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Chat with Pat Cadigan | |||
Pat Cadigan
April
2, 1998
Moderator: If you have a question for Pat Cadigan, send
a private message to Moderator with your question.
Sydney: oopps...am I getting ahead of myself? sorry
Moderator: We are now in Moderated mode.
Moderator: Pat, are you able to speak?
PatCadigan: Let's see...is this thing on?
PatCadigan: Yeah, I'm in gear.:)
Moderator: Great! Would you like to introduce yourself to the crowd?
PatCadigan: Hello, Crowd. :) My name, as it says there, is Pat Cadigan...
PatCadigan: And you're probably wondering why I've called you all here...:)
PatCadigan: With all the excitement about the new Lost In Space movie...
PatCadigan: The powers that be figured y'all would like to read about how the movie was made...
PatCadigan: So I lucked out and got the assignment to do that.:)
PatCadigan: I'm primarily a fiction writer, however, with three previous novels, and a fourth coming out in October.
Moderator: OK, first question...
Moderator: <Buc> to <Moderator>: Is Pat living overseas now or still in the states?
PatCadigan: Well, whether I'm overseas or not depends on where you're asking the question from...:)
PatCadigan: But yes, I live in London, in the UK now.
Moderator: <fatcat> to <Moderator>: how many of the original lost in space cast is/are involved in this movie?
PatCadigan: I believe there are four or five...
PatCadigan: Maureen Lockhart, Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright, and Mark Goddard.
PatCadigan: Yeah, that's the list.
Moderator: <ussmn> to <Moderator>: pat, what does the new robot look like?
PatCadigan: Oh, Dick Tufeld, if you count the robot's voice. So that's five.:)
PatCadigan: That should be robots, plural.:)
PatCadigan: There are two--one of them the robot that begins the journey with them....
PatCadigan: This is an enormous hulk of a thing...
PatCadigan: It took four performers from the Henson Creature Shop to work it...
PatCadigan: With a couple more people to give them directions...
PatCadigan: This robot is destroyed...
PatCadigan: But another robot is rebuilt from spare parts by Will...
PatCadigan: And the original robot's data--its "brain"--is something like 80% saved by Will in a brilliant downloading maneuver.
PatCadigan: ga
Moderator: For those of you who just came in, to ask a question, send it in a private message to the Moderator (me).
Moderator: <KurtRoth> to <Moderator>: Hi, Pat. Are you doing a novelization of the movie as well as the "making of" book?
PatCadigan: Anyway...Oh, yeah, what it looks like...
PatCadigan: Well, I think the best description I can give you is from the head robot performer, William Todd Jones...
PatCadigan: Who told me that both robots reminded him of insects on a very large scale...
PatCadigan: Anyway...
PatCadigan: No, I'm not doing the movie novelization. Joan Vinge is doing that one. However, I am doing the first of the spin-off novels.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: where can we get your book...? would any bookstore carry it...? can we get it online?
PatCadigan: You should be able to get the making-of book in any bookstore.
PatCadigan: You can buy it online if you want, but I would urge you--as a starving writer--to patronize your nearest independent bookstore.:)
Moderator: I am told that it will be available through the Sci-Fi Channel Online Store beginning tomorrow...
PatCadigan: If there is one near you.:)
PatCadigan: I haven't even seen the finished product myself yet.
Moderator: <fatcat> to <Moderator>: How many books has pat written?
PatCadigan: Let's see...three previous novels, Mindplayers, Synners, and Fools...
PatCadigan: Two short story collections, Patterns and Dirty Work...
PatCadigan: And two forthcoming novels, Tea From an Empty Cup, and a juvenile called Avatars, for a British book series called The Web.
PatCadigan: And The Making-of.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <LostinCyberSpace> to <Moderator>: Are you going to be at any book signing parties? Where and when?
PatCadigan: Well, I will be in NYC in May...
PatCadigan: And I will probably do something then, as I have alerted my agent and my editors at HarperPrism...
PatCadigan: But unless HarperPrism decides they have to tour me:), I won't be back in the States until August, when...
