I’m pleased to report that after a brief falling out, my rewrite and I have reconciled and we are on much better terms. I admit that I was a little frustrated yesterday, and said some things I now regret. However today, things are much brighter and progress has been made, thanks in large part to the wise counsel, unconditional support, and rough explanatory sketch provided by Mika McKinnon, the show’s science consultant. Thanks, Mika. And to those of you wondering what, exactly, Mika does on the show (beside field panicked astronomy-related questions from yours truly) and how she landed the dream gig that made her the envy of geekdom, check out her past Q&A here: http://josephmallozzi.com/2008/09/14/september-14-2008-atlantis-physics-consultant-mika-mckinnon-schools-us-touring-stage-3-part-1/
Much excitement at the production offices today generated by the impromptu appearance of a very special guest. No, not Richard Dean Anderson. Or that guy who plays PC in those Mac commercials. I’m talking about Jelly who spent the day lounging about my office, strolling the halls, joining us for lunch, partaking in some cajun chicken, sitting in on a notes session, and generally enjoying the attention lavished upon her by, among others, A.D. Bill Mizel, Carl, and Ashleigh. Attention of another sort tomorrow, however, as she heads off to the vet’s for that dreaded ultrasound.
Well, I was hoping to hit the mailbag today but since it’s already ticking past 10:00 p.m. and some of you get cranky when I’m late posting, I’ll save my stellar responses for tomorrow’s post.
You know where to find me.
“Well, I was hoping to hit the mailbag today but since it’s already ticking past 10:00 p.m. and some of you get cranky when I’m late posting, I’ll save my stellar responses for tomorrow’s post.”
PFFFFFTT!!!! (That was a juicy one, btw.)
Be that way, then! 😡 I hope you have vivid dreams about sitting in a tub full of creme de menthe, eating mint chocolate chip ice cream and peppermint patties!
And I am NOT cranky when you post late!!! 😡 I’m cranky when you don’t post a mailbag when you post late, that’s when I’m cranky!!! 😡 Sassin’ frassin’…stay up all this time for some pictures of Carl puckerin’ up for Jelly. The man really needs a date…that is, besides you, Joe. And Jelly…
das
PS: 😀
das
Hi Joe:
I hear that it’s WGA election time once again. Is Carl going to vote? Is Carl going to run? If you are a member of the WGA and the WGC, and the WGA strikes…what happens? Are you only aloud to write every second word of a script?
Patricia
Waitaminute! I just noticed you read Wolverine: Blood Debt. How’d you like it (or not)? It’s been ages since I’ve read that one, but I remember enjoying it. I liked those b&w ‘flashback’ panels of the treachery within the family. Thought the art was pretty decent all the way round.
And now I’m still awake, and you’re probably all tucked in bed with the puppies and a big, fluffy pillow.
Ya rotten bum.
😉
das
Now that we have a much better look at the suit… wow that is what the Lost Tribe Asgard were wearing.
I previously suspected they were a relic from an age when the Asgard were bigger (hence one size fits all) but being ancient tech works much better as an explanation and it shows how far the Lost Tribe Asgard had fallen.
Looks like something that would have been explored in season 6… glad those suits get a second life in Universe (and maaaybe just maybe the Lost Tribe Asgard – pretty please?)
Given the amount of punishment we know they can take it is going to take a scary foe to be a threat…
Divert full power from the prop budget to special effects!
Joe,
Hope everything turns out OK with Jelly’s ultrasound!
Norriski
Mika’s did a XXX Q&A?! Would never have thunk it. Although I think pg15 may have.
LOL at Brian! Great pictures, all.
I bet Jelly wants Carl to get off of her couch. Must be nice to have such a mellow dog. I remember those days. If you took my puppy to work, you’d be posting pictures of “thats where she pooped, and thats where she peed”, her running up and down your halls, taking food out of people’s mouth and trying to pull the table cloth off at lunch, throwing up the cajun chicken, chewing on everyone’s shoes during a notes session, and generally reaking havoc on everyone she met, but looking sooo adorable in the process.
