I had two scenes to write today. I worked out the first one in my head as I was driving in to work this morning and was able to write it up in no time. I was on fire! I immediately moved on to the second scene, confident I would have the scripts wrapped up in no time. And…nothing. I spent two hours sitting in front of my laptop, wondering what kind of Thai dishes the production office had ordered for lunch and whether the spread would include chicken with yellow curry which I’m partial to but don’t love as much as that pork with eggplant and jalapenos that I used to get every time I visited that restaurant in Yaletown and that Paul would always get when he was ordering in and what was I going to have for dinner tonight and, hey, I should really catch up on my emails because it’s been almost a week since various friends and acquaintances contacted me but first let’s go online and see what’s making news and, if not making news, then at the very least amusing the general net pop and, well, you get the idea. I was getting nowhere fast. This was in marked contrast to my creative charge only hours earlier. What happened? Well, simply put, I got out of my car. Yep, for some reason, I do some my best writing while I’m at the wheel. So, rather than sit there and wait for inspiration to strike, I hopped into my car and went for a ride. By the time I rolled back into my office some forty-five minutes later, I had my scene.
I went over both scripts and made some tweaks. Tomorrow, I’ll review them one last time and then, finally, put them out – if not for me, then for Carl who seems especially eager to read them, his eyes lighting up whenever I stroll by his office. “Script?!”he’ll call out in anticipation. “No,”I have to tell him. “Not yet.” His obvious disappointment breaks my heart. It’s like telling a kid Santa Claus forgot to bring him presents. But not as funny.
Hey, since there’s been a lot of talk on the forums about the upcoming SGU “webisodes” and the kino in particular, I thought I’d leave you with some kino-related material. For those of you who don’t know, the kino is essentially a high-tech “hover MALP” capable of investigating and recording events on ship and off. Some of these kino sequences will find their way into episodes. Other clips will be made available online, often tying in with certain episodes. To those asking, the kino footage appearing online will not be crucial to your understanding of a particular episode. However, these clips do shed light on our characters and Destiny itself so watching them will offer a fuller understanding of certain in-show elements.
- Early kino design
Kino director Ivon Bartok discusses a scene with actress Julia Anderson –
Today’s entry is dedicated to Pol as she heads in for wrist surgery. Good luck! You’ll be waving in no time.
Mailbag:
Thornyrose writes: “I notice that the Fuel website doesn’t show the crispy duck for two on it. I take it that it can be requested off menu? Any other interesting entrees you might recommend?”
Answer: It is on the menu and you should have no trouble ordering it if you drop by. As for other interesting entrees – I’m always partial to the pork dishes, but their salmon is excellent as well.
Thornyrose writes: “Anothre question of idle curiosity. Was the change of font communicated, or were you expected to pick up on the changes telepathically?”
Answer: No it wasn’t a secret. I simply forgot.
Narelle from Aus writes: “When you’re pitching something like your Horror movie (any further news on that by the way?) do you just pitch the concept or do you need to include some of the peripheral details such as your target market/demographic, marketing ideas etc or is that something that the network works out for themselves?”
Answer: It depends on the project and how much detail you want to provide. In the case of the horror movie, we also pitched the marketing angle because it was unique.
Luis writes: “Joe I have never had Duck talk to a friend she said to go to a Chinese Rest. they make good Orange Duck…ever hear of Orange Duck???”
Answer: My father used to make something similar called Duck a l’Orange when we were kids.
PG15 writes: “Speaking of SGU (well, you spoke of it, I didn’t), a poster at Gateworld, Colonel Sharp came up with a pretty cool origin for the name “kino”, he says:
As we know, the Ancient language is ’supposed’ to be a form of Latin
Kino…well cyno (The abl/dat form of cynon), refers to a type of eye-ointment, and from what it seems like, this thing is basically an eye floating around looking at everyone.”
Answer: Interesting, but no. Kino stands for Kinetic Interactive Navigational Orb.
Actually, no it doesn’t. But it should.
Shiningwit writes: “Just letting you know that Sassie passed away at 11.57, she went the way she would have wanted, growling at the vet.”
Answer: Sorry to hear it. Did she suddenly take sick? Do you have any pics of Sassie you’d be willing to share?
Imadaman writes: “So I was wondering if the SGC will be moved to Atlantis, have they disabled the Atlantis’ gate or have McKay, Carter and Zelenka written a program that prevents incoming wormholes to connect the Atlantis’ gate?”
Answer: This is covered in the movie script.
Bugguy writes: “I’m back. Making a job change and things have been quite hectic.”
Answer: It’s been over a year! I had you declared officially dead and already collected the insurance money.
Mishmee writes: “What’s up for the next BOTM?”
