Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 403

December 18, 2014: Introducing the Dark Matter cast!

In case you hadn’t heard, we finally have our cast: https://www.nbcumv.com/news/syfy-announces-casting-new-acquired-scripted-series-dark-matter?network=33143

“NEW YORK – December 18, 2014 – Syfy today announced casting of the new acquired scripted series Dark Matter, which will feature Melissa O’Neil (Broadway production of Les Miserables), Marc Bendavid (Bitten), Anthony Lemke (White House Down), Alex Mallari Jr. (Robocop) and Jodelle Ferland (Twilight) with Roger Cross (The Strain) and Zoie Palmer (Lost Girl).

The series begins production in Toronto on January 7.

Created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (executive producers and writers of the Stargate franchise), and developed with Prodigy Pictures (Lost Girl, XIII), the 13 one-hour episodes are based on the graphic novel Dark Matter by Mallozzi and Mullie, published by Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Matter will premiere on Syfy in Summer 2015, joining Syfy’s stable of acquired international and domestic co-productions ranging from the hit series Z Nation to popular programs such as Lost Girl, Bitten and Continuum, and the upcoming series Olympus.

Executive producers are Jay Firestone, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie and Vanessa Piazza. The series will be distributed internationally by Endemol Worldwide Distribution.

In Dark Matter, the crew of a derelict spaceship is awakened from stasis with no memories of who they are or how they got on board. Facing threats at every turn, they have to work together to survive a voyage charged with vengeance, betrayal and hidden secrets.”

Marc Bendavid as ONE (aka Jace Corso, aka Pretty Boy)

Charming but a bit of a goof, he is the crew’s moral center, a guy who always TRIES to do the right thing, despite the odds stacked against him and no matter how unpopular the course of action. He is a space cowboy, a bit of a daredevil, and the closest thing to a hero onboard the ship. Sure, he screws up – but he means well.

Melissa O’Neil as TWO (aka Portia Lin, aka Boss Lady)

The group’s defacto leader, she is a master fighter and an unbelievably quick learner when it comes to weaponry. Determined, tough, and more than a little headstrong, she is not the type you want to mess with – or disappoint. She can be cool and inscrutable and yet, at the same time, can demonstrate surprising compassion – the mark of true leader.

Anthony Lemke as THREE (aka Marcus Boone, aka Sunshine)

A true bad-ass, he is the flip side to ONE’s principled coin – which is why the two are often at odds, developing a (grudging) like-hate relationship over the course of their journey. He is mercenary through-and-through, a Hans Solo type, always looking out for himself. But he must come to accept the fact that, if he’s going to survive long enough to reach the outer colonies, he’s going to have to learn to get along.

Alex Mallari Jr. as FOUR (aka Ryo Tetsuda, aka Ryo Ishida)

Ever-stoic and a master of the blade, his cool, calm demeanor belies a ruthlessness that gives even his fellow crew members pause. He’s a man of few words but, when he does speak – just like when he fights – it’s with precise efficiency. A fierce and relentless opponent, he is also an equally loyal and passionate friend.

Jodelle Ferland as FIVE (aka Das, aka Kid)

The ship’s colorful mascot with a knack for mechanics, she’s also possessed of some mysterious abilities – like an inexplicable knowledge of past lives not her own.  She’s the kid with all the secrets. And a propensity for getting into trouble. Easily bored, quick to mouth off, she is nevertheless a relative innocent among less savory company.

Roger Cross as SIX (aka Griffin Jones)

On the surface he’s a low-key bruiser, an imposing figure among a group of intimidating individuals. Despite the company he keeps, he is a man of integrity with little patience for bullshit. Cross him at your own risk. Beneath the rough and tumble exterior, however, is a heart of gold – 14k, the softest! A surprisingly simple guy, his quiet confidence belies a fierce intelligence and philosophical nature.

 

Zoie Palmer as The Ship’s Android (aka The Android)

In personality, she is more butler-like than your typical robot – concise, staid, yet surprisingly possessed of a subtly wry sense of humor, she is an indispensible member of the crew since she can exercise control over all the ship’s systems. And she isn’t shy about reminding everyone of the fact. An outsider among the ship’s human passengers, she is almost child-like in her earnest desire to fit in.

Tagged: Dark Matter cast

December 17, 2014: Akemi scrooged! Everything is coming up Dark Matter!

So much for the Christmas spirit.  Today, Akemi did something she rarely ever does.  She actually bought herself something.  The girl hardly ever spends on herself but, this afternoon, she made an exception when she came across a cup emblazoned with the letter A at a local shop.  Being a big tea drinker – and having a name that starts with the letter A – she thought it would be perfect, so she bought it.  About an hour later, she was getting off the subway, when some guy, in an obvious rush, bumped into her, knocking her purchase out of her hand.  The guy didn’t even slow down, jumping into the car and heading off, leaving Akemi to check on her cup – which was, of course, shattered.  Her disappointment was apparently so apparent that a subway employee consoled her with a shoulder pat and some words of encouragement.

