Tonight SyFy will premiere Holiday episodes of Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Haven. I recently participated in a Q&A with stars from those shows, Colin Ferguson, Eddie McClintock and Emily Rose. Even though these three don’t work on the same show, you wouldn’t know it–they really play off one another and it was a fun call.
We also have some sneak peeks of tonight’s episodes.
How do these holiday episodes fit into the timelines of the shows?
Eddie McClintock: The episode exists out of time. You know, it’s not – it doesn’t exist within the timeline of the show, so you know, Jinks and everybody is still alive you know? There’s been no deaths yet.
Emily Rose: Yes, it’s similar to – I think we had – it’s just, it’s non-linear essentially; it’s not in order. It’s its own out of time sort of episode. Essentially some of what I’ve said before about the episode is, the way I put it is just that it’s kind of like a little gift to the fans, kind of a holdover type of intermission episode where it’s kind of just its own little gem of an episode. So if you miss the characters and you’ve missed the world, you could hop into it. But we’re really hoping that the fans know not to put it in any kind of sequential order because it won’t pay anything off or reflect on anything. We kind of took all time references out of it so it would just be its own little episode.
Colin Ferguson: Yes, absolutely. It exists out of time, and part of that is a necessity for the writing staff because the – where – when you shoot it and all sorts of stuff like that. And as well, you want it to be perennial; you want it to be something that can air every single year. So if you lock it in the continuum of a show, you almost make it outdated by the next year. So I think I you do a service to the holiday, we all – all of ours exist out of time.
Could you talk about what it was like getting into the Christmas spirit so early in the year?
Emily Rose: Yes well 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.
Emily, could you talk about what’s planned for Haven coming up after this holiday episode?
Emily Rose: After the holiday episode? 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.
Eddie, this is a much heavier, darker holiday episode, was it very hard or very different to do this one?
Eddie McClintock: No 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.
Colin, your episode deals with different forms of animation. What was that like for you guys, and did you have a favorite style?
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. 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.
Probably my favorite is the old Rankin and Bass Claymation style. It’s just not something that anyone does anymore, and nor will they probably ever do it anymore because it’s so low-tech. Like it’s that chunky way that they move, that sort of stutter way that they move. And it’s so cool, I mean it’s so warming, that that was one of those things, when you see all your friends all done up with their Claymation characters, it’s a really sort of amazing thing to see. And we asked for our little dolls — they called them dolls – the Claymation dolls, if we could have them afterwards and Curious Pictures said, they said, “You can have them but they’re so beaten by the time they’re done, like they just – they’re completely falling apart.” So they said they wouldn’t even survive a shipping, so we don’t get to have them. But that’s definitely my favorite. Although the anime is really cool, it’s sort of sexy and fun. But as far as a nostalgia thing I would say the Rankin and Bass.
[I’m excited to see the final version] They’re like, “Oh watch this video because this is what people are going to see,” and I was like, “This is what people are seeing? It’s a bunch of storyboards.” It’s like, “That’s not – I hope it’s better than that.”
Colin do you have any say in how Jack was animated? What was your reaction?
Colin Ferguson: I didn’t have any say in it. It was a really long process for them, so to add one more sort of cook in the kitchen would have been a really bad idea I think. But I was really pleased with how it came out. I mean they’re still not done. They’re still – they don’t have the final for some of the animation and it airs in like a week. I know that they’re all racing to get it done. I really liked it. I thought it was – it’s really cool to see what Eddie was saying about how he share’s Jay Leno’s chin where like you have a vision of yourself.
And I guess what it is for me is my forehead is all wrinkly. Because they said like, “Yes, it didn’t look like you until we put wrinkles all across your forehead.” And I was like, “Oh really? Thanks, thanks. Okay, there’s that then.” You know, [it was] my face, but apparently without the wrinkles it’s not quite me. So that’s sort of the indicator that I learned about myself. But it was really, really cool to see other people’s interpretation.
Colin, what was it like working on an episode that was produced so radically different from previous episodes?
Colin Ferguson: It was really hard. I mean it’s a different prep procedure to do it; it needs way more lead time, it needs way more – I was talking to Matt about it, who directed it, and he was saying, “It’s really fun in an egotistical way,” because he sort of comes up with a shot and like that’s the shot. Like full on, that’s the shot — no one else chimes in, it’s like that’s the shot that tells that these are the stories.
