Stargate Atlantis Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi returns to discuss Season Four of the iconic series! He and writer Paul Mullie became full executive producers starting this season. We talk about this big change, and take your questions LIVE during the show!
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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:40 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:14 – Introducing Joe, and Fan Content
04:05 – Stargate Atlantis Seaosn Four
07:02 – Bringing in Amanda Tapping
11:14 – Brief Episode Memories
20:55 – (Break to Fix Audio Problem)
23:30 – Mallozzi Returns with Cat Ears
24:44 – Episode Memories, “This Mortal Coil” and “Be All My Sins Remember’d”
35:11 – Michael Beach
37:00 – Rachel’s Pregnancy, Writing Scripts, Making Rodney a Dad
40:01 – “Harmony” and Jodelle Ferland
44:08 – “Miller’s Crossing”
45:31 – “Outcast”
47:40 – “Trio” and A Deleted Scene about Jack and Sam
51:16 – “Midway”
54:06 – “The Kindred” Parts 1 and 2
59:32 – “The Last Man”
1:01:39 – Season Four Recap
1:02:45 – Stargate Universe Directions
1:04:20 – More Fan Questions
1:06:34 – TV Promos
1:08:03 – Why Atlantis Ended, and Stargate Extinction Script
1:10:50 – Jack’s Photos in Sam’s Bag
1:11:40 – Fan Questions
1:12:57 – Era of Ancient Tech
1:15:30 – Sheppard’s Feelings on Teyla’s Pregnancy
1:16:45 – Aged David Hewlett in “The Last Man”
1:18:44 – Filming, and Arctic Locations
1:20:12 – Wrap up with Joe
1:21:11 – Post interview housekeeping
1:23:57 – End Credits
***
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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello Stargate fans. Don’t mind my weird camera angles here. My name is David Read. Welcome to Dial the Gate Episode 116. Joseph Mallozzi is back to discuss season four of Stargate Atlantis, the year that he and Paul Mullie took over as Executive Producers of the show. This is going to be an interesting episode. But before we bring him in, if you enjoy Stargate, and you want more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that like button, it really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please do consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Given the Bell icon to click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guests changes, this is key if you plan on watching live. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several days on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. Now as this is a live episode, Joe is with me live on youtube.com/dialthegate for the next hour and change. So if you have questions for him, our moderators are in the chat ready to receive those, so you just type at Dial the Gate and then ask a question. And then they’ll get those over to me and I will ask a handful of those questions at the end of the interview. We’re focusing on season four of Atlantis in this episode, so those questions will be the first to get entertained by me. Without further ado, Joseph Mallozzi, Writer, Executive Producer, Stargate Atlantis, season four, Joe. Man. Yes, I would imagine it does. Mostly good feelings I’m hoping.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, of course. I mean, bittersweet. Brad and Robert moved on, handed over the reins and Paul and I stepped up and with the backing of Carl Binder and Martin Gero and Alan McCullough delivered a great fourth season.
David Read
It’s one of my favorites of the show for sure. Before I get into that, how much exposure of fan content have you had on online in terms of like fan production, fan videos, fan films?
Joseph Mallozzi
To be honest with you, I have not checked out any of the fan films. I checked out one, but it was a long time ago. I will check out creations online. If it’s on Twitter and with a click, I can see it. I will check it out. Some really great stuff out there. In terms of like fan films, they just feel like such a big investment. I haven’t really had the opportunity to check them out.
David Read
I can understand that. Power543 Fan Films just released a short, it’s about six minutes long, called Stargate SG-1: New Mission. And they sent me the link yesterday and I’m going to post that at the end of our video here. It’s brand new, and I’m always on board for helping to promote this kind of content in the fan community. So I wanted to bring that up at the top of the show.
Joseph Mallozzi
I will definitely check it out.
David Read
Stargate Atlantis, season four, brought out some major changes to the franchise. I really felt, me personally, largely that the season really showed that Atlantis had legs. And I mean, if you think back on SG-1, season four of SG-1, not to say that the seasons that came before it weren’t solid, but it was really again proving that the material worked. And it was, it’s just another excellent season proving that the material is solid. I’m getting a notification here that your mic is a little bit soft. If you could move a little bit closer to your mic than that would… Oh, oh, you’re wearing it. If you could just speak up.
Joseph Mallozzi
Sure. Okay.
David Read
Okay, yeah. Would you agree with that statement that the season was just proving that this model continues to work, regardless of what show the Stargate is featured in that this thing is just going places?
Joseph Mallozzi
I guess so. I mean, at that point Brad and Robert had done such a brilliant job of really setting everything up that it was very easy to just pick up where they had left off. And I mean, there’s one thing I said about, I realized after the fourth season of SG-1 is that once you established that mythology, get the first season or two under your belt, then there are so many stories you can go back to and so much backstory that you can mine. So really, we just kind of hit the ground running.
David Read
Legit. I just got a message from Paul McGillion. He says he sent you a question.
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, okay. Is it a Carson Beckett question?
David Read
I hope so. We’re gonna have to wait and see. Moderators make sure that we find that one. I hope that that’s in here somewhere. Sommer says unfortunately something, anyway. Too low volume, so we’re still, yeah, we’re still having some kind of a volume issue. I’m lowering my volume on my end to see if fans can, if we can get them to raise their volume. Because I’m trying to, I’ve maximized it on your side.
Joseph Mallozzi
Okay, I’ve raised it a bit on my side. So I’ll see if that helps at all.
David Read
See. Yeah, okay, we’re just gonna do the best that we can.
Joseph Mallozzi
All right.
David Read
Amanda Tapping joined this season. So tell us about the process that you recall of bringing her on board.
Joseph Mallozzi
Um, to be honest with you, there were a couple of ways we could have gone. But I thought the one that made the most sense was to bring Carter on board and hopefully some rare SG-1 fans that hadn’t checked out Atlantis yet. And so we approached Amanda and she obviously loved the idea and we wrote her in and it was just kind of a lot of fun too. We’ve done crossovers before, but it was a first time obviously we’d established an SG-1 regular in our Atlantis universe. So in that respect it was very exciting. It felt very fresh, and it was just opened up a host of possibilities for us.
David Read
But was there some concern that at the time, if I’m not mistaken, I’m recalling that there was some concern that SG-1 was going to steal Atlantis’s thunder. Or that the reason that they’re doing this is because Atlantis is struggling or something. I remember at the time seeing a lot of that and thinking this is just to further the connection.
Joseph Mallozzi
Anyway, I would ask concern from who? Secondly, I mean, the ratings were strong for both shows. So that really wasn’t obviously a reason. And then in terms of sort of, we were cognizant of the fact that the Carter character is almost bigger than life. And so, she really stepped into the role of kind of the project overseer. So in retrospect, I mean, I think we were pretty mindful of bringing this element of SG-1 into Atlantis but not having it overpower or overshadow Atlantis. And one of the ways we did that was just to make Carter’s role in Atlantis very specific. So she didn’t really get the chance to go offworld because just from the leadership standpoint it really didn’t really make sense. But in retrospect, I think it would have been a lot of fun if we’d actually taken her offworld more.
David Read
Yeah, I think that…
Joseph Mallozzi
The way to do it.
