SciFiAndTvTalk

Sanctuary's Robin Dunne Wants To Hear From You

Robin Dunne as Sanctuary's Dr. Will Zimmerman. Photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

ACTOR Robin Dunne, best known to Sanctuary fans as Dr. Will Zimmerman, has very kindly agreed to answer questions from the readers of SciFiAndTvTalk. He will answer as many questions as time and his extremely busy schedule allows. From now until Sunday, September 19th you can submit your questions via the comment section of this post. I will then forward the questions on to Robin and will post his answers back here at a later date. Robin is looking forward to hearing from you!

As noted above, photo by Jeff Weddell and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Eureka's Neil Grayston - The Fargonator

Neil Grayston as Eureka's Douglas Fargo. Photo by Art Streiber and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

The place: a cold pavement illuminated by a dull yellow overhead light. The time: 1947. Flashes of light fill the night sky and then, out of nowhere, a naked man on bended knee suddenly appears. He slowly rises, looks towards a group of men and says in a stern tone, "Your clothes, give them to me, now."

If this reminds you of a scene from the Terminator feature film franchise, you are not alone. However, this particular scenario is also more or less how Eureka's Douglas Fargo arrived in 1947 early on in the show's fourth season when he and a handful of fellow townspeople were involuntarily sent back in time. Unlike the Terminator scenario, Fargo did not get quite the response he was looking for. Instead, the naked scientist was locked up in a military brig with Deputy Jo Lupo. Despite his blushing, it was just another day in Eureka for Fargo, not to mention his real-world alter ego, actor Neil Grayston.

"On my first day back to work on Eureka's fourth season, we shot the 'Fargonator' scene. We had some new members of the crew, it was the middle of March and raining, and except for the modesty patch I had on, I was pretty much naked," recalls Grayston with a chuckle. "So it felt a little strange, but freeing at the same time. I was kicking off the new season by getting comfortable, really comfortable. The funny thing, too, is that Terminator 2 was the first R-rated movie I ever saw in the theater. So it was kind of neat to think, 'Oh, wow, I remember that [scene] on the big screen, and now I'm sort of re-creating it on our little show.'"

 
Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) and Fargo (Grayston) are not at all pleased about some aspects of their "new" Eureka in season four's "A New World." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

In Eureka's fourth season opener Founder's Day, Fargo, Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), Dr. Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), henry Deacon (Joe Morton) and Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) are plucked from 2010 and deposited back in time to 1947 when Eureka was just being established. While unsettling, their journey into the past is not as disconcerting as their eventual return to the present, where our heroes find that certain things are not quite as they left them. Fargo is now head of Global Dynamics, and on top of that, the alternate timeline Fargo that he has replaced was decidedly unpopular with his employees. Lucky for Grayston, he had the inside track on what was to come for his character.

"I had gone down to Los Angeles last December [2009], and while I was there I visited the Eureka offices," says the actor. "When I walked into the writers' room, they all had these excited grins on their faces and they told me, 'In the first episode, you're going to travel back in time.' I was pretty excited about that, and I figured that our characters go back in time, then return to the present and things would be different, but by the following episode everything would be back to normal. However, the writers went on to say that things wouldn't be changing back after one episode, and then they told me that Fargo was going to be the head of GD. That's when I did a little happy dance. It just felt incredibly invigorating to find out that we were doing a bit of a reboot. it meant that we could come back at the show from a fresh perspective, which was very exciting.

"As for Fargo, I'm more or less playing the same character who's pretending to be someone else," continues Grayston. "So half the time I'm playing Fargo acting as a different Fargo, and it's been really fun trying to figure out at what point is he the 'dictator' Fargo and behaving as such, while still remaining true to the typical bumbling Fargo we've all come to know. In doing all this, I feel like Fargo has been able to further grow and become more 'human,' do you know what I mean? I'm able to play all these new angles with him as far as what he would do in a specific situation, and whichever character that Fargo happens to be interacting with helps dictate his responses in those situations.

Fargo (Grayston) in "All the Rage." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"What's also neat is that it's almost like the other characters are helping Fargo along with this whole being head of GD thing. And it's not only because they almost have to, but also because they genuinely like my character and want him to succeed as well. It just feels like Fargo has become more integrated into the family, if that can be said, this season, and that's been really nice as opposed to him being the comic relief a lot of the time. I actually have a number of inter-character elements that are really important and that I get to play as Fargo this year, which has been really cool."

It is not long before Fargo faces his first professional crisis when, in the season four Eureka episode All the Rage, a GD experiment goes horribly wrong and causes most of those on the company payroll to act on intense feelings of anger and hostility. "I had a lot of fun shooting that story and getting to let loose and play this super-jerk," says Grayston. "The challenge there was that if we were all supposed to be angry, to not just turn it into a constant shouting match. So I decided to make Fargo's anger more like that of the sarcastic drunk dude at the bar rather than the shouting angry guy. It was kind of a passive aggression mixed with spots of rage. I liked the idea of Fargo being more of a subtly mean guy as opposed to an out-and-out I'm going to yell at you all the time guy.

"Wil Wheaton [Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation] guest-starred in this episode [as Dr. Isaac Parrish] and he's a fantastic guy. He and I got along really well and we're going to have him back for a few more episodes in the second half of the season.

