WEBVTT 1 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.479 It's been my pleasure over the years here on the Twilight Term Podcast to welcome 2 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:49.479 many great guests to the show, and some of them we've been able to 3 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:54.960 enjoy their company several times, and I guess it is tinged with a hint 4 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:00.280 of sadness that inevitably, as we near the end of our run, for 5 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.680 some of our retaining guests, it might be the last time that we get 6 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.920 to speak to them. Tonight's guest is, of course, the great Mark 7 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:14.840 Zickrey, the author of The Twilight Zone Companion, among many many other things, 8 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:19.680 and this will be his fourth time joining us here on the Twilight Zone 9 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:25.760 Podcast. He's spoken with me twice and then once to my friend Brandon Shaye 10 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:30.319 Mtala, and I feel like between those three chats we've had a good amount 11 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:37.359 of talk about his takes on the Twilight Zone writing The Twilight Zone Companion, 12 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.480 and while I could listen to him talking about the Twilight Zone all day, 13 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:48.159 when he launched a Kickstarter in the last week to fund post production on his 14 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.519 latest installment of his self produced show, Space Command, it'd be a good 15 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.599 opportunity to get him back on the show to talk about that project, because 16 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.280 I like behind the scenes stories, and I like to hear from creative people 17 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.919 who love what they do and are enthusiastic about what they do. And nobody's 18 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:16.479 more enthusiastic about what they do than Mark Zickreg So our regular episode looking at 19 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:23.439 ninety years without Slumbering will be coming soon. Some real world things have taken 20 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:28.439 my attention over the last couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I 21 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.719 hope you don't mind this little detour from the twilight Zone, although there is 22 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:38.000 some Twilight Zone talk in here as we blast off once again with our friend 23 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:55.800 Mark Scott Zickree. Mark, when I've spoken to you before, you know, 24 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:00.479 it's been mostly about the Twilight Zone, with maybe a little side Space 25 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:02.719 Commands here and there. But I'd like to do it the other way round, 26 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:07.120 if I may so. Could you tell us about the genesis of space 27 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:14.039 commands and how it all came about. Yeah, it's really interesting and unusual. 28 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.520 You know, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits and Star Trek. The original 29 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:23.759 versions of those three shows are what formed me and what made me want to 30 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:30.159 make television and be a writer. And all three of those shows had great 31 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:38.319 ability to inspire to bring people to profound insights about themselves, about the world. 32 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.879 These were not people running away into fantasy. These were people who wanted 33 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:46.800 to say something about the life we live in and utilize power of science fiction 34 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:51.840 to create stories that were essentially timeless and would not be bogged down by the 35 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:54.960 issues of the moment. And I thought that was a great opportunity. And 36 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:00.879 so from when I was a kid and got a trip to the original Star 37 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:05.479 Trek set for the last episode they ever shot when I was ten, I 38 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:10.280 started to want to be a showrunner, but you know, writer, producer 39 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:14.080 in television and create a body of work that would be meaningful. And you 40 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:15.759 know, I sold my first short straight at nineteen, I was writing the 41 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.879 Twilights on Companion at twenty one, and writing for television by the time I 42 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:24.639 was twenty two or twenty three, And you know, I wrote for all 43 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:27.839 the major studios and networks, and I was very lucky to create work that 44 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:30.839 was actually meaningful to me. But at one point, a few years ago, 45 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:34.959 I saw that all the science fiction TV shows and movies that I was 46 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:41.519 seeing were very ditopic and very negative, and some of them were quite wonderful. 47 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.560 I mean, Battlestar Galactica, you know they're on more version. There 48 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:49.439 was good work being done, but nothing that inspired in the way that the 49 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:53.360 twilights On and Star Trek did, where they said they basically said, you 50 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.040 can create a future worth living in, but you have to take a stand 51 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:59.560 for that, and you have to be not given to fear, but rise 52 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:04.480 to the and essentially given to compassion and empathy and action. And so I 53 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:08.360 thought, well, I wanted to create a show like that, a space 54 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.959 going show that could inspire and say there's a future worth building for all of 55 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.920 us, and if we just reach across boundaries and barriers. And so for 56 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.800 many years I've been running a round table of writers and directors and actors and 57 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:28.079 producers just to