PatCadigan: I will be in NYC, Baltimore (for the worldcon), Austin, Texas (for ArmadilloCon) and possibly several points inbetween.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Buc> to <Moderator>: How did you become involved in the project?
PatCadigan: Purely dumb luck--I happened to be in the right place at the right time...
PatCadigan: I had just moved to England...
PatCadigan: And there was no one else available to work on the project...
PatCadigan: It was running late...assigning the book, that is, not the movie itself...
PatCadigan: And my agent asked me if I would take the job, because the movie was shooting at Shepperton Studios, just outside of London....
PatCadigan: it sounded interesting to me, because I'd never done anything like that before, so I said, sure!
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Crystalfire> to <Moderator>: how many re writes did the script go through?
PatCadigan: Well, that I don't know for sure...
PatCadigan: But by the time I was on the case, and Akiva Goldsman gave me a copy of the script, it was rainbow colored...
PatCadigan: Every re-write gets a different color.
PatCadigan: So it had been through a few changes. But I don't know how radical those changes were...
PatCadigan: Some might have been little bits of dialog or action.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <fatcat> to <Moderator>: were you (pat) a fan of the original series LOST IN SPACE?
PatCadigan: Well, I was not as devoted as many people, but I did watch it when I was a kid, and enjoyed it.
PatCadigan: I knew quite a lot about it, I had remembered more than I thought I had...
PatCadigan: So I was familiar enough with the original not to need a whole lot of updating or research.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <ussmn> to <Moderator>: how popular is lost in space over in uk?
PatCadigan: Well, it's hard for me to tell because I haven't lived here for that long...
PatCadigan: But I can tell you that everybody on the crew was British...
PatCadigan: And most of them told me they were big LIS fans.
PatCadigan: Some of the others said they had seen it, but it didn't air here until later than it did in the US...
PatCadigan: So it's hard for me to say exactly how popular the original is here.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: What type of things will be in the your book?
PatCadigan: Well, it's mostly about how the special effects were accomplished...
PatCadigan: Along with a fair amount of material on the robots...
PatCadigan: And some material on the cast as well...
PatCadigan: i did interviews with just about all the major crew members, including the set designer. Norman Garwood...
PatCadigan: if that name doesn't ring any bells, think of Princess Bride, Misery, and Brazil--he was the production designer on all of them.
PatCadigan: I didn't have a whole lot to do with the stars...
PatCadigan: Although I did get to talk extensively with Lacey Chabert and Jack Johnson, who play Penny and Will.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Will Robinson> to <Moderator>: Are there any plans for a movie sequel or possibly a tv series?
PatCadigan: To be truthful, I don't honestly know. I'm not so sure about a tv series...
PatCadigan: But I've been bugging my editor at HarperPrism almost weekly with emails, saying, "Now, if there's a sequel, don't you dare give it to anyone else!" :)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: To ask your question, please send the question in a private message to the Moderator.
Moderator: <LostinCyberSpace> to <Moderator>: What is the funniest thing that happened while filming?
PatCadigan: Well, that's a good question...
PatCadigan: I think it was the minor disaster with the robot...
PatCadigan: Todd Jones, the head robot performer...
PatCadigan: got carried a bit carried away with gesturing at one point...
PatCadigan: You see, they were working the robot's limbs and body by remote control...
PatCadigan: And there's no physical feedback to the people doing the m ovements with that...
PatCadigan: And Todd accidentally severed one of the hydraulics lines.
PatCadigan: He was waving his arm around a little too much.:)
PatCadigan: It was, I guess, rather funny because they had just gotten the movement down perfectly...
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Crystalfire> to <Moderator>: any pranks on set?
PatCadigan: Well, I wasn't on the set every day, so I'm not sure about that...
PatCadigan: I'm not sure that everyone had a whole lot of time to horse around...
PatCadigan: but if it counts, the first day I showed up, I was clumping around with a cast on my foot...
PatCadigan: and I had to climb up onto the set for the alien planet the J2 crashes on...
