Part I!
(I'd been hoping to get this up on SGU, but unfortunately, circumstances conspire against that; I've forgotten my log-in/password, and as such have needed to ask Aaron for a while about that. But each time I see him, we wind up talking about Destiny, and it seems to completely escape my mind.)
An interview with Alex Rubit! After a brief ‘hello, how are you’ exchange, as well as discussing the state of the V.S. community briefly, we got down to the questions:
(Beware of spoilers for more or less everything.)
Ryu Gaia: Here's one thing I've been wondering: do the Nebulan have definitive genders?
Alex: Nope. The Nebulan Woman just chose to make herself a female when appearing to Grant. But they actually don't have any genders at all.
Ryu Gaia: I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the Nebulan Woman is Nosah'trah. But of course... you can't say anything to that effect. So don't.
Alex: It's true. I can't say anything about that.
Ryu Gaia: Alex, what do you think is the point at which you can tell you honestly know a character?
Alex: I think it depends on how much you know about a character, and if you think you know how they'll react to a certain situation. We'll be getting to know all of our characters much more in the second half of the season, I have to say. There's some great things coming up for all of them. I think some of my favorite Sivea moments would have to be in "Adrift." We find out some things that we never knew about her. Same goes for Chase in "The Inner Voice."
Ryu Gaia: Will "Adrift"'s title be changing because of the Atlantis episode? Or no?
Alex: Mike and I were just talking about that again last night. We'd like to just to avoid having the same titles, but to be perfectly honest we haven't really found anything else that we like so far. The problem really is that when you read it, Adrift just really seems to be the perfect title. So we'll have to see. I'm not sure at this point.
Ryu Gaia: So, do you ever see Horizon's regular cast actually getting smaller?
Alex: Not at the moment. But that doesn't mean I'd rule out any cast changes.
Ryu Gaia: Do you ever listen to music while writing? If so, what?
Alex: I don't listen to any music while writing actually. I know some writers tend to do that, but I'm one of those people who work best when it's absolutely quiet. That way I'm able to completely focus on the scene, go through the dialogue and kind of play it in my mind.
Ryu Gaia: How is it that you're able to write so much every season?
Alex: That's a good question. And I think the honest answer is... I have no choice. I'm always very ambitious about it, and not willing to fall way behind schedule. So very often I tend to be the only one available to write the episode, and so I'll often jump in to do an episode that I wasn't originally going to be writing. It's definitely a challenge all the time. But that's the way it would be if this were a TV show. You have to get those episodes done on time, no matter what. So I take that very seriously, for one because I plan to be working on TV shows in the not so distant future, but also because there's fans out there who are counting on us releasing the episodes. But it's very hard sometimes. But at the same time it's a great deal of fun, as strange as it sounds. And very rewarding to be looking at the finisehed product at the end.
Ryu Gaia: How many episodes do you generally find yourself writing at once?
Alex: If I'm writing the episode, I'll try to only be writing one at a time. But often I'll be revising another episode while writing my own; that's nothing uncomon actually. But as far as actually writing it, I try to only be doing one at a time.
Ryu Gaia: How long do you see yourself working on Horizon?
Alex: Well, we know for a fact that there'll be a Season Four. After that we just take it season by season. I'd say there's a very good chance for a fifth season, and even beyond that. But just like on a TV show, no specific number of seasons has been decided. You could say that the show is booked by the network for another season (Season Four), and after that we're up for renewal. That is if we were a TV show. But it's really not too much different from that. The only difference is we're the ones kind of renewing ourselves, rather than a network.
Ryu Gaia: So, you're basically saying that you're going to be working on this 'till the very end?
Alex: Oh yeah, definitely. I have no plans to be leaving the show while it's still running.
Ryu Gaia: How well would you say you know Horizon's characters?
Alex: I know them pretty well actually. They're like a part of me that I can turn on and off when writing a script, you could say. lol When writing for the same characters for such a long time you just start to develop an instinctive feel for how they talk, think and act. Often you'll still spend some time figuring out how exactly they'll react to a specific situation, which is what we'll often talk about in the online writer's room. But you do kind of have a feel for all of them to the point where it's easy to say when something's not in character. A lot of rewrites that are done on scripts written by first time writers are just dialogue tweaks to make the lines sound more like the way the characters talk. And that is really greatly influenced by the actors in the virtual cast. They're the voices that I hear, and they really do sometimes have an influence on how a character is written. They probably don't know that, but that's the truth.
