Lately, I’ve been reuniting with old friends, occasionally quite by accident. For instance, yesterday I forgot my phone in the office and when I came back for it, discovered I’d missed a call. I didn’t recognize the number on the all display and curiosity got the best of me, so I called back. “Hi,”I said to the woman who answered the phone. “I think I just missed a call from this number.” A couple of seconds of sustained silence and then an incredulous: “Joe?”. As it turned out, I was speaking to fellow pug owner and jet-setting actress Josephine Jacob who I hadn’t spoken to in years and had dialed me, quite by accident, during a conversation with another friend. She was back in Vancouver for the holidays so we decided to meet for coffee (actually tea, and chamomile for me – it reminds me of Tokyo) and catch up.
A nice, relaxing afternoon chat – followed by several hours of frustration on the script and email front. For some reason, I’m suddenly unable to send emails from my yahoo account. Scratch that. I can send “some” emails. Some others, on the other hand, I can’t. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which ones actually make it out! Adding insult to injury, my brand new MacBook is given to bouts of unbearable sluggishness. Yes, as the cold winter days wear on, I’m making the shift from Happy Joe to Angry Joe. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed?
So, I’m in a rotten mood. And when I’m in a rotten mood, there are two things I excel at: scriptwriting and answering mailbag questions. So, on to the mailbag…
Paloosa writes: “But wait! Series finale? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse, or the egg and chicken together?”
Answer: Cart? Horse? Egg? Chicken? What the heck is going on? Well, in answer to your questions – no on the entire barnyard. We simply know where we’re going to end up whenever the series comes to its conclusion. And, hopefully, that won’t be for a while.
Michael writes: “Recently, Mr. Cooper talked about those aliens and how they will look. Was there a temptation to just make them human or was it always in the cards to make them…alien-y?”
Answer: While it made sense for our heroes to encounter human alien civilizations in the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxy, it didn’t make sense for them to encounter them in this new galaxy. As a result, the plan was to make them truly alien. And it goes without saying that they won’t speak English. To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch.
Deni writes: “Hi Joe! What happens now that you’ve re-read the 18 pages you have and hate them? Do you start over or just tweak what you have?”
Answer: I’ll go over what I have, rewrite and polish what I think works, toss out what doesn’t and start again. Eventually, I’ll get a rhythm going and I’ll be able to ride that out to the script’s conclusion. Come the top of the fifth act, it’s smooooooooooooooth sailing.
duneknight writes: “thats why Atlantis ended so early, its because you guys thought of the ending early on…”
Answer: Untrue. Enemy at the Gate was just another episode that ended up being the series finale. It was never intended to be the show’s final episode. If we had known the show was about to end, we’d have ended it with an idea I had long ago: The wraith attack Atlantis, the city is destroyed, our heroes are killed and then…Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, and Ford wake up on the mist planet from season one’s Home and realize they just hallucinated the past four seasons.
duneknight also writes: “but a show like SG-1 never was supposed to have an ending. but you’ll tell me the two shows are very different…”
Answer: They were different in that we received word of the Atlantis cancellation late whereas we received word of the SG-1 cancellation early enough to prepare a proper series finale. Unending was written to cap the series but leave the door open for future adventures. Had we had time to prepare, we would have probably done something similar with Atlantis although, in retrospect, having Atlantis return to Earth was an interesting way to end the show. Going the Dallas route would’ve been good too.
Thornyrose writes: “Would it help to think that “In Japan, you were interesting” really means “over there, you were entertaining in the way that a clumsy but amusing dimwit is?”.”
Answer: No doubt. Back in Tokyo, I was as delightful as a small child playing a ukulele.
Thornyrose also writes: “So, if not the writing, what, besides the paycheck, makes one stay in such a career?”
Answer: Hey, I’m not complaining, simply expressing my frustration. I realize how fortunate I am to be doing what I’m doing; also very lucky to be working with some great people (which, to answer your question, is probably the best thing about this job).
Sparrow_hawk writes: “Are you planning to work on reading as well as conversational Japanese?”
Answer: I’ve been told I should. There are only some 50 characters to learn and being able to read them would certainly make my future Tokyo experiences that much simpler. On the other hand, not enough can be said about asking a cute Tokyoite to translate something for you.
