“The lady’s chicken!”cried a wide-eyed Fondy.
I stared dumbly back at her. Lady? Chicken of what? Briefly, I imagined my wife throwing down with a rival shopper, slapping her silly and forcing some poor, overwhelmed soccer mom to turn tail and run.
“The lady’s chicken!”she repeated, motioning down to one of the grocery bags I’d taken off her hands as she’d come through the gate. “I took the lady’s chicken!”
Indeed. In addition to three packs of raspberries, two yams, a head of broccoli, and half a watermelon, Fondy’s haul included one roasted ready-to-eat chicken.
“I must have picked it up as I was leaving!” It was as if she’d just learned one of the bullets from her celebratory gunfire had come down and killed a small child. “No one said anything or tried to stop me.”
I tried to look sympathetic. Or at the very least thoughtful.
“And it’s too late to go back now,”she processed. “Safeway is closed.”
“I don’t think you CAN go back,”I said. “Ever. They’ll probably have your picture up on their bulletin board.”
She fell silent and considered for a few seconds. And then, no doubt having made peace with her fate: “Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
And so, tonight, we had stolen chicken for dinner.
“You know, someone left two grocery bags in the parking lot,”she informed me later between mouthfuls of roast chicken. “They’ve must’ve just forgotten them and driven off. They were just sitting there.” She threw me a meaningful look: “I could have taken them, but I didn’t.”
Which was too bad. I’d really felt like dessert.
Today’s mailbag:
Thornyrose writes: “Will we hear or see more of the Asgard in any of the remaining episodes?”
Answer: Nope. But there’s always the movies…
‘ishshapat writes: “Are there any plans to put more than just a few extra features on the Season 5 DVD’s? Or maybe to have a whole separate DVD full of all the special features that Ivon did not get published over the last 5 years?”
Answer: Every dvd extra Ivon produces is pitched to and paid for by the studio. There has never been an occasion where he has produced a dvd extra that was not included as part of a dvd special feature package.
DasNdanger writes: “Although we know the Wraith have used their ships as weapons before (The Siege), in this case did Todd decide to crash the Daedalus into the base after witnessing the effectiveness of such a tactic in Spoils of War?”
Answer: The tactic in Soils of War may have certainly inspired him but, as I said, at the end of the day he had no other option but to use the Daedalus as a weapon.
Wraith Cake writes: “ There were too many stories. This really required a three parter to do it justice. And why not Joe? Just because the statistics say “never do bla bla bla” with a television audience, those things are broken all the time. This would have been much better as a three or four parter, and why not?”
Answer: I’m not familiar with any statistics that speak against producing three or even four parters. We simply made it a two parter because we broke the story down as such and, at the end of the day, we’d rather have a tight two-parter than a flabby three-parter.
Wraith Cake also writes: “Finally, whatda think if the peeps at the WDC wrote down a whole bunch of questions for Christopher Heyerdahl and then you passed them along to him.”
Answer: On his last day of filming, I invited Chris to swing on by and do a fan Q&A. If he’s interested, I’m sure we’ll hear from him.
Montrealer writes: “Too bad we don’t get a sixth season. I can see the vindictive Asgards paying back Atlantis in kind.”
Answer: Remember that AU Season 6 episode list I posted the other week? Remember the episode titled Revenge? There you go.
Florence writes: “What happened to Kanaan, will it be answered in the Prodigal ?”
Answer: We established Kanaan on Atlantis in past episodes. He is essentially the stay at home dad on occasions when Teyla heads of-world.
Freidag writes: Joe Mallozzi said: But I’m sure that whiny, narrow-minded Sheppard will take it as a personal affront.I don’t get the sarcasm here, honestly I don’t. Or why you consistently denigrate one character and then defend others. Unless, wait, you’re thinking… only Sheppard fans dislike Keller! […] And to think that at one time the writers thought there was nothing for Carson Beckett to do so they axed him.”
Answer: Whew! Your post is so chock full o’ bizarre assumptions it actually made my head spin. On the one hand, you recognize my statement as sarcastic and yet, on the other hand, you also view it as some weird, totally unmotivated criticism of Sheppard fans(???). Also, when did anyone involved in the production say or even suggest that Paul’s character was killed off “because there was nothing for Carson Beckett to do”? Or can you actually read minds which makes the aforementioned comment more a statement of fact. You actually do know what “the writers thought”.
Shiningwit writes: “How convenient that the exo-suits were one-size-fits-all I bet that never happens in real life.”
Answer: They were designed that way. The bio-organic insulation within the suit shrinks to fit the wearer so that even the very fattest-headed Asgard can where them.
KayD writes: “ The Asgard turning up in Pegasus….what a cop-out. God forbid you create an interesting new race unique to Pegasus…”
Answer: Over the course of the series run, e’ve introduced elements unique to the Pegasus Galaxy AND introduced familiar elements from the Milky Way. Yes, SG-1 and Atlantis are two different shows, but they share a lot of backstory given that one is a spin-off of the other. It’s not like we’re bringing elements from Dr. Who into Criminal Minds here.
KayD also writes: “Do you think the viewers of SGA didn’t watch SG-1 and therefor won’t know you’re recycling ideas?”
