Atlantis Set Visit--July, 2007
Hi, All!
Sorry this took so long…but here's my blog of the visit to the set of Stargate Atlantis.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THERE MAY BE MINOR SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
My friend, Amy, and I got to The Bridge Studios about noon. We were met at the studio gate by Carole Appleby, Promotions Coordinator for the studio and our guide for the day.
We walked on the lot and went right to the set where they were filming for the day—the main set of the city of Atlantis. They weren't in the Gatrium itself, but just off the main gate set in another "room" of the city. So we could walk around the Gatrium and look at everything. However, I must tell you that some of the pictures of the Gatrium and the actors that we met in there are sort of dark—because they weren't actually filming there, the Gate Room was dimly lit.
We went to the room they were filming in and saw, basically, a very minor rescue scene being filmed. The episode they were filming is called "Quarantine" and will air as the 13th episode of Season 4. What we saw right away was Dr. Z and Colonel Carter being freed from getting stuck in a transporter in the city after Atlantis goes unexpectedly into lockdown. The rescuers are Sheppard and Lorne. Also along with them are Chuck, the gate tech and an unnamed female technician.
So…we got to see and meet Joe Flanigan, Kavan Smith, David Nykl, Chuck Campbell, Amanda Tapping, and the director for Quarantine, Martin Wood.
What were the actors like? Well, while we were in the Gatrium a little later, we got to actually talk to some of them. As they came through the gate room to relax during filming breaks, Carole would call them over to meet us.
Dr. Z—David Nykl—is very easy to talk to, as they all are, really. He is also very funny and kept making funny faces at us the rest of the day on set. He was featured very prominently in the scenes we saw filmed that day and told us that he had an important role in the episode. I told him that I thought it was high time Dr. Z got some credit for "saving the day". David very heartily agreed!!
David is really cute! Very compact, which came in very handy for the scene which followed—more on that a little later!
Chuck Campbell is a sweetie! He seemed almost surprised when I asked him to sign the back of the director's chair that I brought back from the last time I visited the set. I'm not sure if he, perhaps, thought that I wouldn't want his autograph, but I was thrilled to see that he had a larger role in this episode!
Amanda Tapping is a very, very sweet lady. And very tall!! I was surprised by her stature—not sure why—but, thinking back on her years on SG1, she wasn't dwarfed by her co-workers—even Chris Judge, so I should have known she was taller than average. She was convinced that she'd seen me before—I was told that she has a very good memory for people she's seen or met, so it's possible she remembered me from the last time I visited. I never met her, but we went over to SG1's set while they were filming for a brief visit two years ago and she was there. She may remember seeing me in the hallway outside of the room where they were filming.
I must say that, having met Amanda and having watched her work with the others on SGA, I feel a lot better about her being on the show for Season 4. Everyone was relaxed and worked well together. Seems like she's made it an easy transition for them!
Ah…what's to be said about Kavan Smith???? Amy and I were thrilled to find out that he was there that day. We had hoped to get to meet him and there he was! He came over to meet us in the Gatrium and talked to us like he'd known us for years! What a cutie!! He is even more gorgeous in person!! I told him how happy I was to see him there that day and that I wanted to see him get to be more of a regular on the show. He chuckled and asked me to tell that to the producers. I told him to get them down there and I'd certainly tell them to put Lorne in more eps!!!
He was telling us about working on The 4400—he'd been on that set just the day before.
Okay…now who was that other guy on the set?.....Let me think…Oh, yes! Mr. Flanigan!! Let me tell you this right away…I met that man two years ago during the filming of The Lost Boys. I'm telling you, honestly, that Joe has gotten even more handsome in those two years since. It's true! It is extremely difficult not to stare at the man when he's near. Extremely difficult. So I didn't even try not to stare. I watched him like a hawk!! All day!
