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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

"Remnants", Joe told me, is a bittersweet Woolsey story. It deals with Woolsey's sense of alienation as the leader of Atlantis. You see, Woolsey is the outsider; he's in your typical "lonely at the top, tough to be the boss" scenario and he deals with it by keeping to himself, for the most part. Joe explained a little more about Woolsey for me: beneath that authoritarian, by the book commander, he's a bit socially awkward (Joe's words, not mine!). Joe continued: "as a kid in high school, Woolsey was always the last picked for sports teams. But it's this awkwardness that makes him human."

So Joe had this initial story line in mind for Woolsey, but when he sat down to write the episode he quickly realized he needed a lot more beats. So he made the script into three separate stories that all dovetail in the conclusion.

The Woolsey plot deals with the end of his probationary period and the IOA making a determination on whether he will continue to lead Atlantis. Joe liked that story line because the shoe is definitely on the other foot for Woolsey, who was the IOA's representative for years until he became the leader of Atlantis.

In the Sheppard story line, we will see the re-emergence of an old nemesis, who pushes Sheppard to his limits. In Joe's opinion, Sheppard is the one character we know the least about. So in this story we find out a little more about what makes him tick. The last plot line involves McKay and Zelenka and gives us some insight as to their relationship. Joe has always seen this relationship as having the potential for mutual respect, but that respect is buried beneath their respective egos.

So, at the end of the day, this is very much a character driven episode. Joe concluded, "it's about surface impressions versus inner realities."

And there were wildly divergent opinions about the script on the first reading. Robert C. Cooper found it too literary, while Carl Binder has steadfastly maintained that it's one of his favorite stories (but that guys a known suck-up, so who can say?). The network execs are generally wary of stories that don't have a ticking clock or immediate jeopardy. But don't worry, I've seen the producer's cut, and this is a great episode. Will Waring did a superb job directing, and there was a lot of material to pare it down to time, so it's jam packed.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, the final season of Atlantis is still airing, so lets focus on that, shall we? I watched the cut of "Infection" and it's another great episode featuring Todd. And "Enemy At the Gate", the season finale, is a whopping 64 pages long, and that's a lot of action scenes, I promise you. That one is going to be one for the ages. Mark Savela, our fearless VFX Supervisor, is wearing the stress like an albatross, but who am I to question his methods. The results are always there.

And this week you get to see "The Prodigal", written by Carl Binder. I just chatted with Carl about this story and he said the genesis of it is actually quite fascinating. This one started as a story Carl wanted to write about the red shirts. The term "red shirts", for those of you sci-fi fans that live in a cave, comes from the old Star Trek. When Kirk and Spock would go onto a planet they would often bring a couple of red shirts (literally guys in red shirts), who were just average officers from the ship that would invariably get killed by the monster or whatever situation presented itself in that episode. The movie "Galaxy Quest" did a brilliant send up of this old sci-fi chestnut, with Sam Rockwell playing the red shirt who's aware of his own imminent demise. Anyways, Carl wanted to do a story about an Atlantis red shirt who is left behind by an away team so our team, Sheppard and Co., goes after him with the "no soldier left behind" mentality; a Stargate Atlantis take on "Saving Private Ryan", if you will. Sources disagree on who came up with the brilliant working title: "The Red Shirt Diaries".

But the story developed further from that into an episode about a new rookie military and science team on their first day in Atlantis, working title "First Day". In this story, they would end up in a "trial by fire" scenario when something dangerous happens... but what? What could possible happen? Maybe something with our favourite villain... Michael? Because, of course, that story line was continuing and needed to be dealt with. And so this led to another wholesale change, because once the story became about Michael, there was really no room to introduce and work new recruits into such a compelling and important storyline. In Carl's words, "it was too important a story. We needed to keep it about Michael."

Last but not least, this is the first episode where we get to see Lt. Banks (one of the technicians) kick some ass. Showrunner Joe Mallozzi discovered that Sharon Taylor, the actor who plays Banks, has studied kick boxing for five years, and so the execs decided that this would be a great opportunity to utilize her expertise. As you will see, she and Ronon make a dangerous combo.

Enjoy!