create a compassionate Hollywood, essentially every Thursday, and we have 58 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.279 thousands of members around the world. Now we both meet in person and via 59 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:34.279 zoom. In fact, we have one table member who's from Liverpool. He 60 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:38.519 calls in every now and then, very late at night his time. And 61 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.720 I started hearing because I mentor so many young people, I started hearing about 62 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:47.759 crowdfunding, and because I felt so strongly about Space Command, I didn't want 63 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.160 to take the risk. A lot of friends of mine are showrunners, and 64 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.120 they said to me, well, let's partner and take this in and get 65 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:59.279 a pilot deal. But I knew that the pilot could be cut off, 66 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:02.000 as script could be cut off at filmed. Pilot could or I could get 67 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.759 notes that would wreck the thing. And because the people are who are giving 68 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:09.160 me notes are paying the bills, writing the checks, I would listen to 69 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.000 them. So I thought, well, I've never raised money before, but 70 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.680 let me see if I can. And so our first Kickstarter campaign, the 71 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.839 goal was seventy five thousand dollars and we ended up we got that in three 72 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:25.519 days, and over the course of the campaign we raised two hundred and twenty 73 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.879 one thousand dollars, and that was time to open our studio and start, 74 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.639 you know, go actively into pre production. And so now after several years, 75 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:38.439 we have our own studio here in Los Angeles. We also have our 76 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:45.000 companies also in London as well, and we have three shooting stages and we've 77 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:49.759 just finished shooting principal photography on the sixth hour of the twelve hour season of 78 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:56.600 Space Command, and so it's been really amazing and overall, between selling investments 79 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.680 to shares for seventy five hundred bucks, where the people by shares get a 80 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:05.279 portion of my producer's net profits. And Kickstarter campaigns, we've raised over four 81 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:10.519 million dollars and that's allowed us to shoot, you know, as I say, 82 00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:15.279 the first six hours, and so now we're launching a Kickstarter campaign for 83 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.319 the box set, which is the first six hours of Space Command and more. 84 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:24.160 And as I sit here, we're actively doing visual effects. We're actively 85 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:28.680 getting ready to shoot some creature stuff on our stage, these eight foot tall 86 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.560 creatures. We're actively and we're writing the production draft of the next episode, 87 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:34.000 to the next two hour episode, and we'll be shooting that in the next 88 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:39.319 few weeks, I think, you know. So it's it's very exciting. 89 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.839 Our goal is to finish shooting the first season, you know, within the 90 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.800 year, and get it to our fans very soon after. So it's it's 91 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.680 a very fun project. I love it. Good good. So for the 92 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:57.600 uninitiated, what is the story? What's it about? Essentially, Spaceman starts 93 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:03.079 sixty years from now and it follows four families as we go out into the 94 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:07.120 Solar System and colonize the Solar System and jump to the stars. But more 95 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.240 than that, it's through the through the lens of a military family. So 96 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:16.160 it's our hero is Captain Jack Kimer. He's in Space Command, which you 97 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:20.959 know is sort of the it's it's sort of like the United Federation of Planets 98 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.040 and Star for all of that, and we the United Planets, and we 99 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:30.720 follow Jack Kimer as he becomes a captain, as he then has children and 100 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:35.879 grandchildren and great grandchildren. There's a two hundred year span off the series where 101 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:37.559 we jump back and forth between the generations. In fact, the one that 102 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:43.639 we just completed shooting has two timelines, one with Jack and one with his 103 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:50.879 great grandson and how these stories interlink. And and then we have another family 104 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:58.480 that's essentially a zeno archaeologist played by Marra Furlin from Babylon five, who I 105 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:03.080 you know, I wrote Babylon five years ago, and and so mirror. 106 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:07.200 Sadly we lost Mirra during the pandemic to West Vile virus, but she's wonderful 107 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:11.559 in the show, and she's in a number of the episodes and U and 108 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:16.440 it's what it's about her and her daughter. And then there's another family that's 109 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:22.120 a mining mining engineer who runs a team of synthetic cumans on series and that's 110 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:26.559 played by Robert Priccardo of Star Trek Voyager and Stargate Atlantis, and and so 111 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:30.240 we see him and then his son and so forth. So interesting enough, 112 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:37.639 Armine Shimmerman from DS nine will be playing Robert Piccardo's grandson, so that's really 113 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:43.320 fun, and and and so and so's And then we have Dori Nevin played 114 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:48.080 