Ask Joe Mallozzi - Spoilers for SG-1 (S8, 9, 10) and SGA (S1, 2, 3)

[JMallozzi]

Hi Joe,

Is there any chance that we will be seeing any Ancient war ships, i would be greatful if you could tell us.

thank you

An Ancient ship. Hmmmm. Do you think they'd call it Aurora?

[JMallozzi]

[QUOTE=binkpmmc]

Joe - in relation to the continued negativity regarding Carter's character I ran across a thread called "S.N.I.T. - a/k/a Save Our Sam" on the Sci-Fi Bulletin Board. You should take a look at this thread as well (or the people at Stargate productions should) as it too details the negativity surrounding the character (over and above the soap-opera nonsense created this past season and a half) and what fans perceive to be the downfall of a once strong and respected character. While you did post in response to my original post, you did not reply to the question so, in the hopes of a reply, I will restate my question about the future of this character:

What can you say to allay the concerns/worries of the growing number of fans that feel that the once strong and respected Carter character has truly been damaged by the way she has been written over the past two seasons and will Season 9 see the return of that once respected character so we actually see Carter in charge after she rejoins the team (after ATs return) and not blowing it like at the end of Affinity?

Thanks for your time.

All I can say is - check out season 9.

[JMallozzi]

Since people seem arrogantly determined to continually abuse this thread and Joe's presence in it, I figured I'd post this little reminder:



And since people seem to need to have things spelled out for them, "WTF is wrong with you?" and similar sentiments do NOT count as valid questions. Joe is nice enough to come here and answer our questions and interact with fans. The very LEAST we can do is show him a little respect and not insult him. Save it for the playground, kiddies.

Hi again, Joe. Will you guys be revisiting any older storylines in S9? Pre-season 5 and not the Ancients, which we already know are a topic.

Also, a bit random, do you still have your dogs? I remember you used to talk about them a lot back in your days on SG1fans...

We'll be revisiting old storylines and heading off on all new adventures on both shows this year. We may have a new enemy in SG-1, but a lot of our old enemies remain unaccounted for. Anybody seen Baal lately?

Yup, still have the dogs - 3 pugs: Jelly, Maximus, and Bubba.

[binkpmmc]

[QUOTE=JMallozzi]

All I can say is - check out season 9.

Thanks for your time and for the response Joe and I hope to God the real Carter is back for season 9 (including as SG1 team leader/commander of SG1/Lt. Colonel in charge of SG1, etc.).

Thanks.

[JMallozzi]

Hi Joe!

This is sort of a personal question. I read somewhere that you were originally from Montreal. I am too! Was wondering if you attended McGill university or Concordia? Did you do an English litterature degree or did your degree have nothing to do with writing?

Thanks

Pam

PS: Do you miss Montreal?

Hey Pam. Both Paul and I hail from Montreal. We both attended McGill University where Paul obtained a Masters in History and I completed my Masters in English Lit. Our degrees had nothing to do with writing and, to be perfectly honest, the few "writing courses" I took were pretty useless. I've always felt that you can't teach good writing. You can teach someone the craft of scriptwriting (a good book will do the trick - check out Screenplay, by Syd Field), but you no amount of seminars, no matter how pricey, will turn someone into an accomplished screenwriter.

I don't really miss Montreal because I go back 3 times a year.

[JMallozzi]

Hi Joe,

As you'll be aware the character of Walter Harriman and the actor Gary Jones has a big fan base that is continuing to grow and grow. As of the end of Season 8 Gary Jones will have made his 79th appearance as Walter. Now I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here, but if there did happen to be a 10th Season and Walter was continued to be used throughout S9 & S10 then it would be likely that he would make his 100th appearance in S10. What would your thoughts on making the "Comical" episode of a possible 10th Season involving Walter Harriman to celebrate the 100th episode for Gary Jones?

I think if the right story was produced it could be very funny

Are you really Gary posting under a pseudonym?

[JMallozzi]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum, although I have lurked around for a bit.

I would like to contact Mr. Mallozzi for one of my final essays in my University career. I'll begin by explaining my motives behind the essay. As I'm a 4th year student, I have been having oodles of fun taking numorous elective courses, a majority which seem to be in the World Religions course of study.