Fargo (Grayston) and Zane Donovan (Niall Matter, right) try to figure out what has gone wrong in "All the Rage." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"Technically, I had a great time watching this episode being filmed because it looks different from our other episodes. It's quite dark and from a cinematography standpoint I learned about how they compose those types of shots and how they can make things look all shaky, dark and random as well as where to put a light so that it looks dark but you can still see everything. It was almost like going to film school. Then, of course, there's the scene where Fargo is being chased by 60 people through the halls of GD. That was a blast. At one point I had a little camera strapped to me and I got to run around with that thing on me while being chased."

Not surprisingly, following All the Rage. Eureka becomes the target of yet another potential disaster in The Story of O2, where an out of control rocket threatens to ignite the atmosphere above the town. For this episode, Grayston and a number of the show's cast and crew went out on-location to film certain scenes.

"We shot in a place called the GVRD [Greater Vancouver Regional District, and specifically in an area known as the Seymour Demonstration Forest]," notes the actor. "It's up in the mountains and in the middle of nowhere, and I just remember being in this beautiful area and all the visual/special effects that had to be done. There was a scene involving a stuntman and an exploding car. it was the biggest explosion that I've been close to for filming, so beforehand the special effects guys were going around telling us to watch out and close our eyes because there would be debris flying about. The explosion went off and this little piece of glass landed near my foot. I thought, 'Whoa, that was a bit of a letdown,' and then all the debris began raining down from above. Oh, yeah, it all blows upwards and then comes back down," jokes Grayston.

General Mansfield (Barclay Hope), Fargo (Grayston) and Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) can't quite believe their eyes in "The Story of O2. Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"The Story of O2 was directed by Colin Ferguson, and it's always great to have him direct. The thing about being directed by my fellow castmates is that because we've been working together for four years, we'll all have a shorthand with each other. They know the tone of the show and how to speak to you as an actor, so things go along quickly as well as smoothly and we have fun. Salli Richardson-Whitfield is directing an episode in the second half of this season and I'm really looking forward to that one."

While working on season four of Eureka, the actor took some time out to fly to Toronto to guest-star on another Syfy Channel series, Warehouse 13. In 13.1, Fargo is enlisted to upgrade the Warehouse's computer system, but something goes wrong and the Warehouse goes into lockdown, trapping everyone inside. For Grayston, it was very much like old home week during his time on the Warehouse 13 set.

"I already knew pretty much the entire cast from various Syfy events, and the director of 13.1, Chris Fisher, and the show's second unit director, Stephen Surjik, who's also the supervising producer on the show, had both directed episodes of Eureka." he says. "So it was kind of like going to my extended family's place for dinner or something like that. It was a super-comfortable set to work on. They have a really tight crew, some of whom I'd worked with before a few years ago when I did a series in Toronto called Wonderfalls.

Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) and Fargo (Grayston) in the Warehouse 13 episode "13.1." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"Most of my scenes were with Allison Scagliotti [Claudia Donovan] and Saul Rubinek [Artie Nielsen], and working with Saul is like taking an acting class. He's amazing and incredibly giving as an actor. Saul is always thinking about how to make a scene better, and he'll cut his own line if he thinks your character could say it better. So it was a blast to work with him. And it was also pretty awesome when Allison and I got to use lightsabers to kill robot spiders."

They say that opposites attract, but with fellow techies Fargo and Claudia, it was their geekiness that quickly made them the perfect team. In fact, Fargo was so smitten with Claudia that he invited her to visit GD in the Eureka episode Crossing Over. Grayston had been campaigning with Allison Scagliotti for the two of them to appear on the other's show, and their efforts finally paid off.

"Allison and I met last year at Comic-Con and we just hit it off right away," says the actor. "She's become one of my best friends and we'd wanted to work together for a while. Whenever the two of us happened to be down in Los Angeles at the same time, we would pop into the Syfy offices together to sort of show that, hey, we're friends, so why not put us on one another's show. The idea of the crossover had initially been talked about by the Warehouse 13 and Eureka producers, and then the network and studio started seriously thinking about it as well. and then it happened, So it ended up being two weeks of getting paid to hang out with one of my best friends and work with her, too."

Fargo (Grayston), Jo (Erica Cerra), Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) and Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) in "Crossing Over." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

In the fourth season Eureka episode Momstrosity, Fargo gets back to nature when he joins Sheriff Carter, Dr. Trevor Grant (James Callis) and Allison's son Kevin (Trevor Jackson) on a camping trip. He makes sure to take all the comforts of home with him, but he never expects that his fully-equipped A.I. controlled tent to become so attached to him, literally. Of course, that was nothing compared to the rogue Titan rover that ends up chasing after Fargo and the others.

"Momstrosity  was a huge episode in terms of special effects. It was almost like Eureka goes Jurassic Park only without the dinosaurs," explains Grayston. "This is another one that we shot up at the GVRD, most of which was done at night, and boy, was it cold. What sticks out most in my mind about that is spending two nights running up and down the hills in a forest trying to get away from this [imaginary] scary machine. Despite the nights and the cold, it was a super-fun episode to do.

"I also enjoyed doing Stoned, which was directed by Joe Morton. I actually had to shoot all my scenes for it in one day before flying out to Toronto to do Warehouse 13. Fargo gets to be a DJ for a little bit in this episode and we had some cool light cues and other stuff to go along with that."