Answer: September’s Book of the Month Club pick is Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover. Details in the right sidebar.
Paloosa writes: “It’s so frustrating with so many formats to view and create shows these days, as in; network, cable, direct to DVD, webisodes, YouTube, podcasts and God only knows what else in the future, it seems that technology is separating us more than bringing us together. I remember when there were only three US networks and we, as in the entire country, all talked about the same “big event”. Not so much nowadays. As an older person, it’s also expensive to keep up, and I think kind of sad as well.
How do you feel about this, and what do you see for the future?”
Answer: I’m holding out for the brain microchip that will allow me to do it all – make phone calls, take pictures, watch film and television, and learn how to darn a sock.
Silver_comet writes: “You’ve never asked questions yourself for any author’s Q&A, have you? Why not?”
Answer: Because, of course, you all come up with such terrific questions.
DP writes: “1. What is the relationship between the kino and the long-range communication device?
2. What are the main components of a kino?
3. How many kino are there?
4. Does the kino have any artificial intelligence?
5. What has the kino been doing all these millions of years?
6. Does the kino have any quirky traits?
7. Does the kino go off the ship?
8. Does the kino facilitate communication with aliens who don’t communicate in conventional ways?
9. Does the kino facilitate contact with aliens who live in environments inhospitable to humans?
10. Does the kino facilitate communication when the communicators are experiencing relativistic effects?
11. Is the kino nosey?
12. Does the kino have any pets? If so, what is its understanding of selective breeding?”
Answers: 1. There is none.
2. Not sure. I’ve never taken one apart. This is a question for Eli.
3. Again, I haven’t counted. Somewhere between several and not enough.
4. No.
5. Catching up on a backlog of t.v. shows. It’s partial to Lost.
6. You mean like an affinity for opera capes? No.
7. Yep. Appropriately enough, someone in the Art Department coined it the “hover MALP”.
8. It could.
9. It could.
10. What communicators?
11. It isn’t sentient – so no.
12. It had a 40 000 year old Chihuahua named Mordecai but, since a recent falling out, they don’t talk much.
Tawny writes: “Do you think we’ll be seeing another sort of transitional show, like “From Stargate to Atlantis, a SciFi Lowdown”?”
Answer: I haven’t heard but I wouldn’t be surprised if we do.
I’m holding out for the brain microchip that will allow me to do it all – make phone calls, take pictures, watch film and television, and learn how to darn a sock.
Sort of like the BrainPals in Scalzi’s Old Man’s War?
Speaking of Scalzi, he mentioned that he is tackling a new script right now. Which one? At what point in the process does he get to review it?
Thanks for the video 🙂 Ivon seems like a pretty good director! I can’t wait to see what he’s done for SGU’s webisodes!
@Shiningwit: I’m so sorry about Sassie. I gave my pup an extra snuggle in memorium.
I’m keeping a good thought for Anne Teldy and Pol – get well soon, both of you!
das, you make my head spin. And I agree with Narelle about the Mallatok – sounds suspiciously flammable.
Nice mailbag, Joe! And a great explanation of the KINO. But everytime I hear Kino I think German cinema. Just can’t help it.
I’m off to 4 days of geekdom at GenCon in Indianapolis. Wish me luck keeping my sanity. Or perhaps it is best just to surrender it now…
For some reason, the info on kino should have made me understand what it is better…but it doesn’t. What’s the purpose of it? Is it just to fill up time in the script? “Oooo! Lookie! Pretty pictures…and WHOA! Nekkid dude in the shower!” Are they just to give us inside glimpses into characters, or will these shots actually help advance the story?
Thankies.
das
@ Sparrowhawk – I make your head spin? Are you talking about what happened over at Miscellany, with my username…or the whole whips and leather boots thing?
I am under the impression that the fellas there think I am something MUCH more exciting than I really am. 😛
das
PS @ Sparrowhawk – Hey – did you get that pic I sent you from The Return to Melnibone’ ?? Your silence has me a bit worried… 😉
das
@shingwit. My condolensces, though I have to admit to a small smile that Sassy went out the way I would like to; defiant and grumpy. For all of our domestication of animals, it’s a shame we’ve not managed to breed longevity into them, so that we do not have to suffer losses so frequently.
Mr. M. Thanks for the tip. I hit the road tomorrow afternoon, and have already made my reservation for the Fuel experience. I was leaning to the chef’s choice, but given your input I am now leaning to ala carte, so that I can try out the duck, corn soup, and if the protesters are there, the foie gras.
As for the creativity while driving, perhaps you can get the studio to spring for a “gator” or golf cart, rather than having to use your own fuel and put milage on your own ride? There would be the added bonus of cementing your reputation for eccentricity. Meantime, thanks for the daily posting, and please don’t leave poor Carl hanging out too long; he’s too young to have his image of you as a hero figure crushed.
