Sci-Fi Storm

Like last year, we had a special combined panel for the upcoming holiday themed episodes of several shows. This year Haven, represented by Emily Rose (Audrey Parker), joined Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter) and Warehouse 13‘s Eddie McClintock (Agent Pete Lattimer) to talk about the shows and Holiday specials. [See special sneak peeks of the episodes here]

All three episodes will be shown on the same night, on Tuesday, December 6th starting at 8pm ET.

Mark Stern opened by asking Colin what it was like to do an animated episode.

Colin: “We did most of it in a day. It was amazing. It was great. We pulled up the mikes in Cafe Diem, and we all sat down for three or four hours and just sort of barked out all of the dialogue. It was great. It was such a weird concept to do something with multiple animation styles in it. I didn’t — and I didn’t think it was going to work. I don’t think anything is going to work, right? I’m constantly a pessimist. But the Rankin and Bass stuff there is so great. Did you guys like that, that style? Yeah? I liked it. I thought it was — I thought it was great. And there’s an anime style that comes in, and we do “Looney Tunes” and “Simpsons” and “South Park.” There’s all sorts of styles all the way through it. It’s really fun, so much work for everyone else.”

Mark: “And you have some guest-star voices as well.”

Colin: Oh, that’s right. We had — Jim Parsons came in. We had — Eddie Olmos came in. We had — who else came in? Taggert obviously came in, [Matt] Frewer.

Mark: “Did you get to work with them, or were you just all…”

Colin: “No. Eddie did his out — I think out of New York or L.A., and Parsons did his out of New York. And then Chris Parnell came to — he did his out of L.A. and then came for a day on set.”

“So we did have some stuff. We were shooting this one scene. It was 4:00 in the morning in Chilliwack. We had no time to shoot it because we had a hard-out on the street. I think they had seven giant crates of ice that they were breaking down because we were bringing, like, a dog sled through the street and town in July. So that felt Christmasy and weird because the cast and the crew and everybody break down the ice with, like, axes because we had no time. Everyone had to sort of chip in to get it done. So that was really entertaining. And the town really enjoyed seeing that. The town of Cilliwack like, “What do you people do for a living?” you know, as we were breaking down ice.”

Mark: “And, Eddie, so obviously, this year, it looks like “Warehouse” is doing a little bit of “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Did you channel your, like, inner Jimmy Stewart for that, or how did that work?”

Eddie: “I was almost going to do a Jimmy Stewart, but it’s not good enough to do in front of all of you knowledgeable people. So, you know, although I liked last year’s episode, it seemed a little fluffier than this year’s, certainly. This year’s episode is a — it’s an actual “Warehouse 13” episode. It’s got all of the — it’s got a lot of great twists and turns. And, yeah, Pete, when he falls in the Aisle of Noel there, an artifact — he comes into contact with an artifact that makes him so that he had never been born. What would have happened to the warehouse had he never been born? And there’s some really great stuff. Jack Kenny, our executive producer, he directed the episode. And he came to me, like, two weeks before, and he just said, “Look, I’m directing this episode. You are in every scene. There’s a lot of talk” — because most of the time I just get in there and act like an idiot, and, you know, then I get to walk. I’m done. But this time I actually had to act and do some, like, pages of dialogue. So he said, “Be prepared.” And I was really pleased with the way it turned out. We got to see it a couple weeks ago at Jack’s house. I think you guys are going to like it.”

Mark: “And, Emily, so this was the first holiday — first of all, thank you for being here, Emily, [who flew in] from the Middle East, from the country of Jordan…But what was that like? Was it good to kind of do a completely different episode that kind of stepped out of the flow? Was it weird to shoot a Christmas episode in July? And, obviously, they made it work in the storyline, but…”

Emily: “We were all laughing. We were saying we should have shot our Christmas episode first because we film up in Nova Scotia, and it’s freezing. It feels like Christmas half the time when we are there anyway. But we actually did this in — as our last episode. It takes place sort of out of sequence even though it’s going to be obviously after the finale has aired. It takes place somewhere, I think, in between 6 and 7 or 7 and 8, somewhere in between there. But Chester was the same way. Chester, Nova Scotia, was big. I mean, we had the entire town decorated in Christmas decorations, which really aided the fact that Audrey’s, you know, “What on earth is going on?” It just looked so out of place, and — but, you know, Chester just enjoys anything that we do there, and they were really supportive. And it was really fun to actually see what that town would look like all decorated. And it was a good first for “Haven” to have this sort of, you know, warm, fuzzy, wonderful, you know, little Christmas episode. It was really nice.