And hey Maximus, I wanna play too!
You had to pick the evening I’m falling off the face of the earth, electronically speaking, for over a week?
See y’all later, have fun, behave, or at least try not to cause a ruckus in the streets and frighten the horses.
Ah, that’s better. Thanks Joe.
Hope everything goes well with Jelly. She’s gorgeous.
Oh ho ho! I think I spy a bit of a piece of production art in that first Carl-Jelly photo!! It looks alien. That is good.
Speaking of good things: check it, I made a Lego Destiny!! It took me the better part of 2 days, but it was 2 days well-spent.
Honestly, I think that umbrella-esque dome is so much better than what the actual Destiny dome looks like. No offense to Mark Savela and James Robbins on the designs and rendering but, come on – Umbrella! In Space! It’s unbelievably awesome!
Envy of geekdom is very much correct, Joe. Schooling Stargate writers on the simple facts of Physics and Astronomy? That’s a dream come true. Whatever the case, it’s good to know that the sciences of Stargate is in good hands.
I say that, because I just watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager earlier today, where they had some anomaly being attracted to a dark matter asteroid, because the anomaly is naturally attracted to EM radiation.
That is just insulting.
I love those pics of Jelly! In those pics with her and Carl, I think she’s sizing him up. Sorry Carl, but you ain’t a match for the lady. She will destroy you with her cuteness.
@ Narelle: May have what? Thought it, or done a XXX Q&A myself? 😛
Because both would get me into a lot of trouble. 😉
Hi, Joe
Is Brian Smith wearing the Codpiece Of Doom from the old super soldier costume? That last pic looks scary.
Hope all goes well for Jelly’s ultrasound.
Looks more like Jelly is doing doggy telepathy of the “bring me food” variety.
Hope everything goes well with the ultrasound – keeping fingers crossed.
Love the random on-set pics – you little tease.
Meils
It sounds like Mika did a fantastic job of helping restore a harmonious relationship between you and your script. “Well done” to you and your document for getting back on writing terms. – I’ll have to read the entry you linked to, since I was AWOL at the time, and so never learned that Mika does many things in addition to turning blog readers on to the delights of cephalopods. (Although I will concede that her other jobs are more important, I’m overjoyed to know that some undersea creatures are even quirkier than I am. It’s just that. . . *sniffles* Man, I love those guys.)
– Okay, even though I’m off work today (weekend shift instead), it’s fairly clear I need to get to bed. Thanks for telling us about Jelly’s Excellent Adventure, and for the fun pics of her with Carl and Bill. And for the pics of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Brian. Most importantly, I hope Jelly does okay with the Major Vet Visit, and that the ultrasound doesn’t reveal anything amiss.
Amari Daikaiju Time Pirate Taikou-Hitohana
(not-really-monster Time Pirate Pink Flower)
Thornyrose –
Your pirate name, plus honorific, made me laugh. A lot.
PS to Jelly: Cajun chicken – Waytogo!
Coucou Joseph! ça va ?
Moi aussi, j’ai de drôle de rêve cette nuit donc j’ai pas bien dormie!
Merci ecnore pour toutes ces photos! Jelly est une star!! J’aime beaucoup le T shirt de Bill!
Je suis contente que cela te passe mieux pour la réécriture! Vous êtes un battant et vous ne baissez pas les bras si facilement 🙂
Je vais réfléchire si j’ai des questions à vous posez, je reviens plus tard.
Bisou Bisou
Bonne journée!
Regardez Joseph, des fans de stargate se sont filmer pour faire un épiode ! C’est trés réussi je trouve!
http://www.unificationfrance.com/spip.php?article7132
qu’en pensez vous?
@Narelle from Aus …wait, I did a pornographic Q&A??! I… I don’t remember doing anything to earn an XXX rating… oh no, what did you guys feed me with those questions?