So it was a very, very different way to prep and shoot than we’re used to. It was much easier on us as actors and much harder on, I think the production staff — particularly the post-production staff who had to keep sort of a live animation – I mean a live action wing going as well as all this animation stuff. And so it stretched them I know, and they’re tired. But for us it was way easier.
Eddie and Emily, “Are you jealous you haven’t been animated?”
Emily Rose: A little bit, yes. I’m having to deal with that right now. I’m having to keep the jealousy down now.
Colin Ferguson: I’m drawing a picture of you. I’m drawing a picture of you right now. There we go then.
Eddie McClintock: I kind of am not as bent out of shape as I could be just because they’ve done a Warehouse 13 comic book. And apparently Jay Leno and I have the exact same chin.
Emily Rose: Wow. That’s amazing.
What do all of you look for in holiday programming?
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. But I think anything – myself, anything with a moral compass and integrity, I’ll go for that. How about you guys?
Eddie McClintock: Boobs.
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.
Eddie McClintock: It’s boobs for me — lots of boobs.
Emily Rose: Honesty.
Eddie McClintock: [There was a] Christmas special a few years ago, and you know, it’s probably one of my favorites of all time……called Snow on the Mountains.
Emily, since Audrey has no real memories of her past Christmases, what’s the meaning of Christmas have for her?
Emily Rose: That’s what launches Audrey into her journey for that time and that’s what makes her so resistant to be on the journey and what is the thing for her that she has to sort of overcome. I think that’s the great chestnut about that character is that the past for her is something that is really hard for her to literally wrap her head around.
And but what she does remember, whether they’re her memories or not her memories, what she does remember isn’t exactly the most pleasant thing. So how does she overcome that and deal what’s going on in the day? And I think it makes for a pretty interesting episode.
(Possible Spoiler) In the episode, what do you think was going through her mind when she sees Nathan vanish right before her eyes?
Emily Rose: Oh what would we all think if we saw Nathan vanish? Probably the same thing; I think everybody hopefully will feel the same way. I think for her it’s – it always has to be life or death for her. If she doesn’t believe that it’s really a reality then we really wouldn’t have much of a story or much of a character.
So for her it’s just that sort of initial freak out that one of the only people that kind of walks through this life with her could really be gone. And considering her past and that she’s always lost people and that she’s never had a family, it’s a really big deal when someone like him disappears so.
Colin, Is there anything you can tell us about next season for Eureka and for you?
Colin Ferguson: Yes, 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.
…t’s a great little run that they constructed; all the guys in LA, the writers. And I like it because everyone sort of comes back. I mean we have Wallace Shawn coming back, we have Felicia coming back, we have Wil Wheaton coming back, and for long stretches.
And it really sort of feels like we set up our family finally. And it’s a great way to send it off. We actually got an episode where we closed everything off, which is cool. I know the guys are writing, hopefully some sort of spinoff, a next generation Eureka show that they’re pitching to Syfy, who knows if that’s going to, you know, get picked up or anything. But hopefully the idea will continue. And there’s some really fun, fun stuff that happens this year. And it was a good way to send it off so that was – that’s that part of it.
And then what’s up for me next; I don’t know pilot season I guess. I’m back in the mix you know doing that sort of thing which is, yes, which is sort of fun and it’s nice to go into it in a different place than I was in it last time. You know, and that feels good.
And I have the illusion of being picky, which is fun — it’s a good illusion to have. And I don’t know. I’ll let you know when something comes up for sure.
Why do you think holiday specials are such a big tradition in the television culture?
Eddie McClintock: I guess I’ll start, it’s Eddie. You know, it’s a tradition because the television networks have created it and starting back as far as I can remember like Miracle on the – whatever, Miracle on 38th Street or whatever? How am I doing? And it’s a tradition at my house because we can put the kids in front of the TV and the adults can have some quiet time. I suppose that’s what my parents did with me.
Colin Ferguson: I mean I think culturally it goes back so far at this point. I mean it goes to like the end of the year. It’s the most dark that we get, you know, solstice-wise of the year. I think it’s a really important time of year, sort of culturally and historically. And I think that’s why we put holiday’s there and that’s why we try to sort of put some brightness into our lives when it’s the darkest day that we get. So that’s what interests, I think that’s me. But I – for culturally it’s I guess yes, what we – I don’t know I’ve got nothing. Emily shoot for it.
