The more I read about him the more I like this guy
By Don Lipper
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 11:28 am ET
22 November 2000
Gordon Michael Woolvett plays Seamus Harper, the Andromeda Ascendant’s resident fix-it man. SPACE.com’s Don Lipper talks to the Canadian actor about getting in touch with his inner geek, using the Web to get a better contract, building hovercrafts for fun and fixing spaceships for profit.
SPACE.com: What do you think of the viewer comments about the show that you’ve been seeing on the ‘net?
GMW: I don’t read reviews, I just measure them. The more words, the better. That’s my motto. I check out some of the reviews on the web. For fun, I design websites. I am computer geek, I’m a nerd.
Here is something you’ll find funny. When I negotiated my contact for Andromeda with Tribune Entertainment, [I got a better deal because of the Internet]. [Normally] you negotiate for a certain number of seasons. During the negotiation, the whole time [my agent and I] thought [we were negotiating for a guarantee of only one season].
Then I happened to stumble across a story online and found out the show had been bought for two seasons. Not that Tribune or anybody withheld information. It’s not their obligation to tell us how long it [was] sold for, and [that it was] 99 percent guaranteed because it has been pre-sold.
So then I started to go to the web to find out anything I needed to know about the actual production of the show, like when the production was starting to shoot. I found out the names of episodes from there before I got them from the show. I was getting all this inside information from outside the company, it was very funny. [Netizens] are so in the know and up to speed. It’s very impressive, it’s warms the heart to see so many great people come together so quick.
And, I will say this too, I like bad reviews. The thing about the bad reviews is they are usually longer than the good ones. And, there is no such thing as bad publicity, if people are talking [about the show]. I just read one [of Rob Trevino’s reviews] today. He so creatively ripped apart the episode, that it makes my day. He said something like, "Double Helix was my favorite episode, which for me is like saying I tried 75 different types of poison and this one didn’t make my stomach bleed." Something like that, I think that’s so funny. He’s very creative. So I don’t even mind those.
SPACE.com: How have you been treated in the reviews?
GMW: It’s funny, some of the reviewers that are disliking the show are liking my character. And other reviewers that like the show, hate Harper. They think he’s annoying. I noticed that both of them are starting to come around. Only the fans and the writers really understand the characters because you have to watch a show from week to week to start to really get into it.
SPACE.com: On every show, its first season is a shakedown cruise. Are you looking at early episodes and wincing and saying to yourself, "Now I get it"?
GMW: You know, I am and I’m not. Gene Roddenberry was ingenious in his work and will always live on. [Co-executive producer and writer] Robert [Hewitt Wolfe] took that and ran with it and created and expanded this universe we are in with a show bible that was so good.
From the get-go the cast and the producers all had a really good idea of what we needed to do and how to do it right from the beginning. We just had to work out the bugs technically. You can see throughout the first five or six or seven episodes: the command deck undergoes complete color changes, and then [the actors undergo] costume changes. But, we kind of all jumped in. It also works so well because in the first episode we all meet each other, or we all meet Dylan anyway, so life reflecting fiction kind of helped a little bit
We all had a pretty good grasp from the beginning and I think that’s one of the reasons why that is strong. Obviously Kevin Sorbo and Gene Roddenberry, those two names are going to get half the world out into the syndication market to see it. But beyond that, I think the reason they are staying is because everybody involved is on a clear path, the focus is there. It’s not ten different ideas for one project.
SPACE.com: On the '60s TV show Mission Impossible, Greg Morris, who played Barney the gadget guy, said that in real life he couldn’t turn on a light switch. He said he was completely technically inept and thought it was hysterical that they had him in technical roles. That being said, you mentioned you are a geek. Just how geeky are you?
GMW: How geeky am I? I am so geeky that before I got this part I was building a hovercraft. I downloaded the schematics off the Internet. The engine was really small. It would go 1 mph on water and 15 mph on ground. I was going to take it out to the desert. You have to make a skirt for it, and build the whole darn thing and then send away for the motor. I was just beginning to get all the supplies when I got this [part], so I had to shelve that idea.
