http://tv.ign.com/articles/835/835266p1.html

IGN TV: So is that true that you haven’t locked picture on any show but the first?

Friedman: Yes.

IGN TV: And you’ve not been back since this started?

Friedman: No, I’ve not been back.

- IGNJosh Friedman with star Lena Headey.
IGN TV: It seems a bit strange, because we saw you some time ago and you were shooting episode four at the time.

Friedman: Well, I think because we’re a mid-season show, we’ve had some extra post (production) time. We’re also a very post-intensive show because of the CGI. I think we’ve just been a little slower to actually lock. We’ve been going back and getting a few pickups here and there. The day that I left, all of the sudden we were talking about having a “saga-sell” or recap, which was going to add time and I was going to have cut. So when I left I’d thought we had cut at least the first episode, but then I found that we had not. It’s very nerve wracking. I have a very good non-writing producer, who is in there doing the best that he can. But editing is writing and it’s another way to make your vision known. It’s very frustrating for me not to be there. I have the choice. I can be there per my contract, but to me everything comes from writing and I just can’t imagine walking past writers who aren’t getting paid in order to pick up my producing paycheck. That just seems immoral.

( yeah right Josh )

Josh Friedman: There will be Terminators. There will sometimes be pursuit. There will be Terminators in a lot of it, and there’s also a Skynet component to the show. There’s a detective; an FBI guy. Richard Jones’s character will be looking for them. I have some really kind of big ideas that I’m not gonna share yet, but I think people who are fans of the series will really be excited about it. Stuff that I know people have been wanting to see for a few years I think we’re gonna take a crack at, at some point. Some really cool stuff. “”
(So hes plug his show same time Drones are coming out of wooedwork around him.)

http://tv.ign.com/articles/798/798086p1.html
IGN TV: How did you come to be involved in this series?
Friedman: They came to me a little over a year ago. Warner Bros had the TV rights, and I’d written a TV script for them before. We’d always wanted to work together, but I had told them I didn’t want to really do anything with them unless they had something that was just great and that everyone was excited about and I wasn’t about to twist anyone’s arm to get on the air. And I got a phone call one day that was like, “So… We are gonna do The Terminator after T2, with Sarah Connor.” “Oh! Yeah, that sounds like something I might be interested in!” And I went in and talked to them, kind of laid out some ideas for them, and we went from there. So it’s been a long time in the making.
That means they were talking may 2006, and actually..signed deal august 28 2006.

(The Fix was In a long time)

Now, Let’s stop for a second and reflect on what the custom is movie business.
when using a similar story star trek
Scroll down to Production
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena
“According to an account by Herbert Solow in the book “Inside Star Trek, The Real Story”[1], the relation to Brown’s story may have been an unconscious inspiration. After Coon had written what he thought was an original script, Desilu’s research department noted the similarity. It was therefore agreed that Desilu’s Business Affarirs office would call Brown and offer a fair price for the story, before it was shot and broadcast. Brown agreed without knowing that the story had already been written.”

Now to re emphasize Brucsimms point, as well as mine, and several other sites, but which most devotees here know very well is you just don’t take someone elses script posted at dedicated website, and it does read like a script, ….change a name, barely modify the craft..and incorporate it into your show without even a credit acknowledgement..unless its possibly your to begin with by pen in hand or by purchase.

So we know that a writer of Joshs caliber, the Showrunner, The man in charge, with a fundamentalist persective, on writers rights.. would never violate a writers code, the episodes up to four had already been done and in post production by the time of writers strike..Thanks to that interviewers question and Joshs almost convoluted answer.. at IGN..
And we know that the at least one of skynet craft he alluded to on June 20,
2007 is imo, that craft we saw recently on the end scene..of chronicles
The same 2week period Drones were popping up .

He then makes this statement in letter to Bruce..
“”It never occurred to me that anyone would use their inclusion in our show to cast any doubt onto the drones authenticity”"

Now, This is so patently false for a man in the business because thats Thats one of first things people will think and did..they said aha viral!
They may be a hoax–it’s ultimately a matter of faith for many–but the fact that the drones are discussed on TSCC is only a testament to their hold on my imagination.” is about the only credible part.
Just like he did with that IGN interviewer asked why he was shooting a scene during the writers strike, he carefully sidestepped, that it was for production already and went on to say how terrible for writers not to get their rewards.

