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December 6, 2008: Writer/Director/Executive Producer Martin Gero Brainstorms Your Questions
One of the nice things about going away for a while is coming back to find stuff done for you. Things like laundry, guest Q&A’s, and script outlines. Well, guest Q&A’s anyway. And so, today, I turn this blog over to the lovely and talented Martin Gero who has kindly taken the time to answer your questions about last week’s episode, Brain Storm, which he wrote, directed, and produced. Now, if he only did laundry…
Hey everyone! As always, thank you for your kind comments, questions and occasional condemnation. I relish the chance to answer a few questions on this, the most popular Sci-Fi/Food blog on the internet. Let’s begin:
... IMForeman writes: “1.) Did you have Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson lined up before you wrote the episode, or were their other characters in their place that were removed when it was discovered you could get them?
2.) Did either take exception to your portrayal of them
3.) Freeze Lightning? Really? I mean, I suppose you could have come up with “pinpoint hypothermic blasts” or “focused cryogenic bolts”… but Freeze Lightning? It sounds like it should be from a musical.
4.) What commentaries are you doing this year?”
1) Yeah, I’ve wanted to get Neil on the show for some time now, and Bill is one of Bob Picardo’s closest friends and had mentioned he’d be open to coming on the show. I was and am a HUGE fan of both…
2) Not at all. They were both big fans of the script. Dr. Tyson has some dialogue suggestions to make things closer to his natural cadence and Bill suggested a few extra lines here and there, but for the most part they performed the script as written.
3) I’m gonna turn this answer over to Bill Nye. Bill what are your thoughts of Freeze Lightning?
BILL NYE: “I thought that was just cool. If you could somehow concentrate heat and then exclude it. It was just a cool idea. If you could control heat the way you control a beam of light. We can in a limited extent in infrared, but this took it to another level.”
As for the name…I make fun of it in the episode. I know it’s not the “coolest” names, but it worked, I thought.
4) Search and Rescue, First Contact, Lost Tribe, Brain Storm.
... DemonHunter writes: “If Atlantis went on to season 6 would McKay have been a daddy next year???”
Yes…and Sheppard would have been the mommy. It would have been an awesome arch.
... IN CONCLUSION:
Sorry I didn’t get to answer all of the questions! Feel free to ask me if you ever see me waiting for a bus or something.
And, finally: thank you. These five years have been an amazing experience for me. You are the best fans a show could ask for and I have enjoyed the back and forth over the course of the series (the good and the bad). It’s been a great ride and I look forward to getting to show you the stuff we’re working on for Universe…for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing.
All the best,
M.
And the mailbag is back…
... Megan writes: “Quick question for you concerning SGA: According to MGM, the decision to cancel the series was not in their hands; they would have approved a sixth season. SciFi wanted a sixth season as well. You’ve stated you wanted to continue with Atlantis as did the actors. So, who made the final call to cancel SGA when all parties wanted to go on?”
Answer: Great, great question.
... ElisaD writes: “How is the script going for the SGA movie?”
Answer: We’re still at the outline stage. I did my pass and I’m waiting for Paul [Mullie] to do his.
... Trevor writes: “Does this mean like SG-1 only two movies or are they really going to make more movies on both SG-1 and SGA ?”
Answer: At present, we are scheduled to produce two movies next year, one of each.
