Alex Levine's SciFi Blog - Updates

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's SciFi Channel Blog Update Feb 22 '08:

From Alex Levins's SciFi Channel blog update for February 22, 2008:

http://blog.scifi.com/stargate/archi...d_by_morj.html

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)

February 22, 2008

Haunted by Morjana... and the Googlions

So, first of all, a big apology to those of you who read my blog last week and were treated to the most gratuitous of spoilers. Really terrible on my part, and I owe you all a big apology. I mean, for someone to go around whining about all the spoilers on the internet and then let loose with a whopper like ... "and then the midway station gets destroyed"... It's the height of hypocrisy, I know. So again, apologies. ...

If it's any consolation, I woke up last Friday at 4:00 a.m. in a cold sweat and realized that I'd blown it. But by the time I was able to edit this blog to remove the reference, that diligent Morjana had copied snippets of my blog onto Gateworld, including the offending paragraph. Curse you Morjana! No, no, I take that back. I appreciate your support and the fact that you alert the other gateworld subscribers to my postings. Besides, it's really Carl's fault anyway.

**snippage**

[jelgate]

Apprently morjana has a new enemy.

[morjana]

Apprently morjana has a new enemy.

Enemy? Heck no!

I was laughing so hard when I saw the title of today's blog update, I almost fell off of my computer chair!



Poor Alex...haunted by lil OLD me!

Morjana

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's SciFi Channel Blog Update Feb 29 '08:[/FONT]

From Alex Levine's SciFi Channel blog update for February 29, 2008:

http://blog.scifi.com/stargate/

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)

February 29, 2008

Loose lips sink ships

So I made friends with Morjana. She emailed me and let me off the hook for my terrible spoiler, which I appreciated. This blogging thing can really take on a life of its own. I'm going to be extra vigilant from now on. Actually, Joe Mallozzi said I once again have to let him vet this blog before it's posted, so I don't really have a choice in the matter. And he's right. After all, loose lips sink ships.

**snippage**


I spoke with Alan about The Kindred, Pt. 2, just now. First, he gave me all the platitudes: fun episode, lots of emotional scenes, McGillion was great. Then he got down to brass tacks. He said the location we used - Terminal City - in his opinion, gave us the creepiest Michael lair yet. I personally think it's a toss-up between Terminal City and Riverview Mental Hospital (used in Vengeance). He also reminded me that this was Rachel Luttrell's last full episode before she had the baby, so she was very pregnant for this shoot, which is always a challenge. And he let me in on a couple of other great behind the scenes tidbits. Look for the two boys in the scene with the Athosians - those are Joe Flanigan's kids. And also, the Wraith style ultrasound images were adapted from real ultrasound images from one of the Stargate babies. Unfortunately, I don't know which - there were so many babies born last year we've lost track!

Enjoy the episode tonight.

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 05:18 PM

[wm_1987]

I really liked todays blog. I'll have to watch very close to see Joe Flanigan's boys.

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's SciFi Channel Blog for March 7 '08:

From Alex Levine's SciFi Channel blog update for March 7, 2008:

http://blog.scifi.com/stargate/

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)

March 07, 2008

The Last Man and The Last Blog (for a while)

**snippage**


The good news: we're airing early this year, starting in the summer. So hopefully our ratings will stay up, and most importantly, you won't have long to wait for more Stargate.

**snippage**

But tonight, you'll see "The Last Man", written by Paul Mullie. I just sat down with Paul and Joe and chatted about the show. Paul explained the idea for the show "just came to him." Ahhh, that guy really knows how to make these behind the scenes blogs interesting. So I pressed: "Just came to you? How does that work?" And the dam broke. It turns out it all started with an image. He envisioned Sheppard returning to Atlantis through the gate and finding the city completely empty and the planet in the midst of an ice age. Pretty cool visual. Those key visuals are often the door in to a great story. Brad Wright is famous for building episodes off of images in this way. It's not at all uncommon -- film and tv is, after all, a visual medium.

