Akemi today upon setting eyes on the new Canadian ten dollar bill –
“Wow. Team Senior. You have to be dead to be on the bill. It’s very sad when you think about it.”
Had two great back to back chats with Paste Magazine’s Alexis Gunderson and CarterMatt’s Matt Carter this morning. Over the course of the hour, we discussed all things Dark Matter including a few hints as to what lies in store for the show’s fourth season. It’s going to be spectacular!
Yep. All we need is that fourth season pickup and it’ll be smooooooooooooth sailing!
Aimee Hicks at SpoilerTV offers an Advance Preview of this Friday night’s episode of Dark Matter (“The Dwarf Star Conspiracy”)
“Dark Matter has been on a roll this season shedding new light on plot points set up in prior seasons and that trend is continuing. This episode shows that two storylines from Season One and Season Two are far more interconnected than might have been previously thought.”
I’m opening up the mailbag this weekend. If you have a burning question, post it in this blog’s comment section!
Questions for the mailbag!
First thank you for all you do for the fans!
– what was your biggest inspiration to become a writer?
-What advice would you give an aspiring writer??
If season 4 is picked up: Will Lt. Anders joining the crew? Maybe have Hackmods(Android style)as an adversary???
Will you reveal the Stargate alumi to guest star in future episode(s)?
No questions for the mailbag. Just wanted to say hi and tell you that my wife and I are continuing to enjoy the show. You had some great episodes this season and we’re looking forward to seeing more next season! (Hoping along with you for the pickup…)
-will Portia aka Rebecca meet Dr.Shaw?
-if Dr.Shaw want android have free will and don’t want download her mind to android’s body , why she will agreed with Sarah doing tis ?
– will Two try to find back her connection with Dr.Shaw?
-will victor died ?
Okay, ignore the last question , lol
“Over the course of the hour, we discussed all things Dark Matter including a few hints as to what lies in store for the show’s fourth season. It’s going to be spectacular!”
Can we Know few things of these chats ?
Ever though a crossover Between SG and DM for an episode or more ?
A DM PC game would it be possible ?You know that most PC games done after a movie or serie usualy are rush out and not popular .If you Ever do one, choice a serious game studio and be sure that it will do a good product
..my 2 cents
Can I have a replica of the Raza ? 🙂
If you were able to go back in time where/when would you go ? Me in Egypt to see how all these pyramids and stuff were made 🙂
And just why couldn’t you just put all your questions into one comment?
Just curious…
Is dark matter coming to fan expo?
Will Tehya return to dark matter?
How do I audition for dark matter without an agent?
Thank you!
What about a killjoys dark matter crossover?
Why, oh why, did you kill off one? So completely? Without even a death scene. I mean a real one?
Same with Devon. Why?I know…the sacrifice…but with the scene being cut his death seems so…unnecessary…
I am afraid to invest myself in another character…afraid they’ll be killed off just when I start to really connect with the character…
Another question (which I have asked before):
Are we now going to have a musical episode, or what? 😜😜
My problem is (well, one of them anyway) is that I wind up thinking up great mailbag questions in between mailbags and then when you announce one I completely forget what I was going to ask – other than remembering I had a good question. Urgh.
I’m away for the weekend (again!) and this time won’t be able to catch Dark Matter on Friday so I’ll have to wait until I get home Sunday. I’m heading out on a 3 1/2 backpacking trip along the Fundy Footpath (part of which I help maintain). It will be a real challenge as it’s ranked one of the more difficult in the country.
https://jamiesarner.com/toronto-life/2012/08/most-demanding-hiking-trails-canada/
Any chance that Ryo will rejoin the Raza? I know how it can happen. The Raza is in trouble, Five is kidnapped… Ryo risks his life saving Five, in an epic rescue, and brings her back to the Raza Crew! They then welcome back Four and the galaxy is once again back in proper zen! lol
VY Canis Majoris: is the Biggest star know i think, Imagine life on a planet like that ,Dinosaurs would be like insects or mb microbes ,,is SF scripts will bring us on these large planets one day ?
1. Do your DM casts get to preview the shows before it’s aired or do they watch how the episodes come together same time as the rest of us?
2. Plans on your next visits to Japan?
3. What is happening to your “other” (military?) show?
4. Your favorite cuisine? Anything you don’t eat?
Have you ever looked at an episode and asked “Why the heck did we even shoot that one?”
…and why was it Episode Seven?
Hmmmm….question…hmmmmm….oh! I got one.
When are you going to get Akemi a dragon?
1. What is the reason for the creation of Rebecca?
2. When will we learn about the evolution of Portia Lin? (Rebecca evolving into Portia)
3. Are there going to be any set visits for season 4?
4. Are there any traits that Rebecca, Portia & Two share or do you see them as all a different person?
Thanks you answering my questions, really enjoying season 3.
