Horrifying accident at Sony Pictures results in the release of 34 Katherine Heigl films. Be careful out there –
Compliments of the gang at Cracked.com, here’s The Science Behind Stupidly Hot Peppers Chart (The Science Behind Stupidly Hot Peppers [CHART]):
Fark.com puts it best: Photo collection of modern North Korea, or 1960s anywhere else
Meetings today followed by business dinner no doubt followed by a sleepless night so it’s an early blog entry.
More SG-1 eight season reminiscences…
SACRIFICES (809)
What actor and, in this case, writer Christopher Judge planned as a raucous episode (tentatively titled My Big Fat Jaffa Wedding) ended up being a fairly serious and touching affair. Onscreen anyway. Behind the scenes, we were busy regretting the decision to write horses into this script. I mean, it looked like a good idea on paper with the potential for plenty of humor, but we forgot to take one thing into account. Horse shit. Turns out nothing kills comedy like one of your four-legged guest stars dropping a steaming pile in the middle of your gate room.
Lesson learned!
ENDGAME (810)
My writing partner Paul had an idea: the Stargate is heisted from the heart of Stargate Command. That was the easy part. The challenge was coming up with a story that explained who took, why, and, most importantly, how? Well, worked out a nice little Trust/N.I.D./rogue elements of the N.I.D. angle that worked very well. A fun episode all around although the one thing I remember about it was the reaction of some fans to the scene in which O’Neill leads the rescue team into the warehouse. He finds both Daniel and Carter bound to chairs and goes to Sam – which outraged some Daniel supporters because they felt it showed a lack of compassion for DJ. I’d argue he went to Carter first because she was the first one to stir and, besides, if he went to Daniel first would it have necessarily meant a lack of compassion on his part for Sam?
GEMINI (811)
Amanda gives a doubly delicious performance as both Sam Carter and her evil twin in this episode that sees the return of Replicator Carter. It was a very satisfying episode, especially for Amanda who imbued her dual performance with subtle nuances that really set the two characters apart. It was a grueling shoot but, as always, she was a total professional, never once complaining. It’s episodes like this one that remind me how terrific Amanda was to work with.
PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (812)
We finally got the opportunity to cast Claudia Black, and it was in a role that she seemed born to play. Robert Cooper took Damian’s solid first draft and injected it with a humorous spin that essentially formed the basis of the Vala character we would come to know and love. To be honest, I wasn’t convinced at the script stage as I thought the humor might have been too broad, but all doubt dissolved the moment those dailies started coming in. Wow! As far as eighth season episodes went, this one was probably my favorite for its comic elements and the terrific onscreen chemistry between Claudia and Michael.
Hi Joe, “Prometheus Unbound” was one of my favorite episodes of the entire show. Claudia and Michael were fantastic together. 🙂 Have a good night, and try to sleep! I’ve been stuck with the effing flu since my daughter came (and left) last week, and would kill for some real sleep!
I liked Sacrifices and Prometheus Unbound for the humorous moments and Endgame for the drama. Season 8 was such a great season!
Have a good time at your dinner and a good night!!
Wasn’t really a fan of Sacrifices, pretty much thought the episode was out of place considering the overall tone of the season took, not really a bad episode, just a wedding and the drama went along with it, made me wonder at times if I was watching SG1 lol 5/10 episode.
Loved Endgame, and the idea that even the SGC was open to attack from within, liked the way that the Trust, although their methods were *Bad* they probably represented a portion of society that would approve of using WMDs on enemy worlds if it meant keeping Earth safe, okay these people didn’t realise that doing this could mean another attack on Earth, but by god, the drama was good, the action too. The way Teal’c steps through the gate at the end of the episode and blasts that guy. So cool. 9/10 episode for me.
Episode 12 out of all of them was the best, loved the Vala character, wasn’t sure about her in Season 9 onwards, her actions reflected her personality in this episode, so I guess it was good. Thought it was a great Daniel episode. 8/10.
And lastly lol It’s good to be king was awesome beyond words, I love these episodes, I was a fan of the Lucius Lavin stuff in Atlantis, shows a great sense of humor, I mean come on its fun, yet serious 😛
Figured ild give an opinion on some of the episodes, not really much detail there though, sorry.
