35 hours into mission.

Boy, we hit the jackpot with exclusive content today. Darren, Sarah (Kiwigater) and I collected almost 100 minutes of interview footage today -- a sizeable portion -- with four exclusive interviews including Garwin Sanford (Narim, Simon Wallace), Gary Chalk (Chekov) and Kavan Smith (Lorne). There is an additional interview that I am unwilling to disclose at this point. You're just going to have to bear with me (though I will say that it's one I've been looking forward to for over a year).

Kiwigater took the Sky Train down to the hotel, and we took a cab over to The Character's Talent Agency. I spent a good 45 minutes tearing down their conference room to accommodate our cameras. I borrowed lamps from inquisitive office workers and a fern from an office worker who wasn't so inquisitive (Maybe because she was on maternity leave).

We then shot three interviews in a single room, but the environment was different enough that I could shoot in different locations inside and manage to pull it off. I am extremely pleased with the results. As I type this Garwin is being encoded.

Garwin Sanford. What an absolute treat this man was. Out of the four we shot today, he and Kavan were absolutely the most photogenic, and were prepared to perform in front of the lens. When you see this video you will be struck with his sense of humor. I sure was.

I also learned a great deal about him that I didn't know before. One of our moderators graciously informed me (before we left) that he works with his hands a lot in all sorts of mediums. He takes a good portion of the last few minutes discussing how he brought Goth masks to life. Very interesting stuff.

Gary Chalk. Charisma backed by an excellent sense of humor. We got less time with Gary than I would have liked, but he told us about his Russian coaching (how it was actually one of the other cast members from "The Tomb"), his disappointment that a huge portion of Russian dialogue he had prepared for was cut in one of the episodes, and his pure delight to do what he did in "Camelot."

Kavan Smith. All I can say is I am SO glad we decided to contact this guy. He has such a presence and is so funny. You will be delighted with this interview. A portion of it is already up as a feature, where he addresses his fans in particular. He showed up looking all stylish, so we had to put him right in front of a beautiful piece of art. I am very pleased with how this one turned out as well.

After some fun and games with a couple of Taxis we finally got back to the hotel at around 5 PM, and (after verifying footage and photos) went out for Thai. Dissatisfied, I returned to the hotel by way of a McDonald's and grabbed a shower.

We are expected at The Bridge Studios tomorrow morning at 10, and will likely stay until five or six. With the rain we've been getting the good news is that the crews will likely not be doing any off-site shooting, but even if they were there'd be loads of folks in the production offices to cover.

More soon.

I love how Darren said that this coming week is the equivalent of a Stargate "Super Bowl" for GateWorld.

I think I'm going to steal it.

This coming week is the equivalent of a Stargate "Super Bowl" for GateWorld! No, it really is. The last time we did this we barely managed to make it home with all the footage, which collected in our hard drives for almost an entire year. It changed the very nature of our workload until Christmas. I am pleased to say that this year is going to be bigger and badder than ever. I am also glad to report that there is no way some of this year's footage will be in there for ten months. There's just no way. GateWorld loyalists, breathe a sigh of relief. I know I did.

In addition to spending two full days at The Bridge Studios (gathering interviews, news bits and a spoiler or two) while Stargate films, Darren and I are scheduling numerous off-site interviews with a few names I've been looking to add to our interview archive for some time now. Oh yeah, I think there is a convention in there somewhere!

THE PLAN
TUESDAY
7:30AM departure. Drive to Nashville, TN to meet up with Darren and fly to Dallas, then to Vancouver, all the way bickering over details and hammering out some kick-ass questions. Arrive early enough to get a very good night's sleep.

WEDNESDAY
Taxi to Granville Island for video interviews. Currently three are scheduled: An interview with a fatherly figure, a potentially fresh dead guy, and a stale dead guy.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY
Meet Stargate's lovely, lovely publicist either at The Bridge or at their off-site set for a full day of filming SG1 1004 and ATL 304, interviews, and if we're lucky like we were last year, some of Jack's catering. We'll be dividing our time between the trailers, the sets, and the production office itself. I cannot wait.

For interviews this year around, our priorities are folks from the cast and crews we've never spoken with. If you're aware of the contents of our interview archive, you should have a pretty good idea.

FRIDAY EVE
The place is TGI Fridays, and it's going to be the Stargate party of the year. Eighty GateWorld readers will converge for a night of dinner, laughs, meet-and-greets with a special guest or two, and great prize giveaways. I've been planning this one for several months now, and I expect a resounding success.

God help me next year.

SATURDAY
Conventioning! While Darren combs the back-and-forth chatter in the main convention hall for newsworthy information I'm going to be continuing the filming of Phenomenon with anyone who wants to stop and talk about Stargate, as well as stealing some interview time from various stars in the dealer's room. (I'm also looking forward to buying a nice gift or two for myself this year)

SUNDAY
Trivia! By the grace of our good buddies at Creation Entertainment GateWorld has been invited to the stage for a half hour of Stump the Experts: A trivia challenge! I've been writing Omnipedia entries for months, so give it your best shot. The rules are simple. If you ask us a question, and we can answer, you don't get a prize. If you stump us, you win yourself a gift, courtesy Creation. We're planning on upping the ante and making it more difficult for us to guess correctly.

MONDAY
Real life is going to start knocking. Darren and I have a rise time of about 6:30 AM. He's worried we're going to oversleep. Fat chance. Back to Nashville by around 7 or 8, and then the drive home, by way of a gas station, a pee and a McDonald's.

GateWorld will be covering the event live! Look for a drastic transformation to the main page. Won't say more on that now. Even though it's a two-hour time difference for me, I'm usually very tired by the time I get back into my room that night, so I won't promise blogging while I'm over there. Too much to do. But certainly I'm going to break everything down for you here when I get back.

For those who are going, please, please have a safe trip. I'm looking forward to seeing you. For those who can't, as always, keep your chevrons locked on GateWorld. Who knows what we'll uncover this year.

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