We spent much of today driving around the city, checking potential locations for the pilot episode of Transporter: The Series. Pictured above is my brilliant solution to the scene in which our hero, Frank, evades the bad guys by blending into the background. Yes, a closer look at the photo will reveal that only the ballerina is part of the wall mural. My contribution is a live element!
Anyway, our field trip in pictures…
Some of the, uh, interesting stained glass work on display…
Bryan M. White writes: “Love the Galaxy Quest reference!!!”
Answer: That was Ben’s inspired suggestion. He ran it by me after reading the script and I loved it!
Randomness writes: “For me, seeing Mitchell prior to Season 9, if only randomly, or in passing would of been better, however budget I would imagine, and a reason for him to be there would of been I guess hard.”
Answer: It wasn’t so much a budgetary constraint as it was the simple fact that we didn’t know who we would be bringing in to replace O’Neill until after season 9 had been shot.
crayonbaby writes: “You’ll have to tell us the reasoning behind the 30 bite salad. Do you have to eat them in a certain order to get the full effect? “
Answer: Nope. Half the fun is in the choosing.
archersangel writes: “i was wondering; did beau bridges went through the usual audition process or what? the same with louis gossett jr. i think of them as “movie actors” & was surprised to see them on tv.”
Answer: No. In the case of both Beau and Lou, they were offered the roles.
Michelle writes: “Do you think it would have been easier for fans to accept Mitchell and Landry if it were clear where Jack was going?”
Answer: Don’t know if it would have made much of a difference although, yes, it should have been clear where Jack disappeared to.
Randomness writes: “Did you have a chance to watch Red Faction Origins yet Joe?”
Answer: Nope.
Anaria writes: “Okay, that answers the toilet question about the cargo ships, but what about jumpers? They don’t have rings, and sometimes people spend a lot of time in them, for example in ‘Midway’ after the midway station blows up.”
Answer: Oh, that one’s easy. In the case of the jumper, everyone but whoever has to go moves up to the front. When the person has finished their business, everyone hangs on for dear life and the jumper drops its ramp, exposing the jumper’s interior to the vacuum of space, effectively clearing out any refuse (and weak-fingered occupants).
jmanzione writes: “Whoever came up with the Ori did an awesome job.”
Answer: Thank you, Robert C. Cooper.
Sov writes: “So I’ve been wondering, since the stargate was presumably moved to Washington and the focus of the program likely changed more from exploration to research, and since all the bad guys have been done away with, what became of SG1? Carter has a ship, Teal’C is some kind of politician or something, and Daniel hopefully got himself assigned to Atlantis (that seems logical, at least). It seems that there would be no need for a dozen-plus SG teams at this point, so maybe they were whittled down to four or five? Is Cameron Mitchell retired and laying on a beach somewhere? Or maybe he’s pushing pencils behind a desk? What fate Cam Mitchell?”
Answer: In my mind, Jack is retired and has settled down with Carter who is head of all off-world-related R&D. Now that Atlantis has found a home in the Milky Way, Daniel is there, studying its database and exploring hitherto unexplored sections of the Ancient city. Cam is still leading a team on off-world adventures, a team made up of both Teal’c and Vala who occasionally take time off to oversee the free Jaffa nation and run some off-world scams.
dasNdanger writes: “Speaking of Akemi, Joe, have you ever read David Mack’s Kabuki? “
Answer: Have a statue, but haven’t read the comic book.
dasNdanger also writes: “Oh! I see in that link that Akemi sounds similar to Alchemy. 
Maybe I’ve answered my own question, but any help you can offer would also be appreciated.”
Answer: Yes. Exactly like “alchemy” without the “l”.
maggiemayday writes: “Betcha Akemi has a cute “-chan” nickname. Kemi-chan? Mi-chan?”
Answer: Ake-chan.
dankriss1967 writes: “I think it works out really well as they work as a team and I loved the fact that Carter liked Vala from the start so glad they did not do the 2 women lets have them hate each other routine…phew!”
Answer: I liked the idea of the two being good friends despite their differences, which is why I included a couple of personal little scenes in a couple of episodes (them coming back from an outing in the tease of one episode, them enjoying a glass of wine at the end of another adventure -Family Ties).
Debra writes: “Ever notice when you DO strong women, they are either OUT THERE (like Vala) or lesbians (the all women team… like that is realistic!, and Camile Wray. “
Answer: Why do you assume the all woman team was lesbian? What about T.J.? Or Teyla? Or Carter? And (re: Vala) what’s wrong with a strong woman character being “out there”?