@das: I got the picture! Actually they have the same one posted elsewhere on the site so I had seen it before. I like the style.
Actually it was the Bartok Variations that had my head spinning, not the ones on MMs blog (those have just been fun to watch! 😉
I have images of an irritated someone trying to smack a kino with a bat or some such thing and a deep sarcastic voice saying “use the force.” Cliche, yeah, but there you go, my mind is operating on the lowest pop culture levels lately.
Or, alternatively:
08 12 23 46 75 99
I’ve spent too much time in Vegas.
And:
On the Bad Art front, I found a new thrift shop piece for my art adoption gallery. Unicorn ponies in 80s pastels pointillism. Worst Art Ever. Some wacko will love it.
Hi Joe!
Thanks for the kino explanation. I really like your acronymization of KINO. 🙂
@Shiningwit – my deepest condolences at the loss of Sassy. sorry if I’ve misspelled the name- on my phone, eh? Anyway, warm thoughts your way!
I’m going to my family reunion in the country, but hope I will have some reception to read this blog & the “Castle” Twitter Mystery currently in progress. when I’m not spending valuable time w/ tons of relatives. 😉
Take care all!
eddy
Will SGU in any way tell us something about the ongoings of the Atlantis expedition?
@ Sparrowhawk – Well, if you like the style, I’m sure John can get a copy of that book off to you. It wasn’t cheap, however…but less than MZtA. For an art book (and a rare one, at that), it is beautiful – very ornate. Mr. Das REALLY liked it… 🙄
Ah…the ship combos! Mallotok reminds you of something flammable, while it reminds me of a guy with a giant head and cheshire cat grin, sitting in a hover chair waving his disproportionately small limbs about like a madman…
das
Hey Joe,
Sounds as though you do your best thinking when distracted.
I know how you feel. I can be asked a random question, such as by my Dad the other day over lunch which was, “What was the name of the crazy lady on Jon Stewart a few weeks ago?” (really, so many possibilities) and I knew I knew the answer so said, “Leave that with me”. Continue on with the conversation as normal, meanwhile the mice are running around on their wheel starting up the long term memory with lots of bangs and fizz noises as it gets going until I blurted out, “Orly Taitz”. I’m like watching a boiling pot. I get there eventually, it can just take a little longer.
Thanks for answering my question re the sales pitch. The business side of show biz interests me.
For Thai, you can’t go past Guay Teow Gai.
Shiningwit – You know where we are if you need any of us.
Oh, oh, oh…SGU Season 2, the Zontor 3000 chip, right? Who gets the transplant? 🙂
It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to when SGU starts up in October. I can’t get into any of the new shows Syfy’s been airing this summer. And I miss my Friday night SCI-FI fix.
@Shiningwit – I’m so sorry about your pup. My thoughts are with you and your family.
That was an interesting and amusing and vague enough to be tantalizing Q/A with DP about the kino. Too bad it’s not AI, but I think really I’m just missing K-9 from Dr. Who. And to keep from thinking about it all, plus opera capes and spicy spring rolls and who knows what else during tomorrow’s commute, I’ll have to focus on outgunning anyone who pulls up to the line with me at a traffic light and revs their engine. I win some, I lose some, but it keeps my mind from drifting off, and I have no idea how you can spin scripts while you drive. I guess it’s a writer thing, and I’m glad it works for you.
Speaking of Carl, I was reading online last night about a really major prank – it was a long time ago – that some UCLA dudes were trying to play on USC, but it backfired, resulting in the pranksters sitting in a helicopter while covered in manure that had been intended for “Tommy Trojan.” Surreal, yes, but true.
Joe wrote:
Yep, for some reason, I do some my best writing while I’m at the wheel. So, rather than sit there and wait for inspiration to strike, I hopped into my car and went for a ride.
Driven by a deadline. And it worked! Our BlogFather is “back in black” (wearing the signature look, as opposed to sweats, at home) because he’s back at the office. But wait—he went for a drive in his “super secret office.” Would this “inspirational ride” that you drove be the new one you bought last fall? Was it an Aston Martin? Ah, cars…they magically put babies to sleep, and grease the wheels of creativity. Can we take a peek at the inside of it? Let us know how Carl’s “Christmas” went when he gets to read your scripts. Good job, papa Mallozzi. 😉
Sparrow_hawk wrote:
I’m off to 4 days of geekdom at GenCon in Indianapolis.
Hey, you’re coming to Indy? That’s home base for me. Wanna say howdy? Let me know where I can reach you and I’ll send the contact info. It would be fun to meet another of Mallozzi’s Army. (What do we still call ourselves these days?)