Emily Rose: I can’t guarantee I’ll have any better. But I think one of the things we love culturally about traditions is it’s something that we all can relate to in different traditions and different ways, but we can all talk about it and all relate to it. I know as a kid, I loved watching when television sort of merged into my own life. I don’t what that says about my vocation today.
But I really loved watching the characters on television go through maybe the same things that we were going through at home, whether it was like getting the Thanksgiving turkey ready or you know, all of the Christmas mayhem that – when these characters go through what our families go through every time we come to hang out.
And so I think there’s a bit of a joy of peering into an imaginary world with them kind of going through the same things that we do; it kind of joins our two worlds together. And so I think it’s something that we all love to have something that we can count on that makes us laugh and that entertains us. So there’s the old traditional ones but then it’s exciting to see what new will come about. It’s something to count on.
Colin Ferguson: That’s a great answer. I like that answer. I’m doing all my calls with Emily. That’s a great answer.
Eddie McClintock: When I was growing up you couldn’t just dial up a Christmas show on iTunes or watch it on your phone, or you know…you actually had to wait an entire year to see those shows again. So it was exciting, it was like, “Wow, I remember this from last year.” You know, I mean my kids watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer now like once a month. So it’s just like, you know, hopefully the tradition will be able to stand up in the face of all this new technology.
Emily Rose: And you had to set your VHS’s, if and when you had one, to the specific time because if you missed it you would never be able to watch it again.
Eddie McClintock: Yes that’s right.
Colin Ferguson: Yes.
Eddie McClintock: Colin, how was my answer?
Colin Ferguson: Your answer was great Eddie. I’m doing all my calls with you too.
Is there a different atmosphere around the set when filming the holiday special versus just your average everyday episode?
Colin Ferguson: Yes there is.
Emily Rose: Yes.
Eddie McClintock: Well for us it was our last episode so when we finished, we were all able to leave Toronto and go back to our respective lives. So it was very joyous for me. Nothing against Toronto but my life is here in LA and I spend six months in Toronto in the middle of winter alone.
Emily Rose: I hear you brother, I hear you.
With Eureka being now essentially being over, any chance we’ll continue to see Christmas specials or crossovers?
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.
Emily, Could you talk a little more about celebrating Christmas in July?
Emily Rose: Oh right. 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.
Is there anything special you guys are looking forward to doing in the upcoming months?
Colin Ferguson: Yes, I’m looking forward to getting my floors back so I can turn the heat on. It’s – that’d be great.
Eddie McClintock: We take our boys over to Scottsdale to see their grand-pappy, my dad. And that’s really kind of what has become the new tradition for us is being able to take our – we drive over to Scottsdale and hang out with my dad for a while. And my dad gets to see my boys.
Emily Rose: We, my husband and I, we end up taking our little miniature schnauzer dog, because we don’t have any kids yet and we hop on a plane. And he flies with us — I wish he got frequent flyer miles as well, but he doesn’t — and we fly to Seattle to visit my family for about a week and a half or so and then we leave from there and we go to Tennessee and visit his family. So we get a very wintery full family Christmas. We still split the holiday between both families and then come back to LA.
And but I’ve already put the tree up here and decorated the house and tried to make it as holiday here as I can before we leave, because we’re always here for such a little time. But we always look forward to visiting family over the holidays and connecting with everybody and it’s a blast.
One of the traditions that we have every year as we become adults that I’m not going to get to do this year because we won’t be in Seattle past Christmas, is normally we don’t end up buying each other presents or anything and we wait until the sales start up the day after Christmas.
And we all hop in the car and we go – we ask like my dad what store he wants to go to to get his presents when there’s the sales, and we go to all the different stores together as a family and go shopping for the present, with the person that wants the present. So we avoid the wrapping and we get to spend time together, and everybody gets exactly what they want, and I’ll be missing that this year. But it’s a fun tradition.
Does doing a holiday episode off-season affect your perspective of the actual holiday?
Colin Ferguson: Yes, I mean for me it’s a really great feeling, strangely. It seems like it would be cheesy, it seems like it would be forced, it seems like it would be a lot of artifice and – but it’s not. You dress up the sets and you have everybody, you know, pretending that it’s Christmas and, “Oh it’s so cold and rainy,” and it’s really fun.
