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February 24, 2006

When the rubber hits the road...

It has begun. We are nearly through our first week of shooting. Connor Trinneer is up here as a guest star. Chris Judge’s hair is a little different. Jason is over his flu. The cameras are rolling. Actors are auditioning down at the trailer. The writers just took a long pitch meeting/conference call. And I’m working on my short game. As if! I’m not working on my short game at all! Although I was playing with the practice wedge Cooper keeps in his office. Boy do I need lessons!

No, no… I’m reading and proofing scripts, negotiating product placements, and gossiping (see paragraph above). Sorry, nothing terribly juicy to report. There’s been a rush paint job on the village set, and lots of scheduling snags and changes, but with this expert group of producers and production managers, it’s going to be smooth sailing – I almost, nearly guarantee it! And one of these days I’m going to get down there and check it out. Maybe next week. Depends on if these guys stop writing ever… Will they ever stop?

I was talking to Carl the other day, and he was telling me that once the production season starts you have to feed the beast. Which means the production is chewing up pages and they have to write more to keep up with the beast! He learned that slang when he was working on a Disney film some of you might have seen, called Pocahontas.

Anyways, I know what you’re thinking… enough yammering! This week on SG-1 it’s Arthur’s Mantle and on Atlantis it’s one of my favourite episodes, Michael.

· Alan McCullough talked to me a little about the original pitch idea for Arthur’s Mantle. He pitched an Ancient device that was a combination storage device and trap. The way it was supposed to work was that it contained vitally important information (still part of the show – don’t wanna spoil it, wouldn’t do that to you) that had to be delivered to specific people. The way the device ensured the information was getting to the right recipients was by transferring them to an alternate dimension and putting them through some tests to determine if they were the right people, otherwise it would kill them. See, but that’s not the story of Arthur’s Mantle… HAH! It changed a lot and you’ll get to see what the results are tonight. That’s how I cleverly get around not spoiling it for you.

· Look for an as-yet relatively unknown actor in there. It’s Darren Giblin, ladies and gentlemen! Darren is famous – to us at Stargate at least! An aspiring actor, he worked in the production office for a couple of years and is a great guy. Hopefully his character is recurring, and doesn’t die. Darren plays Conway – an SO who takes gunfire on the Sodan Planet.

· Michael is Carl Binder’s favourite script that he wrote last year. The show started as a notion of Brad Wright’s – it’s basically the third part of the retrovirus plot line. And I could say all sorts of interesting stuff about the story but I don’t want to give it away. Suffice it to say that the story idea wasn’t working until Joe Mallozzi came up with a brilliant way to spin the story on it’s head and turn it into more of a mystery. I think you’ll realize what I’m talking about when you watch the episode.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 09:10 PM

February 17, 2006

The day before the day before the day before...

Ben Browder’s hair is really long. Apparently he had a serious playoff beard too but he shaved that off before we got to see him. Ben was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor in Television Series, along with Claudia Black who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, for their performances on SG-1 last year. And both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis were nominated for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series. Nice.

I was chatting with Ben and Joe Mallozzi and Rob Cooper today, and Ben and Joe both agreed the Saturn Awards is a really fun awards show. Apparently, there are tons of fans there, lots of sci-fi genre people and some serious heavyweights also attend, such as James Cameron and Stephen Spielberg. Sounds like a good party.

Also just said hi to Joe Flanigan, who’s reporting for duty. You see, the first day of photography of each series for the new season is Monday, so everybody’s checking in. The production staff is up and running, but the actors are just arriving. Also saw Jason Momoa for the first time (he was getting over a bug he picked up traveling). And as you guys already know, David Hewlett’s been here the whole time writing, directing and starring in his own feature film “A Dog’s Breakfast”… A friend of mine is editing it, and I hear it’s going to be hilarious.

Now, tonight you’ll see Coup D’Etat on Atlantis and The Scourge on SG-1. Coup D’Etat is another Martin Gero script. Okay, now here’s a little side-note. Sometimes I go in to a writer or director’s office and ask them if they remember anything cool and interesting about an episode, any behind the scenes anecdotes, and they look at me, and I can tell they’re thinking, “why does this guy always bother me? What does he do here?” or “I forgot to pick up eggs at the supermarket”… stuff like that. And then they get that look like they’ve been playing Tetris too long and they don’t really have anything interesting to say.

NOT MARTIN GERO. That guy just immediately hands over the goods, such as:

· The part of Ladon in Coup D’Etat was originally written for Kolya, the recurring Genii character played by Robert Davi. Unfortunately, Robert Davi wasn’t available because he was busy directing and starring in his own feature, which he wrote. Seems like a bit of a trend, huh?

· Coup D’Etat has the longest tease in Stargate history, at 6 minutes and 44 seconds.

· Martin Wood told me to tell you to keep an eye out for the scene where we storm the Genii warehouse. The stunt guy that gets blown away from the door… He actually got blasted off his feet! A gnarly stunt for sure. And David Hewlett took a shell in the face in one of the other stunts.

· The Scourge underwent a VFX re-write. Apparently, doing those bug shots is costly, and that was why it was decided that they live underground.

· And Joe Mallozzi told me his absolute favourite Robert Picardo moment is when, at the end of The Scourge, the team and the IOC members are hightailing it to the tent, Picardo runs by everyone with his arms pumping. Hilarious.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 09:08 PM

February 03, 2006

More inanities...

Remember at the start of all this, when I began my blog? I told you I was the guy on the inside, that I could give you the scoop on what really happens inside the writer’s room. Well, I’m going to relate a little of the conversation we had today, just so you know what really goes on…

Today, we were finishing our Memphis Blues barbecue lunch (pulled pork, chicken, ribs, baked beans and cole slaw) when Martin Gero says to the group… “so… here’s a question…” So we’re thinking it’s going to be along the lines of whether a supergate can transport a moon to another galaxy, or whether the Wraith can eat small game in the event of famine, or something else Stargate related. But instead he asks: “is it okay to drill a hole through a wall in my new house and put an electrical wire through it?”

Now, frankly, I myself am not that handy, so I appreciated the lengths that Rob and Brad went to explaining home renovations to Martin. You apparently just need to use a stud-finder and hope you don’t drill through some pre-existing wiring. (But don’t sue me if that’s all incorrect. Like I said, I’m not so handy.) The point is…. Wait a second…. What’s the point? Oh yeah! The point is, it’s not all tv stars and spinning stories in there! These guys are real people with real problems, just like you and me.

Now, onto this weeks’ shows:

· The Tower is a fun episode, with some terrific guest appearances by great Vancouver based actors Jay Brazeau and Brendan Beiser. I was on set during the filming of the banquet scene, and that was some feast. Thanksgiving has never been that good at my place (sorry Mom!). It was all real home-cooked food prepared by our incredible caterers. I can’t wait until production starts up next week so we can eat off the truck again – all this take-out is getting tiresome. Also, and this is WAY behind the scenes: I actually play basketball with Brendan on Thursday nights. And I can tell you that this kid is surprisingly quick. Should have been a baller, I say.

· Ethon was written by Damian Kindler, who I talked to today. In this story SG-1 returns to a planet they had visited before with grave results. And says Damian: “let’s just say some things never change.” Oh no… that is such a spoiler. Curse you Damian Kindler! Curse you for spoiling the episode for the fans. Oh, by the way, Matthew Bennett, who plays Kane in that episode, is a vinyl collector just like Damian, so they had a lot of stuff to talk about during the shoot.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 09:06 PM