SciFiAndTvTalk

Future Man - Official Trailer - Series Coming In April (Hulu)

Check out the official trailer for the third and final season of Hulu Original comedy series Future Man. All eight episodes of Future Man will premiere April 3, only on Hulu. 

Convicted of time crimes and sentenced to death by entertainment, Josh, Tiger, and Wolf become fugitives, on the run through time, trying desperately to evade capture while clearing their names and fixing the big mess of history they’ve made along the way.

Future Man stars Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe, and Derek Wilson. The series is created and executive produced by Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Matt Tolmach, James Weaver and Ben Karlin executive produce alongside Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Future Man is produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Stargate SG-1's Beau Bridges

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From the Past, veteran stage and screen actor Beau Bridges talks about working on the series finale of Stargate SG-1 playing General Hank Landry as well as the two straught-to-DVD movies Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. Enjoy!

The Goa’uld, the Ori, the Lucian Alliance – these are just some of the hostile alien factions that Stargate SG-1’s General Hank Landry has dealt with since taking over as head of Stargate Command. Like his predecessors, he has done everything in his power over the past two years to help keep Earth and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy safe from extraterrestrial attack. The general’s tour of duty, however, recently came to an end, at least on the small screen, as SG-1 finished its 10th and final season on TV. In the series finale, Unending, the SG-1 team and Landry are trapped onboard the Odyssey when Colonel Carter uses a time dilation field to protect the ship from being destroyed by the Ori.

“I really liked how the writers handled the last episode,” enthuses Beau Bridges, who plays General Landry. “I thought it was masterfully done. They had a great deal to attend to, especially given everything that had happened over the years on the show, and I think the fans were looking for some answers. As is the usual style of Stargate, they left the door open at the end in case they wanted to do more stories. And, In fact, as most people know, we came back this year and shot two movies [Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum].

“As far as Unending, I felt that it did answer a number of questions and brought things together. I loved the whole idea of the ship being frozen in time, with the oncoming blast from the energy weapon just inching towards us, and everyone growing older. We had a lot of fun with it. I thought they [the writers] delved more into the human side of our characters, which doesn’t happen very often with all the action going on. That’s always nice as an actor as it gives you more to invest yourself in. Over the past couple of years, the writers and I have gotten to know each other, and, for example, they know I love growing things – I raise orchids at home – so they wrote something along those lines into the story for my character. So I enjoyed that, and, of course, General Landry going into outer space onboard the Odyssey. He doesn’t get to do that too often.”

In Unending, General Landry and SG-1 age 50 years as a result of time passing at a normal rate within the confines of the Odyssey. That meant some early mornings spent in the make-up chair for Bridges and the rest of the SG-1 cast. “During my career I’ve done a lot of not only old age make-up, but special effects make-up as well, and it’s really changed quite a bit over the years,” notes the actor. “It used to be that they would put these big foam pieces on you. Those types of prosthetics were very ungainly and heavy on your face. Also, if you had to wear them for an extended period of time you would end up with big abrasions on your skin from where the prosthetics had been applied.

"Nowadays it’s a totally different ballgame. They use very thin prosthetics which are applied in little pieces. I actually didn’t have too many of those [prosthetics] on me for Stargate. They work with your own skin as well, ‘pinching it’ together and putting various type of make-up on it to coagulate the skin and give it an older appearance. A great deal is done with shading, too. If I remember, for Unending, I also had to wear a bald cap, which goes over the top of your head, and then they put a wig over that to give my character very thinning white hair. That was pretty much the deal. The entire process sometimes took two or three hours, but the people in the make-up department are friends of mine, so I didn’t mind sitting there at all.”

What challenges did Bridges find working behind the old-age prosthetics? “I didn’t have to wear the mask for any particular length of time, and I didn’t have much dialogue while wearing it either,” he says. “I think there were only a couple of shots with me in the make-up, including one where my character is staring out a window of the Odyssey at the energy beam coming from the Ori ship. That was a long shot because it wrapped all the way around the outside of the ship and sort of looked in at me, but, again, I didn’t have much to say.

“When I played Richard Nixon [in the 1995 made-for-TV film Kissinger and Nixon] I wore a full mask where just my eyes showed. I spoke a lot for that part, and I was also playing an actual person who everyone knew, so I had to do the best I could to capture his voice and mannerisms. I discovered that to get all that across to an audience, I had to kind of behave beyond how I normally would physically. Once I got used to it I was fine, but it was a challenge. Perhaps subconsciously that experience served me well when I did those few scenes with the old age make-up on Stargate.”

Production on season 10 of SG-1 wrapped at the beginning of October, 2006, and Bridges remembers the final day of work on Unending very well. “It wasn’t terribly emotional, but you could certainly feel that we had been together for quite a while,” recalls the actor. “This business is funny in that I’ve found it’s like a bunch of little births and deaths. With every job there are new people, you make good friends, get close to them – especially with SG-1 where most of the people had worked together for 10 years – and then you part company. What’s also true, though, in this business is that a lot times you come back around and work again with people who you thought you never would. As difficult as it is, it’s also, I think, very healthy because that’s really what life is. Life is a collection of beginnings and endings.”

Along with his involvement in the SG-1 series and both DVD films, the actor also had the opportunity to guest-star on SG-1’s sister series, Stargate Atlantis, season four of which begins airing on the Sci Fi Channel in the States at the end of September. “I had a ball on Atlantis,” says Bridges. “I did, I believe, three or four episodes in the last couple of years. I like the cast, they’re good folks, and again it gives Landry the chance to step out of the usual place of his office or the SGC control room and mix it up with a different team. It also allows me to touch areas that my character normally doesn’t get into, and usually on a really human level. I hope they continue to make that show for a while; maybe I’ll get to do more episodes.”