Thank you for the goodies and all things Dark Matter – I truly appreciate it.
1, Please tell me that Season 4 is picked up. I could keep asking until it’s either yes (it better be) or no (it better not be!!!).
2, What are your thoughts on aliens and you know future 600 years from now type of thinnggsss? Matters of the Dark kind of thinnggsss stuffs.
3. If you still have no help on that bottle of Blue Berry Wine, I am still willing and able to help you with it. This isn’t really a question unless you answer it.
Questions for the mailbag:
I love your blog and am a big Dark Matter fan. I’m also really fascinated by the “sausage” making process that results in television magic (I’m tempted to drop the term “Hollywood”, but I refrained for fear of offending our beloved Canadians.)
“Sorey” [“Sorry”] in advance, but as much as you’re willing to humor me…
-What does it look like when you get a pickup for a new season?
-Do the SyFy people just email/call you saying that they’re picking it up?
-What does a “pick up” actually look like? do they just write a check and say when they want their finish cuts, or is it more complicated than that?
-Do you have to show up and sign a piece of paper? is it a digital signature?
-Does the contract you sign have delivery of the episodes?
-How often do you talk with SyFy studio people during pre-production/filming?
-How often do you contact SyFy after you’ve delivered the final cuts?
-You mention the new season pickup on your blog almost daily… How much can you lobby SyFy before they start getting annoyed?
-Does Syfy watch your daily cuts and make suggestions, or do they give you a lot of rope.. or if you’re not comfortable giving specifics, what is normal for a show like this?
-Feel free to answer “Too soon” on this one… what happened with After Dark? Originally I think it was going to air after the show, but now it seems to not air and get posted to YouTube immediately… did the network call an audible/change of plans? I love the segments, and am glad to get them sooner, I’m just curious.
Best wishes in closing the gaps on your move. Regards to Akemi, Suji, and Lulu!
Burning Question #1:
Have you and Akemi picked out a name yet for the
dragon you are going to adopt?:
Burning Question #2:
Do Canadian insurance plans offer “accident forgiveness” (the way All State insurance company in U.S does) if a dragon is basically house broken and obedient but has a ‘rare’ temperamental bad day?
And last – but not at all least …
Burning Question #3:
Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed this never ever happens, Albeit ….
In the unlikely unfortunate event your new family member does indeed have a bad day and “accidentally” burns the house down with you and Akemi in it
What Canadian dollar bill denomination would you and Akemi prefer to be on?
😂🤣😂🤣😂
😆
I’ve been waiting for the mailbag:
1) When scouting for houses as locations, are there people already in some database that are willing to rent out their homes for a week, or do you rely on crew homes to provide you with locations? How much does a production typically pay for the use of a home?
2) Happy thoughts… however, if season 4 doesn’t get picked up, are you still moving to Toronto? Right now, I guess it’s not really much of a choice – forest fire smoke vs. almost constant rain.
3) Will Mike Dopud be making more appearances if you get a 4th season pick-up?
4) Which do you prefer to write – the ensemble story, or the single character story?
In “Built, Not Born,” the Android had a memory about Four and Two discussing about Nova 17. Four and Two mention someone named “Griff.” Do we know who that person is? Or does this remain to be seen? This was one of my fav episodes this season. #RenewDarkMatter !!!! Thanks so much!
Alex
I can answer this one. Griff is Griffin Jones aka Kal Verrick (?spelling) aka Six. Portia & Ryo discover he is with the GA and are going to off him. Griffin was/is his undercover name.
Probably not the best burning question and you don’t have to answer it in the blog 🙂 but while I’m here: any desert recommendations in Vancouver? I have an evening up there next week, and I’m looking for places to go. Hubby and a friend are seeing a concert, so while they do that I’m going to hone my eating skills. :: cackle ::
OK, WE KNOW that you know that Stargate is coming back, so what are the odds of getting the band back together again … ((or at least some of them,writers/actors/etc.)). with YOU being a part of the team?
More burning questions.
…Because inquiring minds wanna know, eh.
If you had to choose
Would you prefer:
*Blackened cajun style steak?, Charbroiled?
or Beef flaming directly at table side?
*Burning bridges? Burning itches? Burning bras?
or Burning desires?
*Getting sunburned in Hawaii?
or Totally ‘baked’ in Colorado?
*Death via
Jumping into an active volcano?
*Being forced to stay awake for days watching
The 1990 movie Joe Vs The Volcano
on a continuous playback loop?
or piloting a space ship directly into the sun?
Hi joe thanks for spoiling us fans with doing the mailbags my question is for the military SF series you’ve been teasing us with in the last mailbag you said something about a pilot did you film a pilot episode? and even though I would absolutely love for it to get green light for production in the off chance it doesn’t get ordered will you be able to let us fans watch it online? Once again thanks for being so good to us us fans you’re the best.