Still, in good spirits. And silly slippers.

Well, two more days until we depart for the holidays – which means roughly a week’s worth of ground to cover before we go.  In addition to tomorrow’s early EARLY morning tech survey (which leaves the production offices at 7:00 a.m., meaning I’ll have to leave my place at 6:30 a.m., meaning I’ll probably have to wake up for 5:45 a.m.), I’ve still got to do another pass on scripts for episodes #103, #104, #105, and #106, incorporate Jay’s notes into #107, #108, and #109, and get notes from Paul on #112.  Oh, and then there’s the meetings.  And the camera tests!  Today, Lawren, our VFX Supervisor, showed us some preliminary FTL (fast than light) effects as well as some animatics of the ship – and the missile pursuit.  Very cool.  I’m making a note to keep everything on file so that I can share with you all in time.

Meanwhile, the production offices are embracing the Dark Matter theme…

I need to place this on my dash, otherwise Vanessa will knock off my side mirror with a baseball bat.

Adorning the walls of the cafeteria

Bon Appetit!  Please note our strict no Facebook, no twitter, no photo policy.

And one more day for our Dark Matter Holiday Toy Drive!

Tagged: Dark Matter, science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television

December 16, 2014: Introducing 1st Asst. Art Director and Graphics Maestro Roxanne Borris!

I’ve only been working with her a couple of weeks and I already a huge, HUGE fan.

“Why?”you may ask.

Well, why don’t I just let her a few samples of her work answer that question…

Choices for the GA (Galactic Authority) emblem

Choices for some of the multi planetary (corporate) logos

“Caution” signs in English and our version of intergalactic Esperanto

Personally, I always find red goes a long way toward implied danger.

The galaxy is full of danger – often clearly marked. We opted for the one on the right.

She also designed our future currency – but those pictures are on my other laptop.  Do remind me to show you next time.

Tagged: Dark Matter

December 15, 2014: The Dark Matter Cookie Exchange!

Kyle – our master of ceremonies

The plan was to make my dough the day before, allow it to chill overnight, and then wake up early Monday morning and bake my cookies so that they could be fresh and warm for the 10:00 a.m. cookie exchange.  In retrospect, a late decision to test-bake a batch probably saved my ass.  Given the size of my kitchen, the single baking pan that came with the apartment, and the fact that I had to bake 13 dozen cookies, I probably would have had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to be ready in time.  As it was, I was baking until bedtime last night.

78 cookies later and I’m ready for bed.

This morning, I was the first one to present my Drunken Uncles (TM Lawren Bancroft-Wilson and/or whoever actually came up with the Drunken Uncle name) at the first annual Dark Matter cookie exchange.

 Akemi included a tag with each bag of cookies.  A nice touch, I thought (note the careful attention to red noses).  And then I saw the little tags on the cookies presented by our 1st Assistant Art Director and Graphics Maestro Roxanne Borris:

Pretty awesome, no?

We gathered in the production office where we laid our cookies out for the photo op -

Two of our bakers M.I.A. Note my endearingly natural smile.

After which we helped ourselves to the cookie selection – 12 half dozen varieties.  I sample every one of them.

Lunch!

And then shut my office door and napped until it was time to go home.

Can’t wait until next year!

Tagged: Dark Matter

December 14, 2014: Snow Monkeys, Bourbon-laced Cookies, and Dogs!

My Fantasy Football team, The Snow Monkeys, are on life support following a career worst performance by Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers.  And subpar performances by Tre Mason, Steve Smith, and Adam Vinatieri didn’t help.  We’re down 96.82 to 71.2o heading into tomorrow’s Monday Night game.  Do you think my final player, running back Matt Forte, has 27 fantasy points in him?  He did it once before this season, in Atlanta.  Can he do it at home against the New Orleans Saints?  I’m staying positive!

Drunken Uncles!

In addition to bemoaning my Snow Monkeys inevitable defeat, I spent much of the weekend refining my recipe for Monday’s Dark Matter cookie exchange.

“A watched cookie never bakes” – old proverb

All told, I will make approximately 80 of my Bourbon Brown Butter Cookies with Roasted White Chocolate Chunks (a.k.a. “Drunken Uncles” – thanks to Lawren Bancroft-Wilson, a fellow Fantasy Football weekend loser, who came up with the name), six for each cookie exchange participant plus leftovers for the innocent bystanders.

