Breaking News: Gemini 2010 Noms Announced!

Lots of Reasons for the Moon Chase Blog Network to Celebrate!

This morning, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced nominations for the 2010 Gemini Awards, and both of our blogs (Moon Chase and We Got The Solution) have stars that we follow nominated! Though this year, there are less stars from Sailor Moon nominated ( ☽:( ), once again Flashpoint is leading the pack with 15 nominations in 11 categories! Congratulations to everyone who has been nominated and we will keep you updated with the winners come November. The lone nominee from Sailor Moon this year is Catherine Disher (Mimet) for her work on the Canadian drama The Border. There are too many nominated from Flashpoint to name in one sentence, but there is a special case where a Flashpoint star guested in another TV show, and is against two other guest stars from Flashpoint!


So here come the nominees! The productions that they are nominated for are in bold, but if you see a gold star next to their name(★), it means they were also in Flashpoint or Sailor Moon).



Best Dramatic Series

Durham County
(Back Alley Film Productions Ltd. /Muse Entertainment Ent. Inc., Muse Entertainment Enterprise)
Adrienne Mitchell, Laurie Finstad Knizhnik, Janis Lundman, Michael Prupas
Flashpoint★
(Flashpoint Season 2, Pink Sky Inc., Avamar Ent)
Anne Marie La Traverse, Bill Mustos
Republic of Doyle
(Republic Season II Inc., Malachy Season 1, Inc.)
Allan Hawco, Rob Blackie, John Vatcher
Stargate Universe
(Stargate Universe I Inc.)
Brad Wright, Carl Binder, Robert Cooper, John Lenic, N. John Smith
The Tudors
(Peace Arch Entertainment, PA Tudors III Inc., TM Productions)
John Weber, Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan

Best Achievement in Casting

Deirdre Bowen - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
John Buchan CSA, Jason Knight - The Summit
Stephanie Gorin - Guns
Andrea Kenyon, Wendy O'Brien, Marissa Richmond, Randi Wells - Durham County - "Little Lost Children"
Marissa Richmond - Flashpoint - "Perfect Storm"★

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series

Clé Bennett - The Line - "Episode 203", "Episode 206"
Sergio Di Zio - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move", "The Good Citizen"★
Genadijs Dolganovs - The Bridge - "Painted Ladies", "Chain of Fools"
Sebastian Pigott - Being Erica - "Yes We Can", "The Unkindest Cut"
Mark Taylor - Flashpoint - "Exit Wounds", "One Wrong Move"★

Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series

Enrico Colantoni - Cra$h & Burn - "Lawyers, Guns & Money"★
Christopher Heyerdahl - Sanctuary - "Haunted"
Michael Riley - Flashpoint - "Coming To You Live"★
Hugh Thompson - Flashpoint - "Business As Usual"★
Kristopher Turner - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Family Practice"


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series

Catherine Disher - The Border - "The Dead", "Dark Ride"★
Eve Harlow - The Guard – "Boom", "Last Night"
Reagan Pasternak - Being Erica - "Shhh...Don't Tell", "Under My Thumb"
Jessica Steen - Flashpoint - "Clean Hands", "The Perfect Family"★
Rachel Wilson - Republic of Doyle - "Return of the Grievous Angel", "Blood is Thicker Than Blood"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series

Ona Grauer - Flashpoint - "The Fortress"★
Laurence Leboeuf - Flashpoint - "The Perfect Family"★
Tatiana Maslany - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
Debra Lynne McCabe - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
Anastasia Phillips - Murdoch Mysteries - "Me, Myself, & Murdoch"

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series

David Frazee - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Andy Mikita - Stargate Universe - "Air Part 1"
Adrienne Mitchell - Durham County - "Little Lost Children"
Jeremy Podeswa - The Tudors - "Episode 308"
Stephen Surjik - Flashpoint - "Aisle 13"★

Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series

Amin Bhatia, Ari Posner - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Robert Carli - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Isolation"
Robert Carli - Murdoch Mysteries - "Me, Myself, & Murdoch"
Joel Goldsmith - Stargate Universe - "Light"
James Jandrisch - The Guard - "At Sea"
Trevor Morris - The Tudors - "Episode 304"

Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series

James Jeffrey - Murdoch Mysteries - "The Murdoch Identity"
Glen MacPherson - Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story
Jim Menard - Stargate Universe - "Light"
Stephen Reizes - Flashpoint - "Behind The Blue Line"★
Michael Storey - Republic of Doyle - "The Fall of the Republic"

Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series

Rick Martin - Stargate Universe - "Human"
Lara Mazur, C.C.E. - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Vesna Svilanović - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Unhappy Endings"
Arthur Tarnowski - The Phantom
Jeff Warren - Guns

Best Writing in a Dramatic Series

Philip Bedard, Larry Lalonde - Murdoch Mysteries - "Hangman"
Jeremy Boxen - Cra$h & Burn - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Mark Haroun - Heartland - "The Haunting of Hanley Barn"
Alex Levine - The Border - "Missing In Action"
Ian Weir - Flashpoint - "The Fortress"★

To check out the rest of the nominees, click here! Congratulations to everyone nominated from Flashpoint and Sailor Moon once again, and best of luck in November!

Flashpoint Fan Panel at Polaris

Polaris was this past weekend, this year hosted in Richmond Hill, Ontario (just north of Toronto). I attended the con and, since I announced the We Got the Solution blog at the Flashpoint panel, I'm providing a summary for those of you who couldn't make it.

For those that did make it, welcome to our blog! It was great chatting with some of you in person.

Here's the panel description from the program:

Flashpoint, where Toronto is itself

Description: If you haven't caught an episode of it yet, drop by and learn a bit about the characters in the series as well as the inspirations behind this Toronto-made police drama.
Panelists*: Deanna Toxopeus, Robin Marwick
*Unfortunately, programming is missing the name of one of the panelists. If anyone can supply her name, please list it in the comments and I'll add it.

Discussing the Primary Characters and the Show

This included snippets about the primary cast, some secondary characters, and some temporary characters. The fact that Donna (Jessica Steen) was made likable and felt like she could easily become a permanent addition to the cast was noted. As fans, we appreciate that even temporary characters are made to be likable and memorable.

In discussing elements that make the show unique, the focus was on the way that good versus evil is not black and white. We're often given reason to sympathize with or understand the motivations behind the supposed villain(s).

Everyone wanted to see more of Spike (Sergio Di Zio) and Lewis (Mark Taylor), so that we can learn more about their characters. We also discussed how the members of the SRU are normal people, not superheroes. This was made very clear when Greg's mentor, Sergeant Daniel Rangford, appeared in "Haunting the Barn."

The "I got the solution" catchphrase was mentioned as being more open to interpretation than saying outright that they have a kill shot, when the solution could be something else (or they could be using non-lethal ammo). There was speculation about whether or not Toronto's Emergency Task Force actually says something similar.

There was mention of Colantoni's former role as Keith Mars on Veronica Mars (If you're a fan of his character on Flashpoint, I definitely recommend checking out Veronica Mars). One of the panelists mentioned that Colantoni was initially unsure of taking the role of Sergeant Greg Parker when he heard about it, but was convinced by his brother to accept. Colantoni's character is very likable on the show and the panelists remarked that they really liked his gentle approach for negotiating as well as the technique to realistically relate to the subject to help calm them down.

Mentioning Amy Jo Johnson's previous role as the Pink Ranger was inevitable. An audience member said he thought it would be funny if they slipped and called her "Kimberly" in Flashpoint once, instead of Jules. The panelists found it refreshing that the character of Jules set the boundaries for her relationship with Sam, refusing to leave her position on the team.

The panelists also mentioned that Hugh Dillon has been pretty busy recently, working on Durham County and a new music album.

Filming in Toronto

The panelists and audience were in agreement that it's nice to see a show filmed as well as set in Toronto. Comments were made about recognizable locations as well as some edits made to directions in some of the on-the-road shots. Also, the amusement park in "The Perfect Family" was noted in the panel as being Canada's Wonderland.

Some comments were made about movies and series that are filmed in Toronto but supposedly set elsewhere. There were some chuckles about the CN tower appearing in the skyline of some "filmed in Toronto but set in a U.S. city" films.

Quite a few people indicated that they'd be interested in a set tour of some of the filming locations for Flashpoint, and it was suggested that perhaps next year a tour be organized of various film and television sets for shows filmed in Toronto. I'm sure a comparison of the sets for Flashpoint and Murdoch Mysteries would be interesting!

Auction Items

A set of Flashpoint items was a part of the charity auction at Polaris, with the proceeds going to Gilda's Club. The Flashpoint items up for auction included a copy of the pilot script signed by the cast and writers, a Flashpoint promotional poster signed by the four main cast members, and two Strategic Response Unit hats.

I've heard that the auction set went for $200 to the SRU cosplayer who attended the Flashpoint panel, but this is unconfirmed. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the cosplayer, but he had a great costume.