This past spring, Bridges returned to Vancouver and Bridge Studios to reprise his role of General Hank Landry for both direct-to-DVD Stargate SG-1 movies. “The Ark of Truth was fun because SG-1 deals with the Ori, who get their comeuppance, which I think the fans will be happy about,” says the actor. “The second film [Continuum] I enjoyed maybe a bit more because we get to see another version of General Landry in a different plane of existence. That’s something they’ve done before on Stargate, but my character has never really been involved in it.

“So you have a Landry who’s basically retired and not wanting to be pushed into the forefront of the action. He can’t understand why the others are getting so whipped up about everything. I had a great time with that. They wrote some wonderful scenes for me and we shot them out at one of the local airports. The U.S. Air Force flew some of their F-15 fighters up for the second movie and we got to meet the pilots. It was cool.”

“Martin Wood directed the second movie, and he’s been with Stargate forever. I always like working with him. He’s got such vitality and is full of great ideas. Martin also has a lot of confidence now that he’s done this for so long. I’ll be interested to see where his career goes from here. Hopefully we’ll make more Stargate films and he’ll continue to direct them.

“Of course, Robert Cooper [SG-1 executive producer and Atlantis co-creator/executive producer] wrote as well as directed The Ark of Truth. I was directed by him once before last season and I think he’s very talented. Robert is passionate about the creative side of things, and I think directing is just a natural extension of writing. If you’ve written a piece and you’re directing it, that’s a good thing because you clearly have a strong sense of the story you want to tell.”

When it comes to his more down-to-Earth work, the Emmy-award winning Bridges recently received another Emmy nomination for his recurring role as Carl Hickey, Earl’s (Jason Lee) father on the hit NBC sitcom My Name is Earl. “That character is a total departure from General Landry. I mean, I was hurling gerbils in one of the last episodes I did,” chuckles the actor. “It’s just a crazy off-the-wall comedy which I’ve always loved doing.

“I have a film coming out with Sarah Jessica Parker called Spinning Into Butter, and I did a movie with Mischa Barton called Don’t Fade Away, which will also be released soon. So it’s been a busy year for me so far and, thankfully, it’s not over yet.”

Steve Eramo 

Next Time on The Walking Dead - "Look At The Flowers" (AMC)

(L-R): Eleanor Matsuura as Yumiko, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter and Khary Payton as Ezekiel. Photo copyright of AMC.

The Walking Dead Season 10 continues on Sunday, March 29th at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. In Sunday’s all-new episode, Look At The Flowers, heroes and villains reckon with the aftermath of the Hilltop fire. Meanwhile, Eugene takes a group on a journey to meet Stephanie, with the hopes of befriending another civilization. Check out the trailer!

With Alpha's demise, and Negan and Carol's true plan revealed, the Whisperer War gets closer to a final showdown between Beta, the Whisperers and their horde, and the groups of Alexandria, the Kingdom, Oceanside and the Hilltop. Through this conflict and all they’ve lost, a few still hold onto hope, especially Eugene, who believes the mysterious voice he spoke with on the radio may lead to their world getting bigger once again.      

After, viewers can catch an all-new episode of Talking Dead: Home Edition hosted by Chris Hardwick at 10:06 p.m. ET/PT, featuring The Walking Dead cast members Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Ryan Hurst plus comedian Ron Funches via video chat.

Solar Opposites - Coming In May (Hulu)

Co-created by Justin Roiland (co-creator of Rick and Morty) and Mike McMahan (former head writer of Rick and Morty), Solar Opposites centers around a team of four aliens who have escaped their exploding home world, only to crash land into a move-in ready home in suburban America. They are evenly split on whether Earth is awful or awesome. Korvo (Justin Roiland) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambroni) only see the pollution, crass consumerism, and human frailty, while Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love humans and all their TV, junk food, and fun stuff. Their mission: protect the Pupa, a living super computer that will one day evolve into its true form, consume them and terraform the Earth. The series premieres May 8th on Hulu. Check out the official trailer:

 

Series regulars include Justin Roiland, Thomas Middleditch, Mary Mack, and Sean Giambrone. Season 1 Guest Voice Actors: Alan Tudyk, Alfred Molina, Amanda Leighton, Andrew Matarazzo, Andy Daly, Calum Worthy, Chris Cox, Christina Hendricks, Echo Kellum, Eric Bauza, Gary Anthony Williams, Gideon Adlon, Jacob Vargus, Jason Mantzoukas, Jeannie Elias, Jesse Mendel, Jon Barinholtz, Karan Brar, Kari Wahlgren, Ken Marino, Liam Cunningham, Maurice LaMarche, Miguel Sandoval, Nat Faxon, Natalie Morales, Neil Flynn, Phil LaMarr, Rainn Wilson, Rob Schrab, Ryan Ridley, Sagan McMahan, Thomas Barbusca, Tiffany Haddish, Tom Kenny, Vargus Mason, Wendi McLendon-Covey.

 

Solar Opposites is executive produced by Justin Roiland, Mike McMahan and Josh Bycel. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Teleivison.

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Painkiller Jane's Noah Danby

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, actor Noah Danby takes some time out of his workday on the Painkiller Jane set to talk about playing Connor King.

It’s an overcast and rainy Thursday morning in downtown Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Parked outside a nondescript doorway in an alley behind a row of shops is a van, the inside rear of which has seats fitted with arm, leg and neck restraints. Suddenly, the door opens and two men rush out. One of them hands the other what looks like a magician’s wand, and, in the blink of an eye, the man “disappears,” leaving a puff of smoke in his wake. Seconds later, several other individuals run through the open doorway and into the alley, among them Connor King, and by the looks on their faces, they’re clearly not pleased.

“Cut!” says director Matt Hastings.