by Doug Jones, and he's a synthetic Cuman who essentially leads a revolt along 115 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:52.960 the lines of Spartacus. And essentially he's part of an archaeological team run by 116 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:56.840 Mira Furland and his boss is the mining engineer Robert Paccardo. And on Mars 117 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.519 they dig up a two hundred million year old alien spaceship five miles long, 118 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:07.039 and Doug Jones, you know, Door Nevin, he is in an accident, 119 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:13.200 a minor accident. His inhibitorship was destroyed. It forces the synthetics to 120 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.440 obey whatever commands they get, and so he's the only one with free will, 121 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:22.559 and so he essentially seizes this alien spaceship and takes Mira Ferlin and Bob 122 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:28.960 Pacardo hostage, and Jack Kemer is sent to pursue him and stop him while 123 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.600 he embarks on a mission to free all the synthetics in the system using this 124 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.519 alien spaceship, and ultimately Jack has to decide whether or not he's on the 125 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:43.720 right side in trying to stop Doug Jones. So it's and Ethan McDowell plays 126 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:50.240 Jack camer We had a worldwide talent search and Ethan won the role and now 127 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:52.000 he's on Walking Dead as well, and he was recently on Doom Patrol. 128 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:58.320 So it's a great ensemble and you know, so it's it's just been super 129 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:03.360 fun, and it's basically if you're if you're a Star Trek fan, and 130 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:07.039 if you liked you know, TS and and Next Gen, you're you know, 131 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:11.600 you'll love this. It's it's its own flavor and it's its own universe, 132 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.600 but it's very much in that spirit of Star Trek and uh so it's 133 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.559 uh, you know. And so we've written the entire first season, plus 134 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.480 a prequel that we've done as both a radio play and a graphic novel, 135 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:28.480 and we can we've combined them into an animatic an anti storyboard. So that's 136 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:33.720 called United Planet, and so it sets up everything that leads right into our 137 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:39.320 first episode. So it's it's it's huge fun. And so we have a 138 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:43.960 studio full of alien spaceship sets and space suits and giant robots and eight foot 139 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:50.200 tall aliens and uh, you know, every day is Christmas. Now you 140 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:56.039 mentioned the KICKSTARTA and I believe in the KICKSTARTE. It's going to be the 141 00:11:56.039 --> 00:12:00.639 first time that you can get what what's out so far the box set, 142 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.799 right, because you know, sometimes if people aren't on the ground floor, 143 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.320 the best way to get into something is to have a box set, isn't 144 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:11.080 it, and to just go through it? So what can you tell us 145 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:15.720 about that? Yeah, it's super fun because you know, for one thing, 146 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.720 I produced the Twilight's on Blue ray set and if everyone talked for thirty 147 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:24.159 hours, I did fifty two episode commentaries. And so I love I love 148 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.000 Blu rays and all and DVD and all of that, because my god. 149 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:30.720 You know, when I was growing up, if you wanted to see a 150 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.480 TV show or a movie, you had to wait till it aired on television 151 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:39.039 or until it came into the movie theaters. You couldn't watch what you wanted 152 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:43.840 to watch when you wanted to see it. But moreover, the idea of 153 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:46.120 having the director, the writer, the actors sit with you and tell you 154 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.200 blow by blow how the film or the TV show was made. This was 155 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:54.120 unheard of, This didn't exist. And so when Blue Rays came out and 156 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:58.200 you can actually have commentaries and behind the scenes features and all these wonderful things 157 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:03.799 in one package, it was just a dream come true. And so with 158 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.480 the Space Blu Ray set, the box set, and and it's also you 159 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:09.879 know, obviously DVD or downloadable all these you know, whatever, whatever, 160 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:16.480 pick your poison. But it's my idea was that all of the stories that 161 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:18.000 we tell in Space Command are cannons. So in other words, it's not 162 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.519 like where you buy a Star Trek novel and no matter how good the story 163 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.320 is, it's not going to be part of the larger official universe. Same 164 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:28.200 with Star Wars, where all those Star Wars novels became like, you know, 165 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:31.360 they were kicked to the curb and so forth. In Space Command, 166 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:37.200 the graphic novels, the short stories, the all of it is all canon. 