Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 381
June 12, 2015
June 12, 2015: Dark Matter Premieres! Interviews! Reviews! Articles!
Go!
Watch the premiere!
Tonight!
10 p.m. on SyFy (U.S.)
7 p.m. PST, 10 p.m. EST on Space Channel (Canada)
And here is our updated global premiere rundown. New and improved! Now with added Portugal!
The cast, crew, and EP Vanessa Piazza and I (@BaronDestructo) will be live tweeting the event – both east and west coast feeds. Follow the #DarkMatter hashtag. Join us!
A final teaser promo from Space Channel: “Technically, she’s an android”…
https://www.facebook.com/SPACEchannel/videos/vb.133102256224/10153037502911225/?type=2&theater
“Here is Why Dark Matter, SyFy’s New Space Opera, Could Be TV’s Next Big Hit”:
Ships! Ships! Ships! io9 offers up a sneak peek at our corporate ships:
http://io9.com/meet-the-ships-of-dark-matters-biggest-antagonists-1710942614
Something To Fill That Firefly-Shaped Hole In Your Heart:
http://www.theworkprint.com/dark-matter-advanced-review/123
3 Things You Should Know:
http://www.syfy.com/darkmatter/blog/dark-matter-three-things-you-should-know
On bringing back the “fun scifi” with Dark Matter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/longtime-stargate-ep-aims-bring-802045
Melissa O’Neil and Anthony Lemke dish on Dark Matter:
Roger Cross talks Dark Matter:
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2015/06/12/slice-of-scifi-722/
Truth & Consequences: Anthony Lemke talks about playing the rogue, Star Wars, Space 1999 and his favorite episode…
The One, Two, Three interview:
http://www.threeifbyspace.net/2015/06/dark-matter-the-one-two-three-interview/
On tonight’s launch:
http://www.space.com/29646-dark-matter-syfy-show-launches-tonight.html
Collider’s thoughts on the premiere:
http://collider.com/dark-matter-review/
Everything you need to know about Dark Matter going into tonight’s premiere:
http://askgenretv.com/dark-matter-podcast/an-introduction-to-dark-matter-episode-1/
My chat with Blastr:
http://www.blastr.com/2015-6-11/exclusive-brains-behind-stargateatlantis-are-back-dark-matter
The Seattle Time’s TV Picks for June 12th:
http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/tv/june-12-tv-picks-dark-matter-series-premiere-on-syfy/
Teasing the premiere:
http://thetelevixen.com/2015/06/dark-matters-creator-and-cast-tease-season-one/
***Post your spoiler-free Dark Matter-related questions in the comments section and I’ll answer them in tomorrow’s dedicated “Dark Matter Q&A” blog entry! U.K. and international post-premiere Q&A’s to follow!***
Today’s entry is dedicated to blog regular ponytail!
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, scififun, SF, SF television, Space Channel, SyFy, SyFyFriday
June 11, 2015
June 11, 2015: 1 Day to the Dark Matter series premiere! Interviews! Articles! Global Premiere Dates! Win a model of our hero ship!
SyFy’s Dark Matter Brings The Badass Ladies In Force:
http://www.themarysue.com/dark-matter-interview/
Space Opera is Set for a New Dawn with Dark Matter:
“Dark Matter’s 13-episode first season is destined to be an action-packed mix of drama, humour and adventure in the mould of Stargate and Firefly. Any similarity to the former is not coincidental given that Mallozzi and Mullie have a long history with that franchise.”
How SyFy’s Dark Matter Created the Ultimate Police Ship:
http://io9.com/how-syfys-dark-matter-created-the-ultimate-police-ship-1710547670
Zoie Palmer Brings Dark Matter’s Android to Life:
http://www.thetvjunkies.com/zoie-palmer-dark-matter-android-to-life/
“I’m always drawn to the underdog a little bit, I’m drawn to those characters that are a little bit outside, a little bit quirky, a little bit disconnected. I think there’s a ton of places you can go. Even on Lost Girl I think every character felt a little bit like an outsider. It was a group of outsiders. They all sort of found each other and connected in that way.”
Melissa O’Neil and Antony Lemke talk Dark Matter:
http://metronews.ca/scene/1394068/qa-melissa-oneil-talks-spaces-dark-matter/
” When we started shooting, absolutely we were. We had read a number of episodes ahead as actors but one of the things that Joe and Paul did very, very well was keep secrets. Boy did they ever.”
