I set aside some time this morning to take stock of my life and the various gifts I received over the hiatus. Among the goodies: a milk chocolate cauldron filled with marzipan vegetables commemorating the night attack by Savoyard in 1602 (Thanks, Rachael), a boxful of Tim Tams for the cast and crew (The chocolate mud rocks. Thanks, Sel), a collection of the “Very Worst Opening Lines in Fiction” (Thanks, Pauline), a hand-knit black scarf with a fiery J (Thanks, Kellie), a selection of holiday inspirations (No accompanying card, so thanks to someone in Alberta), a handmade cappuccino-scented hand soap modeled after a dog turd (Thanks to Moe Jacuzzi), and a multimedia player for my iPod and DVD (thanks, SciFi).
Just a little reminder to check out tonight’s People’s Choice Awards broadcast. Stargate Atlantis is up against Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica in the Favorite SciFi Show category. If we win, I’ll celebrate by seeing how drunk I can get on champagne truffles.
I enjoy reading a variety of books. My reading list is made up of not only diverse genres, but diverse sub-genres as well. Take science fiction, for instance. In any given month, I may read a couple of classics, some post-apocalyptic offerings, a smattering of space opera, and even an occasional scifi romance. Okay, by “occasional”, I mean “just this once”, and, specifically: The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.
Now it’s not that I’ve got anything against romance. It’s just a genre that has never really piqued my interest. However, the premise of Niffenegger’s novel intrigued me enough to test the waters. For those who don’t know (Which would mean you didn’t read the book. In the words of Gomer Pyle: “Shame, shame, shame!”), it’s a love story about a couple, Henry and Clare, whose relationship is complicated by Henry’s unfortunate susceptibility to involuntary time travel. One second he’s lying in bed or sorting books in the backroom at work and, the next, he’ll be standing naked in a meadow, or naked in an alley, or naked (well, you get the idea) more often than not popping up into the life of his future wife, Clare. The story jumps backwards and forwards in time, focusing on the events of a given jump as told from the point of view of either Henry or Clare. For instance, Clare may tell us about the time she was 12 and had a 42 year old Henry paid her a visit, or a 34 year old Henry may tell us about the time he popped in on a 32 year old Clare. Like I said, a very interesting premise and, although somewhat confusing at times, fairly solid in its time-travel logic. Kudos to Niffenegger for keeping it straight and offering a well thought-out sequence of time-shifting events. However…
As much as I found the premise intriguing, I found the characters far less interesting. Henry is, well, a bit of a poseur jerk while Clare’s sole purpose in life seems to be to moon over Henry. Although it was clear that these two were in love, I was never really certain why. What attracted Henry to Clare? And, more importantly, what attracted Clare to Henry? Of course, one possibility comes to mind. Given that Henry starts popping up in Clare’s formative years, it seems likely that she fell for the mysterious stranger she is destined to marry. Okay, but did anyone else find it a little creepy that Clare first lays eyes on Henry when he pops into her life when she is a four year old tot playing in a secluded meadow? Did I mention that he travels naked?
While the internal rules of time travel the book sets up for itself are admirably adhered to, the characters’ attitude toward time travel is not. At one point in the narrative, teenage Henry travels back to pay his 13 year old self a visit and, in yet another disturbing scene, ends up being caught in a, uh, compromising position by his father. Since his future self knew that his father would catch them, his younger self asks why he didn’t do anything to which his future self replies that the future has already been set and cannot be changed. Alright, but in another sequence, Henry ends up giving Clare some upcoming lottery numbers to help secure her future. At one point, the couple experience the events of 911 and, in the back of my mind, I was thinking “So, you WON’T prevent 911 but you WILL cash in on the lottery?”
Henry’s disappearances and reappearances are, conveniently, rarely noticed by other observers. He’ll either be in bed or working alone when he disappears. Given the seemingly random nature of his affliction, wouldn’t it be likely to happen at least once or twice while he was in public? Probably, but this would open up a can of worms (The inevitable questions and potential involvement of outside forces [ie. The government]) that would have taken the narrative in a completely different direction. Still, it seemed a little too convenient that no one ever witnesses this guy pop in and out of existence.
After Henry discovers that his condition is a result of a genetic disorder (!), I asked myself why the couple would be so selfish as to bring a child into the world knowing he/she could inherit the same condition. Again, it affords the author the opportunity to introduce a couple of very interesting scenes in which Henry is visited by his future daughter – but it still leads me to wonder whether logic was sacrificed in favor of an interesting idea.
Overall, because the characters interested me far less than the actual premise of the novel and its narrative structure, I wished the book had been two-thirds its present length (The lovingly detailed explanations of Clare’s paper designs did little to enamor me to the character). Still, The Time Traveler’s Wife does posit some interesting philosophical questions and its last scene, the final meeting between the two lovers, is truly heartbreaking. I’m sure the upcoming movie will do well.
You always have some of the most interesting books on here. I’ll have to start checking them out.
I do want to comment on the wonderful episodes this season, truely amazing.
And, I was watching Phantoms the other day, and thought “Its been too long since a main character has been shot with real bullets…” Any chance we’ll get some more? Real bullets, I mean. *cough* preferably Shep? *cough*
Loving it all and my fingers are crossed for SGA at the PCA… And for the Jag game coming up… we will need the luck.
Good luck in the People’s Choice Awards. As much as I like all three shows, I’d say it’s between Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. And I’ll admit that the thought of hearing you recount your attempts to get drunk on champagne truffles is very intriguing.
Also wondering, are there many season 4 episodes where the team explores worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy? (If you can answer that, please do. If not, I won’t be pulling my hair out about it any time soon).
I had initially decided not to read The Time Traveler’s Wife because it seemed a bit too romantic to me. The cover of my book has a quote from the Chicago Tribune that reads, “A soaring celebration of the victory of love over time.” *vomit*
I don’t have a problem with romance (hey, I’m one of those people who read Georgette Heyer and I love Jane Austen), but I guess I generally stay away from “modern” romances. Anyway, I was home for the holidays and saw it laying on my mom’s coffee table (actually under it…and I later found out that she’d been reading it for the last 5 months. Suffice to say, she was was shocked when I read it in 2 days).
I was all prepared to hate it. I read the intro part. Thought it’d be tough going. But I persevered, and I actually got quite into it very soon after. I ended up really liking it, which was surprising to me. I like thinking about time travel even though my head tends to explode if I think about it too much. Seriously, there are just way too many problems associated with it.
I’m glad you mentioned the lottery ticket thing, because that REALLY bothered me as well. He kept saying you couldn’t alter the future, but then he goes and wins the lottery to conveniently get them some cash? Ugh. I was worried that there was something I just didn’t understand about her time-travel logic, but since you pointed out the same thing, I’ll assume her logic was just plain flawed.
After reading your review, it does kind of puzzle me as to why I liked it so much–like yourself, I wasn’t too enamored with either of the main characters. Plus, the genetic disorder thing as an explanation kind of bothered me. And re: fetuses traveling out of the womb and back in again?? Ewwww!!! Seriously, why in God’s name would you try to have a baby with that knowledge??? (Actually, why in God’s name would you have a baby at all…but I digress)
I really wasn’t creeped out by them falling in love under such weird circumstances (her getting to know him as a naked older man and him visiting her as a child after knowing they’ll marry). I don’t know why. Just wasn’t a squick for me.
The book did mention times when he’d appear or disappear in front of people, such as a time when he disappeared while being apprehended by the cops. But I was still puzzled by why there wouldn’t have been news reports about a mysterious disappearing (or appearing) man.
I liked the flip of knowledge the characters went through–in the beginning we have Clare who’s clueless about the future as Henry pops in with knowledge about their lives; but after they meet in real time, Clare has all the memories of their meetings and Henry has to wait it out until he can experience the times they spent in (Clare’s) past.
My book has a list of discussion questions at the end–one of the questions was, “Do you consider the book to be a comedy or a tragedy…?” Ok, I’d like to hear someone seriously defend it as a comedy.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed it–which frankly surprised the hell out of me. I guess the idea was intriguing enough for me to overlook such trivial matters as character likeability and plot holes. 😉 And I would honestly never classify this book as sci-fi. But that’s just me.
I agree about what you said about the characters in The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I did still find the book to be a fun read. And your last sentence of your entry was my first notification they’re making a movie out of the book. I’m a tad surprised, and I think it’ll be tough to adapt successfully. As an aside…there is a specific sci-fi romance category out there? Huh.
