Sometimes we all need a little bit of a break. Jennifer, a bigtime Stargate fan, shares with Gary Jones how important it was for her to escape through Stargate and meet fellow fans at conventions.

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0:00 – Opening Credits
0:27 – Gary Jones Introduces Jen
1:48 – Stargate’s Impact
5:02 – On Set, No Time to Think About Fandom
6:35 – Steps Into the Industry
9:11 – Stargate Grows Community
11:40 – Faux Joe Flanigan
14:48 – Want to Share Your Story?
15:17 – End Credits

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“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

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TRANSCRIPT
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Gary Jones:
Hi, everybody. I’m Gary Jones. Welcome to Dial the Gate. You’re listening to the gatekeeper, the tech guy, the Chevron guy, and through many iterations, I ended up as Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, who allowed people to come in and out of the gate. And I’m doing it here from the luxury of my own apartment in Vancouver. I’m bringing somebody through the gate, and I’m talking today to a fan, Jen Kirby. Jen, welcome.

Jen Kirby:
Thank you, Gary. Appreciate your time.

Gary Jones:
Lovely to talk to you. Lovely to see you. Now, you… Where are you? What have you got in the background there?

Jen Kirby:
I would think you would recognize it, but maybe not. It’s the control room.

Gary Jones:
How did you end up with that?

Jen Kirby:
A beautiful thing called movie effects.

Gary Jones:
It looks really good.

Jen Kirby:
I can’t take any credit.

Gary Jones:
I spent many, many an hour there. There it is.

Jen Kirby:
Just so that there’s no… Stargate Network is actually a person who’s working on a simulation game for a Stargate game, actually.

Gary Jones:
Really?

Jen Kirby:
Wanted to just toss that out there.

Gary Jones:
Cool. Tell us a little bit about why you’re such a super fan and the kind of impact that the show has made on your life in a positive way. What’s going on?

Jen Kirby:
Well, I’m from Kansas City. I’m originally actually from St. Louis, but transferred to KC back in 2005, so it’s been a while. Had a really dark childhood, and Stargate was actually my little piece of comfort that I could have in my bedroom when I’d go to isolate myself. And the reason I’d have to isolate myself is due to the fact of bullies, and then I had a fairly unstable relationship at home with my father. And Stargate was my way to escape reality. And it actually was the one show that boosted me into wanting to get into making TV and film, acting and anything behind the scenes. I kind of want to do it all. They need a Jack and Jill of all trades spot in the industry, I swear. So, it’s been my little beacon of light that I’ve been following. And I was there… let’s see here. The movie came out when I was four, but I still remember watching it as soon as it came out on VHS. I didn’t catch the premiere of SG-1, but I came in halfway through Season One. So, I’ve been here since the beginning. I’m just a late bloomer. I’m 30 now, and just finally starting to make steps in life towards my goals and my dreams. And I swear that Stargate has been the one solid line track that I’ve had to follow to getting where I am now.

Gary Jones:
Wow. Incredible. So, what kind of qualities did the show have that you went, “OK, this is really helping me?” What was presented to you?

Jen Kirby:
I got to tell Amanda Tapping this last year at the Gateway Convention in Chicago. My mother was emotionally distant for a lot of my life, and her character stood in as a mother figure that I needed. And Jack was the father figure in a way, but also the future husband arc stereotype that I wanted. So, I used to joke all the time that I was gonna marry Richard Dean Anderson. I’m still waiting for that proposal. Any who, the characters just added in family members that I was lacking, even though they were there presently. I needed somebody. I didn’t have any friends growing up. I think I had got friends, actual friends, when I started junior high. So, for the longest time, SG-1 and you and Don and stuff like that, you guys were my best friends and also family members. So, it just really hit home. It gave me what I needed to keep going.
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Gary Jones:
Oh my God. I hear these stories over and over, and it never fails to amaze me that a show…When I’m on the show, when I was actually… When the show was in production and I was filming, you don’t think of these things at all. You don’t. You have no idea. To be honest, because I’d never been to conventions before and sci-fi conventions have… Sci-fi fans are pretty hardcore. And it was my first opportunity to actually meet fans as close to real time as possible. You could go to a convention, and they would talk to you about episodes and about the impact that you’d made on their lives. And that just doesn’t happen in other genres or shows. So, that I noticed and it’s just… But again, you can hear it over and over and over, and it just still has an impact that a show that I was in has affected people so positively. So, it’s incredible. It was really lovely to hear.

Jen Kirby:
I’m making slow steps getting into the industry. I might have a mentor who actually worked on Stargate to help me with acting. I’m not gonna say his name because I’m not 100% sure if we’re gonna land that or not yet. But I swear to God, since Stargate got on Netflix now, it’s not a matter of what’s gonna happen to it, it’s a matter of when now. Especially since they’re working behind the scenes on another series and I guarantee you, Gary, without a doubt, you’ll probably be on it once it finally gets into the production room and we’re finally at that stage. I have no doubt that they’ll bring you back.

Gary Jones:
All right.

Jen Kirby:
You’re just, just too awesome. I love your character.

Gary Jones:
Can I be…? Is there such a thing as being too awesome? I don’t know.

Jen Kirby:
I don’t think so.

Gary Jones:
Just being awesome’s enough. Too awesome, that just crosses over into some other area that I’m uncomfortable with. If the show ever came back, oh God, I would love to. If it came back in some other iteration, I’d like to show up with my beard and say, “They brought me out of retirement.” That would be so great.

Jen Kirby:
I can totally see the whole beard coming in and the outfit would just complete the rest of it.

Gary Jones:
And I actually still fit into that flight suit, believe it or not. I still can get into it…

Jen Kirby:
I have no doubt you probably have your own ship by now.

