If you’ve started reading this post, I’m assuming you’ve just seen this season’s penultimate Doctor Who episode: The Pandorica Opens. If not, stop right now, turn the telly on and settle in to watch this episode. Unless of course you don’t like Doctor Who… but that would just be silly.

So this week’s episode: Wow. Lots of things happening, some I saw coming, some… not that much. Let’s start at the beginning: before we’ve even gotten past the opening titles, Moffat brings back some familiar faces. Vincent Van Gogh. Churchill and his scientist friend. River Song. And Liz 10. I liked the throwbacks to the previous episodes, except for the Liz 10 one; the rest worked for me (Van Gogh having created the painting, Churchill and friend staring at the painting, and then accidently calling River about it), but the Liz 10 appearance just felt out of place. Why have her show up? Or will she have a larger part to play in next week’s episode? (I doubt it)

The two main mysteries that have been plaguing us this season were the Cracks in Time and the Pandorica. It always seemed the two were thoroughly linked together, and in this episode we are shown that they kind of are, but not quite as we were led to believe. From the previous episodes it always seemed as if the Pandorica was the cause of the Cracks in Time. Even though we had no idea what the Pandorica was, the obvious hints were making us believe that the Pandorica was the Big Bad. And it is. Sort of.

All the Doctor’s villains are joining forces to create one gigantic trap for the Doctor, who they think is responsible for the end of the world. For once, the Daleks, the Cybermen and all the other bad guys are the ones being the “heroes”, stopping the Big Bad from destroying the universe (or so they believe). The Pandorica is only a reaction to the Cracks of Time, with them thinking that the Doctor will bring it about.

Which brings us to the next question: if the Pandorica didn’t cause the Cracks, what did? By the end of the episode that is answered: the TARDIS exploding. Only what caused the TARDIS to explode? I still have a feeling it’s got something to do with Amy. The TARDIS started acting weird the moment Amy started to remember Rory. I’m not sure how, but my gut is saying that’s got something to do with it.

By the end of the episode the Doctor is trapped within the Pandorica, Amy is shot by Robot Rory, and River is stuck inside the exploding TARDIS. It’s a proper 3-part cliffhanger. I hope Moffat doesn’t go for a easy solution, like the villains realizing pretty quickly they’ve made a mistake and just let the Doctor out. Or having a surprise good guy show up to save the day, like Liz 10 or Jack Harkness.

So here’s my guess for the next episode: I still think that the theory of the Doctor (or somebody else) traveling back to previous episodes and telling Amy what to do has merit. I think we’ll at least see someone go back to that moment where a young Amelia is sitting on her suitcase waiting for the Doctor to show up. Amy is key to the episode and my guess is that it will be a bit of a predestination/time loop paradox. Not sure how, but I think Moffat has the skills to come up with a complex circular story. Something like that by using Amy’s memories of things that were erased, the villains created a situation where she remembers stuff anyway, causing a paradox?

What do you think will happen? Did you like this week’s episode? Discuss all your theories in the comments!

Last week I got another great opportunity for a conference call, this time with Tim Roth from Lie To Me. I was really looking forward to this, especially cause my thesis is based on the work of Paul Ekman, the psychologist on which Tim Roth’s character is based. I messed up completely though and failed to make it to a computer to catch the interview. I got to listen to the recording and got the transcript of all the bloggers’ questions, but it’s still a shame to have missed out asking something myself. Anyhow, here’s the interview:

Q: What can you tell me about any of the upcoming episodes?

Tim Roth: I think that the overall thing is that we’ll be looking at Foster and Lightman’s relationship. We look at how they met, which is a fun thing that we do. There’s my relationship with my ex-wife and also with my daughter. The daughter stuff will feature more and more heavily, I think, because she’s such a good character and the actress is so very good. But we’re writing to that. And the case is strange and a little bit more adrenalin floating around this season, I think.

Q: Now that you have so many episodes under your belt, have you gotten used to the machine that is producing this show?