Hello, Joe:
Well, I’ve been hacked. I’ve been spied upon, invaded, and every other unpleasant term that goes along with some nasty troll with nothing better to do than to attempt to scam me and steal my identity. So, besides canceling the credit card I normally use to buy stuff on line, I’ve had to change my password for all of my on-line memberships, accounts and various sundry groups I may have belonged to. A daunting task. I had no idea how many sites I frequent.
Anyway, Lee Goldberg, the writer of the Monk series of books and television show, as well as screen writer extraordinaire, has mentioned on his blog about an online site dedicated to exposing scammers who would like to take advantage of writers. The site is here: http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2009/08/mwa-teams-with-writer-beware.html#comments
I think this is an incredibly worthy endeavor and a downright good idea, so I thought I would share it with you.
All the best,
Patricia
@ytimynona sometimes I think I’d love to have a BrainPal. It would certainly make school (and taking tests!) alot easier to cope with. Though the idea of having my emotions shared with everyone else scares me.
Congrats on the script Joe. Kind of like you and the car, my mind works best in the shower. Seems kinda cliche though – it’s not a big step to go from singing in the shower to thinking in the shower….
Anyways, it’s good to see Ivon doing the kino scenes. Is he doing those in addition to the behind the scene features, or is there a new person taking over for those?
Maggiemayday: How to get free foie gras… go undercover as a vegan protester, then accept the offer of a tasty dish from Mr. Joe. Consume with relish to the horrified stares of the other protesters. Hmm, I smell performance art in the making.
Hugs and warm thoughts for shiningwit and all others who need some happy in their day.
Now that scheme is truly ingenious as well as incredibly funny. If you know someone from Burning Man who lives in Vancouver . . .
I would love to take one of those virtual hugs and a warm thought, and will offer the same in return, keeping in mind some of the things you’ve posted about.
The excesses of the 80s . . . Yeah, I think a friend from back then would love to stage a reunion party of “Rainbow Brite”-type unicorns.
Sometimes I wonder how connected our dogs are to us. I’ve been suffering from a case of the dizzies and am working from home. By mid-morning my usually stealthy Kelpie had walked into one wall, a door frame and a door.
@shiningwit–My sympathies for the loss of your beloved pet.
So, Joe–the KINO is a benign version of the giant beach ball in “The Prisoner” or the USAF Predator?
Thanks for the kino explanation, I think the whole concept sounds cool. Can’t wait for the webisodes….
Sorry to hear about the writing block this morning, but I must say you made up for it — the description in your first blog paragraph is positively Faulkner-esque!
Working on Heroes Die, in addition to a bridal shower cake due tomorrow. Must go play with fondant, now….
Will the webisodes be available to those of us outside the USA? Please tell us the will be? It’s so hard on those of us from places like Australia when we can’t access cool stuff 🙁
C’était une bonne idée de créer des webizodes, on va en savoir plus sur la vie de l’équipage du Destiny.
Petite question pour le Mailbag:
1-Le générique de la série sera-t-il de la même longueur que pour Atlantis et SG1 ?
2-Auront-nous droit à un long générique pour le premier épisode comme ça a été le cas pour Atlantis.
Amazing, that the car thing actually worked. You didn’t just go for a meal, which raised your spirits and inspiration, did you? 😉
Do you use recording equipment for your thoughts when you’re in situations where you can’t write them down soon?
Interesting – um, discussion (?) – you wrote about yesterday. I can’t understand, that such people don’t realize, that they actually hurt the cause they are fighting for. Shouting, whistling and stuff like that will never work. You only have the chance to convince somebody with good arguments, IMO.
Answer: Because, of course, you all come up with such terrific questions.
*LOL* Somehow, I expected an answer like that. 😉 Thanks for answering anyway.
Answer: I’m holding out for the brain microchip that will allow me to do it all – make phone calls, take pictures, watch film and television, and learn how to darn a sock.
Huh, reading that, a scene from a Dr. Who episode immediately crossed my mind. A guy voluntarily got a brain microchip. The only problem, every time somebody close to him snapped his fingers, the guy’s head opened. 🙂
Are any of the directors/writers/actors/producers (etc.), that are involved in Stargate, vegetarians or vegans?
Thank you to everyone here for your kind thoughts and lovely words. To look at her you wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong, bright eyes, waggy tail, strong spirit,a bark for the postman…..here I go again, flood alert. Give me a couple of days and I’ll dig out some pictures and tell you all about my good girl.
Hey Joe,
I often come up with ideas in the car, too, finally prompting me to have a notebook close at hand so I can jot down some shorthand notes.
At stoplights, of course!
