maplezbear

florerr

From the DVD extras, I didn't have patience to watch all of them.

- Celebrating 150 episodes

According to Eric Christian it was a "humbling & blessed" moment that they crossed such a milestone. Both him and Daniela talk about the fact that working together as a team only gotten better.
No actors lost their minds and they are all still friends. "Only love is going around" - Ruah.

(It's strange to see Miguel Ferrer, knowing that this was his last season... :sad: )

"Their charisma, and their chemistry and the fact that they've built up such a loyal following. People love them so much, doesn't happen instantly." - Miguel Ferrer

- Getting personal - long discussion about the season & all the characters

In the 20 some minutes they basically end up talking about every major character.

Shane Brennan talks about it being a great season with peeling back layers on each characters and of revealing secrets.

"The onion keeps getting peeled back." - Barrett Foa

They talk a bit about Callen & Joelle, and that they have it planned out. They wanted to see Callen in a relationship.

After finding his dad he can finally start living his life and maybe have a serious relationship.

"We were always looking forward to introducing his true love of his life. We did that with Arkady's daughter Anna" - Shane

"Yes, this is the girl" (Shane). Arkady's character is well-loved by everyone.

Then we switch to Sam Hanna and his growth during the season.

"Sam is the rock, the only stable one." - Shane

Sam & Jade relationship explored, "Jade was Sam's one weaknesses because he did fall for her" - Eric Christian Olsen

Sam & Callen always have each others back. For Callen Sam's family is his own. They're both changing with the years, but their friendship stays strong

"The actress playing Deeks' mom is perfect for the role." - Ruah

"Hetty has more secrets than all the characters combined do" - Shane

Hetty & Deeks scene. Deeks can't live with the idea of not sharing the truth with Kensi. "No more secrets"

Kensi talking about marriage, Deeks mentions wedding

Eric Christian Olsen's favourite scenes are the ones dealing with Kensi's messiness, because it's realistic.

"It was super funny to be on the field, but scary too... I mean Daniela & Eric do this all the time and they were like "keep your head down, it's going to be really loud..." - Barrett Foa on being a field agent

"It's honor to play Nell, I always make sure to sound like someone who knows what she is talking about." - René

"Nell & Eric has probably progressed way further emotionally. Eric always tries to impress Nell and he repeatedly fails..." - René

We love to tease with their relationship - Shane

"Best Christmas episode ever." - Barrett
They truly loved the dance scene with their dancing & theatre background.
The toy soldier outfits were really cool.

They go on and on about Granger. The hostility towards Granger went away this season, and we learnt about Granger's daughter.

- Happy 50th NCIS (the real one)
They all end up thanking them for the job they do, and they hope that they manage to live up to the real thing...

Barrett mentions visiting them many years ago, and says that they were nice with him.

- Hot property
I didn't feel like watching it, but it's the extra talking about all the gadgets used within the show...

- Into Africa
Sam, Jade, Sudan... (Again I didn't feel like watching that extra...)

- Seeing double - they talk about the difficulties of shooting the episode with the twins

- What's in a name? - The one about Callen finally getting to know his identity

- Deleted scenes: - I'm sure that there are quite a few good ones... Unfortunately (for me) no deleted scenes were included from the Dinozzo & Deeks crossover episode aka Blame it on Rio...

shinebrighterxx

oh one I hadn't written something for... Nice that you picked up on that I feel like rewatching now to respond to them better

florerr

Season 7 was a great season. Except for the whole Sudan-angle...

I love how Shane Brennan kept referencing Anna as the love of Callen's life... It gives me hope for that Anna will be back from Cuba at some point

shinebrighterxx

I only just saw this was LA, that's why I haven't done it. I'm clearly paying attention to things

aww that's wonderful. Hopefully that's a promising sign for the future

florerr

LA has quite a few almost empty threads I think...

I may end up watching the DVD features for another season... If I can find it online

shinebrighterxx

Yeah it does. The board was originally just for NCIS, & for ages it didn't even have the character threads for LA. Even after the NCIS threads do get more love

florerr

Yeah, that's what I thought But it makes sense...

shinebrighterxx

Special Features

Celebrating 150

They're all happy & feel blessed that they made it to 150 episodes

Dani says it says a lot that they spend 12-13 hours a day, 5 days a week for 150 episodes together & none of them have killed each other, its only love going around

Chris says that they'll reach 300 that they're filming the episodes quicker now. So maybe them being able to do that is why the show had more eps this season than the other two. But interesting still they can do them quicker than the original

There were doughnuts with Hetty's face on them . Not sure why just hers but still cute.