Jmanzione writes: “I simply have to ask. You don’t need to answer of course, but your explanation would go a long way toward satisfying my, and many others, curiosity…”
Answer: Great question. In fact, there is more than one seeder ship – there are several, far ahead of Destiny, seeding galaxies with stargates to allow for future exploration. Hope that clears things up.
Michael A. Burstein writes: “Isaac Asimov always said that he enjoyed writing, and I knew him in passing, so I knew at least one writer who enjoyed writing. In fact, he and his wife even wrote a book called “How to Enjoy Writing.””
Answer: I should pick it up. Does it come with a complimentary bottle of absinthe?
Cryaonbaby writes: “You feel OK about the writing once it’s on the screen though, don’t you? Didn’t Cannell write/produce the A-Team among other things?”
Answer: Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. And, yes, the incredibly prolific Stephen J. Cannell has written and produced hundreds of hours of television including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, and, yes, The A-Team.
LoveStargateUniverse writes: “Why since season eight of SG-1 has each season had 20 episodes instead of 22?”
Answer: It was a network request to have the series fall in line with most other series orders.
Tammy Dixon writes: “Have you tried Rosetta stone for Japanese Mr. M.?”
Answer: I’ve been using something similar – Pimsleur – and loved it. I’m just disappointed that only 3 levels are available.
Iamza writes: “I hope you (all) get enough notice to put your series finale into play in a way that makes sense. I mean, SGU seems to be relying more on storylines that go over several episodes, so I imagine the finale will need a bit of setting up prior to that final hour/two hour story?”
Answer: The finale will pay off all that has come before.
Poundpuppy29 writes: “Hey Joe just a quick question in the third SG-1 movie do we at least find out why there is no Vala…”
Answer: I’ve yet to read Brad’s rewrite, so I’m not sure if there is a direct reference to Vala’s absence. She was a great character to write for.
Shadow Step writes: “How about writing scripts in Japan?”
Answer: I want to write and produce Assault Girls II. Hook me up.
Shiningwit writes: “Hey Joe, would you be so good as to dedicate Friday’s blog to Suzie’sbluefeather please? its her birthday.”
Answer: No problem. Just do me a favor and remind me tomorrow.
Aw, Joe. Hate to see you so gloomy. At least you’ve got your health!
I hate being the first commenter.
You’re right. Cannell did The Greatest American Hero. I actually liked that show. And I’m definitely dating myself.
Please, please don’t ever pull a Dallas. I certainly will not respect you as a writer if you do.
Assault Girls II? Now I have to look this up because I’ve never heard of this movie. And I probably don’t ever want to hear of this movie, right?
More than one seeder ship? Oooh, now that’s interesting to know.
My hubby is a magazine editor, soliciting writers for articles, then preparing the articles for publication. No actual writing is done. He also writes some articles freelance for other magazines. This is just additional money that we use to travel. Every time he writes an article, he complains about having to do it. I say to him, that he doesn’t have to do it, he can turn it down. We will be fine without it. He says he loves writing, but why the complaining? He loves writing when it is done! He loves the finished product. He hates the deadline, the pressure to get it done. But without the deadline, he would never finish anything.
“And it goes without saying that they won’t speak English.”
Nice subtle pun there, Joe, or was it a Freudian slip?
“To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch.”
If you’re serious, which I doubt, I suggest Dutch played in reverse, so the large Netherlands fan base will not feel slighted. 😉
CORRECTION
…so the large Netherlands fan base will be as mystified as the rest of us.
Hmmm…might be interesting to use one of the existing versions of sign language, playing the video backwards, for am alien language. How many distinct versions are there? American, British, Mexican, Japanese, French (from which American was derived)…at least five, plus regional varations in American Sign.
I love writing. I’ve written several different genres and even worked for a newspaper. I don’t even mind being told to change things. To me, it’s an opportunity to learn. Give me a topic and I’ll write whatever is required. I’ve worked in too many jobs that I really hated to ever, ever, complain about writing.
Patricia
Has Fondie ever been interested in going with you to Japan or any of your other interests?
Absinthe is great! Granted I only drink the hallucinogen free version.
Question: Was writing easier with SG1 or SGA? Why does being angry help?…. it usually slows me down because I’m too pissed to concentrate.
Hopefully things will start to look up for you soon
Hey Joe… Any chance we’ll get any detail’s on Destiny. Like size , number of weapons.A technical schematic? Just a curious tech-head.
Oooooo, Josephine is purty.
Wait a minute, I just realized that her name is the feminine version of yours, Joe. That’s pretty funny.