 
Fargo (Grayston), Dr. Trevor Grant (James Callis), Kevin (Trevor Jackson) and Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) in "Momstrosity." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

It seems as if Eureka only just returned to the small screen and already the mid-season finale, I'll Be Seeing You. is airing tonight (Friday, September 10th). Since coming back from their summer production break, the show's cast and crew have been busy shooting the second half of season four. "We just finished filming [early August] the first new episode, and yesterday I had my first day on the second one. In the first episode, Fargo forges new bonds with another main character, which was really nice to do. Again, it helps humanize Fargo that little bit more. And then in the second episode we have Felicia Day [Codex in The Guild] joining us for a multi-episode arc.

"I'm not exactly sure what Fargo's specific story arc is in the second half of the season. I'm sort of waiting for the scripts to come out. I don't like to plan too far ahead when it comes to how I'm going to play him, just in case stuff changes. So far, though, I've been really pleased, not just with what they're doing with Fargo, but with all the characters. Everyone is getting the opportunity to step up to the plate, flex their acting muscles and flesh out their characters a lot more. It's been wonderful getting to do that and become re-energized about a character that you've been playing for four years, possibly finding out some new things about him or her in the process."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, all Eureka photos by Eike Schroter or Art Streiber and all photos copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

This Week On Being Human - 09 - 11 - 10

Mitchell's (Aidan Turner) relationship with Lucy turns sour this week on Being Human. Photo copyright of Touchpaper TV and the BBC. 

SPOILER ALERT!! - Mitchell (Aidan Turner) discovers a shocking truth about Lucy (Lyndsey Marshal) and the vampire massacre. He swears revenge – in style.  Meanwhile, Nina (Sinead Keenan) returns, presenting George (Russell Tovey) with the most difficult decision of his life. There are big decisions for Annie (Lenora Crichlow) too, when she decides it’s time to pass on.  George, Nina and Annie end up in Lucy’s research facility – and it seems that only Mitchell can save them. Episode seven airs Saturday, September 11th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America.

As noted above, photo copyright of Touchpaper TV and the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Caprica Returns To The Syfy Channel In October

Eric Stoltz (as Daniel Graystone) also directs Caprica's mid-season opener "Unvanquished." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

The highly anticipated return of The Syfy Channel’s critically-acclaimed series Caprica will come even sooner than anticipated.  The second half of season one will now premiere on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 10:00PM ET/PT, the channel announced today. Fans will no longer have to wait until January to watch the series exciting kick-off, as the citizens of Caprica deal with the chaotic aftermath of the mid-season finale’s harrowing events.

The second half of season one will transport us from stunningly vivid, twisted Virtual realities to the fascinating outer worlds of the 12 Colonies. Along the way, revolutionary tensions rise, family power shifts and our characters grapple with the physical and emotional consequences of their questionable decisions. As the season races towards its stunning conclusion, each episode lays the groundwork for the inevitable (and brutal) clash between the new Cylon race and its human creators.

“Though we initially announced the January return of Caprica, we still had hopes of finding a way to get the series back on the air sooner,” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Syfy and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions. “We’ve been able to successfully re-work our schedule, and are thrilled to bring the show back during what is traditionally Syfy’s most-watched time of the year. The outcome should also please fans who expressed their wishes for a shorter mid-season hiatus.”

Caprica stars Eric Stoltz (Daniel Graystone), Paula Malcomson (Amanda Graystone), Esai Morales (Joseph Adama), Polly Walker (Sister Clarice Willow), Alessandra Torresani (Zoe Graystone), Magda Apanowicz (Lacy) and Sasha Roiz (Sam Adama). The series will immediately follow new episodes of Stargate Universe (Tuesdays @ 9PM). 

The third season premiere of Sanctuary will now launch in its former timeslot on Friday, October 15 at 10:00PM ET/PT immediately following Friday Night Smackdown on Syfy at 8:00PM ET/PT.

Produced by Universal Cable Productions, Caprica is a prequel to the award-winning series Battlestar Galactica, and is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick.  Jonas Pate serves as co-executive producer and director.

As noted above, photo copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

NBC's The Event Primer

Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) and Leila Buchanan (Sarah Roemer) in NBC's The Event. Photo by Mario Perez and copyright of NBC. 

THE Event is an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, The Class), an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fiancée Leila (Sarah Roemer, Disturbia), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.

U.S. President Elias Martinez (Blair Underwood). Photo by Trae Patton and copyright of NBC. 

Sean's quest will send ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including newly elected U.S. President Elias Martinez (Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, In Treatment); Sophia Maguire (Emmy Award nominee Laura Innes, ER), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees; and Leila's shadowy father (Scott Patterson, Gilmore Girls). Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind.

U.S. President Elias Martinez (Blair Underwood) and Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes). photo by Justin Lubin and copyright of NBC.

Ian Anthony Dale (Daybreak), Clifton Collins, Jr. (Star Trek), Taylor Cole (The Violent Kind), Lisa Vidal (The Division), Bill Smitrovich (The Practice), and Emmy winner Željko Ivanek (Damages) also star in the ensemble drama.

 
U.S. Vice President Raymond Jarvis (Bill Smitrovich). Photo by Justin Lubin and copyright of NBC. 

The Eventis a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Evan Katz (24) serves as executive producer/showrunner; Steve Stark (Medium, Facing Kate) serves as executive producer; Jeffrey Reiner (NBC's Friday Night Lights, Trauma) is director/executive producer; and Nick Wauters (The 4400, Eureka) is creator/co-executive producer.

Be sure to check out the links below for exclusive The Event content from NBC.

