July 2010
07/30/2010
Founder's Day (401) - Your Questions... Answered
You watched the season premiere, you had questions, and now, thanks to Executive Producer Jaime Paglia, you've got answers.
Before we dive into specific questions from comments, we'll answer one we know everyone is curious about:
"Where did the Carter/Tess breakup scene in the recap come from?!?"
Originally, we opened the season premiere with a three-minute scene featuring Carter and Tess as they realize their long-distance relationship isn't working. Tess ultimately makes the call to break it off. The scene was beautifully acted and it made us weep to have to cut it for time.
Rather than lose the idea of the scene altogether, we elected to get the information into the recap by showing a piece of it. Clearly, much to many fans' confusion. Sorry for that!
But we've been working with syfy.com to have the scene posted on the site, or on our blog, and the director's cut will definitely be on the Season Four DVDs.
From SidestepTheQuestion:
Will there be podcast commentaries for the Season 4 episodes? I'd love to hear one for these first 2 shows!
Hey, Sidestep. Definitely. The more extras we can provide the better.
We had long talks about this. Ultimately, we decided not to make it obvious, though I definitely think it was possible.
Yes, we loved bringing real history into the show, and the Jackie Robinson drama seemed like a great way in. Grant's car does have a working radio. And everything in Eureka works better than in the real world. At least in theory...
Did Dr. Grant deliberately switch jackets with Carter so that Dr. Grant could go to the future? If so, I think Dr. Grant did that because he was so sick of Einstein getting all the credit for the work as well.
Absolutely, Chris. Grant's no dummy. But he gets more than he bargained for as he finds himself a man out of time. There is more to his character that will be revealed as the season goes on. You know Eureka. Everyone has a secret.
From Gelbes-gilatier:
Thanks for bringing Tess back! Just... can you promise you'll keep the character as cool as she was in Season 3 and not ruin in her in the course of letting Jack/Allison take over? I'd be very pleased about that :S
Hey, Gelbes-gilatier. You're welcome! And don't worry. She remains cool. Or should I say, remained. Who knows what the future holds for her character? Perhaps you haven't seen the last of Tess.
From Ohlauren:
So. Much. AWESOME. Seriously, this season's off to a great start, and
I am going absolutely crazy waiting for the next episode! I feel like
Fridays are going to seem veeeeerrry far apart for a while here.
>.<
Thanks, Ohlauren. The response from our fans and the press has been truly overwhelming. Keep watching. It only gets better.
I thought the premiere was great and the other guys in my hall agree!
Excellent!
Having seen all 3 previous seasons in a marathon recently I'm glad to
see the writing is fairly consistent. I miss Stark's banter and whole
Carter/Stark dynamic. I'm little worried about the BSG guy being brought
in.
We loved Stark, and think James Callis brings amazing depth and complexity to his character. You'll see more in the coming weeks.
Yes, no one looks better kicking ass than Eric Cerra. Thanks, Michael.
From James6ft3:
Thank you for an intelligent well thought out script and for not dumbing it down like some other shows. Eureka writers are so double rainbow ATW (blame Fillion)
Thank you for the kind words, James. We hope you enjoy the rest of the season.
It
was AWEsome! Worth the wait, Fargo running GD is going to be kickass! I
love the "First time caller, long time fan" line, and Fargo peeing I
couldn't stop laughing. Clever, fun, I feel very bad for Jo though.
Hope things turn around. Wooohooo for the writers!!!
So glad you enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed writing it. So much more is in store for our characters. And our writing staff keeps delivering terrific episodes.
I adored the season opener until Tess popped up from that sofa. While Tess is not as bad a character as Lexxi, she comes close. Other than that the season opener was outstanding! Looking forward to the rest of the season and can't wait for this week's episode!
Keep watching, Gritslady. I think you'll be pleased.
From Deniselle:
First
off, I'm really positively surprised that the time travel was handled
so well. It didn't feel drawn out and I'm so glad Einstein did not
appear. I actually laughed at the humor and found the plot intriguing. I
haven't been a fan before, so that must be a good sign. ;)
We love new fans, Deniselle. I swore we would never do time travel again after season one, but I'm very glad we did. It's given us endless new possibilities to explore with our characters.