David Read
That was one of the I think concerns that Torri Higginson has illustrated that there wasn’t a great deal of, if she had second billing, there wasn’t a great deal for her to do unless she was offworld and a part of that team. And I remember seeing more episodes that were geared toward her doing that. But Carter was much more of, I think played that more administrative role. And it felt to me like, this is not the Samantha Carter SG-1 on the Atlantis show. This is still very much the Atlantis people and Carter is like an added treat for the fans. And that’s what I walked away with.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah. I mean, for instance if Carter would have taken over command of the SGC she wouldn’t have been going offworld and she would have essentially served the same purpose from sort of a in story practical standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint wouldn’t really make sense, like Hammond going offworld rarely happened. Whereas with Weir she was a diplomat by training. So occasionally, it would make sense for her to go offworld in dealing with in negotiations and the like.
David Read
Exactly. All right, so some of your favorite episodes for this season. What would you have to say stands out for you this pivotal year for you guys. You’re now executive producers of the show. Your hands are firmly on the on the steering wheel.
Joseph Mallozzi
I’m gonna have to bring up to see specifically season four episodes.
David Read
GateWorld cheat sheet.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, here we go, my trusty IMDb here.
David Read
Joe, is this the first time you’ve ever used this particular microphone?
Joseph Mallozzi
No.
David Read
Really? Okay.
Joseph Mallozzi
Hang on, let me… I’ve done the old plug it, unplug it, and plug it back in. How’s that?
David Read
Same thing, but it’s all good. And people are still giving complaints. They’re just gonna have to get over it. All right.
Joseph Mallozzi
Sorry, guys. Season four let’s see. Oh, we started with the Adrift, Lifeline two-parter. Yes, that was great fun. I mean, we shot that, I think this was the year… No, no. Yeah. So yeah, I remember actually uploading a video, if fans follow me on Twitter look for it, where we do a kind of behind the scenes on the kind of the space jump with Joe and and David Nykl. And it was provided to us by our whiz visual effects supervisor, Mark Savela, who’s always fantastic. And I remember we shot that on our standing sets and used green screen and it was an epic two-parter. And then just off the top of my head I can go through them all. Reunion was fun, because it was actually the first of the unplanned two-parter. Remember, Jason came into my office and as he would often do, he’d basically pitch ideas. And he really was the only member of the cast who actually come by and say, “Hey, about this type of story or that type of story.” And so that this episode came about as a result of his gentle prodding.
David Read
Oh, really? Wow. Okay.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun.
David Read
That Doppelganger a Robert Cooper idea.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, the thing I remember most about this episode there is a sequence where we use a ratchet on Joe, where he was on one of the upper, he was in the gate room. And I guess he gets pushed or something. He flies through the rail. And it’s a ratchet pull where I think he’s wearing a vest underneath his wardrobe. And somebody says “Three, two, one, go,” and he is yanked through the railing. And I think it was the first time we tried it. And it hooked him up and counted down, 3, 2, 1, go, and he didn’t go. And so he relaxed and then at that point, it just engaged and basically pulled him out of scene and that look of surprise on Joe’s face just before he went was pretty priceless.
David Read
Wow. It just was a delay.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Yeah, it was just funny because he was ready for it. He was braced. And then it didn’t happen. And he relaxed and that’s when it happened.
David Read
Jeez. I mean, part of me would be like, “Okay, do I have an enemy on production? Is someone messing with me here?”
Joseph Mallozzi
Just preliminary thoughts on all these episodes, but Travelers was interesting because I remember we were walking the set of Travelers, the spaceship’s set. And I was thinking, at the time I was developing Dark Matter, which was basically what? In 19, it was 2007, so it was like six years until actually [we brought] Dark Matter to air. And I remember Paul and I were walking the halls of the ship and saying, “Wow, you know what? If you know this is the last season of Atlantis, we should save this Traveler set and we could roll right into Dark Matter and this could be the Dark Matter ship.” And of course, we ended up getting picked up and then doing Stargate Universe. So the set was long gone by them. But that is a standout memory of Travelers.
David Read
There are definitely similarities, I think, with the Traveler design and your ship from Dark Matter for sure. But the Travelers, I think, were a cool take because it kind of took us back to a group of aliens that, where do they stand with us? We don’t really know. And so we have to be careful because they could go basically either way. They come in handy later on in the season.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, exactly. Yeah. So and then Tabula Rasa was Alan McCullough’s ode to Momento. Which was a lot of fun. But sadly, I don’t remember that much about the production of this particular episode. But I do remember the next one Missing. It was great. It was Jewel and Rachel, and they were out in the forest. And I remember we ended up building that rope bridge. We built that for the episode and was it like a tremendous cost because, not so much because it was an expensive build, but because we couldn’t risk anyone happening across it and trying to cross it. So we had to actually hire a guard when we were not shooting. Like a security guard to stay on duty morning and night and ensure that no one attempt to cross it before we eventually take it down. So that is one thing I remember about the episode. The other one is there’s a moment where Rachel or Teyla spears a creature, like a squid like creature, ends up eating. And for some reason, in the script, it was described as the space gopher. And James Robbins did a brilliant concept art of a space gopher and it essentially looks like a gopher with luminescent eyes. And I have the concept art somewhere. When eventually I get through the, I’m basically posting concept art from from every season of the show. Right now I’m working my way up through SG-1, I think I’m in season six or finishing up season six. But when you get to Atlantis, season four, watch out for that space gopher. And then another thing I remember about this episode was that sequence where Keller is reluctant to cross the bridge because she has a fear of heights. And Teyla is like getting frustrated with her and it’s like come on, and Teyla just kind of barrels through. Whereas in reality it was the opposite.
David Read
Really?
Joseph Mallozzi
Absolutely fine getting on that bridge and crossing. Whereas Rachel, much like myself, didn’t want to be anywhere near that bridge.
David Read
I didn’t know the story about you guys having to hire security for that. That would have been absolutely crazy.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes, yes. Only we like realize that after the fact I was like, Ah.
David Read
Man. All right. Okay, so yes. And then we had The Seer.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes. Again, that was one I don’t recall.
David Read
This is a great episode where we had, it was an Alan McCullough story, directed by Andy Makita, where Davos, played by Martin Jarvis gives people a glimpse of a possible future.
Joseph Mallozzi
Right.
David Read
You’re doing some foreshadowing for later in the year.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just remember the performances in that episode were excellent.
David Read
And then we have Miller’s Crossing which is the return of David Hewlitt’s sister Jeannie.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes. And Martin’s quest for a title for the episode was a bit of a reach but you know…
David Read
He started a trend.
Joseph Mallozzi
It was a fun episode Yeah, I mean, Martin was always really good at those episodes that got into kind of like the heart of the character, especially the McKay character, I mean you could tell he truly loved writing for that character. And this one is every real standout
David Read
Joe, do you mind if we pause for about one minute? I think I may have a solution to the audio problem. I’ll be right back with you. Thank you folks, I’ll be right back.
David Read
All right, one more time for me, sir Joe?
David Read
USB Audio. Okay. Yep. This was all on me. All right, Joe, one more time. Can you hear me?
Joseph Mallozzi
How’s that? Can you hear me?
David Read
Yes.
Joseph Mallozzi
Perfect.
David Read
Okay, guys, I apologize for all of that. But am I am I sounding okay, too?
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah.
David Read
Okay, sweet. I liked the ears.