Ryu Gaia: At what point would you say a character ceases to be a character and starts to be a real person?
Alex: I think that just has to do with how a character is written. The focus is always on making them seem like real people. But I also think the more complex and three dimensional a character becomes, the more real they feel.
Ryu Gaia: What would you say, by that definition, Horizon's strongest character is? Most real character?
Alex: That's a very good question. I don't really have any favorite characters. But there's aspects of the certain characters that I really like. For example what I really like about Sivea is that she has a great blend between being a very strong character (in that she can kick someone else's but, which she will in some upcoming episodes), but she can also be very vulnerable at the same time, if you look at moments between her and Sonak, for example. Or if you look at "Adrift," and I can't really say anything more about that. And that's definitely an example of a character being influenced by the actor "virtually" portraying them. It's something I've noticed about Ashley Scott in previous roles, and ultimately we started purposely giving her that kind of scenes.] But they all have these great blends. Callen is the strong and decisive leader, and at the same time he's a loving father, who worries greatly about his son. And David is a really tough guy on occasion, but as we found out this season he's also quite the family man. I think there's probably examples like that for most of the characters. And in some cases we're actually working on giving them more of that.
Ryu Gaia: By contrast, who would you say is Horizon's weakest character?
Alex: I don't think there's any "weak" characters, to be perfectly honest. But the least developed character is definitely Chase. I think that will change with "The Inner Voice," where we basically find out about his life from when he was eight years old leading up to when he joined the Air Force. And by least developed character, I really just mean we don't know as much about his past as we do about say Callen's past. We'll also be seeing more of Grant's backstory in both Mediation and Adrift. I think we know a little more about him, but there's also still room for a lot more.
Ryu Gaia: This is going to seem like a bit of an off-track jump, but what would you say is your favorite Stargate SG-1 episode? Or favorites, as the case may be.
Alex: Hmmm. I don't think I have any favorite episodes. But there's a lot of great ones, like "Abyss," which I think has some of the best moments between O'Neill and Daniel. I also like the lighter episodes a lot, like "Window of Opportunity," or "Duett" on Atlantis. Just because they're a fun break from what the shows normally are. For the same reason I enjoy doing episodes like that on Horizon. But there's really too many great ones for me to name a couple of favorites; a lot of the best ones I probably can't even think of off the top of my head right now. I also really like both Seasons Nine and Ten, which seem to be controversial among fans. But I think the writers did a great job with re-inventing the show at the beginning of Season Nine and introducing all the new characters...and villians. Both "The Powers That Be" and "Beachhead" are some great S9 episodes. I'm thinking of those because I just saw them recently. But I have to say, I'm really bad at having favorites on anything. I couldn't tell what my favorite season of 24 would be, because I like them all for different reasons. Same goes for the majority of SG-1 and Atlantis episodes.
Ryu Gaia: This may be a difficult question to answer, then - what would you say are Horizon's best episodes?
Alex: There's also too many that I really like to be choosing favorites. But there's some great ones that come to mind like "The Devil To Pay," which I liked a lot, or "The Cold And Distant Stars." I thought "Amazing Grace" was really great. When Mike first pitched the idea of doing a "Grace episode" I wasn't sure about it, because I didn't want to come across as if we were copying things that had been done on SG-1 and Atlantis. But the moment he had worked out the details, and pitched what the story would be, I remember just thinking: "We have to do this episode!" And it really turned out great. Out of what's aired of Season Three so far, I'd say that "Trepidation," "My Enemy's Enemy" and "A Pleasant Little Trip" would probably be some of our best. But overall I'm happy with all of the first nine. There's just one episode of which I thought it didn't turn out as well as we all hoped it would. The problem with it was that it had to juggle too many different things, and in the end I think..
Ryu Gaia: "Preservation."
Alex: some of it dragged on a bit. You get episodes like that on every show, though, on any season. The ones where everyone involved kind of knows: "well, this isn't really the way we imagined it would turn out" So all you can do is just move on, and go to the next episodes. Everything's alright, as long as the number of the ones you're not completely happy with is lower than the ones you love. If it's the other way around, you might have a problem. lol But as long as that's not the case, I think it can't be avoided. As to what episode it is, I'll just leave that to the fans to figure out. But it's quite possible you're onto something there.
