The Ever-So Popular Late March Blog Update

Well, it's been a while since my last blog entry, and apparently blogspot updated to its new and improved self (I don't see any improvement, but perhaps I'm just too inferior to the unobjectable awesome that is Blogspot). All that really means is that I had to go through the tired process of making a Gmail account, but all's well that ends well.

Well, let's see... Horizon related stuff. A lot has happened since I last posted, and time is steamrolling on as usual. It seems like we just began penning season three, and right now we're working on the final episodes of the season. Thus far, I've been told that it's both excellent and mediocre, depending on who you ask. Personally, I've lost the ability to look at the series objectively given my time on the writing staff. Since we, as a writing staff, came up with the ideas, it's kind of hard to criticize them. I suppose that's a job for the readers.

Well, first things first... Horizon's attempt at a "Get the in Gate Contest" failed miserably, falling flat on its face with a whopping three entries. Regardless, we will be picking a winner from those three bold contest-enterers, who have a thirty-three point three three (and so on) chance of winning. The winner will have whatever name they provide put into one or both of the two final episodes of Horizon's third season (My main fear is that some clever soul might submit a name somewhere along the lines of "Lieutenant Doodum McFatass..." Please, for the love of God, don't). We'll get around to picking the winners pretty soon, but I don't suppose it's too late to enter. To remedy the, well, not-so-bustling response to the GITG contest, we're considering hiring someone in a "Public Relations/Advertising" position. Horizon gets its fair share of viewers, and we're very honored and humbled by that, but only a small fraction participate and comment and what not.

As far as episodes past and future, Horizon's lengthy almost-midseason hiatus ended with "...Shall We Not Revenge?" a few weeks ago, followed up by "Countdown." Alex did a great job with those, and it isn't often you get two stories in a row centered around recurring characters. Following them we had my attempt at a midseason two-parter in the form of "Pursuit" and "Mediation," the reactions to which flatter and humble me. Alex wasn't kidding when he said two parters were difficult to break down, but I like to think the hard work paid off. Over the past two weeks, we returned to quieter episodes: "Trial by Fire" and "The Inner Voice," both character pieces.

And so we march onward in our unbroken second half. This coming week will see the release of "Together We Stand," which is quite an anticipated episode. This one, while still a character piece, also has its fair share of action in it... a crapload actually. We'll be focusing on Callen, Grant, Zach, and Lenori in this one, along with some new Vorian characters. If you've read the forum post, you already know this'll be a Ma'kin rescue mission. As far as surprises go, I think there are one or two developments that people won't see coming (we likes to keep things interesting).

We've been wrestling around with "The Allure of Atlas," which is one of those problem episodes. I originally pitched this one back in season two as "Mutation," but it got shelved and transformed into the episode it is now. This one has one of the smallest guest cast lists two date (three significant characters and one "Novokian Navigator"), and it focuses mainly on Tom. And, if you haven't heard, we'll be seeing an Ancient city in this one, similar to Atlantis's "The Tower" and Destiny's "Treasure Trove." Of course, "Atlas" is nothing like either of them.

And that about wraps it up for standalones this season (yeah, those were a bit lacking in quantity) because "Omen" kicks off a massive, complex, and confusing-to-write seven-episode arc. Of course, it'll start off quietly with the appearance of a future version of Christine coming through the gate to whisk our guys off on some grand adventure. Apparently, the future she comes from kinda sucks and she wants to change that. Oh, yes, and the Book of Nosah'trah is involved.

Pretty straightforward, until you hit "Hidden Agendas." From that point forward each staff writer branched out into writing different episodes in the arc, which proves to be quite difficult. Basically, if something in 3.19 changes, we have to address that in 3.22. Tedious and confusing as it is, the end result is shaping up to be Horizon's biggest and most complex arc... Crap's flying everywhere... Enoly, Earthlings, Vorians, Kih'Andari, Bentari... Everyone gets chunk of this arc. I really can't go too much into it right now, as many of the guest characters and events are intended to be surprises. Spoilers for these episodes will probably be released little by little (spoiling "Hidden Agendas" would mean spoiling "Omen" as well). So, expect to be kept in the dark about this arc. Makes it more fun.

After season three ends with some pretty big shockers, we'll be looking to focus more on stand alone team episodes in season four. The war arc throughout season three has made for a lot of arc based stuff (only 3.06, 3.08, 3.14, 3.15, and 3.17 are completely standalone). I suppose you could look at the first three seasons as a trilogy of sorts, and season four starts off a new one with a few changes here and there. Keeps things interesting, y'know. That doesn't mean of course, that stuff isn't gonna go down. Oh, how stuff is gonna go down...

That being said, we're currently working with a writing department of six people (Alex, Mike, Cindy, Marc, Vincent, and Justin), four of which write episodes, so in season four we'll probably be looking to add some new writers. Not to mention a freelancer or two, and that advertising position I mentioned. As for the art department, Horizon seems cursed, so devoted artists are pretty likely to get accepted.

Until next time, tally ho.