I haven't seen pics from it before but they also had cakes in the shape of the letters spelling out NCIS LA. They all take pics holding the letters out & Dani is holding the A & bites it. Then you can see Linda holding one of the Hetty faces going to bite it . Chris then says he's going to take a bite out of crime (he's hold the C)






What's in a Name?

No surprise here - this is about Callen discovering his name

Shane wanted to explore the journey which started from episode 1 & give Callen answers then explore what impact that has on Callen

They never knew for sure when they'd actually reveal it. Shane felt that it was best not to have it as a final episode or even final episode of the season. You never know for sure how long a show will run for & it felt that after 7 years it was the right time.

Shane didn't know from the start what the name would be. He's been exploring those options since he first had the idea of a character who only had an initial & didn't know his name. When they started talking about revealing what the G stood for the name Gregory, Gregorie, & Grisha came up - the first which came up was Grisha while in Shane's head he was thinking Gregorie but then he discovered that Grisha was a short form/nickname of Gregorie so that's how they picked the name.

It was important to Shane that Callen had all of his family's names - all Callen had wanted was 'what does the G stand for' but what he got was his family history. He got more than one name, he got his history, so he could know who he was & where he came from.

This moment allowed the show now to explore a new Callen, one who can start a new chapter in his life





Seeing Double

Talks about in the episode 'The Seventh Child' how they had to put the face of one child onto another. They picked actors who would be best for the parts, not looking for twins/triplets who could act. They wanted the best person for the job. To do it they had to plan out how best to accomplish all they wanted - split screens, face replacements, ect. They planned it all out, then told everyone what they needed to do to achieve everything. They had a 'hero kid' (the actor in the role) then another who looked similar enough so they could easily capture what they needed. The 'hero kid' also had to do some green screen work which they could use to face replace scenes.

They explain how they do it - the basically just cut out the face (eyes/nose/mouth sort of thing) & apply it onto the head of the double to replace the face. Sometimes they could also use other footage to replace the face too, not the green screen bits they shot.

For split screen, they film with the 'hero kid' in one role, then they film the 'hero kid' in the other role with the stand in playing the other character both times. They have it all tapped out where they need to stand so the scenes match up & they can easily put the clips together.




Getting Personal: Season 7 of NCIS: Los Angeles

The theme of the season was to peel back layers of the characters & learn more about them

Joelle allowed them to play out how Callen would respond to a relationship. Callen finally found out his name & found his dad, now he has peace & can start the rest of his life. Maybe allow him to have a serious relationship in his life at some point. They wanted to introduce the true love of his life - Anna. Sounds like she was designed as endgame from the start, plus it makes Arkady Callen's father-in-law which could add more fun. Season 8 is for exploring that more.

LL did the special features while Sam was undercover as a firefighter so he's in costume . He starts off by explaining that one. He went through a personal war, fighting personal demons, in this season. He's been the rock for everyone, being there for them all when they need. They conclude the Jada relationship. Sam ends his personal battle with Tahir.

Sam's family is Callen's family - Callen will be there as it is his family in trouble too. Their experiences in their lives & together have changed them & will change them.

Deeks at this point understands why Kensi needs closure with Jack, he respects it & isn't jealous. While four years ago he may have been. ECO didn't know where the storyline was going with what Deeks had done to have internal affairs looking into him. He finds it quite a heavy storyline that they went with with Deeks having killed his partner. The world is introduced to his mother, & you understand/see why he shot his dad. Dani could see perfectly that Deek's mother was his mother & created that guy . Deeks isn't the sort of character who couldn't share his secret (what he did) with Kensi. He has a turning moment with Hetty talking about secrets & he knows he can't be the lone wolf sort like Hetty has, he knows he needs to be with someone who knows his secrets & is there for him.

Kensi talks about babies, Deeks brings up marriage . Already they say they'll make it more official next season - but at the most inopportune time imaginable. ECO loves the scenes where Deeks & Kensi fight over how messy she is . Coworkers dating can be tricky - can lead up to something not so good or something quite sweet...