The Event Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NBCTheEvent

The Event Twitter: http://twitter.com/NBCTheEvent

The Event Full-Length Trailer: 

http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/the-event-full-length-trailer/1228237/

Begging For More: A wonderful puzzle where each week you'll find out something new.

http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/begging-for-more/1246172/

The Eve Of The Event: This fall the world will change forever.

 http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/the-eve-of-the-event/1246442/

Fan Q & A With Blair Underwood and Laura Innes From NBC's Fall Press Tour:

 http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/fan-qanda-with-blair-and-laura/1243981/

Fan Q & A With Jason Ritter and Sarah Roemer From NBC's Fall Press Tour:

http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/fan-qanda-with-sarah-and-jason/1243984/

Fan Q & A With Scott Patterson and Zeljko Ivanek From NBC's Fall Press Tour:

http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/fan-qanda-with-scott-and-zeljko/1244003/

As noted above, all photos by Mario Perez, Justin Lubin or Trae Patton and copyright of NBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Warehouse 13's Allison Scagliotti - Geek Power

Allison Scagliotti as Claudia Donovan in Warehouse 13. Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

Early on in Warehouse 13's first season, Claudia Donovan, a teenage techno-whiz, breached the security systems of the top secret government facility and kidnapped its caretaker, Artie Nielsen, who she blamed for her brother Joshua's death. After talking some sense into her, Artie worked with Claudia to rescue Joshua, who, in fact, was trapped in another dimension.

Despite the seriousness of what she had done, Artie saw potential in Claudia and managed to get her assigned to work with him at the Warehouse. However, in the season one finale MacPherson, it appeared as if she had betrayed Artie's trust and was stealing Artifacts to hand over to an ex-Warehouse agent. Given the seemingly overwhelming evidence against her, Claudia faced an uncertain future with the Warehouse, which initially caused some concern for the actress who plays her, Allison Scagliotti.

"There's a pretty sizable twist for my character at the end of the episode, so for me, reading the script and not knowing how it was going to turn out, resulted in some pretty heavy actor anxiety," recalls Scagliotti. "But it all worked out, and shooting the episode was so much fun. I mean, Roger Rees [James MacPherson] is a joy, and the only reason we haven't had him back again this [second] season is that he's doing a world tour of Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen.

"Filming last year's finale was this amazing culmination of all the hard work by the entire team - the writers, the crew, the cast, and everyone else who's involved with the series. I was actually off for the last two days of shooting, but I stayed in town because I wanted to be there for the last day. They were filming in this underground abattoir, which, if you've never been to one, smells really, really vile, and these guys were down there for hours and hours.

 
It looked as if Claudia (Scagliotti) might, in fact, be a traitor, in the season one finale "MacPherson." Photo by Ken Woroner and copyright of The Syfy Channel, 

"It was horrible, but it still managed to be a ton of fun. And I'm not going to lie, I was really sad when it ended, but I knew we were coming back. So it was sort of a bittersweet sadness; I was sad to see season one end, but it was only the beginning of what I know is going to be an amazing ride."

Although it aired fourth, the episode Age Before Beauty, in which an Artifact nearly ages Agent Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) to death, was shot first when production began earlier this year on Warehouse 13's second season. "Since this was such a Myka-centric episode, I didn't start back to work on season two until a full week after everyone else," says Scagliotti. "So I felt a little disoriented, but I showed up on my first day and it was an action-packed one. We had a lot to do and I thought, 'This feels really easy. It should be harder than this.'

"The last scene we shot that day was a very heartfelt one between me and Saul Rubinek [Artie Nielsen]. Things were going really well and I was having a great time, but I think all actors are insecure about something. Every actor questions the choices that he or she makes and wonders if what they're doing is coming across. I always defer to Saul for advice and guidance, and I looked at him after one of the takes and he said to me, 'It's like falling off a log, isn't it?'

"Now, I'm 19, and the colloquial expressions that Saul Rubinek uses at his ripe age are not exactly what I'm used to," jokes the actress. "I had never heard the expression, 'Falling off a log,' before, so I turned inward and thought, 'Falling off a log, what does that mean? It sounds painful. There's nothing positive about falling off a log.' I think Saul saw that I was eating myself alive inside and he said to me, 'Easy, kiddo. It means it's easy.' So that scene was literally my transition into season two."

Claudia (Scagliotti) tries to help figure out what is causing people to age before their time in "Age Before Beauty." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"In Warehouse 13's second season opener Time Will Tell, MacPherson frees H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray) from the Warehouse's "bronze sector" in order to help him infiltrate The Escher Vault, an even more secure section of the facility. "That's a really high-stakes episode," notes Scagliotti, "and to be honest, out of everything I've seen so far this season, it's probably my favorite. It was written by our show runner [executive producer] Jack Kenny and directed by our supervising producer Stephen Surjik. He directed last year's Claudia [in which the actress made her series debut] as well as the finale, and I've got to say that he and Jack Kenny are my favorite [creative] combination.

"It was great in Time Will Tell to pick up where the season one finale left off, because during last year's hiatus I kept wondering how we were going to come back this season. I feel like we went out with a bang with season one, and we came back this year with an ever bigger bang by releasing H.G. Wells, who I geeked out over when I found out who they'd cast in the role. I'm a huge fan of Jaime Murray and she's just a pleasure to work with. Seeing her character reemerge in the episode For The Team is just the beginning of a pretty long arc for her. H.G. is going to be with us through to the end of this season, and she's not as innocuous as she seems. If you've sensed something lurking under the surface with H.G., your instincts are right-on."