Joseph Mallozzi
Thank you. Thank you. These were a present for my wife.
David Read
Okay, there we go. They add character.
Joseph Mallozzi
Thank you.
David Read
Can you do me a favor and switch back to the other ones though Because I really think that it was me?
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, okay. Hang on.
David Read
Yeah. Sorry, folks. We’ve never had a mid-show interruption quite like this one before.
Joseph Mallozzi
How’s this?
David Read
There we go. It was my, I have a portable USB and the port just stopped working. So Joe, you have always been kind of my guinea pig. But my poor friends. You suffer through all the show’s changes. So
Joseph Mallozzi
I have to say, Akemi is disappointed that I’m not going to see the cat [inaudible.]
David Read
Well, you know what? We’ve got a good screenshot of it. Okay, sorry for that everybody. Now.
Joseph Mallozzi
So, everyone was able to hear everything though?
David Read
Yes, yes, we were. But no, I mean, we’re just gonna go ahead and proceed. It’s just not going to be as soft for them as before. So for those who have the audio podcast version to listen to, when all is said and done, they’ll have the benefit of it all being leveled out. [This] Mortal Coil and All My Sins Remembered. I loved these episodes.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I’m glad you did. Because this one was, This Mortal Coil, was probably the hardest episode I’ve ever written.
David Read
How so?
Joseph Mallozzi
There are just certain episodes that it just wasn’t working for the rest of the writing style. And I went through, I think honestly, like five or six different drafts on the script. And I remember Carl Binder coming into my office and saying, “It’s a little rough, still a little rough.” And I’d be like, “Okay,” and then I’d go back to the drawing board. And I think this was the script that kind of encapsulated sort of, for me, my approach to writing when Paul just said, he’s like, “Look, this the the issue, the biggest note that you get, is the fact that you give the audience too much credit.” Like I assume, they will be able to read into things that I, as a writer, find obvious. But, Paul would argue, you as an average viewer would not be obvious. So that was something I had to be mindful of in the rewrites, and in subsequent scripts,
David Read
I would always think that we could spend an episode on just talking about in itself for an hour is always a dance between what’s too obscure, and what’s too on the nose. And there is a certain amount of, I would think, you have to be aware to a certain degree of what kind of audience is watching. And how, it’s not just intelligent, but attentive you expect them to be. I mean, are you creating a show where you can watch it and wash the dishes? Which are not really watching I would argue.
Joseph Mallozzi
Well it’s funny because I’ve been told that a lot of popular shows are popular because of that. Because you can be doing something else. You can be talking to your friends, you can be washing dishes, you can be playing a video game, and it’ll be on in the background, and you’ll be able to follow along.
David Read
You’re not actually needing to pay attention.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes. Yeah.
David Read
That’s not entertainment. That’s background noise.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, I agree.
David Read
Yeah, that sounds like my folks. They always say, you know you’re watching Mom and Dad, you always have to have a TV on in the room.
Joseph Mallozzi
I mean, to be fair, it’s not like I’m writing Tenet every episode. In my mind it’s not that difficult to follow, but point taken.
David Read
But it is of the same expectation of quality on a TV budget. I mean, I’m not turning in expecting to do backflips with my brain. But at the same time, I am expecting to have my presuppositions challenged, and that’s I think what Stargate did well, and I think This Mortal Coil is a fine example of it. And the fact that you had trouble cracking it and it’s still turning out solid in my opinion, even Darren rates it here three out of four which is good. Is an example that you were on the right track.
Joseph Mallozzi
Well, thank you. After all these years, I feel vindicated.
David Read
It was a great episode because it brought back Weir, someone whom we lost earlier in the season. Great final scenes with David Ogden Stiers with Torri and we think that that’s it, but it’s not. And I have to share a personal anecdote about Be All My Sins Remembered which is one of my favorite Atlantis episodes for many reasons. Be All My Sins aired January the fourth, 2008 when the first announcement for Stargate Worlds, the MMO, came out on television, but the Stargate Worlds had been announced before, but this was really the first shot at seeing a teaser trailer for the game. The teaser trailer was called Water. This was something that me and my team at Cheyenne were part of in the Marketing Division and it aired in a commercial break during Be All My Sins Remembered. And I had probably a quarter of the personnel working on the game over at my house, we’re all watching Be All My Sins Remembered, the trailer for Water comes on, “Throughout our history Mankind has always crossed great expanses on missions of discovery.” And we’re all like, “Oh, that was amazing. That was amazing.” Now back to the episode, and Weir is revealed at the end and the entire room of like 30 people just went quiet. And we all looked at one another going, “What the… that was so…” My hairs are standing on end right now just thinking about it. It was one of those like, slap across your faces. What did we just see? What are the expectations being set up for the future? And it was just a, it was, it could have been a series finale in terms of its scope, in terms of everything coming together, the Travelers the Wraith, everyone going to take down this threat to the Pegasus Galaxy. It’s a great episode of television.
Joseph Mallozzi
Thank you. Yeah, it was one thing that I love doing is a) subverting audience expectations, which is something you discussed, which I really set out to do a lot of Dark Matter, and 2) setting up and paying off a good cliffhanger ending that hopefully gets paid off down the line. I just love a cliffhanger ending much to the consternation of many a fan.
David Read
Michelle Morgan, was introduced in this episode as Fran, the friendly replicator android.
Joseph Mallozzi
Who’s amazing.
David Read
Amazing. Could have been a one off, it’s a very small part. It got everyone talking about it because what are the implications of this? We’re creating what is clearly a sentient being, who is clearly okay with being a bomb. She’s just fulfilling her purpose, but it left a door open to the future which we exploit later on in season five. We’re using her template to bring back Weir. Tell us a little about Fran. Was it Martin Gero’s idea for Fran [or] was it the whole writers room? Who really brought that together?
Joseph Mallozzi
To be honet with you I don’t recall.
David Read
Okay.
Joseph Mallozzi
I don’t recall.
David Read
Okay.
Joseph Mallozzi
The specifics of who came up with the Fran character.
David Read
Okay. But we get into what, in my opinion, is one of the more controversial aspects of the season. And I’ve alluded to this before, when the episode aired and GateWorld was doing retrospectives, it was one of those things where we always like to look at the moral angle of every episode. Of every episode because we think that’s one of the things that that Stargate does so well. And we have this threat by a sentient race of beings created by the Ancients to defeat the Wraith. And they are gunning for us. Considering after what happened with them in the season three finale, when we did a preemptive strike and wiped out their their military bases, they clearly have wrath and want to take us down. So we all get together and eliminate this threat. And I remember thinking and looking at the planet as it’s being destroyed, there are trees down there, you can imagine that there are parks down there. This is not just a civilization of war machines. This is a civilization of potentially, some of whom could potentially be peaceful beings, all of whom appear to be leading some kind of lives in addition to their combined goal. To bring it down to it what is your thoughts on terminating a civilization? Was that a consideration in the writers room?
Joseph Mallozzi
I mean, it’s something we deal with a couple of episodes later, this kind of moral ambiguity, the sacrifices you make for the greater good. And I mean, for instance, this was one. There’s another one we can talk about in a later episode, where Sheppard… Is it this season?
David Read
Are referring to Outcast?
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Outcast. Okay.