Shiny writes: “How did Akemi make the asparagus? Asparagus is my waterloo; I get beautiful stalks and then end up tossing it in the gravy or just forgetting them in the bottom of the fridge. I’ve had it made so tasty and zesty, but I don’t know how; you steam and then what?”
Answer: I recommend steaming them, then finishing them in a pan with some balsamic vinegar.
Spelling correction re: “A young Ludwig Von Beethoven goes skiing with his dad.” …it’s Ludwig van Beethoven. 😉
…erm, hold on… checking alternate spellings… wow, there are a couple sources that use “von”. Weird. The vast majority is “van”. Oh well, not a big deal. 🙂
In any case, most of that stained glass art is pretty dang creepy.
Joe, I love your job, such fun stuff,(I mean work),,,and lunch at different places, you are such a terrific foodie, yum for all the food pictures and descriptions. And Akemi, thanks for sharing your food and pictures and recipes, yumm..
I think you need to fight to get the pizzeria included in the transporter series, after all they did have to put up with you and the gang, I think they deserve at least a drive by shot for that.
I liked the food pictures and the location shots too. Whenever I do see the show, I can say I saw that when. Oh, and I agree with the poster who said the stained glass art was creeeepy. 🙂
Hubby leaves Thursday for next Monday’s interview in CT. Here’s hoping a full-time job offer comes shortly after.
Have a good night!!!!!
Love the picture of you and the ballerina, Joe!
If this newest fan video made by JaapVSWDelta has already been posted here, I missed it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwu-QnXL6T0&feature=digest
Someone who works on Transporter: The Series might want to bring up the idea of having JaapVSWDelta do a similar fan video for Transporter, to be used in TV commercials. It would be a big hit in my opinion. 🙂
The potential getaway sequence location looks very neat, maybe film a scene there at dusk or sunrise, depending on lighting conditions.
Answer: In my mind, Jack is retired and has settled down with Carter who is head of all off-world-related R&D. Now that Atlantis has found a home in the Milky Way, Daniel is there, studying its database and exploring hitherto unexplored sections of the Ancient city. Cam is still leading a team on off-world adventures, a team made up of both Teal’c and Vala who occasionally take time off to oversee the free Jaffa nation and run some off-world scams.
YOU should be solo show runner!! YOU should be writing a mini series, covering sg1 and atlantis, teaming up to help get destiny home!
in my mind, this is the way i saw their lives too. (the sam, jack, s/j, and daniel specifically, but with s/j married. i had mitchell commanding the moon base, or new delta site, though. teal’c was with his son and family, on a new jaffa planet. vala was an ambassador to the ? galaxy, that she met her once hubby/the ori.)
you’re hired, joe!! 😛
oops, i forgot to close the bolding tags 😛
I wouldn’t fancy trying to say Tim Singh’s name whilst inebriated.
Come to think of it I have problems pronouncing some of the Town names in my own country.
How are your mother and sister – and their furry families?
😉
Am I the only one who saw Kirk and Spock in that Hansel and Gretel glass? And I would almost swear that’s the 3rd Doctor(Pertwee) teaching the young lad to ski. With a stretch the first one could also be Soctty. Most likely I just need some sleep.
Doggie decided to check out a snake, and is now sporting a partly shaved and swollen face, and is on a nice regimen of meds resembling that of a nursing home resident’s. Just hope she has learned to let laying snakes sleep.
As always, your posts are appreciated. Been lurking, but enjoying every post. Can’t wait to see how the sets finally end up looking.
OFF TOPIC: You have inspired me to get back to my own blog and web site (which is nowhere near as interesting as yours) after a two year absence. Thank you. 🙂
Pets and ear scratches to the babies.
Joe where’s your tutu?
thanks for answering the question, it was something i’ve wondered about.
who needs a pizza place when Frank just needs to invite over Tarconi? hehe
Okay I LOVE LOVE LOVE that shot of the potential getaway! Wow.
LOL on scary kid… looks like a young Elijah Woods lol.
:::shut the AC down for three hours or so in July. I’m sure the hotel guests won’t mind:::
I suspect that you’d need a getaway to escape being killed if you did.
Thank you, Joe, for a lovely mailbag. I should say it more often.