So, after realizing that Brad was using the snow-covered landscape of Antartica for his movie Continuum, they decided to change the setting to a desert, as if the planet was going through a massive dry spell. Now, I don't want to spoil the story - after all, Joe is about to read this and give me what for if there are any spoilers, but I will tell you it's a time travel story that involves a very old McKay.

**snippage**

So enjoy! See you all in the Summer.

ATL

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's SciFi Channel SGA Blog Update - 1st Season 5 Blog!:

From the SciFi Channel's Stargate Atlantis site, Alex Levine's (the script coordinator for Stargate Atlantis) first blog update for season five:

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)


Fifth Time's the Charm

Welcome back, loyal Stargate fans, to the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis. Who’d have thunk it? Me. I thought it would happen. But then again, I pick the Broncos to win the Super Bowl every year, so maybe it’s just blind luck. In any case, we’re well on our way to our 100th episode, and it’s going to be an exciting season of Stargate.

**snippage**

Lastly, I chatted with Martin Q. Gero, who penned the season premiere you’ll see this Friday, entitled “Search and Rescue.” He said this episode is jam-packed, it being basically the culmination of 10 previous episodes of story. It also contains his favourite McKay/Teyla scene of all time. He mentioned that the art department and construction crew did a masterful job turning one of our standing sets into a massive debris field. And lastly, he noted this is the first season premiere that Andy Mikita has directed, and as you might have guessed, he knocked it out of the park.

Also, get ready for the release of Stargate Continuum in late July!

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 12:18 AM

[wurlitzer153]

July 18, 2008
The Perfect Flip Flop Storm

Write up: No flip flops on set!!!

So this week you’ll get to see The Seed, which Paul Mullie wrote. The most attentive of you will note that Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie are always credited as a team, but I assure you, they write solo these day, occasionally doing a pass on one another’s scripts or suggesting dialogue to each other. But the credit stays the same. They are one of the few writing teams that I know of that work so well together, as well as independently.

So I just talked with Paul about The Seed, which was written with two important story lines in mind: Firstly, the introduction of Woolsey as the new leader of Atlantis; and secondly, the fact that Beckett is still in stasis.

With respect to Woolsey, Paul explained that Woolsey’s character has always been that of a man who does things by the book. That was the source of his antagonistic personality in SG-1, and what allows him, as a character, to be both a good guy, and an antagonist. But this story needed to teach him that doing things by the book is simply not going to get it done in the Pegasus Galaxy, where the stakes are high and the action intense.

The concept for the monster/enemy in “The Seed” came from Robert C. Cooper. I won’t explain too much about the episode for those readers that prefer to see it fresh and unspoiled, but I will tell you that it’s a nice expansion of Wraith lore, and most importantly it gave Mark Savela and our crack VFX team lots to do. In this one, the monster is made up of real prosthetics as well as VFX, and the transition between them had to be seemless. This “matching” is not easy to do. But Mark Savela and his team are amazing, as evidenced by their recent Emmy nomination. Congrats guys! (and girls!).

So that should whet your appetite. Oh, and as for the Beckett situation, I guess you’ll just have to watch tonight.

Enjoy!

ATL

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's Blog Update July 23 '08:

From Alex Levine's SciFi.com blog update for July 23, 2008:

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)

July 23, 2008

Me First

...In any case, Joe had lots to say about Friday's episode, entitled "Broken Ties", a Ronon-centric episode that he wrote and produced. Firstly, he told me that Jason Momoa, who plays Ronon, gave a great performance. He showed a wide range of emotions, and allowed us to see Ronon at his lowest point, displaying a vulnerability not often shown by actors who play tough guy roles. It takes guts and talent, and this guy has both.

...By the way, I'm uploading this blog entry a little early because the production is taking Thursday and Friday off so some of our cast members and producers can attend Comic-Con in San Diego. For Atlantis, I understand Joe Flanigan, Robert Picardo and Jewel Staite will definitely be there, as will Martin Gero who will be moderating the SGA panel. Also, Ben Browder, Beau Bridges and Chris Judge will join Brad Wright to discuss the release of the second SG-1 DVD feature, "Continuum". I wish I was going!

