It's only a week away now, an episode that's been talked about a lot. And an episode that should definitely go down as quite a memorable one. But just what is this episode actually about? Something about which we've been keeping you in the dark for some time now, but finally, the time has come to give you some more insight:
With the Vorian/Kih'Andari war raging throughout Vorian space, Horizon has been receiving new reports of casualties on a daily basis. And ever since the start of the war, the two Kih'Andari main planets -- Mor'ven and Tenari -- have been taken over by Vorian troops (as established in "Revolution" and "Rogues"). But the occupation of those worlds is everything but an easy task, as the Vorian forces are putting up with regular attacks by Kih'Andari insurgence fighters -- basically radical Kih'Andari, acting without the consent of the Kih'Andari Council.
When Commander Callen learns that these Kih'Andari radicals have managed to retake the Tenari capital, and in the process have killed a great amount of Vorian soldiers, Callen, Grant and Lenori head off on a dangerous rescue mission behind enemy lines. Callen's first and foremost concern is naturally the fact that his son, Ma'kin, is stationed on Tenari!
Surprisingly, Zach Hoffmann decides to come along on this mission in the hopes of getting an exclusive look into the ongoings of the war. And as the group gets underway -- the fate of Ma'kin unknown -- they soon find themselves facing the brutal horrors of war, and must come to realize that they may not make it out of this without suffering a great loss.
There ya go. That's the basic premise of the episode. And no more can be said without giving way too much away. But what can be said is that this episode is definitely one of the most powerful we've ever done; it gets pretty intense. And while I can't talk any more about the actual story, I can give you a couple of comments on the episode itself:
I think what makes the episode kind of special in its own right is that it very clearly parallels things going on in today's world, and places them into a sci-fi setting. And that, in my oppinion, is always sci-fi at its best. The actual sci-fi element takes a bit of a back seat, and it becomes all about the characters and the drama.
It's also a very personal story for Callen -- it's about him and his son, Ma'kin. You could have guessed that we were setting up something when Ma'kin decided to head off to war at the end of last season.
So this episode is about a father/son relationship as much as it is about our regular characters who find themselves in this situation, as well as about what we consider some pretty strong guest characters -- characters who've been caught up in this war for quite some time, and each of them is dealing with it in their own ways.
Basically from the moment we knew that there'd be this war going on throughout Season Three, I knew I wanted to do an episode like this. At this point I can't remember who originally pitched the story (it was either Mike or myself), but very early on we had considered making it the mid-season two parter. But shortly after we realized that the mid season two parter needed to focus on the Book of Nosah'trah arc, so we decided to move this back and make it a single episode.
And when we found ourselves setting up a new record when it comes to outline lengths (the original outline from November 27th, 2006, is 25 pages long!), we considered making it a 90 minute episode. But ultimately, some things got shortened or cut out for various reasons, and the episode ended up working perfectly as a regular one hour show.
Suffice to say, if this were shot I think we'd be seeing some very, very strong performances by all of the actors. We'd see some impressive visual effects sequences, and Joel Goldsmith, I'm sure, would have written one of his best and most emotional scores ever. But, I'm sure you can picture that when you get to read the episode.
So anyway, that's some comments on what's definitely a favorite episode of mine, if I may say so. For this one I will definitely be doing a podcast, so for those who'll want to have more insight looks on the development of the story, I recommend you check out the podcast -- of course after you've read the episode.
Well, I hope this will get some discussions going. Feel free to ask questions, by the way. I'm actually very eager to talk about this episode, but naturally I won't be able to give away any more spoilers. That would ruin all the fun, after all.
With the Vorian/Kih'Andari war raging throughout Vorian space, Horizon has been receiving new reports of casualties on a daily basis. And ever since the start of the war, the two Kih'Andari main planets -- Mor'ven and Tenari -- have been taken over by Vorian troops (as established in "Revolution" and "Rogues"). But the occupation of those worlds is everything but an easy task, as the Vorian forces are putting up with regular attacks by Kih'Andari insurgence fighters -- basically radical Kih'Andari, acting without the consent of the Kih'Andari Council.
When Commander Callen learns that these Kih'Andari radicals have managed to retake the Tenari capital, and in the process have killed a great amount of Vorian soldiers, Callen, Grant and Lenori head off on a dangerous rescue mission behind enemy lines. Callen's first and foremost concern is naturally the fact that his son, Ma'kin, is stationed on Tenari!
Surprisingly, Zach Hoffmann decides to come along on this mission in the hopes of getting an exclusive look into the ongoings of the war. And as the group gets underway -- the fate of Ma'kin unknown -- they soon find themselves facing the brutal horrors of war, and must come to realize that they may not make it out of this without suffering a great loss.
There ya go. That's the basic premise of the episode. And no more can be said without giving way too much away. But what can be said is that this episode is definitely one of the most powerful we've ever done; it gets pretty intense. And while I can't talk any more about the actual story, I can give you a couple of comments on the episode itself:
I think what makes the episode kind of special in its own right is that it very clearly parallels things going on in today's world, and places them into a sci-fi setting. And that, in my oppinion, is always sci-fi at its best. The actual sci-fi element takes a bit of a back seat, and it becomes all about the characters and the drama.
It's also a very personal story for Callen -- it's about him and his son, Ma'kin. You could have guessed that we were setting up something when Ma'kin decided to head off to war at the end of last season.
So this episode is about a father/son relationship as much as it is about our regular characters who find themselves in this situation, as well as about what we consider some pretty strong guest characters -- characters who've been caught up in this war for quite some time, and each of them is dealing with it in their own ways.
Basically from the moment we knew that there'd be this war going on throughout Season Three, I knew I wanted to do an episode like this. At this point I can't remember who originally pitched the story (it was either Mike or myself), but very early on we had considered making it the mid-season two parter. But shortly after we realized that the mid season two parter needed to focus on the Book of Nosah'trah arc, so we decided to move this back and make it a single episode.
And when we found ourselves setting up a new record when it comes to outline lengths (the original outline from November 27th, 2006, is 25 pages long!), we considered making it a 90 minute episode. But ultimately, some things got shortened or cut out for various reasons, and the episode ended up working perfectly as a regular one hour show.
Suffice to say, if this were shot I think we'd be seeing some very, very strong performances by all of the actors. We'd see some impressive visual effects sequences, and Joel Goldsmith, I'm sure, would have written one of his best and most emotional scores ever. But, I'm sure you can picture that when you get to read the episode.
So anyway, that's some comments on what's definitely a favorite episode of mine, if I may say so. For this one I will definitely be doing a podcast, so for those who'll want to have more insight looks on the development of the story, I recommend you check out the podcast -- of course after you've read the episode.
Well, I hope this will get some discussions going. Feel free to ask questions, by the way. I'm actually very eager to talk about this episode, but naturally I won't be able to give away any more spoilers. That would ruin all the fun, after all.
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