It’s a travel day for me as I’m off to Vegas to meet up with Golden Boy Martin Gero for a culinary extravaganza! But fear not. I haven’t forgotten you.
With the back half of season two set to premiere, I thought I’d threat you all to some behind-the-scenes pics and vids from that new super-secret set I alluded to several months back. Check ’em out, the tune in to episode #211, Deliverance. For some non-spoilery previews of what lies ahead, head on over to I09 and pay Meredith Woerner a visit: http://io9.com/#!5774433/spoiler-free-review-of-stargate-universes-next-few-episodes or check out Mark Wilson’s write-up at scifi.about.com: http://scifi.about.com/od/stargateuniversenews/fr/Review-Deliverance-Stargate-Universe-211.htm
Mailbag:
paloosa writes: “Have you thought about leaving the pups in Van for awhile?”
Answer: Until December?
Deni writes: “Hope you come to some sort of decision as to how to transport the doggies – aren’t you kinda running out of time?”
Answer: Yep. About two weeks to go.
Shiny writes: “Was the desert dissapointment due to the many fruit toppings I see in that dozen?”
Answer: Nope. The fruit-themed desserts were actually the best of the bunch, relatively speaking.
Arctic Goddess writes: “Joe, if the sets are still standing for SGU, why were set visits for the Creation Stargate convention in April cancelled?”
Answer: I believe I mentioned in a previous mailbag that the issue stemmed from lighting the sets which would have proved too costly.
David J. writes: “just wondering if in case brad and co are given the green light for the movies will you return to help write them? or will you be to busy with the new project? maybe possibly a consultant at least?”
Answer: Given my new commitments, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be involved in any capacity should the story continue.
Lloyd67 writes: ““People at SyFy and elsewhere have hinted that if SGU could meet or exceed its launch ratings, they might reconsider the cancellation. Which means that the show could be saved, if somehow its ratings were higher.” true ?
Answer: I wouldn’t hold my breath.
How large do you think audience figure would have to be for Scifi to renew?
An the new set look fantastic, wondering if that where our missing scientist went. Shame we may never see them again.
Have a nice trip.
I hope you win lots of money
Is Vegas in the same time zone as Vancouver?
We only have one time zone in Scotland and I still get confused about the time. 😉
Flight delayed by 1 hour and 50 minutes.
And so it begins…
Channeling Babylon 5, are we?? LOL
Hope you get there in time for your meal. Is tonight the super secret one??
Oh, forgot to say, the sets look fantastic. Will be back later for episode commentary.
Kindle + people watching = way to pass 1hr 50 mins at an airport.
Oh, go and meet some random strangers. Was stuck at Sydney airport one Friday night for 5 hours. Ended up having a few glasses of wine with a bunch of other stuck passengers and it was the most laughing I’ve done in some time.
Such a shame those pretty new sets won’t be used anymore.
I’ve pretty much come to terms that the show won’t be coming back, best to just enjoy the last 10 episodes and think about what could of been.
@Flight delayed by 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Lol delays suck Joe, I’ve experienced those too. Hope you enjoy your Vegas trip, and maybe that plane will arrive sooner?
Is Das missing?
question
wouldn’t it be cool if season two ended with the team entering hibernation (in these if they may be??? Ancient pods)awakeninga few hundred years later ???… 🙂
PBMom – Hoping you are doing well on the mend…
While you’re sitting there waiting on your flight, Mr. Deni asked me to suggest to you to look into chartering a turbo-prop, cheaper and more realiable anyway. Don’t know what the rules are in Canada, but you could also charter a cargo flight and fly with the dogs as a “handler”. Now you’ve got US worried about the pups! Have fun in Vegas!
Oops, meant “reliable”. 🙂
Good to see stargate Universe returning to the Air.
If you see any stray Wraith there in Vegas, say hi for me.
Help! Joe, my bf and I loved reading about your dining adventures in Tokyo (among other entries). I’m going there for the first time this April, and we want to hit up one of the Michelin starred restaurants. We’re overwhelmed by the sheer # to pick from though – does any one (or a couple) of restaurants stand out in your mind? Thanks! 🙂
Hmm why do I get a feeling that the show will end with some sort of great danger and the crew have to dive into those pods in those video which actually a preprocessor of the ancient cryogenic hibernating pod. Is this the cliff hanger?
