Well, second day back at work and no work completed. On the script front that is. Production has, however, started on Faith (Episode 13) and we have watched two of the three episodes that make up my Triuvirate of Terrificness, my Top 3 favorite episodes of the season. So far.
Yesterday, we watched the director’s cut of Divided (Episode #12). It’s tight! First-time Stargate Director Felix Alcala hits a home run, directing a riveting and incredibly compelling episode scripted by my fellow producer and writing partner Paul Mullie. Tense, thrilling, occasionally surprising, with some wonderful moments for all of our cast members.
Then today, we watched the Day 1 Mix of Life (Episode #8). Director Alex Chapple, another Stargate newbie, delivers big time with an episode that explores the hidden lives of our characters. Some incredibly warm and touching performances in this one. Of all the romances, potential and otherwise, the Camille-Sharon relationship is the one that resonates the strongest with me. Every time I watch this episode, I always get a little, uh, dust in my eye watching their scenes. Kudos to Carl Binder who wrote the brilliant script and kudos to Joel Goldsmith who continues his winning composedly ways with a truly beautiful score.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, the third episode in my personal Triumvirate of Terrificness is Time (Episode #9) – a Rob Cooper Joint. Freaky, fun, and very clever. More than any other episode (outside of our premiere of course), I anxiously await the fan reaction to this one.
- Shooting in the jungle’s of Time.
- Director Robert Cooper breaks down the scene for us.
- Carl doesn’t buy it.
Well, we’re past the halfway mark on season one and our cast continues to impress. Yes, yes, they’re supremely talented – I’ve said it on more than one occasion – and you’d think we’d get used to it by now but, every time we think they can’t get any better, they surprise us with a line interpretation, delivery, or scene that will have us (the producers) giddy with delight. And it’s not just two or three of them. This cast is solid straight through, from veteran Robert Carlyle to recurring actors like Peter Kelamis and Patrick Gilmore who have taken their characters from supportive roles to fully-fleshed out and engaging players.
I’d also like to make mention of one of our youngest actors, Elyse Levesque. The part of Chloe Armstrong was one of the last cast because, quite frankly, it’s a very tough role. This is a character with a significant emotional and intellectual depth beneath her privileged exterior and we needed to find someone who could pull it off with range and a certain amount of subtlety. And after watching the dailies of the two-part opener, Air I and Air II, I can honestly say I can’t imagine anyone better for the role.
Elyse consistently demonstrates the sort of talent that will make people take note – fans, critics, and producers alike. Her Chloe is smart, sympathetic and incredibly charming. Much like the actress herself.
- Elyse Levesque
As promised in yesterday’s comments section, I reveal to you the title to Episode #19. Those of you who guessed Subversion – guessed correctly.
Whoa! What’s up with Rob’s eyes in the third picture down? Have you taken a page out of Scalzi’s book and started Photoshopping?
subversion??
good title, I feel that Rush , will tear brothel among the crew.
A good idea for humoristic.
Why you don’t integrate a pet on the crew.????
A dog by example, like Portos on star trek enterprise
Hey Mr M. I’d like to start off by saying I’m a huge fan of the SG franchise, and the teasers and pictures of SGU that are out there have me really hyped for the premiere.
Couple of questions I’d like to ask though 🙂
1) Are all of the gates seeded by the original ship almost identical to the one on the Destiny, and are they seeded along with DHDs?
2) Do we get to see any of the characters make bad judgement calls that effect their personality down the line?
3) Have you read any of the Dark Tower series by King, or the Sword of Shadows series by J.V.Jones? If so, what did you think?
4) Are you at all interested in the Hobbit movies that have been planned?
And finally, are there any ways that a UK resident could get hold of a couple of autographs from the current or previous casts of any of the SG shows?
All I can say is keep up the excellent work, and I hope to feel as inspired by SGU as I did the first time I watched SG1.