“Shawn Piller actually directed it. He’s one of our executive producers. And then just a really cool story is that it’s written by Brian Milliken. And Brian Milliken actually started as an intern in our producer’s office out of college, and he’s been a writer’s assistant for a really long time. And they handed over this episode to him and said, “Here. Go ahead and write your first episode.” And so he came up, and it was like Christmas for him, getting to watch it, you know, all be made. And he did a fantastic job. And so that was his first, kind of, step into the writing world, and it’s been really neat to see how it turned out.”

Then the questions came from the floor.

Question: “A question for Colin and for Eddie. Considering the season finales of both of your shows, where do the Christmas episodes fit in the continuity?”

Colin: “They are sort of free-floating episodes so that they can air, you know, year after year after year. I guess it’s — where does it fit in the continuity? Happy day in Eureka is I would say. You know, it’s not supposed to be anywhere specific much like Emily’s answer, I think.”

Eddie: “The same with ours. They are just standalone episodes that have nothing to do with any of the other episodes. Like, last year, our Christmas episode ran after Myka had left the warehouse. And everybody was like, “Great, Myka is back. Myka is back.” But it was, again, like it is this year. They are just in and of themselves their own story.”

Colin: “Yeah. Mid-Season 4 is what I would say because there are certain things that are obviously in our Christmas episode. You have Jenna and Kevin. So it — yeah. So it’s mid-Season 4 somewhere.”

I asked: “This is for Colin. Given the final season of “Eureka” is coming up what could you tell us might be the real moment we should be looking for during the season from your perspective that everybody should really — or everybody will really grasp on to?”

Colin: “Wow. I don’t think it was really built toward one specific moment, but obviously, you know, the end where we say goodbye was very poignant for us. You now, we had the benefit of knowing it was coming while we were shooting. So that’s a huge gift to sort of be able to soak up those last three weeks with each other and put some heart into those final episodes, and it was — the end was — I’m not terribly emotional about stuff like that, but it was wonderfully moving, you know, saying goodbye, your last scene with someone who you have been working with for seven years, you know, and you are — and in some of the plot lines, they are leaving. So you are actually saying goodbye, and you actually are saying goodbye because you’re not shooting another scene with them. So that was really strangely — it gets you in between takes. So, for us, that was a moment. We probably did it terribly, so there’s probably other moments you are going to want to watch out, too.

“But there is some really funny stuff, which — we did an episode where we become one another, and that turned out fantastically. So look forward to that. And there’s a lot of — if we like to be remembered for anything, it’s for being fun. So definitely the moments where you are laughing, remember those.”

Question: “This question is for Emily. How do you feel now that Audrey and Nathan are finally getting together? Because you were talking about that before it happened.”

Emily: “Are they getting together? That’s such a good question…It relieves some stress in the workplace. You know, it’s just always fun. Their relationship is, you know, an interesting partnership that exists, you know, in this strange little world, and it will be interesting to see if we get a chance, you know, to see where that goes. I mean, it’s always fun. I think the best part for me is just seeing the fans react. It’s like we hold out for so long, and then, when it happens, it’s such a huge deal, you know. It’s, I think, one of the — one of my favorite scenes from the season — I think it actually was in the finale, which was after the kiss and everything — is we are literally working together in really close proximity, and it’s just really awkward being that close to each other. And just, for me, what that provides us, the subtext that can be going on when we are saying all of these other factual things, the fact that that can be, you know, the underlying current, to me, it’s just always fun to play as an actor. So I enjoy it because it gives us a lot to do, but I don’t really know, really, what, you know, the future holds for them, if they get one, because, to me, the play is that tension of on again, off again, you know, what that creates. So it’s a lot of fun.”

