Well, well, well. Look who it is. Director Martin Wood (Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis) hits the streets of Toronto – in his trademark shorts. Yes, if there are two thing I remember about Martin Wood from our days on Stargate, it’s: 1) His penchant for wearing shorts year round, and 2) His onscreen cameo character, Major Wood, always lugged around a giant wrench.
Alas, no giant wrench on Dark Matter (but who knows? We’ve yet to shoot his episode, #111) but the shorts are still in full effect!
We had our final (?) notes session with Executive Producer Jay Firestone the other day. Soon after, we made the necessary changes and released our season finale, episode #113. As I may have mentioned, I want to approach each season as a instalment in a book series. And so, #113 offers answers to many of the questions we set up over the course of our initial 13 episode journey and includes one HUGE reveal. But I made a point of scripting it in a way that keeps the mystery reveal a secret…until our very last day of production. A LOT of theories swirling around set right now…
B 1st Assistant Camera Marcel Janisse enjoys lunch in the infirmary’s isolation chamber.
I’m thinking it’s high time for another mailbag. If you’ve got questions about the show, post away. I’ll answer later in the week.
I’m also thinking of doing one of those reddit AMA’s. How do they work?
Finally, here’s another look at the Dark Matter teaser trailer:
Over 47k+ views and counting! Share! Share! Share!
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Major Wood, that’s my kind of name.
Heheheheheh, “Major Wood”.
Anyway, so cool to see Martin again! I can understand the shorts all year thing in Vancouver, but Toronto? Brrrr.
Arrived here in Phoenix fine today and headed up to the rim of the Canyon for my bike to start Monday. Not sure if I’ll have internet tomorrow, so I might be out until Saturday. Wish me luck!
Saw the promo last night on Syfy, but it was shorter than the one already posted! pic.twitter.com/f3DjEgPuNt
Bruce McDonald and his hat, Martin Wood and his shorts. Awwwwe, feels like home. So good to see Martin again. Jay Firestone is always smiling. That’s got to be a good sign. Yeah, that trailer is bad! (that means good) 🙂 Thank you Joe for another great post.
Not sure if the other link I shared for the shorter promo works so here’s another one. Can I just say how excited and I am to see this amazing looking show! https://youtu.be/W6fEeQ52taE
Trailer is awesome.
I came across your “delete” pilot?tv movie today on Netflix. Nice writing. Looking forwards to drkmtr
Question for mailbag, although not specifically DM related:
What are your thoughts on the Nova Scotia government severely cutting the film production tax credit there? There seems to be a few repercussions already. Personally, I think it will be a big net loss for the province.
Love the trailer and can’t wait until the premiere in June! A question our two for you… When will you know if there will be a season two? Has SyFy figured out the whole dvr viewing thing when checking ratings yet? SyFy should send you a thank you note for getting me interested in watching them again I didn’t even fall for any of the Sharknado nonsense. My music question from last mailbag was in reference to the songs from season one. Who helped pick them and will Dark Matter have something similar, or will it just be music? Thanks for the great blogs and information! We need more Four here though, methinks.
I have a cold. I can’t think of any questions for now. I’m going to go gargle and flush my sinuses and hope that my hot toddy does the trick and I’ll sleep.
G’night all.
I have 2 mailbag questions for you! Will Itunes be offering the episodes for download the day after they air on SyFy? Any chance the show will be released on DVD at some point? Thanks!
Hello Joe thanks for doing another mailbag and answering some questions, I have no doubt that the show is going to be a runaway hit what I would like to know is what plans do you have for the future do you plan on staying in television or going the route joss whedon did and becoming a big time Hollywood filmmaker?
You’re doing a Reddit AMA? That’s the big time! I think you have to post a picture or something proving it’s you, but only when you’re ready to start the AMA (?). Then you pick and choose what to reply to, from the questions that get posted. All your replies will be flagged to stand out for easy reading. David H. did one so you can ask him. 🙂
When will the first episode be ‘in the can’ and how far ahead will the eps be done before they air? I get the feeling on network TV, the final editing is like 2 days before airing. That seems close!
I’m also thinking of doing one of those reddit AMA’s. How do they work?
i don’t know. do you know anyone who’s done one?
i googled stuff on it & came up with these:
http://mashable.com/2013/03/25/reddit-ama-tips/
http://bigfishpr.com/5-things-you-need-to-know-before-hosting-a-reddit-ama/
http://turner4d.com/10-tips-for-hosting-a-reddit-ask-me-anything-ama/
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/how-to-do-a-reddit-ama/
Really Jonathan? Delete is on Netflix? I must go watch. I’ve been hoping to find it somewhere.
I was also wondering if Martin Wood was still wearing his trademark shorts. I can’t imagine wearing shorts in sub-zero temperatures (or wind chills). Does he put pants under the shorts on those days.
@Sparrow_Hawki Feel better soon.