167 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.919 It's all part of the larger story. So what you get in the 168 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.799 box set is you could start by watching the animatic of United Planet. Now 169 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.399 that's got so the reason that we did it that way was. I wanted 170 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:52.000 to do a story that was set thirty years before the start of the first 171 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.919 episode of Space Command, but I didn't have millions of dollars to de age 172 00:13:54.919 --> 00:14:00.360 my actors like Scorsese or Indiana Jones, and so I thought it as an 173 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:03.559 audio play. So we got all of our actors back together, Ethan McDowell, 174 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.360 Mir Referral and Bill Woomy, Doug Jones, Robert Riccardo, and Mike 175 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:11.480 Michael Harney from Orange is the New Black, and we did this prequel that 176 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:16.519 starts thirty years from now and ends just at the scene the beg begins the 177 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:22.480 first episode of the show, and Neil de grasse Tyson is in it. 178 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:24.720 He because he I had a question, a scientific question, and I ran 179 00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:28.039 into him at the gym one day and I said, Okay, if you 180 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:31.360 want to take something, bring something back from space that would help turn around 181 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.639 global warming, what would it be? And he said, well, do 182 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.200 you think about that In a few days later, he got on the treadmill 183 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.120 next to me and you know, describe what he had in mind for about 184 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:43.960 thirty minutes. And so when when I actually wrote United Planet with that idea, 185 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:46.720 that that that Neil had given me. I reached out to him and 186 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.720 said, hey, you want to be in this and he said sure, 187 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:54.600 so, so he's in it, and so that's so. That's so. 188 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.840 Then and then this wonderful artist name to Hanni Farr. She's illustrated the graphic 189 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.480 no, and it's just spectacular. And then our editor Dave Edison combines the 190 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:09.480 two so it's a moving storyboard in color and with all the sound and all 191 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:13.039 the roles and all of that, and it come to thirty years and leads 192 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.960 right into the first two hour episode that we shot, which is Redemption, 193 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:20.600 and that as far as all the actors I just mentioned, and that's a 194 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.600 two hour episode that we shot and it has nineteen hundred visual effect shots. 195 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:28.960 So we finished that, and then the pandemic hit. And during the pandemic, 196 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.960 all of my actor friends were stuck at home, and so my wife 197 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:37.039 and I I write and direct and produce Space Coman with my wife Elaine, 198 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:41.480 we said, well, let's not just be stuck. Let's create an episode 199 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.159 of Space Command where the actors can shoot with their own cameras in their own 200 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:50.559 homes and we'll direct them long distance. We'll do stuff. Well, because 201 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.559 I had all of these characters and all the storyline in mind for the first 202 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:56.559 season. Oh, we were stuck, all stuck at home. So I 203 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.320 thought, well, I can have I can introduce characters we haven't seen yet. 204 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.240 I can have other characters do monologues. We could do be very experimental, 205 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.399 and so we did this two hour episode called Ripple Effect and it's got 206 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.840 again Neil de grass Tyson and you're Furlan and Armine Shimmerman and my friend Christina 207 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:18.200 Moses who stars in A Million Little Things and so forth, and so we 208 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:22.720 put get this two hour episode that and Barbara Baine from Space nineteen ninety nine. 209 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:26.000 We also got Barbara Bain in it, and we just it's wonderful to 210 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:30.000 our episode. It's very experimental, and it's just kind of like, let's 211 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.360 get together and put on a show. And that comes to the box set 212 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:37.360 as well. It's sort of a it's a sort of a parallel companion piece 213 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:42.000 to the entire first season of twelve you know of episodes. And then the 214 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:48.639 final episode that's in the box set is it is called Forgiveness, and it 215 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.799 basically picks up three in the chronology. It picks up three years after the 216 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:59.759 end of Redemption and follows the characters as they embark on an adventure, just 217 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.519 discover whether or not people really change, if forgiveness can, if you can 218 00:17:03.599 --> 00:17:07.480 open your heart to forgiveness. It's it's a it's a big, big subject. 219 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:11.920 Every every episode of Spaceman is about something very meaningful to me and hopefully 220 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.079 to the audience. So the first two hours Redemption it's about really recognizing if 221 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:19.839 you're on the right side or not. And certainly nowadays with what's going on 222 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.519 in Israel and Gaza and so forth, you know, you have to really 223 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.240 have to keep an eye on whether you're you know, I just Pat posted 224 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:33.519 a video where the title was one atrocity does not justify another, and you 225 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.279 know, it's sort of like we cannot leave our humanity at the door, 226 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.960 nor our empathy or our compassion and so so so Redemption was very much about, 227 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:45.400 you know, don't just assume you're the good guy, because it's you, 228 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:48.279 you know, really the actions and say, am I on the right 229 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.000 side? Am I acting in a morally justifiable way? And do I have 230 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:59.640 the courage to perhaps you know, take action that maybe personally you