Do you ever use music for inspiration? Have your stories or characters ever had unofficial soundtracks?
Uh…..um…..thunk. Is it my birthday or something? 😀 Thanks Joe.
I think the Kino idea is brilliant, a great way to generate more interest in the show between the episodes. Kudos to whoever thought it up.
Cheers, Chev
Hey Joe,
I’ve had the unfortunate luck of posting this question consistently on days before a mailbagless entry, so I figure I’ll ask one more time, just to see if I can get your input (if you’ve purposefully been ignoring me, just tell me to “Go away!” and I will :-D). Here’s the long, drawn out question that’s over-detailed…
I’m a college student — a hopeful someday TV writer. And I’m working on a spec pilot these days. I don’t know how much you know about the “spec market” out there, but I was wondering what you thought about this: I want the pilot to ultimately be a cable series (ie HBO or Showtime) should it ever come to fruition. (Yes, I’m aware 99% of spec pilots don’t make it to production, not to mention being picked up as a series — it’s more of the “showing what I can do” script). The content clearly suggests it’s meant for cable (sexuality, violence, language, themes, et al). However, as I’m not writing on assignment I wasn’t sure if I should be writing it in cable-format (without act-breaks) or if I should include the breaks. Any thoughts?
I appreciate any input.
The early kino design looks like an abnormal mommogram.
Hey, Joe.
You mentioned in response to DP’s questions that the Kino is not sentient. Why then is it roaming the ship, catching these intimate moments with the crew? Is it some sort of high-tech Ancient security camera / guard dog? Or is it being directed to fly around the ship by someone, to “spy” on people, or somesuch?
Also – Ivon has done a fantastic amount of directing for special features; your video reveals that he’s taking on that sort of role for the Kino webisodes as well. Is that an intentional effort to add something other than documentary directing to his repertoir, or does he already have other directing experience? Is the shift likely to go any further – is there potential for him to wind up directing episodes in the future, or is that unlikely because of how busy he is with special features stuff?
Thanks, Joe!
Interesting interview at Moviehole with the SGU cast. Beware it might include some spoilers, at least there’s one detail about a past relationship between two characters that I hadn’t seen before. Interesting, oh yeah, said that already.
So Joe, will the kino scenes end up making it to the DVD as well as online?
Fantastic news for Aussies. Sci Fi channel in Australia will premiere SGU within a week of the first showing in the US. How awesome is that? We usually have to wait months or years.
Cheers, Chev
I haven’t read in a couple days so you might have addressed this already…but is there an actor you can count on to up the wpm in dialogue to get more pages under the wirre, like with Michael Shanks and David Hewlett?
Joe did you ever find out how they got the Puddle Jumper into the SGC gate room in Morpheus?? besides flying it in or using the gate?
Joe wrote: “What communicators?”
That question would have made more sense if there were a relationship between the kino and the long range communication device.
I had a fleeting notion that the reason for the different operating modes of the long range communication device (sometimes one end of communication is in a coma, sometimes not) would have to do with making communication with say, a ship traveling near the speed of light, possible. The time distortions would get tricky if both ends of a mind switch were interacting with their environments while experiencing relativistic effects.
Hmm…a lot of my questions would have made more sense if there were a relationship between the long range communication device and the kino.
I was picturing the kino facilitating a mind switch between the people on the ship and some underwater aliens who communicate by skin color changes. Can you tell that cuttlefish video finally showed up from Netflix?
“Bugguy writes: “I’m back. Making a job change and things have been quite hectic.”
Answer: It’s been over a year! I had you declared officially dead and already collected the insurance money.”
I’m hurt I didn’t even get my cut of the cash. Good news is it will keep the federalies off my trail for a while!
humoristic for webisode:
[humoristic ON]
Bienvenu sur le Destiny:
150 personnes, enfermé dans un grand vaisseau pour plusieurs années. filmés 24h sur 24h et 7 jours sur 7 par de nombreux KINOs, des mini caméras espions volantes ultra-sofistiqué.
Chaque mois vous pourrez eliminer 2 candidats qui seront ejecté dans l’espace.
Amour, conflits, bagarres, bataille spatiales.
Quels sont leurs secrets??qui survivra?quel sera le meilleur couple et qui gagnera le ticket de retour pour la Terre??
vous le saurez en regardant notre tout nouveau show de télé-réalité en direct du fin fond de l’univers:
DESTINY STORY!!!! a partir du 2 octobre 2009 21h00 EMT
translation:
Welcome to the destiny:
150 peoples, locked on a big ship for many years.
Screened 24h per day and 7 days per week by 30 very-sofisticated flying spies camera called KINO.
each month you can eliminate 2 contenders.
The losers will be ejected into space.
conflict, love, fight, space battle.