Anthony Lemke talks Dark Matter:
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/11/anthony-lemke-talks-new-sci-fi-show-dark-matter
““Thematically for the show, you have the two poles, in a way, of how to approach life,” Lemke explained. “We have the side that is very moral, and the other is very instrumental. Whatever you can do to live another day is kind of what my character is all about.”
Great Anthony Lemke (Dark Matter’s THREE) video interview:
http://globalnews.ca/video/2048957/anthony-lemke-talks-dark-matter
Another teaser promo from the gang at Space Channel: “I can save us all…if you let me.”
Dark Matter – Pilot – Technical Previews: “Visuals”…
http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/dark-matter-pilot-technical-preview.html
“Dark Matter is poised to gallantly launch us all back into space and the visuals the show provides are a very big part of what makes this show so unique.”
A Dark Matter series premiere advance preview:
Dark Matter is the featured t.v. gallery on imdb. Thanks to BoltBait for the heads up!
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/rg2395511552
When does Dark Matter premiere in your part of the world? Check out Our Worldwide SyFy Premiere Dates:
Finally, how’d you like to win a model of our hero ship? Details here:
http://prodigypictures.com/press?news_id=172&uniqid=1238
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television, Space Channel, SyFy, SyFyFriday, SyFyFridays
June 10, 2015
June 10, 2015: 2 Days to the Dark Matter world premiere! The Space Stations!
“Where,” you no doubt are asking, “is that awesome VFX -laden trailer you promised us?” Well, they’re stuck in the pipeline (like Homer Simpson in that waterslide) and, hopefully, will be coming your way BEFORE the premiere – because, after all, that’s the whole point of releasing this trailer: to get you even more excited about Dark Matter (as if that were possible!) and let any potential fence sitters and naysayers know just how cool this show will be!
Another teaser promo, compliments of Space Channel. “We’re dangerous!”:
Variety reviews our first episode:
“Adapted from Dark Horse Comics, “Dark Matter” uses a tantalizing mystery to achieve liftoff, then does a pretty nifty job of establishing its characters to bring the audience along for the ride.”
Meanwhile, over at Entertainment Weekly:
“It’s tough to become attached to anyone just yet, but fun scenes of discovery and a twist ending should keep you interested for at least one more episode. [12 Jun 2015, p.71]”
Salt Lake City Weekly seems to like us:
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/orange-is-the-new-black-dark-matter/Content?oid=2854227
A little insight into the construction of our space stations…
We wanted a uniform look for our space stations suggestive of a single architectural vision – but one we could play with, making changes to background and structure to vary the looks as our crew visited different locations.
We went out to our former Stargate Production Designer, James C.D. Robbins, who came back to us with a terrific concept…
James Robbins: “The first concept drawings that Joe & Paul wanted me to work on was for a space station. I was forwarded a handful of images as direction. The PD was looking to make the whole structure compact- still incorporating modular elements but more like a series of steel geodesic mushrooms radiating from a central column.
My first pass at the space station was well received, but the idea of modular pods attached in an organic cluster was nixed as the physicality of shooting the ‘ins and outs’ of sets that all have a different direction for “up” was deemed impractical.”
James Robbins: “So I developed a single axis column design topped with a “pod” that was the size of a small city. After a few notes, the final version that went to VFX is below.”
Once we’d locked our design, it went to our VFX team lead by Visual Effects Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson.
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: “When it comes to building a space station (of which our team has done a great deal over the years) we know it always comes down to how much detail can we add to sell just how immense the scale needs to be. We were lucky to have a good deal of lead-time to really hammer out the needs of a civilian inhabited space station model. Communication relays, habitable sections, docking bays, etc. Being able to look down the road we also knew that we would be required to create variations on these deep space outposts that were build from generally the same principles and resources. The design we took from the concept had to be modular in a way that a space station on one side of a galaxy would be reminiscent of another, but different enough to reflect the economics of what that particular pocket of space could support.”
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: “Through the various iterations of the grey scale models, you can see detail being built up and scale being accessed (as seen with our ship in one of the docking bays).”
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: “Developing the light kit helped to give life on the inside of the space station, deciding what areas were habitable and which were not. One of the really nice details of this particular build was how much of the interior of the docking bays we were able to create so that once our ship is inside we can actually see out the windows to the realistic 3D interior of the bay.”
Although the architectural construction of these way stations will be similar, looks will vary…
Today’s entry is dedicated to longtime blog regular ponytail!
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, scifi, SF, Space Channel, space station, space stations, SyFy, SyFy Fridays
June 9, 2015
June 9, 2015: 3 Days to the Dark Matter premiere! Videos! Pics! Our hero ship!
