RYU: Good evening! Huzzah, at long last, interview time.

ALEX: Hey Ryu.

RYU: So, to start with, what is writing Horizon like?

ALEX: Hmm. What is writing Horizon like? It's a lot of work, and a lot of fun. We constantly rewrite episodes and/or outlines, and an episode is never really completely done until it's finally released.

It's also a very collaborative effort. Very often the fact that only one name will be on an episode's front page doesn't mean that person was the only writer involved with the story development. In short: everything functions just the way it does on a writing staff for a television show. Starting with story meetings and going all the way through the writing and revisions of episodes.

RYU: Do you relate it to things in your own life, or does the way you write any particular character reflect someone or something you know?

ALEX: Nothing in the series has anything to do with my own life actually. And neither of the characters are based on people I know. Much rather each of the characters have by now kind of developed their own life in a way, and the way a certain character is written is based on that.

But I will say sometimes you might approach a certain scene, drawing from personal experiences. But that's just speaking in general. I've never based any characters on myself or on any other person that I know.

RYU: You mentioned that there's a lot of rewriting and editting involved in an episode, but how do you approach writing an episode, and how many different stages will it go through before release?

ALEX: At the beginning all of us will just get together to talk about possible episode ideas. Someone will pitch an idea, and once it gets approved we will then break the story together. That means the whole writing staff will be talking about the story, and going through it beat for beat. We'll make sure to work out the structure, meaning we'll know what happens in the teaser and in each of the acts.

Once the story is broken, the writer of the episode will then go and write an outline. Our outlines can be quite detailed at times, and usually are up to 15 pages long. The outline is basically a blue print for the script, and everyone will get a clear idea of the episode before it's even written. And even the outlines are often rewritten until we have a final draft. After that, the writer of the episode will then go and write the first draft. Once that is turned in, everyone on the writing staff will then read it and give notes on it. And after that, the scripts will start going through the individual revised drafts.

Some episodes will change more than others, so it's impossible to say how many stages they'll generally go through. But it is always a lot of work, and we'll never just settle for something if we think it's just "okay". A great example is the mid season three parter, which was originally a mid season two parter. Episode 2.12 was written as the conclusion to 2.11, but it just wasn't really as good as it could have been. So instead of moving on, we went back and pretty much started from scratch, and wrote a whole new 2.12 which became "Path of Revelation, Part One". To a large degree scenes from the original versions were used, and mainly the last two acts changed. But we definitely work hard to make every episode as good as in any way possible. And it's challenging, since all of us also have other things that require our attention. But, somehow we've managed to pull off 24 episodes this season.

RYU: Also, what inspired you to start writing Horizon, and for that matter, what inspired you to write to begin with?

ALEX: Honestly, I just figured it would be fun to come up with my own idea for a Stargate spin off. Originally I had never inteded to actually release it, and for that matter I didn't even think it would be possible to a degree to which it is out there now. Back when I first started I had no internet access.

And what inspired me to write to begin with? That's a good question. I guess I just like making up stories. lol

I've always wanted to be involved with the film making process in general. And about nine or ten years ago, I started writing some of my own ideas. At first more or less just for fun, not really taking it all too serious. I actually never considered myself as a writer until much later. It just all came with the time, and now I'm at a point where I've actually realized... "Yeah, I'm a writer" lol

RYU: Is there any particular reason that you chose to do 24 episodes per season?

ALEX: That was just because we felt that we'd be able to pull that off. With the television seasons for sci-fi shows usually now being down to 20 episodes, we figured that it would be nice if our season would run a little longer to kind of balance that out.

We'd like to keep that up for Season Three. But for it to work we'll be needing a lot more writers, which is why we'll be looking for more freelance writers next season as we had this time around. Because especially toward the end of the season, the schedules have gotten very tight. So it's a challenge, but a fun challenge.

RYU: How much of an influence would you say other shows have on you?

ALEX: I think everyone who writes (or just pursuits some kind of creative endeavour in general) is influenced by the things they like. Either conciously or subconciously.

I actually don't watch a whole lot of television. Not that I don't like it; the contrary is the case, I think there are a lot of great shows out there. But I honestly just don't have the time to follow too many shows on a regular basis. I plan to catch up with a lot of them on DVD one of these days. Most likely when I'll be paid as a writer/produer and can afford to buy tons and tons of DVD sets. lol

So the shows I watch regularly are SG-1, SGA, Battlestar Galactica, 24 and I try to keep up with Boston Legal.

I'd say that 24 has definitely an influence on me when it comes to trying to keep storylines surprising, unique and unpredictable. So, without actually being inspired by particular characters/storylines etc, it's a general influence to make the series unique.

RYU: How were you able to craft such a large-scale universe for Horizon to take place in, so that it’s still Stargate but remains extremely unique?

ALEX: That's another good question. Because that's always been a fine line to walk. We try to keep Horizon unique and different, while at the same time staying true to Stargate. So far, I think, we've managed to pull that off well. The series in a way has its own style, but in many ways you can clearly tell it's very obviously still Stargate.

So while always trying to do new things that haven't been done before, we're always very careful to not move too far away from what makes Stargate Stargate.

RYU: Pretty soon we're going to be getting into some questions about Season 2 and 3, but for now, I have a few more general ones:

How long do you anticipate you’ll be writing Horizon? Is this really a long-term, no-end-in-sight project for you?

ALEX: It definitely is a long-term project. Just like on any television series, here we're also approaching it season by season. But I'd say the minimum length for what I'd consider a successful run would be five seasons. We've discussed plans for where to take certain things in the long run. Although things usually tend to change along the way, there is a general idea. And five seasons would be an ideal time frame for doing all of those things.

However, that's not to say it couldn't go beyond five seasons. I'd love to have it go for seven seasons, but like I said, we're taking it on season by season.

RYU: How is it that you manage to write so many episodes, non-stop, but still give us high quality and excellent stories?

ALEX: It definitely is a non-stop kind of thing, this season more than ever. lol

I think it's just a matter of dedication and devotion. During the first half of Season Two (and during the entire first season) it was easier actually, since I hadn't been working a full time job. So I had a lot of time to be working on various episodes. Now I work thirty-eight and a half hours a week, but we've still kept things going.

In many ways it's like having two jobs. Hardly a day goes by where I'm not working on something related in some way to Horizon; be it writing an episode or working on rewrites. The fact that I love doing that makes it much easier of course. It's just become a permanent part of my life actually, and it's no secret to people I know. That and the fact that I'm planning to actually get paid as a writer/producer in the hopefully not too distant future.

So to answer the question of how I'm able to do this non-stop; I guess I just keep it going, invest a certain amount of time into it, and make sure to get the work done. But again, it really doesn't feel like work to me, so that makes it easier.

As to the quality of the stories, people will always have their own oppinions. But I must say for the large part, I'm very happy and satisfied with what we've done this season.

RYU: I don't think you're alone in that sentiment. ;) This is a question I've been wondering for quite some while - how thoroughly researched is the science used in episodes of Horizon?

ALEX: It is quite thoroughly researched actually. Whenever there's something science specific, we'll make sure to do the proper research. Fortunately with search engines like Google that's actually quite easy to do these days. You can really find pretty much anything out there.

A good example is "Connection", which turned out quite technical in some ways. Everything in that episode that refers to say a neutron star is completely based on scientific facts.

In general, like to do research for things related to something I'm writing just to make it more authentic. While working on "The Cold and Distant Stars" I actually looked up various articles about amnesia.

And on a more personal level, I'm quite interested in science - mainly astrophysics - myself. That's something that's fascinated me for some time.

RYU: And here's a question that I think has been on everyone's mind: Will there ever be a cross-over between Destiny and Horizon, seeing as they do take place in the same ‘universe?’

ALEX: While there are no plans for that at the moment, I wouldn't rule that out for the future. It would depend on whether or not the right story would come along, and if both sides would be interested.

RYU: Do you have anything humorous, or, extraordinarily out of the ordinary planned for the 50th episode (episode 3.04), or beyond, perhaps?

ALEX: It's funny you should mention that. We've actually briefly considered doing something out of the ordinary for the 50th episode. There are no plans for that just yet, though.

It's probably more likely that we'll save doing something special for once we reach the 100th episode. It's only 57 more episodes away. ;)

RYU: How should we expect the Horizon team to cope with the loss of Lenori? Will it have a resounding effect throughout the remainder of the season, and can we expect to see Lenori come out of this unscathed by this arc’s end?

ALEX: The loss of Lenori will definitely be felt throughout 2.22, "In Times of Despair" and throughout the remainder of the season.

As to how exactly this all will end for Lenori and in general... I think ANYTHING could happen, and that's really the feeling we're trying to convey.

RYU: When Loral said that the invasion of the Milky Way was already beginning, what exactly did she mean by that? Can we expect this to be explored in an upcoming episode, such as “Preemptive Strike?”

ALEX: For the answer to this one, you'll have to check out "Preemptive Strike". In think in that episode it will become very clear what she was talking about. ;)

RYU: So now that all of Horizon-3 has been killed off, what are your plans to go in that direction farther down the line? Will we get to know the new Horizon-3 as well as we did the old one, or more? I think it’s nice to have strong, well-developed supporting characters, considering how often we see them.

ALEX: Strong, well-developed recurring characters are definitely very important. I think one of the strengths of our show is that it has a great deal of recurring characters, in addition to a pretty large main cast. We'll be seeing a lot of character moments in "In Times of Despair" actually.

As to the new Horizon-3, I'm sure we'll be getting a look at it at some point. But what will most likely happen in Season Three is that we'll be focusing more on Horizon-2, which is the team that has a Vorian commanding officer.

RYU: I’ve heard rumors that you’re considering a 90-minute season finale. Are these rumors are true, and if so, what exactly is it that prompted this to happen?

ALEX: Yeah, at this point it's pretty safe to say that the season finale will be running longer than a regular episode. The reason is quite simply there's just too much going on to fit it all into one regular length episode. So we found ourselves with the option of either dropping some of the storylines, or to just go for a 90 minute season finale. And I think the second option is what everyone would definitely prefer.

With television shows having had special length episodes (Battlestar Galactica even had a 90 minute season finale themselves), it's something that would also be possible on television these days.

By making it a 90 minute episode, we'll be able to deal with everything that needs to be addressed in the episode. And it should make, hopefully, for a memorable and satisfactory conclusion to the season.

RYU: What’s the general direction you anticipate season 3 will take? Will Horizon become progressively darker, lighter, twistier, or any other comparative adjective you can think of off the top of your head?

ALEX: Without giving too much away, there'll be a couple of major overal story arcs we've discussed so far, that will going through the season. And those arcs will be once more, I think, unique and different from things that have been done before. At the same time, we can expect some more old fashioned Stargate adventure episodes as well. Perhaps more than in the past. It's always challenging to balance between stand alone episodes and arc episodes, and with having a pretty large cast, we always have to make sure that each of the characters will be getting their time in the spot light at one point or another. I think we've been doing pretty good with that so far, and we'll definitely continue doing that in Season Three.

I can't really think of any specific comparative adjective at the moment. But twistier sounds good to me. I'm okay with that. ;)

RYU: Funny you mention the standalone/arc balance, I have a question about that for you later on.

How can we expect Christine to react to Lenori’s disappearance? (Yes, I should have asked this question earlier, but it only just occurred to me.)

ALEX: All I can say is, the relationship between Christine and Lenori will be apparent when we see her reaction to his disappearance.

RYU: I remember, much earlier on, hearing about a potential season 2 story that had Grant in a virtual reality. What happened to that one? Was it dropped, or shelved?

ALEX: Yup. That was "The Game", an episode that Joe Hodkiss had pitched. And about halfway through the season, we were going to do that episode. Joe had become temporarily unavailable due to other things, and I actually started writing an outline for it.

But as strange as it sounds, at that point in the season it just didn't feel right to do that type of episode. Not that the story wasn't working. In fact, I'd still like to go back and do it one day perhaps. But it was more of a feeling like this isn't the right episode for Grant at this time. Much rather we wanted to do something that would focus more on Grant in a situation where he'd have to depend on his survival skills -- in a way see more of the action hero side of him. So "The Game" did get shelved in favor of "The Adversary".

But an episode having been shelved doesn't mean we won't be seeing it at some point in the future perhaps. It's a fun concept, and like I said, maybe one day we'll still see it come to life. I still have a halfway finished outline for it.

RYU: “In Times of Dispair” promises to afford us some knowledge about Vorian holidays, and as of now, we know very little about Vorian culture save for a bit about their architecture and governing. What sort of holidays do they have, or do expect they would have? In short, what’s Vorian religion like, and are their holidays based in their religion or otherwise?

ALEX: One thing we want to do in the future is explore Vorian culture some more. With regard to other holidays, I'd rather save that for potential future episodes.

But interesting that you should mention Vorian religion, because that's something that we will be exploring at great lengths in Season Three. We only know very little about it so far. We know those Vorians who are religious believe in the "Originators", who might in fact be the Ancients. There's never been any proof for that, but it's what would seem like a reasonable possibility.

And the basics of the Kih'Andari is that they follow a different religious and philosophical belief. So we'll be learning what exactly those differences are, and what exactly it is the Kih'Andari believe in. Something that hasn't been addressed so far.

RYU: Were there any episodes that had been shelved from season 1 that would up in season 2, or that you intend to do in season 3?

ALEX: The only episode that was originally a Season One concept and that ended up in Season Two was "Night Terrors". But the episode evolved quite a bit from the original pitch in that it got considerably darker.

RYU: How many regular writers do you have at the moment, and how many have you, or you intend, to hire for season 3?

ALEX: Right now we only have about three. But pretty much everyone except for me is already done with major writing this season. I'll just have to finish the finale, and I'll be done as well. Of course, then we'll already be working on Season Three.

Ideally we should have a staff of seven or eight writers for Season Three. I've learned over the course of the past two seasons that it's very hard to find regular writers who will be staying around for a longer time period. We've had a lot of people coming and going, and to a certain degree I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of people will end up being surprised by the amount of work and time that goes into each and every episode. Not that they didn't enjoy it, but it does take up a certain amount of time.

But we've also had more permanent writers this season as we've had last season. So I'm hopeful we'll be able to continue with that, and eventually we'd all like to get to a point where we have a regular full time staff over a longer period of time. We're working on it, and I'm sure we'll be getting there eventually. ;)

RYU: Will we be seeing more one-off exploratory missions in Season 3? Perhaps even the aforementioned “The Game?” This season we had only a few, “Providence,” “Valiant,” “Night Terrors,” and “Amazing Grace” (which is by far one of my favorite episodes of Horizon). I’m under the impression that since you’re looking into having more freelance writers, we can expect episodes like those, but that’s of course only an assumption.

ALEX: We'll be seeing more traditional Stargate stories in Season Three. It's something we had actually also intended for Season Two, but in the end there had been a lot of arc episodes as well -- which, I think, is a good thing. But since old fashioned "go through the gate, get into trouble" episodes are fun as well, we'll be seeing more of those too.

RYU: Well, we’ve talked quite a bit about Horizon, and I’m interested to know what you think about the other Stargate virtual series, considering that you rarely venture out of the Horizon forum. Do you read Destiny or Genesis?

ALEX: I'm afraid I have to say I haven't had the chance to read any of the other virtual series on a regular basis. I've read parts of some of them, but I just haven't gotten the time to follow any of them weekly so far.

But it's something I'm planning and looking forward to catching up with.

RYU: So, what was your response when you were approached with the possibility of having Destiny take place in the Horizon universe?

ALEX: I thought it was a great idea, and it was quite an honor.

I can't remember how exactly this all actually came together. But Geoff and I would (and still do) talk regularly on MSN, and eventually we started talking about having both series take place in the same universe. And that's what of course ended up happening.

RYU: Alex, this has been an excellent interview, and thank you for being so patient. For now, however, I think we’re out of time, but I look forward to perhaps doing this again at some point down the road!

ALEX: Sure. Any time. It's been my pleasure. :)

I look forward to talking to you again soon.

RYU: As do I. Good night!