Here's your crew. And to find out a little about them, head on over to the SyFy UK homepage for the breakdown: http://www.syfy.co.uk/galleries/drifting-in-space-with-no-memory-of-who-they-are-or-their-names-meet-the-dark-matter-crew And, while you're there, check out some of the early concept designs for the show... http://www.syfy.co.uk/galleries/feast-your-eyes-on-this-dark-matter-concept-art-introduced-by-exec-producer-joe-mallozzi I was in at 8:30 this morning for our final Saturday production day! Meanwhile, back on the…
May 8, 2015: The Dark Matter rollout! Introducing Marc Bendavid as ONE!
In the lead-up to our big season premiere (June 12th at 10:00 p.m. on SyFy, in case you were wondering), I thought I'd start the ball rolling with some insight into our actors, their characters, and the process by which they won their respective roles. First up, appropriately enough, is the character of ONE played…
May 7, 2015: Space Cat! Oh, and the rest of the Dark Matter cast!
A sneak peek at the Dark Matter season finale. In the final shot, the crew enters the bridge as this season's mysterious Big Bad swivels around in the command chair to reveal their true identity: Space Cat! See, this is the type of behind the scenes photos fans love. Actor Anthony Lemke (Dark Matter's THREE) eats an egg…
May 6, 2015: The Dark Matter rollout begins! Our season premiere approaches!
Let's start by heading on over to IGN.com for a peek at some sketches and designs from the Dark Matter Art Department: http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/05/06/syfys-dark-matter-ship-designs-and-sketches More concept art coming your way this Friday including the Traugott Corp research facility! Yet another Stargate connection... Stargate: SG-1's Harrid, played by Stephen Park. Dark Matter's Herrod, played by Stephen Park. The terms "background…
May 5, 2015: Wil Wheaton drops by for bourbon. And acting!
Introducing the latest member of the Dark Matter Whisky/ey Club - actor, author, blogger, tweeter, Tabletop creator, and bourbon aficionado Wil Wheaton. He swung by the offices to sample some of the Woodford Reserve, take a tour of the sets, and terrify me with tales of the desecration suffered by a bottle of Colonel E.H. Taylor Tornado Surviving…
May 4, 2015: Dark Matter in production! The first of our last location days!
Hey, guess where we were today? That's right! We were at a research facility operated by Dwarf Star Technologies. And its confusing bathroom pictograms. Tenting the facility (which we didn't we'd be able to do until we actually did it). Craaaaane shooot! Check out the spectacular job our Art Department did marrying the faux entrance…
May 2, 2015: The weekend is upon us. Not so fast!
Hey, finally! After a looooong week of production, the weekend is here! And you know what that means? Saturday shoot! To make it even more fun, the highway is closed until Monday morning so I had to take a circuitous route of side streets and back alleys to get to the studio. If it wasn't…
May 1, 2015: Martin Gero’s series, Blindspot, gets a series order! The U.K. gets a Dark Matter airdate! And you all get a mailbag!
Hey! Congratulations to Martin Gero! His pilot, Blindspot, was picked up to series by NBC: http://deadline.com/2015/05/blindspot-chicago-med-heartbreaker-nbc-series-pickup-1201419388/ “BLINDSPOT” From executive producer Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash,” “The Mysteries of Laura”) comes “Blindspot”: A vast international plot explodes when a beautiful Jane Doe is discovered naked in Times Square, completely covered in mysterious, intricate tattoos with no…
April 30, 2015: Another day, another Dark Matter episode completed!
The big monitor in the mess hall is adorned with a continuous cycle of images, little reminders of home world Earth: desert vistas, forests, schools of fish. And then there was this. Pictured above from left to right: ONE (Marc Bendavid), the Android (Zoie Palmer), and TWO (Melissa O'Neil). Shooting in the marauder today -…
April 29, 2015: Episode #110 rocks! Smoked meat and scotch! And, a mailbag!
Hoooleeeeeey! Just finished watching the director's cut of episode #110 and I'm still reeling. It is FANTASTIC! A huge congratulations to our stunt coordinator, John Stead, who hit this one out of the park in his first major directing gig. As I said in the email I just sent him: "Super tight, dynamic, suspenseful and,…
April 28, 2015: Time flies! We all like Vanessa! And gelato!
Time flies when you're having fun. Today marked our very last read-thru of Dark Matter's first season. Pictured above: the cast (with the exception of Zoie Palmer who was excused because she had a note from her mom), EP Vanessa Piazza, Director Andy Mikita, Line Producer Norman Denver, Consulting Producer Ivon Bartok, VFX Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson, and…
April 27, 2015: Three weeks to go before wrap on Dark Matter’s first season!
Check it out! I'm Cobra Commander! I was strolling by the costume department this afternoon when I was waylaid for a fitting. They're working on my outfit for the wrap party and wanted to make sure they had my measurements correct. I'm going to be the belle of the ball! Our final tech survey today…
April 26, 2015: Our atypical Android! More Dark Matter behind-the-scenes goodies! Mailbag!
Actor Anthony Lemke (Dark Matter's Three), forwarded me a terrific podcast about gendered robots and stereotypes. The participants point out that female androids tend to be sexualized entities while their male counterparts are usually powerful forces. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-april-24-2015-1.3047057/ex-machina-s-portrayal-of-gendered-robot-perpetuates-stereotypes-1.3047064 It's an interesting listen and it made me think of our ship's android, played by the awesome Zoie Palmer,…
April 24, 2015: Aches! Pains! Production! And excruciatingly late lunches!
I think I may have pulled my heart muscle. Seriously. I suspect I may have done it during a recent frenzied coughing fit. During the day, I feel fine but at night, it feels as though I did two hundred left handed one-arm push-ups before bed. Also feel a wicked headache coming on, the type…
April 23, 2015: Less than a month to go!
Sympathy pains! Not a day after I was feeling after my habanero-caffeine upset, my girl Jelly is feeling under the weather. Apparently, she's been alternately sleepy since she woke up - which is me on a normal day. Hey, look at what the Dark Matter art department got! A 3D printer, perfect for making scale models…