet he's no more comfortable with pure comedy than with heavy drama. "And I'm not comfortable doing comedy at all," he hastens to add. "I've been offered ideas and sitcom-y sort of scenarios, and I just have not even an inkling of confidence going into that realm of comedy. My fun comes out of the real life exchanges," he clarifies, then adds with a grin, "that maybe three people see."

This interview was really extensive and a delight to read, but that wasn’t all…
Robert C Cooper, Executive Producer, the man holding the reins for the seventh season (now that Brad Wright is working on the spin off Atlantis and the SG-1 feature) has also given an interview about the upcoming season, the low-down on why Mr Shanks left and the path to him gracing our seventh season and what’s happening to the fantastic Jonas Quinn. It had me reading late into the night to find out about the real reason behind it all.
Again, excerpts for you… courtesy of the EU Fan Club Newsletter.

SG-1 has visited a multitude of worlds inhabited by creatures not even remotely human, from radioactive microbes to blue energy crystals to giant invisible insects. Yet among those cultures derived from the ancestors of Earth, the challenge becomes to make the world both alien and familiar. "You're going to other planets, and every planet you go to has got a different look, and a different type of people, or aliens, or wardrobe. We call it "The Doorknob Factor." Is this world going to have doorknobs or not? When you think about it, what are the odds of a completely isolated alien society, even though they're humans that have been taken from Earth 10,000 years ago and transplanted on another planet, what are the odds of them building a society that even remotely resembles anything on Earth? Astronomical! Granted, everybody speaks English," he laughs, "So we just figure everyone's speaking English, and the doors have doorknobs on them."

I was going to show you the low-down on Michael leaving and returning, but I think you better join if you want to know!
The other very interesting articles to be found in the Newsletter, is the Behind the Scenes section. The lucky gits, an affectionate description used by us Brits, of the Explorer Unit staff, got to spend three days observing everything that goes into the filming of Stargate. This was during the sixth season episode ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, they have gone into quite a lot of detail around the production process, how things were filmed, how every department interacts and the fun moments to keep it light on set.
Yes, the main instigators are Richard Dean Anderson and Peter DeLuise! Guest stars in the episode, namely Ronnie Cox (Senator Kinsey) and Colin Cunningham (Major Davis) are also interviewed… Worth a read, even though it makes you want to go and observe it yourself!

To summerise, I guess out of the EU pack and the newsletters, as a package to joining the Official Stargate SG-1 Explorer Unit, what was most valuable and interesting to me was the Newsletters, the CD Rom and of course who can forget the little cute Stargate on a key ring???

A must for any fan.

Now if all that isn’t a good enough reason to part with your well earned dosh (cash, money, Naquada whichever way you want to put your currency in) and show support to the show whilst getting something exclusive, I don’t know what is…

Join up! The Fan Club needs you… I wish I could find the relevant man with a top hat pointing at you! Remember it’s also a way that MGM gauge what the fan base is like, how many and where they are in the world. If we don’t use it, we may lose it. Click on the Explorer Unit logo or here.



What you get:

Explorer Unit Field pack contains:

CD Rom – Stargate SG-1 Explorer unit – Year Two Mission Image Storage that contains: Behind the scenes pictures and close ups (screen captures) of the following Season 6 episodes.

• Abyss – 27 Pictures.
• Allegiance – 21 Pictures.
• Cure – 11 Pictures.
• Descent – 18 Pictures.
• Frozen – 3 Pictures.
• Nightwalkers – 21 Pictures.
• Prometheus – 15 Pictures.
• Redemption – 23 Pictures.
• Shadow Play – 24 Pictures.
• Sight Unseen – 20 Pictures.
• The Other Guys – 11 Pictures.
• Unnatural Selection – 11 Pictures.


Original Season One press folder that contains:

• Explorer Unit (EU) car sticker with a picture of the new team.
• Stargate key ring
• Explorer Unit patch
• Explorer Unit pin badge
• EU ID badge pass
• EU membership card
• EU Collectors’ Poster (one from the 6th Season episode ‘Abyss’ with all the members including Daniel)
• 2 A4 photo cards of the team, one with Daniel, one with Jonas (from Sixth Season episode ‘Sight Unseen’)
• 7 A4 photo cards of each main character, Jack, Daniel (in publicity shots not SG uniform), Sam, Teal’c, Jonas, Hammond and Fraiser (all in SG poses).
• Watermarked paper of good quality with the following information on:
o A certificate of security clearance, signed by Hammond and O’Neill
o Welcome letter from Lightspeed Fine Art
o Welcome letter from General Hammond
o Welcome letter from Jack O’Neill
o Eyes only information on Jack O’Neill
o Eyes only information on Sam Carter
o Eyes only information on Daniel Jackson
o Eyes only information on Teal’c
o Eyes only information on Jonas Quinn
o Eyes only information on George Hammond
o Eyes only information on Dr Fraiser

• Gatecon leaflet for the convention
• 10% off Lightspeed products, exclusive to EU members.

You also get the Four Explorer Unit Briefings (viewed online using special access codes e-mailed to you) - Club Newsletter features insider articles, exclusive interviews, letters, convention calendar and much more!)
The newsletters are useful and informative and the people at the Fan Club are working on getting more exclusives only to the Fan Club first and before anyone else.

What it costs...

For SG-1 Explorer Unit Year Two Field Kit it’s $34.95 plus Shipping and Handling (per kit) - U.S. $7, Canada $8, International $15 and takes about six weeks to deliver to you. But the Newsletter access is activated as immediately as they can (it depends on the day you join) so that you don't miss out. Usually it takes a maximum of a week for them to respond to your purchase by e-mail. A tip for you, try to avoid giving them a hotmail or yahoo address as they are apparently 'bouncing' the Fan Club mails as junk. Either that or check your junk box! If you have any problems, mail them. They will sort it out for you.


Please remember to tell them where you found out about the Explorer Unit, it helps the site enormously in getting us known. Thanks folks, I hope this is useful to you all.

Pictures in this article are copywritten to the Explorer Unit, Stargate Alpha wishes to thank the EU for providing them.
Exerpts of the Richard Dean Anderson and Robert C Cooper interviews appear courtesy of the Explorer Unit Newsletter.

Article (c) 2003 Stargate Alpha Universe