Mark Savela's Post-Apocalyptic Sci Fi Series

[EvilSpaceAlien]

http://io9.com/#!5785219/stargate-universes-cast-and-crew-pitch-their-own-post-apocalypse-series

Stargate Universe maybe canceled, but it's not dead yet, sort of. Visual effects supervisor Mark Savela (one of the coolest parts of SGU) is creating his own pitch for a post-apocalypse series, with 80% of SGU's cast and crew. Red Eye is reporting that Savela has teamed up with SGU production assistant Ken Kabatoff to create their own alien series titled Echoes (it's a working title). The show is set in the near future, and focuses on a group of humans desperately trying to survive a dual alien invasion on Earth.

"We've always seen these aliens-attacking-the-planet [stories], and it's always the aliens attacking the humans," Kabatoff said. "Having aliens against another alien race basically leaves the humans as collateral on their own planet. Many of the Earth's citizens have been wiped out already. It's not us against them, it's them against each other, and we're just trying to stay alive."
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Together, Savela and Kabatoff has gathered up most of the SGU cast and crew still in Vancouver to shoot a short pitch for the pilot. Sounds like awesome solidarity, but it's also pretty clever, since Savela is a genius FX creator. And if he's pitching a series that is CG alien heavy, at least we know it will look good because his alien (and spaceship) work on SGU has been nothing short of stunning.
Jennifer Spence (Dr. Lisa Park on Stargate Universe) is tied to the lead role. Other actors involved include Mike Dopud (Varro or ruggedly handsome Lucian as we like to call him), Victoria Pratt and Lochlyn Munro.

"It's basically her journey from a shy, unassuming kind of wall flower into a kind of Sarah Connor-type character," Savela said, referencing the heroine of the "Terminator" films and TV show. "We kick off right in the middle of the [bleep], basically."
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Sounds fantastic. We can't wait to see more.

Sounds pretty damn sweet, and Jennifer Spence is cute as hell so I would really like to see more of her. Oh and I have a feeling that at least one person around here will watch the show because Mike Dopud is in it. I wonder who that could be...

 

[shavedape]

A bit over hyped with the claim of having "80%" of the SGU cast. They named two SGU cast members (minor ones at that) and the other two named are not in SGU.

The premise sounds good though and hopefully, if it gets picked up, it won't be a soap fest. There needs to be action, and not just running thru a Vancouver forest.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

A bit over hyped with the claim of having "80%" of the SGU cast. They named two SGU cast members (minor ones at that) and the other two named are not in SGU.

The premise sounds good though and hopefully, if it gets picked up, it won't be a soap fest. There needs to be action, and not just running thru a Vancouver forest.

True, but there's a possibility that they could have a lot of the former SGU behind the scenes crew which could push the number up towards 80 (though I doubt it's that high).

One thing that I think will work great in this series (should it be picked up) is the VFX. Say what you want about SGU, but Mark Savela did a damn good job with the visual effects.

 

[shavedape]

True, but there's a possibility that they could have a lot of the former SGU behind the scenes crew which could push the number up towards 80 (though I doubt it's that high).

One thing that I think will work great in this series (should it be picked up) is the VFX. Say what you want about SGU, but Mark Savela did a damn good job with the visual effects.

Well they're talking about two alien species fighting over Earth, so the VFX would have to be good as that's what people would expect. If they only show a little of the aliens and then devolve into a soap with the alien war just in the background then it is sure to fail.

I'm optimistic about the visual effects, but they just have to make sure to marry them to a quality sci-fi story. Hopefully there won't be any nightclub scenes.

 

[Copenhagen]

Yeah, I'm not going to be watching anything that has intense showcase drama. I don't want to stress out over characters in a tv series. I do enough worrying and stressing at work. When I'm at home, I like a lot of good one liners to relieve the tension. Make me laugh, and see a LOT OF PEW PEW!

I like PEW PEW! And, that is what I want to see.

Less QQ, more PEW PEW!

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

I want a show that has a good mix of both action and drama, as well as some pretty dark stuff in there. I'm talking the kind of darkness you'd see in The Wire, not SGU where they chickened out more than a few times, or BSG when they seemed to go over the top on several occasions.
I want a well written HBO-style drama in sci fi setting with action that fits organically into the story and isn't just there to have "kewl" explosions. But since it is supposed to be a show about aliens we of course need to have some good battles in it. And some fitting comedy too. It's always good to have some light in the darkness.

 

[OMNI]

One thing that I think will work great in this series (should it be picked up) is the VFX. Say what you want about SGU, but Mark Savela did a damn good job with the visual effects.

just a note he is the VFX supervisor. meaning he doesnt do poop exept offer input and say yay or nay to the stuff the other guys create.

and of corse take credit.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

just a note he is the VFX supervisor. meaning he doesnt do poop exept offer input and say yay or nay to the stuff the other guys create.

and of corse take credit.

I know but since he's involved I think there's big chance he'll bring his entire team with him. Besides, I think I remember something being said about Savela doing the VFX for that short with Telford and the alien on his free time, and I didn't find much wrong with that.