Question: “What’s it like when you do the Christmas episodes compared to doing the regular episodes? Is the tone different, like, on set? Is the feel different, or do you treat it just like another episode?”

Colin: “It’s hot.”

Emily: “It’s very hot.”

Colin: “It’s always in July. You always shoot in the middle of July, and you are wearing parkas and hats.”

Emily: “Yeah. Eric had to wear that whole Santa outfit the whole time.”

Colin: “When you see in the clip, he’s like, (pretending to wipe sweat off) “Yeah, we are working hard to trick you.”…No. It’s nice. I mean, for us, it’s really nice to shoot. It’s — by the end of the episode, you sort of feel festive, and everybody — some good mood comes out. It’s odd, but it does. It’s a good thing. I mean, yours was dark, so what was — or darker, you were saying.”

Eddie: “Yeah. And the last two years, it’s been our last episode. So we know that when we are done — and I get to fly home from Toronto and see my family that I haven’t gotten to really spend much time with for the last five or six months. So it’s great. And I think that some of the holiday spirit just rubs off because with all of the, you know, fake snow and holiday cheer, it’s good, yeah.”

Emily: “Yeah. It was definitely — I think it was weird for us this year because we hadn’t done a Christmas episode last year. So when we ended on our finale, we sort of had these sort of, you know, very sentimental feelings towards the season. And it was weird for us choosing the finale as being the second to the last episode that the Christmas episode is a standalone thing, but it really was. I remember knowing we were shooting a Christmas episode for a long time, but then walking on set and watching all of the Christmas decorations come up and, you know, everybody was coming to work in Santa hats, you know, it makes for a really fun last day because everything is just, like, all lit up, and it’s a lot of fun. But it’s definitely weird to be in that head space in August.”

Colin: “Yeah. And what’s fun when you do shoot in a small town — like, we shoot in July in Chester, and the people of town come out to see what, like, a professional set deck team can do to their street, and it’s, like, almost — like, it’s amazing what they will do. They will turn the thing — it’s amazing what professionals can do. So that’s fun to see them sort of go, “Wow, this is our street. You know, can we take pictures?” Yes, you can take pictures. It’s your street.””

Mark: “By the way, there’s a lot, actually, that happens on that street in Chillawack. That whole area in front of the sheriff’s office, which is not really a sheriff’s office and the statue and the green…”

Colin: “Yeah. They built that out. And the street that we show there isn’t actually on the green, out in front of the — they do it for the show. They put that whole green section in. And the town loves it. The town is sort of lobbying to like, “Can we put in some green here like the professional set deck people said? We’ll lose these parking spots because it’s so pretty.””

Question: “This one comes from the Twitter verse. It is a “Haven” question. Is Edge staying on the cast of “Haven” or just popping in here and there?”

Emily: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know. He’s fantastic, isn’t he? He was such a great addition this season. He is — you know, when I heard were getting a wrestler on this show, I envisioned something completely different. I thought we’d have somebody coming out of — bounding out of the trailer in Spandex and a shaved head and stalky and sort of ripped. And then I met Adam, and I was like, “You look like a surfer. You are amazing.” Another good-looking guy on the show. Then, on top of that, he just did an amazing job in all of the scene work and was just such a — everyone just really resonates with him and really gets him. So I hope that if we get a chance to come back, that he will come back as well because we really, really enjoyed having him, and I know that he really enjoyed his time with us, too. And Chester, oh, my goodness, look out. There’s a lot of fans in Chester that love him as well. So we’ll have to maybe hide him if he comes back.”

Question: “When you guys were watching the clips before, I was watching you guys watching the clips, and you all had an amused look on your face. I’m just curious what was going through your mind watching them? There’s another question about why not. Overall, I was wondering what is it about your individual shows that sort of is your passion for it? What drives your passion for these shows?”

Eddie: “I was thinking that my hair looked a little high. I have hair issues. I was on “Bones” a few years ago, and I was like, “You know, let’s shave my head. Let’s shave it. We’ll shave the head.” And they were like, “No, no, no, because we don’t want you looking like David Boreanaz.” Everybody already thinks I’m David Boreanaz anyhow. So they gave me this, like — I just said to the hairdresser — I go, “Just do whatever you think is going to be good,” and they gave me this floppy Dorothy Hamill side part with the weight in the back and a –”

Colin: “This is what’s going through your head? It’s so detailed.”

