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

[Briangate78]

a 4th incarnation will probably be more of a mid-way between SGA, SG1 and SGU. more character-based, ensemble cast, SGU budget but more of it's exploration and adventure.

SGU should of been more like that from the beginning. imo. I think they would be pulling in at least decent numbers if that was the case. People like drama, yes, but they also like action and adventure. At least find a happy medium to try and compromise. Episodes like "Space" and "Trial and Error" give us that medium, imo. But any compromise might be too late now.

They took a risk/gamble and wanted to try something new, nothing wrong with that. As Joe M points out the PR was not handled well for SGA's cancellation. That could of had a factor as well.

[thekillman]

the PR in general makes me cry.

but brian, as i said, it was exploration for the writers as well. and i think that just as SG1 had to find it's balance, SGU has to do that too, and it's doing that. it started at 1.5 and it's still going on. might be boring episodes but so far, every show has had them.


SGU's big mistakes:


-horrible, horrible press release of doom. if the Headbutt of doom from Young is like a nuke (tsara bomba), this was a supernova. i imagine the press release. "ladies and gentlemen. SGA's season 5, will be it's last. in other news, we can look forward to the next incarnation."

-horrible, horrible marketing. "Darker". sorry, SG already is that. it's just that there always was this light at the ceiling, and we focused on that light, not on the darkness around us. edgier. don't see how that's possible. it would go towards alienation. younger? SG1 and SGA already had a young cast, and i fail to see why mid-30's people in stead of mid 40's people would make such a humongous difference. combined with the horror scene of 200, and we lost the credibility and seriousness.

-perry's casting bill. more utter doom. also, people suddenly started to ask questions about the stones, while they've been around for a while already. also, the incredible focus on "wrong people" didn't help.

-SGU trying to be different so hard. or at least, the writers trying.



none of these matter THAT much on it's own, but the combination is horror.

oh and the greenlighting but not production on the movies made stuff even WORSE.

[SGFerrit]

Of course, that might also mean that if we watch Universe, even if we don't like it, then the franchise might continue with more of the same. I loved SG1 from the first episode and grew to love Atlantis. I did give Universe a try but imo it just has too many things I don't like. I don't want another Stargate series if it follows the model of Universe. Why should I support a show I really dislike in the slim hope that in doing so I will be able to watch something I might just happen to like?

That is fair enough, it is different and not everyone is going to like it, it's not fair to expect people to subject themselves to a show they don't enjoy for the potential chance of getting something else down the line.


I do think a lot of people who left after Life would appreciate the direction the show is going in now however. I just wish some of those who were lost before season 1.5 began airing would give the show another chance. That may not apply to you Flynn, it's more of a general comment.

Stargate was looking very strong a year or two ago, with SGU greenlit, two movies greenlit, and an MMO being developed. I hope it gets there again.

[myhelix]

Joe is right, 110% agree. Like him even better for pointing that out!

[Briangate78]

That is fair enough, it is different and not everyone is going to like it, it's not fair to expect people to subject themselves to a show they don't enjoy for the potential chance of getting something else down the line.


I do think a lot of people who left after Life would appreciate the direction the show is going in now however. I just wish some of those who were lost before season 1.5 began airing would give the show another chance. That may not apply to you Flynn, it's more of a general comment.

Stargate was looking very strong a year or two ago, with SGU greenlit, two movies greenlit, and an MMO being developed. I hope it gets there again.

That was the original plan, and hopefully by 2011 we will have all 3. As per the direction of the show, Season 1.5 and Season 2 have been 10 times better, but if people left after the first half in Season 1, it will take a hell of a lot of postive buzz and positve word of mouth to get them back. I think the show is like a fine wine, and it gets better with age. lol.

[jelgate]

I think I have seen this movie before.

JM makes some passionate speech about Stargate and its fandom. Fans gets ticked off. Infighting between fans oocur for a while. A mod appears and tells them to knock it off

[Choo1701]

I think I have seen this movie before.
JM makes some passionate speech about Stargate and its fandom. Fans gets ticked off. Infighting between fans oocur for a while. A mod appears and tells them to knock it off

Well if the mods installed 'Solitaire', we wouldn't HAVE that problem!

People like drama, yes, but they also like action and adventure. At least find a happy medium to try and compromise. Episodes like "Space" and "Trial and Error" give us that medium, imo. But any compromise might be too late now.

TBH, i agree. And so does my Grandmother. She watches Stargate, and even remarked that SGU "really needs more action." (Younger Demograph? Yeah. Rrright...)

[KEK]

JM spends way too much time on this whole idea of Atlantis fans boycotting SGU and now some writer at scifinow has jumped on the bandwagon.

The group is a tiny minority but the directors and actors seem to put everyone who watched SG-1/SGA but not SGU into this category and blames them for all their woes. They think every SG1/SGA fan who doesn't watch SGU is doing so out of spite when the reality is they gave it a chance and decided it wasn't for them.

How can you still think that after having just read a blog article where Joe explains quite clearly that that isn't the case?

[Jper]

I think I have seen this movie before.

JM makes some passionate speech about Stargate and its fandom. Fans gets ticked off. Infighting between fans oocur for a while. A mod appears and tells them to knock it off

It's a remake of the 2001 classic!

[myhelix]

TBH, i agree. And so does my Grandmother. She watches Stargate, and even remarked that SGU "really needs more action." (Younger Demograph? Yeah. Rrright...)