David Read
Yeah. Yeah, that’s, that comes up in a few episodes.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Yeah. So I mean we were very mindful of that. And I always kind of like those dilemmas because it’s easy to say, “Well, you wouldn’t do it. And yet, if you don’t do it, what kind of a price do you pay further on down the line?”
David Read
It’s fair, because at the end of the day it’s either them or us. And in this case, the us is the frickin’ rest of the galaxy because the them, the replicators, are biding their time, and who knows what they’re going to do. So it was always a difficult call, but I mean, at the end of the day, I think Darren and I had agreed, the right decision was made, but what are the implications of that when you cross that line?
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah. And is it next season? Where some of those decisions come back to haunt us? Yeah, yeah. But we’ll talk about that.
David Read
We’ll talk about that then.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah.
David Read
Spoils of War. Another return of… Before I get to that, we haven’t discussed Michael Beach, bringing him on as Abraham Ellis, Captain of the Apollo. We didn’t discuss Michael last season.
Joseph Mallozzi
He is a fantastic actor. Just wonderful.
David Read
He’s cool. Yeah. And I wish that there had been more for him to do. Him and Mitch Pileggi, and Steven Caldwell, they’re kind of the truck drivers for the show. They bring the supplies. They occasionally assist in multipronged attacks on targets. I just really wish that there had been kind like a midway kind of episode, if you will, for the captains of the ships, like Teal’c and Ronon kind of had in Midway.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I mean, you always look back and think, “Oh, you know, this character, we should have used more and this character, we should have brought back.” But when you’re kind of in the thick of it, and spinning stories, it often is such a whirl, the production machine eats up those scripts, there’s like seven or eight scripts that you bank before the start of the season, suddenly, they’re gone. And you’re going to be heading into production in a couple of weeks. You desperately need a script and so often don’t have the luxury to basically sit back and sort of take an overview of sort of what’s working this season. Who’s really popping. Often by the time you see the dailies, and you see who’s popping or what’s really working, you’re already six or seven episodes down the line in terms of scripting.
David Read
Complete right turn, at what point in the season, did Rachel have her conversation with you about her pregnancy? Tell tell us about when you found out and the decisions that you guys made?
Joseph Mallozzi
Well, can we talk about that when we get to Quarantine? Or shall we just talk about Quarantine?
David Read
Yes.
Joseph Mallozzi
Okay. So Quarantine, McKay is developing his relationship with Katie Brown.
David Read
Correct.
Joseph Mallozzi
And in the writers room, we were discussing the possibility of actually making her pregnant and then making Rodney a father and all the kind of rich story and humorous story opportunities that would provide. And we were going to go down that road until we found out that Rachel was pregnant. And then we had to switch things up a bit obviously.
David Read
So it was during Quarantine that this was going on?
Joseph Mallozzi
I don’t think we had decided to sort of say the character was pregnant in this episode. I think we were discussing it in this episode for a future episode, and then I think it was around at this point that Rachel let us know. And so basically we had to kind of shift.
David Read
Well because at the end of of of Missing, which is the earlier on in the season, the end of that episode Keller already knows that she’s pregnant.
Joseph Mallozzi
Okay, so then I guess it had to be earlier then.
David Read
Yeah, okay. Okay, so she…
Joseph Mallozzi
By the time, while we were writing the scripts, those first… What episode is this? I mean those early scripts were written well before we went to camera and well before we found out about Rachel. But the plan was to sort of make Rodney a father and we thought that’d be kind of fun and having to deal with saving the galaxy while at the same time you’re making sure he had time to spend with his son and or daughter. So it was funny how sometimes things just kind of switch up on you.
David Read
That would have definitely been interesting to see that kind of character switch gears and rise to the occasion of being, not only Mr. Fantastic in the rest of the galaxy, but also in terms of his technical wizardry, but also having to be Mr. Mom at the same time. I did not know that. Legit.
Joseph Mallozzi
Way to go.
David Read
Absolutely. Harmony.
Joseph Mallozzi
Harmony. This one takes me back. Will Waring directed episode and I remember I was in the room with Martin and Carl and we broke this story and it was so much fun. And we cast the best actress we could possibly cast for the role, Jodelle Ferland, 13-year-old Jodelle Ferland as Princess Harmony. And guys I’m fond of telling everyone we were on location shooting and her mother Val was there. And I would talk to Val, while they would shoot the scene and Jodelle knew all of her lines. She was perfect, just perfect, just deliver them to perfection. And then when David or Joe would kind of flub a line or would hesitate, she would prompt them because she knew their lines as well. So many, many years later, we were casting Dark Matter. I was like, “I know who Five has to be. It has to be Jodelle Ferland.” And she was the perfect Five.
David Read
Wow, it’s those little things. You always want to cast someone who you know can do the job. And it’s just, the right person at the right time comes in and makes it happen.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah. She was yeah, she was terrific.
David Read
I liked that. Yeah, go ahead.
Joseph Mallozzi
No, I’m just saying that we were looking for to bring her back in season five, but we just couldn’t find the story for, the right story.
David Read
I love that her character. While it sometimes does go unexpected ways. She also goes against type by not being meek and helpless with her knife. She knows, she had that knife, man. It was a great character for sure. And I love the ending with the painting of her depiction of the Victory. We sold that at Propworx and it did pretty well if I recall.
Joseph Mallozzi
How much did it… Do you remember how much it went for?
David Read
Yeah, hang on, Harmony’s Victory, painting, Propworx. How much did it go for? LiveAuctioneers is having problems. So nevermind. Oh, it was thousands.
Joseph Mallozzi
Thousands? Wow.
David Read
I’m pretty positive. See the sold price. Here we go. Let me have a look here. For those who are wanting to know, let me see. Harmony’s Victory painting sold for $4,500.
Joseph Mallozzi
Wow. Wow.
David Read
Estimate was between $800 and $1200.
Joseph Mallozzi
Wow
David Read
Show fans over here. Production, a painting of Harmony’s interpretation of her victory in the Atlantis season four episode, Harmony, features Rodney McKay heroically fighting for the young princess, while John Sheppard cowers in fear.
Joseph Mallozzi
I’ll tell you, Joe did not love the ending of that episode.
David Read
I imagine not. I mean, it was a hit to his masculinity
Joseph Mallozzi
It was good fun, I mean, it was all in good fun. And just a total reversal of what we had set up and played with the episode I thought it was…
David Read
Well, I mean, Joe himself has always said that he kind of looked at Sheppard in many ways as Kirk, and wanted to kind of fuel that energy. And I gotta say, it’s kind of funny watching him come down a peg in the end of that episode, but it’s all, I think it humanizes the character a little bit more, because…
Joseph Mallozzi
I agree. I agree.
David Read
It’s something he’s got to put up with, McKay is his Spock. And sometimes Spock is going to draw more audience members in certain episodes than then Shatner will. Outcast.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes. So this was the episode we were talking about where we face a moral quandary. And Sheppard makes a decision to feed this individual to the Wraith.
David Read
I think that’s Miller’s Crossing.
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, sorry. Oh.
David Read
Yeah. You want to go back to Miller’s Crossing for a minute because Steven Culp, yeah.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. All right. Yes, yes. Yes. Okay. Yes.
