Tonight, Syfy airs an all-new episode of its new series, Dark Matter. The series follows the crew of a derelict space craft, who awaken from stasis with no memories to their identities or what they are doing on the ship, the Raza. The series is based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name. Both the comic series and the television series were created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.

Mallozzi recently talked to Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision in an exclusive interview about the new space opera.

The producer talked about how the concept of Dark Matter started. "I actually started developing the show way back, I want to say, almost eight years ago, when I was working on Stargate Atlantis, with the idea that once Stargate ended, we would roll right into Dark Matter, except [there was], I hesitate to say, the classic problem, but Stargate kept getting picked up. Every year I'd have to shelve Dark Matter. But the great thing is, you know, because I would have to put it off, I was able to just keep creating the backstories and the detail."

Having started so far in advance was a big help. "One of the really rewarding things about working on the show, is we have it so fleshed out in terms of the journeys and the twists and turns, that we know exactly where we're going; we were able to kind of seed in these clues throughout: series of setups of payoffs that I think are really going to reward the audience. It's not going to be one of those shows where we'll set up a bunch of mysteries and never pay off. We have the answers to everything, and you're not going to have to wait until the very end to get the big reveals. We're going to sort of deliver a variety of reveals along the way throughout season one - a big one at the end of season one and then sort of moving forward."

They may not have had all the details down, but they did have the main story before it went to series. "We didn't have the specific thirteen detailed stories, but we knew the journeys of all the characters. Sort of like real life, it's about redemption; everybody's done things in their past that they regret, or that they'd like to take back, or they'd love a do over. And it's interesting exploring these six individuals who are faced with that very prospect.

"And like I said, just being able to sit on this for so many years, I mean, I had the five year game plan; I know where they're going to end up, and it's like real life, it's not going to be a happy ending for everyone."

The idea eventually went into development, with the start of the comic book. "We kind of wrote a rough pilot, but you know, I got my start in development, and I always know that unless you're J.J. Abrams, it's next to impossible to sell an original idea, unless you go the development route where you're in development for three or five years, and I just didn't have time for that.

"So I know that everybody responds to established properties: books, comic books. So we went out and approached Dark Horse about turning our idea into a comic book. And we decided we'd go with a four issue arc, the first two issues essentially are comprised of what was the pilot script, the first episode, and the next two, issues three and four would be episode two, which we had yet to really sit down to write.

"And when it came to sort of selling it and setting it up, Jay Firestone at Prodigy Pictures basically went out, and he had the comic book with him, and he used that as kind of visual aide, which just helped immensely. Because a lot of the times, when you pitch something to someone they always imagine the worse possible version. But at least with a comic book, they'll say "Oh yeah, I get it," and they got it, which was great. And Jay hustled and put together the financial package and essentially that was it.

"You know, to be honest with you, it was really touch and go this time last year. I thought the project was dead, and then suddenly it was alive. We got together with our old Stargate cohort, Martin Gero, who is now showrunning Blindspot for NBC, which is awesome for him, but not so awesome for us for season two, because we have to find someone else to get in the room with us.

"So I mean that was it. It's been kind of a whirlwind; it's crazy. In a year I went from 'this project is dead' to suddenly 'oh my God, basically we're headed to Toronto to produce it,' and then suddenly we're done, and I'm three days away from heading home to Vancouver."

Mallozzi talked about the themes of the story as well as the structure he planned for the television series. "The series deals with themes and stuff that I've always been interested in. I've always been interested in this idea of redemption, and I think back to the types of shows I really enjoy watching. I don't know if you ever watched a show called The Shield, but their pilot ends on probably the most shocking moment I've ever seen on television. And you know, that's kind of what I was working towards.

"In terms of theme and in terms of structure, I wanted to create a show almost like a Syfy show with a cable sensibility, that would have the viewers on the edge of their seats, the type of show where stuff happens every episode. There're twists and turns and you're left just dying to see the next episode. So that's kind of what I set out to do."

He also talked a bit more in depth about his influences. "I was inspired by the types of shows and the types of stuff I read, like I said a cable show in terms of the structure and the pacing, and then kind of a narrative style. I worked on Stargate for many years, so there's that. Then I'm a big fan of sort of the Japanese influences, and anime, and comic books, and I think you'll find all those elements in Dark Matter."

Mallozzi would love to be able to release more comic books, but he first needs the time. "I've always been a comic book fan. I've loved writing the comic books; I would love to continue writing the comic book. I'm sure Darkhorse would be interested once the TV series comes out. It's just a matter of finding the time now.