Also, when I’m not working I spend a lot time on the computer. I also write sci-fi on the side for fun. I’ve written a few spec scripts and stuff like that. I’m totally, totally entrenched in that whole world.
SPACE.com: You design websites?
GMW: Yeah, I designed a few. It was a real estate website that I’m particularly proud of, http://www.thinktom.com, for a friend of mine who’s here in Vancouver. I did that over a couple of afternoons. I used a lot of Flash and graphics. I think the Internet should be fun. A lot of websites are really lame the way they deliver the information. This sort of, click, change page, click, change page, click, change page.
But I’m not a complete geek, I do sports as well. I kiteboard, which is a brand new sport.
SPACE.com: So do you understand how the engines [on the Andromeda] work?
GMW: I get angry if I’m handed a stupid false scenario. For me, to have to make sense, I just can’t be sticking a screwdriver into the thing. I’ve got to be figuring out, what am I doing here, am I rewiring this, am I bypassing it, am I replacing a chip, why would I be here fixing this? So, they give me toys and I play with them in such a way that it actually makes sense to me.
This show is not heavy on the science, [but] Robert does have a science. Like for instance, right now there’s an episode where we are trapped between two galactic core super black holes. Now some people might say, "What’s a galactic core super black hole, and how can you be trapped between two of them, that’s ridiculous". Robert does have a way of explaining how that can be. However, he just doesn’t go into the full-on explanation of it, because he feels it’s not necessary. If people want to challenge him on it, he’ll explain it later in person at the conventions, and you’ll see he does have an answer for it.
What’s important [about that scenario] is we are trapped, and we gotta get out. And by lightening up on the science content, it leaves more room for adventure, which I think is good for all of us.
But me, I get all antsy if I can’t make sense of what I’m doing. I like technobabble so that, I just get to race through it all. This [is an] ongoing challenge. I say it faster and get through it and they say, "Okay we’ll give you a bigger one." They are waiting for me to fall I think.
SPACE.com: A few months ago, I was speaking to Robert and he told me about this technobabble two pager that he gave you and you went right through it.
GMW: That’s in "Angel Dark, Demon Bright" actually.
Yeah, it was a long line and what was killer about it was it was me, as Harper, documenting something that I’m doing. So, it was originally me speaking into a camera which means that the camera would never cut. So it’s not just a two-pager, it’s a two-pager that has to be done in one take without any cuts.
SPACE.com: Oh, man. Robert doesn’t like you, I guess.
GMW: Guess not. So we did end up covering it from a number of different angles. One moment we are inside the camera, one moment we are outside the camera. I guess I had a friend in [episode director] Allan Eastman that day.
SPACE.com: So you’ve figured out how to make the exposition entertaining?
GMW: Yeah in Harper 2.0, Rommie and Harper are talking, but you want to watch what we are doing with our hands. Pay more attention to the business between Rommie and Harper as opposed to what we are saying because you’ll miss it if you don’t pay close attention.
SPACE.com: Is Harper going to get any help?
GMW: What kind of help?
SPACE.com: Well, deep therapy; or someone to hand him a screwdriver?
GMW: I see. Deep therapy would be prudent, but in terms of somebody to hand him a screwdriver, no I don't think so. I think the more I have to complain about, the better it is for the character.
SPACE.com: You said you write science fiction. Have you pitched any stories?
GMW: When we negotiated, one of the things I got put into my contract was that they’ll look at some of my scripts for consideration for second season. That doesn’t mean they have to like them. The thing is you plan that ahead of time, and once you get on a series, you’re working all day. When you have your days off, it’s hard to sit down at the computer and actually start writing about it. Because you want to distance yourself and maybe go hit the ocean or build a hovercraft or something.
SPACE.com: And for people who don’t know anything about Harper, how would you describe him?
GMW: Oh, God. How would I describe Harper? I wish you’d asked me this like five months [ago], because [I’ve gotten] so close to the character. It’s like your asking somebody to explain themselves. Harper is like that annoying brother that always has a wisecrack and you think the jokes are really bad, but you just can’t help but laugh anyway, because he just has a way of pulling them off. That’s what I’m going for anyway. By being such a goofball, he endears himself.
By Don Lipper
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 11:28 am ET
22 November 2000
Gordon Michael Woolvett plays Seamus Harper, the Andromeda Ascendant’s resident fix-it man. SPACE.com’s Don Lipper talks to the Canadian actor about getting in touch with his inner geek, using the Web to get a better contract, building hovercrafts for fun and fixing spaceships for profit.
SPACE.com: What do you think of the viewer comments about the show that you’ve been seeing on the ‘net?
GMW: I don’t read reviews, I just measure them. The more words, the better. That’s my motto. I check out some of the reviews on the web. For fun, I design websites. I am computer geek, I’m a nerd.
Here is something you’ll find funny. When I negotiated my contact for Andromeda with Tribune Entertainment, [I got a better deal because of the Internet]. [Normally] you negotiate for a certain number of seasons. During the negotiation, the whole time [my agent and I] thought [we were negotiating for a guarantee of only one season].
Then I happened to stumble across a story online and found out the show had been bought for two seasons. Not that Tribune or anybody withheld information. It’s not their obligation to tell us how long it [was] sold for, and [that it was] 99 percent guaranteed because it has been pre-sold.
So then I started to go to the web to find out anything I needed to know about the actual production of the show, like when the production was starting to shoot. I found out the names of episodes from there before I got them from the show. I was getting all this inside information from outside the company, it was very funny. [Netizens] are so in the know and up to speed. It’s very impressive, it’s warms the heart to see so many great people come together so quick.
And, I will say this too, I like bad reviews. The thing about the bad reviews is they are usually longer than the good ones. And, there is no such thing as bad publicity, if people are talking [about the show]. I just read one [of Rob Trevino’s reviews] today. He so creatively ripped apart the episode, that it makes my day. He said something like, "Double Helix was my favorite episode, which for me is like saying I tried 75 different types of poison and this one didn’t make my stomach bleed." Something like that, I think that’s so funny. He’s very creative. So I don’t even mind those.
SPACE.com: How have you been treated in the reviews?
GMW: It’s funny, some of the reviewers that are disliking the show are liking my character. And other reviewers that like the show, hate Harper. They think he’s annoying. I noticed that both of them are starting to come around. Only the fans and the writers really understand the characters because you have to watch a show from week to week to start to really get into it.
SPACE.com: On every show, its first season is a shakedown cruise. Are you looking at early episodes and wincing and saying to yourself, "Now I get it"?
GMW: You know, I am and I’m not. Gene Roddenberry was ingenious in his work and will always live on. [Co-executive producer and writer] Robert [Hewitt Wolfe] took that and ran with it and created and expanded this universe we are in with a show bible that was so good.
From the get-go the cast and the producers all had a really good idea of what we needed to do and how to do it right from the beginning. We just had to work out the bugs technically. You can see throughout the first five or six or seven episodes: the command deck undergoes complete color changes, and then [the actors undergo] costume changes. But, we kind of all jumped in. It also works so well because in the first episode we all meet each other, or we all meet Dylan anyway, so life reflecting fiction kind of helped a little bit
We all had a pretty good grasp from the beginning and I think that’s one of the reasons why that is strong. Obviously Kevin Sorbo and Gene Roddenberry, those two names are going to get half the world out into the syndication market to see it. But beyond that, I think the reason they are staying is because everybody involved is on a clear path, the focus is there. It’s not ten different ideas for one project.
SPACE.com: On the '60s TV show Mission Impossible, Greg Morris, who played Barney the gadget guy, said that in real life he couldn’t turn on a light switch. He said he was completely technically inept and thought it was hysterical that they had him in technical roles. That being said, you mentioned you are a geek. Just how geeky are you?
GMW: How geeky am I? I am so geeky that before I got this part I was building a hovercraft. I downloaded the schematics off the Internet. The engine was really small. It would go 1 mph on water and 15 mph on ground. I was going to take it out to the desert. You have to make a skirt for it, and build the whole darn thing and then send away for the motor. I was just beginning to get all the supplies when I got this [part], so I had to shelve that idea.
Also, when I’m not working I spend a lot time on the computer. I also write sci-fi on the side for fun. I’ve written a few spec scripts and stuff like that. I’m totally, totally entrenched in that whole world.
SPACE.com: You design websites?
GMW: Yeah, I designed a few. It was a real estate website that I’m particularly proud of, http://www.thinktom.com, for a friend of mine who’s here in Vancouver. I did that over a couple of afternoons. I used a lot of Flash and graphics. I think the Internet should be fun. A lot of websites are really lame the way they deliver the information. This sort of, click, change page, click, change page, click, change page.
But I’m not a complete geek, I do sports as well. I kiteboard, which is a brand new sport.
SPACE.com: So do you understand how the engines [on the Andromeda] work?
GMW: I get angry if I’m handed a stupid false scenario. For me, to have to make sense, I just can’t be sticking a screwdriver into the thing. I’ve got to be figuring out, what am I doing here, am I rewiring this, am I bypassing it, am I replacing a chip, why would I be here fixing this? So, they give me toys and I play with them in such a way that it actually makes sense to me.
This show is not heavy on the science, [but] Robert does have a science. Like for instance, right now there’s an episode where we are trapped between two galactic core super black holes. Now some people might say, "What’s a galactic core super black hole, and how can you be trapped between two of them, that’s ridiculous". Robert does have a way of explaining how that can be. However, he just doesn’t go into the full-on explanation of it, because he feels it’s not necessary. If people want to challenge him on it, he’ll explain it later in person at the conventions, and you’ll see he does have an answer for it.
What’s important [about that scenario] is we are trapped, and we gotta get out. And by lightening up on the science content, it leaves more room for adventure, which I think is good for all of us.
But me, I get all antsy if I can’t make sense of what I’m doing. I like technobabble so that, I just get to race through it all. This [is an] ongoing challenge. I say it faster and get through it and they say, "Okay we’ll give you a bigger one." They are waiting for me to fall I think.
SPACE.com: A few months ago, I was speaking to Robert and he told me about this technobabble two pager that he gave you and you went right through it.
GMW: That’s in "Angel Dark, Demon Bright" actually.
Yeah, it was a long line and what was killer about it was it was me, as Harper, documenting something that I’m doing. So, it was originally me speaking into a camera which means that the camera would never cut. So it’s not just a two-pager, it’s a two-pager that has to be done in one take without any cuts.
SPACE.com: Oh, man. Robert doesn’t like you, I guess.
GMW: Guess not. So we did end up covering it from a number of different angles. One moment we are inside the camera, one moment we are outside the camera. I guess I had a friend in [episode director] Allan Eastman that day.
SPACE.com: So you’ve figured out how to make the exposition entertaining?
GMW: Yeah in Harper 2.0, Rommie and Harper are talking, but you want to watch what we are doing with our hands. Pay more attention to the business between Rommie and Harper as opposed to what we are saying because you’ll miss it if you don’t pay close attention.
SPACE.com: Is Harper going to get any help?
GMW: What kind of help?
SPACE.com: Well, deep therapy; or someone to hand him a screwdriver?
GMW: I see. Deep therapy would be prudent, but in terms of somebody to hand him a screwdriver, no I don't think so. I think the more I have to complain about, the better it is for the character.
SPACE.com: You said you write science fiction. Have you pitched any stories?
GMW: When we negotiated, one of the things I got put into my contract was that they’ll look at some of my scripts for consideration for second season. That doesn’t mean they have to like them. The thing is you plan that ahead of time, and once you get on a series, you’re working all day. When you have your days off, it’s hard to sit down at the computer and actually start writing about it. Because you want to distance yourself and maybe go hit the ocean or build a hovercraft or something.
SPACE.com: And for people who don’t know anything about Harper, how would you describe him?
GMW: Oh, God. How would I describe Harper? I wish you’d asked me this like five months [ago], because [I’ve gotten] so close to the character. It’s like your asking somebody to explain themselves. Harper is like that annoying brother that always has a wisecrack and you think the jokes are really bad, but you just can’t help but laugh anyway, because he just has a way of pulling them off. That’s what I’m going for anyway. By being such a goofball, he endears himself.