Joe, I’m glad to hear writing was less frustrating today. The roommate is still facing my Red Pen of Doom, but now we’re down to wordsmithing instead of concept-crafting, so all around, an improvement!
Joe your dogs are so cute, although i think they were getting all the attention in the office :).
Is that suit from Stargate Atlantis?
Pontytail: too funny!
Das: About Vick; racial tension is alive and well in the south. We are hip deep in racial tension in Memphis. Here is a link to my favorite racial tension story: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/25/mural-isnt-what-it-seems/ Some one here is always blaming race.
Tam
I hope Jelly’s test comes back with good news!
Tam
oh mince j’ai pas d’idée de question ='(!
How are you going to get a good night’s sleep with the rest of the four-legs hounding you for showing favoritism to Jelly? Though the pics were great. As for the final pic with Jelly and Carl, it looks to me like an alpha-dog staredown. With Jelly wearing “Does he really think he can outstare me” look.
So, once the episode finally airs, do we find out what the hangout was? We’ll already know the solution then, of course, but I’m curious on what aspect of astronomy defied your layman knowledge.
As a final note, I’ve learned to not delay(much, anyways) my own bedtime on those evenings you’re held up. It just means I have to get up a few minutes earlier than planned to check the blog, unless it’s a rare sleep in day, in which case I get around to reading it oh, before sunset. Now, off to the real world and a partial day at work. See if I can remember how to start an IV, and what the squiggly lines on the monitor mean….
Hi Mr M!!
Caption for last photo:
Jelly’s Jedi Mind Trick was working…..Soon Carl would vacate the seat.
Happy Birthday to Amanda Tapping!!!
Cool snaps re: Brian J Smith…many thanks for same.
Have just ordered October BOTM.
Best to all
S’n’T
Morning Joe, loved the pics of Jelly at work, she’s really a beauty. Please let us know what turns up with the ultrasound – only good thoughts coming your way 🙂 Elway settled down after only 2 seizures yesterday, but still holding my breath a little today. Hopefully, that’s the end of it for a while. On that note, I’m off to take a two minute shower (can’t leave him alone much longer right now). Kisses to Jelly from Flannery, Elway, Molly and Summer 🙂
May I suggest you take your rewrite out to dinner?
I always thought I might like a job as a science consultant on a TV show. Had I realized that such jobs existed, I might have gone on for my Ph.D. in Physics instead of stopping with a Master’s.
Thank you for the pictures of Brian!
Hope all goes well with Jelly.
Cannot wait until October 2nd!
Waves from Kentucky,
Sherry
Now that John G. Lenic has done a Q&A at GW, can we add questions to his Q&A now that we know what he does?
I can’t believe I barely remember that Q&A. I wasn’t on speaking terms with Science back then, though.
@Science: I don’t blame you anymore. It’s not your fault how you were being used. Maybe someday we can get back what we had, but, right now, you remind me too much. It’s me. Not you.
Je pensais à quelque chose, vous savez que Paris Hilton va jouer dans un épisode de Supernatural?
Vous, accepteriez si elle se proposait pour jouer dans SGU?
Lol je me demande bien ce qu’elle pourrai jouer, qui sais peut être que l’équipe de sgu trouvera un jour une planéte peuplé de Bimbo blonde riche avec des chihuahua O_o (oula je pousse un peu loin les limites de l’imaginaire-_-‘)
ah oui, aujourd hui c’est l’anniversaire d’Amanda et n’oublions pas aussi celui de Kirby Morrow =)
J’ai enfin trouver “THE” question!! (j’espere que vous pourrez y répondre)
…attention silence, roulements de tambours…….
Allons nous voir ou parler des Furling dans SGU?
Car ça n’a pas était clair sur ce sujet, Brad à dit non et Robert peut être, donc je fais appel a vous.
Aller, vous pouvez faire ça pour votre petite fan adoré :D?
