Abbas Karimjee's Weblog

 Indeed we were at the Inner Space SGU Live event, which took place on Friday, November 12   in Toronto and are now  here  bring you the highlights

 The exciting event began with lead actor, Robert Carlyle who  commented on the developments of his character. Carlyle commented on how , although Rush would have liked for the discovery of the bridge to remain a secret from the fellow crew members, he believes that ultimately Rush’s goal is to ascend. Carlyle adds that  this is because Rush does not have anything left behind in this world and this  option, of pursuing higher power would be the most likely option for him.

Carlyle also commented on producing his first episode, Pathogen. He said he thought it was appropriate  that he was assigned to direct this episode as he could work at helping to convey  the emotions in the character relationships which needed to be strongly featured ,between Eli Wallace and his mother as well Camille Wray and her girlfriend, Sharon.

 Actor Louis  Ferria also appeared on the show. The actor  recalled his  initial interactions with lead actor, Robert Carlyle commenting on the humorous  miscommunications  between them, due to  Carlyle’s accent. He then commented on how he was proud that both he and Carlyle were  like the mother and father of the cast as a result of   their  distinguished careers.

When asked about the possibility of how the ship may have given TJ the visions of her baby being safe similar to the way in which it gave visions to Colonel Young, actress Alaina Huffman had some interesting insights. She  said that the characters often have two lives aboard the ship – their personal lives and work lives. For TJ, this difference has been blurred and given the amount of stress she was under for her responsibilities as medic, the ship just may have given her these visions as a way for her to move forward.

 Actor, Brian J Smith was asked why his character, Lt Mathew Scott did not take the chance to rise up the  ranks in the recent episode, Trial and Error.  Smith gave some great insights on this saying that it would have been  both selfish and stupid for Scott do this. The information we had was that Destiny needed Young, said Smith and the ship shut down because of him. Scott did what he had to, by getting Young back up as  leader.

 Actor Jamil Walker Smith was also asked about her character. After having the chance to joke with Innerspace host , Teddy Wilson about whether or not he would use the strength of Greer to  defend him, Smith offered some insightful l comments on  playing the role of Greer. He particularly  commented on how the crew has been  on  Destiny for an extended period of time and  Greer is therefore  showing more of his personality as opposed to just displaying the traits of a warrior.  When he told Smith that he was slowly coming around to his character, the actor responded by saying that now that they have been on the ship  for sometime we are able to see the military  show more of their personal lives aboard of the ships and that we can therefore see Greer’s lighter side.

Actor David Blue  and Elyse Levesque made a comment on how they were dating. It was, however,  unclear  to many if they were joking or not, when actress Ming Na added that  all three of them were dating!

 Actress  Elyse Levesque  gave her opinions on how Chloe was taking the current issue of mutation. She indicated that she is happy with how her character has greatly developed in the series 1.5 seasons. She notes that Chloe  feels “alienated”[ laughs at the pun!] behaves very maturely about her situation, by accepting it. The actress reports, how it is a very  mature response given the extraordinary events which are happening to her and in  contrast to the what the character’s previous reaction would have been.

 When asked about  portraying her character, Ming Na indicated that it was one of the most challenging roles she ever played. She noted that when fans come up to her and tell her  that they love to hate her  character’s she feels as though she has done her job well. The actress , however, added that she loves how Camille is such a complex character and  because of her many layers , her intentions are often misunderstood. Na also stated that despite Camille’s many vulnerabilities, she does have to wear   a mask which is quite different from that of the military personal, but this is slowly being taken off as time aboard the ship progresses for those on board.

Actress Julia Benson had the chance to comment  on her role as  Lt, Venessa James.She noted that she was pleased with how  her character had developed. 

Actress, Jennifer Spence , who plays  the intelligent, Lisa Park  was asked about her  character’s romance with Jamil Walker ‘s character, Ronald Greer. She simply responded jokingly, indicating that she does not know if Greer is capable of  intense  romance but she is sure that Jamil is [ although not from any personal experience, of course!]She then added that the audience would have to wait and see what develops from this relationship.

  Actor  Patrick Gilmore ,who plays Volker said he  always wanted a love interest for his character. Wright was quick to suggest that this would not happen.

Producers, Brad Wright and Robert C Cooper also had the chance to exclusively  discuss SGU on the show. The two discussed issues regarding the serialized nature of the series . Wright indicated that they to tend to have a general idea of what is going to happen as the start of each half of the season as  the seasons are shown in television into two halves. However, Wright adds that, this is not only from a production perspective but also from a storytelling one in that they what to know  where the storyline will end up at the end  off each half, so that  each episode can be used to help reach this outcome. They also discussed  how in Science Fiction in any concept, to which there is merit, can be considered  for the series.

 When  Teddy Wilson ,discussed the Gemini nominations with the producers, they both indicated that they were happy that not only was this a Canadian series that was doing so well, but also that it is a science fiction series. Copper, specifically noted that this was because of the fact that although other genres such as  comedy had their own categories in the ceremonies, Sci Fi did not. For Stargate to be  one of the shows acknowledged, spoke volumes about the series.

 Cooper , who was stepping back from the franchise after 17 years  left fans with a farewell message. He indicated that while it was ideal to have such a great cast and crew to work  with, one does not enter the industry to work in the same thing  for 17  years. He wants to explore other opportunities, but noted that he has not completely stepped back from the production  and he is as much of a fan as anybody who was gathered in the massive  studio audience.

The event ended with a sneak peak at the next week’s episode of Stargate Universe followed by a autograph session with the main cast members[ excluding Robert Carlyle]For a view at our cast  photograph, please visit  the home page at www.abbaskarimjee.wordpress.com. Be sure to let  us know what you think of the photo!

 Also, we are proud to inform readers that the cast of Stargate Universe were invited to our blog by senior producer of Canada AM, Tina Dengrez. Thank you to Tina for supporting our blog and for working with us to promote the event on Canada AM.We  sincerely hope  that all of the cast members enjoy this blog and are impressed by the community.