I'm am nearing the end of my last semester, meaning that my final essays are going to be due soon. I am specializing in Buddhism. Now, as fans of the show know well, the show is based on many of Earths cultures, ancient and contemporary. Which makes SG a good source for the aspects of western buddhism (the fourth turning of the Dharma wheel) which appear in contemporary media.

That is essentially my thesis. How do buddhist influences play in modern television? Now, as far as source material straight from the episode, I have no problem, as I own a copy of 'Maternal Instinct', which is the episode of SG-1 that centers most heavily on Buddhism.

What I would like, is to contact Mr. Mallozzi, and 'interview' him, by that, I mean shoot a couple of relevant question to him about the use of Buddhist concepts in the show, so that I have some solid source material from which I can draw. Is it possible to contact him directly? Does he surf this forum (I see the 'Ask Mallozzi' thread at the top of the forum)? Can anyone point me in the right direction in order to do so?

Thanks all, and I hope that SG-1 and Atlantis get better and better. Hope you can help, Beppo.

Hey, Beppo - I'm the wrong guy to be interviewing. Robert C. Cooper scripted Maternal Instinct and the many "spiritually-centered" episodes of the show. I, on the other hand, am responsible for the various episodes in which things blow up and characters eat in Earth diners. I'd suggest you contact the production offices and arrange to interview Rob.

[JMallozzi]

Are Bratac and/or jaffa leader Lou Gosset Jr. in the season opener?

Any new Star trek recruitments?
Will Woolsey return?

Lou and Tony (Bratac) will be appearing after the season opener. As for Woolsey - I'm a big Robert Picardo fan and, if the right story comes along, I'd love to have him back.

[Kliggins]

Would that be your speciality then; writing about things blowing up and characters eating in diners or is there another aspect about Stargate that you would prefer to write about? Seriously, is there a particular type of episode that you prefer to be writing? Thanks.

[emily_reich]

joe, a question a bunch of folks would like to know the answer to, so i figured i'd ask, even though you may not know the answer yet


if/when (and from your responses it sounds more like "when" ) baal returns in season 9, will we get to see him working or interacting with sam again? obviously there's no jacob now, so it'd be different but their scenes in reckoning p2 were loads of fun and had a unique dynamic to them

so basically, will we see him actually interacting closely with SG1 again?

thanks

[JMallozzi]

Hey Joe!

Thanks for answering my last question...I have one more:

I just read the David Winning interview on ChevronNine.com...will he ever be back to direct more Stargate or Atlantis?

PS....MORE FURLINGS!

If you don't mind, I'm going to use your post to answer a more general question. Or, more to the point, more general questions. Fans will often ask: "Will character X be returning to the show?" or "Will we see the X race again?". And, more often than not, my answer is "It's possible" or "Maybe" depending on whether we actually are planning to bring back said character or race. But, really, "It's possible" and "Maybe" are easy-out responses that producers (okay, this producer) use to avoid the question. Often, there is more to "It's possible" and "Maybe" than meets the eye.

Let me level with you. Sometimes, the answer to "Will character x be returning to show?" is actually "No, because he/she was so difficult and/or did such a terrible job that it was only through the miracle of editing that we were able to salvage a passable performance for the episode". Or the answer to the same question could in reality be "We loved the actress. She did a terrific job, but the fact that she now resides in London makes it very expensive for us to fly her over for an episode or two". But, in both cases, I'll probably still say "It's possible" or "Maybe". In much the same way, the answer to a question like "Will we see the X race again?" could, in truth, be: "No, because the visual effect was so laughably bad that we never want to go there again". Or, the answer could also be: "They were a terrific race of beings but, unfortunately, we haven't come up with a strong enough story for them". But, still, the answer to this question could nevertheless be "It's possible" or "Maybe".

So -

Will we be seeing Aris Boch again?

It's possible.

Will we revisit the Reetou?

Maybe.

Will David Winning be back to direct more Stargate or Atlantis?

No.