Another short video from the gang at Space Channel: “Death. Despair. Chaos. So what?”
More early reviews:
http://scifiandtvtalk.typepad.com/scifiandtvtalk/2015/06/dark-matter-gets-two-thumbs-up.html
http://www.scifistream.com/2015/06/review-dark-matter-blasts-off-this-friday/
I talk about the show with Greg David at TV, eh?:
http://www.tv-eh.com/2015/06/09/dark-matter-launches-canadas-summer-of-sci-fi/
“There is a lot of dark sci-fi out there that is great,” he explains. “But a lot of fans are missing a fun sci-fi series and there hasn’t been one on a ship-based show for awhile. We set out to make a fun show with a sense of humour while at the same time putting viewers on the edge of their seat every week.”
Our hero ship, from concept to finished product:
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television, sicififun, SpaceChannel, SyFy, SyFyFridays, SyFyInternational
June 8, 2015
June 8, 2015: 4 Days to the Dark Matter Premiere! Tons of Dark Matter goodies: cast featurettes, videos, and behind the scene pics!
4 days to the Dark Matter series premiere! Some of the cast and I will be live tweeting the premiere (both east and west coast airings!) on Friday, June 12th at 10 p.m., so get ready!
Let’s start by meeting the crew courtesy of these individual behind-the-scenes featurettes…
http://io9.com/meet-the-memory-wiped-astronauts-of-syfys-new-show-dark-1709920345
DARK MATTER — “Episode Two” Episode 102 — Pictured: (l-r) Melissa O’Neil as Two, Mark Bendavid as One — (Photo by: Steve Wilkie/Prodigy Pictures/Syfy)
A shot from one of my favorite scenes from episode #102. Watch for it!
New sneak peek videos from the gang at Space Channel:
“We can do more. Commit to something.”
“Do you think you can do a better job? Didn’t think so.”
“You’re saying it was me who screwed with everyone’s memories?”
Executive Producer Jay Firestone oversees the action, with 1st A.D. Brandon Tataryn and Executive Producer Paul Mullie.
A friendly reminder from the gang at io9:
http://io9.com/this-weeks-tv-six-strangers-wake-in-space-with-amnesia-1709749971
Director T. J. Scott on set for episodes #101 and #102.
Director T.J. Scott heads up our read-thru. Roger Cross (Dark Matter’s SIX) is in his default mode: happy! Line Producer Norman Denver, on the other hand, looks like he’s received some troubling news. Hope it’s not budget-related.
The corridor’s colors, texture, and build give it exactly the look I was asking: “Think Nostromo”.
Testing the emergency lighting…
It’s like The Shining meets Alien!
watchplayread.com is offering Dark Matter trade paperback giveaways in the lead-up to the series premiere:
http://watchplayread.com/dark-matter-tpb-giveaway-before-the-big-syfy-premiere/
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., SpaceChannel, SyFy, SyFyFridays, SyFyInternational
June 7, 2015
June 7, 2015: 5 Days to the Dark Matter world premiere! Checking out the ship’s underbelly! And a couple of Stargate tidbits to boot!
Comin’ at ya in five (WITH FIVE!)!
Space Channel here in Canada is counting down toward the Friday premiere in delightful fashion. Each day ticks off with a different Dark Matter, appropriately enough…
Who’s next? Can’t wait to find out tomorrow!
SyFy UK and SyFy Australia, meanwhile, have launched this terrific campaign that asks…
Zoie Palmer (Dark Matter’s Android) talks about Lost Girl, her new movie Patch Town, and Dark Matter with ET Canada:
http://www.etcanada.com/video/zoie+palmer+talks+patch+town/video.html?v=458310211866#video
Another Dark Matter preview article. Brush up before the premiere!
http://www.threeifbyspace.net/2015/06/preview-dark-matter-premieres-on-syfy-june-12/
Lari Burkhart offers up her list of What To Watch In June: Among her picks…
“What do you get when you have 6 amnesiacs and a spaceship? A SyFy original series, obviously. Throw in an android and the writers from Stargate and you’ve also got me sitting on the couch anxiously awaiting this premiere!”
http://www.geeksundergrace.com/tv/what-to-watch-in-june/
Dark Matter makes Rick’s Picks at tvweeklynow.com:
We make The Columbus Dispatch’s “10 shows we’d watch this week”:
Chris Lackner of the Winnipeg Free Press profiles Dark Matter as Big Event Friday viewing:
“The small screen is due for a new sci-fi saviour, and this could be it.”
Oh yeah!