And that suite was totally asking for it. That glass coffee table… Tell me you at least ran across the couch.
Answer: Why do you assume the all woman team was lesbian? What about T.J.? Or Teyla? Or Carter? And (re: Vala) what’s wrong with a strong woman character being “out there”?
I didn’t say all the women, but the strong kick butt woman you wrote was intended to be lesbian. The whole concept annoys me. In the age of “don’t ask don’t tell” do you really think an all woman team (if it would even be done, seems sexist in reverse) would be somewhere a lesbian would place herself?
T.J… puleeeze… she was not strong, screwing a married man, let him force her to return to the ship, etc. I don’t see her as strong. She coped, she survived, but she was not what I call strong.
Teyla made me gag until the last season. The saccharine .. never mind. Sorry Teyla fans. Yes, she got much stronger toward the end. And I really came to like her character. But mostly, she was window dressing for the men.
Carter…Again, after the first few seasons she certainly got strong. But the fawning “sir” crap…and the indecision over men. You all didn’t do justice to her character early on, but it did get better. A lot better.
Vala is one of my fave characters, and I enjoy her “out there” ness. 🙂 But a lot of that is the actress. But you had such wackjob out there women in the Goa’uld and even the Tok’ra. Even the Jaffa women were unreal out there, over the top if they were “strong.”
Honestly, Janet may have been your best real woman with strength. She wasn’t utterly damaged, not over the top, just quiet strength. So I agree, you had some. But so many more weren’t. The writers had Shepherd run all over Weir.
The women didn’t get to be just healthy strong lead roles. They go occasional episodes that featured them, but not like the men as routine leaders.
But lol, that then leads to the nebbish Jew (s if you count Eli???), the 3 main non white male actors who got to be the silent warrior types.
However, all the whining aside, I wanted perfection. I didn’t get it. But as a whole, I loved it all and appreciate the quality and fun and care put into it all. I just hope if the series ever gets picked up again in some form, they get some women writers in there. 🙂
I think that one big reason I enjoyed SGU, btw, is that you all as writers matured. It showed. The characters were more real, more complex. There was so much potential. I’ll get burned alive for the sacrilege, but really I think the writing for SGU just kept improving and showing depth not really seen in most of SG1 or SGA.
The stained glass pictures will now give me nightmares as I head to bed. Geez, thanks. (I’m so impressionable).
SGA episode “Epiphany” was on tonight. Mckay refers to Ronan And Teyla as “Conan and Xena”. Well, I guess he’s half right, so far. It’s so nice to see this show in HD, it’s so pretty…
It’s 3 am and I’m still up. Wide awake ever since my sister told me that a guy we really like from the Scottish band, Albannach, was stabbed Sunday night after the Highland Games in Kentucky. 🙁
http://glasgowdailytimes.com/local/x1517690057/Fan-stabs-band-member
He’s expected to make a full recovery, which is good. I guess this means they won’t be performing at the Celtic Fling in PA at the end of the month, though, but that doesn’t matter as long as he gets better.
Here’s Jamesie performing (yeah, he’s the guy with the hair…all men need to look like that… 🙂 ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-s_o4p22Yo
And here I am with Jamesie, a couple years back (If anyone tells me I look like the Vicar of Dibley, I’ll smack ’em!):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/JamesieDee3.jpg
Hope he’ll be okay!
das
Coucou 🙂 Comment allez vous? ça fait plaisir de venir sur votre blog!
Ahaaha merci pour toutes photos..j’ai un petit coup de coeur pour la première 😉
Je suis contente de vous voir engager dans un nouveau projet vous avez l’air tellement heureux de faire parti d’une nouvelle aventure télévisuelle! 🙂
Gros gros bisous!
Anais
Those stainglass figures don’t just look a bit creepy … they look like they’re from the original Star Trek. What up with that?
I cut out A LOT of meat from my diet but this recipe for asparagus gets me back to the dark side: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/bacon-wrapped-asparagus-bundles-recipe/index.html
It’s easy AND it is wrapped in bacon!
If they won’t film in the pizza shop, can they film NEAR it?
Das: Great picture!
I like the Science glass panel, but all the rest? WTF?
Hello Joe.
Thanks for answering our questions. That garage would be perfect for the title sequence and cold open, just like in the films. Has that been considered? What has Rob been up to lately?
Say hello to the pups for us.