"...So if the show does well, I would love to sort of continue the comics down the line; it's just a matter of when. I mean, we premiere June 12th. I'm not sure at what point we'll hear about our pickup, but one of the great things about season one is that we've had twelve of our thirteen scripts pretty much written by the time we went to camera, and we just held off on thirteen because we wanted to kind of see how things played out but you know preparation is key. To be fully prepared means essentially we would have to be starting the move in July, hopefully feeling confident that we're coming back for season two. There's not much time for writing comic books."

He talked about some of the challenges of bringing the story to television. "It's hard work, but you get in the room; you break the stories; you sit down; you write the scripts; you're in production; you're prepping the episodes; your on set; you're producing and in post, but all that at the end of the day is in your hands. The most frustrating, most difficult part for me, is basically waiting for that green light.

"And like I mentioned, Jay Firestone, he worked his magic, and he really hustled. And to be honest with you, it was a deal no one thought he would be able to put together, but he defied expectations and did. And then, I know there were a lot of people who were like, "Well, he put the deal together, but we have our doubts about how the show's going to turn out." And the show's turned out [great]. I think it's far surpassed my expectations; it's a great looking show; it's fun; the cast is great. It was just having it out of my hands, the aspects of the show that basically I have no control over, that were [difficult]."

The one thing that wasn't really a challenge for Mallozzi or the crew was the special effects. "Just because one of the great things about the show, is we made such efficient use of our budget, that all the money we had ended up onscreen. Basically you compare our show to any other sci-fi show out there, with frankly three or four times the budget, and ours will look as good and probably better in a lot of cases, just because I brought in my guys from Stargate, who know what they are doing. We have a shorthand, and it just was such a lean production. Everybody was so efficient, that we made sure that the money ended up on the screen."

The producer talked about the decision to change the gender of certain characters. "One of the things that we have in the comic book, is it's a very diverse group. We wanted to sort of maintain that diversity, but at the same time, you want to hire the best actor for the role.

"One of the things I felt was a bit of a gender imbalance in the comic book, is that there were five men and two women. It would just be nice to either go four and three or three and four, what have you. So we just opened things up in terms of all genders, all ethnicities, and just, you know, chose the best cast.

"In terms of two characters specifically we were looking for - the character of Four (Alex Mallari, Jr.), our swordsman, who was heavily influenced by my sort of love for sort of Japanese anime, and the android who was male in the comic book, we decided these two characters in particular, we were going to look hard at both genders, and we decided early on that if one was going to cast male, then the other one would go female. And we had some great candidates for all of them."

Zoie Palmer was cast in the role of the Android. "For the android, I thought Zoie did such a terrific job...You'll see in episode 102, she really opens up, but she's the classic kind of archetype. From an android, you kind of expect one sort of logic based, and yet there're kind of nuances of like almost a childishness, a pettiness, kind of an immaturity, that I think is kind of really refreshing, and in general, just kind of a very endearing quality to her. You know you catch hints of it in the pilot, but as I said, in 102 is when things really open up, and we have a really nice arc for her for this first season.

"So, I mean, Zoie stood out for me. She came in; she did a great job with the auditions, and it was funny, because we auditioned a couple of men with British accents, and I thought, I always envisioned the robot as being kind of less robotic. I pitched them that he's more butleresque. I wanted someone to play less emotionless and more sort of buttoned down. And I mentioned this to Zoie, and she's like, "Oh a British accent; I can do a British accent." And then she did it with a British accent. And I thought it was great, and then she's like "Do you want Jamaican? I can do Jamaican." I'm like "Yeah, do Jamaican," and she did it in Jamaican. And we'll file that one away, but you know, like iI said, she really impressed me, and she's just been a delight to work with."

As time moves on, Mallozzi revealed that the Android will become less robotic. "There are little hints, like for instance, when Two, Melissa's character, is saying, "Show me; show me," and then basically in the middle of the heated battle the android is like, "I can do this. Do you want me to show you?" And she's like, "Just do it!" Just like little bits and pieces like that."

Mallozzi talked about the idea that the characters don't know a lot about their backstory right away and how that will be explored as the season progresses. "Right off the bat in episode two, right after they've seen all their mug shots, everyone kind of leaves in shock. Melissa [O’Neil]'s character, Two, is left standing there with the Android, and the Android asks, "Should I continue looking?" She doesn't get a response, and says, "Portia," and the response is, "Don't call me Portia; that's not my name anymore. Call me Two." And so essentially they're making a consorted effort to move away from their past, but the entire first season will focus on peeling the onion on who they are.