What are their secrets??Who will survive?? who will be the best duo??who will win the ticket to return on earth??
You will know to seeing our new TV-show in directly to the end of universe:
DESTINY STORY!!!!! on october 2, 2009 21h00 EMT (earth mean time)
😀 😀 😀
humoristic [OFF]
Questions:
salut joe, j’ai plein de questions:
1)parlez vous courrament le français???
2) A quoi sert le chevron au sol (ground chevron)???
3)Quel sera la durée des webisodes???
4)Aurons nous un extra-terrestre allié comme teal’c ou ronnon?
5)Pourquoi ne pas mettre un animal domestique dans le vaisseau? (comme le chien d’Archer dans startrek enterprise)
6)peut on voir des photos de bonne qualité?:
-du DHD des portes planétaires??
-des shuttlepods du destiny???
-du KINO en action
Merci!!!!
To Shiningwit, sorry to hear about Sassie. Glad to see that she went, growling at the vet. I think this a fave thing for most dogs. Made me smile at the thought, even though this was sad to hear.
Love the idea of the Kino. And can’t wait to watch the webisodes when they air. Glad to hear that SPACE will air them.
Oh boy, I have some serious catching up to do!
I just got back from Army Basic Training. I’m a civilian again though. I was medically discharged because I had two asthma attacks. But at least I lost twenty points during the whole thing. So anyway, here I go, off to skim almost sixty blog entries.
(Joe I accidentally put this on an older post – I hope you’ll approve it here on this post)
Care to explain this one Joe (from a casting call):
[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).
Do you have any idea how offensive this is? That SGU will be using disability as a plot device. I’m sure you think it’s AWESOME that she gets to be “cured” for an episode but you know Joe? It’s offensive and totally ignores what it means to be disabled. And if by “intimacy” you mean sex than you’re doubly offensive in assuming disabled people don’t/can’t have sex/be intimate just the way that they are.
I had decided I was going to give the show a chance but now I don’t think so. I had thought, just maybe, you had learned some lessons from SGA about characters and how to treat the better but I apparently not. I’ve put up with a lot of BS from the writers with Stargate but I think this is the last straw. I’m done watching you and the writers turn something that could be awesome into offensive trash.
Deirdre/Das, can you e-mail Sparrow_hawk for me? (Don’t know if she’s still checking comments here.) Was hoping to catch up w/ her this weekend since she’s coming to GenCon in Indianapolis.
Freaky thing is, I just got an e-mail from a friend who needed an extra adult to help get her kids to sessions at GenCon. Now I’m going, too, on Saturday. Is that weird or what? She, or anyone here, can reach me at:
mannas7mom@aol.com
(Yeah, the addy was named after my doggie grrrl.)
Thanks, D!
–Lise
@otros ojos
I have no doubt I know burners from Vancouver, I just don’t know who they are. That’s they way of the playa, most of the time you know playa names and camp affiliation, not default names and physical homeland. I’m not even maggiemayday at Burning Man, I am Anti M (Auntie Em = Aunt Margaret). From Hushville.
and they’d probably be vegans anyway…
Creativity…in your head first. I’m an artist/writer and I have to create everything in my mind before I sit down. It flows..even complicated creations.
I am just so thrilled to read your process. Wow, I am just so amazed. I respect your work…so cool to know this part of you. Thank you for sharing.
Hey I think my post got eaten long time no hear right hope all is well. I won’t be able to watch SGU live I don’t have cable and can’t watch at neighbor’s not speaking to them anymore (Long Story) could you please find out if SGU will be on Hulu.com or Syfy rewind full episodes pretty please with sugar on top thank you I do appreciate it.
As for SGU are there any characters like Daniel or Elizabeth? Those are the characters I related to the most.
Since you have seen the script for the 3rd SG-1 movie is Vala’s absence explained? I am still kind of ticked off that Brad did not include her I feel like the Vala haters won, in my AU the reason she is not there is because she and Daniel are married and she is pregnant but I don’t have much hope that will be the reason. There is a whole section of fandom that are really bummed out about this and Brad did not make us feel better. I was hoping for a scene where Vala and Jack interact because we haven’t seen one and there were opportunities but nothing was given I would love to see RDA and Claudia have a scene together I think they would funny 2 great talents like that.
Are you ever going to really use twitter and not what you are doing now with just the pics yes they are cute but come on you know you want to banter with us fans and you can promote your blog lots of people do that too. You could chat with Martin Gero too. Here is mine http://twitter.com/poundpuppy29
In a Medical Dictionary, kino- (or kin-) means movement, as in kinocilium.
By the way, Mr. M, is it pronounced KEY-no or kin-o?
Anne Teldy
Hello!