The above is a scene from The Amazing Howie, an episode of the Sci Fi Channel series Painkiller Jane. In the show, our heroes, including Connor King, played by Canadian-born actor Noah Danby, are members of a secret government agency whose job is the identification and containment of “Neuros,” a group of very unique and potentially dangerous human beings with superhuman neurological abilities. Sporting a shaved head, a well-toned physique and leather jacket, Connor clearly looks like a force to be reckoned with, but as Danby points out, there is more to his character than just a pair of bulging biceps.

“Connor isn’t just the muscle on the team,” notes the actor. “He has a sense of humor and often has a hand in the comic relief. My character is also sarcastic, but most of all, Connor has a history, and it’s dark. They [the writers] gave me this terrific base to start with, and since then I’ve had so much free range insofar as how to play this part. Early on, Gil Grant [executive producer] said to the cast, ‘Once you get these roles, we want you to help us create your characters.’ It was great coming into this project knowing I’d have that freedom. For example, we’ve definitely seen a more emotional side to Connor than when we started out, and with each episode there’s a new facet of his personality that’s revealed. It leaves you wanting to learn more, and I think that’s smart writing.”

Having begun life as a comic book superhero, Painkiller Jane was first adapted into a TV movie by The Sci Fi Channel, and then a weekly series. In the pilot episode, DEA Agents Jane Vasko (Kristanna Loken) and Maureen Bowers (Alaina Huffman) are working undercover on a drug deal when they find out that two of the “dealers,” Andre McBride (Rob Stewart) and Connor King are, in fact, government agents on a covert assignment of their own. Jane and Maureen are subsequently recruited by Andre to join his team, and while on her first mission, Jane is fatally wounded, but survives. She is shocked to learn she cannot die, which is a big advantage in a job like hers. For Danby, there was very little time between booking his gig as Connor and starting work on the pilot.

“I was in Toronto at the time, got the job and four days later we went in front of the camera,” he says. “So I flew here [to Vancouver], we had a read-through, and that’s when I met Kristanna. She’s such a beautiful human being, and since we were going to be shooting 22 episodes together, it was nice to know we were going to get along. The entire cast hit it off right away, though, in that first meeting, and that’s what’s really made this project fly.

“After the read-through, they [the producers] suggested that if possible we should all visit the sets that had been built and become acquainted with them. So that’s what I did. I drove out to Maple Ridge, which I’d never heard of before, and got lost,” chuckles Danby. “I finally found my way to the studio, walked onto the set, sat there for an hour and just took it all in. I wanted to be as familiar as possible with the areas that my character and I would be working in. After that, boom, I dove right into the work and tried to be as honest as possible with my portrayal of Connor.”

Of all his colleagues, Connor probably has the most interaction with his boss, Andre. “Rob Stewart and I have spent a great deal of time developing our onscreen relationship,” says Danby, “and it’s not so much in the dialogue, as it is the way my character reacts to his. Connor is an ex-cop who was in jail, and I think he has a problem with authority. However, he respects the hell out of Andre, and vice versa. Andre wouldn’t have him on his team if it were otherwise.

“We had a guest director come in to do the show, and, of course, they have their own vision of what the episode should be, but sometimes they don’t have the entire picture because they haven’t been there the whole time. So it’s only fair that we help them out, too, given that they’re there to help us out. This particular director said to me that my character should snap to attention when Andre comes into the room and I said, ‘No, that’s not their relationship.’ Yes, Andre is Connor’s boss, he’s the boss of all of us, but, again there’s that mutual respect thing and problem with authority. So Andre gives Connor the freedom to do what he wants, within reason, naturally,” says Danby smiling.

As for his new teammates, it takes Danby’s alter ego a little while to get comfortable working with Jane. “Connor is the bigot on the team, and he’s got a problem with Neuros,” explains the actor. “He’s got a real resentment towards these guys and we don’t really know why yet. Maybe we’ll find out, but knowing that Jane has ‘powers’ and that she could possibly be a Neuro, it creates this tension between the two. At the same time, she’s a gorgeous woman, and he’s also drawn to that. So there’s an interesting dynamic between Connor and Jane, and he’s curious to see what Jane is all about. He likes the cut of her jib, though, and that she’s not a princess. Connor respects that she can go out there and take care of herself, and the fact she can’t die also adds a bit more flavor to the [creative] soup.”

Despite any resentment Connor may feel towards Jane, there is the odd occasion during Painkiller Jane’s first season where he lets his guard down in front of her. “There’s this episode called Something Nasty in the Neighborhood, where Jane and Connor are sent out into the field and masquerade as a happily married couple,” says Danby. “We had a scene in which my character expresses to Jane his fear of beautiful women. He actually opens up and becomes very soft and innocent. I was like, ‘Where is this coming from? This guy is hard-edged and puts up these walls.’ So it made for a nice change and a chance for you to get to know Connor a little better. That was a fun story to shoot.”

Audiences also get a glimpse into the darker side of his character that Danby previously alluded to. “In the episode Fear Itself, Connor sits one of the bad guys down and is going to torture him in order to get the information he needs,” recalls Danby. “My character takes these cables and is about to electrocute this guy, until Andre gives him the signal and says, ‘No.’

“Then in Higher Court, a Neuro tricks Connor into thinking his entire team is dead and my character is overwhelmed with emotions. That was a 16-hour day of me going to a place where tears are streaming down my face and becoming crazed with rage. It’s amazing to have the opportunity as an actor to play gut-wrenching scenes like that.”

When just starting out as an actor, Danby spent a season doing fringe theatre in Toronto. At the same time, he also began going out on TV auditions, and the very first job he booked was an episode of the 1998 kid’s Sci-Fi series Animorphs.

