SCI-FI TELEVISION Writer prepares season openers

'Stargate SG-1' kicks off its eighth season and introduces a spinoff.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Brad Wright appears as weathered as the rugged Canadian landscape on this misty morning on the Bridge Studios lot.
"I've never worked so hard in my life," says the co-creator and executive producer of the Sci Fi Channel's "Stargate SG-1," and his fatigue is showing.
For the past six months, he's been spending many a late night writing for both the long-running space series and its much-anticipated spinoff, "Stargate Atlantis," as their season premieres rapidly approach.
In the time it once took to develop 20 episodes of "SG-1," Wright and producing partner Robert Copper are having to write twice as many shows because they're writing for the two series. And they're only halfway done.
But Wright's not complaining, saying, "It's one of the classiest problems you can have."
The eighth season premiere of "Stargate SG-1" -- presented in two consecutive one-hour parts -- airs at 9 tonight and "Stargate Atlantis" debuts with a two-hour movie at 9 p.m. July 16. Then on July 23, "SG-1" and "Atlantis" begin their regular schedules (9 p.m. and 10 p.m.).
The show
Based on the 1994 feature film, "Stargate SG-1" was acquired by the Sci Fi Channel two years ago after five seasons on Showtime.
Richard Dean Anderson, who rose to TV fame on the popular "MacGyver" series, stars as Jack O'Neill, leader of a covert military commando squad. Also on the crew: archaeologist Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), astrophysicist Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and alien warrior Teal'c (Christopher Judge).
With "zat guns" at the ready, and plenty of computer-generated effects, the "SG-1" team steps through the shimmering Stargate each week to be transported around the universe to fight the Goa'uld, evil overlords who kidnap and enslave humans.
In the season premiere, Anderson's O'Neill will take over as commander of the Stargate program. The actor will have less screen time this season as he reduces his work schedule to spend more time with his 5-year-old daughter back home in California.
Anderson won't say whether he'll sign on for a ninth season, but "the likelihood of my coming back is very slim," he says before leaving the cavernous "SG-1" soundstage for one of his frequent trips to Los Angeles.
"I harbor a little guilt about my situation here," he continues. "It becomes a mad scramble to get production done to accommodate my schedule. But it was the only way that I could come back for an eighth season."
TV romance
What's probably of more concern to "Stargate" fans right now is whether O'Neill and Carter will ever become an item.
"I think she should just go fishing with him," Tapping says about her character. "He's always asked her, and she's always said no. So I think she should say yes, and let people imagine what they will," she laughs. "And they will."
Item or not, there are no plans for O'Neill and Carter to be involved in "Stargate Atlantis," which centers on a team of civilians journeying via the Stargate to the ancient city of Atlantis in the unexplored Pegasus galaxy.
Led by Torri Higginson as Dr. Elizabeth Weir, and co-starring Joe Flanigan, Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett and Rachel Luttrell, the explorers have only enough energy to power a one-way trip through the Stargate.
Not only must they contend with unknown technologies, they encounter a sinister new enemy, the vampire-like Wraith, which they have unknowingly unleashed on a civilization that has so far managed to avoid life-suckers.