Behind the scenes, we were busy regretting the decision to write horses into this script. I mean, it looked like a good idea on paper with the potential for plenty of humor, but we forgot to take one thing into account. Horse shit. Turns out nothing kills comedy like one of your four-legged guest stars dropping a steaming pile in the middle of your gate room.
they pee a lot too. i saw the bloopers for the episode of a show where they had a horse and there’s a good reason someone came up with the saying of: “pissing like a race horse.”
First time posting. I have been reading for months now. Thank you for these memories of SG-1. It is a fun read. And thank you for the updates about your shows, especially SG. There is not people who will give so much info to the fans. We really learn what it takes to put a sci-fi or TV show in general together.
i enjoyed (and appreciated) your amanda views on ‘gemini’. 🙂
prometheus unbound was definitely one of the best for season 8. just a fun episode.
Joseph…if your sleeping problems are truly
heat related…I’d like to suggest the purchase
and use of a small stand alone air conditioning
unit for use in your sleeping area/room.
Just an idea.
Just trying to help.
Cooling comfort might be just a few clicks away.
Please don’t hate me…I like dogs.
“I need to punch a fucking cow!” – I love that guide to stupidly hot peppers, though I probably shouldn’t have read it at work as I couldn’t contain my laughter!
Mailbag question: Just out of curiosity, why was the SGU episode “Epilogue” originally titled “Radio”?
LMAO!!!! 😀 Who knew that Katherine Heigl was so intoxicating. LOL! I’d probably be in coma myself if I had to sit through any of her so-called films. 😉
Prometheus Unbound is definitely on of my favorites of SG-1. Like you said, just the chemistry between Daniel and Vala was just so wonderful. I had to admit I laughed so hard when Vala was kicking Daniel’s ass all over Prometheus. LOL! 😀 It’s one of my favorite scenes. That’s when I instantly became a Daniel/Vala shipper. Those two were just meant for each other. And…of course…Daniel with the whole Hans Olo bit…just tickeled my funny bone. LOL! 😀
What is broad humor?
By season 8 did the writers consider the tok’ra all but extinct? It seemed to be what was being inferred in season 7.
i have a list of my least liked sg1 eps, and ‘prometheus unbound’ is on it. :p come to think of it, it was a picture of what was to come, with season 9…
I loved the B storyline in Prometheus Unbound even more than the Daniel/Vala bit. The stuff with Reynolds/Hammond/Novak? Hilarious! Great comedy.
Endgame was an interesting story, but I think you have it confused with Season 4’s Point of No Return? Jack does no rescuing in Endgame. In fact, he almost gives the order to blow the alkesh out of the sky to ensure that the Trust guys don’t escape, but would lose Sam and Daniel and the Gate if he does.
Who’s Katherine Heigl? I mean…really, who is she?
I must disagree with Cracked about the hot peppers, though. The hotter they are, the more orgasmic the experience. After you adjust to the heat, it’s all smoooooooth sailing from that point on. And while I’ve had a hot pepper burn my mouth, I’ve never had one burn my tummy. Of course, burny heinies the next morning is a given, a small price to pay for the sheer pleasure of mouth aflame with fiery flavor.
I remember when I first used Capzasin I didn’t realize how much it burned – it scared me, I thought something was wrong. The doctor assured me it was fine, and that after a couple applications I would get used to it. For the next day or two I would put it on just to feel the burn…loved it! Then…it stopped. My body got used to it, and though it was still working, it no longer burned so I stopped using it. I think maybe I’m a tad masochistic. 😛
das
Amanda Tapping playing both characters brilliantly: priceless. I really do think that made this season very special.
Prometheus Unbound: one of the most hilarious Stargates out there. Michael and Claudia really did make it sizzle onscreen.
Did you miss me???? I sure missed you all. I don’t envy having to go back a full week to try to get caught up.
While I loved all those ones above, I am a bit partial to Promethus Unbound.