Tim Roth: At the beginning I found it difficult and I think that a lot of that had to do with the scripts. They were trying to find the show. The writers were firstly trying to find the show as much as we all were. Gradually, I think we started to find our feet. The second season has been much easier in that respect. Once again, the two writers that rose to the surface in the second season have now gone on to run the writers for the third. So it’s gotten progressively smoother, which makes the job of acting in it much easier. So gradually, I think, yes, it’s become a much better experience. It’s a lot of fun now, actually.

Q: And the “will they, won’t they” romance between Cal and Gillian, is that something we’re going to see gel a little bit more this season?

Tim Roth: Yes, in the second season you do. There’s a boyfriend that rolls up for her and there’s the odd fling for me in the second season. But in the third, they’re actually sitting down to determine how the character is going to progress right now. So, I’ll find out before you guys do.

Q: You met Dr. Ekman to play your role. What was he like?

Tim Roth: He’s really the sweetest fellow. He’s a very cool guy. It’s very different from my character, but the science is his. One of the best things he said to me, I was quite nervous being around him because I felt that he was reading me all the time, which, in fact, he is. He can’t just stop doing it once you learn how to do it. But one of the best pieces of advice he gave me, I asked him if he was ever aware of his body language and did he get to be too self aware. He said actually not. He said, “I’m not on stage, they are. Everybody else is on stage.” I took that and ran with that notion with the character because he truly doesn’t care how he looks, as long as he gets a reaction that he’s looking for from the characters that are across from him. I found him to be a very charming man, a very cool guy.

Q: Since you’re on FOX and the show is based on this fascinating character, just like House is, do you have any input on the script like he does and maybe are you involved in the executive production of the show?

Tim Roth: I’m not officially, but yes I do. I talk to the writers all the time. They run ideas by me and so on. We have now a completely revamped writer’s room, which is now going to be run by an English writer, Alexander Cary and a guy from Brooklyn, Dave Graziano. Those two have taken over. They were my two favorite writers from last season. They have a very interesting group, new group around them. And I’ll be meeting with them, actually, for the first time on Tuesday and we will be running ideas by each other and I will be part of that. I’m very heavily involved in the making of the show, which I think is a good thing. I think you should be if you’re central to it.

Q: What were some of the initial acting challenges you found for stepping into this role?

Tim Roth: I didn’t want to know this science. I didn’t want to have that ability. So one of the biggest challenges was trying not to learn this stuff because I don’t like taking my work home, but as you were around it, it does seep in a bit. The challenge really for me was always to try and get the material to be better. Once you have established the character, you can play around with it and you can change him and I did do that.

But once I was allowed the flexibility, the next question was trying to get this material to be better and better. By that I felt I meant really was I want to know the background of these guys. I want to know how they relate to each other. I want some kind of background history that I can sprinkle into the scripts and so on. So that was the challenge really. It’s a day to day challenge. It’s a tough job, but it’s a very, very enjoyable job or can be anyway.

Q: Are there any particularly enjoyable scenes that you can think of with some of your guest stars that are coming up?

Tim Roth: I usually like it when they laugh. We have a tendency to assume the guest actors when they come on. You’re usually required to hit your marks and say your lines exactly the way they were on the page. We have an atmosphere in which you can play around and improvise. I think it’s quite unusual in television. So when they come on and once they find out that they can do that, then it makes for a very, very fun time. So usually, I’m trying to make them laugh during a take and see if I can do that. Those are my good times.

Q: Is there anyone in the world you wished that you could read or tell if they were lying.

Tim Roth: The president. Actually, it was fun to be doing this show in the middle of the election because when those guys trot out, you can really use science to see that lie, to expose that lie. But some of them are better at it than others. Someone that could make the world unsafe, you want to know if he’s telling the truth or maybe you don’t. Maybe that would be too scary.

Q: Are there any other upcoming projects that you’d like to discuss, any movies or anything?