It’s a great, great place to shoot. And it’s fun shooting it out of sequence. I mean it’s a pain because you’re sweating and it’s 30 degrees and you have a coat on. But besides that, it’s actually a lot of fun to bring Christmas into July. It’s like you’re Australian.
What would your Christmas wish be for your character’s futures?
Emily Rose: What an interesting question.
Eddie McClintock: I guess I’d like Steve – or Steve, I don’t even know my character’s name. I guess I’d like Pete to find himself a good woman. You know, he gets tired of being alone at night back at Leena’s.
Emily Rose: I think I would wish a great holiday online shopping for Audrey, that there would be some better – some great accessible stores for her to go and shop in so that she can continue to have a really amazing wardrobe for the consecutive seasons. No I think I would just – I would always hope for Audrey that she would find out more about her mother or her previous, you know, memories or whatnot. I will always be begging writers to dive more into that and kind of (unintelligible) more because it’s so intriguing. And whenever I do get to look into her past, I get to dress up in really cool period costumes. So that’s what I would hope for for her.
Colin Ferguson: I think for Jack it would be a simpler wish of just raising a family again, in a sense properly and continuing to do what he does in the town. I think he belongs there, I think the town should sort of go off, you know, and do what it does forever. So I – my wish would be that he gets to settle in and have a real family community small town life. I think it would do well for him to have that.
Eddie. So your episode is very much It’s a Wonderful Life. Were you a fan of that film and did you try to incorporate anything from that into your performance in this?
Eddie McClintock: I mean I don’t know. 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.
Emily, Eddie talked about shippers; have you heard of them before and do you get lots of shippers telling you who they’d want Audrey with?
Emily Rose: Oh yes, oh yes. I wasn’t aware of that term until – well I’d never heard it until we actually started our show. And then when I got on Twitter and was made aware of all of the fan videos that people were making for Audrey and Nathan and Duke and Audrey, it was – I heard that term floating around a bunch, you know with shippers, which is kind of, you know, very funny for our show and where we film. But yes, I’ve been made aware of each and it’s really interesting like to see all the new fan videos and things that pop up for people wanting which relationship to work out. It’s fun for me. It’s good to keep the tension on both ends and it’s a fun thing for me to sit back and watch.
Well if you had your druthers, who would she be with?
Emily Rose: The classic question, the classic question. I – a girl…
Eddie McClintock: Me. She’d choose me right?
Colin Ferguson: Emily it’s me, right?
Emily Rose: I know, you mean between Eddie and Colin, well… [How could you choose?!] I know, the story of – a story of my life apparently right?
Eddie, in your episode, what was your favorite moment and what was the most challenging?
Eddie McClintock: I’m trying to think. I think any chance for Pete to nestle his head between Mrs. Frederic’s ample bosom, I think that’ll be a fan favorite. And that kind of comes out of nowhere. And that was really fun because everybody’s so – the viewers and the – everybody on the show, all the characters on the show are so afraid of Mrs. Frederic and the fact that she ends up spending Christmas with us and Pete gets to give her a big hug at the end.
I don’t know if that’s a spoiler or not but that whole scene there at the end with everybody there, and you know, when Pete tells them how happy he is to have them in his life and how much he loves them it was really nice for me because I really feel that way about my cast-mates. So it was a sneak chance for me to tell everybody how I felt about them and then just be able to say, “Hey it’s just my character.” So I would say the funnest part for me was that – the last scene there where everybody kind of comes together.
Emily, Now that Haven has shot its first Christmas special do you feel the series has finally come into its own within the Syfy Network?
Emily Rose: Yes it’s very much, I feel really honored to be on this call with Colin and Eddie, and feel honored to be so welcomed into the Syfy family. They did an amazing job of that and I felt the same way when the network asked us to do a Christmas episode.
I mean it was, like I said earlier, kind of like a good faith gesture in I thought to us before the season even started like that, “We want you to be around during the holidays.” It’s like getting invited to a party. It’s like, “Sure yes I’ll come, that’s great. You want me to be there? That’s wonderful.”
So I do feel like Haven is the kind of small town environment that is, you know, that’s conducive to a Christmas episode. So I think that those two things go hand-in-hand. But the fact that it’s part of – sort of like a Stephen Kingy show is kind of interesting to be doing like a Christmas episode in that sort of genre.