I’m a French fan of stargate, so please don’t be afraid of my poor English 😀
In the mythology, Icarus is the son of Daedalus and is commonly known for his attempt to escape Crete by flight, which ended in a fall to his death.
So, a ship can be in the base of icarus. When enemy attacks, the ship fly to escape.
We can supposed that the ship isn’t terminated and destroyed in the fire of the enemy.
But the team of SGU can open a vortex and go out?
My supposition is ridiculous? 😀
sry for my english again..
Bye!
Cavaski
We all know Stargate Universe is currently in production..which I am actually looking forward to as long as it not going down the Battlestar Galactica route.. as in too much drama and not enough sci fi..( sorry it was Rubbish ).
I like Quality and original Science Fiction….which BSG was’nt.
My opinion you want top quality sci fi, and story telling then Stargate is the show to watch…..
Back to the question..
After SGU has wrapped…the next SG1 Movie will be made..will SGA Movie then go into production..?
I have read some where that David Hewlett has said SGA movie probably will not be made ?
maggiemayday –
Thanks for the explanation; it sounds like even the structure of the community is interesting, let alone the people. – Since it’s not long till you head out, I hope you have a great time. I’ll check your blog for pics and write-up.
Hi Joe,
I know you’re sick to death of answering questions about the SG movies, but perhaps you can confirm or correct something RCC said in an article that was posted on SciFi Wire today…they reported that he said he thought that that the SG-1 movie was set sometime between Continuum and the events of SGU. Would you say that’s accurate? I’m just wondering, considering the article implied he’d written both the SG1 and the SGA scripts (which someone did correct…), which makes me tend to want to take everything it says with a proverbial grain of salt.
Still trying to be optimistic that they’ll get made sooner rather than later, regardless. 🙂
SBS
@ for the love of Beckett – It is done! 😀 I sent her off an e-mail – I hope she gets it!
My niece, ladyhgiggles, just sent me this:
http://scifiwire.com/2009/08/new-sg-1-atlantis-films-d.php
Stargate Universe executive producer Robert C. Cooper has written scripts for a new potential Stargate SG-1 movie and a Stargate Atlantis film, but said it might be a while before they get a green light.
“We’re ready to go,” Cooper said in an exclusive interview over the weekend in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting SGU at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “We’re just waiting for the right opportunity,” he said. “We want to be successful with it. The studio wants to be successful, and we really don’t want to proceed with something in the wrong climate, which I think financially it is right now.”
Two previous SG-1 straight-to-DVD movies, Continuum and The Ark of Truth, sold well, but the current economic downturn makes DVD premieres less lucrative than they were in the past.
“It’s tough, because we were very successful with the first two SG-1 movies,” Cooper said. “Since then, the economics have changed a little bit. DVDs aren’t selling the same way they were when we released those even just a year, and a year and a half ago.”
A new compilation of Stargate Atlantis episodes, Fans’ Choice, just dropped on Blu-ray on Aug. 4, featuring the pilot “Rising” and an extended cut of “Enemy at the Gate.” That won’t help Cooper mount a new production.
“That, obviously, is already produced,” Cooper said. “Putting it on DVD or Blu-ray is not the same as the investment it would take to start from scratch.”
Should the two DVD films be made, they would follow previous entries in having independent storylines that would not affect the upcoming Syfy original series SGU. “They would stand alone,” Cooper said. “The Atlantis one takes place shortly after the end of season five. The SG-1, I think, takes place sometime in an intermediary period between when the SG-1 movies left off and when Universe began.”
Make of that what you will.
das
Found this of interest :
http://www.galaxyzoo.org/
“The Galaxy Zoo files contain almost a quarter of a million galaxies which have been imaged with a camera attached to a robotic telescope the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, no less). In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need your help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which your brain is better than even the fastest computer.”
Also they are looking for supernovae:
http://supernova.galaxyzoo.org/
“Your task in this latest Galaxy Zoo project is to help us catch exploding stars – supernovae. Data for the site is provided by an automatic survey in California, at the world-famous Palomar Observatory, and two astronomers are standing by in the Canary Islands to follow up on your best candidates.”
Re: the crispy duck for 2 from Fuel… man you and Ivon ate the whole duck between the two of you??
That’s some mains lol
What’s with your blog appearance… it is all wonky??? There is no picture of Maxmus and the format is all weird!
so if both the sg1 and atlantis movies aren’t going to be made for a while (and what’s a while???), and this is because the dvd sales aren’t that good…
i’m sure this has been thought out, but aren’t the vast majority of dvds just already-seen movies and television shows? with the sg1/atlantis movies, they would be NEW. can’t this be taken into consideration when worrying about dvd sales?
i’m grumpy and sulking now. 🙁 😛
Nevermind…re-booting seems to have fixed the problem… cheers!