– Tawny
Huh a rotate-y Destiny gate on a planet? How does that work? I thought the new date was only on the Destiny, so now in another Galaxy there is another bunch of different gates?
Hey Joe you seem to have neglected to make the pics of Elyse clickable.
Thanks for the episode title, it sounds great.
Dude, the show is looking awesome.
Speaking of your writing partner, just how is his last name pronounced? Is it Mull-eye, Mull-e, Mule-eye, Mule-e, or some other variant thereof?
with all the background material you provide in the day to day workings of producing a tv series, I wonder if you’ve ever considered teaching some sort of course on the subject. Or perhaps a professor has used your blog as source material. With the added benefit that your blog is also amusing as well as instructive.
Thanks as always for taking the time to start work on your next thousand straight posts.
What’s the plan when you run out of one word titles?
Also is the gate that you have on location for shoots other then at the actual gateroom a static model, or can it do anything?
Hope you got all the party favors and cake cleaned up from last evening, dogs could help with some of that. Sounds like everyone had a smashing time. Would love to be watching those episodes with you Joe. Looking forward to Oct. Did they serve popcorn? All the clues you have given us in regard to the new show,, haven’t been able to put it all together yet, on purpose, trying to leave that mystery to be solved til opening night. thanks for the insight. When can we have another party? 😆
@anneteldy ,glad to hear you are up and about, be well,,.and a belated Happy Birthday! 😀
Hey everyone geeky enough to have a Twitter like me: this just in: David Blue has convinced Ming-Na to join Twitter!!! Make sure to follow her (@MsMingNa)!!!
I swear Carl must spend hours each day practicing his faces in the mirror, just in case he runs into you and your camera. Maybe someone should tell him to be careful his face doesn’t stay that way. 😉
das
I’m sorry, Joe, I want something more than a maybe marginally more intellectual but still mostly Paris Hilton in space character, which is about as deep as Chloe comes across in her character description and in the few minor moments we’ve seen of her so far in the trailers. I realize it is asking a lot of trailers, given that the cast is so large, to expect to get anything like a decent feel for, well, any of the characters, really, but whereas I felt mild interest for Eli and Rush, Chloe leaves me cold. I mean, does Chloe serve a purpose beyond love interest for young hero and up and coming military man, Scott? Something more useful than helpless Hottie, there as stand-in for the audience to draw their sympathy as she struggles oh so hard to find a role for herself in a new and cruel, cruel world?
I really, really hope the female characters in SGU get a chance to be more than sidekick characters, there to take care of the boys when they get hurt, and diplomatically ask for peace when those silly soldier boys get overly enthusiastic with their military toys, and tend to those brainy boys while those brainy boys figure out new ways to blow up problems and save the day, and and and. I know that the actors came out strongly in defense of their characters at Comic Con, which is all well and good, but I think it’d be nice to see some of those strong female character moments showing up in the trailers, too, and not just the kisses and terrified face moments.
Joe – I know I’ve talked about the show before here, but I don’t think I’ve ever asked – have you ever watched the Brit sitcom, Chef! ???
Reason I bring it up is because today I went to the little fair our town has each Tuesday. Today Cherry Grove Farm had a booth set up – http://www.cherrygrovefarm.com/ – and they had a raw milk (unpasturized) blue-veined cheese. Well, it reminded me of an episode of Chef! where the star went on a quest across the English countryside to track down illegal, unpasturized Stilton cheese. I asked the young man at the booth if he was familiar with the show, and to my surprise he was, and knew the episode well! I loved that show – have the boxset, and everything.
I bought a wedge of their aged, raw milk Toma Primavera, and fresh, nitrate-free bacon – can’t wait to try it!
das
369 comments from yesterday. We didn’t hit 1000 but 3-6-9 has a nice sequential feel to it. Nice party. You should make it an annual thing.
Subversion, eh? The episode titles are intriguing. I’ll be interested to see how they fit with the plots of the episodes.