James is an amazing actor and always brings new idea. But he's the consummate professional and really stuck to the script. The work he did on the subtext for his character really made him shine.
From Myladydisdain:
I really loved the episode! I was pretty critical of season 3.5, felt there were a lot of problems with it, so you had a long way to go to win me back over for this season, and you did that and more! I am so excited for this season!Very glad to hear that, Myladydisdain. We're really excited about our season, too.
Yes, it's an existential question that we wanted to pose, but not necessarily answer. As the most intelligent member of Eureka, he's capable of it. And it opened up new conflict, emotion, and drama for his dynamic with Allison.
As a language geek, I loved the beat where you played with Grant's lack of modern colloquialisms (That would suck/suck what?) Will you continue to play with this, and maybe other bits of culture shock? Here's hoping!
Definitely!
From Janet:
The premiere was amazing! I do have a question though, can you keep Jaime Ray Newman around? She's a terrific actress and Tess is awesome. Also, is it possible to have a musical episode?
We love Jaime Ray, Janet, but were only able to have her for a few episodes. Sorry!
This is a case where actor availability can impact the arc of a character in a series. But we found a way to create really emotional dramatic conflict for Carter and Allison, and have left the door open for her to return in the future. Keep watching.
We had hoped to do a true musical episode this season, but it won't happen until season five (if we are picked up again).
From Lee:
If Dr. Grant is in modern Eureka... who took his place in old Eureka? If he were to return to his time/place, would that reset our four hero's timelines?
Hello, Lee. No one took Grant's place. He disappeared, which is part of the reason why the circumstances around our five characters have changed. If he did return to the exact time and place he left from, and the others were able to go back and undo any changes they made, it could reset things... possibly.
I say you have the best hubby ever!
From yumenoko:
At
first I thought it would be another typical (and excellent) episode, but
the last 10 mins had me leaning in closer to the screen to eat it up.
Wow. WOW! When Carter kissed Allison, I actually teared up a little. I
couldn't help but remember Jack's alternate life with her from "Once in
a Lifetime" (I admit they're my OTP). I have no idea how you plan to
play out the newly developed relationships, but I know I can't wait to
find out!
Thanks so much. Thrilled that you loved it. I've said it before, but keep watching. The fun and drama have just begun.
I thought the atmosphere and time travel was really well done. Very enjoyable episode. Haven't seen Noah since Painkiller Jane, and I'm a bit sad we obviously won't get to see him again.
Thanks Magess. Noah was great. And maybe he'll be back sometime...
A new black character shows up + that character is a woman = Henry's new girlfriend. She was on screen for approximately two seconds before I had done that math. That is either *my* bias or a result of having been trained by television fairly well in making those kinds of assumptions. However, you all then proceeded to prove me right. Did you guys talk about that?
We've always been very sensitive to diversity in our casting, and made an effort to make Eureka a place where race isn't an issue. We always look for the best actors available. Henry's former love, Kim, was played by Tamlyn Tomita. In casting Grace, we looked at women actors of all ethnicities and felt that Tembi Locke was simply the best fit for the character.
I noticed that Callis' character was originally named "Charles Grant". When/why did it change to "Trevor Grant"?
Good catch, Jeff. His actual name is Trevor. Fargo manufactures a fake identity for him and it changes to Charles after he comes to back to 2010. One of the deleted scenes from "All the Rage" explained in greater detail how he chose the name.
Henry accidentally calls him Trevor and says that Charles is going to take some getting used to. Grant tells Henry, "It's safer than explaining two Trevor Grants in Eureka -- sixty-three years apart. Dr. Fargo created a very thorough profile for me. And I always liked the name Charles. Darwin. Babbage. Chaplin..."
I hated to cut the line.
From lbbutant:
Are you going to close "once in a lifetime" storyarc?!?!?
well, are you?!?!?
Do you mean will Henry ever come clean to Carter? Or will Carter ever confront Henry? Alas, that scene happened in "Bad to the Drone" but it had to be cut for time. It's a secret that Henry is living with for now, and it will be referenced again in Episode 409, the mid-season finale.
why did you bring Tess back!?!?!?!?