So I had a few comments about your comment about why the couple would choose to bring someone into the world with the “genetic disorder” (I know, weird construct, right?) of compelled time travel. I think that in reality, having a child is an intensely personal decision for anyone to make, and boiling considerations down to “they might get this genetic disorder” oversimplifies things a tad. There are people out there that take genetic tests and know there will be increased odds of producing children with Down’s Syndrome, physical disability, etc, and yet they too decide to procreate. They do so for many reasons (many of which probably have something to do with wanting to have your *own* child), arguing that the genetic “deficiency” is not a disability (e.g., Deaf) or that someone with Down’s Syndrome can lead a happy life. I don’t remember how the couple felt about the whole time traveling thing by the time they had a child (it’s been a while since I read the book). And I do think it’s a glaring hole that they didn’t discuss the implications for their daughter (that I remember).
I am perhaps being a bit unfair extrapolating your argument to real world syndromes that are, perhaps, nothing like genetic time travel, but I mean, that’s what sci-fi is about anyway. Giving us a way to look at problems around us in a “fantasy” world, to give us that distance to see things a bit more objectively. Or, at the very least, from a different perspective.
Anyway, I’ll go ahead and slide off my soap box now. Question about the Stargate universe: did y’all ever consider the roles various space agencies would play in such a program? Maybe I’m missing something that’s already there…
I thoroughly enjoyed last week’s Stargate episode.
I agree with your recap of “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. Henry’s “interaction” with himself creeped me out, and I frankly didn’t see the reason for Clare’s obsession with him. Interesting plot points on the time travel, but an unsatisfactory read overall.
SHARE THE TRUFFLES!! lol
*chuckles* I’ve had some lovely champagne truffles from Hotel Chocolat. So I can completely understand any selfishness in regards to them. 😉
I definitely voted for SGA, though, so that’s gotta count for somethin’, right???
Finally! I’ve heard so many people say how much they love *The Time Traveler’s Wife* that I was wondering if I’d missed something important!
I found the ideas intriguing, but not entirely coherent nor fully worked-out. The book mentions once or twice other Chrono-Displaced Persons, and by the time Alba is a teenager, CDPs seem to be accepted enough for a teacher to let her leave a class trip with her dead father as long as her mom says it’s okay. I thus waited much of the book to learn something more about what kind of mutation could cause CDPs, why the numbers are increasing, why Alba apparently has more control than Henry. I can handle not having explanations (*Kindred* tells you up front that the narrator never knew why these things happened, and that didn’t bother me at all), but I felt I’d been led to expect something that wasn’t coming. There was research, there was the appearance of science, but all we ever learn is that it’s genetic but inexplicable.
I ultimately concluded that the reason behind everything is all The Power of the Plot. More CDP’s pique our interest and, perhaps more importantly, allow Alba to go off with her dead dad. The genetic link leads to moral dilemmas (which I think could have been explored better, but I wasn’t turned off as much as you were Joe–which I think is funny because I sometimes feel *Atlantis* should explore moral dilemmas better!). Alba has more control than Henry because it’s just *too* awful to think of a girl popping up naked in random places, whereas we can handle Henry getting beaten up occasionally, and suffering frostbite (although I could barely handle that, because I did like him).
I liked the characters more than you did, but that’s not to say I loved them. They moved me, but I had the same feeling that made me quit watching _ER_–I felt totally manipulated. Fine, the book made me cry; it pushed all the right buttons, but it sacrificed some plausibility and consistency to do so.
I got frustrated with Henry’s determinism. He’s so darned certain that he can’t change things that he doesn’t *try*, which of course means he can’t change anything! I do find some sense in the lottery tickets: Henry knew the numbers, but he didn’t know who won. He did not change anything he had knowledge of. For September 11, he had much greater knowledge of the outcome, and so he felt he couldn’t make any changes. I don’t *agree* with it, but I see some logic here. (However, I felt like 9/11 was shoehorned in because the novelist didn’t think she should set events in 2001 but ignore that day.)
I am very much *not* a determinist, so the resolute determinism (is that redundant?) of the novel bothered me. I would have been more interested if Henry had made real attempts to change outcomes. He makes lots and lots of *choices*, and no one and no force *made* him decide to talk to Clare instead of running away every time he found himself naked in front of her, or go out with her once he met her in his present, or treat other people badly.
The novel had some fascinating ideas, and I thought the structure worked well. On the whole, though, I’m not awfully fond of the book. Because what interested me were primarily the *ideas*, I have no desire to see the movie, which will probably make them still less coherent and consistent!
I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the book.
Egad! There’s a movie? I had thought that the book might be the inspiration for the TV series “Journeyman”, since so much of it was similar. “Journeyman” bit the dust, by the way.
I pretty much agree with everything you’ve said about The Time Traveler’s Wife, with this particular carp:
Stories written in present tense fairly scream “college creative writing class” and/or “English professor” at me. Imagine my non-surprise to find that Audrey Niffenegger is an academic in a MFA program. I’ve read enough of that stuff for two lifetimes, and I barely managed to get past the first fifteen pages. The fact that Henry is such a relentless intellectual was extremely annoying, but I admit to bias here. Derrida, for God’s sake?
But in the end, the story interested me enough to keep plugging to the end, despite my misgivings. Niffenegger’s not a bad writer, but this book was not what I would call “scifi”. The time travel premise was just a device to tell a love story, in my opinion, and was borne out by the fact that everyone who was let in on the secret seemed to just accept it as “poor Henry’s misfortune”. Hello? After the initial panic and disbelief, wouldn’t somebody have run off to the newspapers?
I’m not much of a romantic, so this is not a book I would have chosen for myself.
Best of luck to Stargate: Atlantis in the People’s Choice Awards. (No, not just because it would be fun to see any pics Fondy might take while you’re pretending to be drunk on champagne truffles. – Okay, it would be *really* fun, but anyway.)
Chats with sci-fi fan friends have yielded the info that (in short) among ourselves, SGA is the current TV-show favorite both for entertainment and for thought-provoking themes. It seems likely that BAMSR has considerably strengthened those preferences. I’ll know for sure once Glokta is done questioning the banker and her minions. (Almost done with Book One; Book Two is right under it on the endtable. Slow reader, here.)
I did really enjoy your review of The Time Traveler’s Wife. I honestly don’t know if I’ll read it, given the daunting length of my current “want to read” list. But now at least I’m familiar with some of the issues as presented by someone who knows his way around literary criticism.
WE WON!!!
Congratulations on the People Choice award! You had my vote!
CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE PEOPLES’S CHOICE AWARD!!! I finally won a category. I was concerned since all my other selections failed to win. Way to go!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You won, YEAH!!!
WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
W00T!
Start eating those truffles!
Congratsa!
suse
How drunk can you get on champagne truffles? Answer: Not very, if at all, but the sugar buzz is killer.
WOO HOO!!!!! WE WON!!!!! CONGRATS TO ALL
Congratulations to everyone at Stargate Atlantis!! You definitely deserved it. Now start eating those chocolates!
Congratulations on the People’s Choice Awards win!!!!!
Also, what’s with all the ginormous number of producer credits on the show?
[I’m sorry…I’m going to keep asking this question until you actually do a mailbag. After which, if you don’t answer it I’ll shut the hell up about it. I could wait until after the next book review (since I’m assuming you’re not doing a mail bag because of the reviews), but apparently I like to pester and annoy.]
!!!!!!! CONGRATS !!!!!!!!!
Woot. Congrats Atlantis!!!!!
CONGRATS!!!!!!! Stargate Atlantis won the People’s Choice Award – I’m proud to say that I remembered to get a vote in there at least twice.
I actually forgot that it was on tonight but on surfing through the channels I caught it as they ran down the list of winners and it was cute to see the crew sitting there accepting the award (Joe Flannigan & David Hewlett all scruffy with beards). Loved it!!!
YEAH!!!
Congratulations on the award!
I can hear the father from A Christmas Story now: “It’s a major award!”
Keep up the great work, to you and to all at SGA.
Hope you don’t have to bad a hangover from those Champagne truffles. YEAH SGA!!! A People’s Choice Award Winner!
CONGRATS on the People’s Choice Award!! 🙂 *throws around confetti* 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS Joe on the Favorite SciFi Show win at the People’s Choice Awards! It is indeed well deserved. I voted every day, glad it paid off!
Break out those champagne truffles!!!
I’d probably get drunk off a handful of them LOL. Gotta love the low alcohol tolerance; darn Asian liver!
Also, I missed wishing you a Happy New Year!!! (computer hard drive decided to die…..grrrr!) May this year bring health and success.
Now go celebrate!
