I was planning to rant today but, after a morning spent writing and an afternoon in editing, I am too exhausted to snark.  And so, instead, I’ve decided to leave you with a little something…

January 19, 2016: Pick Our Episode 201 Title!

A photo of director Bruce McDonald and our favorite Android in action.

A little something from 1st Assistant Art Director Kelly Diamond…

Apparently, we’ve been asked to give the episodes titles this season.  Conceptually, it doesn’t bother me so much given that the numerical conceits of season one (character names and episode titles) were thematically tied to this notion of identity – or lack thereof.  With the events of the previous 13 instalments under their belts, the crew has come a long way and we’ll see a dramatic shift in the second season narrative toward more dynamic, big picture stories.  So, yes, there’s no reason not to come up with episode titles beyond the fact that, well, I hate coming up with episode titles.

Which is where YOU come in.  Choose from one of the following for Episode 201.  The context will become much clearer…once you’ve actually seen the episode.

January 19, 2016: Pick Our Episode 201 Title!

43 thoughts on “January 19, 2016: Pick our Episode 201 title!

  1. I like the first one – “Welcome to your new home.” It’s straightforward and memorable The others are kind of wordy and abstract.

    Cool playback!

    Now I’m kind of wondering what the potential rant was about! Perhaps when you’re feeling more rested… 🙂

  2. I chose Maximum Time for Minimum Pain. The corollary opposite of that phase seemed to describe the start of the year for me.

    So, what’s to be snarky about? Or is that coming tomorrow?

  3. hmmm now I’m intrigued…between your potential rant and those potential titles… so when do we Periscope????

  4. Zoie as “The Android” s my favorite character, is she going to get a name this season?

  5. I went for “Welcome….”, it’s a bit more to the point than the others, they’re a bit gimmicky, imho.

    @Kefi Montgomery – Noobs, in old online forum talk means newcomers, new people, etc. I assume it’s the same thing. (Tho’ it was spelled n00bs at the time)

  6. I like the episodes having a name. Makes it easier to keep distinguish the seasons.

    Do we still get the rant? You know we love a good rant.

  7. I’m not going to reveal my vote…since you have the results set to private, I’ll honor that and not tell everyone how I voted, since we’ll all be able to figure out the winner based on the comments.

    I can’t wait for season 2!

  8. Newb or newbie refers to a person with the trait of newness and is not necessarily an insult. Noob is a label that refers to a person’s fundamental nature so it’s more insulting. You are only a newbie for a short time if you have a reasonable learning curve. Noobness is a permanent state.

  9. Hey Joe, what’s tipped your scales? You know we’re always here for you, buddy 😊

    The Raza transmission is again, intriguing ….. Is that Android’s doing?

    Thanks for the vote opportunity – it’s never bothered me not having episode titles … They always seem a bit of a throw away item anyway 😐 … but anyhoo, here goes ….. *

  10. Mind you, you could have numerical fun with the episode titles, couldn’t you ….

    ‘5 divided by 1’ ….. ‘2+3+4= Pain!’ …

    Sorry … couldn’t resist…. 😂

  11. I’d love a variation of the 3: Welcome To Your New Pain or Maximum Noobs. Or how about Noobs In Chains. I love the idea of titles but can see how much of a pain they can be. Thanks for letting us participate in the process. I did vote for one of the choices.

    Rant away, I do on a daily basis. As they say, better out than in, though I don’t think it’s rants they are talking about.

  12. @Kefi The correct word is “newbs”, which is short for “newbies”, meaning people who are new to the subject at hand.

  13. I was trying to think of a way to choose a way for the episode title. I was thinking of Manic 8ball but it cracked a few years back. I thought of rolling dice or flipping a coin but there are only three entries so that didn’t work. Tried Rock Paper Scissors, but I lost in round two. Still working on a method. Although, B seems a bit odd; thought you would have the concept reversed. I could wait a day and follow the trend. Would a shot of Ardbeg help me? It is only ten years old
    If you need non traditional names have you ever looked at the list of tropical storm names for the west Pacific?