Enjoy Friday's episode!

ATL

Posted by Alex Levine at 07:11 PM

[wurlitzer153]

July 31, 2008
Slow Day Mish Mash

Write up: A slow day in the neighborhood.

So it's a slow day around here. Martin Gero is directing his episode "Brain Storm" and the first unit is not on the lot (they're on location). Brad and Rob are working from home. Joe Mallozzi took off at lunch to go to the dentist. And Lawren is doing his second, more important job. Did I mention we're about to have a four day weekend? So anyways, it's been a bit slow. Even Carl Binder admitted to having a case of the lazies. The result was an extended chat session in the writer's room.

Now I can't tell you exactly what is said in the writer's room, but I can tell you that these are some witty guys and the jokes always come fast and furious. Today's topics included: Lasik eye surgery for your pets, unnecessary censorship, Carl's "foot in mouth" day, the future title of episode 20 (I suggested "Untitled" - less work for me), finding locations for episode 519 ("Vegas"), good casting decisions, bad casting decisions, possible season 6 Atlantis character relationships, Robert Picardo's brilliant ad-libs, and last but not least, what I can and can't put in the blog. For example, the room was divided as to whether I should tell you that the producers discussed the possibility of Jason Momoa appearing in an upcoming episode as a Wraith, but the notion was discarded. I thought you might be interested to know that.

See? Slow days have their benefits!

Just before lunch, I spoke with Alan McCullough about Friday's episode, "The Daedalus Variations." The working title for this one was "The Flying Dutchman", which refers to the legend of a ghost ship that can never go home, and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. In this one our intrepid team finds another Daedalus with an inter-dimensional drive that sends them jumping through alternate realities. That's not a spoiler, by the way, that's Sci-fi's log line and it's on the front of this website. So don't blame me for letting the cat out of the bag!!!

In any case, the original story Alan pitched was about a room in Atlantis that shifts into alternate realities, but that scenario creates issues such as: what if there was no Atlantis in another reality? Would the room simply exist, in that example, in the middle of the ocean? So as you can see that permutation became a bit unwieldy. That is, until Robert Cooper spun it around and suggested using the Daedalus (good with ideas, that guy). And that's how the story developed. After that little gem of a turn, all the guys had to do was decide what kind of cool stuff the team would run into in the other realities. They had a lot of fun narrowing it down, as you'll see.

Alan also said that the writers had some intricate pseudo-scientific discussions regarding the "inter-dimensional drive" when plotting this episode. For example, they had to answer questions such as: what powers the drive? How does it work? How does it malfunctioned? How will the team fix it? It takes a lot of imagination to create tension for sci-fi in both a plausible and accessible way. I personally think that's one secret of this show's success. And if the science aspects of the show excite you, stay tuned for Brain Storm - Martin Gero's upcoming episode - which will air in the fall.

Lastly, The Daedalus Variations had one of the most expensive VFX budgets we've ever had, right up there with Be All My Sins, Adrift, and Rising (the pilot). Because the show was 99% shot on the Daedalus, an abundance of VFX really opens up the episode.

Enjoy!

ATL

[morjana]

July 31, 2008
Slow Day Mish Mash

Write up: A slow day in the neighborhood.

Thank you for posting, wurlitzer!

[prion]

http://blog.scifi.com/stargate/

Episode: GHOST IN THE MACHINE

August 15th

Ghost Stories and Fireside Chats

Excerpts:

...Carl is also the king of ghost stories. And so, when I went to talk to him about this week's Atlantis episode entitled "Ghost in the Machine", I really wanted to discover what turned Carl into the ghost story king. Join me now, as we consider: What makes Carl Binder tick?

...Carl said the story developed from the issue of what to do with the Weir story line. But let me warn you here: there are going to be some spoilers in this discussion -- spoilers that are already out there -- but nonetheless, if you're one of those people who doesn't want to know anything before you watch the episode, stop reading now. Now, for the rest of you, this story picked up from the tag (the last scene) of Be All My Sins, where we see Weir (as a Replicator?) formulating her 'plan'. What plan? Well, that's what the story is about. Because they couldn't just let that story line dangle in the wind.