@Narelle: I remember that “Day in the Life” post. That is how I first found your delightful blog! Hey, once you get all of that inheritance money, you can come visit me. Or better yet, fly all of us bloggers out for a beach party somewhere nice in your part of the world. Woo hoo, indeed!
@Thornyrose: We missed you at the party! I’ll be interested in hearing what you think of “Speed of Dark.”
@das: Giant Size Conan with Elric? Scan me that panel! I haven’t read Sailor on the Seas of Fate lately so I’m not sure what the story line is. Let me know how you like it. And are you o.k. after that scary incident with the brakes?
Ah darn it, yet again. I missed your big party yesterday with that very yummy looking cake. I was traveling back from Comic con with my son. Living out in the great beyond of North East Alberta meant a 4 hour plane ride to Calgary, and then a 6 hour car ride north. We could have used the airport in Edmonton which is North of Calgary, but there are no direct flights from Edmonton. It was actually easier and cheaper from Calgary. That included a night in a hotel in Calgary. Go figure.
I hear that it’s very warm in Vancouver. San Diego was absolutely wonderful. The temperature never went above 25 degrees. It was very hard to leave.
Patricia
Ok, Joe, I don’t know exactly what we did to wrong and/or offend you, but I take it that, since the Elyse pictures aren’t bigify-able, we must’ve committed some sin against you for you to punish us in this, oh-so-heinous manner.
Is it because riley puked on the floor last night and nobody bothered to clean it up? Is it because, instead of cleaning it up, some of us jokesters decided to paint your walls with it? Is it because, instead of painting just the walls, we also painted your windows and TV screen with it?
I promise you, that was all an accident! We realized we didn’t mean any of it when we started painting Lulu. We can change, Joe! WE CAN CHANGE.
But we probably won’t.
Anyways, thank you for all the Stargate info! That poster of Divided is EPIC, seriously, and I can’t wait to see what the episode will entail. The Wray/Sharon romance sounds great, and hopefully it will silence those naysayers who thinks you guys only created a lesbian character in order to titillate. What utter nonsense.
Unfortunately, some spoilers for Time has leaked. I haven’t read all of it, but I may have read too much as it is. I hope I am still amazed when the episode finally premiers. After Vegas, I don’t think Rob Cooper can do wrong.
Subversion, eh? I thought so. It was the last one that made sense. Really, it was a 3-way tie between Hope, Duel, and Subversion. Thank you, Joe! So now the 20th title has gained a clue, since it rhymes with Subversion. I’m gonna cheat and use an online rhyming dictionary:
aspersion, aversion, conversion, dispersion, diversion, excursion, immersion, incursion, inversion, perversion, reversion, submersion
Ok. Conversion and Submersion are gone since they were SGA episode titles. For some reasion I don’t think Aspersion, Excursion, and Perversion are going to be episode titles any time soon, so that leaves us with:
Aversion
Dispersion
Diversion
Immersion
Incursion
Inversion
Reversion
Hmmm…welp, I have no clue.
Elyse is absolutely gorgeous. I’ll admit that, when I first heard about her character in those godawful character descriptions I was puzzled. I didn’t know why you guys would include such a “mainsteam” character. However, it didn’t take me long to realize that this was all an effort to explore these different characters and how they’d react in the desperate situation onboard Destiny. Suddenly, the fact that Chloe was different from any Stargate archeype in the past became extremely intriguing. Out of all the characters, she had the greatest potential for development and growth. At the time, she became the most interesting character in my eyes.
Of course, since then, thanks to all the interviews and exposure of the show, every character grew extremely intriguing. From her interview, I gathered that Elyse was down-to-Earth, and very smart; I loved how she explained that Chloe, after getting everything handed to her on a silver platter, was now preparing to give something back, to try to make herself useful on the Destiny. I always love redemption storylines (though there’s nothing wrong with being pampered, really). Now that I hear that she is also extremely talented, I can’t wait to see more of her! Thank you for the character/actor rundown!