Eddie: “I guess so. I have post-traumatic hair disorder, and I was — well, I was thinking about Colin’s luxurious lips [referring to the animation of his character) and, you know, your guys’ great scene in the prison.”

Colin: “Well, that’s — I mean, that’s the weird thing. Like, these are my friends. I see them all the time, and it’s really nice to, like, when I see their work, I’m really — it’s not stupid — I’m really proud of them and, like, “Oh, they are doing good work,” and, “Oh, that’s a nice turn,” and, like — so it’s really fun to see, you know. You are up on stage with your friends, and you are like, “Oh, good job,” you know. Like, it’s nice. It’s warm. So –”

Eddie: “You know, interestingly, when “Warehouse” was first — I think we had done the pilot, and I guess we had been picked up, and we were getting ready to do some shows. We were in New York, and I met — I hadn’t met you before.”

Colin: “Yes, you had.”

Eddie: “But we were welcomed into the “Warehouse 13” family by the cast of “Eureka,” and they were like, “Oh, we are just like a big family here.” And then last year –”

Emily: “Yeah. That was two years ago.”

Eddie: “Two years ago I saw you, and it was like, “Hey! Welcome,” and it’s true.”

Emily: “I was like — it was such a breath of fresh air. I was so nervous. It was going to up-fronts, and it was before we’d even started filming. So everybody was kind of, like, aware of you but not really sure why you were there, but sort of — and I came into this, you know, network and into this room kind of just not knowing what to expect. And Eddie walked right up to me and welcomed me to the family, and so, meeting, Colin did the same thing. And just to — I don’t know. It was so — it was so wonderful. So to be sitting here with them now is a huge honor. And then, of course, what’s going through my mind is going, “Oh, my gosh. They are watching my work. I’m sitting here while they are watching my work. I don’t know how I feel about that.” I mean, that’s, you know, what actors think.”

Question: “My question for you is now that you’ve done all of the holiday specials together, do you have some holiday traditions now that you do when you are on the set?”

Colin: “Traditions? Traditions that have come up from shooting the holiday episodes? We’ve only done two. So I don’t think there will be another tradition to follow.” [Referring to the cancellation of the show] “We are going to do a pantomime in our garage.”

Eddie: “I mean, in “Warehouse 13,” we have a band room, and there’s drums and a couple guitars and, you know, like, a shaky egg, one of those shaky eggs. And so everybody goes up there and hangs out and has holiday cheer up there. So I guess that was — would be the closest thing that we have to a tradition like that.”

Colin: “Also, just to get back to the last question, one of the reasons — one thing I get amused about is also things like seeing Eric sweat, you know, because we all sort of know the tricks of shooting at different times of the year. So we know it’s July, and it’s like, “ah-ha-ha,” because we know. So that’s something that makes me laugh, you know, and the fake snow. It’s like, “Oh, yeah, you’ve got to go here.” We are in sweaters.”

Eddie: “We actually did the reverse in Season 1 of “Warehouse 13.” It was the — the “Resonance” was — we actually shot out of order. We shot “Resonance” first. And Mike and Pete were supposed to be in Colorado in kind of a semibalmy, snow-covered, beautiful town in Colorado, and we were in, like, this insane — I mean, the crew had those parkas on where all you can see is like this, but the fur, the arctic parkas. And Joanne and I were dressed in like, you know, a light blazer and stuff. And, literally, you’d be like this (making a shivering movement) and “Action.” And then you’d stop, and as soon as they yell “Cut,” you are like –”

Question: “Since the specials have shades of inspiration from other movies and specials and everything, what are your personal, most favorite holiday movies, TV specials, and then the ones that you hate and why?”