This is how good liars mix half truth and half lies and ommissions , Its the essence of their business in sci fi, even some journalism and PR when doing damage control.
But to say he never thought anyone would think that is an insult to everyone! But its a good way to avoid being called a liar..
Just that he couldn’t recall that at the time.

If anyone knows the value of internet buzz its him when he created buzz for the movie Snakes a Plane
He is a heavy blogger and buzz fanatic.
Thus the reference to that Blogger Abraham in that episode. A tongue in cheek reference to himself..you might say.
His writers did not remove the name Isaac until that episode was shot.
It was in play all along.

How do we answer that question?
..How could he do that and take a legal risk not be sued?
A. it was his story possible.
He is a heavy blogger and buzz fanatic.
Thus the reference to that Blogger Abraham in that episode. A tongue in cheek reference you might say.
His writers did not remove the name Isaac until that episode was shot.

B. The materials and elements were already Warners
The marketing and design studio and writers like Josh whedon have worked on Terminator, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, X files, Star Trek
therefore making it simple to draw things such as design, alien fonts, etc.
No need to reinvent the wheel. No need to get permission..if there was ever a need because
because it was already there before that silly site, started by a Lawyer, with no prior history in UFOs
no less..
It helps if the 2 biggest promoters of the drone LMH and Strieber, worked with Warners in prior deals
. As that will help them in future deals with same people. in fact. Strieber signed a contract for a separate movie on June 15 2007, with Warners.
LMH and c2c George Noory with show appearances on sc-fi .

It helps if do interviews just before the comicon conference in July 2007.
who’s kidding who folx. After July the CA drones never came back to haunt us except thru TSCC.
Deja Vu indeed.

c. Some combination of the two
I would not doubt in the least.

Some references to Zoic
Thanx to SPF33 at OM

zoic studios is credited on serenity and tssc for effects. and many other joss whedon projects – buffy the vampire slayer, angel.
http://www.whedon.info/Loni-Peristere-on-Serenity-Special.html

scrolling through thousands of screencaps for Firefly(2002), Serenity(2005) and the latest whedon project Dollhouse(2009) gives a bit of insight into the design aesthetic of zoic and whedon.

this site has screencaps posted for every episode of Firefly (the tv show that birthed the serenity film). take a look while keeping the california drone and lap aesthetic in mind.

from the drone-like ship to the inside doorhandles to the sun-back chair at the table to the pattern on the girl’s shirt; a motif of a circle with radiating lines is shown all over the place;
http://still-flying.net/images/objectsinspace/

that’s just one episode. this motif is played out again and again through the series.

serenity(screencaps) being the film continuation of the canceled tv show firefly shares much of the same circle\radiating arm theme. not to mention the symbol on the door that appears to be the straight from the lap.

thinking this might just be sci-fi genre design coincidences i looked for some screencaps of the latest whedon project dollhouse, which i don’t watch and don’t know what it’s about.

here are the screen caps for dollhouse episode 1.
http://www.buffy.in/cpg133/thumbnails.php?album=45&page=1

circle. radiating arms.

after seeing this i then learned zoic also does the effects for dollhouse.

and of course zoic is credited on tssc.

too much drone on the brain?

zoic studios.
http://www.zoicstudios.com/
rectangle. radiating arms. literally.

Richard Hoagland?

My apologies, Ms. Tor.

If you read it on the internets, then it MUST be true! *sarcasm*

I want to believe. Please show me your proof that ghosts exist. What methods did you use to test for the presence of ghosts? How can I repeat your tests myself, to see if I get the same results?

The fact that someone like Gary Schwartz claims to have found scientific evidence for psychic abilities does not mean he is right. You might want to read the links in the Wiki article under “criticisms” … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Schwartz

If anyone could clearly demonstrate any of the various paranormal abilities under carefully controlled testing, they might have taken James Randi up on his challenge…
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge/challenge-application.html

Alas, scientists are a lot harder to fool than magicians.