But in all fairness, I don't think it's a bad episode at all. I think it would have just worked better with less. But the problem was always that everything that the episode addresses kind of needs to be addressed at that point. It was a problem even while we were working on it. There's some parts of it that I think are great actually, like the David and Tom scene where they're in the gym and talking about movies. Or Lenori's development regarding the Tok'ra and Kayla. But overall it's not one of my favorites, which is no secret though.
(Beware of spoilers for more or less everything.)
Ryu Gaia: Here's one thing I've been wondering: do the Nebulan have definitive genders?
Alex: Nope. The Nebulan Woman just chose to make herself a female when appearing to Grant. But they actually don't have any genders at all.
Ryu Gaia: I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the Nebulan Woman is Nosah'trah. But of course... you can't say anything to that effect. So don't.
Alex:
It's true. I can't say anything about that.Ryu Gaia: Alex, what do you think is the point at which you can tell you honestly know a character?
Alex: I think it depends on how much you know about a character, and if you think you know how they'll react to a certain situation. We'll be getting to know all of our characters much more in the second half of the season, I have to say. There's some great things coming up for all of them. I think some of my favorite Sivea moments would have to be in "Adrift." We find out some things that we never knew about her. Same goes for Chase in "The Inner Voice."
Ryu Gaia: Will "Adrift"'s title be changing because of the Atlantis episode? Or no?
Alex: Mike and I were just talking about that again last night. We'd like to just to avoid having the same titles, but to be perfectly honest we haven't really found anything else that we like so far. The problem really is that when you read it, Adrift just really seems to be the perfect title. So we'll have to see. I'm not sure at this point.
Ryu Gaia: So, do you ever see Horizon's regular cast actually getting smaller?
Alex: Not at the moment. But that doesn't mean I'd rule out any cast changes.
Ryu Gaia: Do you ever listen to music while writing? If so, what?
Alex: I don't listen to any music while writing actually. I know some writers tend to do that, but I'm one of those people who work best when it's absolutely quiet. That way I'm able to completely focus on the scene, go through the dialogue and kind of play it in my mind.
Ryu Gaia: How is it that you're able to write so much every season?
Alex: That's a good question. And I think the honest answer is... I have no choice.
I'm always very ambitious about it, and not willing to fall way behind schedule. So very often I tend to be the only one available to write the episode, and so I'll often jump in to do an episode that I wasn't originally going to be writing. It's definitely a challenge all the time. But that's the way it would be if this were a TV show. You have to get those episodes done on time, no matter what. So I take that very seriously, for one because I plan to be working on TV shows in the not so distant future, but also because there's fans out there who are counting on us releasing the episodes. But it's very hard sometimes. But at the same time it's a great deal of fun, as strange as it sounds. And very rewarding to be looking at the finisehed product at the end. Ryu Gaia: How many episodes do you generally find yourself writing at once?
Alex: If I'm writing the episode, I'll try to only be writing one at a time. But often I'll be revising another episode while writing my own; that's nothing uncomon actually. But as far as actually writing it, I try to only be doing one at a time.
Ryu Gaia: How long do you see yourself working on Horizon?
Alex: Well, we know for a fact that there'll be a Season Four. After that we just take it season by season. I'd say there's a very good chance for a fifth season, and even beyond that. But just like on a TV show, no specific number of seasons has been decided. You could say that the show is booked by the network for another season (Season Four), and after that we're up for renewal. That is if we were a TV show. But it's really not too much different from that. The only difference is we're the ones kind of renewing ourselves, rather than a network.
Ryu Gaia: So, you're basically saying that you're going to be working on this 'till the very end?
Alex: Oh yeah, definitely. I have no plans to be leaving the show while it's still running.
Ryu Gaia: How well would you say you know Horizon's characters?
Alex: I know them pretty well actually. They're like a part of me that I can turn on and off when writing a script, you could say. lol When writing for the same characters for such a long time you just start to develop an instinctive feel for how they talk, think and act. Often you'll still spend some time figuring out how exactly they'll react to a specific situation, which is what we'll often talk about in the online writer's room. But you do kind of have a feel for all of them to the point where it's easy to say when something's not in character. A lot of rewrites that are done on scripts written by first time writers are just dialogue tweaks to make the lines sound more like the way the characters talk. And that is really greatly influenced by the actors in the virtual cast. They're the voices that I hear, and they really do sometimes have an influence on how a character is written. They probably don't know that, but that's the truth.
Ryu Gaia: At what point would you say a character ceases to be a character and starts to be a real person?
Alex: I think that just has to do with how a character is written. The focus is always on making them seem like real people. But I also think the more complex and three dimensional a character becomes, the more real they feel.