 

[OMNI]

I know but since he's involved I think there's big chance he'll bring his entire team with him. Besides, I think I remember something being said about Savela doing the VFX for that short with Telford and the alien on his free time, and I didn't find much wrong with that.

again he didnt do crap but supervise and take credit. also a worthy note is that he and his team are TV vFX people and thats pretty much as cheap and low you can go on that totem pole they are not as good as they like others to believe.
for instance the can make spaceships etc look pretty good but as soon as it comes to living and moving stuff it SUCKS by industri standards.

the blue smurf aliens for instance HORRIBLE movements same pretty much goes for those martini ones seen in s2 even tho they were alittle better then the blue ones.

also savelas "team" consist of SEVERAL separate studios ie the CG and fx you have seen thru the years do not come from one place alone but several studios sometimes each doing a small part of an episode. savela and his inhouse team are only responsible for limited feedback during the creation process between the studios savela is also the one who has final say on what makes it into the ep and what doesnt he is not "THE" guy he is simply the yay or nay guy and he isnt very good at it. if you study all the CG seen in SG thru the years you will notice what an IMENSE cluster**** most of it is and how cheap it looks due to how cheap it has been made.

ill give you an example. the Adrift episode s4e1 atlantis
take a good look at the city and you will notice there is no less then 8 diffrent city versions shown in it and they can easily be distinguished from eachother if you just look closly and this is bc dif studios did the dif angles of sometimes the same sequence savela is the guy responsible for combining it all and he does it BADLY episode after episode under the guise that "no-one" will notice but if you see the episode more then once you will notice it. this attidue in its essence is what defines Savela ie "good enough/cheap enough/Noone will notice" it isnt as good as it possibly could be thats the dif between EPIC photo real CG and cheap all over the place no consistency CG that he has been spewing out thrugh SG for years

and it isnt really a price issue but rather a style issue. as there are people out there that would produce 10000 of times better and consistent CG for the same price sometimes even lower.

basicly what im saying is dont expect to much and if he gets this greenlit im almsot certain the CG will in places be reminiscent of those cheap syfy ripoff movies like super gorilla vs mini anaconda movies they keep showing + that it would more then likly be as inconsistent as SG has been thrugh the years.

sorry for going on a rant but i feel very strongly about this as i myself strive for perfection not "good enough" and once you start going for "good enough" you might just quit as the quality and epicness will suffer.

and i do know what i am talking about here as i have spent the last (almost) 2 years studying the SG CG to build and animate my own versions of the ships etc so i have seen all the cheats and crap first hand and there is ALOT of it when you start really looking.

but if this gets greenlit ima watch but im not expecting much of it with savela in charge.

also an add Savela fits under the title of coordinator imo as he and the SG tptw basicly outsourced the cg every which way to save money and he is left with the bag to try and connect all the diffrent looking stuff to something that works and look similar ut the majority of the time he really fails at it.

/ Rant

 

[OMNI]

Phew...

sorry to go on such a rant man but i feel really strongly about this particular subject.

 

[Bluce Ree]

[...]I want a well written HBO-style drama in sci fi setting with action that fits organically into the story and isn't just there to have "kewl" explosions.

Sopranos: 2199

 

[Bluce Ree]

[...]
the blue smurf aliens for instance HORRIBLE movements same pretty much goes for those martini ones seen in s2 even tho they were alittle better then the blue ones.
[...]

@ martini aliens

Love the rant, by the way. Keep 'em coming.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Sopranos: 2199

Sure, why not?

 

[OMNI]

Sopranos: 2199

hell to the yeah! id watch theat

@ martini aliens

Love the rant, by the way. Keep 'em coming.

HA! well i was in the go zone so i just ranted
and if i see another subjecti feel like this about ill try to rant some more

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

hell to the yeah! id watch theat

Hell yeah! You could pretty much slap a sci fi sticker on any HBO series (except for True Blood) and you'd guarantee me as a viewer. *sigh* Why is it that they give us high quality stuff like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Boardwalk Empire, but we can't get a sci fi show of the same calibre? This is not meant as a jab at sci fi tv, but I just haven't seen a sci fi show reaching that level of quality.

Speaking of Boardwalk Empire, have you checked it out yet Omni?

 

[Tripler]

Maybe he will use the blalien's and the arsini's from sgpoo as his earth fighting gang of hoodlum attackers !!! Now that would be to funny !!!

 

[OMNI]

Hell yeah! You could pretty much slap a sci fi sticker on any HBO series (except for True Blood) and you'd guarantee me as a viewer. *sigh* Why is it that they give us high quality stuff like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Boardwalk Empire, but we can't get a sci fi show of the same calibre? This is not meant as a jab at sci fi tv, but I just haven't seen a sci fi show reaching that level of quality.

Speaking of Boardwalk Empire, have you checked it out yet Omni?

agreed the less i hear of true blood the better
and yes how hard is it to do one Epic scifi show?
and yeah ive checked out an episode here and there im not hooked tho.

hows Sonsofanarchy coming along for you?

 

[Gatefan1976]

agreed the less i hear of true blood the better
and yes how hard is it to do one Epic scifi show?
and yeah ive checked out an episode here and there im not hooked tho.

hows Sonsofanarchy coming along for you?

Whats wrong with True blood?

 

[OMNI]

Whats wrong with True blood?

this guy for one.

View attachment 3638

its a swedish thing.

 

[Gatefan1976]

this guy for one.

View attachment 3638

its a swedish thing.

What's wrong with Eric?