But I, definitely it’s a way that I feel very much welcomed into the Syfy family. You know, it’s neat to be included in that lineup over the holidays, it’s neat to have people want to sit with the characters through that experience. And it’s definitely an honor and a blessing. And I’m super thankful for it.
Emily, did you find that there were a lot of parallels between Audrey’s experience in the town and this holiday kind of happening at the wrong time?
Emily Rose: Yes that’s an interesting question. I mean if there’s a common theme with Audrey consistently feeling like an outsider. And we revisit that scene frequently in the show. It kind of has disappeared a bit in the second season as she’s belonged more in the town. But this holiday episode is definitely one that revisits that because she’s the only one that’s experiencing – or should I say, “Not experiencing Christmas.” She’s the only one that doesn’t think that it’s happening and thinks that it’s foolish and why would it be happening in July? So again, she’s feeling on the outside and has to try to solve things and kind of get everything back on track on her own. But she’s pretty good at that, so nothing to worry about.
What are the three of you looking forward to most this Christmas?
Eddie McClintock: For me like I said, “I really like going over and seeing my dad.” He lives over in Scottsdale, and my two sons, Jack and Max, they love their pap-pap. And my dad’s not getting any younger and so any chance that I get to go spend time with him. And I actually have someone who will sit and watch football with me, because it doesn’t happen here. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. So it’s good to be able to spend time with my dad.
Emily Rose: I always look forward to seeing my family. I really, really do because like Eddie said, “Your gone for half of the year, and when you kind of enter that black hole of production, that you disappear from everything and everyone. It’s just so wonderful to come back to sort of a normal life and spend time with family and catch up with them. And then I also just look forward to seasons. I mean I’m from Washington and my husband’s from Tennessee. And so I love being in the cold weather and I love that it might snow. And I love all of those things so seeing fir trees and snow and the lights of Seattle all lit up — I look forward to all of those things, they make me really happy.
Colin Ferguson: I always look forward – this sounds odd, but my favorite thing about the holidays is that it means the New Year is coming and I love a new year. I love the spring is going to come shortly after that and I’m – I like that a lot. I’m not a big holiday guy. I’m looking forward to having my house back so that I can invite friends over and sort of sit around and laugh and not have them have sweaters and hats on. But what are you – you know, they’re good friends, they come over anyway. But yes, that’s what I’m looking forward to. It’s simple but that’s what it is.
What was your favorite childhood toy that you played with?
Emily Rose: Oh my goodness.
Colin Ferguson: For me…
Eddie McClintock: I remember waking up one Christmas morning and my parents had gotten me The Guns of Navarone action set. So it was, you know…
Colin Ferguson: What?
Eddie McClintock: …this like plastic mountain with the two guns.
Colin Ferguson: That exists?
Eddie McClintock: There was a bunch of German soldiers. And then I had like American landing ships and commandos. And then I got tanks and stuff. And then I had like a rubber alligator that I’d put in the water. And the rubber alligator would eat the guys and then the Germans would fall into the water and then the alligator would eat them too.
Emily Rose: Wow.
Colin Ferguson: I’m stunned that that exists. That’s like the Deer Hunter action set; it’s just not something you think would…
Eddie McClintock: I swear to God. I mean the Guns of Navarone; I had it.
Colin Ferguson: That’s great. I guess mine would be, I had like the big wheel when you were a kid, I had a – it was called a cobra and it was black, so it was ever so slightly cooler. And yes, I loved that. I used to take that around the neighborhood. That was my favorite.
Emily Rose: I was a child of an engineer and a child of the 80s so technology was just up and coming in so many areas. So everything from the Atari to the Speak & Spell, to anything that like had lights and was technologically like advanced for the time, that was the thing that I was very excited about.
That and like the little, like radio shack like cash register where I could like play store in my room. Anything that I could make believe and be another character was tops on my list.
Do you guys remember the popcorn balls? And if so, do/did you eat them?
Emily Rose: Oh wow.
Colin Ferguson: I don’t.
Emily Rose: I never. Yes, no I never had them. I never had them. They scared my teeth.
Eddie McClintock: Yes to me, I though the popcorn balls were like fruit cake or whatever.
Emily Rose: Yes.
Eddie McClintock: You know, it’s like you talked about it, but you never – and you saw it, but no one ever really ate…
Emily Rose: You never went there, yes.
Colin Ferguson: Happy holidays, yes you too. I’ve never heard of popcorn balls. This is like Guns of Navarone action figures and popcorn.