I’m only going to read Joe’s main blog, so if anyone things I need to get caught up on things going on in people’s lives, please give me the cliff notes so I can catch up?
Thanks so much.
Hilda
Thanks for the links. Those Trinidad Scorpion Butch T peppers look tasty, mouth-watering even. It should spice up those bland tuna sandwiches.
I really enjoyed Claudia Black’s first episode. If only for Daniel’s line: “You’re a fruitcake!”. Every time I saw Vala after that, I couldn’t help but think ‘there’s that fruitcake girl again’.
Joe, I see that you’re reading The Wise Man’s Fear. I just finished reading it last week myself.
Will you give us your thoughts on it? I’d love to read your opinion.
Hi there,
Transporter the film 2 yesterday. Good but (and this is a big compliment and hopefully a prophecy) you will do a better job in the writing and maybe in the stories than those 2 films Let see the third one tonight.
Promotheus Unbound!! One of the best episode ever! What a shock when I saw Claudia Black for the first time in my life! Her play was so strong , great etc. So talented, such a presence the first moment she’s appeared etc. Since then we enjoyed every time we saw her and discored one of the best sci-fi show: Farscape
Thanks Joseph for replying, i didn’t actually expect this since you receive alot of messages!
In response to you reply, can you please forward the e-mail to MGM, i have been trying to contact them for the past fortnight with no luck, it would be really great if you could forward it.
Attached below is my original message.
—————————————————————————
Hello Joseph,
I decided to post here since you would actually ‘read this’ d hopefully respond. I have a solution for SGU. Can you please sent this message through to MGM. I talked to “The Syzgy Network”, a new channel coming in 2012. Attached below is the response from “The Syzgy Network”.
Thanks for your letter.
We would certainly consider a comprehensive deal for Stargate if we were in a position to, but as yet, we haven’t had any luck attracting the kinds of investors it would take to launch a new cable network (potentially as much as $50 million).
If you’ve had any contact from companies who might be interested in getting this going, we’re all for it. MGM themselves would make ideal partners, not only because of Stargate, but all of the other existing content they could bring to the table. If I could find a way to get them to sit down with us, we’d certainly be amenable.
Thanks again for your contact!
Dave Andrews
CEO and founder, The Syzygy Network
————————————————————————–—————-
My goodness, those crazy kids in Sacrifices seemed too young to be getting married. Endgame was fun, full of deliciously bad baddies, the kind that make you cheer when they catch a beating.
Evil Replicator Sam still gives me the creeps more than a dozen Katherine Heigl movies.
Lately I’ve become a bum magnet, hounded by a plethora of creeps all over town; there is Super Fly Man who does this weird little strut up and down the sidewalk while I’m trying to eat lunch outdoors, and Creepy Sweeper Guy who rakes around my feet wherever I sit in the park, despite the fact that there are hundreds of other people he could be hassling. I am far from ravishing, it just seems the post a long cold winter there is now a prison wing full of horndog creeps on the street desperate to scent mark every available surface.
Yeah, I agree that the chemistry between Claudia and Michael was good, but…if I’m honest, her character really irrated me.
While I have always loved Prometheus Unbound one scene has always made me cringe. After Hammond rings back from the damaged ship he is unconcious. Col. Reynolds HESITATES to give CPR and it comes across as a vastly homophobic scene. Played for laughs…not cool.
A special forces Col. would not hesitate in any way to administer aid to someone, even a superior officer off of some notion that “oh no…i can’t put my lips against another mans!”
My favorite bit of “Prometheus Unbound” was Daniel following Vala’s image on the monitor pinching his finger and thumb together over her head — it made me laugh out loud 😀 Their chemistry WAS really great.
Found this item this morning while thinking about starting some actual work — it looks like something that might belong to a Supersoldier:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20110531/tc_yblog_technews/electrified-armored-glove-could-turn-you-into-a-superhero
I want one!
Thanks for the fun stuff!
I never really got into the Vala character although Aeryn Sun from Farscape is one of my favorites ever. At this point in Stargate I think I kept waiting for Corin to come back and then when the Vala character didn’t leave I kind of stopped watching routinely. Now I think I’ll go back and watch them all and see what I missed. I tuned back in for Unending just to see how it ended. At some point I started watching SGA and fell in love with that show, so I still was able to get my Stargate on.