Although it appeared to Claudia's friends as well as the show's viewers that she was in league with MacPherson, it was, in fact, Leena (Genelle Williams) who was acting as his unwilling accomplice. MacPherson was controlling her using the Pearl of Wisdom, and under his direction, Leena used Harriet Tubman's thimble - which refracts light and allows its wearer to appear as anyone they think of - to impersonate Claudia. While Leena had no say when it came to helping frame Claudia, it took a bit of time for Scagliotti's character to forgive her.

"This was something else that I thought about over the hiatus," says the actress, "and I really like that in the episode Mild Mannered, the writers gave Claudia her confrontation with Leena, because what she did, or was forced to do, couldn't be something that my character could have come to terms with quickly. You don't have your identity stolen and then just go, 'Oh, it's cool. It wasn't your fault.'

Claudia (Scagliotti) and Artie (Saul Rubinek) chase after MacPherson in "Time Will Tell." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel.

"The relationship between Claudia and Leena was strained to begin with in the first season, and I always loved playing with that. We've all got someone in our lives that we don't totally gel with, and Leena is an extremely likable individual and so is Genelle, who plays her, but I think the fact that Claudia has some tension with that character is great. In terms of her coping with the identify theft, Claudia had to grow up a little bit and recognize the fact that it really wasn't Leena's fault and she has to be the bigger person and respect that.

"I like that, and I feel that that's actually reaching out to young girls in a lot of ways and setting an example. The thing is, I have an incredible opportunity in playing a character that is strong, smart, fallible, likable and just so wonderful, and nothing warms my heart more than when a mom reaches out to me on Twitter and says that her nine-year-old daughter wants to dress up like Claudia for Halloween."

Since being properly welcomed into the Warehouse, Claudia has proven to be an invaluable asset to the team and quickly gained the respect not only of Artie, but also Agents Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock). This season she was even given her first field assignment alongside Myka in the aforementioned For The Team. Each new day brings with it a new challenge for Claudia, and her growth in response to those challenges mirrors that of her real-world counterpart.

"Claudia's story arc this year is nearer to what I'm going through over the course of shooting this show," says Scagliotti. "We've seen my character's responsibilities increase, which for me meant crossing over from a special recurring guest to a series regular. I've never been a series regular before, and it's exciting as well as scary, and I want to prove myself and fit in and belong with this new-found family.

Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), Claudia (Scagliotti) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) in "Beyond Our Control." Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"Along with all that, my character is also dealing with this sort of uncertainty about her future, which I think every young actor deals with, and insecurity about her past and who she is, which most people on this planet probably struggle with, too. So the challenge for me as an actress is just making myself available to play all the vulnerable Allison stuff within the context of this very real character."

As Scagliotti has become part of the Warehouse 13 family, so has her character in the fictional world that Claudia exists in. "Our show runner Jack Kenny likes to stress the fact that every great TV show is a family show, and not necessarily because they draw in a family audience, but because the relationships on such shows mirror those of a real family," she explains. "And it seems like we've really settled into those roles even more this season. I definitely feel like Claudia is everybody's punk little sister," says Scagliotti with a chuckle. "Artie is without a doubt our grumpy patriarch, while Myka is the overachieving, graceful daughter, and Pete is our goofy jock.

"The love between the characters along with their loyalty has only deepened, especially when any given character becomes endangered in an episode. I think you really saw in For The Team how genuinely upset and terrified Myka was for Claudia's life. I just love that moment because you get to see the bond between these two vastly different but still talented and strong female characters that you really didn't see before in the series."

In Beyond Our Control, the Warehouse team visits the local small town of Univille to find an Artifact that is causing B-movie clips to play out in the real world. Todd (Nolan Gerard Funk), a clerk at the hardware store, ends up helping our heroes, which brings him and fellow geek Claudia together. Unfortunately, their budding relationship hits a rough patch, which Artie works to smooth out, but then in Vendetta, Todd has to leave town after Claudia discovers that he is in the witness protection program and hiding out from the Mob.

Fellow geeks - Todd (Nolan Gerard Funk) and Claudia (Scagliotti). Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"There was always something mysterious and unspoken about the Todd character," says Scagliotti. "I've known stuff about him right from the beginning and could not wait to let loose. The thing with the Todd and Claudia dynamic - Toddia? - sure, why not - is that they both have secrets. With Claudia, it's that she can't talk about her past or her present job. She's sort of a girl shrouded in secrecy who cannot connect with anyone on an honest level that isn't also harboring a Warehouse-related secret.

"It's not easy to be so isolated, and honesty is the key to any good relationship, right? So that gets in the way with Claudia and Todd, but likewise, he's not being honest with her, either. In Vendetta, which is a great episode for Artie's back story, Claudia can't take it any more and decides to get to the bottom of what Todd is hiding. Once the truth is revealed, though, the two of them realize that timing was working against them. However, I will tell you that it's not over yet with Todd and Claudia," teases the actress.

Much to Claudia's surprise, she meets another kindred techie spirit when Eureka's Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) visits the Warehouse to install a new computer system in the Warehouse 13 episode 13.1. Sparks definitely fly between the two characters, enough for Fargo to invite Claudia to visit his workplace, Global Dynamics, and in Eureka's Crossing Over, she helps him and his friends figure out why objects from the 1940's are mysteriously appearing around town.

