Among the most common questions I get asked as an Executive Producer/Writer on the Stargate franchise are: “What sci fi shows influenced you growing up?”, “Can I send you my episode ideas?”, and, of course, “Why does my character get caught holding the rubber chicken?” In order: “None,” “No,” and “Because it’s a key plot point.”

For the purposes of today’s guest blog entry, let’s set aside the potential legal ramifications that prevent me from soliciting fan fiction and the tragic underpinnings inherent in space-based synthetic poultry in favor of talking about the material that motivated me to become a writer.

I know, I know. Between my writing partner and I, we’ve scripted some 60+ hours of Stargate, so it would make sense that I must have been a huge fan of sci fi t.v. growing up. Well, yes and no. But mostly no because the shows I loved as a budding nerd way back when were sci fi in only the broadest sense of the term. Forget shows like Star Trek, Dr. Who, or the original Battlestar Galactica; I was watching Get Smart, Batman, and the original Twilight Zone. It’s not that I wasn’t a fan of more traditional sci fi. I just wasn’t a fan of the more traditional sci fi airing on network television.

Science fiction movies, on the other hand, were another matter. Star Wars and Blade Runner certainly helped foster my interest in the genre, but it was my favorite SF movie of all time, The Planet of the Apes, that really clinched the deal for me. Hell, the whole Apes pentalogy – from the big Statue of Liberty reveal through Taylor’s spiteful planet-killing decision, Ricardo Montalbon’s talking baby monkey, gorillas taking over the Century City Shopping Center, to Caesar exhorting his comrades to “Fight like apes!” – did more to fire my creativity than years of writing classes and workshops. Truly, my love for this film series is matched only in passion by my hatred for the Tim Burton remake.

I was an avid reader as well and, while I enjoyed the complexities of Asimov and Clarke, it was Bradbury’s softer sci fi in the form of books like The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man that really captured my interest. And then there were the comic books – clearly more sci fi than many sci fi fans would like to believe – that were instrumental in shaping my creative bent. Yes, Stargate fans, blame Jim Starlin’s The Death of Adam Warlock (Avengers Annual #7), Joe Kelly’s With Great Power Comes Great Coincidence (Dead Pool #11), Garth Ennis’s Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium (Hitman #13-14), Chris Claremont’s Phoenix Must Die! (Uncanny X-Men #137), Gerry Conway’s The Goblin’s Last Stand (Amazing Spiderman #122), Gerry Conway’s My Uncle. My Enemy? (Amazing Spiderman #131), Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come, and Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis. Well, you get the idea. (Hmmm, looking over the highlights, it’s pretty clear that comic books’ hold on me has lasted well beyond my formative years.)

All this to say that when you’re talking about artistic influences, it’s not always the obvious ones. I may write SF television, yet clearly, looking back over my childhood, the material that influenced me was anything but.

Today, not much has changed. While I still enjoy big screen sci fi feature (Children of Men, anyone?) and have still been known to dabble in science fiction literature (I count John Scalzi and Iain M. Banks among my favorites), my t.v.-viewing habits remain largely devoid of SF influence. While I have tried to tune in, no series has managed to hold my attention, and this has less to do with the relative quality of the shows than it does my interests.

So what’s the deal? Why doesn’t a sci fi t.v. writer watch sci fi t.v.? And, more importantly, why wasn’t SF television among his early influences? Well, in the words of Scooby Doo: “Ruh ruh row,” with accompanying shrug.

My point? Um, was I supposed to have one?

In hindsight, I should’ve stuck to rubber chickens.