Regarding that series finale: you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that! SG1 and SGA could afford to not have planned endings since they were mostly episodic and skip from adventure to adventure. That’s all fine and stuff, but SGU is serial, which means it should be a complete story from beginning to a satisfying end. Knowing that you guys have planned the ending is a load off of my mind, and makes me even more excited at watching SGU! This way, I won’t be disappointed by a botched ending because you guys panicked at how to tie up all the lose ends.
Of course, this also means a clear direction for the show down the line, especially near that finale. I have no doubt you guys will take full advantage of it and close out the series with an extended and epic arc, like The Final Chapter of DS9. Oh oh, and it also means that you guys can drop subtle hints and foreshadow things waaay down the line, like what Babylon 5 and the new Doctor Who did; I love those hints! You remember me asking you about planning multi-season arcs? Well, this is what I was talking about, so I’m ecstatic! I really hope you guys get the chance to tell the entire story.
And hey, I haven’t asked any questions for a while, so here’s some for the Yuutai:
Questions:
1. Ok, so you told us that, when your season finale got expanded to 2 episodes, the concept for episode 17 was scrapped to make room for it. Will that episode 17 show up in Season 2 now?
2. Since you guys have the finale figured out, will you guys start planning how to get there from here on out? I.e. plan a series-long arc? Or will you guys keep the middle of the show fairly blank so you can fill it up with spur-of-the-moment inspirations?
Thanks!
I don’t remember if this has been asked before or not, but will Stargate Extinction be what would have been the premiere of season 6 or is it something else you’ve come up with as a series finale?
I can’t decide whether Sheppard, McKay, Teyla & Ford waking up having hallucinated the past for years is a very bad idea or a really good one, since Weir and Carson would still be alive. But i’m fairly certain it would make for a very crappy series finale.
Salut Joe!
…vous avez vu je vous ai appelé Joe^^!
Ohh snif, bah alors pas torp le moral? …c’est normal aprés Tokyo il vous faut un temp de réadaptation…
Vous savez quoi? il a neigé aujourd’hui et ça à tenu un peu au sol…trop contente !
Josephine est très jolie, j’aime bien ces yeux. J’espere que nous aussi un jour ont ira prendre un café XD ….un jour sa arrivera , j”en suis sure!
Rohh mince vous avez des problèmes avec votre boite de messagerie Yahoo, moi je ne l’utilise pas beaucoup….au passage dès que sa remarche n’hésitez pas à m’envoyer un petit email, c’est si rare….enfin si vous avez toujours mon adresse email ….?-_-”
Passer une bonne journée!
Gros bisou!
“As it turned out, I was speaking to fellow pug owner and jet-setting actress Josephine Jacob who I hadn’t spoken to in years and had dialed me, quite by accident, during a conversation with another friend.”
Isn’t it amazing how things like that happen? Glad you two were able to catch up.
“I want to write and produce Assault Girls II. Hook me up.”
heh heh heh You would do an outstanding job.
Hey Joe,
Chamomile tea sounds very nice about now…just a couple of favours to ask.
1. Could you please do a blog dedication tomorrow for my friend Karen Ford (@karenford1) – it’s her birthday.
2. Could you please advertise a campaign we’ve got going to nominate Stargate Universe Kino Scenes for Best Companion Series at The Streamy Awards?
I have the details on my Twitter Profile – @imwebgurl
They’re asking for public nominations and you can nominate once per category per PC per day.
We may not have been able to get Felix a win but it would be a nice thing for Ivon, after all he’s done for us.
Cheers, Chev
p.s. if anyone is on Twitter, I’ve made a Twibbon for the campaign – Nominate #Kino 4 a Streamy
PPS I have to think hard every time I type Streamy Awards ‘cos I go to type Steamy Awards…..that’s a whole different Awards show…LMAO
Cheers, Chev
Joey –
1. I’ve just figured out that you have a thing for Asian chicks like I have for long-locked albinos. I think that makes us equally creepy. 😀 (Although, maybe you win on the creep-o-meter scale since my obsession is an untouchable fantasy, while you actively seek out Tokyo cuties on the street under the pretense of practicing your Japanese, and chat them up. Perv.