And then, unfortunately, a production snafu reared its ugly head. Torri Higginson declined to be in the episode. The gang headed into an office to figure out a workaround. The result: We'll use Fran! Fran, you say? Yes... Fran. The Replicator the team built in Be All My Sins, who was played by the excellent Michelle Morgan. Now I won't say how this all works - you'll have to watch - but I will say what Carl told me: Michelle Morgan is an excellent actress who worked very hard studying previous performances of Weir. The result is that this "substitution" works really well...

[PG15]

http://blog.scifi.com/stargate/archi...at_of_sum.html

August 18, 2008 - The Heat of Summer and The Shrine

Excerpts:

Well, this is an interesting time of year. All the scripts have been written so we know where the season and story arcs are going, and there's no more pitching or spinning to be done. Paul is collecting notes on the final episode of the season, entitled "Enemy at the Gate". Joe is editing episode 515 "Remnants", Alan's episode 517 "Infection" is shooting, there's a day 2 mix of episode 509 "Tracker" to watch, and we've been casting and prepping for episode 518 "Identity" and episode 519 "Vegas". But for the script coordinator (me!), much of the work on prepping scripts has already been done. So I'm taking the opportunity to help coordinate some of the aspects of the Vegas shoot, which will be heavy on legal clearance issues.

---

So, back to “The Shrine”. Brad came up with the concept while all the writers were in the room spinning ideas. He wanted to do a 'reverse Flowers for Algernon' where McKay starts to lose his mind. In fact, the working title for the episode for a long time was “Flowers for McKay”. And at the start, Brad only had a couple of beats - the one I just mentioned, and the realization that Teyla or Ronon, being native to the Pegasus galaxy, might have a non-scientific remedy for McKay’s ailment. Okay, that's all I'm going to tell you about the episode (because that's all that Brad told me). Except that just before shooting, I ran into director Andy Mikita in the lunch room and he told me the cast was really excited about the episode, especially David Hewlett, who gets to flex his acting muscles in this one.

*Insert Alex Levine smilie here + witty remark*

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's Blog Update Aug 20 '08 - Whispers:

From Alex Levine's SciFi.com blog update for 'Whispers':

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)

August 20, 2008

The Horror!

I know it’s a bit trite to say this, but “Whispers” really is a ‘very special’ Stargate Atlantis. Why so special, you ask? Well, it’s a horror story, pure and simple. And I know some episodes of Stargate SG-1 veered into this territory a bit, but “Whispers” is a genre episode, through and through. So put the children to bed, grab your honey and a bucket of popcorn, because it’s fright night on Atlantis this week.

**snippage**

There are also some amazingly cool stunts in this one that Bam Bam and Will both mentioned. But unfortunately Joe Mallozzi is worried that me talking about them in this blog might tip you off and you won't be surprised (and terrified). So those spoilers got the kibosh. You'll thank Joe for that later. But suffice it to say that a lot of work went into the action sequences and stunts in this one, so I hope you enjoy the episode!

Posted by Alex Levine at August 20, 2008 01:03 AM

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's Blog Update Sept. 7 '08:

At SciFi.com's Alex Levine's Stargate Atlantis blog update for September 7, 2008:

(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)


A Story Resurrected (the Queen)

**snippage**

One cool thing about “The Queen” I really liked was that we hired a new actress to play another Wraith queen. The actress, Apollonia Vanova, did a great job, and the prosthetic make-up produced by Todd Masters and his people was especially cool. The prosthetics team works by using the actor’s own face structure, so each Wraith looks as individualistic as we humans do. Obviously way more difficult and intricate than a simple Halloween mask, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. And Apollonia’s facial features are very different than, say, Andee Frizzell, who has played a Wraith queen on our show numerous times, so she becomes a very different Wraith queen. In fact, another Wraith queen in this episode also looks very different and individualistic (hint!).

**snippage**

Enjoy!


Posted by Alex Levine at 09:26 PM