Gary Jones:
…which is incredible to me. I wasn’t wearing that outfit at the beginning. I was more in a shirt and a cardigan. I used to call it my combat cardigan. And then they eventually started putting me in blue and green flight suits, which were really fun. Looked way more military than the other stuff. At this point after the… If the show’s been off the air for so long, if it ever came back — Because obviously, here I am doing Dial the Gate, there’s still fans who love the show and would still love to see the show. And Netflix has picked it up and now it’s gonna be on Netflix, which is just amazing to me. It’s just stunning.

Jen Kirby:
It never stops growing either. It keeps bringing in new people and it’s just amazing. Because I’ve met so many people in different ways thanks to this show. And I never thought I’d be able to. So, when I was 26, I actually got to meet Richard Dean Anderson. He was the first Stargate actor I got to meet. And it was amazing.

Gary Jones:
Well, you went right to the top.

Jen Kirby:
Yes, I did. I was awake for 42 hours straight, working on a painting for him. I got on the plane, I missed my layover because they didn’t announce it. I got to the convention right as he was doing his Q&A. Met my friend Ryan Nixon. You might know him.

Gary Jones:
Oh, I know Ryan.

Jen Kirby:
Yeah, Ryan Nixon.

Gary Jones:
Stitch’s Loft.

Jen Kirby:
Thanks, Ryan, for the outfit.

Gary Jones:
Ryan is the best. I love that guy. Shout out to Stitch’s Loft. He’s the guy that makes all the patches and he’s worked on so many shows that require stitches and patches and he can… In fact, here’s something. I got to meet Ryan at these other conventions, and I ended up pitching a show with some guys, couple of other guys, to Netflix, down in LA. I pitched it, and it was a show that had a military component to it, and Ryan provided us with fake patches. And I called him, I said, “Could you design something for me?” And when we went down, we took these patches with us, and we gave them to the executive, to the people that we were pitching. We said, “We’ve actually done all this background research on our show and here’s a couple of patches that we could foresee the people on our show wearing.” So, that was… He’s awesome. He’s a great guy.

Jen Kirby:
He is. He’s helped me out a lot. And he’s probably the only reason I got to meet Richard Dean Anderson as well. And he’s been a great friend. I’ve made many, many friends. David Read here, I met last year. It was my first Gate-dedicated Stargate convention… Was last year. Otherwise, I’d always just done local conventions. And the way I met David Read is really funny. He might be able to tell you the story. I don’t know. We were pulling a prank on my mom, and it ended up with… I don’t know if you know Remington Phillips and Brian Cruz. We call him Faux Joe Flanagan because he looks exactly…

Gary Jones:
Oh, I know Faux Joe.

Jen Kirby:
So, we were pulling a prank on my mom that I was out on a dinner date with Joe Flanagan and she was buying it. And the way that I got to meet David Read was, me and Remy were back at his hotel room that he was sharing with David, and David walks in on me taking a picture of Remington in his bed looking passed out and drunk and it was funny. And that’s how I met David Read. He’s like, “Who…?” He just walked in and was like, “What’s going on here?” So it’s funny how I’ve met some of these people, it’s just through one show. And it’s mind-boggling.

Gary Jones:
Well, it’s fun. What’s amazing to me is that you’ve just mentioned two other fans, and I know them both. It’s hilarious. And I’ve had a lot of interaction with Ryan Nixon, and I think I met Faux Flanagan at the last convention I was at. Lovely guy. And he looks exactly like Joe Flanagan. It’s amazing.

Jen Kirby:
Yes. He actually jumped in on my Joe Flanagan photo op, and it was the talk of the show, or the convention last year. It made it look like Joe was proposing to me, and was pushing away Brian, or Faux Joe, and it was funny. The picture was being passed around the convention the entire time.

Gary Jones:
That was you in that photo? I know that photo.

Jen Kirby:
In my photo with you, I didn’t know you were so excited to be there. I think I was your first, maybe second or third person in line, and you ran in and grabbed my hand and kissed it, and I’m sitting here going like, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” And I remember Instagramming you, saying, “I wanna retake.” Because I looked so…

Gary Jones:
That sounds about my speed.

Jen Kirby:
I loved it. I still have it. I have to frame all of them still.

Gary Jones:
That’s great.

Jen Kirby:
It was amazing. And I’m ready for Gatecon, because I got to go up to Vancouver first time last year as well with my sister.

Gary Jones:
Great.

Jen Kirby:
And I fell in love with Vancouver. I called my mom, I said, “We’re moving. We’re leaving Missouri, we’re coming to Vancouver. That’s it. That’s all that’s said and done.” And I’m praying Gatecon is on for next year.

Gary Jones:
Let’s hope. It would be good to be going back to more conventions, for sure.

Jen Kirby:
I miss everybody.

Gary Jones:
In the meantime, this is what we’re doing. We’re doing Zoom meetings so I wanna just take this opportunity to thank you so much for joining me today, Jan. It’s been great talking to you. Thanks for putting in the outfit on and the background and everything. You look fantastic.

Jen Kirby:
Thank you.

Gary Jones:
Really great talking to you. Thanks again, and we’ll talk again soon.

Jen Kirby:
Sounds great. Thank you, Gary.

Gary Jones:
Bye-bye.

Jen Kirby:
Bye-bye.

Gary Jones:
Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching this episode. Hey, do you wanna share your Stargate story on air with me? Email the show at [email protected]. That’s [email protected]. Tell us a little bit about how Stargate has helped you grow as a person, or affected your life in a positive way. And I’ll be recording more fan interviews in 2021, and you might be next. See you next time.