« Life Moves Pretty Fast | Main | Gak, Golden Tee and Improv Comedy »
April 18, 2007
Back in the highlife again...
The SG-1 cast was in the office Monday for a read-through of Robert C. Cooper’s “The Ark of Truth”, one of the SG-1 features. I said hello to Ben Browder, who I hadn’t seen since last season, but I never did get a chance to rib him about Duke’s opening round loss in the tourney. Amanda was looking great with longer hair – there have been a few discussions about her hair and continuity issues relating to the chronology of the SG-1 movies vis-a-vis Season 4 of Atlantis. OOPS! I guess the cat is out of the bag. If you don’t already know, Amanda Tapping is joining the cast of Stargate Atlantis for Season 4. More on this later. I also got a high five from Chris Judge, and I saw Claudia Black in the office too, just briefly. Tomorrow they start shooting, and we’re all looking forward to seeing the dailies at lunch time.
On the Atlantis side I got a half-hug from 6’5” Jason Momoa, which reminded me of when he literally picked Rob Cooper up off the ground with one arm at last year’s wrap party. I also got to pet Rachel Luttrell’s dog Nala (sp?), who I quickly discovered was all wet from the rain.
Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoyed the return of SG-1 and Atlantis to Sci-Fi Fridays. The ratings were pretty good, considering all of the illegal web dissemination we assume took place (for SHAME!). I also hope you enjoyed the Stargate Mythology special produced and directed by my good friend Ivon Bartok. This week the hit parade continues on Atlantis with “Echoes” and on SG-1 with “Line in the Sand”.
I spoke to Carl Binder, who co-wrote the story of “Echoes” with Brad Wright and then wrote the teleplay. He said that what he remembers most about the episode is how it relates to his daughter. You see, Carl’s daughter Breanna is studying astrophysics in college, and when Carl told Breanna the story for Echoes she objected to the big science aspect of the story and also the solution to the big scientific problem posed in the story. See how careful I’m being not to spoil it for you! So Carl and Breanna hashed it out on the phone, and that conversation actually became a scene in the story between Sheppard (Carl) and McKay (Breanna). Breanna explained that it has to make some sort of sense because she’ll have to answer to a room full of physics majors who are all big fans of the show!
I also happened to be in the room with Brad and Carl (it was just the three of us, actually) when Brad spun the original concept on its head and came up with the major twist of the story. And let me tell you, it’s pretty exciting when that happens. Brad just plucked it right out of the ether and turned it into gold. It’s times like that when you realize why he’s been so successful in this industry and in this genre.
On the Stargate SG-1 side, you’ll see “Line in the Sand”, written by Alan McCullough. This was Alan’s best script of last year, in most of the writing staff’s opinion. In fact, everybody enjoyed his first draft thoroughly (it is a very moving story). I recall that Brad came in to Alan’s office and interrupted a meeting just to shake his hand and offer his congratulations on a story well told. Of course then the writers gave him about a zillion notes for his rewrite, but that’s just how it goes!
Alan told me the toughest part of writing this story was coming up with the Ori aphorism that is central to the story. The aphorism is actually a plot point, and it had to be ambiguous. I know, I know… this is all pretty nebulous but it will make sense when you see the show. But the gang had a lot of fun coming up with goofy fake Ori aphorisms that week, like: “Let the seeds of the words of the light of Origin find purchase in your rocky, barren soul!” Okay, that one wasn’t so funny, but the funniest ones are not fit for print, if you know what I mean.
Also, in case you’re wondering why nary a word is mentioned about the fact that Daniel is missing in this episode, the teaser (the first scene before the title) dealt specifically with Daniel’s absence, but had to be cut for time.
ATL
Posted by Alex Levine at April 18, 2007 12:41 AM