"I was super excited when I found out that the network was getting behind the crossover idea between the two shows," enthuses Scagliotti. "Neil and I met at Comic-Con last year and just immediately had this sort of great comedic chemistry. So I was thrilled to be part of the center point of the crossover, which was built around the Claudia/Fargo dynamic.

Fargo (Neil Grayston) and Claudia (Scagliotti) go all "techie" in "13.1." Photo by Steve Wilkie and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"I loved the 13.1 script, which was written by our young writer in the [writers'] room, Mr. Ian Stokes. I thought it was great and psychedelic and kooky, and I love how much they then made Claudia a girl of action over on the Eureka set. It was very much like packing a bag and going to visit family on the west coast. They were super-supportive of me as well as true to this character that I've lived with for a while now."

As far as the rest of Warehouse 13's second season, Scagliotti has this to say about upcoming episodes. "The next four or five episodes are all great. I think they're some of the strongest of the season. We start ramping things up and it doesn't stop. We end on a really explosive note, too. It's hard to pick a favorite episode, but I will say that number 11, Buried, is another extremely high-stakes story. It's also directed by Stephen Surjik, so it's bound to be a fan favorite.

"Buried is sort of our Indiana Jones-type episode involving Warehouse 2, the lost Warehouse in Egypt, and for Claudia it involves a glimpse into what her future holds, and that it's not entirely up to her choice. We see the return of Lindsay Wagner [Dr. Vanessa Calder], and I actually got to spend a lot of time with Miss Wagner as well as CCH Pounder [Mrs. Frederic], because their two characters are the ones who are the harbingers of Claudia's future. It was powerful stuff for me, and it was an honor as well as a joy to work with them. They inspiring women and really the kind of actresses I want to emulate."

While she may be relatively new to the whole series regular gig, there is no denying that fans of Warehouse 13 have become enamored of Scagliotti and her character of Claudia.

Claudia's (Scagliotti) first field assignment nearly become her last, too, in "For The Team." Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"It's really flattering, bolstering and heartwarming to be so well-received by a community that knows what they like," says the actress. "Now, I'm going to get my nerd on here for a minute, because I've been asked by a lot of people about what it means to be a geek, why I'm a geek, what I think of geeks that I meet, etc.

"Well, I got out my dictionary the other day and looked up geek, then nerd, and finally dork, and they all have negative connotations in the dictionary. I think that's really inaccurate, though, and thanks to the advent of things like Comic-Con, which bring genres and individuals with specific interests out into the forefront of pop culture, we've seen a total change in the meaning of these words.

"Those definitions all sort of suggest that the individual is socially inept, and I have to argue with that. I'm a total geek; I love my certain comic books, I'm crazy about music, I'm a big bookworm and I can still carry on a conversation. I'm not socially inept, and likewise, I've met plenty of people at comic conventions that are just fantastic. So I think it's time for a petition for the Merriam-Webster dictionary to revise those definitions."

In addition to Warehouse 13, the actress' other recent projects include a guest-spot in the Smallville episode Idol, and a feature film that is currently shooting in Memphis, Tennessee. "On Smallville I played Jayna, one of The Wonder Twins [opposite David Gallagher's Zan]," she says. "We had a live cougar on-set at one point, and I got to hold a cub. That and being held by Tom Welling [Clark Kent/Superman] were two of the highlights for me from that job.

Claudia (Scagliotti) in season two's "Around the Bend." Photo by Philippe Bosse and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"The movie that I'll be starting work on is called Losers Take All with Kyle Gallner, and it's from the director [Alex Steyermark] of Prey for Rock & Roll, which is one of my favorite films. This one is going to be a 1980's punk-pop celebration and I can't wait."

There is still plenty more Warehouse 13 for viewers to look forward to this year, but Scagliotti is already thinking ahead to season three and what she hopes it might hold for her character. "The one thing that I don't want ever to happen with Claudia is for her to become the generic sort of hacker that a lot of shows have," says the actress. "The writers on Warehouse 13 have come up with such a complex and rich character and I think it would be silly not to take full advantage of that.

"We've been talking about an undercover girl punk band episode, and I'd love the chance to do something like that on the show. It would be fun, too, for Claudia to kind of go rogue. I want to explore what happened to her parents and why she was orphaned. The wonderful thing about this series as a whole is that we can pretty much go anywhere with it. We have so many possibilities, not just with this ever-expanding, seemingly infinite warehouse, but also with these characters who, again, are so rich and recognizable in life."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photos by Philippe Bosse, Steve Wilkie or Ken Woroner and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Max Martini Versus Mandrake On Syfy

Santiago Zavala (Nick Gomez), adventurer Darren McCall (Max Martini) and Felicia (Betsy Russell) unknowingly disturb the slumber of an oh-so-nasty creature in Mandrake. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

THE Syfy Channel will kick off its September Saturday Original Movies with Mandrake on September 11th, at 9PM (EST/PST), starring Max Martini (The Unit) as Darren McCall, Betsy Russell (Saw VI) as Felicia and Benito Martinez (The Shield) Harry Vargas. 

Things are not looking too good for Felicia (Betsy Russell) or McCall (Max Martini). Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

In the movie, researchers and fortune hunters in search of a mystical sixteenth century Spanish dagger find themselves trapped in a jungle that is a single living being – the Mandrake – serving as protector of the dagger. The movie is a production of Cinetel.