Tim Roth: I did a film called Pete Smalls is Dead, which is a very strange film. I did it with Steve Buscemi and Dinklage and Seymour Cassel and all these guys. It’s very, very low budget, but a lot of fun. That’s coming up. I always have a backup plan. I have a couple of things I want to direct.

Q: Was Cal Lightman intended to be British from the get go or did they change that once you were cast and how do you think being British influences the show?

Tim Roth: The reason he’s British is because when I was doing the deal with these guys at FOX, I said I’m not doing an accent because I figured that I will be working very, very long hours and seven days a week pretty much because you’re preparing the next script on the weekends any time you have off. So if I have to do an accent on top of that, that would have been a workload that would have been a 20 hour day. So I said no and there was a lot of back and forth about it, but not really from me because when I was talking to them about it, I can always just go back and do movies. So I had that going for me, I suppose and then they agreed and they were worried about it and more worried about it.

But after a while, they realized it’s quite refreshing. It’s different sound on American television than you normally get in a television show. They embraced it wholeheartedly. They’ve been very, very cool with it, actually. I’m glad it’s happened. I think it makes the character a little more interesting for me to play. We have one of the show runners that is from London as well, so he really understands that world.

Q: We’ve had some interesting episodes where Cal goes up against like poker players, battling the wires. I wonder if there’s anybody that you would really like to see him go against as a challenge, or if there’s anything that stands out as somebody he might square off against.

Tim Roth: I think his daughter would be interesting. We do a bit of that in the remaining episodes. My aim is – and I think we’re exploring that for the third season – is somebody that is way better than him at what he does and how do you deal with it. How do you deal with that? If you keep not being able to read them and your face and your face gets rubbed in at time and time again, how would he deal with that, I think that might be fun.

It’s that time of the year again, when you’re favourite TV shows have gone on hiatus and most summer shows haven’t started yet. I always fill in this gap with watching the shows I failed to watch during the normal season. Some of these I had already been following, but just couldn’t be bothered with watching it every single week (like Lost and 24, they work so much better when you watch them in giant chunks). Others are completely new shows that (most of the time) have been picked up for another season, and seem to be worth my time.

One of those shows is Being Erica, aired by CBC in Canada. So far there are 2 seasons (of 13 and 12 episodes) and it’s been renewed for a third series. It’s about Erica Strange, a 30-something well-educated woman, who should have the perfect life. She’s smart, pretty, has a good degree, so why is she working at a call center in a dead end job? Erica blames it on bad choices in her past, and when the mysterious Dr Tom comes along, he gives her the chance to undo her past regrets. Erica gets to time travel back into her past and relive her worst regrets.

I love the concept of this show! It’s reminiscent to Quantum Leap, only Erica always jumps back to a point in her own life. The first season see her redo things, like not getting drunk at her high school prom and joining the Skull & Bones-like secret society at her university. Don’t expect too much mystery and intrigue about the time travel bit though; Lost fans will be disappointed here. Being Erica is really about the choices Erica get to redo and her relationships with those around her.

Here’s a clip with scenes from the first season:

I’m really loving this show, I watched both seasons within a week! And I can’t wait until the third season starts. So will you be watching Being Erica?

Episode 177: “I really liked Lost, but I guess I still have a few questions about it”

If you haven’t seen the last episode of Lost yet:

beware

SPOILERS!

Last weekend I finally got around to watching this season of Lost, having to catch up on 15 episodes before being able to watch the finale! I know not everyone was happy with how it concluded, but I really enjoyed it and thought it was a fitting ending. Since the 3rd season, I was more invested in the characters than in the mysteries anyway, and it’s each character’s story that they ended up completing. I have to admit there were quite some questions left unanswered, but none that really bugged me. And unlike with BSG it all left me with a much more satisfied feeling.

As I said though, not every question was answered and I wasn’t the only one to realize that:

So what did you think of the end of Lost?

