Joe Mallozzi has been blogging and answering fan questions at his Blog on Gateworld, the Ask JM Thread on Gateworld, and right here on the Solutions forum Q&A with Joe Thread. Wiki editor DeeKayP has been diligently updating our Season Ten page with all episode spoilers revealed by Joe or anyone else, but we thought it would be of interest to summarize what Joe has revealed about character arcs and directions in Season 10, especially those that are not episode-specific. Joe’s words are presented in quotes.
Jack will be referenced from time to time but “you can only do so many one-sided phone calls before it begins to feel like that season of Three’s Company…”
Joe acknowledged that Jack’s new position as head of Homeworld Security was not stated explicitly, and it seems this was almost an oversight by the production staff. As for whether RDA will appear in Season 10, “It’s entirely possible. It’s just a matter of finding the right story for him.”
Daniel will finally go to Atlantis and spend time there, in episode 3 of Season 10. This implies we will see some of the Atlantis crew and locations in that episode. Joe says there was heated debate in the writers’ room as they were breaking the story. As to why: “That you’ll have to wait and see although, at the time we were discussing it, it was intended to serve as the launch for a significant, potentially very controversial story arc for one of the characters.”
As for speculation that Daniel will be darker in character in Season 10: “I’ve been sworn to secrecy on this one.”
There are no plans to give Daniel a medal for his contributions. “I don’t think Daniel would place much importance on things like medals or awards. What was and continues to be important to him are the contributions he makes (and is able to make).”
Mitchell and Carter share command of SG-1 depending on the circumstances. However, this is not discussed between the two characters in Season 9, and they will not act in an obvious way as co-leaders in Season 9.
As far as Mitchell’s prominence in the stories, “Mitchell will have his hands full in the season premiere and throughout season 10, believe me.” He also said, “All of our main characters will get their opportunities to shine, either in individual stories or within bigger stories.”
Vala’s introduction as a show regular will include a lot of debate at the SGC as to whether she is worthy or trustworthy enough. An added element that we don’t know about will help sway the arguments. Still, “Vala will not be getting a free pass.”
In fact, we should not assume that Vala will actually be joining the SG-1 team. He was surprised to read talk of a ‘team of 5’ and, as for whether Vala will eventually join SG-1, said only, “it’s possible.”
Vala will be living on Earth, but her particular living situation (e.g., on base or off) will depend on her behavior.
As for Vala’s motherhood status, “What child? Well, let’s just say if she was pregnant and did have a child, then, yeah, we would probably see that child in season 10.”
There will be an “angsty” scene between Daniel and Sam in Morpheus.
Teal’c will have a chance to step up in a non-Jaffa story in Morpheus.
There is no Sam/Jack ship planned for Season 10 or for the foreseeable future. “To be perfectly honest, there are more interesting and important stories to tell at this point.”
There are no plans to ship Carter with anyone else, either.
In fact, there are no plans for any pairings or romantic sub-plots at all in Season 10.
The first eight or so stories for the year will not have Carter crossing over to Stargate Atlantis. That may happen later as the needs of the shows dictate.
We may actually see the Furlings in Season 10. The writers had serious discussions about having them appear in the landmark 200th episode.
We may see the Tok’ra again in Season 10.
There are no plans for Young Jack to return, since without senior Jack there as a comparison, the character doesn’t work at all.
The episode “Counter-Strike” “affords a bonding opportunity between two characters with a rocky past.” Also in that episode, Daniel will tell Vala about Share. One may infer that it’s Daniel and Vala who have the bonding opportunity, but that’s not certain.
There will be a ‘significant loss’ in “Counter-Strike.” Asked to assure the loss will not be Jack, he said “This early, I can’t assure anyone of anything with regard to who or what, exactly, is lost in Counter-Strike.”
It is not possible for a person to become a Prior unwillingly.
There are no plans for Peter DeLuise, Michael Shanks, or Chris Judge to write scripts this year, but they are welcome to suggest ideas.
Filming of Season 10 will begin in the third week of February.
Watch this space for more tidbits as we hear about them.
Update: 31 December 2005
Here are some more updates from Joe Mallozzi’s various posts.
“Vala’s character will evolve. She’ll essentially remain the character we’ve come to know, but will gain added depth.”
When asked that Joe confirm the truth of the rumor that Vala and Cameron would be paired off more in S10 in order to appease the Farscape fans, Joe responded, “False. Part of the fun of adding Vala to the mix will be in exploring her relationship with each member of SG-1. ”
Concerning who will be on the SG-1 team in S10, “As Carter pointed out in Lockdown, there’s nothing in the regulation that states an SG team has to be made up of four members.” Even so, he confirmed that Mitchell, Daniel, Teal’c, and Carter will be members of SG-1. As for Vala, “Another great question.”
In responding to why some fans have not embraced Mitchell, “He’s a little more difficult to categorize (ie. stoic warrior, scientist, rogue) and, like the others, will acquire depth and a fuller character over time. The problem is, Mitchell was introduced at a time when were introducing a bunch of other major series elements and, as a result, we didn’t get the opportunity explore him as much as we may have wanted to – something that we rectify in the back half of season 9 with episodes like Stronghold and Collateral Damage.”
Joe provided more insights on the SG-1 command issue. He said again that it was debated in the writer’s room and “ultimately decided [that] Carter and Mitchell would share leadership of the team. Who is in charge is entirely mission-dependent.” That said, it was not an issue for Season 9 as the question of who is in charge did not affect any of the stories. This may change in Season 10, in other words, the issue may be addressed more explicitly.
There are still no plans for O’Neill to make an appearance in the 200th episode.
Regarding off-world versus Earth-based stories in Season 10, “Its a fairly even mix to start, but given what we’ve talked about, there should be more off-world stories this season than other seasons.”
Michael Shanks’ appearance in the episode “Payback” was watched by 20.3 million viewers as reported by CNN.com! This rating put CSI: Miami at the top of the Nielsen prime-time ratings for the week of December 19 to 25. During the previous week, the show ranked #10 with 13.8 million viewers.