As noted above, all photos copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

AMC's The Walking Dead Premieres Halloween Night

AMC's newest original series, The Walking Dead, will premiere on Halloween night, Sunday, October 31st @ 10:00 p.m. EST with a 90-minute episode. Subsequent episodes will be one-hour long presentations. The series will premiere during AMC's Fearfest, the network's annual blockbuster marathon of thriller and horror films. Fearfest is celebrating its 14th year by airing 14 consecutive days of themed programming with more than 50 films. In conjunction with this announcement, AMC has released a four-and-a-half minute trailer previewing the series, which was seen at this year's Comic-Con. The trailer can be viewed at www.amctv.com

The Walking Dead is AMC's first wholly-owned original series and based on the comic book written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. The six-episode series tells the story of life following a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by Police Officer Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back), traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) plays Shane Walsh, Rick's sheriff's department partner before the apocalypse, and Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break) is Rick's wife, Lori. Supporting cast includes Laurie Holden (The Shield), Jeffrey De Munn, Chandler Riggs and Steven Yeun.

Three-time Academy Award-nominee Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) serves as writer, director and executive producer. Chairwoman of Valhalla Motion Pictures, Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens, Armageddon, The Incredible Hulk), creator of the original comic series, Robert Kirkman, and David Alpert from Circle of Confusion serve as executive producers. Charles "Chic" Eglee (Dexter, The Shield, Dark Angel) and Jack LoGiudice (Sons of Anarchy, Resurrection Blvd) are co-executive producer.

Eureka's Salli Richardson-Whitfield - The Best Of Both Worlds

Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Eureka's Dr. Allison Blake. Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

What a difference a year makes! When audiences last saw Eureka's Dr. Allison Blake, she was running the local government-funded scientific research facility, Global Dynamics. That, however, all changed this (fourth) season as the result of an unscheduled trip back in time that Allison took along with four of her fellow Eurekans. Upon returning to 2010 and a different time line, she discovered that Douglas Fargo was now in charge of GD, and she was head of its medical section.

At home, Allison was still the mother of a little baby, but her once autistic teenage son Kevin was now a healthy, outgoing young man. Needless to say, all this took her a bit of getting used to, while for actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield, who plays Allison, it was the beginning of something quite exciting.

"When they [the show's producers/writers] laid out for us what the season was going to be and how things were not only going to change but that they were going to stay like that for a while, I really loved it," says Richardson-Whitfield. "First of all, the idea of Fargo [Neil Grayston] being the head of GD is, I think, brilliant, because it results in even more comedy. It also gets Allison out from behind that desk and being stuck at GD all the time and back to running around with Carter [Colin Ferguson] and working with him to solve problems, which is sort of how they first met.

"I also get to do all the doctor stuff, and I don't have to be so hard and serious all the time. I can be a Mom more and be a bit softer now that Allison is no longer running GD. It just gives me some new colors to play. Like I said, I'm able to get out and do some different things, although I thought I'd be lucky and not get stuck with so much tech talk, but they find ways to keep having me do it," notes the actress with a chuckle. "The neat thing, too, is that Allison can always run GD if necessary. If something happens and they can't find Fargo, then all of a sudden she's back in charge of things. So it's kind of opened me up to do whatever they need Allison to do, whenever they need her to do it."

Same place but a very different time, indeed, for Allison (Richardson-Whitfield) in season four's "Founder's Day." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

Eureka's fourth season opens with Founder's Day, which starts out as just another day for the residents of the small Pacific Northwest town, but regular viewers know better. It is not long before Allison, Sheriff Jack Carter, Douglas Fargo, Henry Deacon (Joe Morton) and Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) find themselves back in 1947, which is when the government was just establishing Eureka. In an effort not to attract too much attention, our heroes go incognito, with Allison disguising herself as a nurse. Having a medical background, she fit right in, as did Richardson-Whitfield when returning to work on the series.

'Do you know what's really amazing? As soon as you get back onto our set, you feel like you haven't missed a beat and it's as if you've been there all the time," she says. "I've been doing this [show] for a while and Allison comes to me pretty easily, but with this particular episode it was even more exciting to do something so different. The military base set that we shot on was unbelievable. It felt as if we were filming a movie, it really did. Our production designer [Byron King] is just so precise and particular, and that made all the difference in the world.

"As far as playing Allison, I really enjoyed filming the scene where she's spouting out all these orders and trying to save the life of an injured soldier. I also had a lot of fun doing the scene where Dr. Grant [James Callis] and my character, who's dressed in her nurse's uniform, meet for the first time. Then there's the dance sequence with me and Colin towards the end of the episode. We did quite a bit of dancing in that dance hall, but, unfortunately, you didn't see a lot of it onscreen. Colin is actually a pretty good dancer and I can follow, so we had a ball getting out there and doing our whole little swing dance thing."

Having agreed at the end of the second episode of this season, A New World, to keep what has happened to them a secret, Allison and the others carry on with their lives, personal and professional, as best they can. Her medical skills are once again put to the test in the following story, All the Rage, when some very negative, and in most cases violent, outbursts begin to get the better of everyone at Global Dynamics.

Jack (Colin Ferguson) and Allison (Richardson-Whitfield) in "Founder's Day." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"I love episode three," enthuses Richardson-Whitfield. "It was shot different from how we typically do this show. Just in general, when we were filming the episode, we weren't quite sure how it was going to turn out, but it looks wonderful. My favorite scene is where Jo and Allison lock themselves in the medical section and Erica's character starts going a little crazy. At the same time, Zane [Niall Matter] and Dr. Parrish [Wil Wheaton] are strapped to their beds, while Allison and Jo are having the inter-cut conversation with Carter and Fargo, who are in another area of GD, and Fargo is arguing with Parrish and Zane. That was so much fun to shoot and I loved seeing it all cut together."