We wanted to pay off on the character arc with Carter and thought it gave us a good conflict to start the season. I hate having characters disappear between seasons when there's still unfinished business.
Glad
Tess will be around just long enough to 'wrap up her storyline' as
promised on the DVD commentaries and not longer. She was one of the
things that never worked about season 3.5.
So glad to see the commitment this season to bring back the very best
elements of the show.
Will Andy be back? I've heard he might be, and that could be a lot of fun - Eureka has quite the collection of AI citizens now, between SARAH, Martha, Andy, Tabitha, and Maureen the AI killer whale (mentioned in an ep). An all-AI ep would be awesome!
There will be much more in store for our A.I. characters. Wait until you see Episode 406, "Momstrosity."
What's
the deal with Kevin? He was absent forever and Allison never even
mentioned him. Suddenly, he's back! Will he be more a part of the show
this season?
Absolutely, Erica. We loved being able to use him with Allison in a more dramatic fashion. The reset was the perfect opportunity.
Why did SARAH's voice change from the ending of Founder's Day and New
World (based on a sneak peak Syfy released today) & why are there
some changes from those scenes?
Hey Doc. The voice is actually the same in the final mix. Maybe the sneak peak had a temp audio track? And there is a suble shift in the way the scenes play out. Honestly, that's because Bruce Miller was writing his own scene in Episode 402, and I had written my ending for the season premiere, and somewhere in the mix, we never exactly justified them. But we like both versions, so we just kept them that way.
Are we getting all 22 episodes this year (Summer 2010 - early Spring 2011) or will it be like Seasons 3.0 and 3.5 when we only got 8 episodes in 2008 and 10 in 2009?
We're actually doing 20 episodes. Nine will air this summer, a Christmas episode will air in December, then the back ten episodes will air after the new year. Hopefully, early, not next summer.
What triggered all these changes? Just being in 1947 couldn't have prevented Kevin from having Autism (if that were so, I would have tried that with my Mom years ago!)
The ripples of change are the greatest around the people who went through the wormhole and returned. Whatever impact they had by being in 1947 changed the course of events in their lives. Researchers currently believe that there are specific genetic and environmental factors that must be triggered to cause Autism. We're positing that one of those triggers changed because of Allison's trip, which resulted in Kevin not having Autism in this altered time line. And if Kevin was responsible for sending the five of them back to 1947 in the first place, perhaps he chose the time and place specifically for this reason.
When is Founder's Day originally... 1947 or 1950? It was a bit hazy about that in the episode.
An important distinction. Camp Eureka was a military outpost before it was sanctioned by the government in 1947 to become a town. Three years later, construction was completed and it was officially founded as Eureka in 1950.
Another great episode. I'm really looking forward to what's in store for us this season. Thanks for bringing us one of the greatest shows out there.
I'm certain we will find out what that whole previously-on breakup scene with Tess is all about but I did notice the shirt she was wearing at the end of the episode was the same one that she was wearing on the holo breakup message. Hmmm???
Keep up the great work.
Many thanks. Yes, we'll get the original break-up scene out there. And yes, we chose to have the actress in the same shirt because the deleted scene at the opening of "Founders' Day" was designed to be book-ended by the revelation that she had returned, but Carter isn't sure she isn't a hologram (holo-skyping from Australia) until she kisses him. When you see the scene in context, it makes sense.
Thanks for all of the questions and comments, gang. We'll answer more soon!
Jaime
07/29/2010
Post Comic Con - After Action Report
Comic Con.
Even if you've never been, you've probably heard stories about how huge it is. How huge? Put it this way: they put up trolley signs for the San Diego Convention Center stop in Klingon. That's how huge.
And this is a typical view of the wall to wall people on the convention floor:
What started as a small con focused only on comics has turned into a virtual Geek Mecca, and whether you think that's too bad, or completely awesome, the growth of the con means it's a huge weekend for the Eureka writing staff, and not just because it's a tremendous opportunity to promote the show.
Comic Con is a chance for us to meet up with writers and actors from other shows, to make connections or just share war stories. And of course, it's an opportunity to geek out like the uber-geeks that we are.
Wednesday
Although most were at the office for at least part of Thursday, for some of the staff the con started before the doors even opened. Co-Executive Producer Amy Berg was the first to arrive.
