Another update...

Well, I thought I'd let you all know that just a few minutes ago I've completed the first draft of "The Connection." This was a tough one, that's for sure. Initially I thought the exposition scene in act one would be the most challenging part; way off I was. Turned out that act one was surprisingly easy, act two was easy as well. It wasn't before act three, that I started encountering some serious length problems (once again). So I ended up having to drop a couple of scenes before even finishing the first draft. Currently the length might work out the way it is, but I think I can shorten one or two scenes. Well, no matter how many scenes end up being deleted, you guys will get to see them anyway. Deleted scenes coming up soon! And sometimes (like in the case of this episode) it's just a painful sacrifice to make. I liked both of the scenes I dropped very much, but what can you do?

The real challenge, however, was not so much the length (you learn to work your way around it) yet another exposition scene. In fact, it's the first scene of act four. It was one of those moments where as a writer you find yourself confronted with having to explain why did this happen, why did that happen. But if this happened, why didn't that happen? Oh, yeah, and it also has to be plausible, believable, and in this case it needs to be backed up by some authentic scientific facts. That's where the research part came in. Well, after a countless amount of rewriting that particular scene, I finally got it to a point where I felt it was working, and I moved on. Therefore act five was pretty easy to get through, though; I'd describe it as a nice wrap up to the story. We've got some smaller plot threads hanging around, and they'll be picked up in the next episode "Troika."

My personal feeling is that "The Connection" is an ideal episode to follow up the big two part season premiere. It feels like an episode early on in the season; we have some nice moments in which we get to know Callen a bit better. Zach's got some "Zach moments" (pretty soon you'll see what those moments are like), and here's something you might be interested in: the episode introduces yet another new recurring character. This guy is our new Vorian head of security, and suffice it to say he and the rest of our characters will not always see eye to eye. We felt early on when going into Season Two, that we needed to have some more conflict on our show. We wanted to have some more edgy moments in some of the episodes. So essentially this Vorian head of security -- oh, let's just call him H.B. -- is a Vorian who's clearly opposed to the Earth/Vorian alliance. It seemed reasonable that if we'd have half of the Horizon crew consisting of Vorian officers, that we'd find some Vorians among them who -- very much like Minister Kalos -- are opposed to the Horizon mission. So I think H.B. is a great addition to our cast, and you'll see more of him in the future. He'll be in "Troika" as well. I have someone in mind to cast for him, especially after having written him in "The Connection." After I get some additional opinions from the staff, I'll make sure to let you know which actor it will be. Now, I'll be revising the first draft before turning it in tomorrow. And after some notes from the staff come in, I should be getting to the blue draft (second draft).

Well, I'm not quite off for tonight. I'll get to finishing my behind the scenes special for "Collision" to ensure it'll be ready to be released tomorrow. I think you'll find some of the deleted scenes quite interesting. And after I finish that, you know what...I might just watch another episode or two of 24. Yeah, that seems like a tempting thing to do. For those of you who have been wondering, I've indeed started re-watching Season One, and I watched episode 6 last night. Yup. I just couldn't resist. I had this urge, and I hadn't seen Season One in quite some time, so here I am. It's interesting to see how things first started, especially if you know where things will be going, and what will happen. Some nice developments for the characters between S1 and S4. Great show, I'm telling you! Great show!

Work on the 3D designs is coming along very well. Last week Vinny, who is our chief designer, handed in some sketches, which were floor plans for the upper level of Horizon. He's currently working on a design for the control room, based on a drawing that I gave him. I can't wait to see this. He's just a fantastic designer; I think once you'll see the actual 3D models of the sets, you'll have to agree. We were very, very fortunate to get him on the team.

Big meeting coming up tomorrow. Joe is now working on "Troika"; he and I had a meeting on that episode earlier this evening. What can I tell you about "Troika"? Let's say, you'll be surprised by the return of an old friend. Hmmm. Can't tell you more than that right now.

The meeting tomorrow will be mainly about the current designs, things involving the "major announcement" which is coming up soon (it should really be very soon now), and perhaps some more discussions regarding "Troika."

Right now I'm off to working through "The Connection" again, but I might save working through the complete draft for tomorrow, since, as I said, I'll have to finish the behind the scenes special. And once I do that...24 TIME!!! WOOOOOOO!!!

Alex