PatCadigan: and as we were leaving the publicist started to panic because he was afraid I'd break my other foot.:)
PatCadigan: I had to reassure him that I only stumble when I'm completely able-bodied.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <lachesis> to <Moderator>: Can you tell us about some of the special effects?
Moderator: <star> to <Moderator>: which company did the special effects, was it ILM?
PatCadigan: Well, I spent three days with the model unit people in Future Houston...
PatCadigan: No it wasn't ILM, it was a number of different people and companies, all British...
PatCadigan: The model unit was amazing...
PatCadigan: They had filled a sound stage with a model of Houston for the pre-launch sequences...
PatCadigan: And they were using motion control camera to film the cityscape...
PatCadigan: And they would have to spend hours and hours setting up each shot, shooting one frame per second...
PatCadigan: And then entering each position of the camera into a computer program as coordinates...
PatCadigan: The director of photography for the model unit, Nigel Stone, took me into one of the editing rooms...
PatCadigan: And showed me how they were filming the same sequence over and over...
PatCadigan: but lit different ways, or with one element differing in each pass the camera made...
PatCadigan: Like in one sequence, the set was dark except for little tiny seed-lights, that pass for streetlights...
PatCadigan: And then there was another pass in which only these pools of glowing UV showed on the model roadways...
PatCadigan: There was another pass which was just the headlights--not hte vehicle, but the two circles of light--showing on a flying vehicle moving through the city...
PatCadigan: and then another pass with the vehicle...
PatCadigan: All of these would be layered one on the other, like taking tracks in an audio studio to make a record. Only this is visual.
PatCadigan: They also let me look through the camera at the model set...
PatCadigan: And it was amazing, the difference--because looking through the camera, the model suddenly looked amazingly realistic.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <jeff1998> to <Moderator>: how much of the movie did you use cgi on or what parts of the movie
PatCadigan: Well, first I have to clarify that I had nothing to do with the making of the film. I only wrote the book about it...
PatCadigan: but I can tell you what Angus Bickerton, the CGI coordinator, told me...
PatCadigan: that there are over 700 cgi effects in the movie...
PatCadigan: Barely a frame of film or a sequence that doesn't require some sort of cgi...
PatCadigan: To give you an idea of how much that is, Jurassic Park had 400 cgi sequences.
PatCadigan: Effects, I mean.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Glock7> to <Moderator>: Pat, there is alot of resentment from some scifi fans on remakes of classic scifi movies or shows. What made the producers decide to go ahead and make the new Lost in Space movie?
PatCadigan: Yeah, I know there are a lot of mixed feelings out there...
PatCadigan: But what it was, Akiva Goldsman was a major fan of the old series when he was a kid...
PatCadigan: He used to rush home and watch it every day...
PatCadigan: that it was on...
PatCadigan: He also watched it in syndication, I guess...
PatCadigan: Anyway, when New Line acquired the rights, Richard Sapirstein, the VP, who was an old friend of Mr. Goldsman's...
PatCadigan: contacted him, knowing how much he had loved the old series, and asked him if he wanted to write the screenplay...
PatCadigan: Akiva Goldsman accepted, on condition that they not camp it up or mock the old series, but actually update it.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <KurtRoth> to <Moderator>: Scott Edelman mentioned in a recent editorial about Seeing Ear Theatre that you're going to be doing an audiodrama. Any sense of when we can look for that?
PatCadigan: This summer, God willing and the creek don't rise.:)
PatCadigan: Ah, my cat has decided to join us. she's going to wash my face while I type.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <fatcat> to <Moderator>: are there a lot of similarities between the series and the movie?
PatCadigan: Well, in some senses there are...
PatCadigan: The focus in the movie that both Stephen Hopkinson and Akiva Goldsman were going for...
PatCadigan: was more to do with the family, the people, rather than making it full of explosions...
PatCadigan: They both felt that was what had made the original series successful.
PatCadigan: However, you really won't see anyone re-creating or imitating the original characters or actors...
