Stargate Atlantis Friday!

Oh, won’t you be pleased when the new season of Stargate Atlantis finally gets going tonight? (10pm, Eastern, on SciFi) The roar of pre-season media hype will soon settle and help to keep down my geeky posts. But Club Jade stupidly said I could post on Stargate, so far be it from me to shirk my responsibilities.

Today’s nifty Stargate news:
Great GateWorld interview with Tori Higginson about the Season 4 changes. (Don’t read, if you haven’t already heard.) Bottom line? Don’t be a hater, people.
David Hewlett talks about the joys of working with beautiful women and productions of the film and human kind
– More from Amanda Tapping and Jewel Staite on their move to SGA.

Again. A wee bit spoilery, but nothing new if you’ve been watching the internet at all.

SGA This Friday. News at Eleven.

So it looks like a full-court press for Stargate Atlantis, this year. Both MGM and SciFi have been offering up the interviews and press events to get the word out that the new season of Stargate Atlantis starts this Friday at 10pm, Eastern, on SciFi.

A round-up of the coverage:
Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) can be found on GateWorld, SyFyPortal and MultiChannelJewel Staite (formerly of Firefly, now Dr. Keller) shares the love with GateWorld.

– And Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) shares some broad stroke story tidbits and her surprise at how well the producers took the news of her pregnancy.

Gate Round-Up

Have I mentioned, lately, that the new season of Stargate Atlantis starts up this Friday on SciFi? I have? Just wanted to make sure.

In anticipation of this event, there is tons of Stargate news to be had. Please don’t let that deluge keep you from tuning in on Friday, though. I’d like a Season 5, please, and the first few episodes’ ratings apparently will make it or break it.

The highlights:
– GateWorld interviews Jewel Staite who really hopes the fans will give her a chance as she’s friends with Paul McGillion and didn’t think she was replacing him.
Rachel Luttrell is pretty happy with Teyla’s storyline in Season 4
– The men rejoice, Kari Wuhrer has been cast in an upcoming episode
Michael Shanks didn’t manage to completely avoid the cold while filming the upcoming Stargate movies. Plus playing with real F-15’s. It doesn’t suck to be an actor

Stargate actors are doing things outside the series, as well:
Richard Dean Anderson will be hosting the Dublin release of Halo 3. Okay.
David Hewlett‘s movie A Dog’s Breakfast managed to crack the Top 100 on Amazon. Plus now, there’s a soundtrack! Still no Hewlett 2.0, though.
– And there’s still time to bid on a duffle bag signed by the SG-1 cast to benefit an Atlantis crew member’s son. Too late to bid? You can still make donations.

The Chuck (not Chucknician) of Stargate Returns

Long thought to be the equivalent of Richie Cunningham’s brother Chuck (y’know, the one from Happy Days who went to his room and never came back down?), it’s looking like Seargent Bates is making a comeback. (Oh, so spoilery.)

Speaking of characters returning, GateWorld also got some scoopage on the return of Carson Beckett (as well as the “sucking up” skills of Paul McGillion).

While producers are praying for good opening ratings to convince SciFi that the show is worth renewing, SciFi is doing its best to kill it by distributing unfinished episodes in their press kit. Naturally, they’re all over the internet.

Resist the urge, folks! Find a Nielson family to watch the show with you on September 28th!

This Week’s Gate Goodies

GateWorld has updated its website with tons of nifty items in the lead-up to the September 28th US premiere of Stargate Atlantis (with just a wee bit of spoiler-ness):

– Producer/writer Carl Binder dishes on all the SGA changes
– SciFi releases the first cast photos, featuring the nifty leather uniforms
– First looks at the episodes Adrift, Lifeline, Missing and Outcast
– And MGM laughs in the face of NBC’s issues by continuing to sell SGA on iTunes

Did we mention there was just a wee bit of spoilage in these stories?

Dragon*Con Stargate Stuff

Curse my inability to function on little sleep! Just now getting around to posting the Stargate tidbits from Dragon*Con.

