Earlier this week SciFiPulse along with many of the top rate science fiction and genre entertainment blogs got to celebrate Christmas a little early with Emily Rose, Colin Ferguson and Eddie McClintock in a special conference call to discuss the forthcoming Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Haven Christmas episodes, which will air on Tuesday 6 December on Syfy Channel in the USA and a little later on here in the UK.
Despite some technical issues at the start of the call a merry time was had by all and below is a transcript of some of the highlights from the call.
First up was Emily rose who when asked about the future of Haven managed reveal very little, but revealed that she was really excited about the shows future and the chance to do a Christmas episode.
Emily Rose: I have no clue what’s going to happen in Season 3. We have not been informed. We’ve just been gearing up for the Christmas episode which we’re actually excited we got to do this year.
I know it’s a Syfy tradition with their other flagship shows they have. And it’s just that it was exciting to get invited to do that because it was kind of – we got invited to do that before the season started this last year so I was kind of thinking I was like, “Well that’s a good faith little move on their part”.
And it was really fun to actually be able to do a holiday episode being that I kind of grew up on them as well. But no, in terms of what we have beyond the actual Christmas episode, I don’t know what’s coming up.
We’re a very – the way this town works with shows shutting down and starting back up again it’s very, kind of kept under wraps for quite a bit, and from us as well.
When it came to talking about the actual episode Rose shared that the actors on the set rather enjoyed the fact that their show was not only filmed in July, but also brought into the premise by being titled Christmas in July.
Emily Rose: We laughed because we film in Nova Scotia, Canada in a small town called Chester. And we kind of were laughing, we were like, “We really should have filmed this one first because it’s so cold there the majority of the time that it would have been nice to start out with the Christmas episode and then launch into the rest of the season.
But we had a very, very small, small window of warm weather when we were in Chester. And so to be filming it in the middle of the warm weather season, even though that was still pretty cold in Nova Scotia, it was really, really funny.
And it’s always fun to see the town sort of come out and taken in the Christmas decorations and we refaced one of our main theaters in town that a lot of great little shows go on at with a huge marquee and just kind of pumped the town up to this next, like holiday Christmas level.
And it was fun, because we’re not there in Chester over the holidays, to sort of get a glimpse ahead of what that would be like was really, really neat. Although it was totally sunny and no snow anywhere. But still fun; everybody gets in the holiday spirit when you say, “It’s Christmas.” It was great.
Next up was Eddie McClintock, who when asked about this years Christmas episode went on to explain why he preferred it over the more festive episode that the Warehouse 13 team did for last year.
Eddie McClintock: I just liked this year’s Christmas episode better because I just felt it was a little too, dare I say, “Schmaltzy last year.” Not that it was a bad episode, I enjoyed it but I just like this one better.
I mean Roger Rees is back as Macpherson, you know, there’s an actual bad guy and the stakes are much higher this year. And gosh I don’t know, I’m trying to remember – I don’t think H.G. is in but God, I don’t know. Don’t get that involved, all the shippers will come after me.
I just recently learned what a shipper was by – because all these – everybody wants Myka and H.G. to get together. And I posted this video that somebody did about H.G. and Myka and they were like, “Oh Eddie, I didn’t know you were a shipper.” And I thought it was some lesbianic (sic) slang involving the navy. So apparently I’m a shipper.
But was it harder this year; no you know, just more great writing from Jack Kenny and company, to you know, give Pete the depth that I think that he needs to have longevity in regards to the show.
When asked about the Eureka animated episode and how it deals with various styles of animation Colin Ferguson became rather animated when discussing his love for the genre and how it was used in the Holiday episode of Eureka.
Colin Ferguson: Well for us it was sort of more of a concept than a reality, we took one of the sets that we usually shoot in, Café Diem and we sat there for six hours one day and blew through 30 pages of dialogue or something like that. That’s awesome. I mean if I could shoot like that everyday that’d be the greatest thing. So we loved, loved that.
We didn’t really adjust vocally for any of the animation that we were doing. And – so I’ve only seen the – I think the rough version, which is I think what you guys have seen. So I haven’t seen the final tightened version that’s going to go out or air I guess in a couple weeks.
But it was really, really fun, really fun to see – for myself to be a Rankin and Bass character like Fred Astaire when he was like S.D. Kluger and like it’s just really – it brought me back to when I was a kid. I haven’t seen that stuff in a long time so it was really, really fun to watch.