@PG15 : I have soooooo much lego here……Please come to my house and play!!!!
Use the Asgard beam to get here!!
S’n’T
PG15: I LOVE the Destiny in LEGOs! Do you remember how you did it, and will you put up an instruction manual? I bookmarked your page to go along with the LEGO puddlejumper and stargate.
The final panel almost made me spit up the pretzel I was eating, though. 😀 pew pew!
Joe – thanks, got it…replied.
Ugh – Big ol’ t-boomer outside…gotta go before my computer ‘splodes. But now I have to dodge a downpour and lightning…this is NOT fun!
Wish me luck!
Have a great day, sir!
das
Good luck with Jelly’s ultrasound. I hope all goes well.
I just had an unsettling experience. The results from my latest blood tests came back. The Westergren sed rate — which I’m told indicates the amount of inflammation (from arthritis and infection) in your body — is supposed to be between 0 – 15 for a woman my age (45). Mine is 110. So far the only plan is to retest weekly for the next three weeks. Big help with the pain there.
I hope Jelly gets better results.
Anne Teldy
Bonjour Joseph, ça fait plaisir de revenir sur votre blog après une semaine. J’ai beaucoup à lire. Vous devriez écouter les conseils de anais33 sur la planète peuplée de bimbos avec des chihuahua, ça pourrais faire un bon ennemi qui séduirais tout les hommes.
Bref, après cette petite plaisanterie je voudrais juste vous poser une petite question:
Combient de temps cela met-il aux décorateurs de fabriquer une porte des étoiles ? Et combien en avez-vou fabriqué pour Universe ? Et Atlantis ?
Je sais qu’il y en avait deux sur Sg1 sans compter celles en 3D.
Bonne journée à vous Joseph et bonne chance pour les semaines de tournage et d’écriture de scénarios à venir.
anneteldy: Have you considered going to a heavy hitter? One friend of mine had excellent treatment for lupus/thyroid condition at the Mayo Clinic. They were the only ones that really listened to her and took her seriously. After years of odd symptoms the Mayo Clinic were the only ones who found the cause(s). Sending good health vibes your way!
PG15: Legos are great! Love the ship you built. I’ve spent many hours helping my son/husband build projects. We have thousands of legos and those small pieces are the hardest to keep track of. One of my cousins has all his legos organized in rolling tool boxes. I’m not sure how many he has but each box has a picture of the piece inside for easy retrieval. It’s an OCD’ers dream! I’ve tried that with my son’s legos but haven’t got all of them sorted. Maybe next year. (I used fishing lure boxes, though)
Tam
Hey, read an interesting post from Josh Friedman (writer/exec producer for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and was wondering what your take on it was.
http://io9.com/5347563/the-questions-you-shouldnt-answer-and-the-details-you-cant-let-go-of
I guess more specifically, do you always know the exact motivation for all the characters? Is it more ambiguous? Or is it just enough to move the story forward? I’m not referring to what actually makes it to the script but more your process for telling the story.
Also, I know you’ve mentioned it a few times here, but how often do you guys have those “something’s not quite right” kind of moments? Daily? Or maybe, after all these years, the stellar production crew can just read your minds 🙂
Thanks,
H
PS – Hope everything goes well with Jelly’s ultrasound.
GeekBoy can legally drive, but we are definitely not letting him loose just yet. When I can ride with him and not get cramps in my hand from desperately clutching the door handle, then we’ll let him drive on his own. He is FINE with that. He really doesn’t want any unique hood ornaments, either.
@PG15 — I thought you’d like to know, in case you aren’t on Twitter, that the Lego Destiny picture got noticed by Syfy’s Twitter person and they sent the link out to anyone who follows Syfy’s channel’s Twitter. You did a really awesome job.
Allelluilla!!!
