Category: Features

SGA "Reunion" Is About Roots

Jason Momoa as Ronon Dex (S4)

When asked to use one word to describe “Reunion”, tonight’s episode of Stargate Atlantis, during the episode’s development, executive producer, co-showrunner, and episode writer Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his personal blog: “roots.” He explained this choice further in an MSN TV Blog interview: “In the episode called “Reunion,” she [Col. Samantha Carter] settles in. It’s not an easy first day. In that particular episode, her settling in is the B-story, where the A-story is Ronon encountering some Satedans that he thought were killed in the fall of Sateda, his former friends and the unit he fought with. He’s drawn to his past and has to make a decision, the decision between remaining with the life he’s built on Atlantis or returning of the roots he knew. In the same episode, Carter is letting go of the roots she knew and building a new home on Atlantis. It’s kind of interesting how those two stories intersect. Carter kind of runs afoul of Ronon, who doesn’t appreciate her coming in and establishing certain protocols. She doesn’t exactly run afoul of Sheppard, but they have a certain disagreement about mission priorities.”

Script coordinator Alex Levine wrote in his scifi.com blog that “the first half of the Atlantis season contains episodes that key on specific characters, and this one is really about Ronon, as he runs into some old Satedan comrades-in-arms. He’s torn, because they’re out there battling the Wraith their own way, and he feels like he should be loyal to them and perhaps leave Atlantis. Well when the first script came out, one of the notes was that the beginning of the script was too much character stuff as the action doesn’t start up right away. But Joe [Mallozzi] stuck to his guns, and I think rightly so.”

Although the action might not start up right away, there is plenty of it in this episode. Levine wrote, “I think it’s a great episode, with a big OP (read: combat operation) and tons of fights and stunts. Maybe even the best fight sequences we’ve ever done (big ups to James Bamford, our fearless stunt coordinator and fight choreographer).” Most likely, these stunt fight sequences were enhanced by Mark Dacascos, an expert in the martial arts (see Solutions Blog casting story) who plays Tyre, one of Ronon’s Satedan friends.

Carter hugs Teal

Concerning Carter’s character-driven B-story, in a sneak peek video posted at Yahoo TV, fans get to see Carter say good-bye to Teal’c (in a cameo appearance by Christopher Judge) as she finishes her packing and heads off to Atlantis as its new commander. Through her tears, Teal’c can see how much the ten years on SG-1 have meant to her and reassures her that “SG-1 will not be far away.” Calling back to his famous “undomesticated equines” line he used to reassure his team leader O’Neill that he wouldn’t leave his side when he was literally pinned to a wall and in pain (“Message in a Bottle”), Teal’c shows the depth of the roots that all of the members of SG-1 have nurtured over the years.

“Reunion” premieres tonight at 10pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel (and re-airs again at midnight). If you’re recording the episode, keep in mind that it might be running a little late as there are Battlestar Galactica clips being shown during Atlantis‘s lead-in show Flash Gordon. After watching, please visit the Solutions on-site forum to cast your vote and discuss the episode.

SGA "Lifeline": Watch, Vote, Discuss

SGA "Lifeline" is farewell to Dr. Weir

Tonight is the world premiere of “Lifeline”, the second episode of the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. It is also an emotional episode in that fans will have to bid farewell to Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), at least for a little while.

Script coordinator Alex Levine wrote in his blog at SciFi.com that this episode is the first one that Carl Binder wrote for Season Four. He also stated that Andy Mikita directed “much of this episode” because Martin Wood was called away to shoot scenes for one of the SG-1 movies (Stargate: Continuum in a very special and remote location). And then he added, “Carl wanted me to say how thrilled he is with the performances of Torri Higginson and Joe Flanigan, especially Torri. As this episode is sort of a send-off episode for Weir, Torri’s performance was all the more meaningful, and difficult. I know Carl, and this compliment wasn’t mere puffery.”

Watch “Lifeline” live tonight at 10pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel (a second run will occur at midnight). Please join us in our on-site forum to vote and discuss the episode afterwards.

Wiki Updated with SGA S4 Episode Airing Order

Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi has posted the episode airing order for the second half of Season Four Stargate Atlantis in his personal blog. The Stargate Wiki has been updated to reflect this airing order with new episode guides for episodes 14 through 19. The finale’s title is currently not known, so information on that episode remains in the Season Four index, where you’ll also find links to the new episode guide articles.

Season Four will premiere with “Adrift” on the Sci Fi Channel at 10pm Eastern (new timeslot) on Friday, September 28, 2007.

SGA S4 Spoilers: From "Adrift" to "Quarantine"

Solutions has added individual episode guides for each of the first thirteen episodes of Season Four of Stargate Atlantis to our Stargate Wiki. These guides include episode summaries, guest cast lists, names of the writers and directors, production notes, and other information currently available as the new season is in production in Vancouver.

It should be noted that all of the information is subject to change.

To visit each episode guide, use our Season Four Episode Index.

Auction for Yum@, a Fan in Need

One of our sister sites is Stargatefan. You may know the site owner, Yum@, has had a major health crisis. Some friends have stepped up to help her out:

Those of you know in Stargate SG-1 fandom know, we’re sure, that Anna (Yum@) of StargateFan has been ill for some time. For those of you in other fandoms, Anna is one of those tireless people in fandom who give much to the rest of us who share her love of all things Stargate SG-1.

