Stargate Universe: John Scalzi has been hired as creative consultant

[wraithfodder]

Looks like they're actually getting a real, honest-to-gosh writer to work on Stargate Universe. They've hired a book author John Scalzi as a creative consultant. See below snippet from his blog.

January 14 2009

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/01/14/one-of-my-big-announcements-for-
january/

excerpt:

The reason I'm in Vancouver, aside from having dinner at Fuel last night with Joseph Mallozzi, can now be revealed: I have a new gig as Creative Consultant for the upcoming Stargate: Universe television series. I've been talking to the SGU folks about it informally for some time and flew out to meet the producers and writers, and talk about the ideas and directions of the new series. I also got the tour of the sets, which are still under construction, and which look pretty damn nifty so far. It all went very well, and I liked what they were doing with the show and the people involved, and equally importantly they seemed to like me too. So I was happy to say yes when they invited me onboard.

REST AT LINK ABOVE

His official site: http://scalzi.com/
His books: http://www.scalzi.com/books/
A YouTube interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZN6GA4JsOs
Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scalzi

------------------

I've never read this guy's work, let alone heard of him (I avoid any book reviews on Mallozzi's blog as he gives away too much). I read mostly non-fiction books as theyr'e fascinating, and probably far too much Stargate Atlantis fan fiction, but there is good stuff out there so I read it! :) Too bad they couldn't have gotten some consultants in on SGA; might have avoided "Identity" then ;)

I see Scalzi's books are in my local library, so I'll go down and grab one when there's less snow and ice out there.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

I see people falling over like dominoes, with Brit Robert Carlyle and now the (better known in US circles) Scalzi. Tenor has changed a lot towards SGU!

[duffy-99.livejournal.com]

Gee, it would have been nice if they had tried a fraction of this hard with SGA. Hmmff.

[a-pilgrim-soul.livejournal.com]

I read Scalzi's The Android's Dream when it was one of JM's BOTM choices. Both JM and David Hewlett had raved about it, I think JM said it restored his faith in Sci-Fi novels but I really couldn't see what was so amazing about it, it wasn't a bad book but it isn't something I'll ever read again and I've not been tempted to read any of his other work. There were some great ideas in there and if he's just going to be someone to bounce ideas off then he could prove a great asset to the franchise.

My main problem with the novel was that the main character was so overwhelmingly a Mary Sue: genius, heroic soldier, good looking and an all round great guy who saves the universe as we know it. The character was so flawless he just became unbearably generic and dull and I stopped caring and kept wanting to skip ahead to the chapters that dealt with the secondary characters some of whom were so much more interesting.

[ladyoflisquill.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... interesting. I watched about 10 mins of the talk and he seems like an okay guy. Don't know his work thogh and the proof is always in the pudding.

I'm still on a 'wait and see' stance with SGU.

[lysambre.livejournal.com]

I'm actually surprised at this news (read it this morning at Scalzi's blog).

Mostly because he's so much better than the whole team of writers put together (between him and Carlyle, I'm now thinking the other actors are going to have to pay to play a role... what kind of budget are they on ? Ten times what they had for SGA ?)

I like SG1 and I loved SGA, but let's be honest the writers are really not terrific. They leave massive plot holes everywhere, continuity is so far above them they hardly know the definition of it, and some of their characters are better written by the fans.

I've read three of Scalzi's books last year (actually they were the only "real paper" books I've read in a long time) and they were fantastic. Not one minute of being bored, great characters, and ideas that begin at A to finish at Z.

On one hand I'm glad they are making an effort after 13 years (no I'm still not interested in watching SGU though), on the other hand I'm thinking that the mix of utterly good and utterly bad might not produce the expected result (for tptb that is).
I don't know how much leeway Scalzi may have, but I can't really see him agree with the usual female = love interest for the male cast (so they look better), nor with the colored people = aliens, or the few dozens of other bad taste habits that haunts the SG franchise. But then he might have nothing to say about it, so...

[inalaska2004.livejournal.com]

Androids Dream by Scalzi was one of the funniest stories i have read in a long time. i laughed out loud, alot. he has quite a sense of humor and doesnt take his stories dead serious. in that way, he makes a good fit and his stories dont seem pretensious or full of so much description of science that you start reading ahead. but it was funny.

[tavabean.livejournal.com]

I don't like to judge a book by it's cover, so to speak, but this guy "looks" like the rest of TPTB, middle-aged, white dude. He sounds like a talented writer, but where is the female or ethnic perspective that the show might possibly benefit from?

[parisindy.livejournal.com]

i read tons of sci fi... never heard of him

[iolandasblog.livejournal.com]

And another Whaaaaaaaaaat?

Sounds like they are really going to change something for SGU. And as other people said: They should have put that effort into SGA. The actors were worth it.

I tried to read "Androids Dream" but I haven't finished it yet. I don't want to blame the writing. Well, I DO want to blame the writing, but the reason is not that it's bad written, just too complex for me to read it in the evenings and I fear that I miss 90% of cultural references or in-jokes.

[tabby333.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of Scalzi's writing so this news doesn't make me any happier. For me, his writing still fits the mode/need of having SGU appeal to a younger male audience. And I don't necessarily believe that bringing in an author of books, no matter how popular or good, will have much impact on the quality of a tv series. *Shrugs* but that's just me.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I know you sometimes read animal books with your non-fiction. Have you read Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien? It's the memoir of a biologist who raised an unreleasable barn owl from the age of 4 days old until it died 19 years later. She tells some great stories about the difficulties of living with a bird of prey in your bedroom.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of Scalzi.