2. Tokyo. Post-vacation blues are not uncommon, but at least you were able to have such an experience. You can cross it off your bucket list. Why not try some other places to eat around the world? Paris? London? Rome? Istanbul? Or do you just love cod sperm that much that you have to go back to Japan every year? 😉
3. More than once you have expressed a desire to have all of the Atlantis series explained away as a dream – the ‘it never really happened’ scenario. Do you really hate it that much? 🙁
4. To brighten your mood, have you ever thought of dressing Fondy up in a maid costume and having her serve you tea in a heart-shaped cup? 😉
I truly hope your mood picks up, though I guess I’m not helping any right now.
Here…maybe a couple jokes will help….
Did you hear about Tiger’s new book? It’s How to Play 18 Holes Without Getting Caught By Your Wife.
Why don’t they let blind people go skydiving? Because it scares the crap out of their seeing-eye dogs.
And my personal favorite:
Why do cavemen drag their women by the hair? Because when they drag them by the feet, they fill up with dirt. 😀
Help any?
Yeah…I didn’t think so. 😛
Maybe this’ll work better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEdO9PavuEI
No, no, no… THIS ONE!!! It’s Tokyo Joe! LOL! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k4uZRgfTUU
😉
Have a better day, sir!
das
Hi Mr M!
Been out of the loop for a while. So, the guys went with calling it RE-FUEL? Cool! I have been sending a lot of Irish to the restaurant in the last year. Until I starting talking about Vancouver, I had no idea how many Irish actually visit there! (And not ALL SG fans either!)
Bummer re: Cleaning Crew and the Crystal Skull…pity, that was a great prop. On that subject anymore auctions of props???
Finally, how is your Mom? Is she recovered from her op? Also, I hope you remember to recommend “Brooklyn” by Colm Tobin (very Maeve Binchy-esque) and @SIS if you’re reading this….pick up a copy for her if Joe hasn’t!
Best to all
S’n’T
Good morning Joe! ROTFLMAO at your seeder ship answer 🙂 As we would say in Guatemala, “Que huevos!” to think that’s anybody’s business but your own.
Hey, I KNOW I’m a pain in the ass with this, but whatever happened to Joel’s Q&A? Don’t shoot me, you know I can’t help myself…(!)
Hope you have a nice day (severe thunderstorm warning here)!
About the SGU renewal for a 2nd season: I’m really not that interested in SGU since I’ve seen the first 10 episodes, and didn’t like them all that much. But I guess the show could become better if there were some drastic changes to the format:
– Reboot the main characters personalities.
Use the stones to have new personalities “uploaded” to the characters, then destroy the stones and never use them again. This way you can keep the same actors, and lose the (mostly mediocre) characters and the (very bad) drama on Earth. I’d love to see Robert Carlyle play Rodney McKay, or Louis Ferreira play Jack O’Neill. And this way you can finally have leading female characters who actually have useful scientific skills on the show (Elyse Levesque as Samantha Carter and Alaina Huffman as Carson Beckett – for a little comic relief)
– Have the ship lose power and stay in the same solar system for several episodes – at least.
This way you can have extended exploration of an alien environment and/or culture, which after all is what SciFi is all about.
– Introduce a new ‘outsider’ character, in the tradition of Ronon Dex or Teal’c.
The show needs an outsider’s point of view. Maybe an avatar of the ship’s A.I. (like Rommie in Andromeda).
– Have stargate travel from Earth to the ship, but *not* the other way around.
This way the premise of the crew surviving becomes a little more believable since they can get new supplies and personnel (which allows more freedom for guest stars to appear). You can have the stargate travel limited by some technobabble excuse, so it does not become a problem when you want the crew to be on their own.
– Lose the shaky camera.
It distracts from the acting and puts an emotional barrier between the characters and the audience. Use shaky camera only when you want to disguise badly made special effects or sets. Never on emotional scenes when you want the audience to identify with the character’s plight.
– Lighten the show (literally)
You need more light on the show. Most of the time I could not tell which character was which. Have the crew discover a new light switch setting on the ship or something.
I will probably continue watch the show, but only because there is no other *new* Space-based SciFi series currently on TV. (If there is, PLEASE let me know). If you implement some of the changes I proposed, I might actually enjoy watching it, instead on just tolerating it. I apologize it this sounds harsh, but unfortunately that’s how I feel about SGU (so far).
And of course Stephen J. Cannell can sometimes be seen as “himself” on ABCs “Castle” (Castle being played by Nathan Fillion)
“To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch.”
Oh, I like that. Will they also be wearing clogs?