PatCadigan: Although Jack Johnson does bear an uncanny resemblance to Billy Mumy at the same age.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: Did watching a movie being made give you any ideas for future stories?
PatCadigan: Well, yes, I have to say that was part of it...but also, watching how they did the special effects gave me a thrill because...
PatCadigan: a lot of the stuff they were doing was stuff that I had postulated in Synners...
PatCadigan: So it was rather amazing seeing something I'd written about come to life in real life.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <WebBuildr> to <Moderator>: I can't quite see Matt LeBlanc (Joey from Friends) in that role. How do you think he did?
PatCadigan: Well, possibly the idea of Joey from Friends as Major West is the problem...
PatCadigan: However, Matt LeBlanc isn't doing Joey at all in this part...
PatCadigan: And his Major West character is also updated quite a lot...
PatCadigan: He's no boy scout.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: Do you appear in the movie at all? Maybe in the background? :)
PatCadigan: If I do, it's completely by accident.:) I'm sure that someone must have caught that and I was cgi'ed out.:)
PatCadigan: next?
Moderator: <Feyd> to <Moderator>: Because of your involvement, I am certain that this film will be good. Do you have any plans for further film involvement?
PatCadigan: Well, that's very flattering. And I just saw a review forwarded to me by my HarperPrism editor giving hte film a rave...
PatCadigan: So I would be delighted to associate myself with this movie...
PatCadigan: However, I have to emphasize again that I really had nothing to do with the making of hte film other than writing about it...
PatCadigan: However, I do also want to add...
PatCadigan: that I went into the project feeling rather skeptical...
PatCadigan: And after I got on the set and met everyone, I was highly impressed...
PatCadigan: Not just at how great the sets looked...
PatCadigan: But at how devoted everyone was to doing the best job possible.
PatCadigan: They were all taking the movie and their tasks really seriously...
PatCadigan: And I really hope htis movie succeeds just to reward the people on the crew, who worked so hard to make it good.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <ussmn> to <Moderator>: pat, has any of your books been made into tv series or movie?
PatCadigan: Not yet, although I have some things under option. A French filmmaker wants to film "The Power and The Passion," which is a horror story...
PatCadigan: And another studio recently optioned "Pretty Boy Crossover." And I get a lot of inquiries about Synners.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Feyd> to <Moderator>: Do you have any favorite authors in contemporary science-fiction?
PatCadigan: Yes, I do...
PatCadigan: I'll try to keep the list manageable...:)
PatCadigan: I am, and will always be, a fan of William Gibson...
PatCadigan: I also really like Elizabeth Hand, Paul McAuley, Kim Newman, Howard Waldrop, Storm Constantine, Tricia Sullivan...
PatCadigan: Old favorites include John Collier...
PatCadigan: And there's this up and coming guy by the name of David Marusek, whose work I admire a great deal.:)
PatCadigan: Watch for his short work. If you see him around, nag him to write a novel.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: Have you ever considered doing an interactive novel on the web? Or something similar?
PatCadigan: I'd really like to do something in hypertext...
PatCadigan: I have Eastgate's Storyspace software...
PatCadigan: and I've been noodling around with that, but my life hasn't left me enough spare time to get deeply into it.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <EnsAdam> to <Moderator>: do you go into chat rooms?if you do is this your screen name?
PatCadigan: From time to time, I chat...
PatCadigan: I used to chat weekly on Delphi...
PatCadigan: Back when dinosaurs roamed the net and java was just another word for coffee...:)
PatCadigan: lately, however, I haven't done it that often. But when I do, I show up either as Cadigan, or PatCadigan.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <ussmn> to <Moderator>: pat, do you have a web page of your own?
PatCadigan: Yes, I do. Y'all can drop by www.wmin.ac.uk/~fowlerc/patcadigan.html, which is put up by my husband, the Original Chris Fowler...
PatCadigan: Drop by, send my counter into overdrive.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: To ask a question to Pat Cadigan, please send your question in a private message to the Moderator.