So in the off-season last year I pitched three different episodes. The mind-control story got mocked, I was told later. You see, the current showrunners have moved away from the supernatural. For example, you may have noticed the absence of ascended beings in the current Atlantis. These days, if you can’t justify the supernatural aspects of your ideas with a science-based reasoning, you’re dead in the water. But one of the stories I pitched did get some play – a trial episode in which McKay and Todd the Wraith are captured by the Genii and McKay is put on trial.

Of course that’s not the episode you’ll see this week, but it reminded Paul and Joe of a trial episode they had wanted to do on Atlantis they had discussed the year before. After some deliberation, they decided to let me work out the trial episode they had considered, and I was off to the races outlining my first dramatic live-action script. Well, it wasn’t exactly the races. But I was off…

Here’s what I have to tell you about writing for television. It’s tough. And even though the show you’re going to see this week, Inquisition, is a clip show, that didn’t make it any easier to write. You see, there’s a particular aspect of writing clip shows that’s extra tough, and that is the part where they move in and out of the clips. Of course Paul Mullie, who did the re-write and produced the episode, has lots of clip show experience, but this was my first attempt. And writing specs and other scripts didn’t prepare me one bit. So let’s just say it was a great learning experience.

At the end of the day, the writing staff was very kind. They met with me on my first draft, gave me notes and some time to re-write the script. I did another draft too on another round of notes. In the writing I found some things about the characters and the story that worked well; other stuff was discarded. There’s certainly some of my writing in the finished product, but I must credit Paul Mullie and the writing staff with much of the episode’s success. And my experience is not unlike other first time writers of any show. Stargate is no exception.

The coolest part of the show, which is always why people watch clip shows, is that you’ll get to see pretty much every cool space battle we’ve done. There’s also great acting in this one – keep your eyes open for the character of Myrus (the Council Liaison), who is played by my real life brother, Tobias Slezak (different last name). He did a great job.

And for a series with as much back story as Stargate Atlantis, that’s important. Not only do we have the back stories of each character (some, like McKay and Carter and Woolsey originated in the original series), but we also have layers and layers of lore and mythology that builds upon itself. A good example: the Wraith. Since they were discovered as life-sucking aliens in Rising, we have now come to learn of their inter-hive relationships and the science behind their feeding, the way they break down their worshipers, how they reproduce, etc. And this week on “Outsiders” we’ll see the Wraith dealing with the re-distribution of the Hoffan drug that is endangering their food source.

I spoke with Alan McCullough about “Outsiders” and the first thing he remembered about the shoot was how difficult it was to find a suitable location. The story has a western flavor, and the producers were concerned that a rebuild/redo of our existing village set in the effects stage would be too expensive, so they went all around the lower mainland looking for an appropriate set. We hoped that Bordertown, a western village set, would be suitable but it would have been expensive to uprade, so the producers decided then that it would be better to spend that money on our own sets. So that’s what they did – they turned our medieval looking village into a western mining village. Alan thought the redo was great; he even lamented that we don’t see more of the village in the final cut of the show.

We also cast a new Wraith commander for this episode, Aaron Craven, who did a great job. I asked Alan what the producers look for in casting Wraith. He told me that, more than just an actor who will look good in prosthetic makeup, they are looking for actors who will bring humanity to the role. In his words, they don’t want your typical “mustache twirling I-will-suck-your-blood monster”.

Alan reminded me that Joel Polis was cast as Elson, one of the villagers, in this episode. You television buffs might remember Joel from when he played Gary of Gary’s Old Town Tavern in the sitcom Cheers. And apparently Aaron Craven and Sean Tyson (who plays Jervis in the episode) were both featured in an SG-1 village episode that Alan wrote entitled “Line in the Sand” – quite a coincidence. That being said, we often re-use actors that appeared in SG-1 for Atlantis, the thinking being it’s a different show and time has passed. There’s also a practical reason -- there are only so many actors in Vancouver, so it makes sense that the producers make this exception.

Enjoy the episode!

Martin wrote the two-parter, as you probably know. But what you don't know is that Martin is always looking for new and cool concepts for visual effects. That's one of the reasons he's such a great sci-fi producer. He wants the visual effects shots and sequences to feel new, not to be a rehash of scenes or sequences you've seen before. That's how you end up with three suited men free-falling onto a balcony, or blasting through the floor, like we saw in First Contact. These sequences are quite different than the typical F-302/dart battles you've seen many times. But these new-look sequences cause some anxiety for Mark Savela, because it's unfamiliar territory and he really wants people to like the shots.