“That was my first audition in front of the camera,” says the actor. “The character was very robotic and reminded me of The Terminator. I do a wicked Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, so during the audition I did all my dialogue with that accent, and it just blew them [the producers and the episode’s director Ron Oliver] away. They said, ‘Do it again, only not like Arnold.’ So I did, and they hired me on the spot.

“After that, I did an episode of Lexx, which was my second audition, and my third was for the role of Carmine Vingo in a TV movie about Rocky Marciano. I couldn’t believe all this was happening so fast for me, and neither could my agent at the time. She said to me, ‘This doesn’t happen every day, so don’t get cocky. There will come a time when you don’t get a role, but enjoy it now.’”

As a teenager, Danby was an avid football player and enjoyed being part of a team. He feels the same way today about acting. “There’s something about going to work and being surrounded by people you love and whose opinions you value and vice versa,” muses the actor. “From there, you’re able to work together as a team to make something special. That’s the reward and the gratification that I get from doing what I do.”

Steve Eramo

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Reaper's Tyler Labine

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From the Past, actor Tyler Labine (who can currently be seen as Dr. Iggy Frome in New Amsterdam) talks about his first season playing Bert "Sock" Wysocki in Reaper. Enjoy!

Where, oh, where is Tyler Labine? On this particular Friday afternoon, the Canadian-born actor, who is currently starring as Bert “Sock” Wysocki on the Fox TV Fantasy/Comedy series Reaper, is hanging out at a mini-golf course somewhere in British Columbia. A reporter and film crew from Entertainment Tonight Canada are scheduled to arrive shortly to shoot an on-camera interview with Labine about his work on Reaper. “They asked me about my favourite spots and I suggested we come out here, so here I am,” he says.

In Reaper, Labine’s character of Sock helps his friends Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez) track down souls that have escaped from Hell in order to return them to the underworld. When they are not “soul wrangling,” the three spend their days employed at a chain store called Work Bench, or in Sock’s case counting down the hours until quitting time. Not the most productive worker, he often spends time snoozing away in the stock shelves and daydreaming about such things as opening a topless supply store. However, despite his lackadaisical approach to work as well as goofball demeanor, Sock’s friends/coworkers can count on him when the chips are down, and Labine appreciates that aspect of his character.

“I think a lot of people are under the impression that it’s pretty easy to be the joker and say ridiculous things,” muses the actor. “When you’re bombarded, though, with being the levity and the comedic relief of a TV show, you find yourself not only having to make a lot of things work, but also wanting more. And by that I mean you want to show that your character can be something other than a boob. That’s been a big challenge for me insofar as talking with the writers [on Reaper] and saying, ‘I don’t want to make another joke about Sock being fat and I don’t want to eat another burrito. I want something meatier for him.’ They’ve been extremely receptive about that and have been giving me more interesting and juicy things to do as Sock. I’ve tried to make my character a little more well-rounded and three-dimensional, and that can be tricky when you’re expected to just be funny.”

If you recognize Labine, you’re in good company. Besides his feature film work, he is well-known by audiences from guest-roles on such TV series as The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, Traveler and Boston Legal. The actor was also a regular on Dead Last and, just last year, Invasion. When that program was cancelled, Labine remained with Touchstone Pictures as part of a development deal, and then came Reaper. Its pilot was directed by the award-winning Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy).

“When I met with Kevin Smith, he walked into the audition room and said, ‘Come outside with me,’” recalls Labine. “So we went outside, smoked cigarettes and talked about the show. Kevin and I saw eye-to-eye on lots of things, such as what I wanted to do with the character and what he felt I should do. After our meeting, I got a phone call offering me the job, and, of course, I said, ‘Yes.’”

In the Reaper pilot, Sam Oliver discovers that before he was born, his parents sold his soul to the Devil (Ray Wise). Using his newfound abilities (including telekinesis and electrical powers) along with vessels handmade in Hell, he must now serve as Lucifer’s personal bounty hunter and track down escaped souls. With vessel in hand, in this instance a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, Sam and his friends, Sock and Ben, set out to find and capture the soul of an arsonist who is repeating the crimes he committed in life. Despite his years as an actor, Labine still had the proverbial butterflies in his stomach while filming his first episode.

“My nerves were pretty frazzled because I had this job offered to me,” he notes. “As an actor that’s a great feeling, but then you show up on day one and think, ‘Oh, my God, as soon as I open my mouth, they’re going to figure out that I suck and that they made the wrong choice.’ Even though you know it’s all actors’ neurosis, you can’t help but think that. So there was all that pressure being built up with the job offer, and then there was the anticipation of working with a guy of Kevin Smith’s stature. I thought, ‘I’ve got to have a good line of communication with him, and I hope he’s good to work with and that he likes working with me.’ I remember sweating bullets before stepping on the Reaper set that first day, but as soon as I opened my mouth I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this character [of Sock] fits well. I’m going to – hopefully – be wearing him for a while.’”

Since being “drafted” into service for the Devil, Sam, Sock and Ben have captured and returned several souls to Hell, including a former disgruntled magician who is killing people who don’t appreciate his act (Magic), the former head of a chemical company that dumped toxic waste (What About Blob?) and a repentant soul who killed U.S. President William McKinley (Leon). So far, Labine’s favourite season one Reaper episode is The Cop, where Sock falls for Gladys (Christine Willes), a demon who works at the DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles), which actually houses a portal to Hell.

“When I read that script I was like, ‘Wow, every element is here that we want in this show,’” enthuses the actor. “You know when you start watching a new TV series and you can see them ‘setting the table,’ but that’s OK because you know they have to lay the foundation for what’s ahead. Well, once we’d passed that point we were anxious to see where they [the show’s producers and writers] were going to take us next. Episodes seven and eight were the first to ‘break the mold’ if you will.