know, 231 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.720 have have consequences. But on the other hand, is the correct thing to 232 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:07.839 do in terms of compassion and empathy for others, and then forgiveness carries that 233 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.920 on to Okay, if you are angry, justifiably angry at someone and hold 234 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:18.440 them accountable for something terrible that they did, can they change? And can 235 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:22.240 you let go of that weight that you're carrying. Can you forgive them? 236 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:26.920 Can they forgive themselves? Is it possible to change? Is it possible to 237 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:33.160 have a future that's not dictated by the past. And so these are very 238 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:40.000 interesting issues. So that's the first six hours and more of the box set, 239 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:45.880 and then the box set will also come contain audio commentaries behind the scenes 240 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:52.359 stuff. I also wrote a short story called Grizzled Space Jockey because when I 241 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.759 was in in the first two hours a space pane, I knew. I 242 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:00.799 knew I would have a cameo because when I was twelve years old, my 243 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.160 mom got me a real spacesuit, a Navy high altitude suit from the fifties 244 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:10.359 that was in the Twilight Zone and it was used in Twilight Zone, and 245 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.519 I so I owned a spacesuit. So I thought, I'll have a one 246 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.440 scene where there's this ship that crash lands and I'm in a spacesuit. I'm 247 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:22.400 on Mars, I'm working at a terraforming station, and I just have one 248 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:26.039 line, which is I watched the thing come down in this miraculous crash landing, 249 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:32.599 and I go wow. And then later but then later in the episode, 250 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:38.480 we were shooting a scene of battle on Titan, these rebel fighters and 251 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:41.200 so forth, and one of the people didn't show up for the scene, 252 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:42.960 and so I said, well, I can put on a space suit and 253 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.480 I can be in the scene, but I have to be blown up. 254 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:49.079 So that's what we did. And then I thought, well, and then 255 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:52.799 at the end of the episode, there's a sculpture garden where was just a 256 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:55.559 sculpture of Captain Jack Cammer, and I thought, well, I could put 257 00:19:55.559 --> 00:20:00.200 a sculpture of myself there, and then I could link those three cameos of 258 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:06.000 me into one character and justify that whole timeline. Oh cool, I wrote 259 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.640 as I was approached to contribute a story to an anthology, and I wrote 260 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:12.640 that, and so then I did a reading of it on my my mister 261 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:17.000 sci Fi YouTube channel, and so that's also going to be included in the 262 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:19.319 set. That that story and that reading and so forth. So just it's 263 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:26.039 going to be an amazing corn ucopia of pleasures. And uh, you know, 264 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:29.559 and and and if one wants to also get little bonuses, you can 265 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:33.680 get little miniature figures of me and little miniature figures of Captain Jack Kamer and 266 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:36.880 of the palette and our our spaceship. There's there's lots of fun stuff in 267 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:40.599 this in this campaign, uh you know, T shirts and posters and all 268 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:45.839 on comic books and graphic novels and all the all the usual. I love 269 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.200 the sound of that, you know, spinning off a little character here like 270 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.960 that in his own story. Very fun, very fun. Yes, yes, 271 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:55.759 well it's funny because in Forgiveness, part of as I mentioned, part 272 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:00.480 of Forgiveness takes place ninety years later with Jack's great grandson, Captain Camera, 273 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.079 played by Aaron Gappe, who also won our worldwide talent search. We had 274 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:08.279 seven thousand inquiries, twelve hundred video auditions for the two of the lead roles, 275 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:14.359 Captain Kimmer and Lieutenant Bradbury, and so it's it's and we ended up 276 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:18.039 casting nine actors from those auditions, So people who never would have gotten a 277 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:22.920 chance to play a lead in a show got the opportunity and they really rose 278 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:26.960 to the challenge. We're very glad that we got this opportunity to cast these 279 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:30.480 actors. But so in forgiveness, the part that takes place ninety years later, 280 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:34.519 there's a scene on a departure lounge on a space station. So but 281 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:40.559 I created the I created a clone of the of the grizzled face jockey character 282 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:44.519 that I've had in the first one, the third generation clone, and I 283 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:48.240 named him after Hindleine. So he's Captain Bob Heinlein and he's a pilot, 284 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:52.960 you know, for you know, intergalactic space lines or whatever. And so 285 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.759 I have a cameo in that episode as well as the clone character I've played 286 00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.119 in the first episode. It's all right, I'm going to be writing a 287 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:03.559 short story called and Bob about that guy, and so we'll see where that 288 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:07.599 leads. But yeah, it's it's really fun because we have and we have 289 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:10.680 total autonomy. We can Elaine and I write what we want to write, 290 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:14.000 cast who we want to shoot, what we want to shooting. Off we 291 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.960 go. So it's really fun. So what's the plan then, Mark, 292 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.519 you know, going forward? Is this fully formed in your mind as to 293 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:23.880 yes, you know, the whole thing is going to be Yes, it 294 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000 is. Well, we have the entire season ready to shoot. I mean 295 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:32.160 we have. We're now at the halfway stage. It's twelve hour season. 