David Read
Hey, you’re all good, dude. I don’t know how you’re keeping all this straight anyway.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Yeah. So again, back to Miller’s Crossing, we were faced with a character making a difficult decision. And I remember after the episode aired, the message boards were buzzing, they were on fire. A lot of people did not like John’s decision, others defended him. It was just, I like those moments that engender a lot of discussion.
David Read
Well, they force us to put ourselves in that situation. Your own daughter, how far are you willing to sacrifice to save your own child? And that’s largely what Sheppard is pushing here because he doesn’t want the kid to suffer and this information needs to come out. And Chris Hyerdahl as Todd wants to be fed. So it’s just crazy. One of my favorite lines from Atlantis is in Outcast. Because Sunday had teed up the fact that Sheppard had been divorced. And this is now at his father’s wake, and he’s with Ronon. Ronon is there for emotional support. And Sheppard says, “You know, I told you how I was married, right? And Ronon says, “Why?” “Because here she comes.” And that was a great little aside into the more personal life of Sheppard on Earth, we didn’t get a ton of that. And we find out they’re on, even though they don’t really have a chance to see each other alot, they are on speaking terms, they are civil. And there is a little spark of, there’s a little, there’s something still there. You know, it’s just that things have led a different way.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I liked this episode exactly for that. The fact that we shed a little light on Sheppard’s backstory, and whenever we get to do that, like for any character, I always find it really interesting. So his ex-wife was played by was Kari Wuhrer.
David Read
Very good. Gold star.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. And Joe actually was a friend of hers, which means kind of the chemistry, on screen chemistry, all that more palpable, and very comfortable with each other, which is nice.
David Read
Absolutely. And this episode featured Emma Lahana as Ava Dixon, who at the end we discover is a human form replicator who was born on Earth. Another one of those great twists where you have her kind of in her own isolated program at the end continuing to exist and not aware that she’s inside an artificial reality. Have to wonder, are we?
Joseph Mallozzi
According to a recent article I read, we are turns out, so.
David Read
Universe is pixelated.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Basically, I said, “If that’s the case, I feel like I’m long overdue for a level up.”
David Read
Yeah. Or some kind of, I need some kind of controls to give me some extra lines or something.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, exactly. I’m still stuck on level 12.
David Read
Trio. Now, this was an interesting one. Martin Gero told me that this was intended to be a budget saving episode for the season.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah,
David Read
What happened?
Joseph Mallozzi
Well, well, Martin got a hold of the episode is what happened. He’s like, “It’s gonna be a lock, kind of one of those locked room episodes.” And then the locked room, it ended up being this massive build on a gimbal that we could tilt. And, yeah, so it wasn’t a small episode at all. The thing I remember this episode is we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. If it would basically be, one version would have McKay trapped with Keller. Another version had McKay trapped with Carter. And then a third version had McKay trapped with both of them. And I remember, we were going back and forth. And it was like, “Let’s bring this to a vote.” And so basically, survivor style, we all basically wrote our choices on a piece of paper, and then put them in a box. And then Martin pulled them out of the box and went, “Read them,” we kept score on the whiteboard. And that’s how we got Trio.
David Read
So the majority of people in the room decided that for the three of them.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes.
David Read
But there were dissenters?
Joseph Mallozzi
I believe there were. Yeah.
David Read
Okay. I think it’s funny because it’s McKay stuck with two beautiful, intelligent women. Who are really his intellectual equals in their fields of expertise. And it’s the sequence of, “Don’t know the the knife trick to get free beer?” And how they tried to get themselves out of the situation that they’re in. Basically realizing that no one is going to come to help them, these kids have basically abandoned them for all intents and purposes, if I remember correctly. Was a pleasure to watch but it’s one of those where when Martin told me about it I was like, “Wow.” I can see where that’s because his interpretation of it was, it became over budget during the shoot.
Joseph Mallozzi
Well it really, it became over budget in prep when you have to build the gimbal standing set.
David Read
Exactly. This episode features a deleted scene that fans have been talking about for years. And can you speak a little bit to this scene for the shippers in the audience?
Joseph Mallozzi
I don’t recall the details of it. It was a reference I think Carter makes to…
David Read
Being unavailable.
Joseph Mallozzi
Jack. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,They’re talking about relationships and being unavailable. And I mean, I don’t know how specific we were. We actually, probably were not very specific. But the suggestion was that she was with Jack.
David Read
Yeah, “He works in Washington,” I think was the line if I’m not mistaken.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. I don’t know why we lost that, if it was lost for time, or I don’t recall.
David Read
It was one of those, I think, great nods. Where in hindsight, to the shippers out there, which I occasionally am one and I still teeter to this day, would have been like, “Oh, that would have been good.” So absolutely. We have Midway.
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, fan favorite
David Read
Fan favorite, one of mine as well. Carl Binder extravaganza.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes. Yes. Another Carl Binder extravaganza, a ghostless Carl Binder extravaganza. He used to sort of joke about the fact that he would often write the ghost episodes. But yeah, I mean, this is a huge episode, a fan favorite, seeks to answer the question who would win in a fight, Teal’c or Ronon? And they go at it for a while. And we never really find out.
David Read
No, no, they would have kept on going for a while. What was the nugget that would have started this story. Was that it? Picture this guys, who would win a fight Teal’c or Ronon?
Joseph Mallozzi
I think we just wanted to blow up the Gate Bridge, that was this story.
David Read
It’s too convenient. We’ve got to let it go. There’s a 24 hour holding period. That’s too much. That’s not enough. We’ve got to blow up the space station. Who was it who introduced Midway to begin with, the idea? Was that a Brad and Rob thing?
Joseph Mallozzi
It was probably a Brad and Rob thing.
David Read
Okay. Yeah. And blow it to hell.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I pitched out the idea of the Gate networks. And then Brad was like, “Well, that doesn’t really work because they can’t connect unless we create a midway station.” So I think it was actually Brad, yeah.
David Read
Right. Absolutely. The networks have to join somewhere in the middle. The idea was always cool. But always at the other end I was like, ‘How easy is it for our heroes now to get from point A to point B? And should we take them down a peg or two?” it goes back to like Atlantis with its power supply. At what level of power is Atlantis? Throughout the course of the show in the back of your brain you kind of have to have a running tally because it influences the types of stories that are told.
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, a great spin off idea. The space station, make it a lot bigger and it becomes kind of a waystation for travelers.
David Read
Absolutely. Stargate Atlantis: Deep Space or Stargate: Deep Space Nine or its equivalent. And it was great having Christopher back in that episode.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, of course. Yeah. I remember them practicing their stick fighting outside and then got a whole bunch of photos of them practicing their choreography. Very committed, both of those guys.
David Read
It was a whole sequence and it definitely paid off. I can’t think of anyone who throws any shadow at Midway. It’s a tight episode. The Kindred One and Two.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes. The return of Carson Beckett. I remember speaking to Paul at the end of season… Carson was killed off in season three?
David Read
Carson was killed off in season three in Sunday.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. I remember being at the wrap party and telling him, “Okay, this is how I want to bring your character back.” And then we finally got the opportunity. And I was like, “Oh, it’s gonna blow the fans away.” And then there’s that infamous SyFy promo, “Next week on Stargate SG-1,” and they’re like, “You won’t believe the last five minutes.” And then it shows Carson, going, “What took you so long?” It’s like well, “Yeah, I’m sure they’ll believe the five minutes now because you just showed it to them.” I could not believe that they spoiled that for the fans.