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: Pat, besides writing new novels, books about movies, etc. What else are you doing that is keeping you busy? :)
PatCadigan: Well, I have a 12 year old son...
PatCadigan: And an aged mother, both of whom live here in London, too...
PatCadigan: And both of them can be time consuming.:)
PatCadigan: However, I've rediscovered my social life in the last few months...
PatCadigan: There's a group of us who get together every Friday for a long lunch...
PatCadigan: We're all writers...
PatCadigan: Though the main requirement for admission to the table is that you can't be gainfully employed.:)
PatCadigan: Also, just going around in London...
PatCadigan: I love this city...
PatCadigan: And I work out a lot at a health club.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <Buc> to <Moderator>: Did you make any long-lasting friends on the set?
PatCadigan: Well, it's not like we get together all the time and have a beer or anything, but...
PatCadigan: I did develop some friendships I'm rather pleased about...
PatCadigan: Cheryl Bickerton, the special effects coordinator, helped me so much while I was gathering material...
PatCadigan: And Todd Jones gave me a great deal of his time for interviews...
PatCadigan: as did Vin Burnham, the special effects costumer...
PatCadigan: But there wasn't a whole lot of time to pal around with people...
PatCadigan: Because, as I said, I did get into the project rather later than anyone would have liked...
PatCadigan: And everyone was working under the gun.
PatCadigan: next?
Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: it must be hard to work in a movie that has special effects in it. How did the cast handle it?
PatCadigan: Extremely well, from what I could tell...
PatCadigan: Gary Oldman in particular, had an extremely difficult task...
PatCadigan: Cheryl Bickerton managed to get permission for me to be on a closed set in postproduction...
PatCadigan: watching them film a sequence with Gary Oldman...
PatCadigan: on condition that I not try to interview him or talk to him...
PatCadigan: or Stephen Hopkins, the director...
PatCadigan: And I agreed...
PatCadigan: And it was easy to see why, when they started...
PatCadigan: Because the sequence required really intense concentration...
PatCadigan: It was very difficult...
PatCadigan: And added to everything was the constraints and requirements of the effects themselves...
PatCadigan: it's a bit hard to explain...
PatCadigan: But it was not an easy film to be in...
PatCadigan: lacey Chabert described to me...
PatCadigan: What it was like to act in a scene when you're staring out a window...
PatCadigan: and you're supposed to be seeing all these amazing interstellar sights...
PatCadigan: But what you're actually seeing...
PatCadigan: is some scaffolding on the other side of the set, and someone holding up a little arrow on a stick, to show everyone in the scene where they are supposed to be looking.
PatCadigan: :)
PatCadigan: next?
Moderator: <Sydney> to <Moderator>: It seems that special effects sometimes get in the way of the story...or are the story. But, do you think this movie could survive without them?
PatCadigan: Well, part of it is, I think, something that Vin Burnham pointed out to me about her area, which is special effects costuming...
PatCadigan: She said that sfx costuming was getting more and more difficult because...
PatCadigan: the days when you could just put people in Lycra jumpsuits and call it the future were well over...
PatCadigan: Audiences just won't accept that any more...
PatCadigan: And I think you can extend that to movies and sfx as a whole...
PatCadigan: People really do want to see something special...
PatCadigan: And I don't know how a sf movie without effects would go over with the general moviegoing public...
PatCadigan: However, the fx in this case are not what's going to make the movie compelling...
PatCadigan: Or at least not the whole reason why the movie will be compelling...
PatCadigan: And they are much more a part of the plot...
PatCadigan: rather than just something to keep you awake and interested. They serve a purpose.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: We only have time for a few more questions. Please send your final questions to the Moderator now.
Moderator: Here's a question from leftfield...
Moderator: <fatcat> to <Moderator>: do you think there is intelligent benign life on other planets?
PatCadigan: I think it is statistically certain that there is intelligent life on other worlds. As to whether it's benign...
PatCadigan: I'm not sure that any intelligent life can be completely benign...
PatCadigan: and when you come to that, whether any form of life can be completley benign...