-Katie
Congrats on winning! But I mean was there any doubt that you wouldn’t!
CONGRATULATIONS! *cheering madly*
Congrats on the win !!!!!!!
Go ATLANTIS!!!!
Congrats to everyone at SGA!!! I did vote for Atlantis, even though I haven’t enjoyed this season nearly as much as previous ones. I do wish they would have shown more of the clip of the cast…I’d much rather see them than Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal. Congrats, I’m so pleased Atlantis won!
Posted by accident on last night’s blog about the win, but again super congrats to you all on the People’s Choice Award. It is extremely well deserved and long overdue.
Woohoo!
I feel rather ambivalent about The Time Traveler’s Wife. I agree with you Joe, in that I loved the premise. I also agree with what Emily said:
“I liked the flip of knowledge the characters went through–in the beginning we have Clare who’s clueless about the future as Henry pops in with knowledge about their lives; but after they meet in real time, Clare has all the memories of their meetings and Henry has to wait it out until he can experience the times they spent in (Clare’s) past.”
But I also couldn’t help but feel a little creepy about a couple of scenes (Henry and Henry as teenagers and Henry with 18-year old Claire). In fact, every scene in which Henry and Claire made love came across (in my opinion) sleazy rather than steamy. Something to do with the author’s choice of words, I think.
I was interested enough to finish the book, I guess. I enjoy time travel stories. But I don’t think I would quickly pick up another of Ms. Niffenegger’s books.
WooooHoooo! Wheeeeeeee! YAY!
I’ll have to break out that birthday bottle of Moet from the understairs pantry a tad early … pass the strawberries!
I am so excited for you and the production crew (as well as the actors)! Congratulations on the People’s Choice Award. How much will this count towards us getting a Season Six deal out of Sci Fi?
Way to go Stargate Atlantis!!! All the writers, PRODUCERS, cast, crew, everyone behind the scenes, you def. earned it. I know everyone will keep up the great work adn the fans will continue to support it no matter what!!!
Joe,
I hope you will do a virtual acceptance speech in tomorrow’s blog. Just seeing Rachel, Joe, David and Jewel saying thank you just doesn’t quite cut it. Here’s hoping.
Congrats on the People’s Choice Award! I’m so very glad that we fans were given a concrete way to show support. Though I’m disappointed on how little air time the win was given. But I’ll try to look on the bright side. So, who gets to keep the statue?
Extend my congratulations to the cast and the rest of the crew on the People’s Choice win, Joe! You guys certainly deserve it!! =)
Grr. I go away from the tv for like 15 minutes and miss the award??? No Justice! Congratulations though to everyone, and dont forget the tail of the dog when you try to overcome the hangover.
About Time Traveller’s Wife. I wasnt really looking forward to this read. It seemed to be very marginal sci fi, and the reading bore that out. But I found the writing style to be a lot easier to follow than I thought it would be. A few things that came to my mind as I read were a) how bad is it when you are teaching your 9 year old self to be a thief, and warning him mugging was going to be part of his adult proffesion? Why did Henry wait until he wanted to have a child until he got around to seeking expert scientific help? Ok, no one wants to be a human lab rat, but given the harshness of his “lifestyle”, the idea of seeking help had to start appealing at some point. Clare never registered with me as a living breathing person. She wanted Henry, she wanted a child, she was used to having everything she wanted, and always seemed to get it. Including Henry. And Henry’s fatalism did annoy me. As pointed out, he was willing to bend the rules in picking the lottery numbers, but not even attempt to thwart a family crisis by making sure he wasnt caught in a “compromising” position? A shame that the same author who took such pains to track the characters’ ages and meetings failed to address these issues better. But this is marginal sci fi, so I’m not suprised. Overall I give the book a C. Readable enough to finish the book but not so much I’ll be bothering with a re-read a few years down the road. Here’s hoping future Sci Fi selections, are that, sci fi.
Thanks for the discussion on books Joe, I have always wanted to join a book club. I picked up this book two months ago because of the intersting premise despite the advertized love story. The first couple of chapters made me almost put the book down but I perservered and the it became an interesting read.
The romance when Clare was a pre-teenager and Henry was in his late twenties left me a little unnerved. I enjoyed the sci-fi aspect of the book but it would have been more interesting if they kept to the sci-fi insetad of highlighting the romance.
RE: The Time-Traveler’s Wife:
I thought the writing was good. That’s really the only reason I hung around for the first half, because I certainly didn’t see much there regarding plotty story and conflict (though, that may just be the nature of romantic stories — a genre I also typically avoid).
By the second half, though, I really felt like things had turned what with the baby drama and the cage and the feet (*shudder* by the way).
The biggest thing for me was the tragedy of the story. And I have a kind of different take on that. Yeah, Henry suffered way more than Clare, but I can’t stop thinking about the second line of the book. “I wait for Henry…”
From the time she’s a child to the time she’s an old woman, she’s just waiting for Henry to show up. Sure, we see a few moments where she gets to be her own person through her art and with Alba (sort of, in both those cases), but I think it definitely ends with the sense that Clare never really lived life outside of him, and even though she seemed happy doing it, it just seems sad to me.
But maybe that’s because I’ve never been in love, which I’m sure some would say makes me quite tragic even though I feel happy.
And Eric Bana as Henry? Really? He seems too beefy to me. As for how TTTW relates to Journeyman (because it was the combination of it being a Mallozzi BotM and my love of Journeyman that made me read the book) I can honestly say that I see no similarities between the two beyond there’s a guy who time travels and it’s kind of inconvenient.
But, because this is getting long, congratulation on the People’s Choice (which I’m just assuming from the comments Atlantis won, since I haven’t seen it yet), BAMSR was awesome (but whenever I see the acronym for it, I’m always reading it like “Bam, Sir!” which amuses me something fierce), and is it Friday, yet?
Wait, that’s not all (sorry). Did you say you were or were not a fan of Dean Koontz? Because while I can generally take or leave his work, I re-read “From the Corner of His Eye” over the summer and it’s quite possibly one of my favorite books ever. I’d love it if it were a BoTM, just so I could read it for a 4th time and not feel lame.
Congrats! Never a doubt in my mind. (raises a glass of cola in honour).
We got BAMSR tonight and it blew me away. Can’t wait till next Tuesday. I’m glad I resisted the urge to read your blog with Marty G until after it had aired or I’d have gone straight to the spoilers. Back to reading the blog 4 days behind again. Sigh.
Damn, just missed the crucial moment; but congrats to one and all, and woohoooooooo!!!
[pretend marquee of champagne bottles here]
*dances round the office*
SGA won, SGA won, SGA won!!! I’m SO glad Atlantis won PCA’s best sci-fi show…cos it IS!!
Congrats Joe and everyone on the Atlantis team!
Hey Joe,
What a week for you guys. Had one of the best episodes recently(Not like the other ones weren’t good of course :p), Best Ratings since last season, and now SGA won the 2007 People’s choice awards for best SCI FI show…….so easy on those truffles, LOL!
Congrats!!
Squall78
Joe, Congratulations to all on the People’s Choice Award, you really kept it quiet… are we going to get the inside scoop or the behind the scenes of the reactions? who cried? who got drunk? did Rob Cooper bet on another show to win? 🙂
Congrats to all again!
CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great job to you and all involved. Don’t forget to wait awhile before driving after ingesting all of those truffles Joe.
Congrats guys on winning the PCA. I wish we got to see and hear more from the cast, but at least you guys won. :D:D:D
I know alot of us at GW were voting everyday.
Woooohoooo!!
Ok. I’m done. 😀
Omedetou, Joe (and crew!)!! 😀 I missed the awards show, alas — I was watching One Tree Hill’s 2-hour season premiere and didn’t even realise PCA was on. A Tuesday?? What an odd night for a special event … they don’t have the SGA acceptance speech up on the PCA site, either. *sigh*
But we’re not done yet, fans! Let’s win the TV.com vote by a landslide!! Keep clicking!!!!
Sorry I can’t contribute to this book discussion either, Joe. I did enjoy the SGA novels that I bought instead of TTW pretty well, though, save for the fact that they’re driving me crazy with their whole “Ronon is immune to the Wraith” thing. And I was dissapointed to dicover that the one that was a slight crossover with SG-1 did not have Vala in it — only Daniel, Landry, Lam, and Woolsey. *pout*
@Linzi, re: your comment yesterday ~ Thanks! Glad you’ve been enjoying the recap-reviews! 😀 (Hope the BAMSR one wasn’t too long — it came in at just under 17 pages! I’ve been trying to be more succint, but the more I try, the longer my reviews seem to get ….)
