Interviews

_{Pictured: Joseph Fiennes, star of ABC’s FlashForward and author Robert J. Sawyer.}

—

Author Robert J. Saywer has provided SciFiChick.com with an exclusive interview! Below, Sawyer discusses his reaction to ABC’s version of his novel FlashForward and some of his more recent work.

How involved have you been in the television version of FlashForward?

My contractual position is “consultant.” What that involves varies form day to day, and, frankly, from episode to episode. Today, for example I spent 35 minutes on the phone with David S. Goyer, who is the executive producer of the TV series, and wrote three little memos to him. Other days, I go over script pages, and on still other days I do nothing at all. I’m there to help whenever they need me, but David, Marc Guggenheim, Jessika Goyer, and the rest of the team putting the show together, are, of course, very capable and creative.

I read that you’re on board to write for the show. How was the experience writing an episode?

I haven’t done it yet. I’m writing what’s called episode 117 – first season, 17th episode. I’ll head down to Los Angeles at the beginning of November, so that I can join the staff writers in beating out the episode. FlashForward is a serial – it flows from one episode into the next – so I can’t do mine in isolation. I feel quite privileged, though; I’m the only freelancer getting to write for the show this season; all the other episodes are being written by the staff.

What was your reaction to the new characters in FlashForward?

I think they’re terrific! Remember, the story in my novel is a global event. You could start telling it anywhere: Geneva, as I did in the book, or Beijing, or Nairobi, or Winnipeg – anywhere at all. They decided for practical reasons on L.A. – that’s where they’re filming, after all. Of course, the characters take elements from people in my novel: Olivia and Mark Benford are facing the romantic crisis of Lloyd Simcoe and Michiko Komura from my book; Demetri Noh’s quest to prevent his own murder is the same as Theo Procopides’ quest in my book; and so on. But the new characters are terrific; my own personal favourites of the new ones are Demetri and Dr. Bryce Varley.

What did you think about the decision to change the FlashForward from a 21 year jump to 6 months?

Read more

Tonight at 9:00 p.m. the Fringe episode “Momentum Deferred” will air, with Leonard Nimoy as a special guest star. SciFiChick.com was recently able to participate in a conference call with Leonard Nimoy to discuss his recent role as William Bell, in FOX’s hit show Fringe. Below is a transcript of that call.

Did you have any reservations on taking another role with the potential of such a fanatic following?

I love this question. I can’t help but laugh because you’re absolutely right. It’s an interesting set of circumstances. What attracted me to it was several things. J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, who I worked with on the Star Trek movie, I admire their talent and the work that they do. The series is at the very least to say intriguing. The character was somewhat of a blank slate, but we began talking about it and, therefore, attracted because there’s an opportunity to build an interesting and unpredictable character. I’m enjoying it a lot.

When will William Bell and Walter Bishop face off?

Unpredictable at the moment. In the episode tomorrow night, the scene in between myself and Olivia, I think we will learn a lot more than we have known in the past about what their relationship is all about and what William Bell’s intentions are, or at least we will be told what his intentions are. We’re not really quite sure that everything that he says is accurate or true.

Well, to follow up, what does William Bell do when he’s over there? Who is he spending time with?

William Bell is sort of a “master of the universe,” a brilliant man, very wealthy man, very powerful. We’ll find out a lot more about him in future episodes.

Read more

SciFiChick.com was able to participate in a conference call last week with Joss Whedon, Creater/Executive Producer/Writer/Director of Dollhouse. Below is a transcript of that call.

Dollhouse’s second season will premier Friday, September 25th from 9 to 10 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.

—

In Dollhouse, how will Echo, and of course the many other characters she is flashing to, come in to her own this season?

Basically, through force of will. She did have all those personalities dumped into her at once and as we pick up, we’re going to find out that that’s starting to affect her. Rather than be at sea in between engagements, she’s much more directed and driven, and even in her doll state is growing, and learning and starting to try to access these personalities to see what they can help her with, because she has a mission that she understands now, which is to get back to her personality and get everybody back to theirs.

How many seasons do you see Dollhouse running?

Dollhouse, the premise is limited and I think by season 17, you’re really going to see us repeating ourselves.

Last season you began with a number of restating pilot episodes where you wanted to make sure that you could bring in new viewers. This season doesn’t begin with that sort of episode. Could you talk about how you approached the idea of new viewers following the show?

Well, you know, we always try to make, especially in the first episode of the season, but generally we try and make the premise clear enough so that if you haven’t been watching it, you don’t have to do a huge amount of math. There’s a lot of exposition in the first pilot, in the first episode of the season, to help that. But at the end of the day, you do have to go, “Well, if they don’t get the premise,” and we’ve even rejiggered the opening credits to make it clearer, than they’ll either become involved in these peoples’ stories or they won’t. You have to move slow enough so people can grab a hold and jump on with you, but you have to keep moving.

Do you have a pitch to new viewers on how to reintegrate themselves or is the answer as simple as watch the DVD?

Read more