But, uh, you know, us fanboys would really appreciate it if you made the photos of her linkable to larger versions. 😉
Who’s next?
@ ytimynona: Woohoo!! I don’t tweet, but I do follow. Thank you for telling us that Ming Na is on Twitter! A few of us on Gateworld has sort of started a Ming Na appreciation pact (not just based on her beauty, but also her other Awesome attributes), so this is great news! 😀
@ Michelle: I do believe that it was your link to this blog at Stargate SG1 Solutions all those almost-1001 days ago that first brought me here, so I gotta thank you for that! Ah, memories.
@ Sparrowhawk – I’ve scanned the panel – will post at GW, with an explanation as to why I liked it.
Sailor on the Seas of Fate is one of my favorite Elric stories because much takes place aboard ships – and you know how I love ships! (The wooden, sailing kind…not the McSheppard kind. 😉 ) Stories include his encounter with the other ECs – Corum, Hawkmoon, and Erekose – and ‘the four become one’ to destroy Agak and Gagak, and when he first meets Smiorgan, and the tale of the Jade Man’s eyes. These were some of my favorite stories, until I read The Sleeping Sorceress, then – I think – that became my favorite, but mostly because it really fleshed out Elric’s relationship with Moonglum, and visa versa.
das
Hey Joe,
Do all of your dogs enjoy riding in the car or do you need to persuade one to come along?
My dogs cry with excitement when they can see I’m heading for the car in a non-work way (ie: no suit and flat shoes – when I get new shoes it takes them a while to work out whether they mean work or potential dog involvement) but as soon as they get to the car, Jack jumps in straight away but I have to threaten Ralph with leaving him at home before he gets in. Even to the point where I get in the driver’s seat, shut my door, start the car and have to say, “Ok Ralph. You’ll have to stay at home”. Then he jumps in damn quick. My neighbours find it most amusing.
sparrow_hawk – Let’s go the beach party option! Even better, fly you guys to somewhere in Asia. Much better conversion rate and less things to eat you in the ocean than here 🙂
Hi Joe,
Congrats on 1001 posts! I would have loved to attend the party last night but everyone had gone to bed by the time I showed up.
The new trailer for SGU looks amazing! I can’t wait for the Fall.
I was just wondering how the weather is in Vancouver? It was 115 degrees here in Arizona today which sounds pretty amazing except that it wasn’t even a record since it hit 121 degrees here in ’95.
Hi Joe,
I love the pictures of the gate and the jungle – and Carl’s face again! Does he ever not look like that?! Thanks for the pictures of the beautiful Elyse Levesque too – at first I wasn’t all too terribly excited about her character a few months ago, but now, I’m really looking forward to finding more about Chloe, and David’s Eli Wallace.
I really like that poster/cover sheet for Divided – do all episodes get something like that?
Joe, with it being summer and all (reruns) I’ve decided to pull out my SG1 DVD’s I just finished off season 7 (don’t asked I started off somewhere in the middle of the series). While watching I decided that this time around I’d re watch the commentaries as it has been a while. Some of the comments in those commentaries prompted a question. The impression I got from watching the Heroes 1&2 (GREAT EPISODES, but hated that Janet dies) commentaries was that it was originally only supposed to be a 1 hour episode but it ended up long and the decision was made to add scenes and make it the 2 parter we see now… my question is by making it a 2 part episode did you guys (the producers) have to make a decision to cut another episode that was originally planned? Or is that why season 7 was 21 episodes. Also I know the Lost City we got at the end of season 7 was a revised version of the “movie” Brad and Rob had written years before, how different is what we saw in Lost City from what would have been in the movie?
Thanks for your time,
Norriski
Aahhh! Mr. M. tried to use Photoshop, poor Rob 😀
and now what I wnat to know? I really agree with Tawny question: Do gates have DHDs or not? And when yes, cuold you take a photo please? And whats about Stargate movie, will there be some “bad” asgards?:D Thanks Mr. Mallozzi ( the name is italian?:-))
WOW!!!Sorry I missed the Party last nite…..Nice cake and all.