I am here to comment on The crooked Letter, it was the only book on the list that i actually managed to buy in Australia (read really small town where i live- I ORDERED THE OTHERS BUT THEY STILL HAVE NOT ARRIVED!) This book was a hard book for me to read, normally i knock over a book in a weekend but i moved house in the middle of the book and it ended up taking me three weeks to read, christmas didn’t help. I enjoyed the beginning of this book and i enjoyed the end, the middle seemed too long, and i really didn’t love the characters, The three main characters were very unlikeable and i found the characters i did like, kybele, pujkay and the kaia, really were only out for themselves in the end. However when i got to the last chapter i found myself wanting to read the next book. So I found this book to be a really strange ride, 200 pages in the first sitting, the next 200 taking me almost 3 weeks and then the last 200 pages in one sitting. I find more and more authors are having atleast 2 main characters and going from one to the other and normally i find myself arriving at each new section wishing i could continue with the last character and then the same when they change back, in this novel i found myself not being that dissapointed when it swapped charcters all the time. There were parts i loved though, the imagery and the names, so familiar and yet so strange at the same time. I don’t have any comments on the new eps of the show as we in Australia have still not even had season 3 broadcast, thank god for dvd. Hope all is well and it isn’t too cold there, it is hot as hell here.
Congratulations on winning the People’s Choice Award. Way to go!
I guess you were probably busy watching it, and missed the CBC’s new show, “jPOD” (executive produced by Douglas Coupland, and based on his book). I happened across it accidentally, and missed most of it, but found that Colin Cunningham is part of the cast. It was nice to see him again, as I’ve always liked Major Davis.
OH YEY! Congratulations for the win! That’s fantastic! 😀
I came in here originally to say…. “Very Worst Opening Lines in Fiction” – That sounds awesome! I’m definitely going to check it out.
Congrats on the People’s Choice win!! I’m so excited for our show! I wish the cast had been allowed more than three seconds on screen but better than nothing I guess. Extend my best wishes to the entire cast and crew. You guys deserve it!
Woo hoo wtg SGA!!!
There is an upcoming movie for “the time traveler’s wife” ? Hum, well.
I’m agreeing with you on most points. I liked the idea behind the story but never found Henry character interesting and even found him more irritating than attractive in any way.
The only reason I finished the book is because I’m a curious cat and can’t stand to leave a book unfinished, but I found the ending awful and heartbreaking. It seems that for her whole life, Clare only did one thing and that’s wait for Henry to appear. It broke my heart for her and made me even angrier at Henry for not letting her live her life. For him time might not be linear, but it’s no reason to make Clare suffer the 80 years or so for an episodic appearance, this is so selfish of the main character that I would call him more an anti-hero than anything.
I’m not sure I want to comment on the multiples pregancies, a moment of pure torture, even for someone like me who doesn’t want a child.
All in all, not a book I will read again.
This said, congratulation on winning the People’s choice award ! 😀
My guess is you’ll become sick of the champagne truffles long before you become drunk with them 😉
SGA is victorious! Hurrah! \o/
(I voted for you guys, by the way. That must mean something when you consider that I actually enjoy BSG and Doctor Who…just not quite as much as gloriously awesome SGA. And another thing! Nothing I ever vote for in the PCA’s actually wins. This is AMAZING! Go SGA!)
On The Time Traveler’s Wife: I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard such mixed reviews from people that I think I might have to check it out. (Rather, put my name on the request list. Librarians get no perks. Bah!)
Break out the truffles, Joe!
Congratulations! WOOT!
Bonsoir Joseph,
Houhouuuu ! Sabrons le champagne !! Félicitation !!!! Quelle joie de gagner quelque chose !!!
Merci pour les critiques de livres c’est très appréciés ! Il y a vraiment des fans qui t’envoient des cadeaux par la poste ?
Wow, chanceux…
Hip, hip, HOORAY!
Congrats on the win!
Congratulations on the People’s Choice Award win! Unfortunately I missed seeing the win because my mom called me right then.
I’ll join in the parade with CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! as well. You guys deserved it…especially after BAMSR!!
Don’t go overboard with those truffles; we wouldn’t want a too-hung-over Joe Mallozzi overseeing Stargate productions, what with all the innocent people working there. 😉
YEAH!!! HOORAH!! Frappacinos all around — I’m buying! So wonderful that SGA won best sci-fi show on People’s Choice Awards! Only annoying factor was that screen time was, at best, 4 seconds. Long enough to see Joe F and David H sporting full beards and I think Rachell was there on the right, but it went by so fast I couldn’t see the other woman sitting to the right of Joe. Was that Jewel?
You know guys, science fiction as a genre in TV or film just does NOT get the respect it surely deserves. At least WE KNOW SGA DESERVED this award and I sure DID vote, again and again and again, and,…
Congratulations to cast, crew, writers, producers, directors, et. al.
Hugs from New Jersey {{ }}
Congratulations on your win tonight!
The best show definitely won!!
Enjoy the truffle buzz!
It was great seeing SGA take home the Favorite SciFi show at the People’s Choice Awards. Just wish they’d shown the whole acceptance speech. I mean, I’m sure David Hewlett could have gotten two minutes of speech into twenty seconds if they had a time constraint 😉
WE WON????? (lol what’s this WE bizzo gurrfrend????) YOU won!!!! Our contributions would have been clicking on that vote button and watching the show like the loyal fans we are! How enjoyable is that?
Man, I’m rapt!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!
Announcement: Joe’s blog for tomorrow will be cancelled because those champagne truffles have quite a kick…
*visualizes a pissed Joe, remnants of choccie truffles on his chin, swaying over keyboard, Black knitted scarf getting in the way of his bad typo’d spelling.. hehehehe
I can’t wipe the smile off my face. (chocolate free)
Congratulations. It’s definitely well earned!
Now I vote PG15 does a streak in honour of this event. 🙂
Congratulations on winning the People’s Choice Award!!
Here’s to winning next year.
Good evening. I just wanted to swing by and say CONGRATULATIONS on the win!!! It’s well deserved (it’s been a SUPREME season) I am sure you and everyone over on Stargate Atlantis are thrilled — just as much as us fans! 🙂 Have fun partying!
Hi Joe!
Happy New Year!!!
Had to take a couple of weeks off for holidays and life, er, hanging out on the beach with a cold, but I’m baaaack!
And what a wonderful life to come back to! Absolutely loved BAMSR – must watch it again – and SGA won a PCA!!!! I did my part in the voting. Always voted SGA, even though I’ve been a Dr. Who fan for 20 years. Ahhhh….loyalty.
Anyway, best to you and congrats to everyone for the Award!!!!!
eddy
Winner!!!
P. S
This win will be taken in consideration when making the decision to film season 6 shouldn’t it???? Bloody well hope so!
Rebonsoir,
Humm, les photos hier elles sont vraiment jolies, mais je me demandais (et ce n’est vraiment pas parce que je veux critiquer, noooon non) pourquoi avoir photographié ton téléphone? Il t’avait manqué pendant les vacances? On est supposé voir un indice secret au milieu de ta paperasse et ton horaire à propos de la saison 5 ? Tu as un fétichisme quelconque sur les téléphones (ho, jamais il ne me viendrait l’idée de te juger, c’est certain que c’est ben beau un téléphone et c’est teeeellement utile !!) C’est seulement par pur altruisme que je me renseigne. Ho, et j’espère que les bulles de ton champagne aux truffles ne te monteront pas trop à la tête et que tu n’auras une envie folle de photographier tous les téléphones de ta maison (quoi que ça pourrait être amusant de voir ces photos sur ton blogue demain…) Bon, j’arrête de te niaiser et félicitation encore une fois !!!!! lol
Woo-hoo, yippee, W00T, and Congratulations to everyone at Stargate Atlantis for their People’s Choice Award for Favorite SciFi TV Show.
What a well-deserved award!
Morjana
Congrats! I bet you already knew, you cheeky bugger, since they’d already filmed the acceptance “speech” (if 2.5 seconds counts as a speech). Who was the woman on the left with Joe, David, and Rachel?
Okay, on to “Time Traveler’s Wife”. Great summary and review, Joe, and thanks for the note about the movie — had no idea.
As others have said, it wasn’t actually sci fi. It was romance and drama with time travel as the PFD (as Marty G. called it in a commentary, Plot Forwarding Device). Like Joe I found the premise interesting and the execution largely comprehensible. But, all the journeys got to be repetitive and a bit of a slog after a while. I stuck with it because I had a feeling there would be a tragic ending and I figured I might as well hang with Clare to the bitter end. I sure didn’t see the frostbite coming, though. Once Henry was so defenseless, he was bound to not survive one of his jumps.