She had some meet-and-greets on the books and also had arranged to hook up with the awesome folks in Syfy marketing to pick up some swag for the writing staff.
** Above swag now available for purchase at the NBC Universal Store.
Thanks to Syfy, you couldn't walk down 5th Avenue towards the Convention Center without knowing that Eureka was in town. Here's Amy in front of Cafe Diem's temp San Diego home (photo via Craig Engler, head of Syfy Digital).
Comic Con is to Amy as the Cheers bar is to Norm. She claims it only seems like she knows everybody, but we know different.
The con provides a great coming together point for people who take social networking seriously. It also affords access to hundreds of media outlets all in one place, allowing the opportunity to sell the show to new viewers as well as strengthen relationships with critics whom we've only interacted with online or over the phone.
If the folks we talked to are any indication, you guys are REALLY digging the new season. Yay!!
Thursday
Executive Producer Jaime Paglia arrived in San Diego on Thursday, accompanied by his family. Producer's Assistant, Meghan Welsh was also on scene. Through the weekend, Meghan kept us updated with the latest news from Vancouver, where the production office was gearing up for the back 10 (production began on the 28th).
Jaime kicked off Eureka's official presence at the con, appearing with our Science Advisor Kevin Grazier on the panel: Abusing the Sci in Sci-Fi. (They're the third and fourth from the left in the picture below.)
Friday
Story Editor Eric Wallace was serving double-duty at the Con, and before the big Eureka events of the weekend he spent some time at the DC booth signing copies of the new Titans comic. (That's him in the next picture with Writers' Assistant Margaret Dunlap.)
By Friday evening, everyone who was able to get away for the weekend (We missed you Terri!) was in San Diego, and the Eureka gang met up at a reception hosted by our studio, Universal Cable Productions.
Co-Producer Paula Yoo, who wrote the Eureka side of the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover, got a photo op with Warehouse's Allison Scagliotti.
It was also a great chance for us to meet up with our own cast. Since the writers are in Los Angeles and we shoot in Vancouver, we don't actually get to see them in person all that often.
After the reception, it was off to dinner before the screening of "All the Rage" that night. And where does the Eureka cast and writing staff go to eat during Comic Con?
Cafe Diem, of course. (Note: Don't worry, the writing staff ate too, and we even have pictures to prove it. However, since most of our spouses, guests, and others of significance have private lives, we decided not to plaster their faces all over our blog. We assure you however that they are all devastatingly attractive. To compensate, we offer this picture of Paula's travel bear Bartlett checking out the menu.)
After dinner, it was back to the convention center where we got to screen "All the Rage" (known around the office as 403) for a great crowd of enthusiastic fans. It was great not just to watch the episode, which we're pretty darn proud of, but to hear how the audience reacted in the moment to what they were seeing. Which jokes did they like? Did the suspenseful bits work the way we thought they would? In television we don't get the luxury of a live audience often, so it was a real thrill.
Oh, and we also took the opportunity to have Wil Wheaton drop in to not only introduce the show, but to announce that he'd be returning for multiple episodes in the back 10! Yay!
Saturday
The big Eureka event Saturday was, of course, our double-panel with Warehouse 13 in the afternoon. But that doesn't mean the staff had a free morning. Actually, more than one writer was holed up in their hotel room working on scripts or outlines for the back 10. (Did we mention we're back in production again? Eek!) But others did manage to find a little time to check out other panels, wander the floor, or in Co-EP Ron Milbauer's case, hang out with the locals.
The panel was a blast. If you were there and heard a bunch of folks yelling like maniacs when Jaime and Bruce Miller gave a shout-out to the writing staff, it really was us.
We finally got to publicly announce that we have Felicia Day joining the cast for a story arc in season 4.5, (folks who managed to squeeze into The Guild's panel got the news an hour early), and we also showed the fans an extended trailer.
You can check out video clips from the panel and the extended trailer on the SyFy site. Be warned, the extended trailer (and some of the other clips) contain SERIOUS SPOILERS. So if you don't want any hints of what's to come, steer clear.
Sure, Meghan, Paula, Eric, and Amy look like they're having a good time. But we assure you, the SyFy party is serious business.
