Kathryn Morris UK

Colony Goes To Vancouver

*** Spoiler alert ***

This post will contain some references to the Colony season two finale. Stop now if you don’t want know anything.

As one show leaves the Canadian city of Vancouver another books its tickets for a visit in a few months.

Season two of the sci-fi-ish drama series Colony from the USA Network came to an end in America last week with the airing of the 13th episode of the 2017 run. Days before then it was announced that the show had been renewed for a third season. Part of the news was that filming would move from Los Angeles, California, to Vancouver.

As the show has been very firmly set in Los Angeles, with lots of on location and little studio-based work, it looked potentially have made things difficult for the production. The decision was largely a financial one as the tax breaks California offers to TV shows and movies to film in the state are limited in number and was no longer available to Colony. As it happens season 2 ended with the Bowman family (Josh Holloway, Sarah Wayne Callies and three kids) leaving the LA ‘block’ (the city walled in by the invading alien ‘hosts’) signalling a potential major shift in focus going forward. Who knew that just outside LA was Vancouver Potentially damaging to a show that moves so far from LA is the possible loss of cast members. Not all actors will want to spend several months away each year. Colony being a relatively short run may not suffer as much as one of the big 20+ episodes series.

Colony season one ended with the first evidence of what awaited those sent to ‘the factory’ as punishment by the ‘hosts’. It was a base on the moon. With Kathryn’s character being taken away by the authorities for hoarding works of art she was supposed to be collecting for the ‘hosts’ her chances of being seen again were slim. That glimpse of her possible fate gave rise to hope we might see her again. She might have been able to use her skill of manipulating others to improve her circumstances.

Sadly the only time we saw Kathryn’s Charlotte during the season 2 run was during a couple of ‘previously on…’ flashbacks highlighting the type of person her husband was, a political animal giving her up to the ‘hosts’ to save his own position. With the move to outside the block it seems even more unlikely that Kathryn will be making any further appearances in Colony. She is part of the show’s universe though so you never know.

All of which adds up to this probably being the last KM UK post on the subject.

Reverie Leaves Vancouver

A quick Reverie update.

There isn’t much to report beyond the fact that the principal photography finished, much as expected, at the beginning of this week. We last looked at the show back in mid-March when filming started.

Sadly we didn’t see any evidence of Kathryn’s involvement during the three week production schedule. Presumably she spent a few days on set for her scenes as Monica Shaw, an official from the Department Of Defense looking to make use of a virtual reality system that’s gone a little awry in the way only the DoD can.

Now the show will go in post production: editing, adding visual effects, and sound/music. Once complete TV show pilots will be put to the network executives, NBC in this case, for them to judge whether to go forward to a series order. Changes may be requested, possibly even requiring re-filming of scenes. It will be in competition with other shows for space in the schedule. The presence of the sort-after Sarah Shahi following her successful run in the much liked Person Of Interest puts the show in a strong position. The possibility of Kathryn’s return to the small screen can’t hurt either.

All we can now is wait for more news on whether Reverie gets to more on to the next round.

To mark the end of the part of the process I’ve added a few photos posted in various places by some of the cast and crew to the KM UK Gallery. See them HERE.

The Protocol Becomes Marvel-lous – April Fool

As the phrase goes: mighty oaks grow from tiny acorns.

My post at the beginning of the week about the short film The Protocol appears to have shaken that tree.

News reached KM UK Towers over night that this little project, largely put together by a group of friends, is in the process of being developed into a new branch of the Marvel Universe. That’s what has driven the recent resurrection of the short film.

Early in its life The Protocol was said to be a pilot for a television series. Despite the most recent description we saw showed it returning to being a small movie, it has in fact once again become a prototype for TV. It would sit alongside the other Marvel shows on various networks.

If you’ve watched the short video clip from The Protocol you’ll have picked up the hints that Kathryn’s character, Flair Loop as she is known, is not ‘normal’. She is in some way ‘other’. A mutant perhaps. You will also be aware that Xen Sams and Max Ryan are playing some form of agents. Hmmm. Marvel. Agents. All the clues were there.

The idea is that every episode will involve a new unknown to deal with. The titular ‘protocol’ refers to the agreed way of dealing with this kind of situation by S.H.I.E.L.D. A new protocol will need to be employed for each. No doubt there’ll be plenty for which there are no written guidelines. The squad will have to wing it on those.

In the case seen in the short film Flair Loop is harbouring the next generation of mutated human in that pregnancy bump. It is not known exactly what that could mean for the rest of humanity. Is this a major threat or could it be our saviour?