He came over to see us during a brief lull in shooting right on the set. In fact, his arrival caused a very funny moment for my friend, Amy! She was standing to my right but looking at something to the far left. I was looking right at Joe, who was to our right. I saw him coming towards her but she never saw him until he was right next to her and said "Hello". I was trying so hard not to laugh outloud as she just about swallowed her tongue trying to say something intelligent when she turned and was presented with her first up-close encounter with "the man". It was hilarious! She did, eventually, find some semblance of normal speech and told him her name, but it took a couple of seconds!! Joe shook our hands and asked where we were from—and that started a brief and funny reaction from him when we told him we were from Pittsburgh. He just looked at us for a moment and then shook his head and said he'd never been there—I think he was trying to find a common connection with us to talk about and we threw him a curve with Pittsburgh! We told him he should visit and he just smiled and shook his head again. We told him it was okay—Pittsburgh was an okay place to visit, but we didin't blame him for not having any reason to!!
I know other people have said that they found Joe to be very outgoing—and he actually is very easy to talk to—but I still say that I have found in two meetings with him that he is rather shy and quiet. He is very friendly and will talk to you when he can—in fact, he kept making side comments to us throughout the day—but he is basically a very quiet man.
At one point during the day, Joe was standing just to my left waiting for a small set change to be done, and he asked me if I was bored yet. I looked at him and told him honestly that I found the whole process fascinating and wasn't the least bit bored! His comment? "If you did this every day, you'd be bored!"
If you ever get a chance to visit a working set, you MUST do it. You will have such an increased appreciation for what these actors go through for our entertainment. It is true that the actors' life on the set is spent waiting…and waiting—for the next shot to be set up, for the sound check to be completed, for the cameras to be moved, for the director to solve a problem…etc. They wait for long periods of time before the director calls "Action!" and then they actually "act" for about a minute—then they wait again for the next call of "Action!". It makes for a long day. And they sometimes put in 10 and 12 hour days on the set.
Okay, so up to now, I haven't even talked about the director. And I really should since it was none other than Martin Wood! That was a real plus for our day! I love Martin's work and was thrilled to meet him! He's very easy going—in fact, the cast and crew all seemed very relaxed and at ease with him. He got the work done but made it fun for everyone! He even took time during a short break in the action to teach us a little about how the rooms are re-used and refitted on the set to whatever specs were needed for that particular day and scene being shot. He is a very good teacher!
And I have to tell you about the running gag that Martin started that day on set. First of all, you have to check out the Dramatic Hampster video on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40
Now, once you've seen that, you will gain more of an appreciation of the goofiness that ensued throughout the day because of that little 3-second video clip!!
Martin Wood has a unique style to his directing. When he yells "Action", he does it with flair. The same with when he calls "Cut" at the end of a take. He goes, "Annnnnnnnnd CUT!!!!" Very abrupt and quite loud. Now, what he was doing with the dramatic hampster was pretty much directed at Chuck Campbell—because Chuck did a really great impersonation of the hampster! So, just about every time Chuck was in a scene, when Martin would end the take, he would say, "Annnnnnnnd CUT!! DRAMATIC HAMPSTER!!!!" And Chuck would stop what ever he was doing, turn his head toward Martin, and "do the hampster"! It may not sound funny, but believe me, it was hilarious!! Chuck's face was so funny and Martin and everyone else on set—cast, crew and visitors—would break up laughing every time!! That's what I love about our favorite show—they have fun! Yes, they work very hard and they work very, very long days—but they have fun doing it! And I am positive that that's one reason why the show works so well. These people aren't grumpy and out of sorts—they come to work in a very upbeat, happy, fun-loving environment. It makes a difference.
Now, here's where anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled should run away quickly. Not that I'm going to give away any dire secrets—but I am going to tell you what they were doing in the second scene we saw filmed—and it may spoil things for Zelenka fans. Just so's you know ahead of time!!
The second scene we saw being shot was our little group—Sheppard, Carter, Lorne, Dr. Z, Chuck and the other tech—trying to get out of the small area in which they were trapped in the city. Now, from what we gathered, in "Quarantine", for some unknown reason—not nanites or any other infestation—Atlantis has goine into lockdown—trapping little groups of people throughout the city. They can't communicate with each other—radios don't work—and they can't get through the doors to other sections of the city. But our little group finds a ventilation duct high up in the wall in their little area that Sheppard remembers leads, eventually, to the Control Room. The vent is about 7 or 8 feet off the floor above a couch in this particular room.
