Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 236

Finales I Have Wrought!

12 finales in 18 seasons.  10 in the last 13.

February 23rd, 2001…

May 17, 2002…

March 25, 2005…

March 10, 2006…

March 7, 2008…

January 9, 2009…

June 11, 2010…

May 9, 2011…

August 28, 2015…

September 16, 2016…

August 25, 2017…

???…

Whew!  What a ride so far!

And hopefully a few more coming your way, sooner than later.

[Thank you to Tom Gardiner and the other awesome gif-makers out there].

May 10, 2019:

Once again the weekend is upon us.    And, with a first draft of the series finale delivered, and our final double concept meeting on tap for this Monday, I can finally rest easy.  Ish.  There’s still a little over six weeks of production left.  And about four months of post. And, in the not too distant future, the revised pitch for that major comic book adaptation, that new ship-based space opera comic book series, the pitch for that small town supernatural show, development on the horror series, and, chiefest of all, the script for the (formerly) Untitled Awesome Project.

In a perfect world, I wrap up production on this in January, have a month off, and then roll into another writers’ room (for one of the aforementioned projects) in August, maybe September.

The past few weeks have been altogether exhausting.  I’ve spent waaaaay to much time reading off my laptop.  As a result, I’m having recurring headaches and my eyesight is definitely suffering.  I’ve found myself pulling out the reading glasses more often just to give my eyes a rest.  I’ve also been nursing an unusually sore right arm going on three weeks now – I’m guessing the result of banging it against a table but Akemi suspects I may have pulled a muscle or tendon.  Can you pull a tendon?  Is that what you do to tendons?

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be 100% once I’ve had time to rest and fully recuperate.  In early July.  In the meantime, there’s this –

Oh damn.  It’s my dealer, Alan, with about 5 ounces of the good stuff: whole dried yellow Scotch Bonnets, red and yellow Habaneros, and Carolina Reapers.

Akemi’s recent batch of bourbon cookies.  We refined the original recipe.  It called for a measly one tablespoon of bourbon, but our batch delivers a cup’s worth!

Cheese Boats –

Cheeseboats are shaped like boats because of their origin around the Black Sea pic.twitter.com/asRcQTvmH1

— INSIDER (@thisisinsider) May 9, 2019

Yes/No?

May 9, 2019: A Stargate Anniversary!

Hard to believe that eight years ago was the last time a new episode of Stargate aired.  On May 9, 2011 Stargate: Universe’s “Gauntlet” closed out an incredible unbroken 364 episode, two movie, 17 season, 14 year run.   Back when my former writing partner and I joined the franchise for SG-1’s fourth season, we assumed we were jumping aboard near ride’s end.  We were told the show would go one more year before ending with its fifth and final season.  Oh, how wrong they were.

Of course, in t.v., things have a way of changing.  Usually for the worst but, occasionally for the better.  Much better.  We got another season.  Then another season after that.  And then one more.  And another one.  And another.  And one more.  Then five seasons of Atlantis.  And two of Universe.  Why?  Well, credit the cast and crew and writers but, mostly, credit the fans who kept us going and, who made clear during last year’s tweetstorm,  that they’re still around and hankering for an all-new series.  As I’ve often said, it’s not a matter of if and but when.  It doesn’t make sense for MGM to sit on this valuable franchise for too long, and I’m sure they just want to make sure they’re going to do it right.  And by right, I mean offering a new series that can serve as a jumping on point for new viewers while rewarding longtime fans protective of the franchise, its characters, and canon.  Yes, I know, it would seem the way to go is obvious, so I’m going to assume they’ll figure it out sooner than later and reward long-suffering Stargate fans with their equivalent of a Star Trek Picard revival series rather than, say, that 2001 Planet of the Apes reboot.

Man, nothing hurts a franchise like an ill-advised reboot.  Am I right?

 

May 8, 2019: Week’s Best Comic Book Covers!

There were my favorites…

Catwoman #11 (cover art by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau)

Detective Comics #103 (cover art by Andrew Hennessy, Brad Walker)

Heavy Metal #293 (cover art by Flavio Greco Paglia)

Justice League: Odyssey #9 (cover art by Juan Albarran, Daniel Sampere)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers vol 8 (cover art by Jamal Campbell)

Marvels Annotated #3 (cover art by Gabriele Dell’otto)

Red Hood: Outlaw #34 (cover art by Pete Woods)

Shazam #5 (cover art by Rafael Albuquerque)

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett #1 (cover art by Terry Dodson)

Star Wars: Age of Republic – Villains (cover art by Leinil Francis Yu)

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #32 (cover art by Ashley Witter)

Taarna #4 (cover art by Luis Royo)

The War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #2 (cover art by Rahzzah)

Which were your favorites?

May 7, 2019: Gallery Day! And the Bannister Dark Matter Lineup!

Always great to see photographer Norman Wong do his thing.  Really loved his stuff on Dark Matter and really loving the stuff he’s shooting today.

Speaking of shooting – I sat down to a one hour EPK (Electronic Press Kit) interview that proved beyond exhausting, partly owing to the sheer number of questions, but mostly due to the fact that the set wasn’t locked down and I would have to stop and restart every time someone started talking or (what sounded like) perform root canal surgery.  In retrospect, I got off easy.  RT was down there for 2 HOURS!!!  Oof.  I am much better BEHIND the camera.

Hey, look who’s in town!  It’s artists extraordinaire Nicolas Bannister and his wife Flo.  You may remember Nicolas from his work for the Save Dark Matter campaign:

Pretty amazing, no?  These belong on t-shirts.