Perhaps Starfire Tor would be up to the challenge. Easy money if any psychic abilities are real.

BTW, I do believe in lucid dreams.

Clear skies, Alan

Evidently you aren’t aware of the studies of psychics done by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. who is director of Human Energy Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Some interesting books he’s written are: The G.O.D. Experiments, The Energy Healing Experiments, The Truth About Medium, The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death, The Living Energy Universe.

Greg wrote:
“I followed that link. Surely you don’t consider that website “the truth”, do you?”

Every bit of it, Yes! Starfire Tor uses Scientific Methods to study & research each of these subjects.

Time Shifts, Reality Shifts, Co-Existing Time Lines, Multiple Dimensions, Vortex Portals, Time Travel, Time Wars, Psychic, Prophetic, Lucid Dreaming, Visions, Astral Travel, Out Of Body Experiences, Bi-Location, Near Death Experiences, Telepathy, ESP, Remote Psi Viewing, Angels, Spirit Guides, Beings Of Light, Miracles, Healing, Paranormal Phenomena, Apports, Telekinesis, Poltergeists, Ghosts, Hauntings, Reincarnation, UFOs, ET Encounters, Earth Enigmas, The Occult, Demonic Activity, Psychic + Energy Vampires, Mind Control,,, all of these subjects are part of our Unseen Reality. I don’t Think they are Real. I Know they are Real. I have had Personal Experiences with almost all of these. For me the Unseen Energetic Realms are more real than the Physical.

But, until you can have First Hand Experiences with the Other Realms, it’s best to be Skeptical, otherwise it’s just another “Religion” & Belief System.

I followed that link. Surely you don’t consider that website “the truth”, do you?

You said,

“There is so much more in heaven & earth than we can ever understand. “

I disagree. It would be more accurate to say, “There are many things that we can never know, based on the limitations of our reach.” Anything we can get our hands, eyes and ears on we can learn to understand. Most of the observable universe (other stars, galaxies, etc.) will be forever out of reach/out of time, but eventually we can come to understand just about everything going on around us right here on Earth.

If you think there’s something right here we cannot understand, please give an example.

I used to believe there must be something to all the UFO reports and accept the idea people might have psychic abilities. The more I read, the more skeptical I became. Although UFOs are tough to pin down, psychic abilities can and have been tested, and the results have been negative. Indeed, there would be a lot of folks getting grants money if there was any evidence for such things.

Personally, unless it is an article of faith, like religion, I think we can understand and unravel the world around us. It is a fascinating and wonderful place even without UFOs, psychic abilities, Time and Reality Shifting, and other such things.

Clear skies, Alan

Happy New Year! May 2009 treat you kindly.

Clear skies, Alan

credulous –adjective
1. willing to believe or trust too readily, esp. without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.

http://www.starfiretor.com/AerialDrones-I-3.htm
PART I – Page 3
“Shortly after Whitley Strieber introduced me to the ‘aerial drone’ mystery, I was approached by a group that wanted me to investigate the authenticity of the ‘aerial drone’ and related claims. I took on the task, and this report is an authorized abridged version of my confidential in depth report on the ‘aerial drone’ and related claims of 2007.”
[..........]

Wow – to put it kindly – there is one credulous individual!

Clear skies, Alan

Clear skies, Alan

Then there are the strange Earth-bound three-legged (very long) craft from the master H.G. Wells, and he did not see any reason to add “flight” as a necessary attribute for conquering the world, as heavier-than-air craft were still considered somewhat fanciful. Later when Science Fiction became more well known, it was the familar globe shape and later again, the ubiquitous disk shape that were popular. Presently the vehicle of choice is a huge “hole” in the air that one enters and is magically transported to “Wherever”!

Oh, and I nearly forgot, “Beam me up Scotty!”