Thanks for all the great pictures of late! I’m sorry I haven’t been commenting much. I move in two weeks for grad school–it’s a busy time. As I can see it has been for you as well. I really can’t wait until SGU premieres.
Elyse is beautiful!
Ok, I have a burning question about Destiny and I would understand if you didn’t answer it but I’m tired of being called an idiot on it– what is powering the ship? Are there a crapton of ZPMs, subspace tapping (like with the communication devices– a bunch of people I know like that theory, but I’ve been meh on it because it’s only been shown to be used on just the one item), or an entirely new energy source? Is it going to be something that’s even going to be answered? Don’t leave fans hanging please 🙁
@iamza
Have you seen the Q&A and interview video spots for her yet? (The ones on the MGM SGU site somewhere about here http://stargate.mgm.com/view/character/166/index.html )
Unbelievable.
I’m usually online every single day. Usually it’s the first thing in the morning I do. SO it happened yesterday but I actually hnever touched the keyboard afterwards. I left the Cpmputer on for later use but it never happened. When I came back into the room yesterday night I juast checked mails and shut it down. *lol*
Well I wanted to wish you a happy belated 1000th entry and thank you for pulling youself together or write happily everysingel day since you started. It’s just great to come online and even though nobody might have send me an email (not even spam!) I can still be sure that you have written your blog entry. ALways something to look forward to.
After having been offline for a month (August) I’ll have a whole day worth of reading 😆
@ Joe – It’s nearly 4 am and I’m wide awake – blame the fact that I fell asleep at 9 pm, and woke up at 11 when Mr. Das came home from work. Okay – maybe I should have gone right back to bed, but I starting reading…
Speaking of which…
During the party you asked me how I was enjoying the ‘othe albino book’. If you were referring to Monsieur Zenith the Albino, I have a little more to add.
Firstly, I misspoke – I wasn’t half-way through, only a quarter – NOW I’m half-way through! 😀
Secondly…this is one of those situations like – when reading the Elric saga – I am torn between zipping through the story because I’m loving it so much, or taking just small bites at a time so I can make it last as long as possible, savoring every morsel. Like that cake last night – do you eat the whole thing all in one night, or do you just take thin slivers, making it last the week? That’s where I am. I can’t get enough of the story, but once I’m done there will be no more Zenith for me, unless I can track down old issues of Detective Weekly from the 1930s for cheap.
Thirdly, I am finding the story itself to be quite intriguing, and engaging. I am enjoying the suspense, and like how things are slowly revealed during the course of the story. The chapters are very short, and at the end of each one I find myself ‘needing’ to go onto the next to see if my questions will be answered. The characters are all nicely fleshed out so that I can see them clearly in my mind’s eye, which is very important to me as someone who leans towards the visual.
Fourthly, Zenith is a fantastic character, based on MY opinion of fantastic characters! (I think you have a pretty good idea of the sort I like by now. 😉 ) Without giving anything away, this is very much a story about Zenith. If you don’t enjoy character studies – if all you want is story without a care for the players – you won’t enjoy this. But if – like me – you enjoy those self-indulgent peeks into a character’s psyche, then this might be right up your alley.
And I will say this – the contrast between ego and inner torment is beautifully done. Again, without saying too much, there is a scene where Zenith has a rare visitor, and he takes up his violin and coldly informs that he ‘is going to play… to himself’ – what follows is my favorite moment in the story thus far (and no, it does not involve kissing!).
I don’t know what it is about me and egotistical men like this – but I love them, at least in literature. Okay…and in sci fi shows. 😛 Elric, always believing he was in control, Wolverine and his ‘I’m the best there is’ bluster, Steve and his snotty little ‘I am your death’ spiel, Todd and his swaggering used car salesman routine 😀 , and now Zenith with his ‘illimitable egotism’…they all just win me over somehow.