David Read
I couldn’t believe it either, in hindsight, because this was one of those big buildups and you get to the episode and it’s like SyFy didn’t just preview it, they completely blew it.
Joseph Mallozzi
Really blew it. And so all the Carson Beckett fans were tuning in are like, “Oh, okay, Carson’s coming back this episode. Where’s it coming back when he’s coming back?” And so instead of being delightfully surprised those last closing moments, or looking forward to the next episode. They were probably frustrated as they waited for Carson to show up, and then he finally shows up rather than feeling. “Oh, great.” It’s more like, “Finally.”
David Read
I equate it to Luke’s appearance at the end of Star Wars seven. Cause we’ve been told that Mark Hamill is… Oh, you don’t watch Star Wars. That’s right.
Joseph Mallozzi
I’ll take your word for it.
Joseph Mallozzi
We know that Mark Hamill is in, what was it? The Force Awakens. But he’s in the last scene. And it’s like, I guess he’s in the credits. Yeah, cuz he’s technically there but it was one of those situations. And do you think that this was because the advertising team who was putting together the promos really wanted a win with this episode? And like, “Oh, we want audiences to tune in so let’s go ahead and use this.” It wasn’t just stupidity, it was a targeted approach.
Joseph Mallozzi
Well, it was intentional. Yeah. Although it’s funny, because I’ve since gone on YouTube and the promo has been altered.
David Read
You’re kidding.
Joseph Mallozzi
No, no.
David Read
Wow. Okay, then.
Joseph Mallozzi
So I cannot find that original promo anymore.
David Read
Well, so Trio had a Nielsen 1.1, Midway had a 1.3, The Kindred had a 1.2 and The Kindred, part two had a 1.3. So I mean, all things being equal, it didn’t necessarily cause anything to explode but at the same time it was pretty consistent.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I mean, but it’s the same way with for instance stunt casting where a lot of the times the network will be like, “You got to get a stunt cast. This will be like a big episode because you’re gonna have so and so making an appearance.” And so we would pay the extra money to get a guest star, and then it would have like really no effect on the ratings whatsoever.
David Read
Got it. Wow. What a juggling act to create a TV show. And working in Teyla’s pregnancy with Michael. Connor Trinneer is back. We haven’t talked about Michael yet this season.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah. One of my favorite Atlantis’ villain, a complex, complex character. And I mean, here’s sort of another reason. I mean, Rachel’s pregnancy allowed us to create a storyline that obviously we wouldn’t have pursued. If she hadn’t been, if the actress hadn’t been pregnant, and yet kind of opened the door to this really interesting relationship between Teyla and Michael.
David Read
Yeah, a sick one for sure. And it’s one of those where I think a lot of it was he accusing the rest of Atlantis, particularly focuses his energy on her in forcing him to be what he was, because they needed a weapon against the Wraith. And now she is bringing life to something that she’s going to care about. And now he’s going to turn around and take it away from her. It’s pretty darn insidious. So by this episode he’s perfected his genome, or however you want to call it, so that he’s no longer feeding on other human beings. He is genuinely his own kind of unique thing, whatever that is. It was, I still wish that we had seen that character more. I think that we could have done more with him than having one or two appearances a season. But in hindsight, I guess that’s another one of those hindsight things.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes. In hindsight, it’s one of those hindsight things.
David Read
The Last Man, another fan favorite. Old Rodney. Sheppard takes a wrong turn at the Stargate during a solar flare and gets thrown I think 50,000, 48,000 years into the future, if I’m not mistaken. It was a great what if?
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, I love those types of episodes. In general I love time travel, but I love those “road not taken” episodes where you jump ahead and you see how it all turned out.
David Read
Mm hmm. And we get that through Rodney’s backstory. I was watching this episode thinking, and this was just my assumption going into it, that there were sleeper agents inside of Atlantis of Michael’s race and he would be running and gunning back to that Stargate. Like they had just completely taken over the galaxy or the universe, and they were all that was left. But instead, it’s a quiet, dismal future.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. Well, you’re pitching out was sort of what I had kind of wanted to do for our season six two parter. Oh, which we never got to do. But in any case, a conversation for another time. But yeah, I just remember this episode filling the corridors with sand, so much sand. And then during that windstorm, or that sandstorm, I have some behind the scenes videos I can sort of dig up of Joe with the handkerchief over his face and fighting through the sandstorm. And that sand was made up of oatmeal, and then something else, some other grain.
David Read
Okay. Okay, a nice handy substitute on short notice.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes.
David Read
We’re gonna have to have some kind of show and tell at some point here in the future have some of that content of yours. I’d love to show it to some people, because there’s so much good behind the scenes stuff that you shot.
Joseph Mallozzi
If I can find it. Yes.
David Read
Well, if you want to send it all to me, I’d be happy to catalog it for you.
Joseph Mallozzi
Well, I don’t even know where it is.
David Read
But that’s the thing I understand. I get it. This was a great season. Really solid series of episodes, again proved that the show really had come into its own. First season without SG-1 being shot next door except for the two feature films.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yep.
David Read
So yeah, it’s solid. So Paul just wrote me. He said Joe, “Joe answered the question about his impeccable style during COVID.”
Joseph Mallozzi
My impeccable style during COVID. I basically answered him. Yeah. And I basically told him that I am able to maintain my impeccable style because I keep a framed photo of the actor who played Carson Beckett, or [inaudible]. I know sort of this is what I aspire to.
David Read
Paul is so suave.
Joseph Mallozzi
He is suave. As Akemi says, “Hansamu” in Japanese,
David Read
That’s the equivalent?
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yeah.
David Read
Here you go. Let’s get to some questions. Okay. TiptronicSS, “I would like to hear more ideas from Joe about possible SGU directions in his creative mind.”
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, I mean…
David Read
Man. That’s a whole…
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. In terms of SGU, unlike Stargate Atlantis, we didn’t really sit down and we didn’t have the opportunity to sort of beat out stories for a third season. If you check my blog, there I pitch a couple of ideas that we could have gone with in terms of how we would have addressed that jump, the time span between galaxies. But in terms of sort of specific stories, we didn’t really beat out anything beyond the ending that Brad had in his mind. The message in the…
David Read
in the background…
Joseph Mallozzi
Radiation.
David Read
And so your blog again, JosephMallozzi.wordpress.com. Am I right?
Joseph Mallozzi
I think it may just be just be JosephMallozzi.com. Let me see.
David Read
Let me see. I “me seed” you before you “me seed.” Yes. My gal is slowing down. Okay. Oh, I’ll be joining host David Read. Hey, there we go. JosephMallozzi.com, folks, yes. Thank you.
Joseph Mallozzi
You’ve got to catch up on the blog.
David Read
I do. Absolutely. I do. Dude, there’s so much reading I’m behind on. Teresa Mc, “Joe, was technician Chuck ever given a last name.” He was given a first name by accident.
Joseph Mallozzi
No, he was never given a last name.
David Read
It’s one of the things that Torri did before she left at the end of season three. It was she just said, Yes, Chuck.” I don’t think that that was in the script.
Joseph Mallozzi
I’m sorry. You cut out there for a second.
David Read
So one of the things that Torri did at the end of season three was mention Chuck’s last name and it happened to be the same name of the actor because he does look like a Chuck.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, he does.
