January 6, 2009

Not the End

So this is my last Atlantis blog and I can say, without a doubt, it has been a great experience working on the show. Christine Mooney, formerly the costume designer on SG-1, stopped by yesterday and remarked on just how special this place is, and she's right. There's a reason Stargate has been so successful - it's the people. Starting right at the top with the creators Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, the Showrunners Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, the other amazing writers, the talented directors, and all the other amazing people who work on the crew, this is an incredible group of talented people. Lucky for us Stargate will go on, even though Atlantis won't continue as a television series.

I sat down with Paul Mullie today, who wrote the finale for Atlantis, entitled "Enemy at the Gate". Paul told me that when the writers came up with this final episode, they didn't know at the time it would be the last episode. However, because it is also the 100th episode of the series, they had always wanted it to stand on its own, so the story wasn't planned as a cliff-hanger. As you probably all know, cliff-hangers are de rigueur for season ending episodes so the viewers will anticipate the beginning of the next season. Also, cliff hangers are a good way to deal with actors who are in the last season of their contracts; for example, you put all the characters in a big explosion, and if the studio can't come to terms on a new contract for some of them, well... I know it sounds harsh, but it would be even more harsh to you viewers to write a character off the show off-screen after the fact.

Paul didn't want to give anything away, but he did say the writers had always wanted to bring the Atlantis series full circle, and Paul said you could try to figure out what that means. Another hint: this episode picks up off the end of episode 519, "Vegas".

In writing the episode, he said there was lots of "shoe leather", a writer's term meaning there was a lot of backstory to take into account. For example, a number of old characters return, such as Major Davis, and existing characters like Sheppard don't know this character, so they had to address that. Also, this episode is plot-heavy and action packed. The VFX budget was over half a million bucks, making this one 2nd to Daedalus Variations for the most VFX dollars spent on an episode this year.

By the way, this episode is dedicated to Don S. Davis, who recently passed away. Don played General Hammond on SG-1 for years. In addition to a dedication card at the end of the episode, the writers also honored Don's passing by writing into the episode the off-screen passing of Don's character, General Hammond. It is a fitting tribute and done in a very classy way, as I'm sure you will agree when you see it.

I tried to get some information from you about the upcoming Atlantis movie, but, although they've already got a story line in mind, Paul was understandably tight-lipped. He did tell me he and Joe are excited about writing and producing the DVD feature, and they're pleased this isn't the end for Atlantis.

Thanks to you fans for five great years!

Posted by Alex Levine at 7:21 PM

December 29, 2008

Vegas, baby, Vegas

So by now you've probably heard that some of this week's episode entitled "Vegas" was actually shot in Vegas. Rob Cooper wrote and directed this one, and sometime in August he said to me, "You know, we're probably going to need someone to come down to Vegas just to deal with legal clearances." And of course that's my job! So I said to Rob, "Well great. I'll be there." But there was just a pause on the other end of the line and then a chuckle. "You're just messin' with me, aren't you?" And he was. But truth be told, there wasn't a lot of time to party and gamble because they were too busy working. That is, until the shoot was finished. Then, and only then, they gambled and golfed. And a little bit before the shoot too.

Even though I wasn't invited along for the ride, I was one of the people responsible for getting Planet Hollywood involved. That's the casino that allowed us to shoot on their premises and do our chase scene on the roof. We asked a number of casinos if they were interested in having us shoot there, but but only a handful of casinos even responded. I guess they're too busy raking in the cashola to worry about a little extra publicity. Other than the Planet Hollywood, I understand the Riviera was interested, and a couple others (New York, New York and Treasure Island) were considering letting us shoot their exteriors. At the time of our preproduction, the film "21" came out on DVD and Rob and I watched it, wondering where all the casinos were that were featured in the film. As you might expect, it was the ones I mentioned - Planet Hollywood and the Riviera. The Hard Rock did allow them to shoot there, but I think it might have only been the exterior.

"So why Vegas?", you ask. Well, suffice it to say that this isn't your ordinary Stargate Atlantis episode. It's an 'alternative' type of Stargate Atlantis, one that shares some of its flavour with another well-established television franchise. Don't worry - you'll figure it out pretty quick. But the real answer is, nothing makes an episode feel more realistic than shooting on location. And nothing else really feels like a Vegas casino. All that being said, other supposed "Nevada" locations were actually shot here in British Columbia. Even the desert! And no, they're not VFX; rather they're a sampling of the incredibly diverse terrain we have up here in the Great White (and not so white) North.