I asked Mark about the process and he went through it meticulously, and once I explain the steps it'll be obvious that meticulousness is exactly what is needed for a VFX supervisor.

First, they read the script, break it down for VFX shots, and budget it. The first budget is generally high - they throw everything in and the kitchen sink. Then there's a VFX meeting with the director and producer, where they go through the expected shots, shot by shot, narrowing what they need and paring it down to what is required to tell the story. This isn't as hard as you might expect because, as Mark and I well know, these writers are excellent at writing action. Often the sequences will be written clearly, shot by shot, and labeled with a parenthetical: "(VFX)". So it's not that hard to figure out.

Then there's more budgeting, and then at the production meeting there's a Tech Survey, where the VFX department goes over what they'll require to make their VFX happen. This is where green screen work is planned for shots that are part real/part VFX. Mark calls that 'working with plates' rather than compositing a 3D stand alone shot. A plate shot would include a set extension, while a stand-alone 3-D shot might be a space battle, where there are no real-life elements. So they put all that information in a "tech memo" in preparation for the shoot. And then, while shooting, a member of the VFX department is on set to make sure they get what they need on the day.

Once the show is shot, a director's cut (the first edit) is prepared, and the VFX department takes this cut and sends it out to their vendors to get going on the shots. While we do have an in-house group of VFX artists, we do so much VFX we have to use outside vendors as well. I asked Mark which is better, and he said there are pros and cons - some artists are better at certain things, for example. The vendors send quotes back and there are further budgeting tweaks.

Once the producer's cut is done, Mark meets with the producers and together they 'spot' the show, meaning they try and determine the timing for each shot, and double check the budget. Mark explains that, at that point, they are hopefully on budget or below budget, because they get in trouble if they're over. Based on the spotting, they should have estimated durations and clear shot descriptions. At the start of the year, there is usually time for the VFX department to use animatics (rudimentary examples of proposed effects - temp temps, basically), but as the season wears on, this process devolves into six guys in a room humming sound effects and imaging the timing of the sequences in their heads.

Once the cut is locked, quotes are finalized, the plates (live action backgrounds) are assembled and shipped to the vendors so that each shot can be discussed in detail with the vendors. They discuss the shots conceptually, so the artists can design the shots and understand the action. Based on this information the vendors (or in-house artists) produce temps which are delivered three weeks after the locked cut. Three weeks after that finals are due.

Now if all this doesn't sound complicated enough, consider that, mid-season, our VFX department is working on up to 11 shows at one time!!!!

Mark told me he is extremely proud of the shot in First Contact where the hyperspace window opens up over the water. I recall when we were watching it one of the producers didn't exactly understand why the water was being pushed down until it was clarified. When someone asked, "why are we doing that?", Martin Gero turned around and said, "Cuz it's awesome!" I have to agree.

Here’s something you don’t know about Martin – big heist movie fan. Oceans 11? He loved it. He even likes some of the bad heist movies, even some of the ones with gaping plot holes. Maybe it’s the pacing, or the scheming. I’m inclined to agree with him, having just watched “The Bank Job” and also writing a spec script about a heist myself. It’s definitely an accessible, exciting genre and it’s not going away anytime soon. So it makes sense that he finally got around to doing a heist story on Stargate.

The truth is that Martin has wanted to do a heist episode ever since the first season of the show. He even had one planned out using Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun-Francks’ character) that never got developed, because he really didn’t have the how or the why questions answered. But for this two-parter – first part entitled “First Contact”, second part entitled “The Lost Tribe” – there were already some partly developed concepts in the mix. Firstly, since the Replicator story line has pretty much concluded, there was general consensus that a new villain was needed in the Pegasus galaxy. And Martin had a visual idea of a race of xenophobes or mysophobes (look it up!). Secondly, Alan had suggested doing some sort of story regarding Janus’ long forgotten lab on Atlantis. Thirdly, they had all planned to do a story bringing Daniel Jackson back to Atlantis. So all these story lines converge to bring you this mid-season two parter.

Martin also mentioned that normally the mid-season two-parter works within the existing season story arc and spins the action of that arc towards a new direction, effectively setting up the back half of the season. This is completely different, however. He likened it to a two episode stand alone movie.