The ship’s underbelly! Probably my favorite standing set.
Two floors of fun!
Note the floor design and texturing. It’s the little touches…
Looking up at the second level. Check out the ceiling designs. Never underestimate the importance of floors and ceilings!
Watch your step!
Readying for Day #1!
Shooting in the underbelly, episode #101.
Finally – missed this the first time around. Here’s a Stargate reference from Archer:
And, speaking of Stargates, check out this almost fully functional 3D printed stargate.
No, it can’t send you to other planets. Yet!
*** Oh, and one more thing! Tomorrow, at 12 PST, 3 EST, I’ll be chatting with Simon Applebaum on Tomorrow Will Be Televised (BlogTalk Radio).
“Simon Applebaum
Good Saturday morning, Dark Matter followers! Catch co-creator/executive producer Joseph Mallozzi LIVE Monday on Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the program all about TV. He’ll take your phone calls and chatroom reaction to Syfy’s new series–Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific on BlogTalk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com) and Brooklyn Independent Media HD (NYC-wide on Verizon Fios/Brooklyn-wide on Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems and RCN). Tune in and spread the word!
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television
June 6, 2015
June 6, 2015: 6 Days to the Dark Matter Premiere! Sneak peek and behind the scene goodies!
The excitement continues to mount as we approach the Dark Matter premiere, less than a week away (Friday, 10 p.m. on SyFy/Space)! I’ll be live-tweeting the event with various to-be-announced cast members, pulling double duty with both the east and west coast airings. Who’d like to join us?
Uh oh. Someone’s at a distinct disadvantage here. And he’s about to find out.
A slightly different Dark Matter trailer from Space Channel:
https://www.facebook.com/SPACEchannel/videos/10153037388371225/
Some screen grabs of the highlights:
The team!
Trouble headed your way!
This moment? HUGE!
Proceed with caution.
SyFyAustralia wants to know: “Who wants to win a trip to Comic Con?”
https://twitter.com/syfyau/status/606768390468870144
Emergency lighting!
Them’s some heavy doors.
Director T.J. Scott runs everyone through the opening Stasis Pod Sequence.
The outside of our bridge set.
Setting up the next Stasis Pod Sequence.
Anthony Lemke (THREE) discovers a life-size action figure. In mint condition!
Go ahead. Pick your weapon.
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., science fiction, science fiction t.v., Science Fiction Television, scifi t.v., scifi television, SF t.v., SF television, Space, SyFy, SyFyFridays
June 5, 2015
June 5, 2015: 7 Days to the Dark Matter Premiere!
Very Bad Boys!
Jay and I are putting the finishing touches on a VFX-laden trailer that will blow your socks off. It’ll go wide next week – along with an assortment of other Dark Matter-related goodies in the lead-up to the premiere.
Fun, ship-based scifi makes it’s triumphant return in a week! Help spread the word!
Oooh, lookit the pretty space station. Gorgeous. And, yep, that’s one of ours. It accompanies an article over at Space.com:
http://www.space.com/29570-syfy-debuts-two-new-space-shows.html
I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Our visual effects are as good, if not better, than any other show out there. Yes, even the one’s with MUCH bigger budgets. We’re going to surprise a lot of people next Friday – except you all, of course, because you’re savvy enough to know what to expect. Big, BIG things!
Well, I’m finally back home in Vancouver. I never sleep well the night before a flight and so, by the time I fell asleep, it was more or less time to wake up as we were being picked up at 4:45 a.m. to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight. Our buddy Jeff joined us for the voyage west. Great guy!
Once we’d unpacked and settled in, it was over to the Taqueria for lunch with Dark Matter Consulting Producer Ivon Bartok – looking all summer fashionable.
Then, it was a short walk over to The Book Warehouse where I visited Darlene (pictured above with the day’s purchases) and the gang.
Pictured above: my daunting to-read pile. Better get on it!
Hey remember that research station design? http://io9.com/exclusive-dark-matter-concept-art-is-loaded-with-glorio-1705562602
Well, it’s in the hands of our VFX team now and coming along nicely.
Next up, textures and color!
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., research station, research stations, space station, space stations
June 4, 2015
June 4, 2015: Jay’s Phantom Class Marauder! Tara! Dark Matter! And Lulu!