As for why Clare chose Henry and why Henry never tried to change the future, I think the whole point was they were fated to be together because he found her as a child, and he found her as a child because they were fated to be together. Trite and cliche? Probably, but who am I to judge? As Henry says at one point, his whole life is circular, and he’s bound to do what he has always done, ad infinitum. To me that was the tragedy of it. I also think there was a big dose of selfishness on his part. He was so happy in the future with Clare, he couldn’t imagine not creating that future. Perhaps if he’d known how things ended, he would have changed things, but it could always be worse, as they say. His parents’ experience might have driven him in that regard.
I enjoyed the paper descriptions. That was the author throwing in her expertise. I would have done the same. 🙂
I found it hard to believe his friends would come to accept his time travel as a “normal” thing… How did Gomez get the name Gomez??
Overall, I’m glad I read it, but in terms of fun, I’m enjoying The Android’s Dream more already. How can you not love a book that starts out with a character having a custom “fart machine” installed in his colon?
Michelle
Congratulations on winning the PCA choice Award!!! Does this mean that SGA season 6 is a huge possibility because of the award?
I hope! I Hope!
Great Friday Episode BAMSR I cant wait to see spoils of war
I was a little bit shocked at the responses of Ronen and Sheppard. I expected them to be the other way around.
The main in was more of a shocker than Mckay creating a replicator and only questions will weir be alliance or foe?
Congrats again
Always a fan always will be I try hard to make sure my voice as a fan is heard.
Fans world wide spoke about SGA and we WON!!!!!
Congratulations to all you talented folk! I know you make my weeks just a little bit better. Hooray for SGA! :-X
Hmm. Thanks for the Time Traveller’s Wife review which upon reading made me extremely glad I hadn’t bothered with it. The premise sounds familiarly like Journeyman which is currently showing on Sky and again something i haven’t been able to get into. Romance is ok as long as its a part of a sub-sub plot otherwise I’d take up Mills and Boon and crocheting, get myself a blue rinse, twin set and pearls and for some hitherto unkown reason change my name to Mabel.
Question: What the hell am I doing up at 4.56am?
D’oh — amending my last post to say it’s Jewel Staite in the PCA shot. Sorry — I’d only seen a fuzzy screen shot at the time.
Michelle
Whoooo Hooooo!!!!! I voted everyday and I did pretty well with my other votes too I was afraid of BSG but I am just happy that a mainstream award show gave the genre a little love by giving it it’s own category SGA winning is icing on the cake for me. I still voted for you even when I was angry about the cast changes and you callously tossed aside 2 of my favorite characters (Weir & Beckett). Why didn’t you do a mail bag I asked some good questions could you please answer them. I am going to California next week could you please get a street addy where Carl is picketing so I can bring him cookies chocolate chip I promise. So who gets the award in their office or will you all take turns? Congrats Yahoo!!!
If you go to pcavote.com you can see a 30sec video of a fan question to Rachel, Jewel, Joe, and David. The question was if any of them were tech geeks in real life. I can’t find the video of the actual acceptance speech, maybe they will put it up later. Congrats Atlantis!
Hey, Joe! I’m here to weigh in on The Time Traveler’s Wife. I seem to have found the characters more interesting than you and some of the other readers. That’s not to say I always found them likeable; they had their share of issues and flaws and got on my nerves at times. But I thought they were entertaining to read about. This might be because I thought the author did a good job with both internal and external dialogue. I thought it felt surprisingly real and non-clichéd, especially with the intersperses of humor.
As for the bit about the lottery: I sort of wondered if, during his travels, Henry had noticed they had a super-nice house/Clare had a studio/etc. or else somehow realized they had won the lottery. Then, upon knowing this, knew he should cheat the lottery because of what he’d seen of his future. In that sense, it didn’t seem much different to me than when teenage!Henry didn’t prevent his father from walking in on that rather awkward situation, since he was already resigned to it happening. But I don’t think the book ever specified that he knew he cheated the lottery in the future, so it might all be my own mind trying to justify things. The 9/11 bit did throw me off. Even if his philosophical belief was that he couldn’t change it, I’m surprised he wouldn’t at least be tempted to try.
(Also…that was a VERY understanding library staff. I’ve only worked at a few places in my two decades on this Earth, but I’m pretty sure all of them would fire me on the spot if they found me running around naked even once.)
Anyway, I usually only read romance under duress, but I genuinely enjoyed the book.
And I hear congratulations are in order to all of you awesome SGA folks for a People’s Choice Awards win! You all deserve it!
Congratulations on the People’s Choice win, Joe!
I’ve never been a fan of romance as a genre, basically because the characters always seem underdeveloped or horribly fixated, because the entire focus is just on one slither of the human experience but blown up to 1000%. And if it’s all heaving bosums, and erm, heaving other bits, I’m always wondering what they’d, you know, actually TALK about. There’s only so much eye gazing you can do before someone has to blink or get a migraine. It’s less about actual human beings and often more about idealised versions of gender stereotypes, and to me that’s not all that interesting.
And yes, nothing says true love like seeing a four year old version of your partner and thinking, hmmm, in 14 more years I get to bang that. Ewwwww, and also, massive fail! Theirloveissocreepy!
But more importantly huge, huge congratulations to you all for the much deserved win. I’m absolutely rapt that you won!
And be responsible for hundreds of cases of psychological damage? No thanks. :p
Congrats on the win, everyone!
Congratulations on the People’s Choice win!!
Hey Joe, I hope you/stargate/we win.
Do you know a four letter word for betrayal?
Do you know a five letter word for betrayal?
The PEOPLE have spoken – Stargate Atlantis is the best (but you already knew that)! Joe – Congratulations to you and your cohorts, to a super cast and dedicated crew!
You’re simply the best!!!!
Congrats to you and all the cast and crew on the PCA! At least we got that tiny fan video since we got screwed on the acceptance speech!..One day sci-fi will get respect!
Hoped you enjoyed the choclates!
STARGATE ATLANTIS FTW!!! Congrats!!!
Congrats on the PCA win. I will sound ridiculous and possibly patronizing for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m proud for you and your team, that you are receiving additional recognition for your work.
Now, get back to work on Season 5!
And now for the promised author-comment about Audrey Niffenegger that I mentioned I would share several weeks ago, not that I expect anyone to remember.
She was a guest speaker at one of my company conferences in Phoenix a few years ago. The best non-offensive thing my peers and I could say after her hour-long speech in the hot Arizona sun while she repeated, “It was odd, it was very odd…such an odd experience…things were odd” dozens of times was this: For a speaker, she’s an awfully good writer. I was so put-off by her communication style that I chose not to read TTW, and gave my autographed copy to one of my staff members.
It is beyond me why some publishers book speaking engagements for authors without first determining their ability to effectively communicate in that forum. A good writer and a good speaker do not always inhabit the same body, and it makes for a difficult and sometimes agonizing experience for all parties.
Congratulations to everyone at SGA!! any chance of you uploading the “full” acceptance speech here on your blog for those of us who don’t live in America/Canada…. and having said that, I did manage to cast my own vote for you guys.
The Time Travellers Wife – I loved the book. I read a mixture of genres – sci-fi; fantasy; romance; action/adventure; biographies; historical etc etc, so I didn’t mind the mixture of romance into it – although the teenage Henrys getting sprung by their father did throw me a bit. The whole trying to change the future thing didn’t bother me as it seems to have bothered other readers – he’s only one guy, how was he supposed to have stopped 9/11 for cryin’ out loud!? Send in an anonymous tip to the FBI? i have my doubts that it would have been able to stop the terrorists. Maybe things on a smaller scale (like the lottery win) but nothing on such a huge global level.
Its been a while since i read it, so correct me if i’m wrong – but once it (9/11) happens in real life for Henry, how will he know if he will ever go back in time long (and far) enough to change things? And if you think about it, he does change the small things – like managing to show up at his wedding so it won’t appear as though he left Claire at the Alter.
It made me cry, it wouldn’t let me stop reading until I finished it, it never made me want to throw the book across the room and scream in frustration – so all in all, in my humble opinion TTTW= a great book. i would recommend to anyone with an open mind and an active imagination for the “what ifs…” of the world.
Awesome job on the win tonight. I know that everyone must be really happy about it. I’m sure many mini-celebrations were planned once word came in. They actually said the acceptance speech was pre-taped. Does that mean you knew ahead of time or just planned in case of a win? And how drunk did you end up getting on the champagne-infused truffles?