Have a great time in Vegas, Joe! I go through there often, but I don’t usually stay for long – it’s usually just land there and then take off for one of my yearly Grand Canyon backpacking trips.
Those SGU sets look amazing. I can’t wait for the back half of S2. Oh yeah, that starts tomorrow!! (Here in Canada.)
Hope your flight goes more smoothly once it gets going!
2 1/2 hour delay.
Still waiting…
Thank you, Air Canada
Yikes! Hope you can get there tonight.
Thanks for well wishes. Minor recovery snag but got some medication for the vomiting causing the dehydration. Coil from hell will come out on Wednesday. Sleeping sitting up (because it is the only comfortable position this time) sucks. Ever see the coil from hell?
http://www.twitpic.com/47ao8k
The top double coil goes in the kidney and the bottom coil goes in the bladder.
2-1/2 hour delay, huh Joe? That really sucks. Hope the plane boards soon so you can start that awesome fun time soon.
Is there any hope for another network to pick-up SGU.
Is there no chance that you could get the plane to go to Vegas via Toronto – it’s running late already so what harm would a little detour take?
😉
Hopefully won’t be delayed much longer. Have a safe flight.
Best Wishes,
Bryan
BTW – Hope the mid season premiere does well tonight.
Have fun! Can’t wait ti see the pics.
If you’re still waiting, just be happy the dogs aren’t with you! 🙂
I’ve been thinking of alternate methods for your Pup Transport Issue. Here are some things to chew on:
1 – wormhole
2 – stargate (Vancouver and Toronto have different gate addresses for Pup Transport situations)
3 – hang glider
4 – mobile home move
5 – secret door into another realm
6 – take their pics, digitize, send through email to Toronto, print on 3-D color copier once in Toronto
7 – take DNA sample – clone once in Toronto
8 – shrink/grow ala Alice in Wonderland (will then fit on plane in small bag with air holes)
9 – wear an eco-friendly ‘living dog sweater vest’ onto the plane
10 – hire the Space Buddies dogs to assist
11 – pretend the Pups are your main characters in a sticky situation, and write them an escape (Lulu can perform complex mathematical computations while Maximus hacks into the impossible-to-hack-into alien database; and Jelly can play the high-strung ‘it will never work’ -ist while Bubba beats back the enemy at the gate.
12 – you owe me an American nickel if you use any of these ideas
I guess this means the end:
Robert Carlyle cast in ABC fantasy pilot
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/03/robert-carlyle-cast-in-abc-fantasy-pilot/
May still be able to do the movie
Hope you get to (got to?) Vegas eventually.
Last flight I was on was delayed almost 3 hours, but on the plus side we waited in the comfort (?) of the terminal, rather than on the plane as happens sometimes.
What made this delay exceptional (and not in a bad way) was that the pilot himself (also waiting in the terminal) would get on the PA system from time to time and give us a status update and an apology. He even contradicted the over-optimistic posted ETD: “Folks, the departure board shows us boarding in 1 hour, but I think that’s overly optimistic. We’re looking at closer to 90 minutes.” Not good news, but refreshingly straightforward. And correct, as it turned out. The pilot also walked around the gate area talking to individual passengers and giving updates.
A week later I received a letter from the airline, apologizing again for the delay and letting me know they’d given me 1000 extra frequent flyer miles (while at the same time acknowledging that didn’t make up for the inconvenience). Wow. Customer service.
Enjoy Vegas. Eat well. And take lots of pictures so we can all be jealous and hungry. 🙂
– KB
Why do you tease us with awesome behind-the-scenes secret pics? Why?? Why????
Deliverance…another action packed exciting episode! Great performance by Elyse, and Robert was outstanding as well. Elyse had some very emotional scenes, and she absolutely nailed them. And for a while I thought we were going to get a new, nicer Rush when he was so complementary to Brody and Volker. Then he delivers the “had to get them out of the way so we can get some real work done” and then I thought I was wrong. Until that last scene. He genually seemed to mean what he said to Chloe, and it seems like Wray was right when she said that Rush was risking the Mission and everyone to save one person. I’m sure we will see the selfish Rush again, but perhaps not so often.