"I mean, essentially, you can never escape you past; the past has made you who you are, and you can choose to basically move on and sort of live a different life, but there are elements of the past that will always come back to haunt you.

"Another thing that Six (Roger Cross) mentioned, is, you know, we can move on, but we've got our former enemies out there. We've got our former rivals, former victims, you know, the galactic authority, all coming after us for what we did in the past, but we'll never see them coming, because we don't remember. And that's something we sort of play on a lot.

"So we definitely will be exploring their backstories. We're going to be learning about them. And I think one of the fun elements of the show is the fact that our cast knows as much as our audience does about their respective pasts, so they'll all be going on the journey together, this journey of discovery."

The actors enjoyed learning along with their characters. "Like I said, we had all the scripts pretty much ready to go, and as the show progressed, the cast obviously were invested in the show, in their characters, but as I had kind of hoped, this show is full of so many twists and turns and cliffhangers, I would come down to set, and all the actors would be sitting around between setups on their phones, because they would get digital copies before the printed copies would go out. So they would read the digital copies on their phones.

"And the one who plays the character of Three, Anthony Lemke, he had to leave early one day, to head home. It was like an hour, hour and a half drive to where he was headed, and he didn't get to read the script. And episode twelve came out, and he had his wife read it to him over his car phone. It's the little stories like that that make me really pleased and looking forward to what the audience reaction will be like."

The producer talked about the fact that there are strong female characters. "Maybe you noticed a bit in the pilot, but we've got three super strong women on the show, female characters who drive the action. Melissa as Two, she basically takes command from the get-go, and it's not like she's bumping heads with anyone. She's basically just a natural leader. And everybody kind of sort of acquiesces to that.

"There's a point in episode two where someone in a fit of anger kind of calls her out on taking charge, and basically she steps up big time, and it's something that's going to play throughout the season, the fact that she's in the command position. She's Boss Lady, as Three calls her.

"Five (Jodelle Ferland), she's kind of the tech savvy one, but also she's the one with key to all the secrets. And she drives a lot of the action.

"And then our Android, Zoie, basically her neural link allows her control of the ship; she's actually probably the most powerful of all of them.

"And it's funny, because Anthony Lemke who plays Three, was reading one of the scripts, and he's like, "It's interesting that a lot of times the women save the guys asses in this show." And it's kind of funny, because it's true. Because the guys are obviously very capable to a certain extent, but really the power resides in the women of the crew."

In the first episode we learn about Two, but not very much about Five. Mallozzi talked a bit about how she fits in. "You notice there's something weird about the Kid, the fact that she mentions  that she remembered being on the beach, and then she remembers carving someone’s eyes out. It's funny, because I read the message boards, and they're like "Aww, it's the kid with the psychic powers." It's in fact not. You find out very quickly in episodes two that everybody's memories were wiped, including her own, however because of whatever accident happened, everybody's memories have actually been downloaded into her subconscious, and she can't access them, but they just come up in flashes in whatever grids and graphs. So essentially that flash of her carving someone's eyes out is someone on board the ship. So she becomes kind of the key to the mysteries.

"And we're going to do an episode where basically they are going to try to hook her up to the ship's neural link and tap those subconscious memories, and obviously things don't always go as planned.

Some people had been comparing the series to Firefly, and Mallozzi doesn't mind. "That's fine. I mean I love Firefly...I think maybe in terms of the western element, but in all fairness, sci-fi westerns preexisted Firefly. Maybe it’s the humor, again it's something that we would always do on Stargate as well. I mean, I always love my sci-fi with a healthy dose of humor, which I just find helps to humanize the characters and allow the audience at home to connect with them. So yeah, I mean I'd hopefully liken it to a sci-fi cable show tonally it's reminiscent I think of a lot of the sci-fi shows I like. Firefly, sure. Farscape, Stargate come to mind. Cowboy Bebop an anime that I love that actually was I think the quintessential sci-fi western. Comic books - there's a comic book called The Thunderbolts, which was a great influence. So, you know, I think at the end of the day, fun is the operative word. You know, the fans who tune in will basically be the fans who enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, who enjoyed Stargate, who enjoyed Farscape, who enjoyed Firefly - sci-fi with a heavy dose of fun.