Congratulations on the PCAs!
So what are your picks for this weekends NFL play off games?
Woo hoo! SGA won its category in the People’s Choice Awards! CONGRATULATIONS! 🙂
I voted every day, so I’m particularly thrilled that for once something I voted for and am passionate about actually won! You have no idea how much RSI I’m suffering from voting at TV.Com for SGA in their awards online!
SGA totally, 100% deserves this award.
So, I guess you’re under the table, under the influence of champagne truffles then? Sounds good to me!
Hi Joe:
I would love to see you personally accepting the People’s Choice Award. I’m thrilled that Atlantis won. Feel the love, Joe…we all love you guys.
Btw, I was the one that sent you the inspirational book. Sorry about forgetting the card. My brain has been swiss cheese for the past month. I did write an inscription in the front cover for you though.
Patricia
PG-15 said: “And be responsible for hundreds of cases of psychological damage? No thanks. :p”
Joe, you have to encourage him to do it. I think it would be worth the risk to get a shot of a blue PG-15 running through freezing rain with an icicle hanging from his nose. It IS for a good cause, after all. 🙂
Patricia
Congratulations!!! The boys at Bridge Studios are certainly on a roll this year with a great season of Atlantis, the media interest in the movies and now a PCA.
Now if the darn strike would just settle so that Stargate Universes could get into production …
LibKat
First tim poster from teh UK here and after watching BAMSR last night I think I can honestly say it was the best single episode of Atlantis so far.
I would put it on a level with SG-1’s Lost City (and lets face it SG-1 took 7 years to get there)
Congrats on the award as well.
A couple of quick question:
1) In the first attck on the Replicator ship by both the Apollo and Daedelus, was it really necessary to send 3 full bird colonels and a Lt col into harms way?
2) Was the possibility of the collapsing and compressing “blob” actually acheiving fusion as a start/black hole ever considered (I know McKay and Carter mention neutron Star density). It could have made for an interesting next episode as the Apollo/Daedelus can`t get away etc etc.
WOO Hoo! Congrats on the win!
I think this calls for Lulu pics and video!
Congrats to cast and crew for the award, Joe!
And you’re welcome to the TimTams. 🙂
Congratulations to all the Atlantis cast and crew.
I know I cast my vote.
Hopefully this awards amongst the many others you are collecting will help secure the future of our favorite show for many season to come.
The people have spoken!
Congratulations to everyone at stargate atlantis on the people’s choice award win. Well deserved!
Yippeeee!
Well done to everyone involved with Atlantis for the award.
I forgot/didn’t have time to vote on a few days, so I would have blamed myself if you hadn’t won! Atlantis is, most definitely, the best show on TV for me!
🙂
Hey Joe,
One question thats been bugging everybody’s mind
“What ever happen to the ancient warship Tria?”
Thanks
I guess I’m in the minority because I enjoyed reading The Time Traveler’s Wife…on my second attempt. First time round, Henry’s claim that chaos is the opposite of determinism, which is just wrong from a mathematical standpoint, so annoyed me that I ended up chucking the book aside in disgust. Even on the re-read, I had to force myself to keep going. But I was ultimately glad I perservered.
I didn’t have quite the same indifferent/negative reaction to the characterization of Henry and Clare that everyone else seemed to. Like others, I did find it a bit creepy that Henry essentially imprinted himself on Clare from childhood, and that Clare never really had a chance to live a life separate from Henry, but I thought that added to the story rather than detracting from it. The whole book seemed to revolve around the theme of deterministic lives, and for all the hopscotching around in time, the lives of Henry and Clare were essentially predetermined from the moment they were born. The creepiness inherent in their romance was just the cherry on the cake for me.
I’ll also confess that I quite liked Henry. His genetic oddity resulted in an amorality that I quite liked: Henry’s a librarian who knows how to pick pockets and play the markets (both stock and dating), and I liked that he wasn’t just a generic hero.
Unlike Joe, I had no problems with the lottery-9/11 thing. Henry says, over and over, that he cannot do anything to change the past, that things have to play out as they would have even if he hadn’t travelled back thorugh time. Henry didn’t change the lottery numbers that were picked, he merely capitalized on his knowledge of them. To change the outcome of 9/11, though, means that Henry would have had to do something to change it before it happened in the first place, something which according to the rules of time travel in this book is impossible.
Mostly, though, I just enjoyed the way this book was written. I loved the scenes Niffenegger painted with words, and the way the book leapt about in time and POV, but still made chronological sense. And that final bittersweet scene that leaves off just before Henry and Clare’s final moment was, for me, the perfect ending.
If we win, I’ll celebrate by seeing how drunk I can get on champagne truffles.
I guess this happened? Congratulations to all for the award! It’s well deserved. 🙂
The Time Traveler’s Wife is different from what I read too. It was interesting but something I’m not likely to pick up again. I just wish the author would have explain (given the reason for) Henry’s condition earlier in the book. Found myself asking-early on-why he is doing this time traveling?
I did enjoy his wedding though.
SGA WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *dances*
Well done on the win sga rocks!!two questions from my DD,just seen BAMSR in uk,how come the replicator ship with weir in it didnt show up on the cheese grater thingy that showed all the ships,you’d think they’d have checked it to make sure they were all gone,and please can you explain how the ships have the asgard weapons cos she said at the end of season 10 sg1 carter turned them off so the ori couldnt track them and as they live in the milky way normally , they would be tracked and exploded by the ori if they had them Thank you very muchPS she wants to know where the wraith queens have gone as well.Thanksx
P.S Watched the new promo on mgm, and Im SO happy that Lorne’s in the next episode!! XD
I love Lorne ^^
Congratulations on winning the PCA! I only wish they had allowed the acceptance speech to be longer then two seconds. 🙂
I was just wondering what your favourite Stargate prop of all time is and do you have any of them setting around in your office?
Hello =) Wiiiiiii je suis tellement contente qu’on est gagner!!! Bravo!! et vive stargate ♥♥♥
Waou vous avez reçu plein de jolie cadeaux! …snif moi j’ai pas d’idée…. Quesqui vous ferez plaisir??
Bon je repasserais plus tard…Kissouuuuuuuuuu !
Congrats on winning the People’s Choice Award!!! That 2 second acceptance speech that they allowed the cast to have was great. ; )
Woohoo!!!! Stargate Atlantis: People’s Choice Award Winner!!!!!
Congrats to all, and may there be more awards in your future!!!
-LV
ps — if anyone missed it, the acceptance speech is up at http://www.pcavote.com/pca/show.jsp
-LV
So fess up… how drunk can you get on champagne truffles? 😀
Congrats to all the cast and crew on the win. *applauds wildly*
Congrats on the Peoples Choice award – just how drunk can you get on champagne truffles?
As for the book? Well… I agree with you, mostly.
I liked the idea of being unable to alter things as they had already occurred, but I think it was more psychological than actual – Henry had time travelled and seen themselves richer, or seen the events of 9/11, so assumed they were meant to be.
I think that if Clare had left the date on that sketch, it would still be there when he asked about it.
I got bored of Clare’s papermaking descriptions and of her moping around – I could picture her remaining alone and just waiting for Henry until that day when she is 83, and I found that morbidly depressing.
Still not a huge fan of the romance genre, but it was something different which is always good.
Congrats on the PCA!! We, the People, unlike the idiot Emmy voters recognize quality!
great! I like SGA 🙂
Congrats on the PCA win!!! I hope this means that we’ll get a Season 6 for this, and a Season 7, 8, 9, 10….
Congrats on the People’s Choice Award Joe! And that’s for all the cast and crew who work so hard on the show as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
Time Traveler’s Wife – I really don’t want to be pegged as the “defender of the romance genre” on this blog, but after reading TTW, I feel compelled to point out that this is not a typical example of a contemporary romance novel. In fact, in my Barnes and Noble, it was shelved under “fiction”, not in the romance section. It is really more of a “literary” novel, than romance.
the big difference? This freaking book had no plot!!!
It’s a shame. The author has a lovely voice that is smooth and easy to read. Unlike Straub’s Ghost Story, the prose just flows along and there is enough white space to be easy on the eyes and make the pages pass quickly. I quite liked the little quirks of humor that popped up here and there, and the characters, for me, were acceptable, if not as rich as they might have been.