296 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:34.480 We've shot six hours, so we have six more to go. So it's 297 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:41.079 space manut structured as two hour stories. Okay, we split down the middle 298 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:44.880 of one hour episodes and then they form a larger sparking story over the course 299 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:51.079 of the season. So the ones that remain to be shot are the next 300 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:55.920 two hour stories. Great Solar War. It's a big story about war and 301 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:00.359 why we shouldn't fight wars, and it's it's really cool, lots of spaceships, 302 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.759 alien spaceships, human spaceships. It's it's on a very very vast scale. 303 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.119 And and then after that the next to our stories called Empire, and 304 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:14.200 that deals with you know, sort of a galactic empire and how we deal 305 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:18.559 with that. It's basically everything is as a result of actions from previous episodes. 306 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.960 So there's cause because one of the other larger issues in Space plan is 307 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.960 the notion that sometimes even if you do the right thing, it has it 308 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:33.640 can have repercussions that cause people to be hurt, and there's sometimes there's no 309 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.920 there's no perfect thing to do, there's only the better thing to do, 310 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:41.160 and then you have to clean up the mess that comes of that and uh 311 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:45.200 and so that's that's really interesting to us. And so uh so the next 312 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:48.759 one, so there's Great Solar War, then Empire, and then the final 313 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.880 to our story is called Harvester, and that ends the But but after that, 314 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:56.880 I'm creating something called the Showrunners Network, where I'm teaming with the creators 315 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:02.079 of far Escape and The Expanse and many other shows to create a slate of 316 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:06.839 six series science fiction series. And so Space Command is the first one. 317 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:10.799 Then Rockneil Bannon and I are creating one called Sweet Haven that has an amazing 318 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:17.079 cast, and then after a future Space and then there's one I'm talking to 319 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:22.720 Serling State about called rod Sterlings after Twilight and then and then Magic Times. 320 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.319 So it's a it's gonna there's a lot of amazing stuff ahead and uh and 321 00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:32.599 Veronica Cartwright and Kates McFadden and Barbara Bain and many of the other actors I've 322 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:37.160 been I'm forming an ensemble company of actors working with and so they'll you'll see 323 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:41.519 them popping up in different roles in different shows that we're doing. So it's 324 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.319 it's really cool. The busiest man in Hollywood. Every time I speak to 325 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.599 you, You've got a million a million things going on. It's so fun. 326 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.200 And one of one of the things I'm doing that's really really fun to 327 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:53.039 me is, you know, when I was ten years old and I got 328 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.240 to be on the Star Trek set, it was the last episode they ever 329 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:00.880 shot. It was turned about intruder and and sitting in the captain's chair and 330 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.680 stand on the transport and see the little light bulb that was screwed in on 331 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:08.039 top. It was magical. And when I set step on my own spaceship 332 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.160 sets, I get that same feeling, you know. And one of the 333 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:15.400 things I do. You know, when Rod Sterling did Twilight Zone, he 334 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.880 was shooting at MGM, so we had access to all the sets, all 335 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:23.559 the props, all the costumes, everything ever made for any MGM movie from 336 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:26.720 the beginning. So you see a lot of stuff Bidden Planet crop up and 337 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:30.119 so forth. So when I was a producer on Sliders at Universal, I 338 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.039 said, do we have access to everything that Universal has ever made? And 339 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.359 they said, well, we don't know. No one's ever asked the question 340 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:40.039 we'll find out. And then they came back to me and said, well, 341 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:42.079 with very few exceptions, yes, So when Sliders, we were us 342 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:47.839 things from Jurassic Park and Twelve Monkeys and all these other movies and TV shows 343 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:52.359 Time coop and so with Space commat I continued that tradition. So anytime there's 344 00:25:52.359 --> 00:26:00.400 a big budget science fiction TV series or movie, when those end, often 345 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:06.720 some of the props and sets and costumes and space suits and things come available 346 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:10.799 either on eway or via the auction houses, and it's pennies on the dollar. 