Answering your burning questions…

arcticgoddess writes: “This is a question I asked before regarding your travel to and from Montreal and Toronto. Since they are both so close together, do you prefer air, car or train?”

Answer: I prefer air for the simple fact we’re ten minutes away from the downtown airport and Montreal is only an hour flight away.  I can be door to door in two and a half hours.  Having said that, traveling with the dogs is always a challenge and Akemi is toying with the idea of going by train next time.

missmobius writes: “I’m deducing ur of Italian heritage. Have u ever been back to ur parents’ home towns?”

Answer: My father’s side of the family is from Naples.  I’ve been visited.  However, I have been to the Bari/Altamura area where my mother grew up – but I was three at the time.

cudaker writes: “Is your next show is accepted by a network already..and when we will know just a bit more what will it be like.. in a one sentence description ??”

Answer: I have various projects in development but still a ways from a green light.  I’ll hopefully be able to reveal more about a couple of them in the coming weeks.

maggiemayday writes: “Have you been to Hawaii? If so, do you have a favorite location? If not, which island destination do you find intriguing?”

Answer: I have been to Hawaii, once, ages ago.  I went to Waikiki and, while it was very nice, I think I’d check out Maui the next time I go.  Maybe one day we’ll do a stopover on our way to Tokyo.

Ponytail writes: “How many books do you think you could read in one year? Could you read one per day?”

Answer: My final tally for 2017 was 267 books read.  Six days into 2018, I’ve read twelve, putting me on pace to read 730 books on the year barring some unforeseen distractions like work and a social life.

Tam Dixon writes: “Why not buy a condo in two places? You could rent out one.”

Answer: We are considering that possibility.

“Does Suji require a room just for her wardrobe?”

Answer: No, but her wardrobe is roughly twice the size of Akemi’s.

“Are you involved with the Scalzi Netflix project?”

Answer: I’m not, but am definitely looking forward to Old Man’s War.

“Have you read any good new military Sci-fi books lately?”

Answer: The last good military sci-fi novel I read was the first book in Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series.

Captain555 writes: “So if you move away from TO, what will you miss the most ?”

Answer: Being right downtown.  Also, SOMA Chocolates.

MaggieL80 writes: “Good luck on the house/condo hunting! How does Japan figure in the odds?”

Answer: Long odds now, but they’ll get better after the Tokyo Olympics.

“—first book read in 2018?”

Answer: Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family, and an Inexplicable Crime.

Shaneac1 writes: “Question for mailbag Joe can you give us details on what was happening behind the scenes with the parties that were interested in saving dark matter.”

Answer: I can’t really offer much more than I’ve already detailed.  Suffice it to say we exhausted all avenues in attempting to find a new home for the show.

ceresis64 writes: “As you had quite a few scripts already written, before production began, which scenes did you decide on for all the actors who auditioned to be part of the Raza?”

Answer: For both ONE and THREE, it was the scene in episode 104 in which they awaken to find themselves tied up, back to back, and attempt to “shift” their way to an escape.  For TWO, it was the scene in Episode 102 where she lets ONE know, in no uncertain terms, who made her leader.  For FOUR, it was the scene in Episode 102 in which he coolly threatens the captive Ferrous Corp sergeant.  For FIVE, it was the scene in Episode 101 in which she casually informs SIX about the effectiveness of targeting the carotid artery as a kill stroke.  For SIX, it was the scene at the end of Episode 109 in which he admits to FIVE that, when the time comes when she will leave the Raza, he will miss her, he’ll miss her a lot.  And, for the Android, it was her heart to heart chat with FIVE at the beginning of Episode 102.

ceresis64 writes: “What was the very first scene shot in each Seasons?”

Answer: Season 1 was the very first shot of the first episode, that tracking shut down the corridor to find reveal ONE in his stasis pod.  Season 2 was the first scene of the first episode, the crew waking up and going through Hyperion-8’s decontamination process.  For season 3, it was one of the early scenes aboard the Vokov-Rusi ship where Truffault pays FIVE a visit.

Christian writes: “How long have you and Paul been writing partners?”

Answer: It’s hard to answer that question as, technically, we’re not really writing partners anymore.  We started writing together back in 1997 on a teen sitcom called Student Bodies before eventually landing on Stargate.  As the demands of the production grew, we started writing our scripts separately as of SG-1’s seventh season, but we continued to share credit because, while I was writing more originals, Paul was doing uncredited rewrites on other writers.

“How is Paul doing since you’re no longer writing partners?”

Answer: Great.  He’s working on his own projects.  If I get a show off the ground, he’ll be one of the first people I call and I’m sure he’d say the same thing about me.

“Have you already finished watching Stranger Things and what did you think about season 2?”

Answer: Hmmmm.   I binged season 2 up until the episode where Eleven goes to the city, but never watched the final episode.

Brad Apling writes: “Do you actually go to sleep or was DM’s Android based on you? Between writing, pitching, reading, eating, and business trips as well as your home life, how do you have time to keep up with all the teams?”

Answer: I really should sleep more.  And I watch a lot less television than the average person.