I asked Martin what it was like writing for the character of Daniel Jackson, and he reminded me that he had written two Stargate SG-1 episodes, including “Bad Guys” in which Daniel Jackson was central to the story. As it turns out, he likes writing that character a lot. And of course he likes writing the McKay character also. But one of the issues that arises when McKay meets SG-1 is that he becomes focused on Samantha Carter, as you may recall from any of the McKay episodes of SG-1 or especially in the Stargate Atlantis episode “Grace under Pressure”. But in these episodes Martin got to focus on McKay and Jackson without Carter in the mix which, in his words, gave the characters a chance to grow.

Of course David Hewlett and Michael Shanks happen to be the two fastest pseudo-science talkers in the business. Martin actually directed the second unit for part of these episodes, which including some scenes with these two actors. And try though he did, he simply could not slow them down. Case in point: the scripts for this two-parter were 64 and 65 pages long – a good five pages over our usual page number, and yet the episodes were ‘to time’.

There will be more on these episodes in the next installment. For now, enjoy the first part!

Tracker was developed from a freelance pitch into a really cool story about Ronon, McKay and Keller. Although the teleplay was written by Carl Binder, the story was developed while the WGA was on strike and Carl was in California. Then, once the strike ended and Carl came back up here to Vancouver, the guys suggested he write the episode using what had been developed by the freelance writer and the other writer/producers. Carl liked the concept and jumped on it. And, like another of his episodes from Season 3, Phantoms, this is an episode in which everything came together. Gotta love it when that happens.

I spoke with James Bamford, our Stunt Coordinator, and Will Waring, who directed this one, about the episode. Both raved about the abilities of our guest star, Mike Dopud, who plays Kiryk. Not only is this guy a solid actor, but, in Bam Bam’s words “We didn’t double him at all. He did all his own action.” Of course it helps that Mike was a stunt man for years.

As for the specific stunts, when you’re watching the show keep in mind the following: When Ronon tackles Kiryk off a cliff, there are no stunt guys or visual effects involved. Both actors actually go flying off the cliff and land on some pads out of frame. Also, Will told me that Jason actually wanted to be the stunt guy for the spiked log gag (you can’t miss it). Of course he wasn’t allowed, because if Jason gets injured, we have to stop shooting. But apparently he kept arguing with Will about it and Will had to say no a hundred times. Will also mentioned that they had a lot of laughs shooting the decapitation scene. I imagine you viewers won’t find it so funny, but shooting it was kind of silly.

I don’t know if any of you have watched the Stargate Atlantis Comic-Con panel, but Jewel Staite makes a funny comment about how so many of Carl’s scripts seem to have Keller tied up and dragged through the woods. It made her wonder what she did to upset Carl. But I suspect the real reason is because Jennifer Keller is the perfect “fish out of water” character to put in those situations. You’ll recall in the episode Missing, Keller and Teyla were stuck in the forest when the Athosian settlement was attacked by the Bola Kai, and Keller is timid and frightened. Well, I promise you this is not more of the same. Not only do we get an expansion of Runner lore and technology, you also get to see how Keller has grown as a character since she joined the team in Season 4. Leave it to Carl to continue to challenge us with his exciting, character based stories.

Enjoy!

More silence. Then a couple of "hmmmmmm's". Then more silence. BUT! Then they started spinning the concept from my pitch, and the result is this week's episode entitled "The Queen", co-story by Alex Levine. So that was a nice little bonus there.

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!).

The art department also revamped the Wraith set for this episode. In fact, they moved the entire set from our Norco set (where Sanctuary is now filming) to the Bridge Studios lot, studio number 2. How do they do this, you might ask? Well, they dismantle the set into pieces, make a map of it, then transport it in chunks and put it back together. Then they did an additional build, adding more space. In art director Chris Beach's words, "James Robbins produced a large new chamber area that we've never seen before. This gave us 14-16 feet of height, which gave it a dramatic new look." He also reminded me that there was some interesting shooting done with live video feeds, which I was actually on set to see. For this we use actors in separate rooms being filmed at the same time. One appears on a video feed in the other room to show, for example, people communicating between ships. It's basically skype, and it allows the actors to interact with one another in real time - much better than using a recording.