347 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:15.799 So I've acquired a lot of stuff that we then we use for Space 348 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:19.279 Command, and we build design stuff fresh as well, but we augment it. 349 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:23.240 So we have things from Falling Skies and Cloverfield, Paradox and Enders Game 350 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:29.680 and Armageddon and Aliens and on and on and on and on, and it's 351 00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:33.720 terrific, I mean, because it adds so much production value to what we 352 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.799 have, you know. So, for instance, the Alien spaceship set that 353 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:41.759 we just build for forgiveness, it's gorgeous and it's really it's unique. But 354 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:47.400 then I found some of these giant eggs from Falling Skies and we were able 355 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:51.680 to use those to augment the set we built. So it was it's really 356 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:55.400 fun. It's really really fun. Yeah, brilliant, proper old school kind 357 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:59.359 of movie making. Sounds brilliant, very much, very much so. And 358 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.759 you know, and so we're getting all the spaceship consoles and all that stuff 359 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:07.039 up and running. There's a great console that we have from Thunderbirds, the 360 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:11.720 live action one that Jonathan Fakes did. Yeah, it's like this incredible metal 361 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:14.599 console and the lights up and it's got all this and throttles and all this 362 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:18.599 stuff. So we basically are wiring it up and we'll be you like that 363 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.039 as well as many other things. So it's just yeah, it's it's it's 364 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:26.200 for me. This is a dream come true because I get to write about 365 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:30.680 meaningful things but also have the gosh ge whiz of you know, that same 366 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:33.480 little kid who went on the Star Trek set. You know. So it's 367 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.359 you know, it's it's perfect for me. Well, I will put a 368 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:44.200 link to your new kickstart out with this with this podcast, But I couldn't 369 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.119 let you go without asking a couple of things about, you know, twilight 370 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.440 Zone, because well, the last time I spoke to you, twilight Zone 371 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:53.200 was actually on the air, the new Twilight Zone was on the air, 372 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:56.680 and now that is a thing of the past as well. Yes, when 373 00:27:56.759 --> 00:28:00.799 do you see the future of the Twilight Zone? Should we even tried to 374 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.160 bring it back now or should we just accept that it was what it was? 375 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:07.599 You know, and it's you're never going to get I mean, it's 376 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:11.279 lightning in a bottle, it's magic, you know, it was. Rots 377 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.279 never wanted to be a science fiction writer. He didn't grow up wanting to 378 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.400 be Ray Bradbury or you know, Arthur C. Clark. He wanted to 379 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:21.599 be Arthur Miller. He wanted to grow up to be the great playwright of 380 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:26.599 this incredible new medium of television. The problem was that the censors increasingly were 381 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.839 stopping him saying anything meaningful about race, about politics, about any of the 382 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:34.279 social issues of the day. You know, if he had been content just 383 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:37.640 writing Requiem for a Heavyweight over and over again, that would have been okay. 384 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:40.519 But he had a lot to say, and he had a lot to 385 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:42.960 get off his chest, and so he figured out that science fiction would allow 386 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:47.160 him to slip all this stuff past the sensors, and he could write things 387 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:52.720 about mass hysteria, like monsters are do on Maple Street or about you know, 388 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:59.599 the incredible dysfunction of conformity in things like E the Beholder, you know, 389 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:06.359 and and ironically it made his work more timeless because probably most people have 390 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:10.240 never heard of Recream for Heavyweight or Patterns or any of these huge things he 391 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.559 did in the fifties and live TV. But twilight Zone, you know, 392 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.000 is timeless. It really is an amazing show that really is held up in 393 00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:22.240 terms of doing twilight Zone again. You know, it's going to be different 394 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:26.640 no matter who takes it on. And you know, I think Black Mirror 395 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:33.240 is probably the most effective successor to twilight Zone. It's very dark, and 396 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:37.480 Serling was not Serling was not a cynic. It has a very Black Mirror 397 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:42.319 does have a very different flavor, but it's excellent. But I think that 398 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:47.200 a lot of the Twilight Zone remakes, you know, have their strength and 399 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.720 their weaknesses, but none of them have batting average the original had, I 400 00:29:49.799 --> 00:29:53.480 mean, week after week after week, the original twilight Zone was just astonished, 401 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:00.519 astonishing. Now the project I've been talking to the Serling family about and 402 00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:06.519 their representative is that, you know, Rod dictated all the scripts he wrote 403 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:11.640 and letters and everything. He dictated into a little recorder and then his security 404 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:15.039 to type it up. And it was assumed that these these dictation belts were 405 00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:18.319 lost, and then they found a thousand of them. And so my idea 406 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:25.200 was to create a show called Rod Serling's After Twilight that Rod would actually narrate 407 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:27.920 from that material. And there are scripts that he wrote that never got made, 408 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:32.720 great scripts from Night Gallery that never got made. There's scripts he wrote 409 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:34.839 in the fifties that haven't been seen since the fifties science fiction, fantasy, 410 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:38.680 horror, and also scripts by some of the other writers of Twilight, and 411 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:41.880 even some of the writers now, like guys like Neil Gaiman and so forth. 