Sure, I could give you a production update, tell you that Brad and Rob are in New Mexico for Day #2 of Malice, that Carl was on set for Day #1 of The Greater Good, that Remi delivered his revised writer’s draft of Visitation, Linda delivered her first draft of Alliances, Paul delivered his outline of Resurgence : Electric Boogaloo, and that I’ve almost completed my rewrite of Resurgence – but, instead, I think I’ll let the pics do the talking today…
Also received some pics from Producer John G. Lenic who is in New Mexico with the gang shooting episode #8, Malice…
Since July’s Book of the Month Club pick, Alastair Reynolds’ House of Suns, won’t make its paperback debut until May 25th, I’m tiding myself over my re-reading the brilliant Revelation Space. It’s my day time read. My night time read is the delightfully disquieting Finch by Jeff Vadermeer. And I am loving both!
Mailbag:
vvv0472 writes: “Do you frequent Gateworld a lot? If so, I hope you have noticed the ‘SAVE BALDING ASIAN GUY’ thread. Any word on him?”
Answer: This is the most persuasive fan campaign since SaveCarsonBeckett. Tough to ignore.
Majorsal writes: “the writers have made huge and (wonderfully to me) in-your-face ships for SGU, but with sam/jack, we still don’t know if they’re together… will this change in the future?”
Answer: Ideally, yes.
vvv0472 writes: “So Joe, what is the story behind getting your name on a book called ‘Latin for the Novice’ by Joseph Mallozzi Ph.D in Window of Opportunity?”
Answer: I was sitting in the props meeting with Director Peter DeLuise presiding. When someone asked what the name of the book should be, Peter suggested “Latin For Beginners”. And then when that same person asked for the name of the author, Peter suggested “Joseph Mallozzi.” And then as an afterthought: “PhD.”
Ryan writes: “Will we see anymore brief cameos from random stargate people in the future?”
Answer: Daniel Jackson and Jack O’Neill will be making appearances in the next few episodes.
Karen writes: “Just letting you know in case you care. I was almost ready to give up on SGU because I didn’t actually like any of the characters but then Amanda Perry was introduced in the episode Sabotage. She’s the first character on SGU that I`ve really really liked and I loved her interactions with Rush. I really hope you find a way to bring her back as a recurring character because I think she would make a great addition to the cast.”
Answer: Coincidentally, guess who’s on set today.
Montana Marie writes: “Tearing down all the Atlantis sets to make room for more Universe sets has created a pretty big hold-up as well.”
Answer: Untrue – unless we were told to start shooting the Atlantis movie NOW, which is a wholly unrealistic scenario. When we get the green light to move ahead with production, we would a) need a couple of weeks to prep the movie and b) shoot the movie during the hiatus.
Montana Marie also writes: “After all, what’s going to happen when you do finally get around to making the Atlantis movie? Tear down the new Universe sets and throw away the money that went into building them, and then spend even more money to rebuild the Atlantis sets, just to tear them down again for Universe or another movie?”
Answer: First of all, Stage 6 presently serves as a swing stage, so the sets that go up there come down after the episode airs. Secondly, it is a lot cheaper to strike and store a set and then put it back up for production than it would be to pay rent on stage space indefinitely.
Montana Marie also writes: “I find it curious that you’ve been very quick to defend Jewel Staite and various members of the Universe cast, but you never gave the same consideration to Torri Higginson when she was being attacked by a segment of the fandom that viewed Weir as a threat to their character relationship of choice.”
Answer: If I had known about it, I would have defended her as well. The fact that I didn’t suggests that the attacks on Jewel were much more present.
Sean D. writes: “Did Elyse already do her Q&A?”
Answer: Not yet.
Greg writes: “As for other finales, I’d recommend Spartacus Blood & Sand if you haven’t watched that one. Starts out seemingly like soft core porn with gore but the storyline actually gets pretty good while maintaining a healthy dose of T&A.”
Answer: Agreed. Thought the first episode was okay, but then was quickly sucked in by the story and characters. Fantastic finale.
TF writes: “I am just watching the new kino webisode… Are they just improvised by the actors or do written scripts exist?”
Answer: Like all the episodes, it’s all scripted. Well, all the episodes except Space. In that one, I just told the actors and aliens to “fight each other” and they did. For about 45 minutes.
Balial writes: “I have one question about SGA. Carson was cloned by Michael, who obtained sample of his DNA during season 3 episode Misbegotten. Yes, cloning a person is easy. But this Carsons clone has all the memories and experiences of the original Carson. How is it possible?”
Answer: Michael would have had to duplicate Beckett’s neural network or engrams in order to imbue his clone with the original Beckett’s personality. Yes. Or, more to the point (which was the way we were going to be before being derailed by the cancellation), the wraith possessed these engrams, stored aboard a hive shop, that Michael accessed and stole at some point. As a matter of fact, Beckett’s weren’t the only duplicate personalities the wraith had stored away. As for when they had the opportunity to acquire Beckett’s in particular – sometime late in Atlantis’s second season. It was part of a potential story and reveal I’d filed away for future use, and never got the opportunity to explore.
myhelix writes: “Apropos other´s, what do you think of the final LOST season?”
Answer: That’s a question for Carl. I don’t watch Lost.
Bloomgate writes: “What is the goo the actors eat on set in the ship canteen?”
Answer: Protein powder and water. Yum!
Shadow Step writes: “If think soandso is a talentless actor (or whatever the job might be) , then I think that person is talentless – the person – not the character. And I don’t see a problem commenting on that.”
Answer: I’m sure you don’t, but there’s a difference between personal attacks (which you won’t be too hard-pressed to find on the other site) and couching acceptable criticism in prickish terms (which you accurately demonstrated in the example above). I’m taking exception to the former, not the latter.
Kymm writes: “Since you found it a tad sweet what about just plain walnuts and not the honeyed ones? Do you toast your nuts first, to bring out the flavour, or do you just use them raw?”
Answer: The walnuts were roasted. And next time, I’ll halve the sugar and forget the condensed milk.
Quade writes: “Joe I have been rating the episodes of Stargate to make an all-time favorite Stargate writers list. Anyways more on that later this week, but can you ask around and see what happened to Katharyn Powers? Maybe bring her back for an SGU episode? She did some great SG-1 episodes.”
Answer: Favorite Writers Lists are all well and good but don’t into account the meaningful input provided by other writers who help break the story and offer up suggestions for everything from plot twists to dialogue. It also doesn’t take into account the significant uncredited rewrites Brad and Rob have done over the years, sometimes wholesale passes that go unrecognized.
Shawn Cassidy writes: “The ancients built Destiny, then set her off on her way……. Then they what? Forgot about it? Even given the many many generations after the Destiny launched and the race ascended, nobody got curious? Even after they ascended they poked their noses in SG1′s business, nobody ever thought to say “Oh yeah, we sent a ship out some time ago, wonder what ever happened to it? DOH!!””
Answer: We’ll be exploring the Ancients and their mission in future episodes, providing a few answers (and more questions) along the way.
KellyH writes: “I haven’t posted in a looooong time (REALLY busy with working on my PhD and new university job), but I’m cooped up after being in the hospital with a nasty reaction to an antibiotic, so I’ve had time to catch up on your blog.”
Answer: Welcome back!
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