Stargate

• Ben Browder said he thought it was harsh that you had to loose a leg because you couldn’t go to the Arctic!

• I’m just glad that Brad kept it at that! There were other possibilities, it could have been something else. I’m glad it was limited to the one leg, there were many roads Brad could have gone down – he was merciful!

• Did you enjoy the movie when you saw it?

• I really enjoyed it! I think because I’m in it a little bit less than Stargate: The Ark of Truth, and because it really is such a fresh story that I was able to enjoy it objectively as a movie, as opposed to watching it in terms of picking apart the machinery.

• Do you prefer Stargate: Continuum?

• It’s not that I minded Ark, it was just that there were so many different expository moments in the movie, and it’s something that we suffer from when we’re trying to get people up to speed, and explaining to the audience why we’re at a certain place. I remember in the scene with Morgan Le Fay, there was all this recapping that had to be done in the scene itself, and it’s so bogged down in re-explanation of previous points. So, when we got to Stargate: Continuum, you just put the train on the tracks and it went, because there was nothing to explain, nothing to recap, and the comedy, the sarcasm, the action, and all the elements that make Stargate SG-1 enjoyable are there and in your face – Stargate: Continuum had less baggage to it, is the best way to put it.

• What’s Daniel up to in Stargate: Continuum?

• Well, without giving away too much, Ba’al or one of his clones, does something to alter the timeline so that the Stargate program never existed on Earth. We end up going back into a reality where we didn’t have the past 10 years of experience, and the world is not ready to accept the reality that we want. So, for the first little bit Daniel, Carter and Mitchell all have to adjust to this new realm, this new reality, where, in Ben’s case, his character never existed, in Amanda’s case, she was a different person, and in Daniel’s case… Let’s say he was less successful, personally and professionally... It was fun.

• Is it a hard making someone so physically durable seem so emotionally vulnerable?

• Well, she is vulnerable. That's the interesting thing about her, the fact that she's a physically indestructible girl, but she's not emotionally or mentally indestructible. And that vulnerability is what makes people like her. When you approach it as an actress, it's just like playing any other character – you know, are they vulnerable, are they mean, are they nice, are they disturbed or happy? You make her like a normal teenage girl, and I actually am a teenage girl. When I'm acting, I forget about [Claire's] abilities. She has no idea how to handle it – that's the honest truth – so neither do I.

• What was your favorite part of the shoot?

• Probably being in the F-15s. As actors we’re in this because we enjoy the process, but we also get to dabble in the lives of others, we get to be voyeuristic, so we actually got to hang out with a couple of the National Guard air force pilots. We got to put on the gear, and get inside the actual cockpit and try not to play with the instruments too much! So that was fun, just to sort of see how these air force guys live their lives and gain the perspective of that.
  
  Whenever somebody pays you to experience something you wouldn’t otherwise get to experience, that other people would pay for the opportunity to do, we always feel pretty blessed to be able to do that. It’s the same reason those guys felt so privileged to go up to the Arctic and watch the submarine break the ice – how often in your lifetime do you get the chance to do that? When that’s your profession, you realize how blessed and lucky you are.

• Do you wish you’d been able to go to the Arctic?

• At a convention recently somebody mentioned there was the possibility of doing it again, and they asked me, ‘Would you do it?’ and it’s not like I’m against doing it, it’s just not my idea of a dream vacation – I’d feel terribly bad if we were filming in Bora Bora or New Mexico, and I missed the opportunity! So would I do it?
  
  Of course I would, if it’s part of the job, and I get a chance to experience something that I haven’t before, I would. Would it be my first selection? Absolutely not! Did I cry big crocodile tears in my pillow because I didn’t get to go this time? No! Would I do it as a vacation? I can’t say it would be in my top 10 places to go, but I’m certainly always craving new experience. Everyone goes on about how it was the best time in their life, and I’m like, “Wow, I really can’t relate – if that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel, I just can’t get behind that!’ Maybe you have to see it to get it, but I’ll wait for that to happen!

Read the full feature in issue #23 of Stargate SG-1/Atlantis: The Official Magazine.

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