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September 23, 2005

Fight! fight! fight!

Well, it’s a strange time of year around here. The last of the shows are being prepped as we speak, and the end of the production season is nigh… There’s the tendency to let up, but you mustn’t give in…. don’t give in! And everybody is waiting to hear if the shows get picked up for another exciting year. So write your Senators (or MLA’s, as the case may be) and tell them how much you love Stargate! Not your Senators. I was kidding. Watch the show! Get those ratings UP UP UP. Or you can watch more Surreal Life instead. It’s really up to you.

By the way, this will be my last blog entry until the New Year when the second half of the season airs. Well… I may sign on just to keep you in the loop. Tell you what the writers are doing, whether anybody has lost their temper or anything.

It’s been fun getting to spout off about everything, even if I did take it too far on occasion (just like I said I would in my first blog!) I love the feedback from the gateworld crowd. You guys are tough! But I like ya. I like the cut of your jib. I like the way you take everything and really think about it, mull it over, and then post comments. It’s often very helpful and also gratifying to know that people love the show so much. Plus now when I google myself I’m the third most famous Alex Levine (behind a tattoo artist from Minneapolis and a Professor of Chemical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara – he’s number one).

I just watched a rough cut of a behind the scenes documentary Ivon Bartok made for the Stargate DVD’s all about the stunts. It includes interviews with James Bamford, Martin Wood, and a few of the Atlantis actors. The piece breaks down how the fight sequences and stunts are put together from the ground up. These guys work HARD at their craft, and the results speak for themselves. I’m not lying when I tell you that this is an awesome featurette. And the reason I bring it up is because they talk about the amazing fight that happened between Ronon and Ford in Runner. And of course tonight you’ll see those two guys in action once again…

Since I already gave you some behind the scenes stuff about Atlantis last week, I’ll leave you with some interesting Wraith facts. 1. Andee Frizzell has played all of the Wraith queens. 2. James Lafazanos has played a lot of the Wraith males (not the ones with the masks). That’s how good our prosthetic make up people are – they can make those actors look completely different. 3. Not all Wraith are green. Some are orangy green. I know, that part freaked me out too. And lastly 5. The Wraith have fashion sense. Yes, it’s true. You’ll see.

Also a quick correction: in my blog last week I incorrectly stated that Aurora was Carl Binder’s first Atlantis script. Later on, Carl came into my office and shut the door. Now, despite the rumours, normally Carl is a pretty even-keeled fellow. But he stared at me, which always makes me uncomfortable. And then he said, in a very monotone (threatening?) way, “I read your blog. There’s a mistake.” And it got pretty tense. A friend of mine told me a long time ago that if you’re ever involved in an altercation to look at a guy’s hands. If they’re curled up into fists, that generally means he’s going to punch you, so you should punch him first. So I looked at Carl’s hands, and they were sort of half-way fists. So I made fists too. And he was looking at my hands. And I was like, “let’s do this, then! Bring it!”. But instead he just explained that Aurora was the first script he wrote as a staff writer, that he had done a couple scripts last year as a freelancer. And I was like, “oh. Sorry, man”. And we left it like that.

See you in the New Year.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 11:39 PM

September 16, 2005

Ho hum...

Big Sci-Fi Friday. On SG-1, you’ll see Prototype and The Fourth Horseman. Next week on Atlantis you get Aurora and The Lost Boys. Lots of episodes tonight… so I’m just going to throw out some behind-the-scenes information I’ve discovered. Yes, it’s all scandalous. Pay attention.

Prototype was the first script written by the newest writer in the Story Department here, Alan McCullough. I just had a fireside chat with Alan, who was a little nervous talking to me considering my reputation as a scandal-breaking journalist. Alan made me promise not to talk about his recent wedding or his prior career as an actor. Whoops.