It’s quite disturbing, actually. 😛
das
Insomnia again… it is now 4:00AM, Eastern Daylight Time… groan
LOVE the Episode 12 Concept Meeting by the Art Dept. cover. Having worked for many a year with an in-house art dept myself, when someone creates a meeting cover of such cleverness, it only PROVES the true creative drive is going full throttle. I’m impressed.
Hey, why isn’t James “Bam-Bam” Bamford listed under Stunts credits on IMDB for SGU?
And wow, when comparing SGU crew credits side-by-side with SGA crew credits, there are lots of new names under SGU.
Why so many crew changes Joe?
G’night, er, good morning… grumble.
2cats
Asi tomu nikdo nebude rozumnet, ale je to super serial, moc se tesim, az to budete vysílat, uz jsem z toho do blazince 😀
Pavel z Czech republic ( CZ )
For anyone who would like to listen to Michael Moorcock, and others, discuss Sexton Blake, have a listen here (available for the next 6 days):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ltrsg
Zenith the Albino was born from the Sexton Blake stories (my obvious interest in the program), but it is very interesting to here that Blake was the ‘Harry Potter’ of his day.
For anyone interested in British detective fiction, this is certainly worth a listen.
das
To hear.
Serves me right for typing BF (Before Breakfast). 😛
das
you should have skipped your 1001 entry, just so it would end with a nice number…
Cher M. Malozzi,
Joyeux 1001ième blog ! (J’étais en vacances hier).
Ce blog est tout à votre honneur, talent, persévérance, humour, honnêteté, imagination, intelligence.
Mais par quel truc avez-vous réussi à m’accrocher et non seulement me faire lire vos commentaires journaliers mais encore, y participer moi-même ! Mystère ! Chapeau à vous !
D’un maniaque de science-fiction marié à une maniaque de science-fiction et qui ont transmis le gène à leur progéniture.
Merci encore de nous divertir si agréablement.
Hi Mr M!
Love the snaps.
Caption for third picture:
RCC jokes : “Hey Carl, we just set fire to your Ep 18 Script…and wiped your hard-drive!”
@PG15 : Bigify-able : You wordsmith you!!!
Believe it or not, but I had to do a double take on the last two snaps of Ms Levesque. She bears a striking resemblance to Her Royal Highness (who is camera shy by the way).
Meant to say some time back, great to see the snaps of Tom Doughty and Chef Belcham. Wonderful gents. Anymore Foie Gras nonsense at Fuel? or have they stopped?
Best to all
S’n’T
Oh…my.
I had a little of the tomato garlic boule bread I bought last week left over – it keeps surprising well in the fridge – much better than commercial breads…which is good, since I just bought a black olive boule yesterday. 🙂 Anyway, this morning for breakfast I had a nice thick slice of that delicious bread, topped with raw milk toma primavera (fabulous!) and toasted, and served with a little sweet tomato butter. Amazing. Now I want to be an alpine peasant. 😀
das
Hello Joe,
I have not been on this blog in a while, but I ran across an article concerning SGU that has left me confused. It has been stated by you many times one of the main reasons for the cancellation of SGA was that it would be more expensive to produce than a brand new show. Then Brad Wright does an interview with “Cinemaspy” where it is boasted that SGU was given an extra million per episode increase over Atlantis. That’s 20 million dollars.
http://www.cinemaspy.com/article.php?id=2855
Can you explain to me how an Atlantis season 6 could have possibly cost more than this?
Thank you.
Too bad I miss the party. From the posts, a happening party.
It’s nice to hear from Anne Teldy and her health update.
.
@PG15
Elyse’s pics is viewable full size (1800×1350 pixels). Of course it would be no fun if I tell you how to get the full size pics.