PatCadigan: Ecology as we know it depends on some things dying so that other things can live, whether they are plants or animals.
PatCadigan: next?
Moderator: From farther out in leftfield...
Moderator: <Feyd> to <Moderator>: Does Akiva Goldsman have some fixation on rubber suits?
PatCadigan: ? Elucidate?
Moderator: (a costuming decision, I guess!)
Moderator: (Batman films)
PatCadigan: Oddly enough, Vin Burnham worked on the first two Batman films, and did those costumes...
PatCadigan: However, she didn't work on the one that Akiva Goldsman wrote...
PatCadigan: So call it coincidence.:)
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: <ussmn> to <Moderator>: will there be a cd that goes with your book, like something to use with your browser or something?
PatCadigan: Not that I know of--that would be great, though, wouldn't it?
PatCadigan: There will, however, be a postcard book, some blueprints, and there's another book written by another author called Lost In Lost In Space, which has more to do with the old series.
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: Can you tell us what new works we can expect from you in the near future?
PatCadigan: Well, in the very near future, there's a novel called Tea From An Empty Cup, and also the first LIS spin-off novel...
PatCadigan: a juvenile novel called Avatars, done for a series of books here in the UK called The Web, from Orion...
PatCadigan: Tea From an Empty Cup will be out from Tor in hardcover in october...
PatCadigan: And there will be short fiction here and there...
PatCadigan: Next?
Moderator: Thank you so much for chatting with us! The Making of Lost In Space book will be in stores tomorrow.
PatCadigan: yes, go out and buy half a dozen copies each!:)
Moderator: Check your local bookstore or come to the Sci-Fi Channel Online Store: store.scifi.com
Moderator: Any final thoughts for our chatters, Pat?
PatCadigan: Well, I would like to pass on something that Dick Tufeld, the Voice of the Robot, told me...
PatCadigan: He said that when he first heard that there wwas going to be a movie, and the robot wouldn't be much like the old robot, he was disappointed...
PatCadigan: But then, he saw what they were doing with the story...
PatCadigan: And he said that he thought it would be a really fine movie, and that fans of the old series should try to give it a chance on its own merits...
PatCadigan: And not go expecting it to be all nostalgia...
PatCadigan: But to allow it to be something updated and different.
PatCadigan: I figure if Dick Tufeld can get his mind around an updated LIS...
PatCadigan: We can all give it a chance.:)
PatCadigan: Thanks for coming, everyone.
Moderator: Thanks again! We will now make the room unmoderated.
SFWeekly: Bye Pat :-)
Feyd: whew
Buc: tks Pat!! bye
ussmn: bye pat
Case: Pat..did Bobzilla get to the set at all?
Sydney: Thanks Pat! Great session!
PatCadigan: Later!
PatCadigan: Case> No way!\
WebBuildr: Thanks Pat!
Buc: lol
Feyd: :)
IMEG4FUN: Hey
DarkAngel: did i miss it?
IMEG4FUN: Is Pat still here?
KurtRoth: Pat: Gordie and the Delphi gang say "howdy!"
ussmn: SOUND clapping.wav
Case: But why not Pat? I'm sure he would have loved it
FD: I have definitely gotta see "Lost In Space"
PatCadigan: Howdy back at them, Kurt. And thanks for showing up?
DarkAngel: yes she is
Case: <btw it's Brian from KC> :)
IMEG4FUN: Hey Pat I love your work!!!!
KurtRoth: Pat: absolutely! Had a great time. :)
DarkAngel: darn it and drat i missed it
PatCadigan: Case> Oh, for heaven's sake.:)
IMEG4FUN: I really loved the movie.
Sydney: DarkAngel...i logged it if you want a copy.
Mike1: Damn, I missed it!!!
DarkAngel: naw thanks anyway
PatCadigan: IMEG>Thanks for the good words.
IMEG4FUN: Your welcome.
Stealth: kick ass
SFWeekly: Pat, when will "Tea" be coming out?
DarkAngel: hey is the air still jello by and by
PatCadigan: IMEG> Thanks for the good words.