Beale got to train with a weapon & go in the field. He sees the potential in himself & its cool Granger trusted him. It was a big moment for the character. Meanwhile Nell gets to feel 'you want to do that, really? You know you don't have to' (not an exact quote). Dani & ECO told Barrett told him to keep his head down, it will be really loud - louder than you think. Hinting that he'll go out more...

Renee finds it an honour to play Nell - playing the smartest woman in the room & that sort of character. Beale discusses the relationship, while Nell doesn't know they necessarily have one . Eric tries to impress Nell, but always fails when he tries. They love to tease the relationship, but may shock the hell out of us one day with something out of left field happening to them. They talk more about the Christmas episode & how great it was. Also how the writers know the actors now & their strengths when providing scenes for them so they knew that Barrett & Renee could choreograph the candy cane dance scene.

Granger is a tough role - grouchy boss, secret past, master of a cold stare... This season has been more Granger-inclusive. The hostility towards him, which was still there even when he saves the day, now is gone. He has a daughter. This was a great moment to show of Miguel's acting ability. His story parallels Callen's - but from the father's point of view.

Hetty's character is the one which has been truest to what Shane always thought she'd be. They have fun planned for season 8 already at this point for her character. Shane jokes that Hetty has a plan for everyone - she may even have a plan for him that he doesn't know about

Nothing happens on the show that isn't planned. It can be hard to smoke out a mole. Barrett theorises that the mole will be one of them. Dani questions 'what if the mole is Hetty'. S8 they say they'll catch the mole.




Hot Property

Talks about the prop department & how amazing they are. They're responsible for everything - what the characters are holding or wearing, what you see in the background, ect. Sometimes they can resource items other times they have to create or modify things. Chris likes to explore/look at what they create & wonder what it was made from. He finds them quite creative.

All the weapons on the set are real - but adapted for blanks. So they also have to make sure everything & everyone is safe. They tell them all where to stand so they don't hurt each other. They only hand over the guns when they are filming just before action & take them back as soon as cut is called. Its also their job to make sure the actors look like they know what they're doing when holding the guns.

ECO: "We're lucky to have the team we have 'cause that's, ah, especially on a show like this as its not like 'we need an umbrella' its like 'oh we need four M4s, a rocket launcher, we need this, we need that, on top of the umbrella'"

Barrett is so used to having his tablet in his hands but when he doesn't have it sometimes he's lost without it & doesn't know what to do with his hands

They have a 'kit' in their props truck full of all these things which they think the show may throw at them last minute for props in a scene. It sounds small when I write it out but when you see it it looks incredible & has lots of things.

Props works hand in hand with all the departments, especially costumes.

Without the props department the show would stop



Happy 50th NCIS

They congratulate the real NCIS on their 50th anniversary. NCIS did the same thing, but with their own cast. Can't remember their special feature, just know it had one. In the LA one all the actors say nice things about the real agency & happy birthday/anniversary to them. Think that one was pretty self explanatory . It was also very short



There's another special feature listed called 'Into Africa' but I can't find it

ETA: Found it now, but only after googling the special feature to find out the answer. It is connected to 'Revenge Deferred' but I thought I'd checked all the episodes on the discs which said special features on it so not sure how I missed it but found the other special feature on this disc (Seeing Double) . Maybe if I remembered all the eps this season it would've been easier to find too

Into Africa

Talks about shooting 'Africa' in LA. There are areas on the outskirts (40 miles north) of LA which looks like Africa/can be made to look how they want. The special feature talks about how they set up the set & bring it all to life. They all have fun when they get to do something new like this.

They also talk about the storyline & resolution of Jada & Sam's storyline.

tbh this wasn't worth the hunt for it

BlondieLeigh

Going to need to watch all of those myself at some point.

crash landing

Onto the next Season I go interesting end to previous cliffhanger but not really a cliffhanger at the same time

Callen gone Rogue hmm

He's gone Rogue to find Arkady hmm and hilarious that Russian still having a thing for Deeks

Nice seeing Talia again I liked her

florerr

Talia was a great addition too, I also like her ... :nod

(She has her own thread ... )

Arkady


Chelle, thanks for typing in all of the dvd extras a while ago

crash landing

She has her own thread? I'll have to find that

florerr

crash landing

Up to Tony's episode but saving it for a bit cause about to go do errands