Joseph Mallozzi's Blog! (SPOILERS For All SG Shows and Dark Matter)

[EH-T]

I don't agree that Woolsey will be a better leader than Carter. Will his being in charge create more conflict? Yes. Will he be a better leader? No.

[Sg Gato]

I don't agree that Woolsey will be a better leader than Carter. Will his being in charge create more conflict? Yes. Will he be a better leader? No.

Ditto!

[Rosehawk]

I don't agree that Woolsey will be a better leader than Carter. Will his being in charge create more conflict? Yes. Will he be a better leader? No.

I agree, I don't think Woolsey will make a good commander. One of the reasons for the conflict. He's gonna have to know that. He also is very familar with the team so he's knows who he is going to have to deal with first. I seriously doubt the team will take him him seriously. The conflict should make for some great stories.

[Jumper_One]

I don't agree that Woolsey will be a better leader than Carter. Will his being in charge create more conflict? Yes. Will he be a better leader? No.

yup ITA

[PG15]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...ary-excursion/

March 2, 2008

Photos: It's a good ole' fashioned restaurant review! Pictured are: Marty G and Ivon B; food; food; food; Joe M. and Marty G's sweetheart Stephanie, partying it up; more partying; more food; more Marty G and Ivon B; Joe M and Steph stuffed; Marty G with wine; Joe M with milk; and finally, food; and more food.

Write-Up: Exactly 1 year after the restaurant's opening, the Gang returns to Bistrot Bistro for a good dinner. Also included is an update on the book of the month selections for next month, and a few links worth looking at. Oh, and this:

To those asking, the following line in the teaser poem was the reference to Kindred II: “The experiment’s minions the team will combat.”

Questions:

None, again!

(Dance, zuz's crazy Joe smilie, dance! Just like Joe himself!)

[scarimor]

I don't agree that Woolsey will be a better leader than Carter. Will his being in charge create more conflict? Yes. Will he be a better leader? No.

The Seer puts it into perspective: Carter / Woolsey.

Let's hope he learned a big lesson from that, otherwise it won't be 'good' conflict, we'll just be throwing up our hands in despair and contempt. The writing will need to reform him considerably, but its not impossible.

[suse]

The Seer puts it into perspective: Carter / Woolsey.

Let's hope he learned a big lesson from that, otherwise it won't be 'good' conflict, we'll just be throwing up our hands in despair and contempt. The writing will need to reform him considerably, but its not impossible.

No, not impossible at all. Likely? I hope so.

I like Robert Picardo immensely and would like to enjoy his character too. I think it can work.

suse

[PG15]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...ds-and-horror/

March 3, 2008

Photos: The dogs! At last!

Write-Up: A less-than-praising review of Dan Simmon's "Children of the Night".

Questions:



(zuz's smilie wants the tumbleweed to tumble more smoothly!)

[VOOK]

No questions again? What does Joe think he is doing? It's not like he writing anything BIG atm is he (!)

[prion]

No questions again? What does Joe think he is doing? It's not like he writing anything BIG atm is he (!)

Probably takes him 15 minutes to bang out a freestyle entry, while with answering 'mail,' add on another half hour, which, honestly, I'd prefer he devote to production of the series

[Briangate78]

Probably takes him 15 minutes to bang out a freestyle entry, while with answering 'mail,' add on another half hour, which, honestly, I'd prefer he devote to production of the series

I agree. I like when he does answer key questions though.

[VOOK]

Probably takes him 15 minutes to bang out a freestyle entry, while with answering 'mail,' add on another half hour, which, honestly, I'd prefer he devote to production of the series

Yes I know I was being sarcastic

[Ruffles]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2008/03/

Photos: Ooo... Aren't those interesting.... I wonder what....

The email message said: “Please check out the following lowlifes at…” and provided me with the appropriate link. At first I thought I’d been put on one of those silly group emails. Then I realized it was from Corinne, our local casting director. Oh, right. The low life! So I headed over and checked out the online auditions. Yep, all in all some pretty wretched lowlifes but, in my opinion, only one stood out as the lowliest of them all. So we’re going to cast this guy and, years from now, some producer will be scanning his credits and note: “Hey, you were the lowlife in that episode of Atlantis. I remember it. You were really pathetic.” “Thanks.”