David Read
One of the things that I wanted to get back to was Torri’s Weir arc in season four, and I want to bring up season five, the not returning, in next season. But bringing her back for the two-parter in the middle of the year, was that always the plan from the get go? Or was it one of those things where you reached out to her and said, “Hey, we have this idea? Would you like to come back?” Was she under contract for X number of episodes?
Joseph Mallozzi
No, no. She was free to come and go as she pleases. And then I think it was when she decided not to come back and so that script kind of required us to change things up.
David Read
Got it.
Joseph Mallozzi
In a subsequent episode, although like in my mind I always imagined, even though everyone assumed Weir was dead, in my mind she was not. But that’s a conversation for season five.
David Read
And you’ve written material to that end.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes. Yeah. So I imagine we would have ultimately find her.
David Read
Absolutely. Yeah, season five. I’ll leave it there. RocketKaetzchen, “I’d like to know if there were plans to show a little bit more backstory for Lorne. Or if he was mainly there so he got knocked out instead of one of the main team.”
Joseph Mallozzi
No, I mean, I love the Lorne character.
David Read
Kavan was great.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, Kavan was fantastic. But no, there were no plans to sort of explore his backstory.
David Read
All right. Dan Ben, “Any favorite TV promos or DVD trailers that were made for the shows?” We discussed one of those those.
Joseph Mallozzi
The one I just mentioned came to mind.
David Read
Infamous!
Joseph Mallozzi
The Curse back in SG-1, we discussed that one already where we find out that Sarah is the Goa’uld at the end of the episode. Yet in the promo you see her use the hand device so you automatically realize that she’s the Goa’uld and you’re just waiting for her, that turn to happen. So those two promos really stand out for me.
David Read
The promos on Showtime, they must have been made, I remember being frustrated because the promos on Showtime were relating content that was not completed. Like I remember for Serpent Song they had Apophis talking and he was just talking in his regular voice. The flange hadn’t even been added yet.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, yes. And he was speaking with Peter’s, kind of Jamaican accent.
David Read
Right? Exactly. “You will die with me.” And it’s like, “Why?” I’m guessing it’s just a timing thing. At what point they got footage.
Joseph Mallozzi
I remember Brad kind of, not flipping out, but sort of wondering, “What the hell’s going on?”
David Read
It’s not done, the content that they’re using is not fully whatever… It was just curious note that I had. Jonas, What happened to humanity 48,000 years into the future you think?”
Joseph Mallozzi
What do you think will happen?
David Read
What happened? So Sheppard’s in the Pegasus Galaxy in Atlanti., What do you think happened to humanity?
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, they’re long gone. Long gone.
David Read
Ascended hopefully, a few of them.
Joseph Mallozzi
Sadly. No, no.
David Read
Iratus Wraith, “Joe, if the ratings were so strong, why did the show come to an end?” That’s a complicated answer.
Joseph Mallozzi
Atlantis, this is a question I’ve always posed because I got the sense that the network would have been fine with a sixth season, in my mind, and the studio as well. Although, essentially it’s a law of diminishing returns for the studio. But from what I understood, there were reasons for them to do a sixth season. And I think the biggest reason, in my mind, was that it would allow us to bring in this new show, sort of like SG-1 and Atlantis, you know SG-1 passed the torch to Atlantis by doing that sort of Friday, double feature. I in my mind assumed we’d be doing the same with Atlantis and the first season of Universe. So I was surprised and disappointed to learn that we were not.
David Read
Yeah, Hewlett was convinced that there was going to be a season six and when he found, because I mean the ratings were strong and everything else was going, and he was blindsided when the announcement came that Atlantis was canceled.
Joseph Mallozzi
As well as was I. I mean, we had written out kind of those one sentence was one word, episode titles or placeholder titles for season six, and the script that Paul and I had written for Stargate Extinction. I remember Rob was pitching it out he’s like, “You know we should do is, we write that script, you should shoot it at the end of the season. So that if the show gets picked up it becomes your opening two-parter. And if it doesn’t it becomes a standalone movie.” And we just never got the approval from MGM to do it. And suddenly the show got canceled and that was that.
David Read
Understood. Victoria T, “A statement for Joe: For those in France Dark matter is airing on SyFy France in the afternoons.”
Joseph Mallozzi
Thank you. Check it out.
David Read
Eva L, “Who decided to torture fans with Jack’s photos in Carter’s bag and in her office?” I loved that nod. Even got Colleen as Cassie there’s a photo of her there.
Joseph Mallozzi
Looking back, I think it was something like the props department or the set dresser suggested and I mean, I was on board because I was a shipper. So you know, those nice little touches, I thought those subtle little touches. I thought were always great. It was always funny, she had Jack and when Woolsey took over he had a framed photo of his Yorkie.
David Read
Of his Yorkie. Absolutely.
Joseph Mallozzi
I remember specifically writing that into the script.
David Read
“It’s a small dog Teyla.” Yeah. AFlyNearby, “Joe, any script stories for season four that were written that didn’t really end up making it into the end of the season that you guys were tinkering with?”
Joseph Mallozzi
Script? Definitely no scripts written. In terms of story ideas I don’t think so. I mean, usually, if we have a good idea, it gets written because you’re writing 20 episodes a season. So yeah, I mean, aside from that idea, like I mentioned the Katie Brown pregnancy. I don’t recall any specific stories that we abandoned.
David Read
Understood. Undomesticated Equine, “Were there any Zelenka scenes that were filmed but didn’t make it into season four? And would you tell us what would have happened with that character?”
Joseph Mallozzi
No, no, I mean, all those Zelenka scenes were gold. David was brilliant. So…
David Read
The pigeon stuff was funny.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
David Read
He has, David Nykl has a mug with a pigeon on the side of it. That when we do the show he brings in like, that’s just what a coincidence that is. Let me see here. Ákos just wanted to know why was Midway written out? We covered that. Johann Foss, “When I compare the technology of the Ancients on Atlantis and Destiny, I think the Destiny has more cool tech. What is your opinion on the different eras of Ancient tech between Atlantis and Destiny?”
Joseph Mallozzi
You know, I have very little opinion on the Ancients. Just because, I’ll be honest with you, it was not my favorite storyline even though it was obviously like a core part of the Stargate mythology. I personally, I know a lot of fans find that very interesting. I know Rob found that very interesting in particular. I personally found kind of more of the contemporary adventures, any sort of time travel adventures more…
David Read
More concrete.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yes, exactly.
David Read
Yeah, no, I mean, the Ancients definitely dipped into meta, metaverse. And almost like spirits and angels kind of. So.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. But this is the question that I’m sure Rob or Brad…
David Read
I will ask them.
Joseph Mallozzi
Would love, love to answer.
David Read
Duja89 and others said in the chat, “They figured the impeccable style mentioned by Paul McGillion was in reference to those cat ears.”
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, yeah, probably. Next podcast. Yeah.
David Read
Raj Luthra, “Was the idea ever thought of for the Asurans on the Atlantis Replica who want to ascend to create human made bodies to upload their consciousness and ascend?” Again, back to ascension.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, it’s possible. We bandied that idea about.