Enfin en un(e) frenchi sur ce blog!! Et en plus qui commente ce que j’ai écris, ça fait plaisir de ne pas se sentir seul 🙂
A mon avi si la planéte des bimbo existent toutes les femmes de la planéte Terre les pourchasseront jusqu’a les extérminés …car une femme qui vient de ce faire piquer son homme c’est pire que des milliers de wraith réunis O_o lol
A plus tard…
Hey Joe,
I know this is impossibly late but I wanted to wish Jelly the best for her u/s. As I type, my own buddy is sitting beside me giving me a stare reminiscent of Jelly’s to Carl. I think he’s telepathically advising my writing!
Or perhaps he’s just thinking, “step away from the funny typy thing and play with me!”
Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Best to Jelly.
Pol
PS, not sure if it’ll work, but this is the beastie himself. http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l355/polrobin/travelingcharlie.jpg
@PG15… your Lego of Destiny is all the rage on twitter… every one is Re-tweeting it including Syfy and MGM!!! Awesome job
Mr. M.,
How did Jelly’s ultrasound go! Keeping good thoughts!!! Cheers
@PG15 — Well, well, you’ve caught the attention of the BIG guys at MGM studios. This is on their Facebook page (with your picture of your Lego creation).
MGM Studios Alright party people, we like this, and we command more Lego simulacrum. Inbox us with a link to your photos. If you’re deemed the best by our brain trust we’ll send you a final cut of Children of the Gods on DVD.
@ pg15 – Wow! Two of my nephews were always building Lego space ships. They’d love that one! It’s really cool!
Hope everything is going okay for Jelly. Joe, is Jelly your first dog?
Hi Joe,
I’m a long time reader, second time poster now.
I’ve posted these questions a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t get an answer in the mail bag. I thought you’d might go back to them, but it seems you didn’t. So I thought I’d post them again in the hopes of you answering them now.
“I’ve been wondering for a couple of days now, since I saw the Comic Con trailer for SGU….which Earth ship do they beam Eli up to? Is it the USS George Hammond or another ship?
I read somewhere (probably here) that Amanda Tapping is in the premiere of SGU, so it would seem logical to me that, since she is the commanding officer of the USS George Hammond, you guys would put the George Hammond in the premiere, and not the Odyseey for instance, am I correct?
My second question is regarding the design of the USS George Hammond. Is it a Daedalus Class Ship and therefore identical to all other X-304’s or is it a new designed ship?
My third question is regarding the production of Earth’s ships. Can I assume that the U.S. are not the only country currently capable of building hyperspace ships? Could i.e. China, France or Germany build them as well?
(So far we only know that the Korelev was handed over to the Russians and we don’t know where the Sun Tsu came from, correct?)
If so, have you guys ever thought about names for these ships? Since all U.S. are named after Greek mythology (except the Hammond, of course). Would you continue in that tradition or change it to i.e. historical persons, like you did with the Chinese and Russian ships?”
Thank you for taking the time to read these long questions and (hopefully) answer them this time 🙂
Apollo_031
@Mika I still want to be you when I grow up! 😉 Glad to hear you (finally) got to help out at the script stage of things!
Hello Joe,
THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the random set pics, love them, please keep doing it.
Hmm now for some high quality Major D. Davis questions(I know, the quality of my questions have been slacking, and you haven’t been answering them, but I can understand, no one wants to answer stupid questions).
Ok just a side one I can understand you not wanting to answer this one(but please do, it would help my hype for SGU severly), but you would thrill me if you did.
Ok so its clear there will be romance in SGU(which is cool with me), but the only thing I am worried about is modesty, like there is a difference between getting the idea of the scene and unnesecary graphicness. Like I just would be bummed if the romance scene(gay or straight) were unnesecarly graphic, so is there any chance you could reasure me on that and clear it up(cause its been a bit of a concern and hype killer for me)?