Great effects throughout, especially the battles. Hard to believe that Destiny survived with all the external explosions we saw. I also liked the camera angle when they brought the drone into the shuttle and when Eli and the others came and got their first look at the drone. It was almost like we were seeing everything from it’s perspective. Also nice to see Park on an away mission. Usually it is one of the guys.
All in all, an awesome episode. And while I am thrilled that SGU is back after all these months, I am sad that we only have 9 more left in the Stargate universe. Saw one of the trailers on the show before SGU that showed all 3 incarnations of Stargate and it said 356 episodes. Hard to believe after all of that, the gate will close, perhaps forever.
Sad time over…bring on Twin Destinies!!!
RE: Deliverance. Damn good episode. One of the best I’ve seen. One of the 10 I’ve actually watched all the way through. Rating out of 10, 25.
Question for the Mailbag: Ok so no season 3, but if you were given some movies to finish the SGU saga, how many of them would you need to properly finish the storyline ? I mean no new season just how much time you consider required to close the story the way you want ? Thx and good luck on your new project. Awesome episode last night!
Completely non-Stargate or travel related, but have you run across Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn books in amidst all the rest of your reading?
Good luck with Air Canada! Hope your bags arrive on the same flight as you… 🙂
I heard it was a bit windy around vegas, maybe that was the reason for your delay, but still I hate delays, I just want to get there. Hope you made your dinner in time. Hello to Marty. Wishing you a wonderful week of culinary fun.(eat lots)
Thanks for the footage very exciting can’t wait for the episode! I will be heading to Vegas myself this weekend for the NCAA Mountain West Tournament. Any suggestions on food on a budget. The guys I am going with are a bunch of cheapskates.
Brilliant episode, thanks boss for help bring it to our screens 1 down… 9 to go… 🙁
Hope you finally made it Vegas; at least it’s fairly mild there, 50’s – 60’s. Woke up to snow on the grass today; need to have words with a certain groundhog.
Very cool detail on those pods; man they look really expensive. Would love to have the SG set decorator redo my apt to look like crew quarters on Destiny.
Question: Given the various methods of communication available over the internet, if Brad Wright were able to contact you in Toronto, how would you feel about long-distance collaboration should the SG storyline continue?
Also, I feel you about the plane delays. Don’t even get me started on the time I had to take a true puddle jumper from Miami to Tampa. 3 frakking hours just sitting on the tarmac. And the propellers were going so it was 3 hours with the worst headache ever. Asking a flight to leave on time is like asking for Season 3. No matter how much you badger the flight attendants and gate checkers, it’s not going to happen.
Joe,
I enjoyed the return of SGU last night! Although I almost missed it as I never thought to look for SGU on a Monday and caught the second airing after missing the first. I would have missed the second airing if I hadn’t caught that article online mentioning tonights return.
While it was a good episode with awesome effects, great acting and high production values, I felt the story never reached it’s full potential and left a few things on the table. I have a feeling that may have had more to do with writing to the budget, than telling the story that wanted to be told.
1. We never saw the Orceni (sp?) again. There presence was only represented by the seed ship… and a few communications to/from Telford. A shame both they and their civilization are now gone. One thread I wish hadn’t gotten wrapped up so “neatly”
2. The Blueberries seemed out of character. Rather than show up as a diversion, it would have been great to see them join the fight and defend Destiny, to protect their obsession and then to turn their backs on them after the drones had been cleared. While their ship may have been disabled, neither one helped the other out. It seems odd to me that the blues would have allowed one of Destiny’s shuttles onboard to fix Chloe and then freely release the technology/shuttle back to Destiny. Why wouldn’t they keep both?
3. Great to see Destiny use the drones against the other commandship, although it would have been cooler if Destiny had recalled the drones, attached them to the hull and kept them around for use in the future.
1 and 2 definately bigger critisms than 3. But as a question for the mailbag: In what ways does budget affect a story and how as a writer do you write to it? Have you ever felt a story never reached it’s potential because of budget?
