Ask Martin Gero - Spoilers for SGA (S1, S2)

[Tourist]

Hi Mr Gero,
1)Joe Mallozzi said that we would see an ancient ship in the episode "Aurora" ?
Can we know more about this ship ? ( if it's a mothership, a glider, a cargo ship or a city like Atlantis, for example.)

2)Does it exist "nice" Wraiths ?

3)Does the Atantis's team will have name like "SG-1", "SG-2" ?

4)Can we see F-302 in the season 2 ?

Sorry for my english language and my simple vocabulary!!!!!
I'm french and I'm not very studious

[watcher652]

Welcome, Martin, and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions. Did Joe Mallozzi twist your arm, or did you come willingly? ("Hey Martin, you know what's really fun? Answering fan questions on GateWorld! )

These are not the most pressing or earth shaking of questions, but the ones that popped into my head at a moment's notice.

There's already been a question about McKay's change in uniform between the first and second half of season one. (Thank you for not having the scientist stand out as a target anymore). These first 2 are related questions.

1. I noticed there was some additional styles of shirts added in the second half of the season. Specifically the short sleeved zip up ones that McKay and Beckett now wear. Did the expedition just get some time to unpack their luggage? Elizabeth seemed to have a lot of shirts compared to everyone else.

2. Also, I noticed that only Weir and McKay wear the style of shirt with black side panels. Is that significant? I was wondering if the shirts had anything to do with chain of command. Sheppard had Ford as his second. McKay seems to have adopted Zelenka as his. Who is Weir's second? Say if she somehow got injured or was otherwise unavailable. Supposed there is no military crisis going on. Since this is supposed to be a nonmilitary expedition, would that make McKay next in line? Or would both McKay and Sheppard share in the duties if Weir was unavailable? Somebody would need to break the tie if they took opposing viewpoints. Please ignore Cadwell in this scenario, I was thinking of season 1 when I thought about this.

3. In another chain of command kind of question, who does Beckett report to, Weir or McKay? Medical is a science, so it would seem to fall under McKay.

4. Beckett was made out to be a very nervous kind of guy the first season. He dislikes the Chair (and with good reason given his past experience). He doesn't like going thru the Wormhole. And he annoyed Ford with his babbling when Ford shoved a gun in his hands in The Eye. But he exudes confidence when he's in his element, as we saw in Poisoning the Well. I'd like to see more of that confident Beckett but with an Ancient tech something to show that he can get over some of his fears.

5. McKay and Sheppard's back and forth is great. McKay and Beckett trading lines is good too. Any way we can get all three in one space and have a round robin?

And here's a comment. What I really liked in the first season is how the characters weren't pigeon-holed. The flyboy Sheppard shows a head for math, is Mensa material, and came up with the EM pulse with the naquadah generator solution in Hot Zone. The hard evidence scientist McKay has a gut reaction against Chaya in Sanctuary, thinks medicine is voodoo but know quite a bit of that medical stuff (again in Hot Zone). The ever peaceful, diplomatic Teyla losing her temper with Bates. The diplomat Weir showing her facility in learning new languages by deciphering the Wraith scientist's notes in The Gift.

All great stuff. You and everyone else both in front of and behind the scenes have my deepest gratitude for making this such a fine show. Thank you.

[MartinGero]

Will the planet that Atlantis is currently situated on be given a name? Could you maybe slip it to us?

Owen Macri

It is referred to within the galaxy as “Lantia”

[MartinGero]

Hi Martin!

Great to see you at Gateworld taking some of the heat off poor Joe!

Are you running scared yet?

Just a quick question, which I originally aimed at Joe but you're probably the better person to clear it up for me:

What colour are the Wraith??

I swear they started off blue (a very attractive, flattering colour that sets off their lovely long locks of hair), but these days they seem to be a rather sickly looking shade of green.

Could this be diet related??

They are a greenish leaning towards blueish...what they look like really depends on the light they are in.

[MartinGero]

Hi Martin thank you for answering our questions, my question is could please explain what the beam from the wraith ship is for in episode “Letters form Pegasus”.

The link below has the screencap of it.
http://www.stargatecaps.com/sga/s1/1...etters236.html

Kind regards

Wass

That beam is essentially a life signs detector. When they level a planet, the Wraith want to make sure it stays leveled and that people from other planets won’t settle it, thinking it’s the least likely place to get culled.

It’s referenced in Seige: Part 2 after the Alpha site is attacked.

[aAnubiSs]

Will we find out what Wraith tech is based on? Power sources, The Asgard has Neutrino-Ion, Goa'uld Naquadah, Ancients ZPM, What do to Wraith use?

Then there's weaponary, engines and so on.

[MartinGero]

Mr. G.

First, another big thank you for stopping by and talking to all the fans. It really is cool to actually talk to one of our "Gods".

My teeny questions:

Is the nasty Dr. Kavanaugh ("fondly" referred to as pony-tail guy) going to continue to stir the pot in Atlantis? It is rather fun to have a "Kinseyesque" character around.

In development of the SGA team. . did the NID/Trust manage to get a "mole" on the team (if that was something that was even of interest to them)?

In the exploration of Atlantis, are we going to run across any personal items left behind by the Ancients? We've stumbled across left-over creatures (Hide and Seek) and experiments (Hot Zone), but did our Ancient friends leave anything else. . art, literature, toothbrushes?