[slinking back to my cave]
@EternalDensity: I have watched at least one of the Q&A sessions for Elyse Levesque, and it didn’t do much to make me want to know anything else about Chloe. If I recall correctly, she mentioned her character felt useless at the beginning of the story. She has no medical, military, or scientific experience to offer, she hasn’t had to really work for anything she’s achieved, she’s a wild child beneath that demure exterior…but hey, this whole series is going to make her grow up and appreciate how lucky she’s been, and make her realize how much she wants to give back to the rest of the expedition. Um, yay?
Hi Mr Mallozzi
Two questions today from a French fan :
Did you plan to do some webisodes like other shows do? Maybe in Season 2?
And secondly, a very important question : can you tell Elyse Levesque that I’m in love and I’m single?
Bye
Sami
@ iamza: Um…yay! :p
Those interviews are what got me really really psyched about her character. What don’t you like about them? It seems to me that she will have a lot of potential for development, and that’s exciting for me.
Do you rather she was perfectly prepared right out of the gate (pardon the pun)?
@pg15: Those interviews are what got me really really psyched about her character. What don’t you like about them? …Do you rather she was perfectly prepared right out of the gate (pardon the pun)?
To me, they make Chloe out as a liability, a heroine with no really useful skills to offer the expedition. I’m tired of science fiction heroines who need to be cared for and taught to look after themselves by their oh, so capable male counterparts.
I think science fiction could do with more characters like Ellen Ripley — competent, technically capable women who are not perfect, who have to fight to survive, and who are not relegated to medical or diplomatic roles.
I may be wrong about Chloe — I hope I am. I really hope she turns out to be SGU’s version of Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley. But from what little I have seen so far, I am not impressed. *shrug*
hey i got a couple “behind-the-scenes” questions for you.
How many gates do you guys have of each type?
And I just watched Moebius Pt 2 again. How did they get the Puddle Jumper into the SGC gate room? and I don’t mean by flying it in or going through the gate….
Joe these guys stole the SG-1 intro theme, was that by Joel Goldsmith or someone else?
It’s not just this movie trailer, the other ones have the same music aswell.
@ iamza: Interesting. I disagree. It’s much easier for a kickass female to remain kickass than for a “weak” female to become a kickass female due to struggles and suffering and friendships she forms with others (male and female) in her situation. I’d rather watch the latter.
And, of course, I feel the same way for weak males.
@pg15: To each, his or her own, I guess.
Sarah Connor from the movies strikes me as one example of a ‘weak’ female who became kick-ass in her own right. Admittedly, though, much of that character development took place off-screen. 🙂
Offhand, I can’t think of any weak males who grew into kick-ass characters, even off-screen…
@pg15
I see you’re still saying all the right things 😀
For the ep title, I’m going to go with Inversion because it sounds like it has intriguing possibilities to me.
And for anyone who hasn’t seen the full-size Elyse pics yet, it’s pretty easy to get them by removing the ?w=300&h=225 from the end of the image location.
I got my Stargate Atlantis Season Five dvds in the mail yesterday, and I was surprised at how angry I still am at TPTB for cancelling it. Then today, Brad Wright tells the world that you guys spend a MILLION more per episode for SGU, but SGA was too expensive?? bullshit
Hey, guess I’m still mad!
@ iamza: to each his/her own? I can do that. 🙂
I think Beckett may fit the “weak male –> badass” thing. He went from someone who was afraid of the Ancient Chair and Stargate travel to someone who stood up to a Wraith eager to feed on him and sitting in the Ancient Chair and attacking a Wraith SuperHive with Atlantis herself.
@pg15: I think this is where we’ll have to agree to disagree again. Carson was picked for Atlantis because he’s good at what he does. He has very valid technical skills to offer the Atlantis expedition. Same as McKay, Zelenka, heck, even Daniel Jackson from the movie. None of these characters relied totally on others to carry them along before finding something they could do to help (and in so doing help themselves to find out who they want to be in life).