The common feature here is that the present technology at the time is the basis of the idea for “Spaceships”, but given a magical ability that is the “wow” factor for the reader or viewer. Flying fast, and with utmost control, and even hovering, gave way to HUGE craft that were even capable of music renditions. Then of course we had to have the Space Westerns – the stories were little different from common Western stories, only riding in space fighters, and guess what? all wrapped up in a mystical philosophy, but still fighting territory wars.

Have we really come a long way? Nah.

Ivan.

*obligatory Douglas Adams refernece

I don’t know? If these drones that “hover” are real, then they do so by means of unorthodox propulsion, and I would say magnetic in origin. AND not everyone who witnessed the “drones” has simply vanished.

There can be no doubt that these drones are man made, because they have human hand written all over them, either in CAD or real photos, even the so called alien writting actual looks to much like us, so is anyone really ready to concede CARET cannot be real?

It can not be too hard to imagine that binary code must be written in only 0 and 1′s? That there is no other language in math that could apply. That binary code is not in fact, just baby steps, at least for us?

Easy for you to say!

Actually, I’ve never seen a single episode of TSCC, despite thoroughly enjoying 2-and-a-half of the Terminator movies. (T3 had some good elements, but overall was not on par with the others.) I’m still waiting for the last season of Battlestar Galactica.

There’s a little more you can glean from a photo like this, but it has nothing to do with what you actually see in the image (well, it does, but indirectly.)

First and foremost, context is all. What else is going on around this image? Anyone who has even a passing interest in pop culture knows about tv shows, movies, and video games. Anyone who knows a bit more, knows about CGI, maybe knows about a few of the people behind the scenes, and the business in general.

So, what’s the context of this specific image? The most important bit is the TV show, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which continues the story started in the “Terminator” movies. Since T2, these movies – and now the TV show – have relied heavily on computer generated images for their FX. So there are a lot of people out there who routinely use software such as Lightwave and other 3D modeling and animation programs to create robots, aircraft, and other cool looking stuff to fit in this series’ universe. These same people also know about and work on other projects, and so continue the tradition of building in gags and other “homages” to other properties. (Note: this is a fine old FX tradition predating CGI by a long time. Note that the model makers who built the mothership in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” added texture to the model by sticking on miniature R2-D2s, airplanes, graveyards, anything and everything. A model of the Millennium Falcon can be seen as one of the “buildings” in “Bladerunner.” And so on.)

There are also several websites out there (Google the subject) that incorporate wireframe, pre-rendered images of the “ufo” in question, clearly grabbed from a Lightwave or similar CGI tool.

Then you move on to the nature of the entertainment industry. After the success of “Blair Witch Project” and its (brilliant) viral marketing campaign, publicists and marketers learned the value of this sort of planted story, especially among the rabid fans in the sci-fi and FX world. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who believe “Blair Witch” is a real documentary. Many of the same people probably bought in to the similar type of campaign launched for “Cloverfield.”

Finally, you actually turn on your TV set and watch “Sarah Connor Chronicles,” the special effects of which were done in part by Zoic Studios, which just happens to be a flashy CGI house that does effects for commercials and TV and, like all CGI companies, employs lots of people who are sci-fi geeks and computer geeks and video game geeks. (I use geek in a positive manner.) In watching the show, you see an episode where these drone things are buzzing around…and hey! They’re the exact same computer models! The markings are exactly the same! (Including the inside joke of incorporating the “language” from the Halo video game on the wing thingy of the drone).

Now, knowing the entertainment industry and how it loves its moneys, you have to ask, Would a studio like Fox use a design “borrowed” from the web on its very expensive and high-profile TV series? Would it risk the inevitable lawsuit brought someone claiming they ripped off their design? No…freaking…way. More likely, the CGI images – probably from an early test composite – were given to the publicists (did I mention Zoic does a lot of commercials?), and from there they made their way to the web at the start of a very successful publicity campaign, which just happened to get messed up a bit because the show went into hiatus for a while because of the writer’s strike in Hollywood.

So, while it’s true that you cannot prove anything about this image, what you can do is make some very educated speculations about it, above and beyond what you actually “see” in the picture.

You’ll have to do better than that. Remember, if you’re making the claim, you have to provide the evidence.