January 13, 2008

My pug Bubba has a habit of barking at the t.v. I suppose it’s common behavior in most dogs although, if that is the case, then Jelly, Maximus, and Lulu are in the minority. What I find interesting is not so much his frenzied reaction, but some of the unusual things that consistently set him off. The other day, I made a point of taking note of the triggers. What follows is a list of the thing things that prompt Bubba’s berserker rage:

1. Dogs.

2. Horses.

3. Rappers (and rap music in general).

4. Cats.

5. Monkeys.

6. Patricia Arquette.

7. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers post-TD celebratory fusillade.

8. The theme to American Idol.

9. Cows.

10. Iron Chef’s Chairman Kaga.

Okay, rappers and Patricia Arquette I get. But Chairman Kaga? Seriously. What gives?

Well, round two of the NFL playoffs is in the books and congratulations are in order. Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers who, finding themselves down two touchdowns early, remained cool under pressure (the wintry weather presumably helped), and came back to trounce those upstart Seattle Seahawks. Congratulations to the New York Giants who demonstrated, to quote Cookie Monster, “heart like turd Snuffleupagus leave behind when visit Sesame Street: big, impressive, but easy to overlook on way to beer store or, in dis case, Superbowl” (On the other hand, condolences to super-fans Robert Cooper and Paul McGillion who are, no doubt at this very moment, nursing deep, deeeep depressions). Congratulations to those scrappy San Diego Chargers who hung tough on the road and eked out a hard-fought victory, winning themselves the golden opportunity to lose in New England next weekend. And, that’s it. Yeah, New England won, but they were supposed to win - by a lot more. Shameful really. I can’t even imagine how deeply disappointed Patriots fans are after this weekend’s win.

Hey, check it out. Marty G. received his shipment of Atlantis action figures Friday afternoon. Included in the assortment was the super-rare Drunken Sheppard fig (pictured). How cool is that!

Today’s mailbag:

Thornyrose writes: “Will we see Todd again this season?”

Answer: Yep.

Emily writes: “I hate to think that I’m this stupid, but I can’t figure out how to get to your profile on this site.”

Answer: Hmmm. Come to think of it, neither can I.

PG15 writes: “I thought the Replicator Aurora class ships were kind of weaker than their Lantian cousins in BAMSR. They barely fired any drones and their shields seemed to have come down really fast.”

Answer: Two points - 1. The weapons systems on the Earth ship have been upgraded following the events of Unending. 2. The replicator Aurora-class ships are very good replicas of their original Ancient counterparts. But they are not the originals.

PG15 also writes: “For the spoiler poem, am I right to say that each episode/notion only got 1 line in the poem? I.e. There aren’t 2 separately lines that point to the same episode?”

Answer: It more or less comes out to one line per episode.

Neep writes: “If it’s broken, will you sign my cast? Or at least carry me down the hill to work?”

Answer: So what’s the verdict? Is it broken?

Jed writes: “Was the cloning facillity only used for creating wraith warriors? (the ones with the masks) if so how are the other wraith created?”

Answer: The wraith warriors are cloned. As for the queens and the speaking males - this has yet to be revealed, however Ellia’s backstory in Instinct would suggest they are produced through less, uh, techy means.

Pitry writes: “John doesn’t want Teyla to go on missions because she’s pregnant. Fair enough. But it’s not the limitations she might have due to her pregnancy that’s bothering him - obviously, at 3 months she’s as capable as before - but her risking her yet unborn child. There’s a generation long arguement about whether, at 3 months, a foetus can be considered a living being - not to mention all the rambling about it having a mind of its own in SOW - and there’s a very good reason there’s still a debate on it.”

Answer: First of all, all debate aside, by going off-world, Teyla puts her pregnancy at risk. That is what Sheppard is reacting to. Secondly, given the events of Spoils of War, I think it’s pretty obvious that one shouldn’t be applying typical Earth-based notions to Teyla’s clearly atypical pregnancy.

Angry Jackfan writes: “I’ve heard Jack will be in less than 10 minutes in Continuum. Is it true?”

Answer: Not sure. I usually make it a point to pinpoint the exact screen time of each character, but I left my stopwatch at home during the Continuum screening.

Narellefromaus writes: “The enormity of the Culture was unfathomable and my head enjoyed trying to imagine that kind of scale.”

Answer: Banks creates an incredibly complex universe. What I particularly loved about Consider Phlebas was the humanity’s comparatively small role in the big picture war being played out around them. Both sides in the conflict propose pretty convincing arguments - and prove, at times, equally reprehensible. No easy answers.

Kate writes: “I have a question though; in the first season, we would see the prison doors on the Wraith ships coming apart to open, and then reforming to close. In this episode, the prison door slides up in its entirety. What gives?”

Answer: Different hive.

Carol Z writes: “Is it possible to purchase SGA scripts from past eps anywhere online? I don’t mean the free transcripts, but actual shooting scripts, that were used to shoot the eps?”

Answer: To the best of my knowledge, actual shooting scripts are not available for sale.