“Episode seven, Love, Bullets and Blacktop, was great. We had a blast shooting that, but then number eight [The Cop] came along,” continues Labine. “One of my favorite scenes in it is when my character makes out with Gladys. That was really, really fun. Then there was another scene, which was cut down quite a bit in the final edit, where Sock visits Gladys in his dreams, but you don’t realize it’s a dream. I had almost a full-page monologue where he’s apologizing to her, and it gave me the opportunity to dig into a bit of a different Sock. Again, because you don’t know it’s a dream, I was able to play around with some of the inner workings of my character’s psyche, and I had such a good time with that. Going back to what I was talking about earlier, that’s the meatier stuff I want for Sock. I was really pleased with the final product and I think this episode is one of our best comedic moments on the show so far.”

Prior to Reaper, the actor worked on the short-lived but critically-acclaimed series Invasion, in which Labine played Dave Groves, a conspiracy theorist from Homestead, Florida who helps uncover a plot to replace humankind with a new form of life.

“Like Reaper, this was another show where as an actor you get to wear every hat,” says Labine. “I got to do a lot of dramatic work as well as action and some pretty funny stuff. I had to constantly be aware of the stakes in the scenes. It was extremely flattering for someone like me, who’s primarily a comedic actor, to be trusted to run with the more dramatic elements. Then there was the opportunity to work with such an amazing cast that included Bill Fichtner, Kari Matchett and Eddie Cibrian. You really had to step up to the plate to go toe-to-toe with such actors. The intensity they brought to the work and just to be in the same [acting] arena as them was a real treat.

“To top it off, we were working with [series creator/executive producer] Shaun Cassidy. At the beginning, we all thought we were making a show about alien invasion, but he was quick to sort of say, ‘No, no, no.’ Shaun then walked us through this huge chronology of what was going to happen in Invasion and our jaws hit the floor. The stuff that came out of that guy’s imagination was awe-inspiring and I hope to work with him again some day.”

At the time of this interview, Labine and the rest of Reaper’s cast and crew were busy filming the 12th episode of season one. “In this one I’m finding myself in some pretty physically demanding situations involving jogging suits as well as paintball suits,” chuckles the actor. “We’re trying to deal with an invisible demon that we’re chasing through the woods, so you can pretty much figure out where the paintballing comes into it.

“It’s quite an amusing, clever episode, and there’s also this whole other storyline in it where Sam, Ben and Sock move in together and set up their own little ‘reaper lair.’ We finally meet my character’s Mom, too, who’s a bit of a wild card. She comes back from Las Vegas with a very big piece of news for Sock. It subsequently blows up in their faces, though, and he leaves home to try to punish her for being cruel to him and ends up moving in with Sam and Ben for a little while.

“Honestly, we’re having such a terrific time that it doesn’t even feel like work now,” enthuses Labine. “Just before the writers’ strike began, the network ordered a couple of more episodes, so we’re totally thrilled to be here working.”

Steve Eramo

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett

Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett. Photo copyright of SYFY.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From the Past, I chat over breakfast with Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett a.k.a. Captain Karl "Helo" Agathon.

It’s a sunny but chilly early autumn morning on the Vancouver set of Battlestar Galactica. Having arrived on the lot a few minutes ago, Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Captain Karl “Helo” Agathon, quickly grabs breakfast from the catering truck and heads for his trailer. The energetic – and hungry – actor still has plenty of time to eat before he’s needed in hair and make-up and then has to “suit up” as Helo prior to going to the set. Today is the first of an eight-day shoot on episode 14 of Galactica’s third season, A Day in the Life, and Penikett cannot wait to get started.

“I’ve been fortunate this year to once again work with [producer] Michael Rymer,” says Penikett. “He’s one of the principle directors on this show and one of my favorites, not to mention a very good friend. Before filming even began on season three of Galactica, he and I sat down to talk about the first few scripts along with the direction in which we wanted to take Helo. Since the miniseries and then during the past two-and-a-half years we’ve seen my character in several angst-driven situations that, of course, he often puts himself into because of his morals and choices.

“So more than anything with this episode that we’re just starting work on today, we wanted to sort of shy away from that ‘pattern’ with Helo in terms of him coming across as ‘whining’ or ‘complaining.’ In A Day in the Life he’s going against the crowd, which he did earlier this season in A Measure of Salvation. This time around, the entire Galactica crew basically believes in the integrity of this one individual, and Helo is given reason to doubt this. He’s following his intuition and he really believes something is not right, irregardless of the fact that all signs are telling him otherwise. My character even goes so far as to risk compromising his and Sharon’s [Grace Park] safety and their reintegration back into human society that they’ve fought so hard for. As a result, his wife even starts to question whether or not Helo is doing the right thing.

“This is a great episode,” enthuses the actor. “In some ways I’ve had to wait three years for it, and now that it’s finally here I’m the happiest guy around,” he says smiling.

At the end of Galactica’s second season, Helo was promoted to captain as well as the new XO (executive officer) aboard the Galactica when most of its crew chose to relocate to New Caprica. Only a year later, the Cylons invaded the colony and imposed martial law on the humans there. Outgunned, the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus had little choice but to retreat. They returned, however, in the year three two-parter Exodus to rescue those they were forced to abandon.

“I’m a huge fan of the topics that are touched upon in the first couple of stories this [third] season,” notes Penikett, “but scene-wise you don’t see all that much of Helo. He’s present on the Galactica command deck with Admiral Adama [Edward James Olmos] and as the ship’s new XO my character has been given a great deal of responsibility. In his new position, he also has the opportunity to regain Adama’s trust and prove his worth to the admiral, considering all his past insubordination. So Helo is there as XO and plays an integral role in rescuing the colonists on New Caprica and participating in the battle. However, the story early on in year three focuses more on events on the planet with the insurgents’ battle against the Cylons and the escape plan.