Just watch the trailer first:

I’m really liking the look of this show! Kind of like The Incredibles… but then real. So what are everyone’s powers? From what I can gather from the trailer the father’s got invincibility/super strength or something like that; the mother superspeed; and the daugther telepathy. But what about the son? You saw all the math symbols ‘light up’, super intelligence?

Here’s ABC’s description:

The Powells are about to go from ordinary to extraordinary. After 16 years of marriage, Jim and Stephanie’s relationship lacks the spark it once had, and their family life now consists of balancing work and their two children, leaving little time for family bonding. During a family vacation set up by Jim in an attempt to reconnect, their plane crashes into the Amazon River. But this is where the fun starts for the Powells, as they soon discover that something’s not quite right. Each of them now possesses unique and distinct superpowers. But saving and savoring their family life will be equally important, as they try to find purpose for their new powers and embark on a journey to find out what defines and unifies them. The Powells are a totally relatable family who happen to be a little bit amazing.

It stars Michael Chiklis (The Shield) as Jim Powell, Julie Benz (Dexter) as Stephanie Powell, Kay Panabaker as Daphne Powell and Jimmy Bennett as JJ Powell. Side characters are Romany Malco (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) as George St. Cloud, Tate Donovan (Damages) as Mitch McCutcheon, Autumn Reeser as Katie Andrews and Christina Chang as Yvonne Cho.

I got invited to participate last week in a conference call with Joss Whedon about him directing this week’s episode of Glee. The episode is called Dream On and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris, Idina Menzel, and Molly Shannon. The wifi flaked out on me, so I didn’t get to ask anything myself, but I’ve written up the more interesting questions for you.

The interview is about yesterday’s episode of Glee (in the US), so beware there are a couple of (tiny) spoilers in it (mainly about set pieces and dances).

Q: What was it like directing someone else’s show?

Joss Whedon: Directing somebody else’s show is – I’ve done it once before, twice just with The Office. It helps if the show’s unutterably wonderful. That takes a lot of the pressure off. It’s a little tricky. You’re living in somebody else’s house and you have to make sure that you’re fulfilling their needs. It also takes some of the burden off you. You don’t have to be the guy who sees the big picture. You just take what they give you and make sure that you’re servicing it as best you can. Having said that, Glee is probably harder to shoot than any other show in recorded history, with all the different elements going on and whatnot; it’s a different kind of challenge, but ultimately enormous fun.

Q: What were you able to do with the dance number that maybe you weren’t able to do in your other musical episode from Dr. Horrible?

Joss Whedon: Well, dance would be one thing. There’s more real hard-core dancing in the show, not in every number. Some numbers are just about movement. Then I get to be seriously involved in creating that movement. Then some numbers are real dance numbers and that’s all Zach Woodlee and Brooke, the choreographers, they’re phenomenal. There were numbers that I didn’t know exactly how they worked narratively until I saw the choreography and then said, oh, this all works just fine. I got to really shoot some fun dancing and most of the stuff I’ve done has been more just movement.

Q: Could you talk about the dance number, the mall number. How did that fit in? Was that the most difficult?

Joss Whedon: You know, the thing about that number is that really was Zach and Brooke getting it done. Ultimately, it’s a complicated, it’s a big, big number, very gratifying, I think because we’re seeing things we haven’t seen before. I do pride myself on being the guy who knew we were actually going to be able to shoot it pretty quickly because once it gets dialed in, you pretty much just shoot them doing it. Because of the number of extras and the enormity of the number, people thought it was going to be much more of a bear than it actually was. We had two film cameras and four video cameras going the whole time, so the thing actually went pretty quickly. We were able to tack on another scene that day, which is great, because those schedules are a bear.

Q: What was it like working with Neil again?

Joss Whedon: I am so tired of that guy. Why do they always make me direct Neil? Why the pain? Neil is a consummate pro and a dear friend, which is an ideal combination. There’s no problem. My only complaint was that I wanted to shoot even more of the kids than I got to, that and certain craft service issues about not having caviar, but really that’s in my contract, actually.