What really bothered me is that they had no goals and there was no conflict. I need a book in which the characters are trying to achieve something, and face obstacles that must be overcome, possibly face an antagonist and experience conflict. TTW was basically just a chronical of Henry and Clare’s daily lives — more like reading someone’s journal than a novel. I felt like they were just treading through the water of time, not really trying to get anywhere. This left me wholly unsatisfied. And…just to beat you over the head with it (sorry)…is not typical of a contemporary romance novel.
Overall, I give it a thumbs down.
WB
Congrats on the win at the People’s Choice Awards!!
Congrats on the WIN BUDDY! I hope that those champane truffles knock you on your ass! Will there be some kind of celebration at the office? If so can we get a video of it?
Congratulations on winning The Peoples Choice award….passes virtual wine gums around to everyone.
Keeping the Claret ones for myself…hey I brought them. Now if pg 15 did the promised streak across our screens or if Joe is still in celebratory mood perhaps he could oblige?
I could use my new found magnifying device thing!
But alas it only goes up to 400% magnification.
Pauline
Congrats on the win! I totally missed the show – I was watching the pilot of 4400 last nite and I have to say it creeped me out…I think the PCA would have been better and I did vote for SGA twice 🙂 so I participated in the win for the first time!
As for Time Traveler’s Wife – I read it several years ago, around when it came out. It seemed to be everywhere and unlike most people here, apparently, I actually usually REALLY enjoy a good romance (ok I’m a picky reader of the genre… but I digress). I just didn’t like it much. I slogged through it, and it was set in an area that I lived in (when I read it) so that part was enjoyable but when that’s the most you get out of the book, well, that tells me something right there.
I thought the whole thing was implausible – not in the way that oh, Stargate it implausible because of course it’s just so crazy 🙂 I wish it would work – this was just a depressing book for me. I guess that’s why I don’t generally read horror, or gruesome murder books.
I feel like I’m rambling but this is the first one of your selections I have actually read, so I’m interested to see what other people think. And I will NOT be going to the movie.
Congrats to all of SGA on winning the award! I must say I can’t remember any of these award shows in the past recognizing anything scifi??? It’s very nice. You guys deserve the credit for what I believe is one of the most intelligent and interesting shows on TV. One thing though- beards on both Joe F and David H?!? Are they trying to show solidarity with the writer’s strike just like the late night talk show hosts? Hmmm, very strange. Tell, me, any chance one or both of the actors will be keeping that facial hair once filming starts on the new season?
Congratulations for the PCA win!!!! I NEVER watch awards shows anymore, but I was more than happy to make the exception last night.
Like everyone else, I want details: when you found out, where’s the award now, where was the thank you segment recorded (It’s disappointing that Joe, David, Jewel and Rachel got about 2 seconds of screen time. But on the other hand, several winners didn’t get any.), how it was decided those four would go, what celebration there was…
Again, congrats to you, the crew, TBTB and the cast for making a show worthy of being voted as scifi favorite show! 🙂
For all those who didn’t see the show, here are the links you need:
Go here for the acceptance speech. Just scroll ’til you see the cast. NB: Mr. Flanigan and Mr. Hewlett are both sporting beards(?).
Go here to see a fan question answered. Again, scroll ’til you see the cast.
Anne Teldy
First off, congrats on the win, nice job Atlantis *g*.
Time Travelers Wife I did enjoy when I read it, I too tend to avoid romance, but I love sci fi (duh) and it was recommended. I agree with the comments about naked adult Henry popping up in child-Clare’s life being rather alarming at first, but once I got into the story it got less weird. I also couldn’t understand why they were determined to have a baby with so many problems and miscarriages. Henry I found annoying, which I think was the intention and Clare seemed impossibly understanding.
It seemed odd to have such attention to detail for some consequences (why he couldn’t have fillings, why losing his feet would be so bad, consistent nudity), but be so inconsistent with changing the future and not really address the wider impact of a man suddenly dissapearing and reappearing in the nuddy! By the time their daughter is a teenager it seems to be an accepted phenomenon, but nothing was said about how it got there…it seemed impossibly quick and that irked me.
Overall I thought the premise was interesting, but felt that a lot more could have been done with the idea than a love story, for all the touching scenes, particularly the end.
Congratulations on the winning People Choice Award!!!
Joe, I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not but it’s pretty cool. (also made by the guy who created your current WP theme)
http://acko.net/blog/stargate-atlantis-meets-line-rider-go-rodney
(feel free to delete from the queue, btw)
Hi Joe,
I was wondering if you could dedicate your next blog entry to my Great-grandma. She passed away this morning and I’m kind of in shock about it. What my family and I need are good thoughts and prayers right now. Your dedication would really mean a lot.
Thank you,
Amy
Congratulations on winning the PCA!!
To all the Cast & Crew of SGA – congrats on the PCA win!
Joe – in recent days/weeks you’ve mentioned off and on some snippets about developments for Season 5, potential character announcements, negotiations, etc. How close are we to knowing the cast line-up for Season 5? (Regular, recurring, etc.).
Which answer best fits? (Hey it’s like those multiple choice questions in school!)
A) This week
B) Next week
C) Next month
D) Not until Season 4 is done airing.
Have I missed the discussion on The Princess Bride?
Thanks,
SMB_BOOKS
SEW Crew Member
http://www.saveelizabethweir.com
Are Rob Cooper and Brad Wright working on Stargate Universe yet?
Congrats on PCA….
1)Has the retrovirus been adapting and mutating even moreso than the last time it was seen?
2)Will personal feelings between the team add fuel to an existing fire, causing bad situations to increasingly become worse?
3)Will Bates have anything to say about Teyla or her pregnancy when we see him next?
Congrats on the win! Champagne truffles? Think you need something stronger than them – maybe just champagne?!
Nice to have beat BSG – I think it’s highly overrated. The last season lost me. The previous season nearly lost me, but I wanted to see what happened, so made myself stay with it. This time though, I finally got fed up. Too much shippiness for my taste, too slow, too depressing and that pseudo-religious stuff finally got to be just too much for me (and I can usually cope with quite a bit of that in sci-fi)!!
Are you still watching it, Mr M? What do you think of it? I realise I might be in the minority here!!
Also, thanks to the fans here who posted links to the acceptance speech and the fan question – thought they were cool!
Oh look, its been almost 12 hours since my last comment.
I just wanted to add my voice to the many offering congratulations on the PCA win.
Congratulations on winning the PCA. It was well earned. Any thoughts on where you are going to put that shinny new trophy?
Congratulations to everyone on the People’s Choice win! I was pleased to also see the taped “thankyou/acceptance” message with Jewell, Joe F., David and Rachel. Yay!!
Congratulations on the award.
I was wondering if we will see the Tria at all during season 4. I know lots of people have asked, including myself, but if we could kindly get an answer now it can be put about, silencing calls for the ship. Also will the Expedition ever pilot it in season 5?
I’ll join in the book reviews one of these days, but I just set myself the task/pleasure of FINALLY reading the LoTR trilogy and THE HOBBIT (second time for the latter).
7 Jan. photos remind me of family story. Family friend was engineer for Bell Labs. Mom visited his office in the early 60’s, was taken aback that so many gentlemen seemed to be just sitting back with feet on desks. Friend’s explanation? “They’re engineers…they’re THINKING.”
Congratulations on your win! 🙂 Maybe y’all or SciFi will make note of it before the next episode airs. That would be a nice touch.
Congratulations to the cast and crew on the PCA and BAMSR since it aired last night over here in jolly old England. Best SGA episode so far. i dint read your blogs until the episode aired over here caught up with the blogs and missed Marty G question time darrnn. Good to know weir will be back and new fan Favourite FRAN hopefully. 1 question though.
Will there will be any new ancient/ lantian discoveries in atlantis or the pegasus galaxy in season 4 or 5?
congrats on the PCA!! I feel somewhat cheated that they decided to only air a 1sec of their taped thank-you speech!!! GEE!!
Congrats on the people’s choice awards win! Do i smell an Emmy coming!? 🙂 Too bad they made poor David and the rest of the guys and gals fly down to L.A. for a 5 sec acceptance spot, i was hoping for a little more. Still, another trophy for Atlantis! W00T! You guys should sneak it into the show next season, you know, like on Carter’s desk or something ;).
OH! Or maybe it can be the trophy that Teyla and John fight for in the highly anticipated stick fighting episode, eh?
Congratulations on the award!! 🙂 That’s fantastic!!
Don’t get too drunk ;-)..
Mr. M,
Which do you favor: ballpoint, rollerball, or fountain pen? Any particular brands? If a fountain pen, which ink type and brand?
