For all those of you wondering – yes, I have switched to a new default random avatar generator at the request of a fellow blog reader. Rather than stick with the boring old mystery individual icon, I elected to go with this one which automatically analyzes a poster’s message, name, and IP address to paint a fairly accurate picture of said individual’s inner soul before assigning them a representation that reflects that inner being. I am both shocked and disgusted to note that most every one of you has been characterized by some goofy monstrosity. Shameful. My randomly generated avatar is, of course, an angel of such eye-bleeding beauty that modesty prevents me from actually making use of it. Instead, I’m sticking with the pic of me grinning like an idiot and waving my chopsticks about.
Well, back in the office today and things are very quiet at The Bridge, partly because the cast and crew are away, shooting on location but mostly because yappy writers’ room regular Martin Gero is off with them directing his first full episode of Stargate Atlantis. Lucky, lucky Rob Cooper, meanwhile, headed off on a location scout to South Okanagan this morning. To those of you unfamiliar with location scouts, they’re a little like school field trips to potential shooting sites. Although, in today’s case, the kids would have had to be at school for 5:30 a.m. and looked forward to a four and a half hour bus ride to a barren desert. Hell, beats the planetarium.
After lunch, we enjoyed the Day 2 Mix of Whispers. What a wonderfully spooky little episode. Great performances, terrific direction, and yet another marvelous score by Joel Goldsmith who is busy working on First Contact as I write this entry.
Well, it’s been a whirlwind few weeks of special guest bloggers and there are many more to come. Director Andy Mikita, actress Lexa Doig, and writer/Executive Produce Carl Binder have kindly agreed to make time for us. As has one of our Directors of Photography, the affable Jim Menard. He, along with Michael Blundell, has helped Atlantis establish its unique visual style, from the cool blueness of the city interiors to the vivid luridness of the wraith hives. If you have any questions for Jim about his work here on the show, I know he’d love to hear from you so start posting.
Finally, a reminder that you have one week to finish Cordelia’s Honor (or Shards of Honor at the very least) as discussion on the book(s) begins next Monday, August 11th. We’ll be joined by four-time Hugo Award winner Lois McMaster Bujold, so get those questions ready.
Today’s blog entry is dedicated to belated birthday girl Anais33. Bonne fete!
Today’s pics: More from the set of Whispers.
Today’s video: The Weird Food Purchase of the Day segment featuring Rose Petal Soda.
Mailbag:
Davidd writes: “Wish me luck with my flight on Saturday…I’m flying to England!”
Answer: Good luck and have fun!
Anne writes: “If Joe says it’s okay, I would love to post the Q & A on dacascosfan.com – and Joe, any pictures from Mark’s episodes would also be very welcome.”
Answer: Joe says it’s okay. And if you can provide a link back to this blog, that would be great. Re: the pics. I’ve posted all of the good ones. Just do a search for “Mark Dacascos”, “Reunion” or “Broken Ties”.
Shirt ‘n Tie writes: “How go plans re: Episode 100? You guys are wrapping in Sept….Will that be the last shoot?”
Answer: Paul is writing episode 100 as we speak. Looking ahead at the schedule, we’ll wrap production here in Vancouver, then shoot our outstanding Vegas days down south to wrap the season.
Patti writes: “Will we have the baby in every episode. It would be nice to see something else besides Teyla’s issues with being a mom for a change.”
Answer: It was necessary to touch on the baby here as it was Teyla’s first official foray since making the decision to rejoin the team in Broken Ties.
Jess writes: “Just wanted to know whatever happened to Jonas Quinn. In Season 10, it was mentioned that Langara fell to the Ori, but they never mentioned Jonas! Was he killed by the Ori, I know he wouldn’t convert.”
Answer: Although it was never officially touched upon, in my mind Jonas led the resistance against the Ori on his home world which was eventually freed from their influence after the events of The Ark of Truth. He is still very much alive and a leader among us his people.
Raindrop writes: “So, um, was Teyla being insincere there at the end when she said McKay would make a good father?”
Answer: She was being…kind.
Thor94 writes: “We will see again, the uknown aliens of this episode?”
Answer: It’s unlikely we’ll see them again this season.
Kay writes: “ With McKay and Keller being paired up this season, what new aspects of his character are you planning to reveal? We’ve seen his crush on Carter, the growth and collapse of his romance with Katie Brown and the AU Love Story redux with Keller in The Last Man.”
Answer: We’ve never actually seen him develop a mature relationship. In the case of Carter, it was a crush. In the case of Katie Brown, they were almost like dating teenagers. In the case of Keller in Last Man, we were only offered the merest of glimpses into the workings of their relationship.
Kay also writes: “Even Teyla, the new mother, never spoke of her boyfriend, and we didn’t see him (other than as a hybrid creature) until after their child was born.”
Answer: That was because we weren’t planning to pursue such a storyline for Teyla and were taken by surprise at the news of Rachel’s pregnancy. In order to work it into the storyline, we decided to create the Kanaan character.
Kay also writes: “ Sheppard gets to flirt now and then, and we saw his ex-wife once.”
Answer: Many fans will argue that Sheppard does far too much off-world romancing.
Kay also writes: “Maybe I should be asking what it is about the other characters that make you want to avoid any romance for them.”
Answer: “I should add that Ronon will be pursuing romance as well this season.”
Kay also writes: “Why McKay, and why with Keller, when there’s a whole city full of people?”
Answer: Because it’s far more interesting to see our main characters interact with people we know rather than people we don’t.
Mg1138 writes: “ We know Henry Hayes’s mandat, started in Season 7 (2004), is coming to a term, so don’t you think it would be an interesting background issue?”
Answer: If it could serve a particular story then why not?
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