The Stargate Stuff
Tok’ra Spice ClarifiedVanessa Angel, who played the much-maligned character of Anise on SG1, cleared up some things about her character. She was apparently hired to do nine episodes that season and then join the show as a regular; supposedly to cause some jealousies amongst the team. However, she became pregnant three episodes in and just couldn’t complete the role. She also considered Anise to be extremely thoughtful and deliberate and “outside of emotion.” Explains much about how bizarre her character was! (Of course, nothing explains those outfits.)

Filming in the Arctic – Why did Christopher Judge not appear in the scenes recently filmed in the Arctic? Two words: polar bears. He said he pretty much stopped listening after that, but had his decision cemented by the various bathroom issues one encounters there. He stayed home and played golf.

The Return of Beckett Paul McGillion again expressed his appreciation for the fans’ push to bring Carson Beckett back to life. He again teases that the way they bring him back is “very interesting.” (Must be the stock publicity answer for this one.) And he has yet to see if he’s coming back in Season 5.

The Non-Stargate Stuff
Rage of Angels – Christopher Judge’s in-development series will also have a comic book and game associated with it.

Eureka – Both Lexa Doig and Michael Shanks teased about how much fun they had doing Eureka. Lexa is hoping her character can come back. Michael didn’t think his could. Hmm…

More Lifetime Movies! – Both Lexa and Paul have completed movies for Lifetime. Both movies are planned for October air dates.

This Week’s Gate Goodness

I’m back! Catching up on all the TV news after a sad, migraine-induced delay. Let us see what we missed in the world of Stargate.

GateWorld reveals the pretty that is the Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series box set. (Y’know, the one with those extras that those of us who collected through the years can’t get without buying this box set? The one we are so not bitter about?)
– Stargate Atlantis producer Joe Mallozzi continues to post pictures and teasers about upcoming storylines on his blog. You’re missing out if you’re not reading!
David Hewlett talks Season 4 with TV Zone (as teased by GateWorld and SyFyPortal).
TV Zone also has an interview with SG1 director Martin Wood on the joys of filming in the Artic.
– Back to David Hewlett and his teasing, he posted a “dramatic” reading (supposedly the first of a series) of a favorite line from Season 4.

Stargate news from DragonCon probably won’t be posted until next week, unless I manage to find Dunc and blog on her laptop.

More Gatey Goodness!

Joe Mallozzi continues to share the love with the Stargate fans by posting pictures from filming of the latest Stargate Atlantis episode in production. And there are shots of a certain guest star rehearsing who will look just a wee bit familiar to SG1 fans. (Yeah, baybee!) And another guest star who has been requested by many of the SGA fans. (Another “yeah, baybee” from me!)

Needless to say, since this is filming for Season 4, this means that you could be a wee bit spoiled for Season 4. So don’t get whiny about it!

In semi-related news, SciFi posts a short interview with SG1 actorMichael Shanks in which he describes what is sure to be the “riveting” storyline for his upcoming SciFi Saturday movie MegaSnake.

Gee. You think this movie will have snakes in it?

SciFi Fall Lineup Announced

Time to program those TiVo’s. SciFi has put their fall line-up out for the world to see.

Stargate Atlantis will be premiering on September 28th in the Friday, 10pm timeslot. Per GateWorld, they’re actually planning to (shocker) run the season all the way through. (Dare to dream that there won’t be a six-month, ratings-plummeting break between halves!)

Battlestar Galactica geeks can take some solace that although Razor won’t premiere until November 24th, “mini-sodes” will be airing during Flash Gordon. (Hey. They have to try and salvage that show somehow!)

TV Goodness

A few, small TV tidbits to share:

– SciFi has finally announced what everyone else seems to have known for a while now: Paul McGillion is back on Stargate Atlantis.

Kristen Bell is rumored to be heading on over to Lost

– Can Heroes live up to expectations in Season 2?

– Ron Moore decides to stay on with NBC Universal a little longer, but not so much with the sci-fi.

Flash Gordon not only shows promise, but already gets a DVD. We’ll have to see. I’m kinda fond of that 80’s cheesy version.