As you can imagine, such a long term illness has been a financial stress on her and her family. A group of her longtime friends is embarking upon a fund raising effort to help her out. One such effort will be a zine in her honor, organized by Jmas at the Ancientsgate website.

This auction is another such effort. No, this is NOT a charity auction — this is an auction of friends helping friends, one of the things that fandom is all about.

We’ve all searched our shelves, checked the drawers, rifled through the filing cabinets to see whether we’d have anything that might tempt our fellow fans to give new homes to the things we’ve collected over time.

We’ve managed to find a few things… trinkets and previously loved zines, magazines and photos; a camcorder, a few rare promo items from past shows and films… These and other items will find their way to our auction. Oh, and thanks to the wonderful people at Legends Memorabilia, very shortly we’ll have some very special items from the set of Stargate SG-1.

We’re kicking off the auction today, and it will run for a couple of weeks. We hope you will find something to tempt you, and invite you – and ask you – to spread the word of our little effort: Auction for Yum@.

"A Dog's Breakfast" Premieres in San Jose, CA

A Mini-Report from Your Solutions Reporter

5 Mar 07: Edited with bits about Sunday’s showing.

David Hewlett and partner and fiancée Jane Loughman were on hand Saturday night for the first of three showings of their movie, “A Dog’s Breakfast,” which is an invited entry to the 2007 San Jose Cinequest Film Festival (Cinequest.org). The weather was lovely and so was the event!

The lower level of the 500+ seat theater was about 80% full, and the crowd was very diverse, ranging from hardcore Stargate/Hewlett fans to Film Festival pass holders who seemed completely unfamiliar with the film or its actors. I brought along a friend who’s a big Atlantis fan but not involved in on-line fandom at all, so he is somewhere in between.

David and Jane arrived just as people were filing into the theater. They said “hi” to anyone who noticed them standing in the lobby and then later at the rear of the theater. The Cinequest rep announced David was in the audience and would do a Q&A after the movie, which was very welcome news.

Then, the film began… For myself if was very interesting to see it a second time. There were so many things to notice in the plot twists and performances that led up logically to the conclusion, things that become more clear once you’ve seen the ending. I would say the audience was not quite as responsive as the all-fan crowd in Los Angeles had been, yet clearly the attendees were engaged and laughed very often. The people around me enjoyed it; even the older woman who was chatting in Mandarin with her family during quiet parts laughed out loud many times. 🙂

There was rousing applause as the credits rolled, then David and Jane came down to the front of the theater and answered a few questions about making the film. Someone asked about the Starcrossed series they are trying to sell to NBC Universal/Sci Fi, and Jane explained how many steps still remain before it could become a series. Sci Fi has to approve the pilot script to be filmed, then approve more scripts to be written, then approve them to be filmed, etc, etc. So its production is by no means a done deal.

After the short Q&A, the audience was ushered out, but David and Jane kindly stopped in the lobby to chat, take photos, and sign autographs for the 50 or so fans who stuck around. David was in great spirits, giving everyone a hard time as usual while Jane was her friendly and gracious self. I asked David how filming of Rob Cooper’s Atlantis episode “Doppelganger” is going, and he said it’s going very well and that Cooper is great fun to have as a director because he’s so enthusiastic about it.

After 40 minutes or so, David and Jane were able to make their way out of the theater and into the quiet streets of San Jose, hopefully to get some rest before doing it all again on Sunday. I hope they were pleased at both the turn-out and response to the movie, which were both excellent!

On Sunday afternoon I returned with a different friend who knows nothing about Stargate except what’s on the SG-1 poster in my office. This time the crowd was a bit smaller, perhaps 150 people in all. After we were all seated, David and Jane went to the front of the theater for what was announced as a short Q&A before the movie. David said they had to head back to Vancouver in time for filming on Monday morning, so they wouldn’t be able to stay for the screening. He did volunteer to answer questions if he could do so without spoiling the film. 🙂 He talked about how he found out he loves being a director, that making the movie has changed both their lives, and that his main regret was he didn’t slow down and take things a bit easier during filming of ADB. He said Jane at times had to remind him he had time to do the scene right instead of quickly. He also encouraged any budding filmmakers in the audience to use modern technology and distribution channels to go for it, to just get out there and make movies. A woman then gave him a CD of a movie she had made, and he was pleased to take it. After a few questions, David and Jane reluctantly made their way out of the theater.

It was interesting to see the movie for the second time in as many days in that I could listen for audience reaction and notice little things that popped out at me still for the first time. There were quite a few laughs and some moments of “concern” in the audience, ending again with a good round of applause. My friend proclaimed a “funny and intelligent” movie, and “inexpensive”, the latter not being an insult in his mind. For a non-fan to like it so much speaks volumes, I think.

I’m very glad I got to be there on Saturday night since that was the only chance to interact with David and Jane.  But it was very generous of them to fly down for the screenings at all, as that added so much to the experience. Both the volunteers running the festival and the attendees who had no idea David would be there seemed charmed by the whole thing.

Creation Con Burbank: Con Report

Better late than never, I hope, I’ve finally finished my lengthy and illustrated report on the November 16-19 Creation convention in Burbank, featuring Michael Shanks, David Hewlett, and many more! The report also covers the screening of David Hewlett’s film, A Dog’s Breakfast. You can read the report here in our Features section.