I received notes on Whispers, worked on the rewrite, and took a tour of some of the new construction on the FX stage. Jason came by the office about a half dozen times today, each time popping up to discuss Broken Ties for all of two minutes before being called back down to set. Then, I rounded out my afternoon by skimming past scripts for appropriate flashback sequences. Alan is off and running on the new episode #9, The Queen, while Paul does a pass on Ghost in the Machine, Carl works on Tracker, and Marty G. gets a head start on the mid-season two-parter. Looking way ahead, I’ve talked myself into the #16 spot with “a very special Stargate Atlantis” (apologies to James Stewart), while we’ve got some other potential stories floating about in search of definitive slot.

Oh, I notice David H. has commented to my comment on a recent special script request, threatening to drop off Baz in the writer’s office while he collates his double-salmon pages. Well, David obviously misunderstood what I wrote because, on principle, I have absolutely no problem with someone collating scripts for the actors. After all, collating is a long and arduous process that demands an inhumanly inordinate amount of time and concentration, not to mention extreme physical exertion. Several years ago, my uncle Lamont put his back out collating a third draft of Diagnosis Murder and, to this day, still complains about a persistent stiffness in his lower spinal column whenever it rains. In fact, I was only responding to the very specific request that scripts be solely distributed on white pages as opposed to the offensive multi-colored sheets that apparently plague the more ocularly sensitive among us. Some of you will accuse me of heartless sarcasm but, truth be told, I can empathize with anyone who has experienced the stomach-churning nausea that comes from skimming a tan page, or the eye-stinging hell that is goldenrod. No, all I want to do is make a couple of things clear -

For starters, as long time readers of this blog well know, the human child is my favorite sub-species of the animal kingdom (followed closely by lemurs, platypuses, and the bob-tailed weaver - in that order) and I would, of course, be delighted to provide babysitting services for any precocious little loose-stooled imp. Time permitting of course.

Secondly, unlike actors, we lowly writers often don’t get it right the first time. It usually takes two, three, or more drafts to bring a script to perfection. With each successive attempt, different colored pages are distributed (blues for the first round of changes, pink for the second, green for the third, and so on). These, of course, serve as a harsh reminder of the writer’s mortal failings and, only incidentally, also serve to apprise the rest of the production of the changes made to the draft they happen to be working off of.

Thirdly, in addition to having them collate their own scripts, members of the production are contractually obligated to amputate their own gangrenous limbs should the need ever arise. These are sad holdovers from the days of vaudeville that I would love to see changed.
A big thank you to Paula for the Mexican candies that gave all of the writers a buzz - and had Alex Levine wandering the halls in a sugar-induced daze.

And good luck to tm on those mid-terms!

Mailbag: Alas, still empty.

[Linzi]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2008/03/

Photos: Ooo... Aren't those interesting.... I wonder what....



Mailbag: Alas, still empty.

Thanks, Ruffles.

Wow, so much time dedicated to talk of collating and the colour of scripts. Nice piccies though!

I have to say, it can matter what colour sheets of paper are when reading them. My youngest daughter's school sends out newsletters etc on green and sometimes pink paper. Just reading those one sheeters hurts my eyes sometimes, so if were to read a whole script in those colours I think it could be a strain on my eyes. Still, nice to see such important things are being talked about at such length!

[prion]

MARCh 5th

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...ns-all-around/

Congratulations to Martin Gero and Andy Mikita on what promises to be a fantastic season opener. We watched the director’s cut today and loved it. I’ve got plenty of behind the scenes pics on this one, but I won’t post them until after The Last Man airs so as not to spoil ya.

Congratulations to me as I finally completed my revised writer’s draft of Whispers. I made some dialogue adjustments, changed the end of the fourth and the top of the fifth acts, lost the compasses, lost the dead end beat, lost the Land of the Lost gag, and fiddled with the act breaks. I’m loving Dusty! Oh, and congratulations to Anne Teldy on her promotion from Lieutenant to Major and command of her own team.

