Monday, July 7, 2008

Stargate Atlantis - Monsters & Critics: Robert Picardo and Joe Mallozzi discuss command changes

From Monsters & Critics:

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)



Robert Picardo and Joe Mallozzi discuss command changes on Stargate: Atlantis

The fifth season of "Stargate Atlantis" launches on Sci Fi on July 11 -- with several cast changes, including a shift from starring to recurring status for Amanda Tapping, with actor Robert Picardo taking her place as the mission leader on the series.

Monsters and Critics joined some journalists and spoke with Stargate Atlantis star Robert Picardo and executive producer Joseph Mallozzi about the changes afoot in the Pegasus galaxy.


A brief excerpt:

With the first half of season five already on film, what would you say will be the turning point for viewers and ratings while continuing the second half and potentially a sixth season?

Joseph Mallozzi: The turning point? It’s not so much a turning point but a build from last year’s strong finish. I don’t recall off the top of my head what the numbers were but I know that Last Man -- our season finale -- finished very strongly.

And hopefully that’s something we can continue with the premiere: Search and Rescue and I’m sure some of you may have seen it along with the few thousand who happened to be cruising You Tube over the weekend or a couple of - last weekend.

And the reaction was overwhelming, positive from what I saw. I think it’s awfully indicative of what’s to come this season, a variety of action, character development, just hopefully what the fans have grown to love and really desire from the show.

In terms of standout episodes off the top of my head I mean, I’m very happy with the first half. But of course, one of the big episodes -- sort of like last year -- Be All My Sins [Remember'd] was a big mid-season two-parter - the second part of the mid-season two-parter.

In a similar way, the mid-season two-parter is going to be very big this year. It’s First Contact and The Lost Tribe. And of course, Daniel Jackson will be dropping in for an appearance and that’s going to be huge for a lot of the SG-1 fans who, , I’m sure have missed him and, have been asking, what the hell is taking so long for Daniel to come on over to the Pegasus Galaxy.

Well they get the chance in the mid-season two-parter. And, like last year’s Be All My Sins Remember'd, it’s full of surprises and action, and spectacular visual effects and some really nice character moments, particularly with regard to McKay and Daniel Jackson who are two characters that really haven’t had a chance to sort of play off each other.

They play off each other really well. I mean one of the things I said was these two guys -- Hewlett and Shanks -- are the fastest talking actors in Sci-Fi, bar none.
As a result - Martin Gero wrote both scripts and they were almost like 60-page scripts which a 60-page script is usually long.

I think First Contact was exactly to (top) and I’m not sure what Lost Tribe was - maybe a minute over. So, a lot of rapid fire talk between the two. And, hopefully, it’ll be an episode that the fans will love just as much as last year’s mid-season two-parter.

No comments: