YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

(note: Here's a link to TNT's official website for FALLING SKIES):

Okay fans – Here are your many questions answered:

Whew -- that was a lot more work than I expected.

All the FALLING SKIES questions are up front.

For SMALLVILLE fans – I grouped those questions at the end – but I flagged it in big red letters - so scroll down if that’s all you’re interested in.

 ‪Mike Padua said...

Greg, thanks for putting so much time into sharing your knowledge with us fans!



Who chooses/hires your still photographers?

ANSWER:  Not sure what the essence behind your question is – but I’ll assume you’re interested in becoming a photographer. 

On FALLING SKIES, TNT’s photo department, which is a division of the publicity department, hires all of the on-set stills photographers.  With other companies it can be different, but usually it’s the publicity department.  Sometimes on feature films stars or producers can request specific photographers – but not in our case.  Sometimes, depending on the importance of the shoot, TNT will hire a local photographer.  Sometimes they fly people in from L.A. or New York.

I asked Doug Hyun, TNT’s on-set photographer I’m working with on PERCEPTION, the TNT show I’m currently working on, for his advice on how to get into this business.

He said, you have to get a book together.  Try to get on an indie movie, or take stills of your friends in a band, or any other type of thing like this.  Then you have to beat the ground, going from studio to studio – getting small work at first and then building yourself up.

Not sure if that’s the question you wanted answered… But there it is!

‪Brielle

Thank you for doing this! I’ve been wondering (and I don't know if you'll know the answer to this)...How old is Ben supposed to be? Hal is supposed to be sixteen...So I'm trying to line up their ages, and it's just not adding up.

ANSWER:  Ben is supposed to be 14 or 15 and Hal 17…  I think.

‪Alan Turing‬ said...

I have couple of simple questions: 


4) Was Weaver in the rear with the gear? Because he's done stupid things: created a fixed location that he cannot defend against air attack…  

ANSWER:  I think you’re referring to the school.  Well, two things (1) As stated in the pilot episode (and I admit it goes by quickly in the first Dale Dye scene) the resistance has determined that the Aliens aren’t targeting smaller groups of humans.  Porter has determined that 100 soldiers and 300 civilians will be a small enough number to be safe from air attack.   It's not that the alien's can't find them it's that they have other priorities.  (2) In the same scene – and again it goes by fast – it’s stated that the original alien attack was a larger force that hit hard and wiped out most of humanity – then the “Mother Ships” left and a “garrison” was left behind.  (3) The key assumption that I make is that the remaining aliens main focus is not on wiping out all of humanity – it is to use the Earth for whatever their real purpose is…  The building of the mysterious towers is their main agenda now…  Killing humans is a lesser goal and now in their smaller numbers it’s probably more difficult to do than when they were assembled in major cities.  So, to a degree, the humans are safe as long as they stay in small numbers and stay quiet. 

attack a structure in broad day light with an column of troops that he cannot defend from air attack…  ANSWER:  The column did advance during the day – which is arguably a mistake - but the actual attack as organized by Porter was scheduled at night, which is stated in dialogue.

put his personnel out in a cow pasture so they cannot find cover from the aliens' aircraft…  ANSWER:  The meadow location was vulnerable – and Weaver expressed that he wasn’t happy with that.  That’s why he was sending out scouts looking for a new less-exposed location – which ended up being the school.  They only stayed in the meadow one night.

drive down a road at night with his lights on with Tom at the wheel-- hasn't heard of black out driving…  ANSWER:  You’re right this was possibly a mistake – but a more cinematic one.  

why is he so willing so sacrifices his best troops in a pyrrhic victory at best at the end of season 1? 
ANSWER:  He was willing to sacrifice himself, perhaps, but he clearly gives everyone else a choice and, in fact, ordered Hal back.  I think Weaver truly hoped and believed they had a chance to take down the base.  It may have been a foolish belief – but everyone who went it made the choice with him.  No one was forced.


5) Why are the Aliens so stupid that they cannot or will not kill the resistance fighters? 
ANSWER:  This was answered above – but my opinion is that the aliens main focus now is not, primarily, on human killing – their numbers have been reduced enough to be manageable.  It’s on building the towers and whatever that entails and implies.

  
6) Why aren't the resistance fighters killing all military assets available to the aliens including kids?

 ANSWER:  Admittedly in this post-invasion it’s an all-bets-are-off world.  I’m sure some groups would resort to killing kids to save themselves.  The group led by Terry Clayton in “Sanctuary Part 1 and 2” was willing to do that…  But the story we are telling, and the one that I am personally interested in, is one where not only humanity survives but human dignity and morality survives as well.  In fact, I think this is the essence of Tom Mason’s struggle.  For him surviving isn’t enough. He wants to keep his family and his group's sense of ethics and morality intact as well. 


8) Why is Pope the Professor of the Gang and Tom Gilligan??? I mean really Pope looks like a meth running drug dealing biker gang member-- not exactly the sort of guy that knows much about metallurgy or sophisticated bomb construction-- so why then is he the go to guy for these things? ANSWER:  I can’t comment on the Gilligan/Professor aspect of your question… But Pope is a meth running drug dealing biker gang member, so it’s good he looks like one. 

As to why Pope has so many skills – I see your point– It may be that he ended up with one skill too many.  But just because he’s a criminal doesn’t mean he isn’t smart.  He demonstrates considerable intelligence in his dialogue  – one person could have  learned all that stuff.  But, to be fair to your point - Originally Uncle Scott was going to be the character that discovered how to build mech bullets.  But actor Bruce Grey was not available when the mech bullet episode came up, and we were unable for various storyline reasons to shift that story to an earlier or to a later episode.  As I always say, a TV series is both an evolving entity and a fast moving target. There was no other character we could give that storyline to – so the best solution became to give that story to Pope... and so that's what we did!

9) How can the mech metal be both super hard and have a super low melting point? Most really hard materials have a very high melting point? So I want to know how the guys in the 2nd Mass are melting forming and creating bullets out of materials that were so advanced that US military's high tech weapons failed. 

ANSWER:  Super good point which I have no answer for.

10) How is it that the Aliens can destroy every possible source of resistance on the planet in the first attack and yet the resistance will win in the end? 
ANSWER:  First of all - we can assume but we don’t know how this story will end…  The other aspect of the question, I answered  earlier.  A bigger invading force first attacked earth then retreated leaving a garrison of tower-builders.  I believe some of this is also covered in the on-line/Dark Horse comic. 

11) Do you really want us the viewers to believe that Military forces of every country in the world were just sitting in their racks waiting to get nuked by the enemy? Are they like well behaved VC and stand still for door gunners of the Choopers? 


ANSWER:   Nope – They fought back and fought hard.  They were just overwhelmed by superior weapons and superior forces.  That part happened before our story began.
Also, remember the children's voices in the opening scene of the pilot described that the aliens used a massive eloctro-magnetic pulse that wiped out all electricity.  This gave the aliens a huge advantage as almost all vehicles, planes and communications were disabled... With the world's military forces hobbled and with superior weapons the alien forces easily overwhelmed us. 


12) Do you really want us the viewers to believe that Aliens have some magic Radiation weapon that kills only mammals??? Because in the Writers' Q&A some wonderkid put forth this answer-- and that after the bombs were drop they blew up exactly 100 miles and only 100 miles! I'm none of this radiation entered the higher atmosphere??? So I'm wondering how if the same writer said this radiation was dangerous to the aliens how then it didn't contaminate the entire planet since they were dropping these things like hot cakes! I mean really want to believe that radioactive fallout is not covering all the regions of the Earth after using enough of these weapons to destroy 90 percent of humanity?

ANSWER:  I am unfamiliar with what you are referring to – and it’s not my understanding that that is the case.  Where did you read this?  I didn’t read it.


14) In the pilot New York is mentioned with world capitols-- Who doesn't know what a capitol is??? I mean New York hasn't been the capitol of the US since what the 1790's ??? So I want to know how that slip up was allowed? 





ANSWER:  True New York is not technically a state or National “Capitol” – but it is a capitol of commerce and banking and one of the most important cities in the world.  I think this is what was being referred to.

17) Why do the writers think that Machine guns are not Classified as destructive devises?  They are.. you will not find too many full auto Ak-47's in gunshops in the US. Unless they cater to CLass III weapons holders. 

ANSWER:  Again, I’m not sure specifically to what you are referring?  Did we state that in an episode?



18) Why is it that Mechs can be blown up by two weak hand grenades but some how DU rounds from say a 20mm M61Vulcan cannon were ineffective in destroying them? They would have about the same energy on contact... 




ANSWER:  Yah, you’re probably right…

Thanks for your questions and for your, obviously, attentive viewing! 

‪NZRobFL

1. You guys did a lot of scenes focusing on Bens increased abilities since being harnessed, including the increase tension with civiliens. At the end we also see the aliens very interested in Ben and Tom. Was this done to simply show what we found out, which is Ben is possibly going to mutate or was their a deeper purpose to things that may be revealed about Ben in season 2? (loaded question i know)


ANSWER:  It gets to spoilery for me to answer, but I can say that the answer to your question will be revealed.


2. We noticed we never see any of the kids actually taken (other then Karen) and we dont see the harnesses attached to them. Was that done on purpose so as not to reveal too much? Might we explore this and get a view from within the alien ships/camps?


ANSWER:  We didn’t show this, principally because our series is designed so that we are always in our character’s point-of-view.  We don’t go to scenes where our characters aren’t.  But if one of our character’s went into one of the alien camp’s/ships then we might see something like this in the future.


3. Some scenes were cut from the Rescue scene in Silent Kill when Hal goes to get the kids. Will you be using those next season or dropping them? (referring to the bloody floor scene)


ANSWER:  Can’t spoil – but “probably.”


4. Now that you have the go ahead for season 2, does that mean a slightly larger budget to allow for a more expansive view of the aliens, they’re ships and more locations? The CGI work we did see was awesome, would like to see more of the alien side. (perhaps even a little infiltration by Ben into the alien ship ;)

ANSWER:  I try not to be specific about budgets – but we will endeavor to do our best and better to give the fans what they deserve!

‪Damian 

1) Are the "Skidders" who have been shown throughout the movie what Ben and the other children may end up as? Or will they take on a different physical form with two legs and all.

ANSWER: Can’t spoil – but we hope to answer this next season


2) The alien ships were supposed to be able to anticipate rockets, or so Pope says. But Tom was able to shoot one down with an RPG?


ANSWER:  My interpretation is that, because the ship was returning to the tower it was not in an “attack/defense” mode and it’s shields were down.

3) The central tower had taken a beating from all sorts of heavy artillery that previous humans had shot. Would explosives at the base still work? Like were they more powerful?

ANSWER:  I’m not sure that the towers ever “took a beating” – they weren’t built until after the first wave of invasion and  after the aliens controlled the major cities – and I don’t think Porter or Weaver or anyone knew whether the attack would work or not – but because they knew the towers were just built from Earth scrap-metal they thought they had a chance.

‪Gibagiboia 

I´m from Brazil, we’d love to see some Brazilian fellow fighting invaders. We’re almost 200 millions.


ANSWER:  I’ll tell the writers and we’ll look for an opportunity to cast a Brazilian!

‪Anonymous‬ 

When will Falling Skies be returning?

ANSWER: Next summer – 2012 - probably a similar date to this year, i.e. June – but I don’t know yet for sure.

‪Lizziekaerocks77 

I was wondering is in future episodes has there been any talk of showing what the Mason family lives were like before the aliens first came before they attacked? Like in a flashback mode or something? Because i would sure like to know more about Rebecca and what their home was like with her around. Or how Hal met Karen and his school life and so on. When i saw the episode where Weaver had his little flashback it inspired me and i thought it'd be cool to see something more like that.

ANSWER: Probably not.  One of the elements that is important to Mr. Spielberg is that we don’t go to flashbacks or see how the invasion went down.  He strongly wants a show that takes place in real time/real POV (i.e. Character “Point of View”) from the time the story begins.  The past is implied but not shown. 

Similarly, and I discussed this a bit in my blog – there are no “tricks” in this show.  We don’t do flashbacks or dream sequences or slow motion or any real editing tricks -  from a filmmaker’s standpoint it is a very raw show with no gimmicks to fall back on – which makes it very hard.

Having said that – you can never predict the future.

 ‪shoshee10 

I was just wondering if you would be doing any flashback episodes to show how the group came together in the first place?

Thanks for considering my question!

ANSWER:  see above

‪marymesingle 

Couple of questions that are hopefully easy to answer. 


1. Are we going to see flashbacks of the actual invasion?


ANSWER:  see above

2. You have shown the skidders with a sense of caring for the kids that are harnessed as in the rescued of Ben. Will there be more of that? That episode changed my view of them.

ANSWER:  More will be revealed in Season 2

‪Mare/TommyGirl 

I think this is so cool of you to do this. Thank you. Like a previous fan, I'm curious to see if we'll get a flashback episode? 


ANSWER:  see above


Also, are we to assume that all Skidders are other conquered races by this main alien race? 



ANSWER: It seems that way!

‪KitScatt 

Just two questions from an actor and a HUGE fan:
1. What do you look for when you are making your final casting decisions?
2. How can I audition? ;-)

ANSWER:  Acting is a great craft and art and I wish you the best in pursuing it!

Personally, when actors come in to audition - I look for someone who has carefully analyzed the scene and made a bold, sometimes unexpected, choice.  Look for the aspect of the character/scene that is legitimate, but not on the surface.

Beyond that you also have to “look” right for the part – which is out of your control.

As to how do you audition for our show?  --– We’ll be casting from both Vancouver and Los Angeles this year.  You would need to have an agent who gets the casting breakdowns (published by our casting directors) and have them put you up for appropriate parts…

Beyond that, and you didn't ask me this, but... 

My general advice to aspiring actors is this:   Being a professional actor is a tough gig and not for the faint of heart.  The advice I always give anyone who is  contemplating this career: If acting is the ONLY thing you can see yourself doing...  If you can’t see yourself doing ANYTHING else.  If it is 100% your passion and NOTHING else could be… Then do it!  But if you can see yourself doing anything else – then do that instead.

Basically an actor has to prepare and prepare and be ready at all times and endure tons of rejection and wait for that magical moment when you get the part.  

Good luck!

 ‪Anonymous‬ 

First, what I don’t get is why, as a historian, Weaver is not recording what has happened. I cannot imagine he wouldn’t understand the immense importance of documenting the most significant event in human history.

ANSWER:  I think you mean “Tom” as the historian.  But I agree this is a very interesting, potentially poetic idea that has just never come up in the writer’s room so far…  So, guess what – I’ll bring it up.

I like the idea of discovering the use of radio frequency energy as a weapon. However, you guys need to get an amateur radio (ham radio) guy as an advisor (talk to the ARRL). Personally, I think the use of ham radio would be a cool story element. Ham radio guys are geniuses at making things out of what might look like junk.

ANSWER:  Good idea

 Why are the survivors not looking to secure diesel vehicles? After 6 months, that gasoline is going to begin to gel and deteriorate

ANSWER:  Never thought of it.  Good idea. 

 ‪Anonymous

Can you explain why Tom made the choice to surrender at the end of episode 9?

It didn't make much sense

ANSWER:  All I can say is, we plan to successfully explain this to you in Season 2.  And I hope we do!

 ‪Anonymous‬ said...

Is the harness organic or mechanical, or a little of both?



ANSWER:  I think a little of both – Dr. Harris explains it as best as we humans can understand in the third hour.

My personal opinion is that they do have a limited sentient sense - they are alive and they want to live.

Where are all the animals? Many animals live in rural areas, so where are the cats, dogs, horses, cows, goats, ..etc?



ANSWER:  They’re around.  But practically speaking – animals and animal wranglers are an expense that we couldn’t always afford. We had a dog featured in a couple of episodes.  also, there were some goats and chickens at the Sanctuary (hours 5 and 6) – But they didn’t get on camera much.

How did the survivors survive those first few months? Did they hunker down in their homes or did they flee?

(and) If Tom taught at Cambridge, how did his family survive the initial bombing?



ANSWER:  The comic book published on-line by TNT and Dark Horse comics explain this best.

What was the news reporting and what was people doing in those days after the ships arrived but before the attack? I live in a large metro area and if an alien ship parked itself above my city I would run for the hills, literally.

ANSWER:  Some people probably did just that.  Production Designer Rob Gray worked hard on the question of how did the media report it.  In the opening scenes of the pilot it’s said that the ships appeared and just hovered over major cities for a while.  We assumed that they were silent and that people everywhere were speculating whether the intentions where hostile or not.  There are newspaper clippings, which can be seen in the b.g. of the school that show this – if you look carefully.

What percentage of people were killed in the initial bombing vs skitter attacks in the months after?



ANSWER:  Bob Rodat always says 90%

 ‪Kev 

You killed off Colonel Porter. Big mistake. The leaders like Colonel Porter are the key to the world-wide resistance.

ANSWER:  Weaver assumed he was dead – but we never saw a body… Did we?

Tyler Reno

how did you go about casting the roles?

i think Will Patton is an amazing actor… Did it take much to consider him?



ANSWER:  Because of their extensive resumes and because their work is well known, Noah, Will and Moon were all offered the parts without auditioning.  The rest of the cast came in and read for the parts.

Is there going to be any big names in the next season?..maybe special appearances?


ANSWER:  There are no specific plans at this time – but we don’t even have scripts yet so – you never know

‪Anonymous‬ said...

Maybe next season you can do a contest to give people a chance to be on Falling Skies for one or two episodes, or to be extras. It could be on fallingskies.com.

ANSWER:  TNT did this last year (see one of my first FALLING SKIES posts – “A FAN’S ADVENTURE”)

 Merri 

Mr. Beeman, love the blog, and appreciate the details into producing such powerful TV shows. My question is hopefully pretty simple, how and what did the sound folks use to make the Mech hum?

ANSWER:  Rick Steele, our sound designer, answers this questions.  He says, there are many elements that make up the mech sound – a human voice, a boat horn, the sound of the machine in tire stores (the one that wrap tires around a rim) creates the key servo sound, people beating on car hoods, and many other elements as well, all go into the mec sound.  They are mixed together on the sound stage with various amounts of reverb and overlaps to create what you hear on your TV sets! (Hopefully with surround soundJ)

 ‪Jason Bassett‬ 

Did the cast take any weapons training, or have previous experience?

ANSWER:   Yes, and motorcycle training.  They did about 8 hours each during the pilot and about the same when the series began – probably not enough – but we were jamming it in between shooting days.

 ‪Jon Cordes 

Why do we have to wait a whole year between seasons? There isn't anything good on TV on Monday nights.

ANSWER:  I know… I know…

 ‪Sue‬ 

Hubby and I just love this show!! But why do we have to wait so long for Season 2?

ANSWER:  Sorry – that’s TNT’s standard schedule

Anonymous‬ 

First I love the show. Can't wait for next season. I just wish we didn't have to wait so long. Can you give us any hints to what next season will bring?

ANSWER:  No – that would be spoiling – and even though you think you want me too – you don’t really :)

 ‪Anonymous‬ 

why is it that the aliens can not find the survivors. a few hundred people should surely be easy to spot.

 ‪ANSWER:  addressed this above – basically the aliens have killed enough humans that they can get to work on more important projects – they need kids and hunt them – but humans are a nuisance they kill as they can, but not priority #1

 ‪Eileen

Thanks for doing this, Greg!

Any chance that the Skitters will become allies to the resistance at some point? Particularly since it seems that they were also enslaved using harnesses?

ANSWER:  Interesting idea – I’ll kick it around.

 ‪Joe Duckworth

Great show Greg!

I think explaining where they are finding all of the fuel for the kerosene lamps and misc stuff they are using might help next season. Seems like they are using supplies (other than gasoline and bullets) like they have an unlimited supply.



ANSWER:  Bob Rodat explains that with 90% of humanity dead – there is actually a lot of food and fuel available.  Of course the fresh stuff all spoiled, but canned and freeze dried food is abundant.  It has to be foraged for but it’s not impossible.

Fresh clean water is probably a bigger problem – depending on where you are.

My young son loves the show too. His first question to me was about food. "Why aren't they deer hunting?"

ANSWER:  I think they are.  Maybe we’ll see something like that next year.

 ‪Peep

I have asked this on other pages, Why did the show start so far after the invasion? why not start it from the start of the invasion?

ANSWER:  This is something Mr. Spielberg and Bob Rodat specifically wanted.  Both felt that we’d seen many versions of the invasion in many movies…  this, they felt, was something different.

 ‪cjm58 

I noticed that in one of the episodes that the skitters also had the back alien thingy on them were they captured from another world and is that why they are so affectionate towards the human kids who have them?

ANSWER:  Maybe – Maybe it’s something else.  We’ll endeavor to explain next season.

‪Ponderiss

I enjoyed the character of Mike Thompson. Loved the caring devoted father Martin Roach portrayed. Please consider bring him back...somehow...it is Sci-fi, after all.

ANSWER:  I agree Martin did a great job.  But this isn’t that kind of sci-fi show, so his return is unlikely…  I do think he got one of the best and most noble deaths of the season though!

 ‪LottieLight

1. How would you advise getting into directing, it seems like such a distant dream that people struggle to make reality?



ANSWER:  I’m a big believer in “If you can dream it you can achieve it!” 

But at a certain point, though, it does involve risk.  There’s a story I take from Napoleon Hill’s classic book – “Think And Grow Rich” which says this:

“A long while ago a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which would insure his success on the battlefield.  He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own.  He loaded his soldiers on boats, sailed to his enemies country, unloaded his soldiers and equipment and then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them.  Addressing his men before the first battle he said, ‘You see the boats going up in smoke.  That means we cannot leave these shores unless we win- We win-Or we perish!’

They won.

Every person who wins in any endeavor must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.”

To do anything that seems impossible sometimes means you have to take the risk to move to a foreign city, give up your day job, face humiliation and rejection both professionally and from family and friends, etc. etc and, mostly, to – not take “no” for an answer.    My advice about getting into directing is similar to my advice about getting into acting -- only do it if you KNOW that that is what you have to do and are destined to do...  

In my own case naïveté and lack of imagination greatly helped me.  Basically I could not imagine doing anything else, I was too young and naïve to know the dream was “impossible,” And then (probably mostly) I never quit even though there were many times when quitting would have been the more logical thing to do.

2. Would you consider hiring writers from the UK to write for Falling Skies.. like me? 



ANSWER:  Sure, theoretically

3. How would a writer get into writing for something like Falling Skies?



ANSWER:  You have to be a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, and – practically speaking, you need to live in Los Angeles where the work is done.

But to get into the business you need to write a few “spec” samples.  Probably an original feature film script and one or two “spec’ examples of existing shows.  Use these to entice an agent and then the agent will help you get your toe in the door.  Sounds like a lot – but people do it every day.

4. Will you carry on with the Mason family closeness that we see though the first season?



ANSWER:  Yes

5. Will you call the new aliens 'Shon's' because I think that's a cool name?

ANSWER:  Uh… Maybe?

 ‪Kalii DeLaRosa

1) One thing that's got me really curious is Pope/Maggie's story. They seem to have some history between them; will we be seeing some more back story of those two in the next season?



ANSWER:  Yes their history is intense and I hope we do explore it more.  Their business is definitely not “finished.”

2) Now that Tom has made the drastic decision at the end of episode 9, does that mean that Hal is going to be stepping into his father's shoes again? He did a good job during the Sanctuary episodes and I'd like to see that protective side of Hal more.

ANSWER:  We’ll see… Good idea though.


3) I think Tom is the stable foundation for the 2nd mass, are we going to see it fall apart in the 2nd season? 



ANSWER:  My answer is the same as above.

 ‪jive jedi‬ said...

would it be within the realm of possibilities that the skidders could join the resistance? I mean after all, they are harness also. also did the skidders always look like skidders or did the harness change them?

ANSWER:  You are the second to suggest this.  I can’t tell too much about season two – but I will say many more questions will be answered about the skitters

 ‪Karen604 

1.Where have all of the people that were in the camp with Weaver and Tom in the initial episodes gone?

ANSWER:  The tunnels they left through lead to many places underneath the city.  Where they escaped to and where they regrouped will be answered in Season 2.


2) How were the stunts with Rick done in the last episodes? Hanging from the ceiling and jumping over the bus ect.

ANSWER:  The ceiling stunt was done with Rick (Daniyah) in a harness under his wardrobe and Uncle Scott on a blue screen and we fast-descended Daniyah.

The bus jump was done with a parkour stunt-double and Daniyah filling in the frontal shots – basically good editing!


3)Was the 'ship' that was over Boston the same one that had the fireball in it at the end or was it the smaller vehicle that was fired on returning to the mother ship? We never saw the ship over Boston leave, Did We?


ANSWER:  It was a smaller ship returning to the mother ship

 ‪Greg 

Say "Hi" to Capt. Dye. I was stationed in Okinawa when he was with AFN. My wife and I love seeing him on screen.

ANSWER:  Consider it done!

 ‪Dmsmithh 

what is the single most difficult obstacle in the making of Falling Skies?

ANSWER:  The budget is very tight and schedule is very short for what we accomplish.  

‪Dan F‬ 

will we see how they defeated the military ?

ANSWER:  I don’t think we’ll “see” it – but we may learn more.

 

 ‪Anonymous‬ said...

Hi, I was just wondering why for the last 3 episodes you apparently replaced your writers with chimps and gibbons. Just wondering...

ANSWER:  Unkind… Most unkind.

 ‪Kittyfox1963 

Hello Beeman!! First of all both my husband and I LOVE Falling Skies! I regret to say that we've never watched your other shows however you've done a really great job with this one. Would have really liked to see a little more of "how" the situation came to be - perhaps in flashbacks at some point in time. The series was just so short (length of time on the Network) I'm hooked and need more!!!! Thanks for a very interesting series. Noah and Moon are a great couple....

ANSWER:  Thanks!  I’ve addressed this issue above.  Thanks for watching and feel free to check out SMALLVILLE seasons 1-5 or HEROES season 1-3 for the rest of my recent work!

 ‪Micaela Balìce

Thank you Mr.Beeman for this opportunity.
I'm from Italy and I've really loved Falling Skies.
I'm wondering if it could be interesting to set against (or at the side) the military presence and action, a form of civil resistance, like a nonviolent resistance.

ANSWER:  Definitely a worthy and intriguing idea.  I do think that despite all that has happened there would still be people who, for spiritual or personal reasons would be pacifists.  It would be interesting to explore that.

Please give one kiss to Tom (Noah) from me ;)

ANSWER:  Okay – how about a hug and a firm handshake?

 ‪willow2142 

Loving Falling Skies but was wondering if there was ever going to be a time when you went back and showed how the aliens showed up and how 2nd Mass developed?

ANSWER: The comic does this best… Find it here:  http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies/webcomic/

Or here:

http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/1191/Falling-Skies

 ‪Anonymous‬ said...

I only want to know "How am I supposed to wait until NEXT SUMMER for the show to come back on??!!??" This does not seem fare!!

ANSWER: I know… It will be hard

 ‪Maureen‬ said...

So - what's the deal with Lourdes? Or was "In David's Royal City" a coincidence?

ANSWER:  No coincidence.  I believe writer  Melinda Hsu Taylor oversaw this and had the vision for it

 ‪adimike55 

1)So far, the civilians have been pretty much background material, except for the one loudmouth in a couple of episodes (he didn't trust sending the kids away). Can we expect a bit more from them?


ANSWER:  Maybe – but we have a lot of series regular characters to service


2) i know Noah Wyle mentioned that he picked the book TALE OF TWO CITIES because it was lighter, but know he is a history professor, I thought of something that relates back to THE TIME MACHINE (1960). In the end, Filly notices that HG Wells has taken three books back to the future with him and he asks "Which three books would you take?". While he never identifies them, it is obvious he took three books that would impact on the future. TALE OF TWO CITIES could be the same.

Were you influenced much by classic sci-fi films from the past?



ANSWER:  Good point

3)The scene at the start of Ep. 9, with the 2ndMass watching some old films was so peaceful and touching. It reminded me of some of the scenes in the series MASH when they would watch films from home. 

Do you have a favorite "small" scene that does not depend on effects or action?



ANSWER:  I thought the scene where Margret taught Anne to shoot and she said “Don’t leave home without it.” And they laughed, was very nice.  The laugh was the actor’s spontaneous impulse and it felt real to me and it bonded the characters.

 3) Will there be a release of the score? It is really effective, yet doesn't overpower the show?


ANSWER:  Don’t know – but I agree I love Noah Sorota’s score


4)Will the show be rerun during the winter to help introduce it to more of the potential audience?



ANSWER:  I think so – TNT seems to re-run it a lot.

5)You've got a great group of young actors who are very outgoing and fun. Have you thought about letting Maxim, Connor, and Daniyah does video diary log of the second season?

Thanks again for reading these.

ANSWER:  Very good idea – I’ll suggest it to TNT

 ‪luke 

How hard would it be to add another race showing up to battle along side the humans? Kind of like they have been observing the whole deal and choose to come down and lend us a hand. They could turn out be some old rival of the skitters. 
Although I am sure that it would cost a boat load to CG the new race into the story line, so I guess I am just a wishful thinker.

ANSWER:  Good idea – though we haven’t discussed that one yet.

 ‪Anonymous‬ 

Hey I was wondering when you said "a year is a long time" if you ment that it will be a year before you have anymore episodes out. I hope not because a fantastic show called Jericho did something like that and when they tried bringing it back it had been so long that it wasn't quite as interesting. I hope new episodes come out soon!

ANSWER:  Well, we’ll hope for the best.  But that’s TNTs schedule for all their shows.

 ‪Mikayla

I've never been one for Sci-Fi, but I'll watch anything with Noah Wyle so I thought I'd give Falling Skies a shot...
It's truly an incredible show!!!



1. When doing a scene with the Skitters and such, do you use some sort of stand in so the actors have something real to work with? 


ANSWER:  Not really – the director and the visual effects supervisor just describe to them where the skitters will be and what they will be doing.  Usually we also have storyboards they can see and that helps them visualize it.  If I’m directing I jump around and wave my arms where the skitter will be, to try and inspire the actors.


2. As jealous as it makes me, will you please continue the romantic storyline with Tom and Anne? 



ANSWER:  Okay

3. How old is Lourdes supposed to be? I know she was a first year med student, but she looks too young!



ANSWER:  Lourdes' age and background changed a bit (off-screen) between the pilot and the series -- one of the phenomenons of the evolving nature of series TV.  In the pilot, I believe Bob Rodat's idea was that she was a wealthy 17 year old from Mexico, going to private school in the U.S.  - but not Med School...  As the series evolved the idea that she was Pre-Med  evolved so that she could be more likely to help Anne in the clinic.  But that would make her 20 or so.  Seychelle, I believe is 19 in real life.

4. Can there please be a contest for a trip to see the show being filmed? I've always wanted to go behind the scenes at a TV show!

Thanks so much!

ANSWER:  I’ll suggest it to TNT – They did it last year at ComicCon – so maybe

 ‪Kim Kouski 

I don't have a question, but I will tell you I realllllyyyy like Falling Skies, so much that I'm using the show in my Writer's group. I see cool writing tech spread throughout the show that I have to share them with my group. But I hate that I have to wait until next summer to see what happens to Tom!!!

ANSWER:  Thanks!!!!

 ‪pipendrell said...

will season 2 have more episodes?


ANSWER:  So far no.  TNT has only ordered 10.  There’s a possibility that they could add 2.  But they show is quite expensive for them – so probably not.

 ‪Andhre Caeli

This series is of the kind one would like to know more did where in the space aliens come from? How are they physically? How many planets have been conquered? etc.

ANSWER:  I’m not sure.  I think Bob Rodat has ideas about this – but he only reveals a bit at a time to us.

One of my hopes as a viewer is to see a more real guerrilla war, learning military tactics, unity, solidarity and love (is that churches will exist, as would the Reilgion ?)...Wow! Number of issues to explore in a situation like this! Thank you.

ANSWER:  We will address many of those issues in Season 2

\\

 ‪Anonymous‬ 

i have 3 questions 

1.why did the guy try to shoot ben instead of rick it kind of confused me?



ANSWER:  I think he lumped all “Coatracks” into one group – and from his point of view he didn’t know who had done what.  He was kind of a lunkhead too.  (The character, not the actor)

2.(if you know the answer) why did they choose to end the season like they did?



ANSWER:  Yes.  But I can’t say.

3.are you excited for season 3? it sounds like its gonna be amazing.



ANSWER:  If we get past season 2 – I’ll be super excited for season 3!!!

 ‪Matt W‬ said...

Do you plan on actually filming in MA at all? There are plenty of great SAG and AFTRA actors, myself included, that would love to have the opportunity to be a part of the show.

ANSWER:  I know – and Bob Rodat is from Massachusetts.  But probably not.  It’s too expensive to go there for us.

 ‪Renan‬ said...

Hello, Let me directly ask ;D

1- Do you pretend on show character's lifes before the invasion, in flashbacks? (I think it would be very interesting, speccialy by showing pope's skills, for example).



ANSWER:  The writers do create character backgrounds from before, for sure. 

2-There is a chance of watching survivors around the world fighting against the aliens even in short scenes?



ANSWER:  Maybe – but it’s not in our immediate plans as far as I know.

3-Would be such nice to see more tricks from the humans to disarm aliens and fight against them in a equal level, wouldnt it? 



ANSWER:  Yes.  It would.

4-Will the show have more fight scenes or short scenes with a lot of amazing acting and visual/special effects ? For Example (Tom's fight against the skitter) and (the end of the episode 10 when the ship lay down and happens the dialog with the Tall Alien, Karen, Weaver) Or i could even suggest like someone acting like big ass, punching some mechs or skiters in slowmotion and stuff ? haha, would be awsome, completing the show.

ANSWER:  I’ll try do some of that.  Sounds cool, I agree.  Probably not in slow motion though.

 ‪Phildog 

Ooh, this is awesome. So your taking suggestions too eh? Allright, awesome. However, first, one thing. I, Philip Petrunak, hereby resign all creative rights towards suggestions and ideas non-exclusively in perpetuity to any and all parties wishing to claim them.

Okay, now that that is over with, here are my ideas:



1. Crossbows that shoot Mech metal bolts. Silent, but deadly. Sounds just like something Pope wold love, no?



ANSWER:  Cool – I like it!

2. Skidder Armor. I'm surprised no one has actually done this yet. They have really thick scales, so why has no one used their armor for their own armor? BTW, there is a catch. If you wear the armor right next to your own skin for two long, it fuses to your arm, and you gain skidder's strength.



ANSWER:  The original skitters in the pilot had armor – but we ended up not liking the way they looked.

I think you’re suggesting using skitter skin as armor.  Kind of gross – but could work.

3. Gay characters. No, seriously. It's great that your show is so racially and religiously inclusive. However, your show doesn't appear to have any characters that fall outside of the norms of sexuality, nor gender roles (aside from the odd female soldier). It's not like the concept of occasional has chased viewers away, just look at Jack Harkness from Torchwood.



ANSWER:  You are definitely right about that.  I’ll mention it to the writers.

 ‪Unknown 

Thanks for bringing this to us. It is a great show and has already shown a lot of potential for being even a greater show.



Question: Will they be showing contact with more resistance fighters maybe from other regions of the country/world? 



ANSWER:  Can’t reveal too much about this idea – but we have thought of it.

 ‪Anonymous

Why does Hal have so many love interests? I get it that he's a sixteen year old male but he has a harem? It's like the end of the world.

ANSWER:  Well, Drew Roy is a  good looking, strong, brave, smart and charming young man.  So, my personal opinion, and given the state of the FALLING SKIES world –he’d be a pretty desirable catch, based on natural instinct alone.  But he really wasn’t with any girls besides Karen.  He was with Karen at the beginning – and that relationship had evolved before the pilot.  He clearly pined away for her after she was taken.  Lourdes was interested in him, but he didn’t reciprocate.  Yes, there was one moment where Margret took his hand at Mike’s funeral – but I took that as her comforting him - nothing, as yet, romantic has developed between them.

‪Anonymous

Do you know already which directors your are going to work with next season? Are most of them Season 1 directors or are there going to be some "fresh" faces as well? Any chance of more of your "old" Heroes-Directos, like Adame Kane, Jeannot Szwarc or Roxann Dawson returning? Could you maybe talk a little bit about the selection process for directors in general?


ANSWER: We are building the Season 2 director slate as we speak.  There were only 5 directors in season 1, because we were block-shooting two episodes at a time.  In season 2 we will not be block shooting and so there will be more directors.  Yes, some of my old friends from HEROES and SMALLVILLE will be added to the rotation.  Some directors from Season 1 will also be back, but a couple of them won’t be available because they are pursuing different projects.

In general, when selecting directors - myself, the Dreamworks executives ant the TNT executives put forth names of people we’ve worked with and like.  If I’m really interested in someone – I call them personally and ask/beg them to hold a slot open for us.  I am fortunate to have a good reputation of protecting and supporting directors and usually find that most want to work with me.  The various agencies around town also call me and the Dreamworks team pitching suggestions of people we may not be familiar with.

If I’m not familiar with a director I will watch at least two samples of their work, and I will make numerous calls to other producers I know, for references.  If the work is good and the references are good, they’ll get on our short list.  All directors have to be cleared by Steven Spielberg as well.  When we get down to a list of 10 or 12 I’ll either speak to him directly or write up a few sentences to him of why I’m advocating for them.

There is also a scramble to match directors to our available dates.  Once we lock in our schedule our dates are set – we have to find directors that we not only like but who will work within our schedule.  This is usually a mad scramble between us and every other TV show out there – as usually every show wants the same directors – Jeannot for instance did not have any availability for Season 2, because he always books up immediately and by the time we had our schedule (which was relatively late).

‪Chris

One thing I'd like to see improved is gun handling. Everyone does a great job of keeping fingers off triggers, but muzzle discipline needs work. I'm a certified firearms instructor and I cringe when I see the business end a gun waved past someone. Watch combat footage of guys in the field. I'm sure your armorers would be happy to help.

ANSWER:  I don’t disagree and we’ll work on this.  Dale Dye gets real annoyed when we don’t get this right and our armorers tried to be very attentive.  The cast all got weapons training – but if we slip up it’s not because we weren’t trying – it’s usually because we’re working so fast and the actors are concentrating on hitting marks and memorizing dialogue.  Since it’s not second nature to them they may slip up…  I tell you what I’ll concentrate harder on this next season!

Anonymous  from Australia

how did the non CGI skitters move around? Was someone inside a costume or were they remote controlled? Thanks for your blogs, I'm always so fascinated about what happens BTS to make my favourite shows!

ANSWER:  Look at some of my earlier blogs for videoes from Todd Masters that explain exactly how the skitter was built and puppetted.

Basically, the skitter was a full-scale animatronic puppet. It took five people to operate it. One puppeteer was inside the suit and he controlled the body and the upper arms, as well as the direction the head faced. Two others had radio remote controls, which worked the various servos that operated the mouth, eyes and eyebrows and controlled the skitter’s face. Two others lay hunched on the ground or hidden behind objects on set to work the legs with rods. The puppeteer inside the skitter wore a green screen body suit so that if we ever saw his legs we could remove them digitally.

We were shooting in the summer and the guy inside the suit was buried beneath six inches of foam rubber. He was heating up quickly. Between takes, we had to stuff an air conditioner hose down the skitter's face. He could only go ten or fifteen minutes between takes – then he had to get a break. When they peeled him out of the suit between takes, sweat just poured onto the ground. He was a pretty skinny guy in the first place and I think he lost weight as we went.

Because of all this, whenever the live skitter worked - it was painfully slow working on set.

AND NOW SOME “SMALLVILLE”QUESTIONS:

‪Anonymous‬ 

Here's a Smallville question:

Which ship, if any, did you prefer, Clois, Clana, or Chlark?

ANSWER:  You know, I don’t really think that way.   As a filmmaker my job is to present the story in the best way I can as strongly as I can for the audience.  It’s important to keep my own emotional feelings about the characters (and the actors by the way) out of the way so that I can work cleanly.

I have a question for you --  I know what a “ship” is by context – but where did that phrase come from?

If I think about this question more deeply I would say this:  Clark’s relationship’s evolved as the series evolved…  In the beginning the SMALLVILLE story was all about “Clana.”  Clark and Lana were the central and most important story.    As the show evolved, as Chloe became more important and as we learned how talented Alison Mack was – “Chlark” began to evolve…  But, beginning with season 4 and certainly as the series  aged “Clois” was the order of the day – and “Clois” is the future.  

Truthfully, I enjoyed every one of these relationships for different reasons…  To pick one would be like picking a favorite among my children…

And by the way – you didn’t mention “Clex?”  Which leads us to:

‪Anonymous‬ 

First Greg, thank you so much for taking the time to answer the fans.
A Smallville question. If I'm not mistaken, you came on board in S2.
One of my favorite thing was the relationship between Clark and Lex. I've read that the homoerotic subtext between the 2 was purposefully put in there by the showrunners from the beginning. Is this true or was it all a fan creation?

ANSWER:  First off, I came on board to direct episode 3 of Season 1 and never left.  I was there for every episode from episode 3 through episode 101.

As for the other question – SMALLVILLE, at least in the early years, definitely had an erotic undercurrent.  First of all, Tom Welling had an amazing Adonis-like body – so just taking his shirt of was erotic (for all sexes.)  To be fair we stripped down a lot of young women as well.  The sexuality reflected, for me at least, the overall passionate teenage-emotional approach to the show… Meaning the show was produced (again in the early years) from the emotional  point of view of a teenager – our core audience at the time.  It was erotic, but at the same time chaste.  Everyone was a virgin.  There were STRONG feelings of love and romance – but no overt sex was ever seen on screen, or even implied.  There were many other themes at play in the series as well... Mythic, spiritual, religious and sociological.  In fact, it was (in my opinion) these various strong forces  – some of which were quite in conflict with each other - that allowed the viewers to see into the series numerous elements which resonated within their own lives and this in turn lead to it’s popularity and it’s longevity.


I always thought this was very smartly calculated by Miles and Al. 

‪‪Anonymous‬ 

Mr. Beeman,

Thank you for taking questions. I always love reading your insights and commentary. My question focuses on SMALLVILLE: What is your most vivid memory of working with each of the actors (Tom, Michael, Erica, Kristin, Allison, Cassidy, Justin, Annette, John Schneider, John Glover, etc.)?

ANSWER:  Eek – this question would take WAY too many pages to answer…  Take it from me I have VERY fond memories of all of them on the very excellent experience I had on SMALLVILLE.

‪Anonymous‬ 

Hello Mr. Beeman, Any chance at having Allison Mack (Smallville) guest starring on Falling Skies? What are the brother's ages? Thanks.

ANSWER:  There are no plans – but it’s a great idea!  If a part comes up that seems right I would definitely push for Allison.  I love her!!!

 ‪Anonymous‬ 

What did you think of the way Lana Lang's story on Smallville ended with her becoming a superhero? Did you think it took away from Clark's story?

ANSWER:  That was after my time and I never saw those episodes.  The truth is I followed SMALLVILE for a year after I left (Season 6)  Then I didn’t watch.  Not because I didn’t still love it – I just got busy.

 ‪Anonymous‬ from Australia

Hi Greg, thank you so much for offering to answer questions! We have not finished Falling Skies yet in Australia, we are up to Ep 8 ATM, so I can't wait to see how it ends! I'm a die hard Smallville fan (LOVED the pic of you in the S7 puffy jacket!) so I was wondering how different was it for you as a director to direct FS vs Smallville? FS seems grittier and had more outdoor scenes. 

ANSWER:  Good question.  It is a very different experience.  Partly for reasons I mentioned earlier.  SMALLVILLE was very stylized and specific, both in how we shot it, how we lit it and the color/production design.  I used to tell the Directors of Photography – “It’s like a jar of jellybeans.”  


The performance style was also heightened.  The emotions were (at least in the beginning) very teen-age… And by that I mean, they were very strongly felt – strong angst, strong love, strong anger, etc.  The direction was very comic-booky with very dramatic low angles and high angles and big, big close-ups to feature the gorgeous cast.

Also, in editing SMALLVILLE was full of tricks, flash-frames, slow motion, flashbacks everything and anything was fair game stylistically, as long as it was cool!

FALLING SKIES, in contrast, is very real-time and almost documentary.  We shoot every shot (almost) hand-held and try to minimize the amount of shots and coverage.  We also try not to have matching sizes and traditional, methodical cutting patterns (master to medium to closeup, etc.)  In fact one of Mr. Spielberg’s caveats to me was “No TV closeups.”  The style, in general is meant to feel more immediate and less designed.

Also, the emotions are more adult and restrained.  It’s less about strong feelings being shown and more about strong feelings being kept inside.

The one similarity, which I try to bring to every show – is blocking to camera and camera movement.  I always love when the actors move and restage themselves in a scene and when the camera moves to capture them.  SMALLVILLE however was more fluid, stedicams and crane shots – FALING SKIES is handheld and messy and documentary style.

I also love long takes and did them on SMALLVILLE (in the first five years when I was there) and I do them and encourage the other directors to do them on this show.

There is one scene I directed  in FALLING SKIES that is more similar to SMALLVILLE than the others…  It is the scene in hour 3 where Hal wakes up and sees Karen being dragged away and then the skitter and mech shoot the kids.

AND ONE LONELY “HEROES” QUESTION:

‪arzhang said...

so is"heroes" coming back or not?i'm done waiting:|

ANSWER:  No.  Sorry.  Stop waiting.