Congratulations to Jason Momoa who came into my office today, clearly smitten by the brand new addition to the show: Tyre’s sword. “It’s perfectly balanced,”he enthused, brandishing it threateningly. “Can I keep it?” In the interest of keeping my actors happy (and my fingers attached) I happily agreed.

A little mailbag:

Squeakiep writes: “Would you be so kind as to tell us how the director line-up looks for the front 10 episodes of season 5?”
Answer: Andy Mikita does the honors on Martin Gero’s Search and Rescue, Will Waring follows on Paul Mullie’s The Seed, Ken Girotti steps into the line-up on my Broken Ties, after which Andy Mikita steps back into the rotation for Alan McCullough’s Daedalus Variations, Ken Girroti is next on Carl Binder’s Ghost in the Machine, then back to Andy Mikita for Brad Wright’s as-yet-untitled tear jerker, which brings us back to Will Waring for my second episode, Whispers.

Dovil writes: “Maybe your very Special Stargate Episode could revolve around the Science Department getting a mix up with their office supply order and instead of white paper they’re instead sent ream upon ream of puce and magenta coloured terror…”

Answer: There’s a little something called Standards and Practices that forbids the network from airing programming that may be considered objectionable - ie. too sexual, offensive, violent, or, in this case, so bloodcurdlingly terrifying it may psychologically scar some viewers. Nice try though.

Knightie writes: “Since we now know that our exteme Shep whump epi got moved to the second half. Any clues as to which spot?”

Answer: That’s a script in search of a home - and a possible transplant. We’ll see how things develop.


Ellie writes: “…some are unhappy with the way Beckett returns and although I still haven’t quite forgiven you for killing him in the first place..”

Answer: You mean “haven’t quite forgiven that heartless Martin Gero for killing him in the first place”, don’t you?

AMZ writes: “How many script drafts do you have on average (ie how many colours per episode)?”

Answer: On average, I think we see yellows most often (it goes white, then blue, then yellow), although there have been scripts that have breezed through green, goldenrod, grey tan, tartan, and all the way back to double whites.

Squall78 writes: “I read an article on-line that Atlantis will have a summer premiere? Can you confirm this?”

Answer: Only SciFi can confirm this. And wouldn’t that be great?

Anoni writes: “Will we be seeing Michael’s Super Bugs again or have they ‘mysteriously disappeared’?”

Answer: The hybrids are an evolution of the super bugs.

Marko quotes: “creepy colonialism of a bunch of Western scientists and military crashing into a New World, and then nobody [..] giving a good ******* about the people who […] actually live there.”

Answer: There have been plenty of episodes which have dealt with our desire to help various off-world civilizations (ie. Inferno, Irresponsible, The Game, The Ark, Epiphany - to name a few). Equating off-world exploration to “creepy colonialism” is a bit of stretch given that there has been no exploitation of the locals or their natural resources.

Marko also quotes: “ The characters are importing bottled water and playing video games in their spare time, turning the Lost City of the Ancients into a f**king dorm.”

Answer: If by “f**king dorm”, the writer of this rant means “comfortable living environment” then - yes. My counter to that would be “Why the hell not?”. Just because they’re in a new environment doesn’t mean they can’t make use of the comforts of Earth. “Dear God, they’re using forks to eat their food off of plates!” “They’ve brought toilet paper with them?! What nerve!”

Marko also quotes: “ The writers are trying to fob off a half-baked “Athosians in jeopardy” plotline on us, without going to the enormous bother of ever giving us one scene with, well, Athosians, like how would having seen their faces sometime in the last two years possibly make the danger of losing them more resonant in any way? […] John and Rodney…if they gave one one-millionth of a ****, *they would know some of those people, too.* “

Answer: By that line of reasoning, it is impossible to feel any sort of sympathy for a civilization or characters that are introduced in the very episode in which they are put in jeopardy. Also, the last comment, that the characters can only sympathize with people they know, is a load of bull****. Tell that to everyone who has ever contributed to a charity (unless they happen to do so with very specific instructions like “Please make sure this twenty-three dollars goes toward Arnold C. Greenblatt’s colonoscopy and a new irrigation system for that village in Borneo.”).