Another question for the mailbag I know you’ve said in the past that merchandising for dark matter is going to be up to syfy has there been any movement on this I know syfy really doesn’t seem too keen on merchandising which is a shame is there any chance of getting some Collectibles made for the show.
When can we expect Cyrus King to finally show up?
I have no questions about the show, trusting all the writers to explain as the story unfolds. I do have two questions about other things though: Where did you get the teapot? It doesn’t look like your style. Also, would you take donations, via paypal or google wallet (BTW, that app works well on the iPhone) for shipping costs to send the teapot to maggiemayday? She would give the fish a good home.
The cleaning fluids…you could donate.
@Tam I would definitely pitch in to help pay shipping that tea pot to Maggie.
She’d be the perfect person to give it a loving new home. xo
Mailbag:
What’s your “diet Kryptonite”?
(Mine is cream cheese.)
Our mutual friend Ronny Cox posted this rhetorical question to his Facebook feed yesterday. Any thoughts?
“I don’t doubt that there are UFOs and visitors from other planets… but why do the choose to speak only to people in trailer parks?”
I know you said you have a 5 season plan for dark matter but have you ever thought about maybe extending the show beyond 5 years, maybe 10 like stargate?
Will we get to see 2 progress from being with Shaw to being a killer
Will we get more of 5s back story if season 4 gets picked up
If season 4 doesn’t get picked up could we get a comic/novel, or could you let us know what you had planned
How’s the Raza crew’s income stream holding up? I feel like I missed something. Entirely possible.
Recommendations for good eats in Victoria? Relatively cheap? Seafood?
Chinese? Since my husband and I have only ever been on a short day trip to Montreal, we decide on Victoria for a week in October for his birthday. Whoot. LOL, I booked a huge two bedroom unit because I wanted one with a hot tub on the balcony, overlooking the bay. Yay.
Big fan of Dark Matter for last 3 years, my youngest daughter and I make it a point to watch it together. When we can’t watch it live we catch up at the website. Last night changed all of that because we watched last weeks episode where the writers seemed to see a need to portray the two main characters in a lesbian relationship. We are now switched off and thought you should know. Not everyone who watches these shows are ok with the current trends and if you folks want to disenfranchise a portion of your viewer, keep pushing a social agenda instead of staying with entertainment that is able to be enjoyed by a larger cross section of America.
Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. The only problem with the point you are attempting to make is it is an irrational, emotional, ‘impulse’ reaction without truly understanding what you were watching or the reason for it being included in the episode. Also: Via your own admission, you are apparently okay with letting your youngest daughter watch Ryo/FOUR outright brutally and mercilessly commit murder via chopping off the heads and cutting the throats of everyone in the ishida palace room but youre NOT okay with her questioning identity, the nature of real love or the roles we each play in relationships, via Joe ‘very subtly’ suggesting an affair took place between Dr Shaw & Rebecca.
The Dark Matter story wasn’t trying to “push a social agenda” at all. The entire story is all about questioning Identity, nature vs nurture and having a look at the roles we each play in relationships and how those roles might be affected and changed over time via life experiences.
What went down in episode 310 was extremely relevant and necessary to the story Joe is telling. As is Sarah (a human) taking on an Android body, Because it begs the question of how she will self identify now. (More so as human? or more so as android?) And how will this affect her intimate relationship with THREE?.
It’s okay if the ‘suggestion’ of a same sex love affair pushed your emotional ‘repulse’ buttons. It was intended to cause an emotional reaction in each of us and get us thinking about how we view ourselves, identity, our individual roles in this world, intelligence, sentience, free will, etc etc.
Albeit, Before you dismiss the Dark Matter story altogether,
Maybe? you should quietly ask yourself “why” you feel repulsed at the subtle suggestion of a same sex relationship but aren’t repulsed by the idea of THREE being in love with Sarah in an Android/non human body. Is not a relationship between a human and a Robot/AI also a direct perversion of traditional social norms??
Again…. The whole point here is: The DM story is simply trying to get us look past “obvious” physical things in exploring the very nature of love, intelligence, sentience, free will, etc.
Drea: I could kiss you. Well said.
Yes, the proposed moment of a lesbian relationship was with two of the main actors, but I do believe that they aren’t the main characters. Rebecca is different from Two – Two clearly has rejected being called as well as following down the path of Rebecca/Portia – to me that signals a separation of character.
Dr. Shaw is human or humanoid, and Android is not flesh and bone and clearly the two are completely different characters.
So no, the creators did not take two main characters and push an agenda of homosexuality. There was barely a touch and it was under 15 seconds of air time.
Any romance or sexual scene in DM seems to be done for sole plot and character dynamic purposes.