The funniest thing that happened was that when Alan and I were on set checking out the prosthetic makeup of the various Wraith, they suddenly became ready to shoot and Alan and I had to get off the set pronto. But when we tried to leave, we took a wrong turn and ended up trapped in a small antechamber containing a couple of generators. Then AD Bill Mizel called action, and Alan and I had to yell "WAIT! We're stuck in here! Hold on!" and sheepishly we emerged from the chamber onto set in front of the camera, all the actors and crew. Bill didn't quite see the humor in it. I think he said to us, "What are you two monkeys doing?" It was pretty embarrassing. But it was worth it to see director Brenton Spencer in action, because I think he did a great job on this episode.

Enjoy!

So where did this story come from, you ask? Well, the answer is that there’s one writer, of all the Stargate writers, who’s the most avid cinephile, and the most avid horror-film fan to boot. In fact, right now, on the coffee table in his office, are DVD’s of the following features: Dead Birds, Descent, Ghouls, Silent Hill, 28 Weeks Later, The Mist, and 30 Days of Night. Another hint? Collectible statuettes of supervillains adorn the bookshelves of his office. Getting there? He’s got his own blog. He loves food and pugs. Got it? Yes, it’s Showrunner Joseph Mallozzi, and he’s written a story that’s going to creep you out, that’s for sure.

I recall when they were spinning this one, Joe wanted to use fog to add to the creepiness and give the monsters the ability to sneak attack. But in the preproduction stages there was much concern about the “atmosphere” that was going to be needed for this episode. And by atmosphere, I mean smoke. As it turns out, they wanted enough smoke to actually obscure the monsters in a number of shots, which means a lot of smoke. And during the tests the smoke started to bother some of the crew. Someone suggested giving the crew masks, but you can’t very well give the crew masks and ask the actors to work in those conditions without them.

I spoke with Will Waring, who directed the episode, who explained they ended up using tents as big as 20 feet wide by 20 feet high by 30 feet deep, made of rock and roll trusses and heavy gauge plastic. The tents were then attached to electric chain hoists. So they had the ability to fill these tents with smoke and then, as soon as they needed them to, “fly” them away, meaning pull them up and out of the shot. They could fill the tent in a few minutes and use fans to clear the area in a minute after each shot. Then Joe Mallozzi actually went through the script and assigned a ‘light’, ‘medium’ or ‘heavy’ smoke description in each of those scenes. So nobody had to breathe smoke any longer than was needed to shoot each shot.

Another aspect of the episode that I really enjoyed was the all-female team Joe created. I was on set and was lucky enough to meet the lovely ladies – Janina Gavankar, Chiristina Cox, Nicole deBoer and Leela Savasta. I also recall seeing the videos of the auditions for Dusty, who was played by Janina. This role called for a tough sort, someone with attitude for days. And I remember how we were all blown away by Janina’s audition. I hope to see more of her on Atlantis in the future. You’ll also get to see the beloved Dr. Carson Beckett, who travels off-world with the team in this story.

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!

What else is new? Well, we're all gearing up for the Stargate Atlantis 2008 golf tournament. The 100th episode party is being planned. Crew gifts have apparently been decided upon and ordered (I prefer to be left in the dark so it's a surprise). And the Olympic games are the big water cooler topic these days. This morning, we recreated and videotaped the speedwalking event in the office. You can see the race here at http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com. If you watch the tape, you’ll see me destroying the field with my trademark “traipsing”. However Joseph Mallozzi has filed an official protest with the Stargate Olympic Committee (“SOC”) and we’re waiting to hear the results of whether my conservative hand movements have disqualified me from the competition.

Meanwhile, as I've been rambling on here, I've been trying to catch the attention of Brad Wright to talk to him about "The Shrine", but he's busy in meetings and conference calls so hopefully I can catch up to him in a minute.

Aha! Lunch. Definitely the best time to throw a couple of questions at Brad Wright. But when I asked him where the idea for “The Shrine” came from, he simply mimed that he picked it out of thin air. You see, few people know that Brad came from a background in theatre and was a performer as well as a writer in his early days. Sometimes, when Brad is trying to explain a scene or a beat, he'll even act it out so it's more understandable - so one can get a read on it. Anyways, I digress.

Brad explained that he actually did come up with the idea for “The Shrine” out of the blue. He was going to either write “The Shrine”, or an episode entitled “The Replacements”, in which our team is lost for six months and when they return to Atlantis they have been replaced by completely different people. But when the guys realized they were going to have to replace Carter with Woolsey as commander of Atlantis anyways, the concept for “The Replacements” didn't quite work. But again, I digress!

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.

So enjoy!