Best wishes,
Bryan
Hey Joe,
Great to know work on Transporter is going well, I look forward to checking it out 🙂
Some questions:
1.) Is it still technically a pilot episode if a full season has already been ordered?
2.) Why is “Dark Matter” called “Dark Matter”? What is the significance of the title? It’s probably a spoiler… 😛
3.) How come in “Divided” Rush can transfer control of the ship away from the control interface room remotely, and yet Telford has to do it from the gate room in “Incursion”?
4.) What scholarship did Greer apply for, but not get?
5.) Why did you pick Greer shooting a spider as the reason for the tunnel collapsing in “Human”? Wouldn’t it have been more realistic and a little less… “silly” if the tunnel had already been unstable and it just collapsed on them?
Thanks for the asparagus tips, I do love balsamic vinegar. Inspired by Akemi’s salad I made a hot and cold udon salad; cold udon, cucumber, baby tomatoes and imitation crab combined with turkey, cabbage, aged black olives, garlic stuffed green olives and peppadew peppers sauteed in a little olive oil for the hot, a little rice wine vinegar to season, it was so good.
Robert Cooper’s Ori were so creepy; that ep where Daniel and Vala get roasted alive over and over brought the inquisition to life for me. Could really see myself saying whatever the Ori wanted to hear just not get roasted alive again.
Das The Vicar of Dibley has an annoyingly false smile that makes me cringe. Have you heard a group called Celtic Thunder? They are Irish and Scottish guys and they seem to spend much time touring Canada and the US. I like them and I would think watching a show would be great fun.
Joe I hope Akemi does not want to go to Paris for a holiday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6197921.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0KZjmiL7xs
It must be summer here in Scotland – today the torrential rain was actually warm.
Susan
On the new Transporter Series, are you going to have a lot of focus on the Driving action? There are plenty of great films (like the Transporter, Ronin, etc) that were made with the driving stunts. It would be welcome to see that on Television.
(Off topic) Who’s your agent and how do I get in touch with them? I’m a writer looking for an opportunity to break into the business but every time I think I’ve got my foot in the door (or at least near the door) I get told “Oh gee sorry, we’re not going to even look at you unless you’ve already been published or represented”. How are you supposed to be published or represented first when they want you to have accomplished all of the stuff before you go to them other than hassle them into the ground so that they set aside that viewpoint just to get you the hell out of their hair (or at least off their phones and out of their mailbags finally). So please tell me your agent’s name and information so I can hassle him…or you. I could send you stuff too seeing as how right now practically all of the stuff I write are SGA stories. Please help a fellow SGA wrtier out!!!! PLEASE!
hi Joe
I was wondering did the writers ever thing of saying what was odd about the taste of the tomato’s that Chloe and Eli, Scott were eating on the ship.
@ Tam Dixon – I just hope sweaty hot boy will be okay. 🙁
@ Susan TTT – So, if The Vicar of Dibley has an annoyingly false smile, what do you call mine? “Ha! Lookie what I caught!”, or “Hurry up and take the damn picture before I swoon and faint dead away at sweaty hot boy’s feet!” (My vote is for the latter. 😛 )
I think you asked me about Celtic Thunder before. They’re nice…maybe a bit tame for my tastes. Although, I can do tame. One of my favorite Scottish groups is Old Blind Dogs, and I believe the last time we had this discussion I mentioned them, and posted a link to this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCkcYYQv3so
I’m getting this real deja vu feeling about this…and WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS POSTING BOX? Anyone else having the ‘log in’ bar popping up and covering the words as I type. This totally sucks…
FIX IT, JOE!
please.
das
i dont know if anybody asked this, but at the end of Lost (the episode, not the series) in season 1 you have this great cliffhanger where eli, chloe, and scott are stranded on the planet as destiny flies away but then in sabotage they just conveniently appear in the next episode without any real explanation.
I was wondering if there were any other ideas pitched for this or if you were against this or if you could just provide any background on this one.
Making the rounds through old posts to track the development of Dark Matter from idea to comic to series.
“The legends were true! We discover the ancient bee burial ground.”
Heh heh heh.
“Shiny writes: ‘How did Akemi make the asparagus? Asparagus is my waterloo.'”
That’s funny, Shiny. Asparagus soup is big in Holland where half my family is from.
Oh, and I couldn’t agree more with you and dankriss1967 about how glad I am you avoided catty tropes with Carter and Vala despite their differences, or agree less with Debra’s complaint.