@iamza: I think you’ve missed the big part of the show in that not all the people trapped there are military people. A privileged senator’s daughter is going to be a fish out of water being put into that kind of position, and who is to say that she isn’t going to learn how to kick ass from her female counterparts? Making a lot of assumptions without even seeing the show. When I think of the Keller character on SGA, she went to not wanting to be the one in charge, to learning the fine art of survival from Teyla (among others). Throw me on a ship in that kind of situation, and I would likely have to learn how to fight, how to shoot, and figure out my place in how I can make a positive contribution with my own talents. I like having the wide range of women, some who kick ass, some who don’t. It is more true of what is reflected in society. I have to agree with @pg15 here.
Okay, fess up, are you the one who actually asked that horrible question at ComicCon?
@PBMom: I have not missed anything, but thank you for checking. I KNOW that not all the people trapped on Destiny are military people. Believe it or not, that’s been a big part of the draw for me to the Stargate franchise in general (SG-1 and SGA included) — that the military personnel are only one part of the equation.
What I am saying is that I am very tired of the trend to make female characters into helpless ‘princesses’. It is a stereotype that I wish very much wish Stargate had avoided.
I am also fully aware that I have not yet seen very much footage from the show, but thank you for making sure. However, the little I have seen and heard about Chloe Armstrong does not make me want to learn any more about her. I wish that if Chloe was so interesting and kick-ass, we were getting to see some shots of her being so in the trailers, rather than focusing on on her terrified face and the oh so beautifully shot romantic moments. That, to me, is science fiction stereotyping of the worst kind — the idea that women are there simply for sex or to be rescued. I note that in the comic con trailer, Eli gets a chance to be amazed and thrilled, and even tell a joke. Rush gets to be enigmatic. Scott gets to be young hero, almost leader-like. Chloe? Gets to run towards a closing door, and kiss Scott. Camilla gets to look sexy. Tamara gets to play out a soap opera moment in the shower. Do you see why I might maybe have a problem with that comic con trailer, yet?
Here’s a question: why not make Eli the wild child son of the senator, and the senatorial aide who feels kind of useless at the start, and learns to be all kick-ass through the course of the series, and let Chloe be the one with the smarts that are so great that the SGC appears willing to kidnap her from her home, just so she will join the Stargate program? Why not have Scott be the officer just about to leave the Stargate program on account of having an affair with his commanding officer, and turn Tamara into the inexperienced, but oh so kick-ass young hero who has to learn to be a leader. Why not make Camilla the military leader of the expedition, embroiled in a huge tension-fest with the scientific genius, Rush, instead of a glorified accountant? Hey, look, same spread of talents, same numbers of military/non-military personnel, same potential for character growth, but the women characters are in positions of command, and not shoe-horned in to meet the Syfy sex quota.
Finally, no, I was not the fan that stood up and asked that question at SDCC. I applaud that fan for asking the question, though — for me, it is just as valid a question as what powers the Destiny? They’re both things to which I want to know the answers. And you know, the creators and the cast know a hell of a lot about this show than I do, and are the people to ask about things like this.
Quade, it’s in “Troy” as well.
Oh you guys are good!! You have me laughing my ass off!! If only it were that easy! 😀
Caption this: “Carl Binder doing his best ET impression”
Love the show except one thing. The whole “nobody trusts Rush” thing is a bit much.
It’s obvious that he is bad at communication and arrogant enough to think that he doesn’t need to tell others what he’s up to, but the other folks distrusting him soooooo much is a bit over the top when it’s obvious he’s working really hard to do what he can to help.
Young’s aspersion that Rush may have known that the ship was going to power itself in the sun makes no sense when one considers that all the supplies had been sent with crew on the shuttle.
Plus, I would think that Young is smart enough to tell when someone just has an ego and poor communication skills rather than being someone who is somehow undermining the situation (at the ass end of the universe with no way to get home; who would do such a thing?) Rush may be an a$%hole, but he isn’t immoral or trying purposefully get people killed. The lack of trust thing needs to be toned down; it’s over the top and feels contrived to create drama.