So a few more if you don’t mind. 🙂
1. Is it true Telford will appear in the back half of the first SGU season(there have been hints on LDP’s twitter)?
2. Which episode are you currently shooting? I remember Pain was in prep almost directly after Human finished shooting, so is Lost or Sabotage waiting to film after Pain is shot, or is my math and logic all off and you are shooting both Lost and Sabotage before Pain?
3. Will we see any familar race in the Atlantis movie besides the Wraith and the Tau’ri?
4. I’ve always been wondering, are you a Christian, or a Catholic, or do you follow any religion?(I understand if you don’t want to talk about your religious views online though 🙂 )
I put the religious question at the back so you could trim it off if you felt uncomfortable answering it. 🙂 LOL I remember the good old MDD days where I asked 6 questions a day. 😛
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
How is Jelly?, good thoughts, good thoughts!. I think Bill bonded with Jelly and Jelly is still considering Carl.
@anneteldy, maybe they need to check their meters, prayers for you, better soon.
Holy crap.
That’s all I got for now. Correspondences…
@ Shirt’n’Tie: Haha, ok, sure! I’ll just need Joe to lend me his official Stargate Producer’s Asgard beaming tech, and if he can, maybe throw in a Zat or 2 for lulz. 😉
@ Namiko: Thank you! I’m glad you like it. 😀 Unfortunately, I don’t really write down any notes when I’m building these things. However, I think you might be able to pick out some details from the close-up shots. Basically, you need a lot of “slanted” pieces.
@ Tammy Dixon: It’s also my dream!! LOL. Thank you! And yeah, I totally need to sort mine; most of the building process involved me almost swimming in that big pile of lego trying to find itty bitty parts. Haha.
@ PBMom: Thanks for the news! Wow, I’m famous! This is awesome! To think, I just wanted to show off to my buddies here and on Gateworld. So this is what it feels like when new technology and media smacks you in the face like a bag of bricks. 😀
MGM now knows of my existence. This is so weird.
Any chance I can use this to get a job at Bridge Studios? I can make Lego mockups of new alien ships and things! 😉
@ Patricia Lee: Mind = blown. Haha. Thank you! Glad you liked it!
@ Ponytail: Thank you! Glad you and your nephews like it! 😀
By the way, in response to my brief 15 minutes of fame on Twitter, I’ve finally started tweeting. I don’t remember if I posted my old account URL here, but that no longer works since it got suspended (probably because I never tweeted); I’ve since started a new account:
http://twitter.com/PGFifteen
Finally, I like to offer my hopes that Jelly’s ultrasound went well, and that there were no problems whatsoever. Look at her smile at Bill Mizel! She’s obviously perfectly healthy! 😀
@ AnneTeldy: Hang in there! We’re all pulling for you over here! Good luck with the retests!
@PG15 , will you or someone else post a link of the picture of the lego thing. I can’t find it. Thanks, Sheryl
I love your captions for the latest lot of photos Joe, particularly the ones with Carl (he just has such great expressions).
Hope everything goes well with Jelly’s ultrasound, fingers crossed that it all works out fine.
And I’m also looking forward to the somewhat “late” mailbag 😉
Amz
G’night all:) hugs for the pugs:)Lulu and Brie too
@sheryl:
http://www.freewebs.com/gaoliu2000/LegoDestiny.htm
@ sheryl: Here you go!
pg15 and Mika
Now that Joe has fixed the link to the Q&A, my comment makes absolutely no sense at all (much like every other comment I post). XXX was there in place of the article link. But Physics is partly about seeing how particles behave in their nuddy forms. So it’s sorta XXX.
PG, were you standing on your head when taking some of those Lego Destiny pics? I love the last photo 🙂
Anne Teldy – Hang in there. Here’s hoping for some good news.
Hello, I’m Marc DUBOIS, webmaster of the french website StargateUniverse.fr (http://www.stargateuniverse.fr).
I would like to ask you some questions to make an interview for my website.
Do you?
I am sorry I do not speak English.
Do you speak french?
Shepard@cegetel.net