David Read
Okay. Dan Ben, “Stargate visually, the Wraith beaming technology is similar to the Asgard beaming from Thor’s Chariot. Is there any reason? And why the three different, there were several different types of Wraith stunners used in Atlantis?” Sorry, that’s kind of a mouthful.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. No, I mean, it was just beaming technology, similar to ship technology, I guess in terms of sort of just being a means of conveyance. So I mean, yeah, they were only similar insofar as essentially they accomplish the same goal, sort of like Star Trek.
David Read
Correct.
Joseph Mallozzi
Beaming technology, as for the different, the different guns or weapons? I don’t know. I think basically, they really depended on who was wielding them. I know like the Wraith guards tended to use those bigger stunners.
David Read
Yes. In season one. Absolutely. Lisa M, “At first Sheppard seems to be resentful about Teyla’s pregnancy. Is that a correct notion? Was it because he was perhaps jealous?” Or what was your thought process there do you think? What’s going on in his mind?
Joseph Mallozzi
It wasn’t scripted. Jealousy was not scripted. It was more a matter of him wanting to look out for the team. And maybe even sort of subconscious kind of disappointment, in a way, that he was essentially going to be losing a team member, a valued team member.
David Read
Yeah. Well, and I think it’s interesting about his character and as a person because he’s like, this is our focus now. This child in your life, this one way or the other, this is a part of consideration. We’re not going to pretend that this doesn’t exist. We have to sort this out and put it in its proper context, your pregnancy and what we’re going to do in order to move forward. It’s an administrative responsibility as much as a team lead responsibility. For sure. Erpel Homo, “What would you think of reshooting older Rodney scenes with an older David Hewlett for The Last Man.”
Joseph Mallozzi
Maybe it could be fun. I don’t know. Although, I mean, he looked pretty old in that episode. So…
David Read
It will be a while.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, David’s still looking pretty good.
David Read
By that, he does. And by the time we have like, holographic storytelling, maybe David will be at the right age at that point.
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah. It’s funny. I remember he came by my office in his old man makeup, and he was waiting outside and kind of looking in through my office window and didn’t know who the hell he was. I thought he had gotten lost on the tour. And I was like, I came out and then I realized, “Oh, shit, it’s David.”
David Read
Do you remember telling me the story of some of your home movies that you shot while he was in that makeup? There was one shot that you said that you got of him. And I wish that you could tell it because it was so funny the way you related to it, but he was just kind of off in space sitting in a chair. And you took a video of him. And it was kind of like this sweet slash sad kind of take on an older Rodney just kind of just sitting there doing his thing.
Joseph Mallozzi
I gotta dig that up. Again. I mean, I don’t even know what I have anymore. Whatever I find, I always post so. If you do a search for Stargate on my blog, you’ll find a treasure trove of stuff. If you do a Twitter search just of my name Baron Destructo. And then Stargate, always hashtag Stargate, a slew of stuff as well.
David Read
What’s the origin on Baron Destructo? Is that a college nickname?
Joseph Mallozzi
Nope. No, I don’t even recall I’ve just always been a fan of villains.
David Read
There you go. ZubiForce. “Did you ever film outside of North America for any of the movies or episodes?”
Joseph Mallozzi
Yeah, we did not. We did not. I mean the furthest…
David Read
The Arctic.
Joseph Mallozzi
We traveled. Oh, sorry. Yes. Well, yeah, the Arctic. Yes. Yes. Good catch. Yes.
David Read
Absolutely
Joseph Mallozzi
The answer is yes, the Arctic.
David Read
Otherwise, I’m curious to know the answer. What was the furthest you ever traveled?
Joseph Mallozzi
No. I mean, we did White Sands, we did Vegas. Yeah. Those two.
David Read
Where was the Arctic stuff shot for the Atlantis pilot and for the the climax to Solitudes. There was a snowy mountain top that you guys had shot for some of that and I can’t remember where it was.
Joseph Mallozzi
Solitudes was before my time.
David Read
Exactly. But it was the same location for the Atlantis pilot.
Joseph Mallozzi
And it was not in Canada?
David Read
It was in Canada.
Joseph Mallozzi
It was in Canada?
David Read
Was on some mountain, nearby mountain range. And I think the same one that Christopher Judge was placed on and he was afraid that he was going to be attacked by badgers for the Ark of Truth.
Joseph Mallozzi
Badgers.
David Read
You don’t want to get them in your path. They’ll mess you up.
Joseph Mallozzi
Those wayward badgers, gangs roving, hitting people up for loose change and treats.
David Read
Like one of those old Disney villains with a cigar in their mouths. Oh, funny. Joe, as always, it has been a pleasure, what a tremendous season. We’ve got one more for Atlantis. And thank you again for coming back on and going through and dissecting this season, if anything in particular that the fans want covered, let’s make sure that you guys tune in in February, you can ask those questions for follow up to season four. But I appreciate everyone who submitted this long list of questions and I appreciate you for answering them.
Joseph Mallozzi
Nope, my pleasure, as always, thank you, David.
David Read
Thank you, sir.
Joseph Mallozzi
Thank you to the fans. We’ll see you for season five.
David Read
Season five.
Joseph Mallozzi
With the lovely and talented Robert Picardo.
David Read
Oh, yes, that’s right. Bob Picardo is gonna be back. I would love to have an interview with you two both on.
Joseph Mallozzi
Oh, that would be a blast.
David Read
I would love to do that this season. Thank you, Joe. I’m gonna wrap it up on this end. Be well.
Joseph Mallozzi
Alright. Have a good day.
David Read
Bye bye. Joseph Mallozzi, Executive Producer for Stargate Atlantis, season four. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I will be placing the link to the Stargate SG-1: New Mission (Fan Film) that’s going to be linked at the description once I’m finished posting this episode. I appreciate you tuning in. The show is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching. But if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag, we’re now offering T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, and hoodies for all ages as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com. At the Merchandise tab click on a specific design to see what items are being offered. Checkout is fast and easy and you can use a credit card or PayPal. Just visit dialthegate.com or go straight to dialthegate.com/merch and thanks so much for your support. Next week Tony Amendola, Master Bra’tac, is going to be joining us this coming Saturday, the fifth of February at 12 noon Pacific Time, barring any unforeseen changes with his schedule. That’s going to be what’s going on so stay tuned for that. We will be bringing him in exactly seven days from now, unless something changes, of course, so we’ll let you know. But plan on having Master Bra’tac live to answer your questions for one hour. I still have his list of questions from episode two. He was our very first celebrity guest on Dial the Gate and we didn’t have the system set up quite yet for getting the questions over to me. I’m still trying to figure out the flow. So I kept all those questions. I’m going to use those as the basis for the conversation. And we’ll also allow other people to submit questions as well. But he’s only going to be with us for about an hour so keep that in mind. We won’t be able to go over too much to be respectful of his schedule. I think that’s all that we’ve got here. Thanks so much for tuning in. Much appreciation goes out to my Producer Linda “GateGabber” Furey. My moderators Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys, and Antony. A big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at Concepts Web, our web developer for Dial the Gate. And a big thank you to Jeremy Heiner, our webmaster who keeps the site up to date. My name is David Read. I appreciate you tuning in. I’m thrilled that we’re able to continue to do this series into season two. If you enjoy the episode, please click that Like button and consider sharing it with a Stargate friend. Let’s spread the word on Dial the Gate. We’ll see you on the other side.