In the dossier passed to me another planned episode includes a new alternative energy source found in the Antarctic wastes called Polar Oil F. Sounds great but there are hints it could be earth’s undoing, rapidly accelerating global warming rather than helping counter it as it is not a standard fossil fuel.

If the TV series comes to fruition the short film will be re-made as as feature-length episode with the original cast. Unfortunately the tight production budget won’t stretch to a CGI ‘bump’ for Kathryn so she will have to go ‘method’ on it. Filming will need to start in about 8 months. Any volunteers to take one for the team? 😉

More news on this story later.

Update: It’s later. Yes, this is my usual yearly attempt at an April Fool spoof post.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – March 2017

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You know the drill. It’s very late in the month so it must be time for the latest Cold Case Cast Catch-up. The on-going careers of the main Cold Cast cast that aren’t Kathryn are worth keeping an eye on since the show ended.

It’s not often we get the chance to back-to-back lead-off with John Finn (John Stillman in CC). Last month it was as a guest star the new CBS legal drama Doubt. The role was minuscule, little more than an extra, presumably a victim of the many changes made to the show during a long and complicated gestation period. John’s latest guest role was not dissimilar. He was the supportive father of a more significant character in an episode of long-running powerhouse NCIS. It was actually a reprise of a role John played in two-parter six years ago. The now retired Marine Commandant Ellison’s daughter was a terminal cancer patient looking for justice for a dead colleague.

Speaking of NCIS, it looks like Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera in CC) will be in the spin-off New Orleans series episode next week (4th April). It involved a drug running ring and possible corruption within the local police force. Jezza plays Richard Marino. Could be cop, could be mob. Can’t tell.

We love Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) here on the CCCC-up. She keeps us supplied with regular new work to report on. Plus, she’s a talented actor and singer. What’s not to love? This month has been a bit quieter than some but that’s on the Tracie scale, which is differently calibrated from everyone elses. Mere hours after the last CCCC-up was posted (so often the way) Tracie posted about a new crowd funding scheme to raise money for a film project she’s involved with called Say Goodnight And Go. Karri Bowman (writer/director/actor Bandwagon), Lynn Wactor (Bandwagon) and Tracie (Bandwagon) have re-teamed to make the film. The money raising is to cover the costs of a 3 minute trailer to help promote the project. You can see the GoFundMe page HERE. A finished project of Tracie’s is Love. The whole 12 episode season of the Netflix series Love dropped early in the month. Tracie guest starred again as Susan Cheryl, the producer of a fictional show-within-the-show. This time she was only in a couple of episodes as that aspect of one of the main character’s lives was reduced in comparison to season 1.

In the CCCC-up from May last year I mentioned that a film starring Tracie was in post-production. That film was The Drowning. A bit of digging, or maybe splashing about a bit, showed that I’d actually made reference to the project a whole year before as it was being developed under the name Border Crossing. It is based on a book of that earlier name by Pat Barker. Now it looks like the film will get a release in mid-May having been recently acquired for distribution. Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You) and Josh Charles (The Good Wife) star in the drama about child violence.

The Protocol Returns

Cast your mind back… No, further than that… Woah there! Not that far! Nobody needs to see that!

Where to begin with this? The beginning sounds good.

The best part of four years ago now we first heard about The Protocol. It was a short film made by Johnny Messner’s (Kathryn’s partner) own production company. A then very pregnant Kathryn had a role alongside many-named Xen Sams and Max Ryan (Sex And The City 2). Nepotism abounded as Xen’s partner was also a producer. It looked like it involved some near future, almost sci-fi setting with Xen Sams as Agent Amanda Chase. The images we saw were set in an interrogation room, with the tables turned on Kathryn on for a change.

For the following couple of years we’d occasionally pick up snippets of info about the project. Mainly from Xen giving interviews in which it was mentioned. At some point The Protocol looked to have become a small pilot for a planned TV series. I even went to the trouble of moving what content we had in the KM UK Gallery from the movie section to the TV area!

After a couple of years the film had dropped off the radar, with its IMDb page being removed. So much for the TV series!

Well would you Adam and Eve it! A few weeks ago I became aware that the project might be resurrected. A new IMDb page has appeared, with very scant information on it, other than a two person cast list (Xen and Max) and describing it as a short film again. I’m not moving the Gallery album until I know more!

This led to tracking down a short clip (which ends abruptly) from the film which I can bring to you today. It’s the Xen and Max show but Kathryn makes a silent showing for a few seconds. Not a lot of acting involved unless you include acting pregnant. And she really didn’t need to act that! The small video (and a few screenshots from it) are now in the KM UK the Gallery. Look at the TV screen we see in the room with Kathryn. There are some odd images on it that I can’t make out. Any thoughts?

Hopefully this is a sign of bigger things to come from The Protocol.