Anyway, here’s a primer on how you get to be a writer on Stargate SG-1 (using Alan as a typical example). Step 1: You’re a talented writer. Step 2: You get an agent. Step 3: Your agent has a working relationship with Robert Cooper, the SG-1 Showrunner. Step 4: Stargate is looking to hire a writer. Step 5: Your agent pitches you to Rob. Step 6: Rob meets with you at a Toronto coffee shop, tells you a bit about the upcoming season 9 and the direction of the show, and you impress Rob with your good table manners and self-deprecating humour. Step 7: Nerve-wracked, you pitch several story ideas to the Executive Producers on a conference call. By all accounts it goes well, because they ask you to write an outline for one of your ideas. Step 8: They like the outline, ask you to write a script. Step 9: You get copious notes on how to re-write the episode you wrote. You suffer from feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Step 10: They like your re-write, and hire you as a staff writer! Hurrah!

Alan’s take on the process was that this was the most difficult script he’s ever written. On pitching Stargate, he said it’s really tough because the show has been on for so long it’s hard to find new ideas. By the way, the episode had a couple of other names before Prototype, specifically “Paternity” and “Ricochet”. Once you see the episode you’ll realize why.

The Fourth Horseman is the first of a two-part cliffhanger. The General’s speech in this episode was going to be given by (actual) General Jumper of the USAF, but he was called away and couldn’t make it, so we had our fictitious General Hammond give the speech. But the speech was written by General Jumper and staff at the USAF (and tweaked by our own Joe Mallozzi). So it’s the real deal.

On Atlantis, Carl Binder wrote Aurora, and told me it was the first Atlantis script he’d ever written – even though Condemned aired first. Carl said writing Aurora was excruciatingly difficult, but I think he just said that to make Alan feel better.

In The Lost Boys, you’ll see the return Rainbow Sun Francks as Lt. Aiden Ford. Nope, can’t tell you more, except Ford’s story arc is one of the more inventive I’ve ever seen. And he does a great job with it. Brad Turner directed The Lost Boys, which was his last Stargate show of this year. He’s moved on to direct Prison Break and the new season of 24.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 08:35 PM

September 09, 2005

If you build it...

Further to last week, I literally just overheard Joe Mallozzi talking to himself while reading Carl Binder’s script, Inferno.

Joe: “Taranis? I thought we used that for something else? It sounds familiar.”

Uh oh… Carl might snap – I fear for Joe’s physical safety.

Ok, ok - enough about sci-fi names and Carl’s legendary temper.

Now, this week’s SG-1 episode, Babylon, is the closest you’ll get to an arena episode on this show (or so I was told by TPTB)… Famous last words… now the season finale will probably be an arena episode. Shows you how much I know.

But in Babylon, you get an extra helping of hand-to-hand combat. This is the episode they were shooting when Ben Browder was interviewed at the start of the year and gave all those sound bites about loving the combat stunts. And it’s true – he does do all of the fight stunts himself. He even nailed that Hong Kong Twist in a training sequence in the episode.

No I don’t know what a Hong Kong Twist is. Somebody told me that, and it sounded impressive, so I wrote it down.

Also noteworthy:

· The actors who play the Sodan brothers Volnek and Jolan are actually brothers in real life: Jason and Jarvis George. Both did great work on the show, and both were asked to return for a later episode, although only one could schedule it.

· The set for the Sodan village was such a large build I actually asked the producers if we owned the land. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking it would make a nice summer retreat. Of course they re-used the set for several other episodes, so they definitely got their money’s worth. And it looks amazing in the show.

· Damian Kindler took a good-natured ribbing for naming the weapon-sticks “Krantu staffs” in Babylon. Apparently there’s a new model coming out next year – The Krantu 3000. Better balance. Nu-buck handle.

· On Atlantis, check out the prosthetic make-up on Joe Flanigan. He looks pretty cool. Somebody even joked he looks better, more dangerous in the make-up. Joe had to be in makeup three and a half hours a day. He said it was itchy.

· According to Martin Gero, all the bugs in the episode are CG, not practical like in 38 Minutes (an episode from last year). And the VFX did a great job, as the producers were very happy with the final product.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 12:21 AM