Emily: “Well, I was thinking when I was getting ready this morning for this — I was trying to think of, you know, all of the other Christmas episodes kind of in history that have been out there and have gone on. The one — I just laughed because the ones I really remember are like the Muppet Christmas specials from when I was a little kid. I just remember being so excited and going into the living room and — you know, because that’s the great thing is about Christmas episodes. It’s kind of this — when you don’t have a — like, a large, you know plus-20 order of television, when you have these now 13 episodes, it’s really kind of great to have a Christmas gift that you give the fans the middle of the year when you are not around. You get attached to these people and attached to these characters. So to be able to have them come over for the holidays is a lot of fun. And I just remember that. I just remember going around the Christmas — it’s part of that, you know, Christmas traditions. Those Christmas traditions is watching, like, the Charlie Brown Christmas story and Rudolph and having these things come on air. So to have our characters be a part of that story and part of the experience for the family to me is really awesome.”

Colin: “I think “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Grinch” are probably, for me — and one from Canada that nobody knows or watches, but it’s “The Sweater.” If you’ve ever seen it from the National Film Board of Canada, the Roch Carrier story, this kid who gets a hockey sweater from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s a Canadien fan. And the end of it is this horrible ending where he goes to church and begs God to make moths eat it, the end. It’s this really weird.”

Mark: “Horrible.”

Colin: “Exactly. So that’s one that my brother and I, we always used to go, like, “Yeah.” That, and it’s 15 minutes long. And Roch Carrier, he actually narrates it. So it’s this really thick, French-Canadian accent the whole time. “When I was a small boy growing up….” you’ve got to watch it. It’s 15 minutes long, the best 15 minutes of your life.”

Eddie: “For me, because I grew up, and I used to have to get up and actually turn the channel on the TV, so the old “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with the Abominable Snowman, when they put the — when they put the mud on Rudolph’s nose, then he talked like this until the thing of mud came off, and they all made fun of him, I guess I related somehow. They used to put mud on my nose. But, you know, this was — obviously, this was before DVDs and any of that. So you actually had to wait a full year to ever see any of these shows again. Like, my boys now have the DVDs, and they watch Christmas shows all year round. So I don’t know. It seemed — those shows, I guess, are — they mean more to me, you know, because I had to wait so long to get to see them again.”

Colin: “Was there another — was Father Time — was that a different Rankin and Bass one, or was the “Rudolph” one the only…”

Eddie: “There was “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” “Frosty the Snowman.”

Colin: “Which was the one with Father Time where it got scary in the middle? Do you remember?” [Referring to Rudolph’s Shiny New Year]

Eddie: “Well, there was the one with the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser. “I’m Mr. Heat Miser. I’m Mr. Sun. I’m Mr. Heat Blister. I’m Mr. Hundred and One.””

Mark: “I miss the toys.”

Eddie: “I want to be a dentist.”

Question: “Well, what about the ones you hate?”

Mark: “”The Sweater” one.” (lots of chuckles)

Eddie: “A Very Barney Christmas. Yeah. That always creeped me out.”

Colin: “Now I’m blanking. What do you have? What’s — does anyone have one that they hate?”

Eddie: “”A Jersey Shore Christmas.” “Hey. Yo.” I love them.”

Question: “For Eddie. Fans are just devastated about what happened with Jenks, very cruel, and I was wondering what the cast’s reaction was.”

Eddie: “Man, I can tell you. I mean, it was an emotional day when we shot that, you know, when — because Allison Scagliotti is so — just, her presence is such — for a young kid, you know, she’s so amazing. So she — for me, you know, when Pete comes down those stairs and sees the reaction on Claudia’s face and when she kind of intuitively knows what happened, I mean, just talking about it — I don’t know — it’s one of those moments as an actor, for me, where I go that’s as real or as close to showing people a true-based emotion as I’m going to get, you know. And so it is really powerful. I mean, to watch it for me was — because — because I think Aaron did such a great job making Jenks a likable character that it was hard to see him that way when we walk in and see him, eyes open like that. It was tough. I mean, it was very quiet that day on the set. And, you know, as the saying goes, “You are never dead in sci-fi, really.” So who knows what’s going to — who knows what will happen, whether he’ll be back or not. Again, I don’t ask because I like to — I like to discover, you know, as we go along. I sure hope that — I sure hope he comes back.”