I completely forgot to mention one more incredibly efficient means of motivating myself to write: anger. I’m coming down with a cold that has felled both my wife and writing partner, my back is incredibly stiff and sore from that torture rack my mother calls a guest bed, it feels like I spend half my afternoon in traffic struggling to get home because of the damn Olympic construction, and I had stalled out on page 30 of the script. Well, for lack of a better way of putting it – I lost it! I stormed into my office this morning, sat down, and forced myself to bang out six excruciating pages. It was akin to reaching your pain threshhold and removing the tooth yourself – agonizing but effective. I ran the dialogue over and over and over and over and over and over until I got a rhythm going, then rewrote it again and again and again and again until I was not unhappy with it. The worst is over. I’ll re-read it again tomorrow, make the necessary changes and, finally, be able to move on. Next: the jumper travel scene and after that it’s…smooooooooth sailing. Seriously, this one will be the death of me.
Went out last night for Vietnamese food. Being sick made me more irritable than usual, so I can’t say I enjoyed the meal all that much. Fondy had soup. I had some boneless stuffed chicken wings and a prawn curry dish served in a coconut that proved a little too heavy on the potatoes. My irritability lasted until I got home and polished off a bar of amaretti dark chocolate after which my mood greatly improved.
But since I’m out of chocolate and back to irritable again, I’d like to take this opportunity to weigh in on some of the comments I saw on Gateworld regarding the decision to bring Carson Beckett back and the Save Carson Beckett campaign specifically. I find it truly astonishing that some serial whiners are directing their criticism at a group of fellow fans who worked so hard on behalf of the Beckett character. While the SCB supporters were out rallying the troops, organizing demonstrations on both coasts, hiring a pipe band to offer a creative but wholly appropriate expression of their passion for Paul, even braving Vancouver’s torrential downpour – these constant complainers were planted in front of their computers gathering seat sores, watching it all from the sidelines. And now that the campaign has proven successful and the organizers and fans who participated are feeling good about their accomplishments, these envious little gripers feel the need to undermine any feeling of celebration or fan empowerment by crapping all over them and placing doubt on said accomplishments. Truly astounding.
I’m two-thirds of the way through Stanislaw Lem’s Cyberiad (!) and about a quarter of the way through Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself that I am truly loving. Anyone out there familiar with either?
Le Mailbag –
Lughtigern writes: “Anthony Bourdain is one of my favorites as well. Have you read his book? Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”
Answer: Yup. And watch his show, No Reservations.
Smiley Face06 writes: “If you could have any super-human ability, what would you want? If you decided to ceome a super-hero/villan, what would your name be? Cape or no cape?”
Answer: The power of suggestion. Cape.
Anthony writes: “The ice cream on that pie looks like a persons head, with an extremely large growth on its forehead.”
Answer: Good Lord! Now that you mention it, that is without a doubt the creepiest dessert I’ve ever eaten. Well, second creepiest anyway.
Allison writes: “You do realize that because of your aforementioned awesomeness, you now have an entire Scot-loving army at your beck and call?”
Answer: Awesome. Let’s invade Wales!
Anonymous #1 writes: “ Gee. I remember a bunch of people telling you they’d heard Torri was going to be in four episodes, and you ridiculed them. Looks like they were right all along. Their sources must be good.”
Answer: Given the law of averages, everyone eventually gets it right with a little luck – or in this case the proper timing. Last month, when rumors were flying that Weir would be appearing in four episodes, she had actually only been signed for three. Imagine if I’d made that announcement then? The fourth episode became a reality a couple of weeks ago after I pitched Torri the story and she agreed to come back do it. So, for now, four episodes as of the officially done deal – which closed yesterday.
Anonymous #1 writes: “If you’ve revealed it now because you think it looks good compared with Beckett, think again.”
Answer: Actually, I revealed it because, again, we had finally closed the deal on that fourth episode and, given the recent confirmation of Beckett’s return, I thought it might be nice to make a similar confirmation with regard to Weir. Regardless, thanks for the nitwit response.
Anonymous #1 writes: “ Since you said “so far”, I presume that you mean the first half of the season. Have you looked at the second half yet?”