412 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:47.319 It would be an anthology where Rod would actually narrate it from because when 413 00:30:47.319 --> 00:30:52.279 he dictated letters, when he dictated speeches, it was almos an amazing unique 414 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:55.799 vocal style that he had. And so the idea would be this show would 415 00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:00.559 be unseen Serling material, you know, narration Bi Serling. It would just 416 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:04.279 be quite wonderful. And uh so we'll see if that comes to fruition. 417 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:07.440 But I think, you know, there's nothing, there's nothing to stop it 418 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:14.920 from happening other than you know, the whims of fate. But you know, 419 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.279 but again I think, you know, Rod was prescient. I mean, 420 00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:23.119 you can watch Monsters do on Maple Street now and it's as relevant now, 421 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:26.799 if not more so, you know, I mean with at the time 422 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:33.240 of great polarization, great panic, and uh, you know, and and 423 00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:37.400 and the great thing about Rod and this is something that people don't ever mention, 424 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:40.240 but you know, one of the reasons I think that Star Trek and 425 00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:45.279 Twilight Zone and Outer Limits had the depth and weight and drama that they had 426 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:48.960 was a lot of these guys had been through World War Two. They've been 427 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:52.920 you know, Rod Serling was a paratrooper. He fought in the Philippines. 428 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.599 He was wounded by shrapnel. I mean, you know, he'd seen life 429 00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.400 and death up close. Purple Testament is a perfect example. I mean, 430 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:02.759 that's one of the best things I ever written about war by anyone. It's 431 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:07.720 so grind you feel the grime and exhaustion and the fear and all that comes 432 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:12.920 through so brilliantly. And then Roddenberry had been a bomber pilot, be twenty 433 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:17.960 four bomber pilots, so you know, it's like they they knew what life 434 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.039 and death were about. And you know, I refer to the soldiers who 435 00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:24.839 came back from World War Two and the Twilight Zone. I know it's in 436 00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:28.759 one of my other books. I refer to the soldiers who came back from 437 00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:31.839 World War Two as young old men, you know, because they were older 438 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:36.880 than their their years. And I mean when you realize that Rod was only 439 00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:39.400 around thirty when Twilight Zone was on, you know, he was thirty years 440 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:44.240 old, and yet he seems so he has such gravitas, you know, 441 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:49.400 and so there's there's great authenticity that in that work. So I try to 442 00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:53.240 continue that tradition in my work as well. Absolutely well, I think we'll 443 00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:55.680 leave it there, Mark. You know, I could listen to your talk 444 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:00.559 about the Twilight Zone all day, but get the Blue Hat, the Blu 445 00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:04.559 Ray of Twilight One and you can listen to me for a month. Yeah, 446 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.640 but it's been fun to talk about Space Command too. You know, 447 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:14.680 I'm just hearing from someone who enjoys their work so much. I think is 448 00:33:14.759 --> 00:33:17.240 inspiration in itself. So yes, I wish you, you know, all 449 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:21.559 the best look in the world with it, and you know, thank you 450 00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:23.440 for being a friend to this podcast over the years as well. You know, 451 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:27.599 I think This is like the third or fourth time you've been on, 452 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:30.920 so I appreciate it. It's so much fun. The one thing I should 453 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:34.839 mention before I forget is Michelle Nichols is also in Spaceman. She's in Forgiven, 454 00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:37.559 and I met her when I was ten. She gave me her own 455 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:40.759 copies of some of the Star Trek scripts and she signed a photo to me. 456 00:33:42.039 --> 00:33:45.039 And fifty years later to be able to sit down with her in her 457 00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:49.519 home seen from Space Command. I feel so blessed that we got that before 458 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:53.640 she left, this veil of tears and you know, and at the end 459 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:58.160 of that day of shooting with her on Space Comman, she said, thank 460 00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:01.200 you for blessing my home, Like, wow, what amazing? Amazing? 461 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:05.960 I mean, how could I ever complain about anything? Well, I think 462 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.039 that will do it. Thank you so much more, Very welcome. Talk 463 00:34:08.039 --> 00:34:08.679 to you next time.