Again, thank you for peeking in.

Kavanaugh isn’t slated to come back yet, but it’s still early.

As for the NID/Trust…it is definitely a possibility.

As for Ancient toothbrushes…yeah, we’ve found lots of them. Apparently the Ancients we oral hygiene freaks.

[MartinGero]

Hello Martin (again)!

It's good from you that you answer our questions!

Something came to my mind: is a chance that we'll see Atlantis underwater again? I would really like that!

Thanks.

Although we are not submerging the city this season we’re in the process of putting together an underwater episode…which is shaping up to very cool.

[MartinGero]

Hi again Martin,

Thank you for answering my questions and all the other questions so quickly, it's much appreciated! I've got three more questions and I'll happily wait at the end of the ever-lengthening queue for a response.

1)It was specifically mentioned in The Storm that Weir does not have the ATA gene. Was the ATA gene therapy tried on her and it failed or did she refuse the treatment entirely?

2) In real life gene therapy often fails suddenly and without explanation. Any thoughts about an episode where the ATA abilities of McKay and others who took the treatment temporarily/permanently fails or behaves oddly?

3) Most of the fans around here love the well-developed secondary characters of season one (Zelenka, Bates, Kusinagi, etc.). Has there been any talk about doing a episode completely from the secondary characters' POV?

Thanks again, and now I'm really looking forward to Duet!

1. It's never really been established, but I think it probably didn't take.

2. There are no plans for such an episode...yet.

3. There has been talk, yes, but as of yet, not concrete plans.

[JMallozzi]

Hi Martin,

Long time fan, first time poster. My question is -

What is the best thing about working with Joseph Mallozzi? (ie. his sense of humor, his magical ability to light up a room, etc.).

Also, I heard a rumor that you would be adding a Furling to the Atlantis team. Is there any truth to this rumor?




Your number #1 fan (in a non-stalky way)

[MartinGero]

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to answer questions here, I know it's really appreciated by everyone here.

In Rising II, You see the Puddle Jumper fire 7 Drones, Yet there only seems to be 6 launchers, 3 on each side. From the brief glimpse we seen of it. I say there must be more probably 6/9 on each side. can you please say anything more about how many Drones a single Jumper can fire.

You seem to be pretty young, 5 years older than me. How exactly did you get involved in writing for Atlantis. Did you submit scripts or were you approached.

I also seen a picture of an early artists concept of a Puddle Jumper. It looks like something you would see out of Star Wars, Any chance we will get to see Ancient Fighter's either this season or next. Hopefully useable ones at that.

Here

It's the first one on the second row.

Thanks..

1. How many drones a jumper can fire is kind of a grey area, to be honest. Those launchers are definitely not single round turrets though.

2. I posted earlier about how to get a story onto Atlantis…that’s how I did it.

3. That’s actually a prop left over from “Space Race”. Those first images from an early SGA website were all bogus and mislabeled…sorry.

[lucylou]

Hi from England Martin! and welcome to Gateworld!

I love Atlantis and am a huge fan of both David Hewlett and Torri Higginson. I think the whole cast is amazing but I especially love these two actors on the show. I think they have so much talent and work really well together on screen.

My questions are :

1. Are we going to learn anything about when the characters of McKay, Beckett and Weir first met on Antartica and how they became friends?

2. As the series has progressed I've found the friendship that Weir and McKay have to be one of the most enjoyable on the show. Elizabeth seems to bring out the softer side of Rodney and he seems to bring out her sense of humour. Is there going to be any further development of their friendship in season 2? It has been such a joy to watch in season 1!

3. In the amazing episode The Eye we saw McKay and Weir sitting outside in the rain and Mckay had his arm around Weir. Was that scripted or was David trying to keep Torri warm from all the water ? (they did an amazing job in all that water. That was a brilliant episode to watch. So exciting hehe)

Well I can't think of anything else to ask right now and I think three quessies is probably enough so thank you in advance, take care, and welcome to the thread!

All my best,

Lucy x

[knocknashee]

Hi Martin,

Long time fan, first time poster. My question is -

What is the best thing about working with Joseph Mallozzi? (ie. his sense of humor, his magical ability to light up a room, etc.).

Also, I heard a rumor that you would be adding a Furling to the Atlantis team. Is there any truth to this rumor?




Your number #1 fan (in a non-stalky way)

LOL @ U Joe...

I take it this is an extension of the work day banter, yeah? Nice to see all offices are as rowdy as mine!!!

[ToasterOnFire]

Hi Martin!

Thanks for answering my questions! Okay, I've got a couple more (this is way too addictive) so back to the end of the queue for me.


1) Which character on Atlantis do you find the easiest to write? The hardest?

2) What's the best part of working with the Stargate powers-that-be? The worst?

3) What got you interested in writing scripts for science fiction shows?


Again, many thanks! Looking forward to your response to all those McKay questions, as well as those questions from "your number #1 fan" posted above.

[Saqqara]

Two questions for Martin and or Joe

#1 I'm a writer and have been for years and years and I've noticed neither SG-1 or SG-A have any female staff writers...why is that?

#2, I'm working on an SG-1 book at the moment and even tho I have a degree in Ancient Civilizations/Religions I did tons and tons of research for the characters, and without deviating from what all you had originally outlined, how much time do you all actually spend on researching say a character like Baal?