[JMallozzi]

Hello Mr. Mallozzi,

Will we be glued to our sofa's in season nine?
I think you and Mr. Mullie are probably the only writers on the show capable of restoring the normal human responses of the characters in Stargate SG1. When they should be worried for each other, when humor is appropriate, where there should be SUSPENCE, FEAR, ANTICIPATION, etc. I love the stories, but they're missing something. Mostly not your stories. Like "Threads" for instance, I liked it, but, Let's say you are Jack, and Paul is Daniel, If Paul was missing and you new he was in danger, wouldn't you have some kind of a surprised emotion if he just suddenly showed up in your office. Esspecially if you thought him dead yet again? Even if he has gone missing before? What? they just stop caring because it always happens to Daniel, (no reaction from Sam or Teal'c) and they somehow just new he would be ok because he would just ascend/aided by the ascended and come back again. Were they that sure? (that's not a normal response. is it? ) Where was the concern and the surprised reaction when he suddenly shows up? It was like "Oh well Daniels home, thought he was dead again though" We need the sparks back, the connections between all the characters. And some fast paced excitement. I know you guys are the ones to do it You will be forever my favorite writers for it.

This is by far not meant as criticism of other/any writers, only an observation in question.
P.S. By the way it is cool for you to be here.

Thanks for the kind words, but as much as I would love to accept all the fan accolades (and please, don't let this little blurb stop you), the heart and soul of both Stargates have and will always be Robert and Brad. They are the showrunners and are responsible for 8 out of every 10 story ideas, and much of their work goes unrecognized when they do uncredited rewrites of other writers. Like Paul and I, Brad and Robert will produce the individual episodes, meaning the task of "prepping" a given script will fall on them. Brad Wright, for instance, was credited as a writer on "Rising" and "38 Minutes" but could have easily claimed credit to having scripted at least 6 more. Robert C. Cooper is credited with having written some 5 scripts for SG-1's 8th season but could just as easily have been named the main writer for another 6. At to that the casting, editing, and endless meetings and you can reall appreciate all of the hard work these two guys do for the show.

I guess it's easy to assume that the writer whose name appears on the credits is the one responsible for the clever story or dialogue but, in truth, Robert and Brad have a hand in everything that gets produced. How much of a hand varies with different scripts, but I'm sure that certain fans who have, for instance, lambasted Rob's writing and praised other "non-Rob Cooper scripted episodes" would be surprised to learn that, in several cases, he was responsible for rewriting up to 90% of a script. Alternately, yes, Paul and I wrote and produced Lockdown and Endgame - but we also wrote and produced Prodigy and Avenger 2.0.

[JMallozzi]

Actually, the thread title warns of spoilers so sharky doesn't need them. Reading this thread is taking the risk of being spoiled, especially since Joe occasionally drops hints of upcoming eps- which are ALSO spoilers. You don't see JOE using spoiler tags, do ya?

Joe, I see that a couple of you Powers-types are finally being eeked into the schedule for the Cretin Con. Any chance your name will be added soon?

Nope. They were kind enough to ask (after my tirade) but I made it clear in my post that my response would preclude me from attending any future cons (with the exception of the few I was already invited to). However, you can always catch me here at the Gateworld forums.

[JMallozzi]

Hey, Joe,

This is my first-ever post at GateWorld forum so please bear with me! I have a couple of questions:

1) Will there be follow-up in Season 9 dealing with the Goa'uld remaining here on earth (in relation to the CIA investigations mentioned in "Citizen Joe" and "Threads")?

2) Is Pete Shanahan gone for good or is there a way to integrate him (one way or another) into the above situation? (after all, he's had SG-1 connections and didn't leave on the best of terms.....and he seemed pretty impressed with the glowing-eyes thing!)


On a personal note, thanks to all of you for "Citizen Joe"----I consider it a valentine-offering to SG-1 fans and the humor was first-class! Also a big, big "thank you" for the safe arrival of the Jack/Sam ship----it's always good when your ship comes in!

1) Hmmm. Now that you mention it, that is something we might want to revisit... Yup, already on it.

2) No plans to bring back Pete. UNLESS...Sam has a change of heart!!!


Just kidding.

[JMallozzi]

Hi Mr Mallozzi
Here's a question about Atlantis Rising...
There's a scene where Sheppard slips and falls down a slope when trying to follow Teyla to a cave some sort... was it done on purpose or was it accidental and included in the final cut for our viewing pleasure?

Thanks for taking the time out...

That one was intentional. The innumerable other takes that didn't make the cut weren't.