Now, here's the best news you've probably heard all day. There's a HUGE explosion in this episode because Rob is a big fan of explosions. I recall when they were breaking the plot for the mid-season two-parter, it was Rob who pitched out the negative side-effect of the Attero device could be that the Stargates all explode. Someone else pitched another angle, but Rob explains his firm belief that "people love explosions." And he's right. I watched The Dark Knight this past summer and I have to say, as far as explosions go, that is one awesome movie (another good one for explosions is Tropic Thunder). So anyways, our crack special effects team, led by SFX Coordinator Wray Douglas, made some serious thunder of his own on this one.

I wasn't there for this explosion because that location was hours away from Vancouver. In fact, it was far enough that they had to set up camp and put the crew up in a hotel. I was, however, standing by when Wray rigged and set off the explosion for the Atlantis Season 5 promotional ads that Martin Gero directed. It's pretty cool to be there - there's always a palpable sense of excitement when there's going to be a big explosion. Lots of people turn out, ear muffs or ear plugs are handed out, and the AD's have to be ruthless in directing people out of harm's way. The producers crowd around the monitors while the braver of us huddle with Wray behind plexiglass and wait for the BOOM.

Enjoy Vegas!

Posted by Alex Levine at 7:01 PM

December 11, 2008

23 years!

Carl Binder has been writing for television for 23 years. "Impossible!", you say? Well, I'll prove it to you. His first credit: Punky Brewster. So when I tell you he's been around a long time, I mean it. Don't let the youthful good looks fool you. And although Carl gets a lot of grief from the writing staff for his predilection for ghost stories and his grey hair, he just lets his writing do the talking for him. His latest episode, Identity, which you'll see this week, is another great story that Carl really enjoyed writing.

No spoilers this week. All I'm going to tell you is that this episode borrows technology established in SG-1 to deliver a mind-switching episode with both disturbing and sometimes funny consequences. I'm sure the Sci-fi promo will spell it all out, so I'll let your fingers do the typing if you want the spoilers. For now, I'll just give you some tidbits.

The beloved Dr. Beckett returns in this one, and we are introduced to a number of colorful guest stars. Once again we were faced with the daunting task of casting a female villain. The casting net stretched far and wide, and the producers chose Dawn Olivieri, an actress and model from LA. Among other credits, for a very brief time Dawn was one of the briefcase wielding beauties from "Deal or No Deal". She was chosen because this part requires not just beauty, but an "edge" as well.

For the character of Jannik, the producers cast an actor named Ronald Seymour. Ronald was mesmerizing on the casting tape, and proved to be a really interesting choice. In my opinion, if you want to be an actor, the best thing you can be is "interesting", because it's more likely you'll stand out. I think he did a great job. Also cast was Todd Thompson, a local theatre actor now focusing on television. He plays Jannik's side-kick Bordal.

There was a technical issue in this show because one scene required two actors to mirror each other. One was live and one was on videotape. Will Waring, who directing the episode, chose to shoot this on live feeds, which was a challenge for the actors.

Also, keep an eye out for a picture of Dr. Keller and her father at Keller's graduation. The father: none other than our very own Carl Binder. He's like Hitchcock, that guy!

And here's another fun piece of trivia: did you know that Will Waring puts a pineapple in every one of his episodes? Now don't be alarmed: it's not a real pineapple. Usually it's a pineapple drawing or something else hidden in the set dec or props. For example, the bookmark Dusty uses to mark her page while reading "The Martian General's Daughter" in the episode "Whispers" has a picture of a pineapple on it. So just for fun, see if you can spot the pineapple in this week's episode.

Carl told me he was a bit bummed about the cancellation of the show, but he's excited for the future of the franchise including Stargate Universe. For him, Season 5 has been bittersweet, because writing for Atlantis has been his longest gig in 23 years. But not to worry, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more Stargate from Carl Binder in the future.

Enjoy!

Posted by Alex Levine at 11:46 PM

December 1, 2008

Ideas and Infection

Everybody always asks writers where their ideas come from, and in science fiction, ideas are king. Happily, Stargate Atlantis has a crack staff of experienced writers who can turn good ideas into compelling stories, but they still need the ideas. So for all you people who wonder where ideas for Stargate Atlantis episodes come from, I went around and asked some of the writers for you. So this blog's for you.