Ok. I’ve had my fun with the literal ‘burning’ questions 😀
I promise its out of my system now and I’m done.
… or am I? mah-wah-ha-ha. :-O
But, I actually do have a couple legit questions for the mailbag:
We know you had come up with a new military scifi story idea
that you are currently trying to get picked up.
But We also know sci fi isn’t the only genre you are drawn to.
I’m sure you would likely do equally as well at writing
pure comedy, psychological thriller, horror, mystery,
or action and adventure.
Q1:
Any stories in other genres brewing in your head of late?
Q2 & 3:
Now that you’ve been professionally writing science fiction for so very long
Do you think you could ever even pay serious consideration to professionally writing in other genres?
Also: Now that you’ve experienced the power of being Show Creator and Show Runner
Do you think you could ever accept a steady job writing for someone elses story? If say, for example, some Big Ticket show you admire Such as Walking Dead or Better Call Saul were to call and offer you a well paying job writing the next 60 episodes for them.
@Not everyone who watches these shows are ok with the current trends
@keep pushing a social agenda
@that is able to be enjoyed by a larger cross section of America.
I don’t think I’m off the mark saying this, but I think you’re just trying to mask your obvious homophobia with this statement. I’ve seen this sort of reaction from obvious homophobes when a show treads into this territory.
Kinda stunned by Mike’s comment. Since when is portraying real life relationships, pushing an agenda? Also, this show is Canadian, not American; and has worldwide distribution. Which I guess just further shows the narrow mindedness.
Jo, Season 3 is blowing 1 & 2 out the water. How do you keep raising the bar?
Really hoping you get the 2 more seasons so you can finish the stories off for us. Thanks for all your hard work and congratulations for getting such a stellar cast together.
Do you think you might be able to post some more pictures of the Raza and corporate cruisers?
Are you going to ask Ben Browder to guest star in season 4? 🙂
Great job with the show thus far! My questions that I hope you can answer are:
Has any of the character’s story lines been changed dramatically since when you first started writing for the show, or has everyone’s journey been more or less right on schedule?
If you could become one of the characters besides the Android on the show, which character would you want to be?
Are there story lines that you have that you can’t do because of budgetary/scheduling reasons that you wish you could do?
Since we are in the age of reboots/sequels, if a studio came to you and said they want you to reboot a TV show or movie that hasn’t been rebooted already, what show or movie would you possibly pick?
Finally, any chance I can get my hands on a replica Raza spaceship, or the blink drive briefcase??
Thanks again for taking the time to read this! Hope for a Season 4 and 5! Got to find a way to see the whole cast at Comic-Con eventually!!
Will the AU crew play an important part in future seasons?
What about Adrian and Solara? Loved them from the moment I saw them & it would be nice to get some new characters who don’t get swept away after a single season. Even if they’re just recurring, like Truffault, it would add some continuity and familiarity. Plus, they’re both fun!
I know you’ve had this story planned for years – How much of it has changed due to various necessities? Has fan reaction, network brass input, actor input, etc. caused a shift in your original plan? If so, have any of those changes been significant or could they be seen more as minor modifications while the original vision remains intact?
If Dark Matter runs for your planned 5 years and the network just insists on a 6th season, would you do it? Do you have any story ideas to take the crew beyond their 5-year mission?
Would you consider a spin-off of Dark Matter? (No ideas, just curious)
Mailbag!! I missed the last one.
I second @Thogar’s questions but will add:
We have seen that all the characters have internal scars but Three has a very noticeable outside scar. Will we see how he received that facial scar? Definitely makes him look more roguish!
Is there a possibility that the “new” blink drive can be adjusted to return the alternate Raza crew back to their reality? And soon? They’re up to something!
Will there be any more mention of Five’s sister this season? Is her character actively looking for her while “off camera”?
Thanks for a great season! Looking forward to the last three episodes!
Oh yeah I want to know about Five’s sister too! I have a feeling that’s coming in Season 4.
Wow Mike. Drea had a great response.
Reminds me of the judgmental looks I got when I was walking down the airport to my gate in Atlanta with a woman hand and hand. When I had to say goodbye we embraced a very, very long time and I was crying quite a bit. I kissed her on the cheek. I didn’t want to leave. I loved this woman very, very much.
I got on the plane and immediately noticed people were giving me looks. When I went to sit next down to a woman who was in the middle seat, she looked very uneasy that I was about to sit next to her. I turned to her and said, “It’s so hard to say goodbye to your family when you don’t know when or if you’ll ever see them again, isn’t it?” She immediately had a complete change of posture and demeanor. I was like, “Wow….she thought I was saying goodbye to my lover.” And for a moment I had an empathic moment of people who are judgment towards people who are LGBTQ.
It was MY SISTER. We are very close and she was like a mother to me.