Looking forward to next week. It looks like a doosie!
RFVdevil
@ Narelle – Just laying…lying…WHATEVER…low. Very busy, brain is pre-occupied, and I haven’t watched last night’s ep because I was in bed by 9 pm (have it recorded, though). I also – and no offense to Joe and his blog – am finding that his unsettled life issues are not helping me with my nerves over MY unsettled life issues, if that makes any sense. I’m waiting on the book of the month discussion, then will probably be around more after Joe gets settled in Toronto.
I’ve been reading (Preston and Child’s Gideon’s Sword), and going places (Silk Road exhibit at the Penn Museum in Philly http://www.penn.museum/ ), and just trying to get life in order.
Some pictures from the museum (could not take any in the Silk Road exhibit, these are from the regular displays):
Egyptian burials:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/Picture513.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/Picture518.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/Picture516.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu511.jpg
Japanese drum:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu520.jpg
Kitty cat!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu502.jpg
Boy statue!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu556.jpg
Egyptian odds and ends (notice the tweezers):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu504.jpg
Tibetan treasures (took this because I have a vajra/dorje similar to the one here):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/PennMu522.jpg
I want this!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/Picture540.jpg
Second largest crystal of its kind (base is in the style of a Japanese wave):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/Picture519.jpg
Hope you enjoy!
das
Joe,
I’m really excited for you and your new venture, even though it means leaving Vancouver and heading to Toronto. I’ll be keeping an eye out for your new show.
I know that SyFy is the one making airtime decisions, but I’m curious if you have any theories on why SGU moved to Mondays at 10:00, against Hawaii Five-O and Castle, two shows in the Neilsen top 20. Do you think it was just a spot SyFy had open or was it just put there to die? While going against the NCIS juggernauts would be tough, at least the people watching SGU knew what time it was on. But to put it on a different night and time against popular shows seems like giving up to me. Your thoughts?
LOL @ Jenny’s alternate pup transport ideas.
Not to start a war, but I think Jewel called you a douche:
JewelStaite (Twitter)
Thanks to u people griping about including pics in my blog, I’m now one of those douches w/ a camera in a restaurant. I do it cuz I love u.
LOL… so my question, when did you become a foodie? Do you ever eat things like ramen noodles or McDonalds?
Ratings for Deliverance(Someone posted this on Gateworld, credit goes to Media Savant for his ratings update)
SGU Total viewers, 1.036 million.
A18-49: 0.45
HH: 0.6
Such a shame, guess that pretty much confirms that there isn’t an audience for a serious Scifi show on the Syfy channel.
Anyway that pretty much ends any speculation of a third season or a mini series. If you’re correct Joe in your comment that a movie wouldn’t depend on the ratings than I guess if a movie comes it comes, if it doesnt it doesnt.
I thought Deliverance had quite frankly amazing Special effects, such an entertaining episode, I think my only complaint would be not seeing much of the Blue Aliens ship inside. Just a dark room with Chloe on a table, and well the darkness when Scott retrieves her.
Question from me
How are you enjoying Vegas Joe, is it fun?
Thanks a lot for the SGU pics and updates. Have a great time in Vegas. 🙂
@RFVdevil, I agree, but, I imagine TPTB allowed the Orceni this exit because the Orceni provided a perfect deus ex machina for the seed ship to be present and properly utilized, and now that the seed ship arc is completed, and the seed ship was destroyed so as not to compromise the atmosphere of impending doom for the occupants of Destiny, the purpose of the Orceni was no longer valid. Besides, those little creatures were never that cool, nor necessary. It’s doubtful TPTB had a enough coin in the budget to animate them and the blueberry aliens, and the space fighting.
The Blueberry aliens seemed indifferent to the whole thing. Which was questionable until Rush offered them Chloe, and they took her, removed their affect; no doubt downloaded her memories—-then left. Maybe they didn’t know how to duplicate the various elements purposeful for using a star as the ultimate power source, and with Chloe’s observation, and Rush’s Knowledge Chair Induced equations, they now have all they need to replicate what Destiny does on the regular.
hi, joe,
super, duper stretching here :p, but is there any sam/jack ship in the remaining 10 (now 9) sgu episodes?