This all started, by the way, from a conversation I had with Robert Cooper. He told me his process is to imagine situations he would like to put his characters in, and he goes from there. You can see it in episodes such as Sateda, in which we saw Ronon deal with his memories of the downfall of his home planet, and Doppelganger, where Sheppard goes dark side.

But Joe Mallozzi has a different attack. He told me he reads a lot of science fiction that often gives him a starting point from which to think about a situation, perhaps a different way than he thought of it before. Sometimes he anticipates a story he's reading going in a particular direction, and then it takes a right turn. He'll return to that "misinterpretation" and develop it. Of course then he has to situate all these stories in the Pegasus Galaxy, and plug our characters in, which no small feat. I recall at the beginning of Season 3 of Atlantis Joe came in with not less than 12 ideas for episodes - six or so for Atlantis and six or so for SG-1. Of those six or so ideas (pitches) for Atlantis, none were used. Zero. Zip. Nada. So you can imagine how difficult this actually is.

Carl Binder had the most honest answer. Generally, he told me, he gets his ideas from other writers. Then he says to them, "Hey that's a great idea. Can I write it?" But Carl is just being modest. He comes up with great story ideas of his own too, which he described as "the occasional lightning bolt." Other times he thinks in terms of a specific character - a "Weir episode" or a "Teyla episode". His best ideas, he told me, usually come to him in the shower. That was my cue to leave his office.

Alan McCullough didn't like the question. I think his initial response was, "Oh Jeeze." But then he thought it through, and told me he usually look for loose ends in existing story lines and finds areas on which to expand. So in this way, new episodes are seeded in past story lines or character arcs. You only have to look at "Outsiders" from this season for a perfect example. In that episode, we got to see how the Wraith dealt with the distribution of the Hoffan drug. Or "Ghost in the Machine", which answers the question of what Weir and some other Replicators did after they survived the destruction of the Replicator planet.

The episode you'll see this week, "Infection", is yet another episode that continues an existing story line. We needed to tell a story that wraps up the Queen/gene therapy story line and also revisits our favorite Wraith, Todd. Alan came up with an interesting tease, so the other writers told him to run with it. There is a lot of prosthetic work in this one, as it's heavy on Wraith. Alan also told me they went back to the same Wraith set that we used in the Queen, and it was a challenge for Andy Mikita to find new and interesting angles to shoot. But our directors are very crafty and can make familiar sets seem completely different. For example, did you know that the SG-1 cafeteria is also the Gate Room? Well it's true. And the Infirmary doubles as any particular character's quarters. The chair room is the observation room. And the list goes on. Ah, the magic of television.

Enjoy this week's episode!

Posted by Alex Levine at 11:55 PM

November 16, 2008

Brain Storm

This week's episode "Brain Storm", is not your typical Stargate Atlantis episode. First of all, it's a Martin Gero joint - written and directed by. So that's a first, right there. This is more of a science-based story, as you'll see, and it features McKay and Keller. Martin loves to write McKay, warts and all. That is, with all his neurosis and idiosyncrasies, with as much freedom and humor as possible, and a healthy dose of conceit. So you'll see McKay at his bumbling best. But best of all, there are some amazing guest stars and one hilarious cameo in this one.

The guest stars are Canada's beloved Steve Foley, of Kids in the Hall fame, Marshall Bell, who has one of those faces people see and think to themselves, "that guy's in everything!", and last but definitely not least, Bill Nye the Science Guy! And if that wasn't enough, Martin was able to convince none other than Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist, into doing a cameo on the show.

Martin told us it was really fun having Bill and Dr. Tyson on set because they are incredibly knowledgeable about the scientific world. And they are both engaging and were very friendly with the crew and other actors. At one point, one of the grips asked Dr. Tyson if we really ever landed on the moon. Well, instead of sloughing him off, Dr. Tyson waited for a break in the action, went over to him, and explained the scientific evidence that backs up our lunar landing.

Another funny story happened at lunch. That day Bill and Dr. Tyson were discussing the extinction of the dinosaurs with Ivon Bartok and Martin Gero. When Ivon expressed doubt in the asteroid theory of extinction, Dr. Tyson gently explained to Ivon that the asteroid theory is generally accepted among scientists these days. Most everybody who met Dr. Tyson came away impressed. I wish I had had a chance to meet him myself. Also, keep a look out for the "Carl Binder Memorial Auditorium", a little inside joke among the producers.

Enjoy!

Posted by Alex Levine at 11:49 PM