“At the same time in these episodes you have Sharon being made an officer again, which is a proud moment for her and Helo. There’s a tender scene between the two of them where he tells Sharon how much the uniform and being an officer in the military means to him and how she’s been given that trust again.”

Although they come from two very different worlds, Helo, a human, and Sharon, a Cylon, have succeeded in making a life for themselves as a married couple onboard the Galactica. It took a while, but Sharon managed to gain the trust of the humans, including Admiral Adama, which resulted in him reinstating her as a Viper pilot. Unfortunately, the road ahead remains a rocky one for the star-crossed lovers.

“Helo and Sharon are still recovering from the ‘death’ of their child Hera,” says Penikett. “However, in the mid-season cliffhanger [The Eye of Jupiter] they find out that their little girl might, in fact, be alive, and naturally that rocks their entire world. Just as Sharon is starting to regain her trust in Adama and the rest of humankind, including her husband, she realizes she’s been lied to, and so has Helo.

“All this time my character has been telling her that, ‘We just have to fight to regain my peoples’ trust and in doing so they’ll prove themselves to us.’ Now all of a sudden Helo is left in some ways with his foot in his mouth when he finds out they’ve been deceived with regard to their child. The scene where he and Sharon are told this by Adama is so powerful and, I think, one of the many neat twists to the mid-year finale.”

Even after the New Caprica colonists are saved and returned to the Galactica, it’s far from smooth sailing ahead, as Penikett explains. “There’s a division amongst the crew and what’s left of the human race because everyone who was on the planet has come back with a somewhat holier than thou attitude. They’re like, ‘We had to deal with the occupation while you guys were safe and hiding for a year aboard the Galactica and the Pegasus.’ Colonel Tigh [Michael Hogan], for example, is still reeling from and dealing with the torture that he was put through. Starbuck [Katee Sackhoff] is in a similar situation, and even with her and Helo’s history as friends and being almost like brother and sister, there’s a tension between them.

“In Collaborators we see a small group of Galactica crewmembers who have taken it upon themselves to deal with those humans who collaborated with the Cylons during the occupation. The way they punish them is undeniably harsh, and there’s one character, in particular, who’s a series regular [Gaeta, played by Alessandro Juliani] and is dealt with in this way. Funnily enough, Helo can empathize and sympathize with him and others in that position because my character knows what it’s like to be on the outside and not be trusted and having to face animosity as well as prejudice from those around you."

As someone not afraid to stand up for his principles, Helo expresses his objections in the aforementioned A Measure of Salvation when Adama and President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) consider using biological warfare to wipe out the Cylons. “As far as my character is concerned it’s absolutely hypocritical to try to do to them what they did to humanity,” says Penikett. “It’s genocide, which he doesn’t agree with, not only because his wife is a Cylon and they have a human/Cylon child, but that he’s also seen that some Cylons can be trusted. If nothing else, they were created by humanity and for us to exterminate them would be a crime against our own race.

“This is a huge episode for the series and I had a major scene where Helo is debating Adama and President Roslin on the whole genocide issue. It was an amazing opportunity for me. I’ve had a number of chances to act opposite Eddie this season, and to do it with Mary McDonnell was equally as rewarding. What an incredible learning experience for me, but that’s been true of my entire time so far on Galactica.”

Looking back at the 2003 Galactica miniseries, Penikett’s character has grown by leaps and bounds since he first gave up his place on a Raptor to Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and remained behind on the Cylon-occupied Caprica. “The program’s writers have done a fantastic job of showing how Helo has been thrust into adulthood and become a man who is set in his moral values and knows the difference between right and wrong,” says the actor. “He truly has come into his own and established himself as a very capable individual who, quite possibly, could one day become a leader.”

As his Galactica character has grown and developed over the past three years, so has Penikett as an actor. “It’s impossible not to further hone your skills when you’re working with a talented ensemble cast as well as brilliant writers and helping to tell an incredible story that explores such current and touchy social, political and religious issues,” he says.

“If anything I’ve learnt on this show to raise the bar to as high a standard as possible. Again, you can’t act with a capable group of actors like this and not be on your game. Everyone here is passionate about the quality of his or her work and we take our characters very seriously.

“During my time on this series I’ve hopefully become that much better at what I do. I’m definitely not as green as I used to be. We’re filming 20 episodes a year now, which means more time on-set and watching seasoned pros like Eddie Olmos, Mary McDonnell and Michael Hogan do their thing. Talk about an eye-opener. They’ve taught me to be more focused and present as an actor, and that allows me to enjoy the creative process even more.”

Steve Eramo

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Stargate Atlantis' Robert Picardo

I finally have a bit of a breather and some time to get back to posting Sci-Fi Blasts From The Past. Again, these are interviews that previously appeared in print only and never on-line. Today, I look back at my chat with Robert Picardo on the set of Stargate Atlantis about playing Richard Woolsey. Enjoy!

A rather solemn Richard Woolsey walks up a ramp and into the Atlantis gate room, pulling a small suitcase on wheels behind him. He stops to talk with Colonel Samantha Carter, who is standing in front of the active Stargate. After a brief exchange, the I.O.A. representative walks through the “puddle” and the gate shuts off. As Carter turns to leave, Colonel Sheppard arrives.

“Woolsey gone?” asks Sheppard.

 "You just missed him,” says Carter.

 “Damn. And I really wanted to say goodbye,” says Sheppard, rather sarcastically.

The two colonels turn and walk off together in conversation. “Cut, and print!” says Stargate Atlantis director Andy Mikita. It’s the final shot of the day on the fourth season episode The Seer, and the end of another workweek for Robert Picardo. The actor is in Vancouver filming what will hopefully be the first of several appearances as Richard Woolsey this year on Atlantis. Unfortunately for his character, this has not been the most pleasant of trips to the Pegasus galaxy.