“I’ve been using something similar – Pimsleur”
Eeek – be careful the people behind the Rosetta Stone software don’t sue you for defamation of ability 😉
Rosetta stone software is in a class of its own.
@crayonbaby
“…dallas…”
Actually that explains it, its Jackson on Wormhole extreme having a nightmare *g*
I suspect that your entheusiam for Japanese culture and cuisine, as well as your trend setting stylish sunglasses, made the people you met on your trip respond to you in a way that fed a feedbackk loop that increased the pleasure of all parties concerned. now that you’re back home, it’s back to “OK Joe, now, about those last five pages…” Quite the letdown. but you should take solace in the fact that you can still bring a smile to Carl’s face, as witneesed by your photos from Re-fuel. Ok, so he was smiling not because of your company, but the promise of crispy duck…i never said I was a shrink. though I did once drive by a Holiday Inn Express…anyways, I’m sure you feel much better after that little pep talk,,,,ok, didn’t think so….
I do hope the holiday season smoothes out for you, enotionally and proffesionally. There is always the Chocolate Party to start planning for. If thinking chocolate doesn’t help lift your mood, then we fans might have to takke more drastic action to cheer you up.
Seriously, thanks for your continued commitment to continuing your posts. It’s a small but treasured part of my daily routine to follow this blog.(please, no comments on how sad a commentary that is on the state of my own life).
“f we had known the show was about to end, we’d have ended it with an idea I had long ago: The wraith attack Atlantis, the city is destroyed, our heroes are killed and then…Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, and Ford wake up on the mist planet from season one’s Home and realize they just hallucinated the past four seasons.”
Ah, yes, Tommy Westphall.
“How to Enjoy Writing” doesn’t come with absinthe, but there are a lot of funny Sidney Harris cartoons.
Aw, sorry about all the computer/mail problems. I hope the iPhone, at least, is still working well for you.
Unbearable sluggishness does not sound good, especially for a brand new mac. I know my MBP (I got it just a few days before you got yours) drives me a little crazy when it forgets it has a CD loaded, and I have to log out and log back into my laptop, and occasionally shutdown and restart completely, to eject the CD. But after reading of your hassles with the wireless etc, I am counting myself fortunate to just have a glitchy CD drive!
Sorry if this has been answered before but what was the information that the Aurora was carrying back to Atlantis?
Hello – what I really, really want to know is:- how come, when looking at your blog, my icon shows are the orange cat on the PC and as Frankie (my little tom cat) on the laptop? Can’t get my head around that. The world is far too complicated.
Susan
Mr M delete my previous badly formatted post
@crayonbaby
The Assault Girl movie is going to be release in 2010 in North America. Most likely direct to video here. They just open the movie in Japan Dec 19th.
Hi again Mr M!
Was directed to a Muppet Clip on the net today.
I have always been a fan of the Muppets, and it struck me that Zoot (the sax player) reminded my of someone. Then it clicked! Of course…..Carl Binder!!
Watch this clip and let me know if you agree
(apologies to Carl by the way!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgfZVNv6w2E&feature=related
Best to all
S’n’T
If you want to see what’s slowing down your MacBook, open a Finder window, go to Applications, then Utilities, and start up “Activity Monitor”. It will show you all the applications that are running, sorted by CPU usage. Sometimes Firefox gets very hoggy and has to be restarted. Other times it’s anti-virus software running in the background that goes crazy. You can quit the apps from the Activity Monitor, then restart as necessary. Or just tell us what you see. 🙂
4 Das – don’t know if Joe liked the vids, but they were both hilarious. The pug one is priceless!!!
@pg15
She is indeed quite beautiful. I wish she would randomly call me. 😉
Oh sorry your angry mr. M.
Time to listen to heavy metal and go chop logs in your back yard, and write SGU. 🙂
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
@Mr M
Have a better idea, have the the actors speak the Warrior’s tongue
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Hehe, that is Klingonese. After all if they can publish Hamlet in the “Original Klingon”, than someone else can use it also as long as there’s no ST references..
“To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch.”
Ooh Dutch Aliens. Baie Dankie. Afrikaans is modern Dutch – so I will have no complaints. 😀
..unless you actually think anyone hailing from Die Nederlands is actually alien? 😯
Nah.
On the other hand, I have my doubts about anyone working at the following GPS co-ordinates – 49°15’47″N 123°01’13″W
You and iamza make me glad I got a Sony laptop. The Mac is supposed to have a great customer service department. I hope your computer problems clear up soon.
