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November 08, 2007

Missing Times Two

This week’s episode is my favourite character story of the season, entitled “Missing”. Missing is almost a two-hander, as Teyla and the good doctor Jennifer Keller dominate the screen time. But really, it’s an action packed character study of two strong women in a terrible situation. Personally, it’s the character stuff that interests me the most, although I’m also a sucker for big special effects sequences. But when you get to watch a new character, like Keller, go through events that really bring out what she’s made of, that’s when it gets exciting for me. And I think, also, that the character stuff is why people tune in week in and week out.

This episode and Phantoms from Season 3 are my two favourite episodes written by Carl Binder, who told me about Missing from the writer’s standpoint.

Carl said the genesis of the story was that he wanted to take some of our characters and isolate them from their technology, so it’s basically a survivor scenario. They are without weaponry and tech, and must face off against a tribe of primitive warrior types. Yes, that’s right, a NEW VILLAIN, the Bola Kai, are introduced in this episode and they’re pretty cool (look for the lollipop shot, you’ll know what I mean when you see it).

Carl also wanted to do a Teyla episode, but not like the Teyla episodes we’ve seen in the past. You see, in the past, we’ve seen Teyla in stories dealing with her mental powers, battling it out with Wraith queens. We’ve seen her kick ass in fight sequences, but we never really focus on it. Well, this time, says Carl, he wanted to push Teyla into the dark side, where she is forced to use all of her skill and power as a warrior, and make harsh moral choices along the way. So you’ll see some really great fight sequences in this one.

And, further to the ongoing discussion about the WGA strike, our Carl will be “missing” from the story department until the WGA strike is resolved. He’s WGA and resides in California (although he is a Canadian citizen), so he’ll be manning the picket lines. So be sure to give Carl a honk if you’re driving by and you see the signs.

Ciao for now.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at November 8, 2007 09:40 PM