“As the representative of the I.O.A. [International Oversight Advisory], Woolsey carries a certain amount of intimidating power,” explains Picardo. “This time around, he’s here to assess how Colonel Carter [Amanda Tapping] is doing, having taken over command of Atlantis and the expedition here. She’s been in-charge for three months now and it’s up to my character to review her progress. Well, he sees Carter in a crisis situation and, once again, allows his fear get the better of him and attempts to wrest control from her.

“Woolsey tries to pull rank on her and orders a defensive course of action that could probably lead to a much bigger problem. Luckily, Carter has the cooler head. It also turns out she’s right. In the final scene of the episode, which we just filmed, my character basically acknowledges the fact he overstepped his bounds and was wrong. Woolsey asks Carter how she knew it, but she didn’t. It turns out she was taking a calculated risk, the repercussions of which could have been enormous and tragic. So the two part company with a sort of mutual respect and him pretty much saying, ‘You were right this time, and I’m not going to blow your cover. I’m only going to put the good part of the story in my report.’

“It seems my character remains the kind of government guy who comes in, annoys those who are doing the real work and taking the real risks, tries to tell them to do it better, and has to be shown that he’s wrong,” chuckles the actor.

The Richard Woolsey character made his debut in part two of the season seven Stargate SG-1 episode Heroes. Back then, he was an agent for the N.I.D., a civilian branch of the U.S. government. As with his most recent visit to Atlantis, Woolsey’s presence at the S.G.C. (Stargate Command) was far from welcome. “In this story, Woolsey was more or less a straightforward bad guy,” recalls Picardo. “He was brought in to question a command decision that had had tragic results when Dr. Fraiser [Teryl Rothery] was killed. My character was there to stir up the pot and everyone was very much on the defensive.

“As an actor, what was fun for me was that I came in for one day, did all my scenes back-to-back and got to meet the entire SG-1 cast. So personally it was a very pleasant experience, but I was playing a pretty contentious guy who the rest of the characters were suspicious of, especially General Hammond [Don S. Davis], because he was the one who was ultimately responsible for what had happened.

“Woolsey was then brought back as a minion if you will for Vice President Kinsey [Ronny Cox] in the episode Inauguration,” continues the actor. “This was the beginning of the audience seeing that he was genuinely motivated by positive impulses. My character honestly felt there should be civilian overseeing of secret military operations. That was a very important job he had to do and it didn’t much matter to him whether or not he was popular. Woolsey believed that he was really representing the public trust.

“Of course, when Woolsey realized he was being manipulated by Kinsey, who had kind of dark intentions, he stepped back. My character then took a very personal risk and gave information to the William Devane character [of President Henry Hayes] that revealed just what Kinsey was up to. As a result, Woolsey had the opportunity to show that he does have integrity, even though his methods can sometimes be abrasive.”

After events in Inauguration, Woolsey left the N.I.D. and later accepted a watchdog position representing the I.O.A.’s interests at the SGC. In doing so, he had no idea of the adventures, or the dangers, that awaited him. For example, in the season nine SG-1 story The Scourge, Woolsey and a group from the I.O.A. join the SG-1 team on a tour of the Gamma Site, only to be menaced by a swarm of carnivorous alien bugs. This is one of Picardo’s favourite Stargate appearances to date.

“When you take someone like Woolsey, who’s basically very intimidating in a conference room setting, and put him a real situation, suddenly he’s scared, cowardly and all those types of things, which is terrific fun for me to play,” notes the actor. “I suppose that’s the one thing that always reminds me of playing The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager. That character was programmed for emergency medical use, but when you took him outside his area of expertise, he didn’t have to act heroically. The Doctor could be afraid, he could complain, he could display all these negative qualities in the midst of everyone else who had to be brave and true.

“So you get to reveal another side of your character, which the audience can find amusing, and then when the chips are finally down you can rise to your best self and be kind of a hero in spite of yourself. That was a great deal of fun on Voyager, and I had the same type of opportunity in The Scourge, where the Woolsey character, who had been very authoritative when behind closed doors, unexpectedly found himself in a life-and-death situation, and he’s afraid. That’s subsequently happened to him one or two other times, including when Woolsey was spun over to Atlantis, and particularly last year in the two-part story The Return.

In the aforementioned The Return, Woolsey and General Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) are trapped alone on Atlantis and must work together to help retake the city after it’s invaded by the human form Replicators. “I got to be Tweedle Dum to Richard’s Tweedle Dee,” jokes Picardo, “which was a hoot because Woolsey is just the type of person who annoys the hell out of him. Richard has such a wonderful sense of blasé and irony, and when you put that next to someone who’s in full-blown panic, like Woolsey, it’s bound to be funny.  Talk about a match made in heaven.

“I loved the scene where O’Neill has to go underwater and Woolsey is panicked about being left alone. He’s like a little girl, and I don’t mean to alienate any female readers, but my character is so scared because he thinks if O’Neill dies then he’s really all alone. I particularly enjoyed that moment of panic. I also liked when O’Neill saddles Woolsey with two guns, and they let me adlib the line, ‘I can do this.’ Like he can be Rambo, too, and then, of course, he can’t. It’s sort of a misdirect to the viewer. You think Woolsey is going to step up to the plate, be given the guns and succeed, but, in fact, fails. I thought that was great.

“Oddly enough, I had met Richard Dean Anderson many times over the years, and even though I’d made several appearances on SG-1, the two of us never had a scene together. So to finally get to hang around with him and work with him on Atlantis was an absolute pleasure.”

