Maintaining a large Web site like GateWorld brings with it a certain measure of loss, especially considering the types of things we've chosen to publish (such as episode spoilers, photos, and exhaustive, scene-by-scene analysis). Friday nights are still a highlight of my week, as after literally months of preparing for a new episode to arrive it finally airs. Two of 'em.
But my Friday nights are also exhausting. If GateWorld were a "job," Friday nights would be that big push you make before a deadline when everyone in your department works late and orders pizza. It's the most intense few hours of the week -- every week, 10 weeks in a row.
Here's what my Friday night looks like during new episodes:
5 p.m. - The work day winds down, and I begin to fidget over the episodes that I finally get to see ... and the impending work to be done.
6 p.m. - Get home from work (on a good night) and try to line up dinner before the show starts. I live in Central Time, so that's 7 o'clock. And on a work day it comes mighty early.
6:45 p.m. - Dinner is cooking, and the baby is changed and eating. I've managed to get my computer turned on.
7 p.m. - Dinner is ready! But first we have to get Baby Boy (GateWorld's unofficial mascot, my now 8-week-old son) situated, open up a few Wordpad windows for editing, and launch my FTP client for the imminent publishing.
7:01 p.m. - Thank God for TiVo! We got it last summer, and I can't imagine going back. Unfortunately I'm probably going to have to become a slave to start times and commercials again, since we're moving this summer to a place where it's likely not going to be feasible.
7:20 p.m. - I've prepped a document for typing notes on tonight's episodes as I watch, as well as prepared to swap out the GateWorld polls for this week's episodes. I've also cleaned up the two episode pages for the
SG-1 and
Atlantis episode, adding the poll, deleting the spoilers, and copying all the cast and crew quotes that will still be interesting for years to come down into the "Production" section of the episode analysis. Let the games begin!
Thank goodness we have so many months between the major spoiler reports and the episode's airing. By the time I sit down to watch it, I've usually forgotten many of the details.
8:10 p.m. - I've taken a first pass of notes on
SG-1, including all the guest cast, a list of everything mentioned that is already in the
Omnipedia, everything new that
David will be adding to the Omnipedia, all previous episodes referenced, and details that will later fall into the episode's "Analysis," "Notes," "Character Development," and "Unanswered Questions" slots. Publish the
SG-1 poll and revised episode page.
8:15 p.m. - After I polish that off (thanks, Pause!) it's time to start the
Atlantis episode. The baby is fussing. But I'll do the same first pass of notes there.
9 p.m. - Ah, I've caught up to the broadcast point on TiVo just in time to kick back and watch
Battlestar Galactica in all its commercial glory. First I publish the
Atlantis episode page and its poll. The brief respite also gives me a chance to check my e-mail and peek in on the
forum.
10 p.m. - The baby is ready to go to bed, and I've (hopefully) managed to catch up on some e-mail while enjoying a fine hour of television. But there is no rest for the weary:
Stargate is on again. I'll watch both shows the second time through with closed captions now on, following along in my notes and making corrections to exact terminology and spelling, and filling in what I missed before.
12 a.m. -
Stargate is done for the night. I wish I could say I was going to bed, but with my 30th birthday rapidly approaching I refuse to be that responsible just yet. If there is breaking news or new episode photos (which there is far too often at midnight on Friday), I'll make sure it gets online.
12:15 a.m. - I've sorted through my notes and pulled out a list of new Omnipedia entries and updates to existing entries for tonight's two episodes, and sent them to David. I've filled in the guest cast, writers, and directors, and made sure their IMDb links work. (We're going to launch our own cast and crew database down the road, which will replace our IMDb links.)
Next I'll calculate the Fan Poll results from last week's episodes and publish its final score, and give last week's shows my own 4-star rating. I don't like to publish my rating while everyone is still voting, and I also like to watch it at least twice and digest it for a few days. That, and reading other fans' thoughts at the forum, has helped some 2-star episodes get to two and a half or three, and some episodes bump down from three stars to a more realistic rating.