Ryu Gaia: What would you say, by that definition, Horizon's strongest character is? Most real character?
Alex: That's a very good question. I don't really have any favorite characters. But there's aspects of the certain characters that I really like. For example what I really like about Sivea is that she has a great blend between being a very strong character (in that she can kick someone else's but, which she will in some upcoming episodes
), but she can also be very vulnerable at the same time, if you look at moments between her and Sonak, for example. Or if you look at "Adrift," and I can't really say anything more about that. And that's definitely an example of a character being influenced by the actor "virtually" portraying them. It's something I've noticed about Ashley Scott in previous roles, and ultimately we started purposely giving her that kind of scenes.] But they all have these great blends. Callen is the strong and decisive leader, and at the same time he's a loving father, who worries greatly about his son. And David is a really tough guy on occasion, but as we found out this season he's also quite the family man. I think there's probably examples like that for most of the characters. And in some cases we're actually working on giving them more of that.Ryu Gaia: By contrast, who would you say is Horizon's weakest character?
Alex: I don't think there's any "weak" characters, to be perfectly honest. But the least developed character is definitely Chase. I think that will change with "The Inner Voice," where we basically find out about his life from when he was eight years old leading up to when he joined the Air Force. And by least developed character, I really just mean we don't know as much about his past as we do about say Callen's past. We'll also be seeing more of Grant's backstory in both Mediation and Adrift. I think we know a little more about him, but there's also still room for a lot more.
Ryu Gaia: This is going to seem like a bit of an off-track jump, but what would you say is your favorite Stargate SG-1 episode? Or favorites, as the case may be.
Alex: Hmmm. I don't think I have any favorite episodes. But there's a lot of great ones, like "Abyss," which I think has some of the best moments between O'Neill and Daniel. I also like the lighter episodes a lot, like "Window of Opportunity," or "Duett" on Atlantis. Just because they're a fun break from what the shows normally are. For the same reason I enjoy doing episodes like that on Horizon. But there's really too many great ones for me to name a couple of favorites; a lot of the best ones I probably can't even think of off the top of my head right now. I also really like both Seasons Nine and Ten, which seem to be controversial among fans. But I think the writers did a great job with re-inventing the show at the beginning of Season Nine and introducing all the new characters...and villians. Both "The Powers That Be" and "Beachhead" are some great S9 episodes. I'm thinking of those because I just saw them recently. But I have to say, I'm really bad at having favorites on anything. I couldn't tell what my favorite season of 24 would be, because I like them all for different reasons. Same goes for the majority of SG-1 and Atlantis episodes.
Ryu Gaia: This may be a difficult question to answer, then - what would you say are Horizon's best episodes?
Alex: There's also too many that I really like to be choosing favorites. But there's some great ones that come to mind like "The Devil To Pay," which I liked a lot, or "The Cold And Distant Stars." I thought "Amazing Grace" was really great. When Mike first pitched the idea of doing a "Grace episode" I wasn't sure about it, because I didn't want to come across as if we were copying things that had been done on SG-1 and Atlantis. But the moment he had worked out the details, and pitched what the story would be, I remember just thinking: "We have to do this episode!" And it really turned out great. Out of what's aired of Season Three so far, I'd say that "Trepidation," "My Enemy's Enemy" and "A Pleasant Little Trip" would probably be some of our best. But overall I'm happy with all of the first nine. There's just one episode of which I thought it didn't turn out as well as we all hoped it would. The problem with it was that it had to juggle too many different things, and in the end I think..
Ryu Gaia: "Preservation."
Alex: some of it dragged on a bit. You get episodes like that on every show, though, on any season. The ones where everyone involved kind of knows: "well, this isn't really the way we imagined it would turn out" So all you can do is just move on, and go to the next episodes. Everything's alright, as long as the number of the ones you're not completely happy with is lower than the ones you love. If it's the other way around, you might have a problem. lol But as long as that's not the case, I think it can't be avoided. As to what episode it is, I'll just leave that to the fans to figure out. But it's quite possible you're onto something there.
But in all fairness, I don't think it's a bad episode at all. I think it would have just worked better with less. But the problem was always that everything that the episode addresses kind of needs to be addressed at that point. It was a problem even while we were working on it. There's some parts of it that I think are great actually, like the David and Tom scene where they're in the gym and talking about movies. Or Lenori's development regarding the Tok'ra and Kayla. But overall it's not one of my favorites, which is no secret though.
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