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 3, 2015: Just enough time to catch my breath…
"You're as busy as a chocolate shop on Valentine's Day!" - Akemi this morning after I told her I'd be going to set next Saturday as well. "Tell Ivon that too much riding bicycle will damage his cincin." - Akemi this afternoon after hearing about my friend Ivon's affinity for spin class. "No more poppylocky." -…
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 25, 2015: Toronto’s Most Overrated Restaurants! And a few that live up to the hype!
Let me save you the trouble... 6. Montecito Not bad, but not particularly good either. 5. Wahlburgers Three different visits yielded three thoroughly underwhelming, overpriced burgers. 4. Momofuku Uninspired Asian inspired fare. Why would you serve fried chicken with caviar? And "because you can" isn't a good answer. 3. Ruby Watchco With the exception of…
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…
April 22, 2015: From vampire to zombie on less than two hours!
If yesterday's late night insomnia gave me the taste of the vampire life, today's sleep-deprived shambling no doubt approximated the daily travails of your average zombie. It started promisingly enough with dinner at Wilbur's Mexicana where I was joined by my long-time nemesis and occasional writing partner, Tara Yelland. The Wilbur in Wilbur's Mexciana is…