With her onscreen Eureka son Kevin (Trevor Jackson) never having suffered from autism, Richardson-Whitfield has had the chance to further explore that relationship. In wanting so much to connect with her son, Allison even goes so far as to give Kevin an unfair advantage over others in a rocket race around the Moon during The Story of O2.

"In the show's first two seasons, you don't see Allison and Kevin together that much at all," says the actress, "and I think it's because the writers didn't really know what to do with that relationship. Now, however, they're able to have Kevin around and be part of the story, so audiences get to see Allison being Mom and dealing with a teenage son as well as all that that entails. I think it's an accurate representation of real [world] women who are in powerful positions at work, but who also have a home life, as opposed to a fantasy TV world where you never see the kids or the parents interacting with them."

The Story of O2 was directed by the actress' Eureka castmate Colin Ferguson. It is the second episode he has directed so far for the show, and the same is true of Joe Morton. This season, Richardson-Whitfield will follow in their footsteps when she goes behind the cameras for the first time.

Allison (Richardson-Whitfield) is one of the few who manages to keep her cool in "All the Rage." Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"Directing is something I've wanted to do for a while, and last year I was hoping to give it a try, but I was pregnant, so it didn't seem like the best time to take on something like that," she explains. "Now, though, I feel like I'm super-prepared and ready to do it. I'm getting a little nervous as the day gets closer, and I'm just hoping that what my vision is and what I see happening works, and that I'm good at it [directing], too.

"It's another direction that I see my career moving into, and as much as I try to micromanage everything in my life, my husband [actor Dondre Whitfield] thinks that directing should be the perfect thing for me," jokes Richardson-Whitfield. "Luckily, I have a great team here to support me, because there are a lot of things that I don't know, but there are also a lot of things that I don't know that I know. At least that's what people tell me. I've been working on sets for almost 20 years and I've learned quite a bit, and I know a great deal of that will just start coming out naturally. I just have to be totally prepared. I'm very, very excited as well as thankful to be part of a show that is so supportive and has given me this opportunity."

In between her responsibilities at GD and as a Mom, Allison has managed to make time for a little romance this season on Eureka. After four years, her and Carter's relationship finally seems to be taking off. However, our handsome sheriff has some competition in the form of Dr. Trevor Grant, one of the key scientific founders of Eureka, who traveled foward from 1947 to 2010 with Allison and the others.

"I think they want to try to give my character and Carter a chance this year, so we'll see what happens," teases Richardson-Whitfield. "But there always has to be a monkey wrench in there somewhere; it can't be too easy for things to happen with them.

Carter's (Colin Ferguson) and Allison's (Richardson-Whitfield) relationship takes a surprising turn in Eureka's second season. Photo by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel. 

"As for Trevor Grant, he's a good-looking, brilliant, mysterious man who's showing Allison a great deal of attention. She's single and I think it's just basic human nature that she would be somewhat interested. So we'll have to wait and see what happens with that chemistry as well."

What has it been like to have James Callis on the Eureka set this year? "He's been wonderful," she says. "James is just a very nice man who works really hard and is a true professional. He fit right in with our cast, and that's what you really want. You want someone who can come in, be part of the family, and get into the rhythm of your show, which in our case is a complex one. Eureka has a way of playing the joke, but at the same time keeping the drama and the real truth of the relationships. I don't think some people realize how hard we work here in order to keep Eureka real and grounded in reality while still maintaining the comedic element. That's a tough balance to achieve, and James has joined right in."

During the hiatus between seasons three and four of Eureka, the actress guest-starred in an episode of the hit CBS TV crime drama series Criminal Minds. "I was actually supposed to do more, but then I booked a film and wasn't available," says Richardson-Whitfield. "It was a completely different role; I played a character who was very soft and didn't have to be in control of everything. And what a great set to work on, too. The cast and crew are wonderful to be around. In fact, after I've been directing for a bit, and if the show is still running, I'm going to go back over there and ask the producers if they will let me direct an episode for them.

"The film that I ended up doing is called I Will Follow. I'm not sure when it's coming out, but I think it will probably do the film festival rounds. And during the summer break that we just had, I shot another movie, this one with Mario Van Peebles. It's a sort of high school coming-of-age story in which I play the principal."

WIth production on season four of Eureka scheduled to continue until early November, there are still plenty of adventures left for Allison to experience and for viewers to look forward to watching. "I have a lot to do in these back 10 episodes," reveals Richardson-Whitfield. "The writers have a very intense story line planned for Allison, so I'm going to be busy and I hope fans will have fun watching what my character has to go through."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, all photos by Eike Schroter and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please, no unauthrozied copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

David Anders Travels To Warehouse 13

David Anders as Adam Monroe in NBC's Heroes. Photo copyright of NBC. 

DAVID Anders (Heroes, 24) will join The Syfy Channel’s hit series Warehouse 13 on Tuesday, September 7th, at 9PM (EST/PST) as a calculating suspect with a deadly past and a dangerous connection to the Warehouse.

Anders plays Jonah Raitt, a suspected serial killer who escaped Warehouse capture back in the 1960’s. Enlisting the help of H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray), Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) hunt Raitt down to recapture him and reclaim the Artifact once and for all.

As noted above, photo copyright of NBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!