Urgo Is Dead

Dom DeLuise died Monday evening at the age of 75. There was no disclosure of the cause of death, but DeLuise had been battling cancer for more than a year and had been hospitalized due to kidney failure and respiratory problems.

DeLuise had a long career in both television and films. He was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974's "Blazing Saddles" and 1976's "Silent Movie." He was also in the Brooks-directed "The Twelve Chairs" (1970), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993). Other credits include "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), "Cannonball Run" (1981) and "Cannonball Run II" (1984), "The End" (1978), "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) and "Johnny Dangerously" (1984). His voice was featured in such films as "An American Tail" (1986) and its sequels, "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (1989) and its 1996 sequel, and "Oliver & Company" (1988). [Source: CNN.com]

Whether behind the camera or in front of it, members of the DeLuise family have consistently been a part of the Stargate family. Stargate SG-1 fans will remember DeLuise as the title character in Season Three’s “Urgo,” where he played the fun-loving physical manifestation of an alien probe (and its creator) who wanted to experience life. After being implanted into the brains of the SG-1 team, he subliminally gets the team to show him new experiences while they struggle to get him out of their heads.

But beside this memorable episode, Dom left his greatest mark on the Stargate franchise through his sons. Peter DeLuise served as a director, writer, and producer on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis for most of those series’ runs. Son Michael played Nick Marlowe/Colonel Danning in the episode “Wormhole X-Treme!” and son David played Pete Shanahan in several episodes of SG-1. [Source: GateWorld]

In the immortal words of Allan Sherman, "Hail to thee, fat person!"

Sorry, I Missed You

I was watching the Stargate: Atlantis finale last night and they made mention to General Hammond, played by Don. S. Davis, passing away. I thought it might be because he just wasn't able to make it to production for some reason. They didn't have Richard Dean Anderson on, either.

After it was done, I checked IMDB and, sure enough, Don passed away June 29 of 2008. I knew he had originally left Stargate: SG-1 for health reasons but I completely missed that he'd died this year.

I met him once, as you can probably tell by the photograph (we're leaning over a table). Unfortunately that's about all of the interaction I got with him. Shortly after that shot was taken I had to leave for Kansas City to help celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

We'll miss you, Don.

The Sharks In Charge At Stargate Command

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't yet seen the Stargate: Atlantis episode "Sunday" stop reading now. I'm going to discuss an event that occurred in that episode that you really need to learn about from the episode. Go watch it, then come back. Of course, if you don't care about me spoiling the episode for you... read on.
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I have been a fan of Stargate SG-1 since it premiered on Showtime. Even as the storylines with the Gou'aould (I think I spelled that right) were getting tired, the cast carried it well and the writers took it in different directions. Episodes like Holiday and Lifeboat and Bane were related to the major story arc but let us see other sides of the characters and actors.

When Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond) left and they put Jack O'neill (Richard Dean Anderson) in his chair, the story line worked for a while. But, like Kirk at a desk job, the chair just didn't fit him. They either needed to get him back on the front lines - something Anderson was done doing from what I hear - or relegate him to recurring character status, which is what they did.

Since the introduction of Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) and General Landry (Beau Bridges), however, the show has jumped the shark. The writers pretty much wrapped up the Gou'aould story and introduced the Ori as the latest supervillain. At the same time, however, they're dealing with the politics of the Jaffa, the Alutian alliance, Baal - who seems to be a semi-good guy now, Merlin and his super weapons, Adria and Vala, and a host of others. That's WAY too many story arcs for a final season. Without tying up loose ends into a tidy little convenient package (see episode: Bounty), there's just too much going on for a final season - even if you do plan to spin off into cartoons, web series and feature-length made-for-TV movies.

But that's really a bit of backstory to why I'm writing this.

Sometimes, heroes die. One of the absolute, hands-down, best episodes of SG-1 is Heroes. This is, of course, the episode where Janet Fraser (Teryl Rothery) is hit by a blast from a staff weapon and dies. The show gave the character a wonderful send-off and, although it was unfortunate for Ms. Rothery, it was accepted by the fans.

Now it seems that being a doctor on a Stargate series is akin to wearing a red shirt on Star Trek. I realize that to tell a good story, especially in SciFi, you have to put the characters in danger. The more peril, the better.

As I watched Sunday, the latest-aired episode of Stargate: Atlantis, I recalled meeting Paul McGillion at Trek Expo in Tulsa, OK last summer. I learned that there are many layers to this fine actor. First, he speaks very clear English and does not normally have the Scottish accent he affects on Atlantis. He does, however, affect the accent very well and very consistently. I found out that he's also an acting and voice coach... which explains some of his talent. About half way through the episode, I commented to myself that I really liked Paul and felt that his character, Dr. Carson Beckett, was one of my favorite characters.

Then, the writers, producers and directors slapped me in the face by killing him off at the end of the episode. Unlike Dr. Fraser, he was robbed. He saved the lives of his nurse as well as the guy with the exploding tumor but why did he not run away after the hand-off? And what's with the exploding tumors anyway? Did the producers just sit down and say, "We've got to get rid of Paul. How do we kill Dr. Beckett?" to which someone else said, "I've got it! Exploding tumors." It just seems so weak. At least Dr. Fraser was in the field during an attack. I can believe that one.

I'm sorry, I just had to vent. I'll step off my soapbox now.

Since nobody really dies in SciFi and you want to bring Paul and Dr. Becket back to Atlantis, visit http://www.savecarsonbeckett.com/