I’m curious because I felt my handwriting could use some polish and many people have told me using a fountain pen would help. So I tried one recently — albeit an inexpensive disposable one — and fell in love with it. Now I’m gathering information in anticipation of purchasing myself a “real” (i.e., not disposable) fountain pen. Your thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Anne Teldy (who doesn’t actually know anyone who uses a fountain pen on a regular basis and doesn’t have the kind of relatives who give such things as gifts)
Congrats Joe!
Please answer my Continuum question – Will Jack be in more than 15 minutes?
Stargate Atlantis won the People Choice Awards! I guess 2008 is a good year for Stargate (nothing has been leaked this year, good ratings for Be All My Sins Remember’d and an award). However, Mr. Flanigan and Mr. Hewlett need to get rid of the beards. Seriously. They look like Sasquatch (aka Bigfoot).
Please answer this question. What part of Scotland is Beckett from? Thanks.
Congratulations on the People’s Choice Awards win! I voted everyday well worth it
Congratulations on receiving the Peoples Choice Award. It’s great to see SGA getting some recognition. It’s very much deserved. It’s a great show and the only one I watch religiously each week. Hope we get to see a longer version of the acceptance speech by JoeF, Rachel, Jewel and David.
Well done to the crew and everyone else involved in the show.
From the read of all this I believe Congratulations is in order!
Here’s to a hangover free celebration (not that I’m saying no alcohol, I’m saying let’s hope the PTB are nice and decide not to give you one).
Hoping this award gives more weight to future seasons.
Enjoy!
congrats on winning!! go easy on the truffles!
You’re most welcome for the scarf, however now you owe me by answering my question, even if it does give away major spoilers. I noticed that Ronon seems very interested in Teyla’s baby and even wants to name it… time to come clean. “Ronon” is short for Rononstiltskin and he’s going to kidnap Teyla’s firstborn child and run away, isn’t he?
Arctic Goddess Says:
“I think it would be worth the risk to get a shot of a blue PG-15 running through freezing rain with an icicle hanging from his nose…”
Patricia, PG is male. Just his nose? 🙂
PG m’darlin’. Tell you what – you get the air ticket and I’ll put up board and lodging. Come and streak through the streets of Cape Town instead. It’s warm here. 😉
Bonne nuit Joseph, je vais au lit, car demain j’ai une dur journée.
Donc a demain mon Joseph adoré ♥♥ Bisou.
Not sure if you’re doing the mailbag today either – you’ve got a lot to celebrate with the PCA awards :D. But I thought I’d take a chance and repost my question from yesterday.
In BAMSR, Teyla says to Sheppard “I tried to tell you” (regarding her pregnancy). I’ve been trying to remember a scene where Teyla made an attempt to tell Shep, but I’m coming up blank. Did a scene get cut somewhere?
Also, PG15 asked a question for me, and I’ll be brave and re-ask it again myself. 😉 Several of us had been expecting a nice Rodney/Teyla scene in BAMSR. Did that get cut, or is it later down the road? What I was thinking about in particular was a scene I thought you’d mentioned about Rodney giving Teyla a baby gift – the details aren’t clear in my mind though.
And one last thing. You’d hinted a few weeks ago about some good news for S5 for “fans of a particular character”. Any chance you might celebrate the PCA awards by giving us some details? 😀
Thanks – enjoy your celebration – and hope those truffles weren’t too hard on you! LOL!
Congratulations!!!!!!!
The acceptance speech made by David, Joe, Jewel and Rachel was very funny!
Yes!! Atlantis won! Congratulations to everyone!!!! I am rather surprised that Atlantis beat the other two shows. (i know, what kind of supporter/fan am I) i do have a question though. When was the acceptance speech made? They all were quite funny. 🙂
To see the speech go to http://www.pcavote.com/pca/history.jsp
WOW, what a great start for 2008! A truly exceptional episode in BAMSR, and a PCA Award! It must make you so proud of the work you and the rest of the cast and crew do, to be recognized like that. Congratulations!
Thanks to your comments and the ones from the others regarding TTTW, I will continue to read it. I have only made it about 2/3rds through, and although I hate to quit a book in the middle, it has been a tough read. From what most of you say, it has some redeeming qualities, so I will plough my way through the rest. Guessing tomorrow is The Princess Bride? Yay!
Looking forward to more exciting episodes of SGA. Great work.
Just wanted to add mine to all the voices saying congrats today. You and the cast deserved it. So much for all the naysayers this season, huh? 🙂 Atlantis is stronger than ever this season when it comes to stories… I’m glad to see the show getting some of the positive attention it deserves.
Congratulations on the wim. Wohoo!
Now that i’ve caught up with your blog, in order to avoid spoilers I wasn’t reading the BAMSR breakdown until after I’d seen it. (Airing on Tuesdays in the UK)
Whoa, was that a good ep or what, just fit nicely in with your previous creation, everybody was in it. Replicators, Wraith, Larrin, giant glutenous blobs, Weir or was it RepliWeir or another Weir copy? Enquiring minds don’t want spoiled.
I have to say while I liked Larrin in Travelers, I was kind of indifferent to her this time, she just seemed kinda off in a character type of way, she gelled with the plan and helpful and all but was still tying people up and the odd sexual references. When Vala was doing it it seemed more amusing but it just felt crude in this context. Could just be me though.
Loved the whole Teyla ‘I’m Pregnant’ scene,(I was slightly worried for her what with the zapping and all), Sheps all I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, you’re so grounded and Ronon, so sweet and comforting. Aawgh bless him.
And congratulations again, although if you really want to get drunk with chocolate you should try these german chocolates, a few of these and you’d start to feel quite warm.
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/jump.jsp?itemID=32984&itemType=PRODUCT&searchid=inceptor
Hi Joe
Many congrats on the award.
And while I’m sure the news that Keller is returning for Season 5 will please somebody somewhere I must say, if that was the big character news you’ve been hinting at I have to say, not who most people were hoping it would be.
To put it mildly.
AnneTeldy said: many people have told me using a fountain pen would help [with hand writing]
My daughter went to an expensive private school here in England and she was only ever allowed to write using a fountain pen even in exams.
The school put penmanship high on the list of things a ‘young lady’ should achieve in life.
You could buy yourself the La Modernista Diamonds fountain pen which is made of rhodium coated solid silver components, with an 18-carat gold nib and is covered with 5072 full cut top Wesselton VS diamonds which total a 20 carats. There are 96 half cut rubies arranged on the top of cap, which forms the monogram.
The pen was sold in Harrods, London for $265,000 USD.
Now if you look closely at yesterdays pictures you’ll see one on Joe’s desk!
Pauline
Alright..go SGA!!!
Joe, congratulations on the People’s Choice Award win last night. Kudos to everyone involved with making the show happen an bring it to our screens each week!
Hi Joe !
Congratulations to everyone cast, crew, writers, producers…. for the award.
I was sure you got it !
bye
Quilani
Pauline wrote:
Damn! I was going to get him that pen for his birthday! I guess I’ll have to think up something else.
Anne Teldy
Congratulations on Stargate Atlantis’ win of the People’s Choice Award! So, how drunk can you get on champagne truffles? Speaking of champagne truffles, have you tried the ones from Dillétente Chocolates in Seattle? They’re fantabulous!
Congratulations on Stargate Atlantis’ win of the People’s Choice Award! So, how drunk can you get on champagne truffles? Speaking of champagne truffles, have you tried the ones from Dilettante Chocolates in Seattle? They’re fantabulous!
Sorry about the double post, I guess I didn’t catch it in time to prevent the first one from posting. :-/
[i]Now if you look closely at yesterdays pictures you’ll see one on Joe’s desk![/i]
Can’t see any pen Pauline. Do I need glasses?
(hope these codes for italics work)
Hi Joe.
There’s a heated debate going on at gateworl about tehnobabble and deus ex machinas.Some are complaining that you use to much tehnobabble to solve problems.And that you (the writers) invent a machine out of the blue to overcome that problem. While I like to think that atlantis(stargate world) is going on even when we’re not tuned in and that you don’t have the time nor the need to mention everything in a 45 minute episode. So i’m wondering what’s your opinion on this subject.
Please reply since you haven’t answered my last two questions;)
Have a nice day and many productive days:P
have a nice and productive day would have sounded better don’t you think?:)
I ask you for an episode heavily featuring McKay/Ellis scenes.
Possibly Teal’C as he doesn’t know of the bitterness McKay has towards Ellis. What is his opinion?
Do you think that SG-1 could ever team up with Sheppard’s team? Have you locked in the D.Jackson episode? How about the SG-1 whole team?
Can(for benefit of some fans) we see D.Jackson in more than one episode?