I wish I could say that my notes were ready for publication, but they still need some work. I'll digest the episode for a few days and think about some of the broader implications (
e.g. How do Gerak's actions reflect on the Jaffa people's desire to live free from false gods?) -- to get my head above the basic facts and figures that came out explicitly in dialogue. I'll also look for insights on the forum's episode discussion threads, and do a final editing pass where I make sure everything is in complete sentences, has all the right hyperlinks, and is sorted into Analysis, Notes, Character Development, Unanswered Questions, and Production. If I'm lucky, I'll get one of the two 100 percent complete and published before next week's episodes. (The rest will have to wait until rerun season, or until I'm inspired to do several in a week.)
Most episodes for this season don't have their complete analysis published yet. But for the most recent example of the final results, check out
SG-1 Season Nine's
"Ripple Effect."That's it for my night! My crack team of content creators will round out the episode content over the next few days, with David writing and publishing the Omnipedia updates, Sharon and Livi writing episode summaries and reviews, and Callie and Jane (our newest addition) even writing complete transcripts.
As for me, it's off to dream of Hak'tyl and fast ships.
Born to be a Stargate fan, Darren started GateWorld in 1999. In addition to personal and freelance
Web work he is also a writer, a graduate student in theology, a husband and a father of two. He is a big fan
of genre hits like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, LOST, and Battlestar Galactica.
Wow! That's a lot. Where do you get the energy from.
And Baby Darren is 8 weeks already. Boy it goes fast doesn't it. Ah they're so cute at this age. They're still all newborn and tiny but also they're now interactive and you can have so much fun with them. Bless!
Congrats on your son, I don't think I had said that before.
Sounds like a lot of work, but it's Stargate, so it doesn't count as work, it counts as fun. lol
Can't wait to hear more from you!
You know i don't think many would mind if you added a few more ads on the site so then it Could be considered work if you make a profit :) (just something to think about)
You're doing a great job.i actually have only found this site since season 9 started and it has become one of my daily checked sites just to really keep up with all that happens in the stargate universe. between gateworld and monday nights on the scifi channel i've finaly gotten caught up on everything thats happened so far (i didnt start watching until around season 6 since i didnt have showtime.) Again, great site, really enjoying it.
WOW Darren...I need a nap just from reading that.
Hi Darren... i am blown away by all the work that you do... and i one of girls that is on the Forum everyday, i have to say thank you soooo much... i have made friends on here from all over the world!!! i am so eternally greatfull *bows down*!!!:P i really thank you for all the hard work and thought that you put into this site!!! i foound GW way back in the old days of season 4 or 5, the site was very new anyway... i love that GW has become so global and universalised!!!!! great job Darren!!!!
PS congrats on your son!!! :P
I'm exhausted just reading that. :p
As a webmaster for another Stargate site, I have to say this: Try it when you actually pay attention to the rest of the world. There are Stargate fans in other countries as well, like the UK and Canada. Your 10 weeks in a row turns into 20 weeks in a row.
It's rather hilarious when GateWorld posts "new photos" from episodes that aired two months ago in another country.
I'll bet we all wouldn't mind if you just sat down on Friday nights and, during the first 3 hours, just sat there and enjoyed watching the shows. Then you could post the new polls and start your analysis and notes on the 2nd airings, and over the next couple of days, go over you TiVo recordings again as needed to polish everything up, and then, say, by Tuesday or Wednesday, actually get whatever you needed to up on the website.
We all love SG and Gateworld, but we don't want you (and the other admins) killing yourself over it (or driving yourself to a heartattack or being overstressed).
I'm 32 and a dad of 3 young kiddos (congrats on yours!). I wouldn't have the time to do all that. I barely have time to update my own blog...
Thanks for all your hard work on GW!
You're really doing a great job. that's a pleasure to come on your site and read about the latest news. Still, I agree with kev when he says you could take the time to enjoy the show. Here in France, season 9 begun on Saturday evening - but I wasn't surprised of what happened because, thanks to GW, I already knew all the spoilers :p Thanks a lot for all your work.