David Nykl told us that this particular vent was created just for him. Yep, you guessed it! Dr. Z gets to crawl into the vent! Actually, he volunteers. Carter is willing, but Dr. Z tells them he's the more likely one to go because:
1. He's got the know-how to try to fix the city when he gets to the control room and
2. He's small.
Now, you have to picture this. Get a good picture in your mind and you'll see why we had to stifle giggles while the camera was rolling. Joe and Kavan's job in the scene was to lift David up and shove him head-first into the vent. Repeatedly. The first time, poor David is clear into the vent except for his…uh…tushie and his legs and feet. And after Martin yelled "cut", he had to remind the other actors to "Please help David out of the wall". David, meanwhile, (good thing he has a pleasant nature!) is crossing and uncrossing his feet—which are sticking out of the wall—and wiggling his….uh…you know. It was hysterically funny!!
Now, I must tell you, too, that David was having a really trying day as far as "getting into the scene" was concerned. In the first "rescue" scene, he had to look like he was hot and perspiring from being trapped. So every time they called "cut", a guy would come over to David with a spray bottle and "spritz" him under his arms and down the front and back of his shirt to make it look like he was sweating. It was…uncomfortable…to say the least. The looks that David gave out while this process was taking place were priceless! Lots of grimacing and rolling of the eyes. At one point, he was being "spritzed" just beside us and he looked over with a pained expression on his face and said, "The things we do for acting!" We had to agree with him. Poor thing!
Then, after all the spritzing, he gets shoved into a ventilation duct over and over. What a trooper!!
We also saw David tap dancing—sort of--on set during a short break in the action.
There is one thing that David told us about Dr. Z's part in the ep that I can't tell you. I don't think he was supposed to tell us—it's kind of a spoiler for the ep and I don't want to ruin it for all of you.
Besides, I promised not to reveal anything that would give away too much of the story. But I thought it was nice that he told us! Actually, he told us because he was very proud of his part in this episode. You could tell by the way he talked about it and by the look on his face.
So it seems that Season 4 will let us see more of some of the less-seen characters. I think that's great!
Speaking of less-seen characters—a little more on Chuck Campbell. He's really cute and was very talkative. And he made me laugh because, when we had our picture taken together, he insisted on scrunching down "to my height" as he put it—and he's not that much taller than I am!! (Nothing like the "scrunching" that Jason Momoa did two years ago to get in the picture with me! I'm only 4'11" tall!)
But it was still a very sweet gesture on Chuck's part.
Later in the afternoon, he kept trying to get us to eat some spaghetti and meatballs that were available on set. He couldn't figure out why we weren't hungry! (We were too excited!)
Which brings up another aspect of set life—these people eat VERY well and VERY often!! There is always food around! Candy, other snacks, drinks…you name it!
And at lunch we had a choice of four or five entrees and lots and lots of side dishes, salads, and desserts. They are treated well. And so were we! You feel like part of the family when you visit. Everyone is nice and treats you like you belong. They are truly a wonderful group of people.
That's pretty much it as far as what we saw being filmed. But we also got to see some other props and sets that I didn't get to see last time.
We got to roam around Carter's office. Can't show you any pics of it, though. We promised not to post any pictures of her office until Season 4 airs. I will go out on a limb, perhaps, and tell you that, when you first see her office, take note of the pictures that sit on a shelf behind her desk. They are pictures of Carter's "family"—her SG1 family. It's a really nice touch and definitely something that Carter would have with her in Atlantis.
We wandered around the Gatrium and the balconies—both inside the gate room area and the outside balcony. We sat at the control consoles in the Control Room. I sat in Carter's chair at her desk.
We went up and down the beautiful staircase in the Gatrium and had pictures taken with some of the actors by the gate itself.
I sat in Joe Flanigan's director's chair!
We got to run around in the Deadalus. It's quite large and sprawls on a soundstage. You can actually walk around the halls of the "ship". We sat in Caldwell's command chair—which MOVES!! The others laughed at me—I was the first to sit down in it and got surprised when it moved very smoothly BACKWARDS!! Wasn't expecting that!