I feel like he’s one of those people who expresses the way I wish I could express myself. He’s like a muse, and he’s friends with Matt. The sort of rivalry/affection between them just informed the whole thing so much. We had such a good time. He came in the day after the Oscars, the day before How I Met Your Mother. He fit this into his schedule in the most bizarre fashion. I even got him and Jane Lynch to come in late on Friday night after finishing How I Met Your Mother, just so that we could knock a scene off because the schedule was so hard for him. Always cooperative, always imaginative; Neil’s the man.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about how much fun you had doing the flashbacks and how collaborative you guys were about what Neil was going to bring to this episode.

Joss Whedon: You know, Neil’s great because he looked at the script. He was very excited. He had some very specific questions even based on the vocal arrangements, what kind of guy am I supposed to be. So, it was a real collaboration. As for the mullet, there was definitely some talk about “Isn’t that kind of the ‘80s, I mean, it’s sort of the ‘90s, what’s with the mullet?” Sean Ryan, without missing a beat said, “Achy Breaky Heart was ’92.” So, he’s really on top of his game.

Q: Are there other shows that you’d like to direct? What are some of the other shows that you enjoy, that you’re a fan of?

Joss Whedon: I’m going to just go ahead and make a blanket statement. I don’t want to direct the shows I’m a fan of anymore. It means I always have to read the episodes that come before it. It’s like a giant slew of spoilers that quite frankly is not fair. I would say after Glee, Friday Night Lights is probably the show that blows me away the most. But, I definitely don’t want to direct one of those, because I’m still on Season 2.

Q: Obviously the show has its own plot line, it’s well underway. Were you involved at all about the song selections for this episode?

Joss Whedon: Oh, no. They select the songs well in advance. They give you the script, not quite as well in advance, but much longer than I usually give the script, actually… You’re there to service what they’ve already thought up. Quite frankly, I felt very fortunate. First of all, because I actually knew all the people, which is not always the case. I think a lot of people feel that because I’ve run shows that I was going to go in there and be working with them on it. But, honestly, I am just a visiting director in this situation.

I would definitely give my thoughts, “Oh, I feel like the song should go like this, is there any way we can change on this line,” little stuff like that, trying very hard not to overstep. I certainly wasn’t about to say, “Oh, do this on one, well I may not get the rights to one song, and so I’d like to get another.” That would be the only thing. This really is Brad who wrote it, and Ryan and Ian. This is their world and I’m privileged to walk in it. But, I’m not going to walk all over it.

Q: I just wanted to know how Glee was different from anything else you’ve ever worked on.

Joss Whedon: Glee is different from anything else period. Every show is different. I would just say that the enormous amount of work that everybody is doing at all times on that show kind of spun my head around. It’s not an easy show to make and the kids, the whole cast works so hard and are busy working on every episode. So, really, I don’t remember we’re shooting four episodes at once. It’s hard to keep your head around all of it, the rehearsals, the recording, and the show moves as quickly as it moves. Production is tough and you have to be on your feet at all times. You’ve got a different aesthetic, an old-fashioned aesthetic in the lighting and the camerawork is very classical. It’s not edgy in that sense. The edge comes from taking a very comforting milieu, the comfort, and ease of set, and then putting something rather kind of shocking. Either shocking because it’s so snarky, or dirty, or funny, or because it’s just so open hearted in the middle of it.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about how you approach music from a visual narrative standpoint? How are you able to work that?

Joss Whedon: When I approach music, obviously, if it’s a dance number, some of the work is done for you because you pretty much know where you want the camera based on the movement. If it’s just about movement, then I approach it very strictly from the narrative of the emotion. Particularly in “Dream On” and “I Dreamed a Dream” I got to pitch my own movement and my own staging for those numbers to try to work in all the emotional elements and emotional reality of the thing, and at the same time, keep it kind of fluid and keep it exciting. It’s one of the great joys of the show to be able to do that. Then to have the actors respond and to understand and just take what you thought up to the extreme. It’s kind of the same way you block a scene, you’re just looking for emotional reality and visual panache, except it’s way more fun because there’s music.