Not being a fan of the human form replicators, Gemini was my least fave ep of Season 8. I was disappointed when they showed up in Atlantis. Initially it was interesting that they were a failed attempt to defeat the Wraith.
Another ancient plan coming back to bite their descendants in the ass. I just think they were used too much. Weren’t the Wraith a big enough enemy?
I love Daniel & Vala!!!! I love how she came to the SGC and turned everyone’s life upside down, Daniel especially. : ) I loved how you didn’t know what to expect from her. She brought some much needed joy & playfulness to SG1.
So do you think Daniel & Vala are living happily ever after together?
@Alex Crawford
I’m guessing you didn’t see my response to you, or simply didn’t understand it/refused to accept. This letter you keep posting is a dead end, it won’t lead to anything, and if it ever did, and lets just assume it did, the Destiny sets would be long since gone, and everyone securing roles on other shows/securing their future to produce other shows.
Stargate, if it ever comes back will come back on the Syfy channel, love or hate Syfy they are the only network that gave Stargate a chance after Showtime abandoned it, and are likely the only network that will invest in Stargate in the future when MGM deems the francise worth revisiting.
quoting JoanieC:
Yeah, I agree that the chemistry between Claudia and Michael was good, but…if I’m honest, her character really irrated me.
her character irritated me too.
quoting Bailey;
At this point in Stargate I think I kept waiting for Corin to come back and then when the Vala character didn’t leave I kind of stopped watching routinely.
when daniel came back there was the idea (don’t know if this was official or not) that they couldn’t keep jonas and have a 5 person SG team. but when vala was made a regular, suddenly that rule (if that’s what it was) was dropped.
as much a vala bugged me i kept watching because at that point i had been watching for years and couldn’t get away from it.
P. Unbound was my fav but all the above where good. Love Claudia! Her fight scenes look so real! Who was a fight scene natural?
I’m having an ice cream sandwich in your honor 🙂 . Thanks for posting about his camp experience last week “Das”.
Joe, what do you think of this interview with Patrick Gilmore?
http://www.mediablvd.com/magazine/the_news/celebrity/patrick_gilmore_on_%27the_killing%27_and_the_end_of_%27stargate_universe%27_201105232512.html
I’m usually supportive of peoples opinions but I disagree with his comments that some fans hated the show because it wasn’t Stargate Atlantis.
Hater websites aside, I’ve always got the general vibe that people just didn’t like the show because of the direction it took, basically it didn’t appeal to them.
Not sure where this, they want Atlantis back came from..
Okay, Syfy messing with the schedule aside, the show did start out with a big enough audience, bigger than that of Atlantis Season 5, or even some later SG1 seasons.
This statement here
*“You think getting Stargate Universe cancelled is going to bring back SGA? Well, BS. It went the exact opposite way.” The producers knew it, MGM knew it, and we were all saying it. “You need to support us, because with SGU’s success there was no end to how much more of SGA you were going to see.”*
As great of a show SGU was, some fans can’t be forced to watch something they don’t enjoy because it might get them something they do enjoy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love SGU, just statements like these are rather inflamatory to the other section of the Stargate fandom that didn’t enjoy the show.
I meant to type: who did the best acting out fight scenes?
Having been a rabid Farscape fan and the chemistry that existed between Ben Browder and Claudia Black, I thought it would be difficult for me to accept her having chemistry with anyone else like that, but she had amazing chemistry with Michael Shanks. Then when Ben Browder showed up, I so wanted the two of them back together in this setting, but now am glad the writers did not do that. 200 was especially dear to my heart because of the Farscape parody.
I vaguely recall asking for horses to be written into S8… 😉
Seriously, Joe, before I forget, thank you for guiding us down Memory Lane. So many good times enjoyed and good friends made since 2002, when I hopped aboard the bandwagon.
Just found your blog. Very cool. Enjoying reading your thoughts on the SG-1 eps. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading all of them.