Answer: Yeah. Stargates and spaceships – just like SG-1!
KayD also writes: “ Replicators and Asgard. How creative. Would the Goa’uld have shown up for the never-to-be season six?”
Answer: No. They already made an appearance back in season two’s Critical Mass.
Ponytail writes: “I said the writers were mean to Ronon. Can’t he have anything? Seven years on the run and now 4 years in Atlantas. Why can’t he find a girl that is right for him? Someone to love him for who he is.”
Answer: Who says he won’t?
Kath writes: “Why has Teyla been tossed aside for Keller. Why couldnt the writers write for Teyla but seem to have no problem writing for Keller.”
Answer: A fallacious argument, suggesting that More Keller = Less Teyla. It might be true if we’d simply slotted Keller into stories intended for Teyla but the truth is we never intended for Teyla to be the damsel in distress in Tracker (frankly, it wouldn’t have made much sense) nor did we ever consider pursuing any sort of love triangle between Teyla, Sheppard, and Ronon (sorry Sheyla’s, Royla’s, Teypard’s, and Teynan’s).
Shadow Step writes: “… the only thing disappointing about that scene was that Ronon apparently DID have the hots for her and suddenly had to stomp of to field strip his scimitar.”
Answer: Strip his scimtar? Is that some sort of euphemism?
Mondschaf writes: “ Have you already decided whether you are going to Asia alone or not?”
Answer: Oh, I’m going. Alone or not.
Ashley writes: ““she saved Rodney in The Shrine when none of his friends couldn’t figure out from the get-go that there might be an actual reason the shrine offers a temporary cure, something that ought to have been studied right away (I’m sorry, but Sheppard should have seen that possibility from the get-go, he’s smarter than that)”
Because Keller is a DOCTOR. (I mean to use bold, but [b] not sure how[/b]) In the past, Carson would’ve been the one realizing there’s a problem. And it’s ALWAYS McKay. McKay always considers the negatives. But since he was the one sick, someone else had to. And it was Keller’s scientific background and knowledge that led her to believe that there is something else going on. I find no problems at all with the doctor on the team solving the problem. I do agree that Sheppard should have realized the possibility that something else was wrong. But Sheppard and Teyla were pushed to the side to let McKay, Ronon, and Keller take the spotlight. And Keller supported one side and Ronon the other. Ronon was more outspoken than anyone else with his position because of his experience with it. So, I do understand Sheppard not coming out and saying ‘Hey, something’s wrong here’.
“Keller can already fight, shoot and kill Wraith nearly as good as Ronon! Soon she’ll be flying puddle jumpers and having the ancient gene like Sheppard. Communicating with the Wraith and the hive ships like Teyla. See how she brings out Todd’s reflective side!). And saving the planet or the galaxy from imminent destruction by defusing something like McKay!”
LMAO! Thanks for the laugh. She open fires on two Wraith with an automatic gun and suddenly she can kill Wraith nearly as good as Ronon. She can hold her own when she has a weapon against one Wraith and suddenly she is superwoman. Amazing how that works.
It’s a no-win situation. Let Keller gain some fighting abilities so she isn’t helpless – problem with fans. Leave Keller helpless – problem. Keller backs down from others and only talks when terrified – she’s a whiner! Keller stands up to people and offers solutions to problems – and she’s a b!tch! Wow!!! Talk about never being satisfied.
So many Keller comments. You do know sometimes Keller is practically never in an episode, right? I think the uprising is due to three continuous episodes with a lot of Keller (Omg, THREE!). Let’s examine the episodes.
Search and Rescue: McKay, Sheppard, Ronon, Michael – Team episode.
The Seed: Keller’s the victim
Broken Ties: No Keller
Daedalus Variations: No Keller
Ghost in the Machine: If Keller, very minimal
Shrine: Rodney, Keller, Ronon
Whispers: No Keller
Queen: Keller in scenes with team
Tracker: Lot of Keller and runner scenes. Still lots of Ronon and McKay scenes also.
First Contact: few scenes with Keller.
Lost Tribe: her and Ronon have the backup story – the Daedalus is being taken over. Few scenes.
That’s five out of eleven episodes. I’m sorry to break it to the anti-Keller fans, but that IS NOT a lot. Seriously. Think about it.”
Answer: Awesome post.
Wolfenm writes: “Here, and at GW, many (myself included) have complained about Ronon acting like a big goon again.”
Answer: How was he acting like a big goon? Ronon has always been a shoot first and ask questions later type of guy and while he has shown growth as a character, he remains a man of action.
Pissed Off Teyla Fan writes: “I still don’t understand why Keller got made a regular instead of staying recurring.”
Answer: Honestly? Because Jewel is a wonderful actress, an incredibly hard worker, always incredibly professional, and her character opens up a host of different storylines for us.
Alipeeps writes: “ I’m afraid I’ve been severely lax in both reading and commenting on your blog of late – truth be told, I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with a little production project of my own; I shall be adding one more sci-fi fan to the world in around May 09.”
Answer: Well congratulations. That explains it. I was about to organize a search party.
Narelle from Aus writes: “Do you have a travel buddy you can tee up?”
Answer: I am presently in negotiations with one Ivon R. Bartok.
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