Q: You obviously did a musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. How does that compare to Glee? Did it prepare you in a way?

Joss Whedon: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Doing Buffy and doing Dr. Horrible were both great prep for something like this. This is obviously not my first rodeo. It’s different, Glee, obviously, but knowing a little bit of the realities of the difference in a day’s work between shooting a musical number and shooting just a regular scene, is very useful. It’s the kind of thing that I would like to spend a lot more of my time doing. I love musicals deeply and dearly. This was a return to home for me. Not my home, but a very welcoming one.

Q: So, would you do another episode of Glee in the future?

Joss Whedon: “Nevah, nevah.” Oh, yeah, I choked, totally. Sorry. If I had the window and they would take me, yes, in a heartbeat.

I love this time of the season when new shows are being announced and we get to see trailers of some of the fabulous stuff that will be coming to our screens! And of course some of the not so good stuff that fills our screen…

NBC announced their new fall schedule this morning and it includes 7 new shows. I’ll briefly give a description of each new TV series and show you the trailer, starting with the most interesting ones first.

The Event

I kind of like the look of this one, but again I have the feeling it’s trying to be a new Lost… It’s about a mysterious ‘Event’ which will change the course of history. Airing Monday’s from 9 to 10pm, it’s being paired with Chuck and the new show Chase (see below). Starring Ian Anthony Dale, Laura Innes, Željko Ivanek, Jason Ritter, Sarah Roemer, Scott Patterson and Blair Underwood.

And the official description from NBC:

What if there was a cover-up so big that even the President was on a need-to-know basis? And what if some average guy stumbled upon the truth – a secret so powerful it could literally change the course of humanity? You think that guy would stand a chance of survival?

Undercovers

I used to love Alias during its first 2 seasons, so it’s nice to see another JJ Abrams spy show! Starring Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Steven and Samantha Bloom, Undercovers is about a retired spy couple who rejoin the CIA after 5 years of ‘normal’ life.

NBC’s description:

From acclaimed filmmaker J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Fringe, Lost, Alias) and executive producer Josh Reims (Brothers and Sisters) comes a one-hour spy drama that proves marriage is still the world’s most dangerous partnership.

To put the spark back in their marriage, some couples take a tropical vacation. Not Steven and Samantha. They rejoin the CIA. Now they’re discovering things about each other they never knew. Like which lock-picking technique each prefers, and who killed who, and how well they work together in a hostile environment. With their day jobs and lives in the balance, date night is about to get a lot more exciting.

Love Bites

Watch the trailer first, and then I’ll give my views on this:

If I understand this correctly, Love Bites will feature new stories and new guest stars each week. It could be fun, like a sort of The Outer Limits, but then romance style. What I don’t understand though is that Becki Newton and Jordana Spiro (the two girls at the start) are listed as cast; so will they be in every episode telling the stores or something like that? Curious to see how this turns out, cause it could be fun.

Here’s the description from NBC:

Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City) and Working Title Films (Love Actually, Bridget Jones) bring us a series about love, and all the crazy things it makes us do. Like pretending to be a virgin to get a guy interested. Or competing with your fiance’s favorite bedroom toy. Or actually being in the position to take advantage of the “celebrity exemption list,” and join the mile high club at the same time! Irreverent and poignant, Love Bites pulls back the curtain to expose modern romance – in a way you’ve never seen before.

Chase

This seems a little too procedural for me, but I think it might be something my mum will like. It’s about a U.S. Marshal team who have to track down the bad guy each week.