Jen said:
Don’t let the gate vaporise your ass on the way out.
Or vaporize, for that matter. Let that not happen to your ass either.
Hi Joe,
You know what’d be great?
If Paul or Brad could have a word to the fine folks at SyFy (or however it’s spelt now) to see if they can make the Webisodes available to those outside of the United States.
Nothing’s more frustrating than trying to watch something new and cool and then being told that I’m not on the right part of the planet to watch it, and then being treated like a damned dirty pirate when I go and find it copied on YouTube or a torrent.
I know you have no control over this – you can’t make SyFy do your bidding (as much as you’d want to) – but surely someone can have a word to them about this.
You said if the two SG-1 movies perform well, more would follow. Well, both movies sold beyond all expectations. Yet here we are, three years after they were filmed, and there’s still not even any word from you lot about when we might see another one.
You said when Atlantis was canceled that there would be an SGA movie co-produced by MGM and SyFy that would tie up the massive, huge, ridiculous loose end that Enemy at the Gate left. Yet here we are, a full year after SGA was canceled, and there’s not even any word from you lot about when Atlantis’ story will be brought to a satisfactory end.
All we fans get is silence. You’d better be bringing in absolute droves of new, mainstream viewers to watch Universe, because you just keep losing the loyal ones you had already.
See ya, Stargate. Have a nice life.
So Joe, I was just wondering how much you love people jumping to conclusions: people are actually alerting disability organizations over the casting call about the quadriplegic character on SGU because they think it is potentially offensive. I imagine it’s pretty hard to boil a major guest star character down to a couple of lines, but maybe I’m just an ingnorant, heartless person who is going to give SGU a fair chance and not bash it at every turn. I love your responses to absolute madness, so I’m just wondering about your thoughts about this.
The only thing I see could be “potentially offensive”, is Maza’s little icon. What is that thing doing? Oh my Lord!
PG15 and *K* –
If you can’t see or understand how offensive that description sounds than I feel sorry for you. There is no need to talk about how she is suddenly “cured” and then imply that because she’s cured she will then want to be intimate because she never has before. As if that’s all disabled people think about. Yes people are contacting disability services – because they ARE offended by that description because they’ve heard the same BS too many times by so call normal people who think they are worthless because they are disabled.
There have been other offensive episodes – rape being considered a joke, allergies not being taken seriously (I don’t care if he was a hypochondriac – you don’t mess around with allergies like that), blatant racism, and so on an so forth. This is one more in a long line of offensives by the writers of Stargate. It’s one more thing that shows have done and will continue to because they clearly don’t think about how what they are writing affects other people. They don’t consider that what they are doing promotes hurtful stereotypes. Stereotypes that people have to deal with every day.
Jen-
I have to say I feel sorry for you too. I guess I don’t read too much in to SG-1, Atlantis or future Universe episodes because I really have no idea what “long line of offensives” you are referring to. I guess I’m just that reasonable person that feels the Stargate series is as politically correct as Family Guy is, therefore, I enjoy the series and move on in my life. Please, stop being a bitter Betty and enjoy life.
SING IT, JEN.
I was offended by it too. Thin doesn’t automatically equal attractive, and disabled doesn’t automatically equal helpless or incapable of intimacy. You’re right to be offended–I am too!
And being in someone else’s body isn’t being cured of a disability–the original body is still there. And using that person’s body–that in-a-long-term-relationship lesbian’s body–to have sex with men (or ANYBODY) is tantamount to rape (unless she has permission from the owner of her current body, which I doubt she sought, and which I doubt she’d get).
*K*, your privilege is showing.
I am sick of everyone fighting over this. Stop being so rude to the people that brought you 10 (and more) years of entertainment with Stargate SG1 and 5 years or entertainment with Stargate Atlantis (not to mention Universe). Every single year, term, semester of high school and university everyone is always talking about racism and discriminatory behaviour, but it is people being racist that look for it in everything. I love SG1 and SGA and am at least going to give Universe a try (I’m sure I’ll love it). For those people that are just going to leave it, that’s being incredibly immature. Thank you Joe Mallozzi for everything that you have done. I love your work and the work of those with you. Thank you for all of the entertainment and everything. =)
Hey Joe,
this is my first time here, and i have to say that you are very commited to your fans. I appreciate that.
I am excited about the new sgu coming out, but i have a dead horse to beat.
I am still shocked at the abrupt ending of sga, though. Mainly to see Sheppard, Teila, and Ronin go away. I just wish that they could be incorporated with SGU.
I just hope that we can see as good of a character development with sgu as we did with SGA.
Thanks for listening!!