  14. Based on the sides I’ve read in auditions, I chose the one that made the most sense 😉 See, no spoilery-woilery stuff! 😉

  15. I guess ‘welcome’, but if you’re talking about the maximum security prison as their new digs, I would’ve gone with the title, ‘Maxi Pad’.

    Just sayin’.

    😉

    das

  16. Welcome to Your New Home has a cool “beginning of season” arc sound to it.. esp. after how Season 1 ended w/ them being carted off the ship.

  17. I went for “Most Noobs Try It”.

    Knowing that the first episode is set inside a prison, “Welcome To Your New Home” is an obvious title. To paraphrase Siegfried from Get Smart: This is Dark Matter . . . we don’t do “obvious” here.

    “Maximum Time For Minimum Pain” is a nice play on words about “Maximum/minimum security”, “Doing time”, etc. But, again, too obvious.

    I’ve got no idea what “Most Noobs Try It” is talking about. The food? Picking up the soap in the communal showers? Escape? It’s enigmatic and therefore perfect for Dark Matter.

  18. Choose a title. Ah! Geez Joe!! Why couldn’t ya have simply asked us to go sit in for a root canal in your place. Would have been much easier!.

    Well lets see:
    The scientist in me chose A because its simple, straight forward.
    The artist in me chose B
    And the comedian in me thinks all of the above are much too tame.
    How bout something more fun.

    “Uh oh! I dont think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto!” Or “Welcome to H8 luxury suites. Enjoy the haute cuisine”
    Or. “Sorry, Were you expecting tea and sympathy”
    Or “Guess I better cancel my spa appointment today” or “Payback, A lovely Italian dish best served cold” Or ” Hey! I thought you said we were going to visit One’s hometown farm!”. Or “Maybe I should have chose the chicken soup for lunch instead”

  19. Hey @JeffW I chose that title too….great choice. It feels like Dark Matter more than the others. I like having titles. Hope we get to choose all of Joe’s titles. 1. I think we’ll be awesome at it. 2. I like naming things!!

    Playback looks sweeeet.

    Cheers, Chev

  20. I agree that Zoie should have a name to signify her status to the members of the crew as a friend. Calling her “A” for Alpha or Androids, also gives a means to identify her covertly.

  21. Don’t the people have the right to know [the poll results]? Hmm, guess I can wait.

  22. Most Newbs Try It: It’s a little snarky, and adds some comedic tone to what I assume will be a darker episode. What with our heroes in lock down and what not.

  23. Okay, I voted as requested. Staying mum.

    This reminds me of the Stargate Atlantis episode and the scene with Sheppard and Ford in the puddle jumper for the first romp together. Ford suggests a name for the puddle jumper (from McKay) and Sheppard dismisses it, choosing instead his own name for it. Then later in that ep, Ford names the handheld device and Sheppard says, (paraphrasing) “Well, that settles it, you don’t get to name anything!”.

    A fond memory of the great humor in that series.

    Please ask us for other title suggestions. It seems most of us have really good imaginations. I would need a bit more info about the episode (without spoiling) to come up with a title. ;-D

    2cats

  24. All of them are pretty good but I like Das’s suggestion of “Maxi-pad”. Thanks for the 😆 !

    Rant away.

  25. @wkrick: Noobs: a newbie, especially a person who is new to an online community and whose online participation and interactions display a lack of skill or knowledge: Some games and gaming forums are crawling with annoying noobs.

    I AM CAUGHT UP ON THE BLOG!!!!!!!! FINALLY !!!!!!! Just took a 102 fever and my lack of ambition of doing anything else I need to get done to finally get to this point.

    Rant away. We love it when you do and its probably cathartic for you.

    I voted for #2. More people would be curious about “maximum time for minimal pain” part versus a generic title that sounds bland “welcome to your new home.” And like chev said Arrow uses the episode titles from part of a line of dialogue and I’ve enjoyed that. I suspect that line is used in the episode.