NBC’s description:

U.S. Marshals Annie Frost (Kelli Giddish, Past Life) likes to stay one step ahead of the outlaws. As far as this cowboy boot-wearing girl is concerned, they can run, but they can’t hide from her forever. Annie has a sharp mind, a big heart, and an attitude to match. Throw in a unique perspective and personal style, and she is the reason you don’t mess with Texas. Jump aboard this rollercoaster ride. It’s all about the thrill of the chase.

Outlaw

This looks okay. I’m not too sure about the story, but I loved seeing all those familiar faces in the trailer (Carly Pope, Jesse Bradford, J August Richards). Jimmy Smits (Dexter season 3) stars as a Supreme Court judge who quits to become a lawyer again.

NBC’s description:

Few jobs are guaranteed for a lifetime, and a Supreme Court appointment is one you just don’t quit. Unless you’re Cyrus Garza (Smits). A playboy and a gambler, Justice Garza always adhered to a strict interpretation of the law. Until he realized the system he always believed in was flawed. Now, he’s quit the bench and returned to being an attorney. Determined to represent “the little guy,” he’s using his inside knowledge of the justice system to take on today’s biggest legal cases. And making plenty of powerful people unhappy along the way.

Outsourced

Is is just me or does this look baaaad? (and no I don’t mean that in the “so bad it’s good” type of way)

NBC’s description:

Mid America Novelties sells products like whoopee cushions, foam fingers, and wallets made of bacon. Yes, this is the stuff upon which the American way of life is built, but try explaining that to someone who lives on the other side of the world.

Well, that’s exactly what Todd Donovan must do when he’s sent to run the company’s call center in India. Talk about culture shock, and not just for Todd’s employees. While Todd has to teach them how to make the up-sell to the Deluxe Twin Beer Helmet, he’s going to have to adapt as well. Like in a country where cows are sacred, perhaps you don’t order a double cheeseburger.

Beside the 6 shows above, Law & Order: Los Angeles will also air this fall. There will be a couple of some more new shows airing midseason: the comedies Friends with Benefits, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples, and the dramas The Cape and Harry’s Law. I’ll be posting more about those once we get nearer to their release date.

So what do you think of NBC’s new shows? Any musts watchs?

I’m so looking forward to this event and we’re only 2.5 weeks away! The London MCM Expo will take place this year in the weekend of 29th and 30th of May at Excel London, for two days of geeky fun.

Tons of stuff will be happening there that weekend: a Comic and Anime section with stands featuring artists and writers; a Games section showcasing some of the latest games; a Steampunk exhibition with art, contraptions, sculptures and clothing; a Cosplay masquerade; and of course lots of guests from our favourite TV shows and movies.

From the guests announced so far the ones I’m most looking forward to seeing are John Noble and Jasika Nicole from Fringe (Walter Bishop and Astrid), Warwick Davis and Ron D Moore (BSG). Here’s a video from last year’s Expo:

Tickets are available on the London MCM Expo site. Only Early Entry opening tickets are available in advance and with these you can access the Expo from 9am on (2 hours before the General entry).

Episode 174: “I shove her into the car, run into my house and I grab my lightsaber”

I’ve got a bit of a geek crush on Nathan Fillion and to see him geek out in real life about lightsabers is just brilliant (that part’s in the 2nd video):

As promised, the second part of the interview with executives producers Jeff Pinker and J.H. Wyman. If you haven’t read the first part yet, check it out here.

Q: You guys have really done a great job with not only developing a fascinating story and a story line, but the clues go beyond the show. There’s all these mock websites with massive dynamics, food trust, all these hints and clues that are spread everywhere. I am very involved with the fan community and every week we get together and we go over all these things. We’re really wondering if there’s anything we’ve missed.

Jeff: I would say that there’s definitely things you’ve missed, but that’s part of the fun, right?

Q: So, we have missed stuff. Any hints maybe? No? Yes?

Jeff: Part of the fun for us is driving people back to those early episodes and seeing that, oh my god that was planted; from the pilot that stuff was already planted in there. We take this notion of world building really seriously. By the time the series ends, we want to make people re-examine everything they’ve watched from the beginning.