We went to the Puddle Jumper and sat in the pilot's seat—which also moves!! Relatively comfy seats—but I can see why the actors aren't particularly fond of filming all day in there--it's pretty small and cramped. But when you're in it, you really feel like you're in a spaceship.
And I got to sit in THE chair. The Ancient's control chair!! It was so cool! Very ornate—but not very comfortable! Beautiful, though!
We also got to go over to SG1's set and see that gate. I was there the last visit, but they were filming at the time so I couldn't get any pictures of the SG1 gate. I got them this time!!
Oh, and I have to tell you about lunch. I know, you're thinking…"What's so special about lunch?" Well lunch is served outdoors under canopies and, usually, the cast eats lunch at around noon and the crew at around one in the afternoon. The actors eat first so that they can get through the line quickly and then go back to their trailers and study their lines or do interviews or whatever. Visitors usually eat with the crew but we got to eat at noon this day. Now this was just after we got to the studio so we hadn't seen any of the actors really close yet. So we're standing there waiting to get into line and Amy elbows me in the ribs—hard! I turn and see what she's looking at—Joe has just arrived at lunch on his skateboard! And right behind him as he gets in line is Kavan. That's enough to make a girl speechless!
One more Joe/Kavan incident! Late in the afternoon, I was standing watching them change some things around for the next take and I happened to look across the set to see Joe and Kavan both sprawled on the couch that was part of the set decoration. Side by side. I literally stared. I couldn't help it! Carole, our guide, came up on my left just at that moment and asked me if I was bored and wanted to go anywhere else for awhile or stay there…I guess I didn't really give an intelligent answer—after all, I was busy!—and she just looked at what I was staring at. Then she leaned in towards me and said, "I guess you aren't bored, after all! That's worth looking at for a long time!" I most heartily agreed with her!!
One of the last things we did that day was go to the offices and meet N. John Smith—one of the producers. John was really fun to meet and told us stories about going to the Arctic to shoot the SG1 movie, "Continuum". He told us what it's like living in an environment where you can literally freeze in less than a minute. They all had to take a course in Arctic survival before they left and they all watched each other for early warning signs of frostbite. But he said it was a wonderful and very exciting adventure. And, he asked Carole before we left him that day to make sure we got the t-shirts that the cast, crew, and the crew of the nuclear submarine got. I am now the proud owner of a shirt that only a handful of people own!! I'll try to get pics of it and show you! It is very cool!
We also were given a large poster of SG1 that is the commerative cast poster from "200". Also very cool!
In addition, we each got an Atlantis keyring—it even has all the gate symbols on it!
So, the day was almost over, but we still hadn't gotten a picture with Joe. He's sometimes very hard to catch when he's working because he goes back to his trailer quite often for interviews and such. We almost missed him! He was at his trailer and had changed out of his costume into his street clothes when we caught up with him! He came out of the trailer—wearing shorts—and apologized to us for almost missing us! We got our pics with him under the awning that is attached to his trailer because it was raining cats and dogs right then! And Joe had already taken his backpack to the truck that was waiting to take him home so he'd been running around in the pouring rain. But he posed for pictures and talked to us a little longer. And I gave him a t-shirt which he thanked me for and then put in his trailer. I'm hoping I'll catch him wearing it someday!! Then he was in the truck and gone.
We went back to the set for just a little while longer—long enough to get Martin Wood's autograph on the chair back and to get a picture with him. And, in typical Martin Wood fashion—and in keeping with the theme of the day—just before the camera took the picture, Martin called out "DRAMATIC HAMPSTER!!" once more and Amy, Martin, and I all did our best imitation of the little rodent. It's one of the best pictures we got that day! Makes me chuckle every time I see it!
So that's about it! A wonderful day…a great memory! I can't wait to see "Quarantine" when it airs—I'll watch it with a different point of view!
Carol
Pictures are here: http://flickr.com/photos/10632767@N06/sets/72157601575318945
If you have questions, please ask me! I absolutely LOVE talking about this!!
highonscifi@yahoo.com