At least that was a funny response

[Sami_]

How can you still think that after having just read a blog article where Joe explains quite clearly that that isn't the case?

He didn't clearly explain it isn't the case, he linked to an article that has Alaina Huffman saying:

“A lot of people, I think, didn’t want to like it because they wanted Atlantis,”

and the article finishes with:

Universe wasn’t responsible for the demise of Atlantis. Stop punishing it.

and in his blog he says

Still, a recent article over at scifinow (http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/opini...hing-universe/) raised some interesting points about Stargate ratings and the fickle nature of Stargate fandom….

The article raises no good points about the Stargate Fandom it talks about a tiny minority of people that don't watch SGU as a form of protest for SGA's cancellation.

[majorsal]

oh and the greenlighting but not production on the movies made stuff even WORSE.

there's where my bitterness comes in.

[KEK]

He didn't clearly explain it isn't the case, he linked to an article that has Alaina Huffman saying:



and the article finishes with:



and in his blog he says



The article raises no good points about the Stargate Fandom it talks about a tiny minority of people that don't watch SGU as a form of protest for SGA's cancellation.

<mod snip> The interesting points that he was referring to he lists straight after he links the article, and addresses them all. One of the three had something to do with the haters, in which he does nothing but poke fun at them and point out that they seem to watch the show more religiously than anyone else, he doesn't attribute their behaviour to any negative impact on the show at all. Also, in case you conveniently missed it, this was the paragraph that preceded the link he posted:

The great thing about the ever-growing variety of programming choices available out there is that it gives us plenty of options, allowing us to be very selective when it comes to the shows we choose to invest in. There are just so many hours in a day so, naturally, people will only make time for those shows they connect with on some level. Be it the humor of The Big Bang Theory, the pathos of Grey’s Anatomy, or the tragedy of Law & Order: SVU, viewers will respond to what resonates with them and, while past allegiances may figure into the initial decision-making process (ie. If you liked CSI, you might enjoy CSI: Miami!), franchise loyalties can be as mercurial as a Tila Tequila on a group date. People watch what they like and they don’t watch what they don’t like. It’s as simple as that.

There's absolutely nothing at all in that blog entry that suggests he's blaming that tiny section of fandom for SGU's poor numbers, in fact quite the contrary. <mod snip>

[Skydiver]

Let me remind folks that while Joe's blog is on topic, other fans are not and never will be the topic.

So please, keep your comments about the blog

thanks

[Jumper_One]

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...zed-head-shot/

November 7, 2010

Photo: Jamil Walker Smith head shot


An exhausting day today spent watching every NFL game televised (and that was all of ‘em, folk!). God bless the NFL package provided by my local satellite provider. At one point, I was flipping between five different games in order to track the progress of my fantasy roster. Looks like week 9 was kind to my Snow Monkeys who are poised to notch their fourth victory of the season and put them within sniffing distance of a playoff spot. Provided their fifty-some point lead heading into tonight holds. I won’t jinx it by declaring the win but let’s just say I’m feeling confident. Still, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to RB Arian Foster for yet another monster game. Thanks also go out to Atlanta QB Matt Ryan, Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff, and the Ravens D (nice to have you back, Mr. Reed) who between ‘em served up a little under 43 points. Thanks for nothing to Chargers RB Darren Sproles, a purported week 9 sleeper who ended up doing just that – sleepwalking through his game enroute to a 0.90 point outing. And thanks-in-progress to Green Bay RB Brandon Jackson, the latest addition to the Snow Monkey line-up via trade, who is well on his way to a killer game versus the hapless Dallas Cowboys.

I’m sorry. I don’t want to give the impression that all I did today was watch football. I did stop to eat and drink. And, this morning, I did spend about an hour revising those my scripts for the first two issues of my (coming soon!) comic book series. Damn, scripting for comics can be damn tricky. Some of the biggest challenges I keep coming up against:

1) Keeping the panel per page count down. Ideally, you want average about five panels a page. You’ve got to keep your story concise, but entertaining.

2) Saving the dramatic reveals for the next page. You time the beats so they build on one page, then deliver that visual or dialogue revelation on the following page. What you’re gunning for is, quite literally, a page-turner.

3) Knowing when to go big. Like I said, I’m trying to average about five panels per page. Some might have a little more, some a little less, but five feels about right. But the occasional page may just have one big glorious panel. I figure these are like Jagermeister shots. You want to go easy on ‘em, so it’s a matter of being very selective about when you splash.

4) Given the limited amount of space available, another obvious challenge is to keep inform the reader without bogging down the narrative. The script guide my editor sent me warned writers to keep the word count down to 25 words per dialogue balloon, 50 words per panel and limit the per panel exchanges to, at most, a comment, a response, and a counter-response. ’taint easy.

5) Do comic book writers still use thought balloons? They strike me as kind of old-fashioned, so I’ve avoided using them in my scripts. Of course, that just meant I had to find another way to convey what my characters are thinking. It forces you to be more subtle in your approach – and I prefer subtle (ie. check out the set up and final reveal in my short story, “Downfall”, appearing in the Lou Anders Masked anthology of superhero-themed fiction).

By the way, with regard to those creative head shots I displayed in a previous post. Yes, the Indy Volker was compliments of our very own Chevron7. Not to be outdone, actor Jamil Walker Smith (SGU’s Master Sergeant Ronald Greer) put his own photoshopping skills on display...

Looking ahead to a short week on the production side. Prep on Stargate: Universe’s second season ends as we head into production on the season finale, Gauntlet.