Club Jade

No. Not that Conan. 

Big congrats to Stargate Atlantis’ Jason Momoa (aka Ronon “Chewie” Dex) for landing the lead in the new Conan the Barbarian movie!

As anyone who has watched SGA can tell you, he’s got the moves, the body and the ability to play the character right.

Stargate Universe is back tonight with the episode “Light.”  (As opposed to last week’s episode, “Darkness.”  Seeing a pattern?) 

Ratings were down 14%, but it was considered to be okay as it was in competition with baseball and a new horror film.  We’ll see if they’ll still be happy if the ratings are that way this week; although I think there’s more baseball.  Still, November will be critical as Dollhouse will be off the air.  I think they’ll be expected to gather some eyes from that audience.

At any rate, one of the more interesting parts of SGU are the Kino diaries.  The Official Site is now starting to post them.

In other Stargate news, Atlantis won two Gemini Awards.  One for makeup in the episode “Vegas,” and the other for writing in “The Shrine.”  (One of my favorite episodes ever.)  SG1 alum Amanda Tapping’s series Sanctuary won for VFX.

And finally, as reported on our Twitter feed, Jason Momoa will be in HBO’s Game of Thrones series.  (Women everywhere rejoice.  Nude scene!)

David Hewlett (Rodney McKay) is fairly convinced that the lack of contact with the show’s producers means there will be no Atlantis movie.  And it makes him sad.

But the newbies to the franchise are enjoying the hype that comes with a new (and still supported) show at the Television Critics Association:

• The ladies get caught doing Wookiee impressions (two e’s people…geez)
• David Blue outs himself…as a geek (no surprise to anyone following his Tweets) and Lou Diamond Phillips scores the biggest laugh of the panel in this summary.
• And the producers try changing tacks from the earliest marketing disaster to saying they’re trying to ”broaden” the Stargate appeal.

We all knew she was destined for more. 

Jodelle Ferland (aka, Young Adria in SG1 and Harmony in SGA) will be playing a “recently turned vampire” in the third Twilight film, Eclipse.

• US fans can catch the premiere of Stargate Universe on October 2nd at 9pm on Syfy.  They’ll be starting with a 2-hour show complete with a big send-off from some prior show folks.
• SG1’s Amanda Tapping will follow the next week with the season premiere of Sanctuary.
• Speaking of Sanctuary, look for Michael Shanks and Paul McGillion to show up, at some point.
• Joe Flanigan is showing up on Warehouse13 on their August 4th episode.
• And don’t forget that the Children of the Gods – Final Cut will be released on July 21st in the US.  (Although if they really cut out Sam’s Best Line Ever, I’ll be very sad.  “Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside…”)

I really need to do these more often.  Lots of news flying, these days.

Prepare to be astounded.  Stargate Universe is going to feature an openly gay character for the first time; in addition to being “dark and edgy.”  (The cast does not appear to be as dark and edgy, though.  If you’re not already following them, cast members David Blue and Brian Jacob Smith have been Twittering up a storm and seem like a lot of fun.)

So this gay thing is not entirely new.  It has already been said that at least one of the Atlantis characters was gay, but they never put it on screen.  And there may be others.

Maybe they’ll do that in the “some day soon” version of the Atlantis movie?  (Joe Mallozzi has been working on the script.)  But apparently MGM is being a bit wishy-washy about the timing for this and the next SG1 project.

In spend-some-money news, there is a preview of the Teal’c animated maquette on i09 that is entirely too cute.  (Words rarely associated with Teal’c.)

You can also spend your money to have lunch with Richard Dean Anderson to benefit the Waterkeeper Alliance.

And in yet still unrelated news, big, um, congrats to the incredibly talented Christopher Hyerdahl for being cast in the next Twilight movie.  May you not be overrun by Twihards.

There has been much angst and gnashing of teeth about the lack of movement on the promised Stargate Atlantis movie.  Producer Joe Mallozzi vaguely tries to reassure fans that these things take time in this wacky business and they haven’t forgotten about us.  Maybe in the fall?

Speaking of Stargate movies, Stargate Continuum racked up 11 Leo Award nominations!  And the above-mentioned Stargate Atlantis?  Sixteen.  (Okay, so Leo’s are a kinda local thing to the Vancouver area, but still nice to have kudos.)

In a slightly better-known award, Brad Wright was nominated for a Nebula for the SGA episode “The Shrine.”

Well, look who’s been a bit lazy!  So what’s been happening around the Gate, lately?

• RDA showed back up on SNL.
• Atlantis’ Jamie Ray Newman (Cadman) has been cast alongside Rebecca Romijn in Eastwicke.
• Morena Baccarin (Adria and, of course, Inara from Firefly ) is going to be Anna in the V remake. (I could SO see that.)
• David Hewlett is making progress with his new comedy Starcrossed
• MGM is still looking for entries for their design-a-cover contest
• Rachel Luttrell, Joe Mallozzi and David Hewlett all take their curtain calls on the official site
• And the new show, Stargate Universe, is getting cranking on principal photography with the return of Peter DeLuise and a trip to New Mexico.

Still waiting for the announcement of the women of Stargate Universe that was supposed to be out by now.

In the meantime, CJer Michelle let me know that MGM is continuing to engage fans in their prep of Stargate Atlantis Best-Of compilation for Blu-Ray with a “design the cover” contest.  They are also announcing the episodes that won. (Most of the ones I wanted…yays)  Annoying Flash design prevents us from linking directly, so go click around.

In other fun Stargate-related news, Amanda Tapping continues to show that she is one of the nicest people in show business by offering up some really cool auction items to benefit a Vancouver-area school.

And the charming Cliff Simon (Ba’al) talks with GateWorld about Stargate and his ongoing interest in helping people get their brains going.

Which will you choose?

• There’s a Fan’s Choice poll to choose the favorite Atlantis episodes to go onto a BluRay Fan Favorites compilation. (via)
• There’s a video of all the handsome guys at the wrap party held after the last episode was done.  (Which, by the way, scored great ratings.)
• Or if you prefer to go the SG1 route, there’s a very philosophical interview with Ben Browder about Stargate, Farscape and his general outlook on life.