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August 04, 2005

Kiss and tell...

Well there’s no fact checker, but all of us here at Stargate do believe we’re breaking new ground this week on Stargate Atlantis. In an effort to compete with Will & Grace, this week’s Atlantis episode, entitled “Duet” offers…

Wait for it!

Two men kissing. In space. Well, in the Pegasus Galaxy at least.

Now, some of the more die-hard fans may know that there’s long and storied history of male-to-male face-touching in Stargate SG-1, although it’s never gone as far as kissing. And there’s a simple reason for that: it’s gross. Just kidding. It’s not gross. It’s just not that commonplace on North American television. And considering the hub-bub it’s likely to cause, one wonders if it’s necessary.

Well, guess what? The writers weren’t sure either. Martin Gero – whiz-kid, writing machine, comic genius and confident heterosexual that he is – wrote the script, and the kiss was in the first draft from day one. But I can tell you that in a later draft, the kiss was notoriously missing. It took some lobbying and some discussion to get that kiss back in there. And guess what? It was the right decision, because it works. It’s a part of the story. It’s funny. It’s brave. And David Hewlett makes it work.

So I checked with Guinness World Records, thinking that the first male-to-male sci-fi screen kiss might be a record, but according to Guiness, “firsts” may or may not be recognized as records. For example, “First woman to reach the North Pole” is a record, but “First British woman to reach the North Pole” isn’t. So I assume the first time two guys locked lips on TV was a record, but my guess is that the folks at Guiness probably won’t differentiate between Sci-fi and other genres, the bastards. I’ll have to check with Martin to see if he wants me to pursue the application…

And this just in! “Fan-boy” says “The Ties that Bind” is awesome! Yeah, I liked it. So now I’m going to get another talking to by Robert Cooper. Sorry Rob. I liked it. Sheesh.

One of the reasons I liked it is because they cast Wallace Shawn (from “The Princess Bride”) as Arlos. He didn’t quite ham it up like he did in that film, but his bit at the beginning as the love-lorn scientist is hilarious. Here’s a little known fact about Wallace Shawn – he’s a playwright, and now focuses on theatre in New York. Also keep an eye out for Malcolm Scott as Caius – he’s another great comic actor.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at August 4, 2005 07:58 PM