Getting Started

Two years ago I had a bout of pneumonia and I was too weak to even change the channel with the remote. As fate would have it, I was parked on the couch with a Stargate SG-1 marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel.

In short, I got hooked. Last Christmas my wife went out of town for nearly a month to visit her family without me, while I was supposed to be working on a commissioned play. Unfortunately for the play, a friend had loaned me his entire DVD collection of Stargate from season 1 through season 8. I watched every single episode, in order, went out and bought season 9 and watched it too. Little did I know that doing this was akin to being indoctrinated in a cult.

For me, one of the primary attractions of the show...apart from excellent writing, acting, and special effects...was having a main character who was unashamedly in mid-life with graying hair. Just like me...well, apart from the unashamedly part, but Jack O'Neill gave me a role model sorely lacking on other television shows.

I think I was originally drawn to the theatre by the opportunities it affords to put on costumes and pretend. Wearing costumes has always been a big part of my life. So has pretending, to be honest. In highschool my step-mom made me a collarless Beatle suit and I worked nights as a dishwasher to save up for a "canon" bass guitar--the beautiful Hoefner Beatle Bass, left handed.

Well, you get the idea.

And this sort of thing always begins with the hats, so I started looking for a hat similar to the one O'Neill wears on the show. I quickly discovered it wasn't going to be a simple as just getting a hat. Not by a longshot. The image on the left is a screen worn cap from www.stargateprops.com, which sold for $750.

The hat worn on the show is a loose fit, 6-panel cap in black, taupe, or olive drab. It has no eyelets, and the buckle on the back is on the left rather than the right. These are just not available anywhere off the rack. In fact, the canon cap is one of the few items I still need to get, but looking for an O'Neill cap led me to a great resource. www.stargate6.com. This site used to have a great costuming portion run by a guy named LT, who had canon hats custom made for a very reasonable cost. Unfortunately, he has been laid up for a long time and the shop has had to close down because he can't fill any orders. No knowing when or if it will ever return.

Even though the shop has closed down for the time being, the website is still a very active forum for an international community of people who are enthusiasts for Airsoft guns (high end toys that shoot little yellow BBs) and who dress up in Stargate SG-1 uniforms that are as screen perfect as possible.

If it hadn't been for this incredibly useful forum and their collected knowledge, I'd never have been able to put together my uniforms as quickly or as completely as I have.

This blog is going to be a place where I track the building of my uniform sets, airsoft guns, props, and so forth.

Mostly because my wife doesn't want to hear about it and I have to tell somebody.

I'd love your comments and questions, and to have you share your useful hints on costuming.

Thanks for reading.