Prior to shooting Atlantis’s The Seer, Picardo appeared onstage in Los Angeles playing the lead in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass. He also collaborated with the New England Orchestra on a tribute to Ira Gershwin called Pardon My English. Among the actor’s recent TV roles are guest-spots on Cold Case and The Closer, and he has four independent feature films due for release in the not-too-distant future, including P.J. starring John Heard.

“I also have a new website, robertpicardo.net,” says Picardo, “along with robertpicardo.com, both of which I encourage people to have a look at. I’m now on My Space, too, so I’m completely available on the Internet,” he smiles.

Despite Woolsey’s misstep in The Seer, Picardo hopes his character will be back again this year on Atlantis. “Every time I get a script I always flip to the end to see if they’ve killed Woolsey off,” jokes the actor. “He’s still alive and well, which is definitely a good sign.”

Steve Eramo

This Week on The Walking Dead - What We Become (AMC)

Danai Gurira as Michonne (forefront) and Kevin Carroll as Virgil (back). Photo copyright of AMC.

The Walking Dead Season 10 continues on Sunday, March 22nd at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. In Sunday’s all-new episode, What We Become, Michonne takes Virgil back to his mysterious island to reunite with his family. In exchange, Virgil promises weapons that could change the tide of the Whisperer War. Check out the trailer below!

The second half of The Walking Dead season 10 began with many of our survivors trapped. Some in the confines of a cave filled with walkers, while others were caught in a spiral of suspicion and grief. All orchestrated at the hand of Alpha, who continues to prove the Whisperers are always watching, and one step ahead of the communities. Which includes the potentially deadly threat of having added Negan to their ranks. Through this conflict and all they’ve lost, a few still hold onto hope, especially Eugene, who believes the mysterious voice he spoke with on the radio may lead to their world getting bigger once again. But with the Whisperer War upon them, the collective communities must come together and possibly sacrifice all they have to find a way to silence the Whispers once and for all. Otherwise Alpha will ensure they face a certain doom.     

Viewers can catch an all-new episode of Talking Dead hosted by Chris Hardwick at 10:13 p.m. ET/PT, featuring The Walking Dead producer Scott M. Gimple and the hilarious Yvette Nicole Brown.

Strike Back - Upcoming Episodes (Cinemax)

The action-packed CINEMAX drama series Strike Back continues its seventh and final season, exclusively on CINEMAX. Starring Warren Brown (Luther, The Dark Knight Rises), Daniel MacPherson (A Wrinkle in Time), Alin Sumarwata (Neighbours, Burning Man), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Monday Mornings), Varada Sethu (Now Your See Me 2), and new cast members Alec Secăreanu (God’s Own Country, Baptiste) and Ivana Miličević (CINEMAX’s Banshee, Gotham), Strike Back follows the explosive escapades of Section 20, an elite, multinational, covert special ops team, as it spans the globe fighting a vast web of interconnected criminal and terrorist activity. The series is also available on MAX GO, CINEMAX On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms.

Upcoming episodes:

Season 7, Episode 7 
Debut date: FRIDAY, MARCH 27 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Spencer (John Michie) joins S20 on the ground to take down Zayef (Alec Secareanu) once and for all. But when intel taken from a murdered jihadist soldier leads them back to Arianna (Ivana Milicevic) and Loric Demachi (Maxim Baldry), S20 finds itself embroiled in an implacable blood feud that threatens to expedite Zayef's plans and place military-grade weapons in the hands of terrorists across Europe.
Written by Jack Lothian; directed by John Strickland.

Season 7, Episode 8
Debut date: FRIDAY, APR. 3 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT)
S20 hatches a plan to storm a freighter carrying a weapons shipment, but when Spencer (John Michie) administers a kill order, Coltrane (Jamie Bamber) grows suspicious of his motives. As each member of S20 contemplates whether to follow their conscience, Zayef (Alec Secareanu) divulges intel that could drastically change their fate. Meanwhile, Arianna (Ivana Milicevic) and Loric (Maxim Baldry) feud over the power structure of their family.
Written by Jack Lothian; directed by John Strickland.

Season 7, Episode 9
Debut date: FRIDAY, APR. 10 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT)
With Chetri (Varada Sethu) in the wind and Carolyn (Lorraine Burroughs) on their tail, Novin (Alin Sumarwata), Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson) and Coltrane (Jamie Bamber) are forced to weigh loyalty against duty and self-preservation. Still blacklisted and left with scant resources, S20 seeks the help of Russian allies to combat Russian foes – and the hunt for Zayef's (Alec Secareanu) hard drive marches on. 
Written by Jack Lothian; directed by John Strickland.

Season 7, Episode 10 (Series finale)
Debut date: FRIDAY, APR. 17 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT)
After receiving shocking intel from an unlikely Russian informant, S20 decides to reunite for one final mission to track down Arianna (Ivana Milicevic) and avenge their comrades. This time, however, they're doing things a little differently. 
Written by Jack Lothian; directed by Bill Eagles.

This season will mark CINEMAX’s seventh, and UK co-producer Sky’s eighth, season in the Strike Back franchise. CINEMAX began airing the series with Sky’s second season, and in 2013 presented Sky’s first season of the show as Strike Back: Origins. For more on the series, visit facebook.com/cinemax, twitter.com/Cinemax #StrikeBack and youtube.com/Cinemax.

Strike Back is a CINEMAX Presentation in association with Sky; a Left Bank Pictures Production. Cameron Roach executive produces for Sky. Andy Harries and Rob Bullock, are executive producers for Left Bank Pictures. Executive Producer, Jack Lothian. Series producer, Nuala O’Leary; producers, Huberta Von Liel and Kristian Dench; directors, Bill Eagles, Paul Wilmshurst, Jon Jones, and John Strickland.