His portfolio: https://t.co/TRpzKANzYa

The comic book they’re working on: Tib & Tatoum which is also an animated series.

Anyway, they’re in town for TCAF (The Toronto Comics Art Festival), so we got together for lunch and chocolate.  Lots of chocolate –

And, hey, look what they brought us from France…

More chocolate!

Looking forward to our next meet-up.

And even more chocolate.

Starbucks in Westeros! Snickers in Space!

Eagle-eyed viewers Jenna Guillaume noticed something unusual in last night’s episode of Game of Thrones.  Specifically, what looked like a coffee cup in one of the early scenes…

Sure, it looks like a Starbucks cup from a  distance…

But upon closer scrutiny…

Yep, it still looks like a cup of coffee.  At first, I assumed this was a clever hint dropped by the producers that somehow ties into Bran Stark’s mysterious ability to travel in time (mostly backwards but who knows?).  Yet, no.  This afternoon, HBO confirmed the error:

I, of course, was outraged.  You’re making a t.v. show!  Countless individuals have watched these scenes countless times, from dailies through cuts to mixes and final deliveries.  How the hell does something like this happen???

What?  Oh.  Why, yes.  That IS a Snickers bar in the alien shuttle in Stargate: Atlantis’s “Ark”.

Truth is, this happens a lot.  Most of the time, it gets caught.  Like that afternoon we were watching the mix of Stargate: Atlantis’s Adrift.   One early scene involves the frenzied rush to get an injured Elizabeth Weir into surgery.  As it played out, Executive Producer Martin Gero suddenly yelled: “Hang on!  Was that a camera in the shot?”  We rewound, played closer attention and realized – Hell, yes, there was a camera in the shot.  In fact, more than a camera.  It was an entire camera team being wheeled out AHEAD of an unconscious Weir.  What at first appeared to be just a bunch of medial equipment actually turned out to be a huge oversight.

We were fortunate enough to catch that mistake early.  The Snickers bar, on the other hand, cost us a few thousand dollars to paint out.  Game of Thrones will, I’m sure, do the same.  Unless they blew the VFX budget on that battle with the White Walkers.

The gang at Downton Abbey, meanwhile, apparently prefer water to coffee…

So what memorable mistakes, goofs, or flubs have you spotted in your favorite movies or  t.v. shows?

Heads up!

Oops almost forgot.  Honoring a request for a Maximus Monday photo!

May 5, 2019: Happy Birthday Suji Sunday!

Guess who turned 14 today?  When she came to us 2 years ago, she was kind of quiet and needed to wheelchair to get around.  Now, she’s motoring around on her own four paws and raising hell.

Boy, she’s demanding.

Hanging with mom.

Snoozing with Lulu.

Celebrating May the 4th Be With You with dad.

Birthday kisses.

My Top 25 Cufflinks!

I never truly realized the extent of my cufflink collection until this morning when blog regular, Ponytail, asked: “How many cool cufflinks are there in your collection?”.  I responded with what I thought was a fair approximation.  But when I told Akemi my estimation, she scoffed.  I had more than that!  So I counted and it turns out I had roughly double that original guess.

Which brings us to today’s entry.  My Top 25 Cufflinks!

#25. Lady Bugs

#24. One Piece

#23. Seahorses

#22. Espresso Makers

#21. Turtles

#20. Teddy Bears (hold a lot of sentimental value as it was one of the first gifts Akemi gave me).

#19. Batmobile – tumbler

#18. Iron Man

#17. Cobras

#16. Military Planes

#15. Beetles

#14. Frogs

#13. Han Solo Blasters

#12. Batmobile – classic

#11. Captain Cold

#10. S.H.I.E.L.D.

#9. Star Trek Insignia

#8. Legion of Super-Heroes

#7. ATV’s

#6. Death Stars

#5. Stormtroopers

#4. Hydra

#3. Octopi

#2. The Enterprise

#1. Rubber Duckies

Honorable Mentions: C3PO, Darth Vader, Booster Gold, Black Adam, Red Lanterns, Cameras, Phone Booths, Rockets, Star Fleet Academy, Captain America’s Shield, French Fries.

 

An unflinching look behind the scenes of a television production!

Actor Jeff Teravainen with the bottle of Quiet Man 8 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey.

VFX Supervisor Greg Behrens with the bottle of Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask Scotch Whiskey.

Props Master Victoria Klein with the pan-seared steel cut oatmeal with coconut milk, brown sugar, blueberries, and cashew and maple cream.

And this was just today!

Line Producer Robbie David – a little too relaxed for the Art Department meeting.

Shenanigans in the Wardrobe Department.

Finally, my tribute to Peter Mayhew: Chewbacca socks and Death Star cufflinks.

May 2, 2019: Oh, a bunch of stuff!

Oh, damn.  Let’s just start with the good stuff.  Another page from Stargate: Extinction featuring that lovable wraith, Todd, and that not so lovable wraith, also Todd…

Former friends make the worst of enemies, while former enemies make the best of friends.  Or unlikely allies at the very least.

I went to sign up for something the other day and was offered the following drop down choices:

They have Baroness but not Baron?  WTF?!

Man, this show is really eating into my reading time.  I’ll be lucky to finish 100 books this year.

Hey, if you’re not following me on twitter: @BaronDestructo, you’re missing out on some really cool stuff like –

Concept art!

And enlightening historical insights!