Oops @Gforce — Have a great time in Arizona. If you ever get close to Houston, Texas, we’ll have to meet up.
Good grief! Has Martin Wood been stashed in a stasis pod all these years? He hasn’t aged a day, and I swear I’ve seen those shorts before.
The trailer was fabulous, especially considering the limited footage SyFy had. A teaser, indeed! I watched SyFy for the first time in ages just to see it.
Question wise, I have a few. How are the responsibilities of the show shared or divvied up between you and Paul? Any big surprises that you have encountered during the production process that you had no idea were coming, good or bad? You mentioned a huge reveal in episode 113. Does that lead to an equally huge cliff hanger at the end of the first season? And how is distribution different for DM versus SGA? Wasn’t Stargate also worldwide, or does worldwide encompass more countries than before?
And please do a Reddit! It’s a great forum for engaging fans in real time, and for generating interest in the show.
Question: After seeing first hand all the work involved in starting up a brand new series, are you glad your first season is 13 episodes long or would you have rather gone ahead and produced 20 episodes? Will season 2 be 20 episodes?
Thank you!
I was happy to see that when he announced on his twitter earlier yesterday. He’s a great director.
And by the way you’re on 55k+ views on your trailer now, congrats 🙂
I have two sets of questions for the upcoming mailbag.
=====
Will the Dark Matter show be able to be viewed on Syfy synced up
to the Philips Hue lighting system?
(..I would like for my room to go green whenever Five is shown on screen.)
=====
=====
What is the actual airing schedule of the Dark Matter episodes going
to be like?
One episode per week for thirteen straight weeks?..or will there be
a split season with some time off in between a set number of episodes?
If it is to be a split season run…has a mid-season cliffhanger
episode of some sort been produced?
Will any Friday nights be skipped over for reasons such
as holidays or other special events?
Does Syfy inform you about the exact full airing schedule of the season’s
episodes ahead of time?
=====
Question for the mailbag (these are hard to come up with since you give us so much info already!):
1/ Are any of the characters homosexual?
2/ Follow up: is homosexuality accepted in the future time period Dark Matter takes place in?
3/ What are race relations like in the world of Dark Matter?
Hi Joe
If you can’t tell us who the Canadian carrier for the show is, can you confirm that there IS a Canadian carrier? And whether or not it will be broadcast at the same time as SyFy?
Elminster
Oops, one more question. How many minutes will an episode run?
Due to the cold I brought home from DC, I’ve been lounging around today and not doing much of anything.
One benefit though, is that I’ve already seen a couple of Dark Matter commercials on SyFy…not the full trailer linked here, just a quick blurb about Dark Matter premiering on June 12th.
Makes me wonder when they’ll air the full trailer (if they haven’t already).
That trailer is awesome! Doesn’t give away much info other than what we already know. Can’t wait for the next trailer with the VFX. I love all spaceship battle scenes. VFX for the win.
I have two questions, one of which you probably still can’t answer, but I’ll ask anyways since it’s on everyone’s minds lol.
1. After announcing that Dark Matter would air in 86 countries worldwide, Canada was noticeably absent from the list. Do you know any info at all on it? We’re guessing it’ll air either on Space (Syfy equivalent in Canada, since SG1, SGA and SGU aired on it), or Showcase, but we’re all dying to know if you heard anything yet, or if you have but you can’t say out loud. Or if we’ll end up having to watch it on Syfy’s website itself after the eps are uploaded there.
2. More of a philosophical question. It seems to me that the older generation (people who’ve created and produced pre-2005 shows like yourself) knows how to make a proper sci-fi show. Serious, but lighthearted too, family-oriented with comedic moments. Like every version of Star Trek, Stargate, the original 1978 Galactica, Buck Rogers, Babylon 5, etc. But a lot of the newer generation simply doesn’t get the concept — i.e. they think sci-fi is always dark, gritty, full of blood and gore, based too much off realism instead of science fiction. Why do you think this is the case, where people like you understand the genre and what’s required to make a successful sci-fi program, while many others, to be frank, have no idea what the heck they’re doing? Or in another sense, why do they try to reinvent the wheel? If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
3 Questions:
1. If you could have made a spin-off show about a single character from Stargate, who would it be? Maybe pick one from each show?
2. Did you have any ideas for Stargate Atlantis episodes that you thought were great that either no one else liked, budget issues, or studio approval kept them from getting made?
3. Does David Hewlett have the potential to appear in more than 4 episodes? Or is this going to be it for his run on Dark Matter?
Hi Mr Mallozzi, always a pleasure reading ur blog! I want to know whats the difference between ur show and killjoys, the other series that ure going to be with on friday nights, it sounds that both re about space bounty hunters? I say this because i watched both trailers of both shows.
I’m gonna watch both shows even if they re identical, cause im so happy space shows re back, just wondering thanks!