Joel: In the season finale, there is one hidden thing in there that I and Jeff will both be really impressed if anybody picks up. So, there you go. There’s one to look for in the season finale that’s very telling about next season but also very hard to find.

Q: I wanted to know what kind of steps have you guys had to take to keep plot lines and scripts and those kinds of things secret, cause these shows get such rabid attention and the fans just go crazy. Have you had to really take some steps to do that?

Joel: Yes, part of the scripts when they get out, usually it’s from production or from somebody that’s not supposed to deliver them, but what we find is that everybody on the show – from our writing staff, from the office staff, from the actual physical production – they’re still invested in the project. They don’t want anything to get out. So, everybody sort of takes care of our scripts and gets it delivered to the department heads and then they allow them to get out after a certain point, but we’ve been really lucky that everybody is so invested, they take extra care with their own copies of the script, and they don’t let it out.

Jeff: I think what we’re finding more and more, and it’s sort of like we’re in that world where it’s incredibly flattering to know that people are trying to get your stories ahead of time. There was definitely a period a few years ago where things were spoiled far more often. Somehow somebody on the internet would get ahead of a script; it would spoil it. I’ve been on shows where we haven’t been above writing fake pages, even filming fake scenes just for the fear of that. We have done a minimal amount of that here when we felt something was really important to us, but we’ve also found that more and more when people do one way or another learn secrets about the show they’re keeping it to themselves. They’re actually being graceful enough to not spoil things, which we’re finding the pendulum has sort of swung from people getting pleasure out of revealing secrets to people getting pleasure out of keeping secrets, so that’s been actually really great for us.

Q: Assuming there’s a nice big cliffhanger coming up – do you have to really think about what’s coming next season, like plot that out before you even go to this season’s cliffhanger?

Jeff: I think to a degree we do that and to a degree we get some pleasure out of – we know the long term and we like to write problems for ourselves because often figuring ways out the problem provides the most creativity.

Q: Will Peter stay kind of in his own kind of separation from Walter or will we see at least a piece of them coming back together again, even if it’s to set up what you guys do next season?

Jeff: Relationships are complex and just for the very same reasons that I think that throughout the seasons, we never really want it to be easy – that just because it’s a TV show in the United States of America, that the handsome male lead and the beautiful female lead should be together. You have to earn those types of things, we believe. So, when we’re playing the emotion of a betrayal like that on a level that it is, I think that it’s all up to the human heart, which is complex.

So, Peter’s going to have a very realistic reaction to the things that he’s now aware of, and I think that that’s the first step in a journey back to some sort of common understanding of a relationship. I don’t think it’s ever going to be easy, and it should supply us with a lot of material because it’s such an interesting dynamic. You just don’t want to just say it’s all forgiven. But you also want to have other flavors of the relationship – not just, you betrayed me. So, I think that’s where we are.

Q: End of last season, you set up the idea of the other universe and so now there’s obviously the revelation of Peter realizing he’s from there, where are we kind of barreling towards as we come toward the end of the season and what are you setting up for us to kind of jump from as you prepare for season three?

Jeff: Last year, our season finale we thought was effective because it sort of introduced concretely an idea that had been sort of talked around for the entire season, and we managed to, I think, be satisfied with the thoughts and the expectations of the audience. I think people really enjoyed that. So, it was a huge challenge for us this year to figure out well how can we turn the page in the next chapter and how can we have the same effect because I think it really was for the audience satisfying that we had last year this year. So, we believe we’ve done that.

At the end of the season, I think that you’ll be wow, now this is a whole other world and this is really interesting. Not a whole other world literally but a whole other chapter that has been sort of talked around but now concretely you will understand a lot more. So, if we’re heading towards anything, it’s that. It really sets up a satisfying conclusion to what people have invested in this year but also sort of opens up a whole other level of understanding that hopefully will propel us into season three and further. A lot of very exciting things that we’ve come up with that we’re really excited to tell.