I like Rosetta but I’m too hyper to sit at the computer for very long. So it’s been a slow process but I’m not planning a trip any time soon. Learning Spanish is on my list of things to do.
Mr. M, I hope you snap out of that funk soon. Can’t be much fun being married to you just now 🙁 . So I sending my best wishes to your wife 😉 .
Anyone planning on seeing Avatar soon?
RE: Chocolate Party
I saw a Tweet by Marty G and it appears he is in Brussels. If you haven’t asked him already – have him do some in-depth chocolate research there for you.
You don’t sound like you are feeling old but if you feel blue try some green tea. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091218/hl_nm/us_green_tea
Or get Das to tell more jokes.
T
“Answer: As a result, the plan was to make them truly alien. And it goes without saying that they won’t speak English. To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch.”
Will there be subtitles of the alien speak or will it be simple enough such as them pointing angrily and their ship fires at Destiny?
Cold, you say. How cold is Vancouver in December? Here in Sweden we’ve had a bloody freezing -25 degrees celsius today. How was it over there? Hotter? Colder?
I think it’s great that you’ve already got a series finale in mind, because I think a lot TV shows suffer when there’s not a definite ending planned.
This is my first comment here actually, and the last thing I wanted to say is just that I love SGU and I can’t wait for April. SG1 and SGA was both very good shows, but it was time for something different, and I think the cast and crew has done a terrific job so far.
Poundpuppy29 writes: “Hey Joe just a quick question in the third SG-1 movie do we at least find out why there is no Vala…”
Answer: I’ve yet to read Brad’s rewrite, so I’m not sure if there is a direct reference to Vala’s absence. She was a great character to write for.
Can you please write yourself a note for when you do read the rewrite to see if there something and warn us Vala fans either way because we need to know. In the one you did read was there a reference to Vala? If there wasn’t I am growling Grrr because that was not nice to the character and to Claudia it could be even considered disrespectful to both and fans just saying. I would love to know why the Frell/Frak there wasn’t a reference because there should be I hope Brad isn’t a Vala hater I would hate to think of the part of fandom who hate her wins and we never see her again I know you, Robert Cooper and Martin Gero were fond of the character I loved her because she was a character I would call her a type of shades of grey character because she is not completely bad or good just like Chiana from Farscape they are the most fun to watch and in some ways I related to Vala not the obvious ways either I love her because she is complex she is my second favorite first is Daniel I hope when I get over my fear of criticism and I learn to focus and really write I can create as complex and interesting as her.
If I send you an email would you answer I know you say I am better off writing a comment here but I just want to know if you actually reply to emails and if you do which one do I write to to get a serious reply not Baron or Cookie writing?
My brother was having problems with MacBook sluggishness until he changed the DNS servers. Seems to be a fairly common problem. I’ll see if I can get him to leave a comment on what he did.
Questions:
1) What was the very first scene you were filming on SGU?
2) What the crew did with that “time” alien creatures, they had captured on the Jungle planet? Did they kill them because of cure or meat? I wish they have them as a pets…
3) Are you going to post some “behind the scene” photos from Justice? Especially from the desert planet? Where were these scenes filmed?
Today is the birthday of one of the greats in fantasy literature who recently visited this blog. Michael Moorcock is 70 today! Happy Birthday!
@Tammy Dixon: I hope to see Avatar on Monday.
@Joe: Even if you learn to read Japanese, you can still play the helpless Westerner when you visit and ask those cute girls for help reading the signs!
@dasNdanger
das, I love your blog comments 🙂 and your picture
Thanks for the links. They made my day.
Cheers
Nina
Hi Joe,
I had to laugh when you complained about writing. Everyone assumes that people who write professionally or actually write well, would absolutely love the process of writing.
I hate writing too, I’m also dyslexic, so you should see my spelling, yikes. But I love teaching writing. I use to teach the primary grades and my favourite subject has always been teaching students how to write and how to enjoy writing. My students loved writing, it was never something that they groaned about doing.
I’m starting chapter 3 of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Hey, that would be a great book for the BOTM, as I already have it I’ll have read it …in about 5 more minutes. I think we do need a BOTM because I’d love to discuss it with others and the author.
Oh, congrats on the 2nd season for SGU. I’m loving the darker nature of the series. I still love SG-1 and SGA, and I want more movies of both of them.