    I’ve been finally watching “Breaking Bad.” I wanted Jeff to watch “The 100” and he has been resisting me. He’s been wanting me to watch “Breaking Bad” but I resisted because I assumed a level of violence I didn’t really want to see. I promised to watch “Breaking Bad” if he watched “The 100.” And he did (reluctantly) but as season 1 was ramping up with the action sequences, he started watching them without me. I TOLD him it was a show he would like. And now we are up to season 3 of Breaking Bad and it is a wonderful show. Lots of dark humor in it which is something I identify with and some of the more violent sequences I just close my eyes and plug my ears. Not at all what I was expecting.

    We also are putting our family trees on Ancestry.com (well Jeff is; I have no time to do this). We just did their DNA testing and I’m on pins and needles to see what my DNA says about my past ancestors. We should have the results soon.

    It has been a quiet January so far with work and I am trying to get caught up on stuff (like the blog). Now let’s see how long I stay caught up. I put on my voice mail for my business that I’m not taking new clients for the first quarter of 2016. I may extend this for the whole year.

    Our contractor just finished the outside of our house–a lot of rotted wood after 23 years. And he power-washed and painted and re-caulked the windows. The house looks so much better. It has brightened our spirits. For the spring bonus Jeff will get and our IRS refund, we plan to get a sprinkler system installed and new landscaping and a resolution to our backyard flooding problem (like some French drains). We were going to get a new front door installed, but we might postpone that until next year. The contractor sanded down the part that was rusting and repainted it and the door looks brand new. I think we can get another year out of it.

    Always something going on. We did get good news last Wednesday. We are so concerned that the agency we work with through the state was not going to be able to provide a home for Patrick in August 2018 because the homes they currently have aren’t the right level of care (he needs a higher level of care than the current homes they have). But they will have to even if this means they have to buy a new home (I found out that is actually a rule in the state; if they can’t, they have to show a reasonable effort to help us find another place). They are GOOD people and I would trust they will do right by him AND the owner has a plan for the business to continue once she passes (gotta think long term for Patrick’s plan). I have had so much anxiety about this in the past few years–that I was going to have to find another agency. I didn’t realize how much anxiety until they actually said yes and the anxiety left. Now what remains is the processing of letting go. We were going to let him go to camp this summer, but we waited too long (I didn’t have time to fill out the application between November and December) and he’s on a waiting list now. Baby steps for all of us.

    This is just some of what has been going on in my life. I have missed you all and I have missed some really important stuff going on with all of you. I’m sorry for that.

  26. I opted for “Most Noobs Try It” – It’s something I imagine Three saying and it made me laugh.

    I want to vote for all the titles! It’s so much fun 😀 Is that too much to hope for?

  27. Voted!
    Big thanks for involving us again 👍

    And then this happens……my little grey matter sparked and came up with a title for the future episode where they break out of prison –
    ‘All maxed out’
    All = everyone/everything
    Maxed = reference to the maximum security prison/reached the limit/captured
    Out = eventually escaping

    Mm…..I should probably leave title names to others ! 🤔

    And don’t hold back, rant away

  28. I went with Noobs because Bar-Bar Clinks wasn’t available. If you’re having a bad day blame the moon that’s causing big storms, it’s also angries up the blood something fierce. A little chocolate at lunch vastly improved my mood. It also doesn’t help that it’s too cold to be outside for very long. I miss the sun.

  29. Escape from H8
    The Green Parsec
    Cool Hand, uh, Somebody’s Name
    The Count of Monte H8 << opps, getting back to numbers there

  30. I chose “Welcome…” simply because it seems like that’s likely the last line before the title sequence plays, which I’m fine with.

    In fact, it might make things easier down the road if you just make that the rule of thumb for naming episodes; using the last line uttered right before the title sequence. I understand it may not always work for one reason or another, but it would take care of a lot of them.

    I like it simply because it conveys a starting plot point without giving away any story or plot development that happens later in the episode. I’ve seen some doozies in the past, like when an episode is named for a character that doesn’t show up until the last act, or something of that nature.

    -Mike A.

  31. Look, you aren’t a politician, you are a creative storyteller. Screw the fans tiny brains. If they can’t appreciate the “Lack of Identity” meme (I know, I hate the word meme too, but it fits), they can’t appreciate the rest of the show.

    Put out your vision, can’t wait for Episode 14 through Episode 100. Titled as such.

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