A dejected Lawren heads home, depressed by his team’s elimination from fantasy football playoff contention – and the fact that there’s already a drink called a Drunken Uncle.

And when she wasn’t helping me bake cookies, Akemi was making the dogs breakfast…

This morning, for instance, it was banana pancakes.  Yes.  The dogs had a banana pancake breakfast.  They can file that one away in the “pro” column.

And this one under “con”.

December 13, 2014: Snow Dogs!

Well, turns out I’m not the only one who is going to have to get used to deep freeze here in Toronto.

Due to her hip dysplasia, arthritic shoulders, and advanced age (almost 16!), Jelly gets a free ride.   Literally.  She gets shuttled from the hotel to the park and back in a special dog stroller.  Pro: The comfy trip.  Con: She pays the price by having to wear the Santa Pug outfit.  Akemi insists: “The dogs LOVE to dress up!”.  I remain unconvinced.

In emergencies, the patio offers a great back-up to the long and involved trek to the park.  Snow can complicate matters though!

For the rest of the gang, who don’t have the luxury of stroller rides, it’s socks and boots (and jackets and Christmas bells)!  Getting them dressed is a two-person job.

But once we’re done, it’s a stylin’ all systems go!

Although, in retrospect, the addition of hats might be advisable.

Alternately, dialing down the fun ensures a mercifully quick and much less snowy stroll.

Lulu, however, always makes the best of even the worst situations.  If life gives you snow, make snowmanades.  Or just chase down a ball.

December 12, 2014: Dark Matter! The Week in Meetings!

We are officially in prep on episodes #101 and #102 of Dark Matter.  The train has left the station and is barreling down the tracks.  There’s no turning back now. We’re making a t.v. show!

As we creep ever-closer to our first day of shooting, the days grow longer, the pace more frenzied, and the meetings just keep on coming…

The Art Department meeting

Production Designer Ian Brock and his team guide us through ongoing and upcoming construction and builds.  The corridors, now textured and painted, are looking awesome.  Following a small adjustment to the layout of the forward consoles, work has resumed on the bridge’s walls and monitors.  The ship’s lower deck section is pretty damn impressive, with its dark blue metallic multi-level look. And we finally signed off on our shuttle (the Phantom Class Marauder) which will start coming together in the coming weeks.

The Concept meeting

Holy Smokes, it’s really happening!  The various department heads gather to cram themselves into our conference room and discuss the game plan for our first two episodes.  For those of you not familiar with production – or who may be new to this blog – the concept meeting is the very first meeting of prep week.  The 1st A.D. (assistant director), in this case Brandon Tataryn who I’ll be introducing you to in the coming weeks, goes through the script to ensure everyone knows what, if anything, will be required of them in each scene.  For instance, Costumes should have an idea for what our crew will be wearing when they first come out of stasis, while Props should know how many guns we’ll need for the final shootout.

The Stunts/SPFX meeting

SPFX stands for Special Effects, and that includes everything from squib hits to explosions, sparkage to steam.  Our stunt coordinator, John Stead (another guy I’ll be introducing you to in the days ahead), has his work cut out for him as he’ll be choreographing a few big throw-downs, from the opening bridge fracas to the longer and more involved 4 on 1 encounter with the ship’s “security protocol”.  Then, in episode #102, things get real down and dirty – and bloody! – on the planet.

The VFX/Graphics/Playback meeting

Oh, yeah!  We’re a scifi series, and that means stunning visual effects.  A familiar face from our Stargate days, Lawren Bancroft-Wilson, is on hand to supervise sequences like “the missile pursuit” and those FTL jumps and exits.  And, of course, graphics and playback are going to be key to telling our story and ensuring the show maintains that cool, SF visual style.

Remember this?

And this?

Next week  = more meetings and mayhem!

Tagged: Dark Matter

December 11, 2014: Dinner with former cohorts!

Back before Stargate, before my years on teen sitcom Student Bodies, before my time story-editing for the CBS Saturday morning lineup, I was the Manager of Animation Development at an animation studio in Montreal.  It’s been a long while, but I still keep in touch with a few of my former co-workers and even get together with them on occasion.

Like yesterday, for instance, when Anne-Marie Perrotta flew in for super-secret business.  And dinner with us.  At Patria, a Spanish tapas restaurant on King Street that came highly recommended from Prodigy Picture’s resident foodie, Natalie Cooper.

Also joining us on this night was another former face from my animation days, Natalie Dumoulin, now Vice President Creative Affairs at 9story Media Group.

What we had -

Piquillo peppers with oxtail and manchego.

Octopus and potatoes

And, of course, the paella.  With cornish hen and serrano ham.