Emily Rose: It’s like a…
Colin Ferguson: Like I’m from another dimension.
Emily Rose: It’s like a hard candy large softball sized ball of popcorn that’s stuck together by forms of something…
Emily Rose: …glue or whatever. It’s just not right.
Colin Ferguson: Wow.
Eddie McClintock: They have protein balls where your…
What are you guys looking forward to doing when you go back to filming?
Eddie McClintock: Well for me I get to go back and see my extended family. You know, including – it’s tough to go to Canada for me, I mean it’s hard to leave my home and my sons, my wife, and everything that I’ve worked really hard to accomplish here in LA. But the upside for me obviously is I get to continue working on my show, on a show that I really enjoy, and I get to see the people that I’ve been on this journey with. And I get to explore more and have a good time making a show that people seem to enjoy. Other than that I have nothing else to say.
Emily Rose: I think I did a tiny little guest spot just this last week on Harry’s Law. And it was a lot of fun. And it was so fun to be working on something again. And they have a great crew and it was a great group of people. I had a blast. But I had that realization that when you have a gift of your own show like that, like what Eddie’s talking about, it’s like you miss that family and you miss them, and you miss what a great – you know, everybody always says, “Oh thank you to the great crew.” But when you have a great crew, it’s just – it’s fantastic.
So for me I – as much as I hate leaving Los Angeles because I love my friends and family and everything here, it’s like this alter world I get to go and live in and this tiny little small, small, small town that I get to have a little house that I never would have a million years thought I’d be living for five months out of the year in Nova Scotia, Canada. And I love walking to the little pub down the Street and I love having family dinners with our cast and crew at (Nicky)’s and I look forward to all of those little things. And then look – I look forward to the crazy special effects things that the guys do on our show.
Like for this Christmas episode, we had tons of snow in it and in one point and we got to do the whole thing like covered in bubbles. And that was just like random. So there’s always some weird gag that we’re going to end up having to get through and do. And it’s a fun part about making a Syfy show; it’s a blast.
Colin Ferguson: Oh well, we’re not going back but if I was it would be similar. It’s the fun that you get to do, it’s the locations you get to visit that you wouldn’t get to visit any other way, it’s the access you have to the latest toys and the latest techniques. And it’s nice to have stuff to talk about. You know, and that keeps you vital and even the frustrations are amazing because you – it’s like war stories that bind you to the people you’re working with. So yes, I’m going to miss all that for sure.
Eddie McClintock: But you get to go to conventions with me now Colin.
Colin Ferguson: Exactly.
Emily Rose: Conventions.
Colin Ferguson: Let’s go to Germany.
Eddie McClintock: Yes, we’re going to go to Germany and take our shirts off.
Colin Ferguson: Yes, Dusseldorf, absolutely.
Emily Rose: With the alligators.
Eddie McClintock: You know what Colin – I don’t know if you saw this but we – Colin and I were in Australia together and they asked us at this convention to put on these white t-shirts and draw on them. So Colin and I were drawing on our t-shirts, we’re drawing on each other’s t-shirts. And then we auctioned the t-shirts off and there’s this – there’s these sci-fi writers that wrote this piece, and the guy wrote me and said, “Hey Eddie, will you re-Tweet this?” So I went and read it and it said, “Eddie McClintock and Colin Ferguson put on their white t-shirts. Colin’s t-shirt brought in quite a bit more money than Eddie’s.” I was like, “Okay, that’s okay. That’s all right, yes.” And I keep reading and then they’re like – and then he’s like, “And excuse me readers, I’m not gay but man when Colin Ferguson took off his shirt, he was built like a tank under there.” He goes, “Eddie McClintock also took off his shirt but he wasn’t nearly as attractive.”
Emily Rose: What?
Eddie McClintock: Swear to God, someone wrote that. So I didn’t…
Colin Ferguson: That’s not true.
Eddie McClintock: I swear to God the guy’s like, “Will you re-Tweet this?” And I was like, “Sure, this is my favorite sentence from the piece; Colin…” I just was like, “Really dude?”
For the last eight weeks I’ve been running like 17 miles a day and like I’ve got a picture of Colin’s tank-like physique posted on my mirror in the bathroom downstairs. I’m like Rocky, “I’ll show them. Make me eat vegemite.” Okay back to you people. Sorry.