When asked what they all specifically looked for in a Christmas episode or special all the actors had some interesting, but insightful answers.
Colin Ferguson: Well for me anything that’s good. I mean I’ll go dark or light or happy or sad as long as it sort of has integrity in and of itself and works as a pieces. I mean I love the Grinch stuff and all the classics that you sort of see once every year and they bring you back to when you were a kid.
Emily Rose: Yes I mean I usually fall to kind of the old classics that are – you know signify like Christmas tradition. For me, sitting down and watching Rudolph and the Grinch, and all of those, all the classics.
But I think for me it’s really about if I want to sit with the characters again and if I’ve been missing them for a while and I want to like fit into that place again that I will definitely tune into that.
When asked about the next season of Eureka Colin Fergusan was careful not to spoil, but did his best to hype things up.
Colin Ferguson: I can spoil everything. It’s – well it’s good. I mean I think that the season premier for next year should have been the season finale from this year because not only do they address what went on, it makes this crazy left turn that they deal with for the rest of the time.
And it’s a really, really cool idea. It’s not what you expect, you could never guess that it’s coming and it’s the best ending of any episode we’ve had — season premier.
In recent years we have seen two Eureka and Warehouse 13 crossover episodes and one question asked of Colin Fergusan and Eddie McClintock asked if they could see a Christmas Crossover episode in the future in spite of Eureka’s cancellation.
Colin Ferguson: Oh that would be great.
Eddie McClintock: Yes, I would – it would be nice if Pete could actually go to another show.
It’s just tough because I’m pretty much in almost all the scenes so it’s – and I think the same was – for the same reason Colin never crossed over is because we’re kind of in every scene of our show so if we can find time to go and do – I’d love to travel to Haven or to Alphas or any of the shows. But I guess it just comes down to network desire and availability for us.
Colin Ferguson: Yes, I mean I know that we’re all free. I’m assuming Fargo will come back at some point because that seems to be a popular thing. I’m like Eddie, I’d love to join in, I’d love to jump around and do some stuff wherever people see that it fits.
And especially knowing all the guys at this point, I mean it’s great to jump on a plane and go work with your friends for a week so. And we really enjoyed it when Allison used to come in, so yes absolutely.
When it came to Haven one question asked of Emily Rose concerned whether or not any residents from Nova Scotia got extras work on the episode, and the actress was most happy to talk about that and how she found working with some of the locals on the show.
Emily Rose: Well I mean it was really fun, because we end up building great relationships with a lot of the locals that live in Chester. And so the Christmas episode was fun because we had a – it was neat for us.
We had a writer that was an assistant writer for the entire season as well as for the company for a very long time, and he wrote the episode. And this was a fun experience for him. And then we had our producer directing the episode.
And then it was kind of like anybody that had been helping us around for – helping us for a while we kind of threw them into different scenes and got locals involved in any way we could, and whether it be like the dog walker or you know, dressing up the local shop a bit differently, or the theater people — all of that.
So it was really fun because like someone asked earlier, there was this big communal feeling of just this was a fun episode. It was a blast to do. It’s always weird doing them in July and it’s the last episode we’re doing so we kind of are anxious to get back home, but then we’re also sad that it’s ending for the season.
But it’s always a lot of fun. And I think we film like right outside of the – like the Christmas tree capital of the world or something, at least that’s what they claim at (Landenberg). So it’s a very holiday festive area anyway in these little tourist towns. So it’s right at home but also a little out of place in July, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
As many fans will know the new Christmas Warehouse 13 episode is very similar to the classic Christmas movie Its A Wonderful Life, which was directed by the legendary Frank Capra and starred Jimmy Stewart. When asked if he had any fondness for the movie Eddie McClintock admitted to being familiar with it, but admitted that the Warehouse 13 episode wasn’t quite as dark as that film goes.
Eddie McClintock: I’ve seen it and I think it’s a great film. I haven’t seen it a bunch of times, so I wasn’t really able to try an incorporate anything into it other than for me just to try and make it an enjoyable show for the fans.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some good lighthearted, funny stuff and there’s some good heartfelt moments as well. It’s not that dark, but I think what it primarily does is it kind of gives you the same feeling I think that It’s a Wonderful Life provided for viewers. You know, kind of that sense of redemption and struggle and at the end I think it’ll leave everybody nice and happy and ready to go see Santa.
The holiday episodes for Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven will premier on Tuesday 6 December on Syfy.
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By Ian M. Cullen
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