Very serious business. Todd.
But eventually, Sunday rolled around and there was just time to make some last minute purchases, grab one more breakfast meeting, or sit in on a final panel before Comic Con came to an end for another year. (Sniff!)
Now, the writers have returned to the L.A. office, and production on the back 10 is in full swing up in Vancouver. We've got some great episodes coming up, and we can't wait to show them to you! Hope to see you next year in San Diego!
07/27/2010
In Memoriam: Maury Chaykin
We were saddened to learn today that the real life community of Eureka has become a little smaller. Maury Chaykin, who appeared in the pilot episode playing Jack Carter's predecessor, Sheriff Cobb, passed away on July 27th, his 61st birthday.
The cast and crew of Eureka will always hold a special place in our memories for our first Sheriff. Our sympathies and best wishes are with his family.
DEBRIEF: Episode 403, "All the Rage"
SPOILERS BELOW!
I love zombies. In videogames, books, movies, comics, what have you. So I felt very lucky indeed to get to write "All the Rage," Eureka's love letter to the likes of Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later.
It was a really fun challenge for us to do a "scary" episode of Eureka that's still Eureka, with our mix of humor, emotion, and sci fi action. Director Mike Rohl and the production and post teams did an amazing job turning cheery, bright Global Dynamics into a creeptastic, claustrophobic zombie haven. How eerie was that trashed infirmary? As our fantastic DP Rick Maguire and his ace crew will tell you, lighting for darkness is much harder than lighting for…well, light.
You can hardly make a zombie show without zombies, can you? This episode had a huge number of extras. Here they are in the Rotunda, taking a break between shots. Even zombies need coffee.
This episode was largely about Fargo learning first hand the stresses and challenges of leadership, but I don't think Fargo imagined that getting attacked by NOLWEPs and enraged employees would be part of the job description. Here's Neil behind the scenes, getting the I-mine webbing applied. ("I almost suffocated! And these were my favorite pants.")
This episode also was about Jo finding her feet with her new position at GD, and succeeding despite being affected by the anger ray-- and snarky Zane. Doesn't Erica look great in her suit?
We were so fortunate to have Wil Wheaton as our guest star, who fit seamlessly into the cast and was a blast to work with. As you may've heard, he's joining us for multiple episodes in the back half of the season, so Dr. Parrish will be back! Buckle up...
The NOLWEPs, or non-lethal weapons (also called less-lethal weapons), are a real branch of weapons development, as you may know, although the Eureka version of a NOLWEP lab involves more things like sticky foam and slippery anti-traction gel than pepper spray or the Active Denial System. It was fascinating to research the technology. Stink bombs? Really?
The episode was also about relationships beginning and ending. Henry's starting to fall for charming, smart Grace, who still doesn't know he's not "her" Henry. And we bid a bittersweet farewell to Tess, a moment that was heartbreaking but that had to be. Carter did the right thing by her, even though it hurt both of them. Breakups aren't easy, even (or especially) in Eureka.
Giving voice to what's under the surface -- GD's resentment of "Other" Fargo, Grant's loss of the life he might have had, Carter ending things with Tess because he knows they won't work out as a couple -- can be painful, but sometimes is necessary to effect change. Better to let it all out before you end up with, say, a zombie mob of mad scientists...
Thanks for watching!
From Kira Snyder, writer of "All the Rage"
07/26/2010
Guild-ing the Back Ten
Joining us for a multi-episode arc in the back ten of season four is none other than Queen of the Internets herself, Felicia Day!
Felicia paid a surprise visit during our panel to share the news with our unsuspecting audience. How cool is that!?
Not only that, but our friend Wil Wheaton dropped another love bomb on the crowd when he introduced the screening of episode 403 "All the Rage" on Friday night.
Dr. Isaac Parrish is back for more episodes as well!
Season four is our best one yet and it's only gonna get better. So hold on and enjoy the ride!
07/23/2010
All the Rage (403) - Q&A Post
Tune in to watch guest star Wil Wheaton in tonight's all new episode of Eureka, then check in here with other fans to talk about the show! 9pm/8 central on Syfy.
Enjoy getting swept up in "All the Rage"!
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