I say Joe you should steal a puddle jumper from Atlantis and use that for transport to Toronto for the move.
Or better yet steal that time traveling puddle jumper then you could deposit some money in a bank in the past then claim it now and buy out the studio and make SGU funded by you with MGM and maybe buy out Sfy fy channel along with nbc from Comcast.
Stasis pods eh? Maybe the rumour about the security guard bringing his mate on set to watch some final scenes being filmed was true after all. If it is, I think I quite like the idea of the series ending with them in stasis, sets up any continuation up nicely, and as far as cliff hangers go it’s not so bad.
Hi there Joe!!!
Hope u enjoy ya trip 2 vegas and the environment there. Have a nice time, enjoy drink and food and get into really good mood.
I´m waiting for the back half of SGU and hope there´ll be a way to save this gorgeous show, anyway!!!
I have 2 know how Destiny´s trip ends, especially where…
Best wishes 2 you & ya family (dogs included of course 😉 and all of ya friends – stay healthy and cheeful!
@Randomness
Ratings for Deliverance could be much better. Because most of the audience left when they realized that the dark mood will never be gone.
—
I don’t like SGU much yet I’m still watching it, I’m a classic SG fan but I’ve enjoyed a SGU episode the first time while watching Deliverance. Because it was more like a classic SG episode, there was cooperation, taking risks, some technobabble, even a little humor and most important NO dark mood.
That’s it, the dark mood. I think it’s the biggest repulse on fans like me and it’s overused. I was watching the show just to kill a time because I knew that Rush will be “selfish arrogant”, Greer “angry impatient man”, Scout “loyal love boy” and Young “I know the best” but on that episode I felt everything was different in a good way.
That’s kinda show I’d love to watch.
Thanks for that episode.
Just wanted to say I hope Akemi’s family and friends back in Japan are okay. I have spent all morning making sure all my friends there have checked in safe and sound. I’m sure she’s been distracted terribly by the situation, as I’m sure you have as well. *__*
I have to give props to your wonderful set designers. They’ve done a superb job on SGU in keeping things looking like some of the earlier ancient tech we saw in SG1, and still having elements of Ori tech… which would make sense since they started out as teh same people.
tough job to give a show its own unique look and feel, while maintaing consistency with previous series. I think they’ve done well.
still would like to see some plans for building your own stargate… make one nifty lawn ornament. 🙂
SGU is the best scifi show thats running now. I hope that the “bloody syfy” will change their minds and keep the show for us!!!
Anyway, all those who working on this show have my thanks. You are doing a great job. I wish I could make my apartment looks like the Destiny set 😀
T.
…I’m no producer or director, just a fan with a mind, unlike people behind the scenes in the show business I don’t care about profits profits profits 24 / 7. I care about QUALITY over quantity…that being said…
the second half of SGU was RIGHT on the money, this was exactly what I wanted from this series, and it is a shame that it only comes to be just before the end. Shame on those in charge for cutting short a good story simply because the ratings weren’t that of “LOST” or “American Idle” etc etc, it honestly SHOULDN’T be about the money but it is, no enough viewers? well maybe if SCI FI didn’t switch the night and time every “half-season” you might have a few more viewers, I know from personal experience that I missed a couple of episodes because of changing the time. But that’s not the point….
I’ve been a die hard “SCI-FI” channel fan for years and years, back when they used to do the “sci-fi world” days, each day a different type of sci fi, and now we have wrestling? and cooking shows on the same network that makes those TERRIBLE cheap cheesy made for tv movies, “mega shark” springs to mind.
If those IDIOTS! in charge would funnel THAT money into the HIT series of the last decade, ( examples: firefly, farscape, SG1, SGA, and now SGU ) you would literally have 5 nights of hit shows each week, but no….you have to make those BAD,…really BAD movies each month, or every other month, and pull good entertainment like the Stargate series’ off the air…
and this….”Mallozzi” guy,…shame on you for letting it happen as well, you sir, have just lost a fan…
Lucky me owns all these Amazing stasis pod doors 🙂