Answer: Interestingly enough, I just answered this a couple of questions back but, given your presumptuous tone, I went back and deleted my response. So feel free to make use of your magical source on this one.
Anonymous #1 writes: “The postcard campaign continues, by the way.”
Answer: Fab. I’m starting a collection.
Lizzyshoe writes: “If scripts in normal television usually run about a page/min, and if SGA eps are 40-odd minutes long, do the extra pages all end up crammed into McKay’s dialogue? Hewlett does tend to speak, um, insanely fast.”
Answer: David Hewlett is the fastest talker on television. Michael Shanks is a close second.
MS writes: “Since you guys get the ratings way before we will, is there any chance you could let us know on your blog what the ratings are for SG-1 and Atlantis when they air in the next few weeks?”
Answer: Sure.
Charlotte writes: “Since you appear to Love food (as do i!) have you ever seen the dodgy 80’s TV chef (he was on BBC so you may not have) Floyd? he was great- he’d open a bottle of wine at the start of the show and be drunk as a skunk by the end!”
Answer: That’s the guy I want presiding over my table-side steak flambé!
Prior_of_the_Ori writes: “Will we see some Asuran warships this next season?”
Answer: Depends. Will you be watching Stargate: Atlantis? If yes, then the answer is yes.
Anonymous #2 writes: “Can you tell us if Michael will be come back in season 4 of Atlantis?”
Answer: It’s very possible.
Crazymom writes: “Thanks for all the book suggestions!”
Answer: Pleased they enjoyed it. If GeekBoy is in to fantasy literature, I’ve got a couple of great titles to recommend as well.
Nichole writes: “Oops I messed up the URL it’s
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/11/pet.food.recall.ap “
Answer: Actually, the first link worked just fine. And thanks or the update.
Anonymous #3 writes: “Have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lBQWUR3u7U
Do your pugs have a similar problem??”
Answer: Great vid. Jelly only does it when she’s feeling nauseous. Maximus never does which is why the tip of his nose is always dog food-encrusted.
Anjirika writes: “So basically that means yes, bringing Carson back was in the plans all along.”
Answer: The potential for a return was discussed and set up early on, but the decision to bring the character back was only made recently.
Madalyn writes: “When you are writing an episode do you start with an outline? Do you start with the first scene and go through the script in a linear fashion or do you go back and forth through scenes?”
Answer: We come up with an idea, discuss it with the other writers, then produce an outline which is critiqued and revised before going to script. I go through the script in a linear fashion, writing the first scene before moving onto the second, then going back and revising the first two scenes before moving onto the third, then back to the beginning to polish the first three scenes before moving onto the fourth, and so on.
Anonymous #4 writes: “Did Martin Wood wear his shorts up in the Arctic?”
Answer: Find out in the Stargate: Continuum tease Ivon Bartok has put together for the season 10 dvd release.
Dee in South Africa writes: “”Wil and DOP Jim Menard testing the force field on their cell.”
You can let them out now. They must be hungry and have suffered enough…”
Answer: Only once they’ve finished shooting the episode.
Anonymous #5 writes: “You have promised some Shep whump – which I am assuming is physcial – can we expect any emotional whump or team angst.”
Answer: Joe Flanigan pitched out an idea for a very angst Sheppard episode that the fans are going to LOVE and that Carl Binder will be writing. It’s a terrific idea and Carl is the perfect person to write it. Very, very, very cool. And, incidentally, it will address an issue fans have been discussing since – well, the late back half of season three.
Propagander writes: “Regarding Beckett’s return – your not going to pull a Dallas on us are you? Someones not going to wake up and find him in the shower and the past season was all a dream are they?”
Answer: Damn, you’ve figured it out! The team wakes up after a looooong nap on the mist-shrouded world from season one’s Home to discover they never left the planet and the past two and a half seasons have all been a hallucination.
Ses110 writes: “Daniel/Vala Fans got there Ship in Unending and Beckett is coming back in Season 4.What can Sam/Jack Fans do to get a resolution in the Movies?”
Answer: Write to the movie’s writer-producers – Robert Cooper and Brad Wright, c/o The Bridge Studios.
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