I have a question for you. Have you ever created a character that you found really didn’t work for the story, not the actor didn’t work, but that the character that you thought would be ideal for the show was just wrong?
I always find cooking helps when I absolutely have to write something. During university I’d bake and cook my way through essays and studying for exams. Now a days, if I bake something, my family want to know what project I have due or what event I’m taking the food to, as if I wouldn’t cook for them. Cynics!
Oh, Joe…
Dutch speaking aliens. Now that would earn you a spanking. Really, the Dutch know some English, they can write letters, they’d complain about the accent sounding too German…
Why? Why do we always get to be the bad guys? Why is it always a Dutch speaking person who is the crazy villain? Is it the drugs? It’s the drugs, isn’t it? Maybe the cheese. Oh, gosh, I feel like such a victim! *nods* I will start a petition. Send little Edam cheeses. And ugly little windmill statues. Start an anti thread on GW, and… and …knit my dog Joe-shaped mittens!
*blinks*
Ok, ok… I didn’t mean that. I just felt like throwing a fuss over one line in an entire post as well for once. 😉
*hangs head in shame and shuffles off*
Dutch for universum language! Exxxxxxxcellent!
Joe, ik vind het erg leuk dat wij Nederlanders eindelijk de kans krijgen om de Nederlandse taal wat meer bekendheid te geven. Tenslotte was New York ooit van ons, en hebben de Engelsen hun rotte taaltje eigenlijk heel stiekem verspreid. De ware wereld- en universumwijde taal moet natuurlijk, uiteraard, het Nederlands zijn. Hoe kan het ook anders.
😉
Also a silly question… What do you think various stargate characters from various series had in their highschool yearbooks (for those who finished schools on earth) ?
Big fan-wank discussion over at Gateworld brought up something that you can answer pretty quick I’d think:
When Destiny is dialing planets, where are they? Just somewhere in space they can reach gates or do they emerge in a single solar system that has multiple gates? Some people got an impression that they dialed the gate to a planet they were orbiting which seems incorrect.
Basically, what does it mean to be in range of several gates?
Reading about your script woes and post-Japan ennui makes me wonder if you’d just like to chuck it all and head out on a jet plane somewhere to live a new life – mysterious recluse or international playboy?
“Michael writes: “Recently, Mr. Cooper talked about those aliens and how they will look. Was there a temptation to just make them human or was it always in the cards to make them…alien-y?”
Answer: While it made sense for our heroes to encounter human alien civilizations in the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxy, it didn’t make sense for them to encounter them in this new galaxy. As a result, the plan was to make them truly alien. And it goes without saying that they won’t speak English. To make them truly far out, the aliens will be speaking dutch
”
LoL, That’d be frikkin hilarious. finally a sign that us Dutch folk actually achieved something beyond the invention of klompendansen.
Although it’s kind of frightening to think about, A galaxy full of Dutch people, It’d be all Dutch music ALL the time… Utter horror.
@Shirt’n’Tie
Fair notice: I’m to visit Eire next June. My tour is based in the West, but I’m planning to add on a couple of days in County Wicklow and Dublin.
Gilder
I just noticed that the space suits that Young and Scott wear on the ice planet are remarkably similar to the Asgard’s space suit in First Contact and Lost Tribe. Hmmm…….
Joe, I hope you had a better day.
Look out everyone..the Mean Green Mallozzi Machine is on the warpath…..M..a…l…l…o…z…z…i S..M..A..S…H!!!
everyone except Josephine Jacob..with stunning looks like that i’m sure you can stop anything in their tracks
actually played around with superimposing a hulk pic on a pic of yours but unfortunately I can’t paste it here. With all the laughs you give me at times I thought it was only fair that I tried to return the experience..cheers
Well be sure you don’t get too angry, I heard of someone who once got too stressed about his computer and suffered a heart attack. Anger/stress can affect people in weird ways physically.
Anyways heard about this story going around on some news channels sites, that in some Russian city people witnessed a triangle shaped craft in the sky, one site(Yahoo.. ugh) tried comparing it to a star wars ship, I’m like thinking what? That totally looks like a Cargo ship, have you not seen Stargate SG1 before person who wrote the article. Turned out to be a Russian missile test, would of been awesome if it were a real UFO mind.
So,
HulkJoe, feeling any better tonight? And is your mum and sis coming to Vancouver this holiday? Maybe that will cheer you up. 🙂das