Monday night we got together at one of those trendy restaurants down near the waterfront in Yaletown. We had good food and wine. I had good conversations with the publicist of BSG, Carol Marks-George and the VP of Publicity for SCI FI, Bill Brennan. We packed her in pretty early because the next day we were visiting three sets and we had to start too damn early to do so.

Morning came way too soon and we were headed off to our first set; Eureka. I am glad that we get to see another season of Eureka and you could see and hear that with the assurance of heading into a second season there is a desire to up the stakes and really build on what was set by the end of season one. The first set we visited was Henry's garage, played by Joe Morton. We learned that Henry has taken up an office in the Global Dynamics building, which is good because it was too weird being on that set. Being in a garage I thought I was back at my day job and the trip was all but a cruel dream.

The production team has built a very impressive two story rotunda set for the Global Dynamics Company. This new set will allow for longer tracking shots and gives a lot more room for the production team and the talent in front of the camera. Neil Grayston, who plays Fargo, led us through the Smart House, even doing a demonstration of his voice acting skills voicing Sarah, the voice of the house. And during the season you can expect Sarah and Carter’s ex-wife Abby to have a cat fight. But what you truly appreciate is the effort it takes to make the smart house work when you see what all the effects technicians have to do to make everything work. Smart indeed.

We were fortunate to have a Q&A with most of the main cast; Colin Ferguson [Sherrif Jack Carter], Erica Cerra [Deputy Jo Lupo], Salli Richardson [Allison Blake], Joe Morton [Henry Deacon], Ed Quinn [Nathan Stark] and Neil Grayston [Fargo]. We will upload the video of this Q&A as soon as possible.

Joe Morton put it perfectly, once you start winning you want to keep on winning. You can sense that desire to bring an entertaining series and still one that builds on character development but everyone is creatively willing to take risks to make the show better. When the cast were asked about writing they said that they have some input into the story arcs and stand alone plots of the series and episodes. It is important because that keeps them emotionally invested and diligent; you care more about your character than you would if you just came in and said you lines each day. The effort also has to be collaborative because of such tight scheduling when filming the series. With such a short time to turn out 13 episodes everyone has to working on the same wavelength.

Eureka served as a landmark series for Sci Fi because what it helped bring around was a new direction for Sci Fi in which to develop future television series that are accessible, humorous, emotional and character based. As Neil said in the Q&A, he doesn’t recall a series within the Sci Fi context that is as funny as Eureka since Firefly.

Things will be different and the dynamics of the relationships amongst the characters with evolve. They won’t ignore any of the developments from the season finale. It won’t be swept under the rug as Colin Ferguson said. Eureka is still that great small town but has so many big secrets. Ed Quinn said it as if someone has turned the character dial a couple notches and everyone will be in a new role of sorts.

Speaking of new roles. Salli Richardson’s character, Allison Blake, takes over Global Dynamics and she and Joe Morton spoke briefly about how rare it is to have two black actors in the same series. What is fantastic is that it has never been addressed, said Ed Quinn. But I believe that if there were any genre fan base that were more accepting and/or open to ethnic diversity than a Sci-fi fan base then I don’t know it. Diversity and acceptance is such a staple of this genre I might have been surprised it even brought up. Though, there will be an episode this season when Fargo’s grandfather is thawed from cryogenic freezing and he does a quick double take when he meets Allison, either because she is black, or because she runs this massive company and she is a woman.

One other thing to talk about. Matt Frewer. What is it like to work with someone like Matt? Colin was quick to speak, ‘awesome… crazy… quick… lovely, lovely guy’. Ed said that he is also ‘highly intelligent’ with a ‘very sophisticated dark side’. His character is such a big character and yet it embodies was Eureka is supposed to be. ‘He can break you in the middle of a scene. So funny’. Neil found a Max Headroom shirt in Vancouver that he is waiting to show him.

So look forward to season 2 starting on July 10th. We also have some news about three of the episodes you can look forward to this summer...

"Unpredictable" -- A weather machine, created by someone in town to counteract the effects of global warming, stirs unexpected results. The same nuclear energy that powers Eureka’s underground hot springs also powers Global Dynamics.

"Duck, Duck, Goose" -- Falling space debris threatens Eureka residents and Carter turns to high school science fair participants to solve the problem. Specifically, he taps a student science project created to harness the sun's energy. Also, Zoe gets an eco-friendly automobile.

"Noche de Suenos" (Night of Dreams) -- One of the Global Dynamics tanker trucks spills, potentially causing a change in everyone's sleep habits…. In the course of the episode, we come to learn that Global Dynamics has developed a technology that enables them to distill six months of the town waste and by-products into one truck, an amount that would normally fill Lake Erie.