Wednesday, March 07, 2012

My Woody Allen Moment, Battlestar Edition

...and no, it doesn't involve anything untoward. It's a different kind of Woody Allen moment, the one that involved movie Woody upbraiding a pompous pseudo-intellectual in line for a movie by bringing in Marshall McLuhan to refute some fatuous point.

So, along those lines... a few weeks ago I was very kindly invited to participate in a closing-of-the-exhibit celebration at Seattle's EMP museum. The exhibit was a celebration of Battlestar Galactica, and I mainly wanted to go because I hadn't seen the show yet and the chance to look over the old Vipers and other props was too good to miss. Plus any chance to mingle with the cast and crew is worth the effort.

Anyhow, before me and the other writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, director Michael Nankin, composer Bear McCreary and actor Tahmoh (Helo) were introduced to the packed house, I was able to wander the facility in relative anonymity. And while standing at a Cylon exhibit, I overheard the following:

GUY: "You know, the writers just threw darts to pick the final five Cylons..."

To which I turned and replied, "As one of the writers, I beg to disagree."

The look on the fellow's face was kind of priceless. I explained to him that the decision was actually the result of a three day retreat where all the various pros and cons were discussed and debated with considerable passion. No dartboards were injured in the process. So you may disagree with the choice, but the idea that it was some random fit of pique that led to the final decision is WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG. And it felt good to say it...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark,
Just saw the blog. This isn't a comment about the above. It's just me saying hello after a loooong time. Sounds like things have been going great for you all these years since we worked together at LAT. I loved seeing your credits on "Heroes" etc. I remember you telling me about comics and stuff. Wow--look at you now. I remember you were always so sweet about listening to and commenting on my song demos. I still miss all our dept's. times together (the fun stuff with fondness, the boring parts--not so much). Hope to reminisce sometime. If you care to, just mention it in a comment sometime--and if not, continued great luck. Your OLD friend, Lisa S.