January 28, 2008

Interesting reactions to last Friday’s episode. Most went something like this: “I really expected to hate Harmony, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.” “Hey, it didn’t suck!”rave the fans. Thanks for that. And Marty G. thanks you as well. We were both surprised by the volume of positive responses to that painting revealed at episode’s end. While I love the idea of making it available as a print, t-shirt, or poster - I’m not sure Joe F. would be quite as enthused. Some of you suggested we should auction it off and, yes, that would be a great idea - so long as the lucky winner is willing to swing on by the production offices and haul it away in a flatbed truck. The thing is HUGE!

Last night’s broiled filet of sole was good but, I have to admit, tonight’s dinner was better. After several days of fending for myself, I decided to let the gang at Fuel fend for me. And they did not disappoint. The German Butter Potato & Rosemary Soup with a sunken isle of pork confit and touch of paprika proved a hearty winter offering. I followed it up with the decadently smooth foie gras torchon. For my main, I had the roasted ling cod, crisply bronzed yet subtle and tender, served atop a bed of arrow leaf spinach and pork belly, then topped with pickled chanterelles. I truly missed this place. Yes, I’ve been remiss, but I’m sure I’ll rectify that in the coming weeks. Marty G. has already booked us a table for Wednesday night.

For those of you still keeping track of this sort of thing, the early numbers on Harmony show a nice uptick from last week, equaling the ratings for Adrift and Spoils of War.

Today’s entry is dedicated to birthday gal Tina.

Mailbag -

Tenmongaku writes: “Do you guys have staff meetings or something before starting filming of an episode?”

Answer: Prep week begins with a concept meeting that is attended by the producer, the director, and all of the department heads. Subsequent meetings with the various departments take place in the days leading up to the first day of production.

Annie from Freemantle writes: “ Oh a friend asked me a question of pugs.. can they take some of Australia’s summer heat?”

Answer: No, pugs do not fare well in hot weather. They’re very delicate dogs.

Matt S. writes: “Have you had a chance to pick up Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker yet?”

Answer: I haven’t, although I do like his stuff. Let me know what you think.

Matt S. also writes: “when the episode Harmony was written, was Jodelle Ferland a quick decision to fill the title role?”

Answer: Yes, Jodelle was our first and only choice. We made sure she was onboard before Martin even started work on the script.

Mags writes: “How long did it take to film Harmony? And were the nighttime scenes filmed on location as well or on the set to give you more flexibility with time?”

Answer: Like most of our episodes, Harmony was a 7-day shooting. Most of it was filmed on location with the exception of the scenes in the village, and the cave sequence which were filmed on our standing sets.

Aurora writes: “Was wondering what you thought of the Amazing Race finale this year.”

Answer: Meh. As much as I enjoyed this season and was pleased with the final three, I thought the final task (assembling the various items) was confusing and visually uninteresting. A bit of a disappointment. Still, nice to see the hippies win.

Luis writes: “ When you say that they were looking to Drasticly reduce RDA’s role was this a RDA decision or a manegement decision??”

Answer: As someone already said, this was Rick’s decision borne of a desire to spend more time with his daughter.

Farscapefan writes: “in case you forgot, Vala IS part of the team. Now what you said sounds to me like you’re trying to prove something else, that Carter is the ONLY girl on SG-1 and Vala is entirely a fifth wheel..”

Answer: Sure, sounds to you. What I said, “As for a movie entirely devoted to the Vala character - again, I can’t speak for Brad and Robert but I think that would be highly unlikely. Future movies should focus on the team.”, was in response to your statement that the next SG-1 movie should be entirely devoted to her character - “Vala is too important character to really big part of the audience and deserve a story in the movie as the MAIN character, devoted to her entirely.”

Astrumporta writes: “Joe, if Sci Fi never puts out a press release before S5 starts filming, will you then be allowed to tell us who shows up for work? I think it will be hard to keep it secret for long!”

Answer: I’ll take pictures on the day and let you do the math.

Yasmin writes: “I was wondering, since you guys mentioned previously that the Weir story line would be visited in S5, would that be done sort of behind the scenes way?”

Answer: No, we’ll revisit the story - onscreen - in season 5.