Prodigy Pictures President (and Dark Matter Executive Producer) Jay(mes Bond) Firestone is a man of surprisingly simple tastes. He’s a jeans and t-shirt type of guy. He prefers pizza and burgers over haute cuisine. He flies economy. But if there is one thing he likes to spoil himself on, its cars. He claims they’re a great investment(!). I suppose it depends on the car. Like the Aston Martin he got himself to celebrate the sale of his first company. Or the stealth model BMW I8 he just took possession of to celebrate the completion of Dark Matter’s first season. And, in honor of the show, Jay has named his new ride after the show’s shuttle: The Phantom Class Marauder.
Anyone else getting a Back to the Future vibe?
I, on the other hand, am a dress shirts, fancy food, business class type of guy. Cars, however, don’t hold that much interest for me (until the next time I’m in town and take Jay’s I8 for a spin), so I celebrated the completion of Dark Matter’s first season – and our final night in Toronto – in equal style:
With a Burger’s Priest double cheeseburger with double smoke (breaded, fried jalapeños)!
And lookit who we had lunch with today to cap off my seventh month stay in Hogtown. None other than my arch-nemesis, Dark Matter’s Annette Deveraux (watch Annette do her thing in the Amanda Tapping-directed episode #104!), Tara Yelland.
Besides the fact that it’s the fun, ship-based scifi show you’ve been waiting your whole life for, TheTVJunkies’ Bridget Liszewski gives you 8 Reasons You’ll Want to Watch Dark Matter:
http://www.thetvjunkies.com/dark-matter-8-reasons-to-watch/
Last week, I mentioned how I hoped the first Dark Matter teaser trailer would hit 250k views before the premiere. Well, it did. WAAAAY before. We’re now past 257k and counting! The new trailer (this one jam-packed full of awesome visual effect shots!) will drop next week. So watch for it. In the meantime…
And, as a thanks to all of the future Dark Matter fans for supporting the show, here’s a little something from VFX Supervisor (and playback maestro) Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: the onscreen graphics that accompanies an upcoming docking sequence…
Finally – it looks like Akemi and I are not the only ones missing Jelly. Our frenchie, Lulu, has been unusually downcast of late, moping about.
Here’s hoping the move back to more familiar territory will improve her mood. :(
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v. 
June 3, 2015
June 3, 2015: Thank you!
Thank you so much for all the touching tributes to my gal, Jelly. I received emails, Facebook messages, tweets, and, as you can see, over 125 comments on yesterday’s entry. It feels strange and lonely without her. I’ll miss propping her up on my chest so that we could gaze longingly into each other’s eyes, and the smell of her nacho feet.
Thanks to my sis who put together this wonderful Jelly photo album:
https://www.facebook.com/andria.mallozzi/media_set?set=a.10153212503701743.687476742&type=3
Well, I have one more day in Toronto before I finally head back to Vancouver early (early!) Friday morning. I’ll admit – I was leery about coming back here but I’m so glad I did. The show is incredible, and I owe it all the amazing cast and crew who are not only so good at what they do, but such a pleasure to work with.
A big thanks to everyone who worked from prep, through production and post – covering everything from casting to visual effects, the gang at the production office and post-production.
Special thanks to my Vancouver boys, Ivon Bartok and Lawren Bancroft-Wilson, who uprooted their lives to move here and worked their asses off for me.
Thanks to my writing-producing partner, Paul Mullie, who shuttled back and forth, abandoning his family at irregular intervals so that he could come east and support the show.
Thanks to Rachel Sutherland, Commander of post-production who, while everyone else has moved on, stays behind to deliver on a very tight schedule – yet manages to do it with a smile.
Thanks to line producer Norman Denver who kept us on the straight and narrow, making sure we didn’t blow our budget on burgers and whisky.
Thanks to my partner in crime, Vanessa Piazza, who was there with me through prep, on set through production, and overseeing post. I honestly could NOT have done it without her.
And an enormous thanks to Prodigy Pictures President Jay Firestone who defied the odds and expectations by putting together the deals that got the show green lit, then defying the odds and expectations again by delivering a series that blew away expectations. He read all the scripts, provided notes, and weighed in on all aspects of production. The very best example of what a creative producer should be. I honestly thought we’d fight more. Ah well. I suppose there’s always season 2!
Me, Jay, Vanessa, and Norman at tonight’s premiere screening of Dark Matter episodes #101 and #102.
It looked AMAZING on the big screen. The show has everything a scifi fan would want: action, adventure, intrigue, suspense, humor, lovable and engaging characters, and dazzling visual effects. Dark Matter will NOT disappoint.
As we countdown to our world premiere, check out another early view, this one by Jamie Ruby at Scifi Vision:
Tagged: Dark Matter, Dark Matter t.v., Science Fiction Television, scifi television, SF television, SyFy, SyFy Fridays
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