Other than that he's a great friend and a cool guy, that is.

If you look at the machines menacing the bridge crew of the Scribe Seshet, you'll notice they are multi-functional repair robots installed on the ceiling. In my original stage directions for the scene, the robots were tracked devices that stuck to the floor in zero-gee using, presumably, Velcro or elfin magic or something. Mark emailed me after receiving the script, saying he had sketched robots that ran on the walls, ceilings, and floors of the ship in tracks designed for the purpose.

Well, as anyone who has read Ian Banks's Against a Dark Background will tell you, this would be very cool. As there is no reason in the script for the robots to be of one form or another, I told him to go for it. And thus is my rather plain script turned into Hollywood magic through the artistry of Mark's special effects!

Next on AMC Movie Classics, "Inside Industrial Light & Magic."