The dulce de leche churros

In addition to about a dozen other dishes including blistered pardon peppers, chorizo bombas, goat cheese with orange blossom honey and fig, patatas bravas, empanadas, roasted cauliflower, and chocolate pudding with olive oil and sea salt.

Patria: 478 King St. West

Akemi gets acquainted with Natalie’s dog.  

After dinner, we headed over to Natalie’s place for drinks – although, to be fair, she’s the only one who did any actual drinking, opening up a bottle of red to celebrate our re-connecting after all these years.

Just like old times!

But with more tapas.

And less voice actors.

December 10, 2014: The shuttle!

We’re heavy into prep on episodes #101-102 and, with the commencement of principal photography about a month away, sets are coming together nicely.  Our ship, The Raza, has come a long way in the past couple of weeks.  The corridors have been textured with faux-grate flooring, pipes, vents, and grills, its walls painted in metallic hues, sliding doors installed; the quarters are coming to life, the sub-level cargo hold and walkways finished, and the bridge…the window are in, front AND top, and the consoles went in today.

Meanwhile, work is being completed on the shuttle (the Phantom Class Marauder) interior design.  We’ve gone back and forth on its various elements – width, depth, seating layout, windows, and location of the door – and are in the process of finalizing the look.  I wanted something similar to the puddle jumper in terms of layout with a little more of the depth of the SGU shuttle.  Ultimately, I think we’ll also incorporate an element of the SG-1 cargo ships with its sectioned cockpit and separate hold.

Anyway, I contacted Stargate Production Designer James Robbins, who has been doing some fabulous design work for us on Dark Matter (Can’t wait to show you his work on The Marauder, the space station, and the various cruiser, destroyer, and shuttle class versions of the Ferrous Corp, Mikkei Combine, and Galactic Authority ships!), and asked him about the dimensions of those smaller Stargate ship designs.  He sent me the following which I thought were too cool not to share with you -

As James points out, the dimensions are from our VFX department and may not reflect what was actually built.  80 feet long for the SGU shuttle seems a bit much, but the 40 foot length of the Atlantis puddle jumper sounds about right.

Takes you back, no?

Many thanks to James for digging these up from the archive!

Prep continues with non-stop meetings.  Today, it was the concept meeting followed by visual effects, playback, and impromptu hair meeting, stunts, and special effects.  Tomorrow, it’s an Art Department review, props, paints, another hair meeting, and not one but TWO gun meetings!

Tagged: Dark Matter, science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television, SG-1, SGA, SGU, Stargate, Stargate ships, Stargate Universe, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: Atlants, Stargate: SG-1

December 9, 2014: Not peanut butter and other ingesting tragedies!

File photo of Executive Producer Carl Binder eating something that turned out to be totally different from what he was expecting/I told him he was eating.

Every morning, I  make myself a breakfast shake comprised of ten varied ingredients, usually: almond milk, keffir/yogurt, green tea, cinnamon, flaxseed oil, one banana, another piece of fruit, oatmeal/bran, a piece of manuka honey, and a tablespoon of peanut butter.  This day’s prep seemed no different than any other and, after blending together all the components and pouring them into an empty bottle for later, I licked the spoon clean as I usually do – only to discover that what I thought was the homemade peanut butter I picked up at last weekend’s farmer’s market was, in fact, Akemi’s white miso paste which, incidentally, tastes NOTHING like peanut butter.

As I tossed out the shake and got to work on a new one, I was reminded of my very first food miscue.  Way back, when I was in kindergarten, my class was once presented with a tableful of common pantry items, everything from butter to jams. Our teacher asked us to identify what we recognized from our our kitchens. “That’s sugar!”shouted one kid, pointing to a bowl and, before the teacher could respond, perhaps emboldened by my fellow classmate’s ebullience, I scooped it up and poured its contents into my mouth.  As it turned out, he was wrong.  It wasn’t sugar.  And, to this day, I rarely ever add salt to anything.

Two of my father’s most infamous childhood anecdotes involved his own eating blunders.  In both incidents, he snuck into the kitchen, after being sent to bed without supper, for a spoonful of what he assumed to be pudding.  The first time, it was chicken fat; the second, a hot mustard plaster his mother had prepared for his dad’s ailing back.

Akemi offered her own childhood story about her brother who, rushing home after a baseball game and on his way to piano practice, asked his mother for a glass of water.  He was apparently so thirsty that it was only once he’d polished off the glass that he realized his mother had mistakenly poured him an eight ounce shot of sake.

Akemi found the retelling of this story all sorts of hilarious – until I reminded her about the time she brushed her teeth with hand cream.

I’m sure everyone has their own equally horrific story to tell.

And I want to hear it!

Come on.  Fess up.  What was your most memorable food miscue?