The actor behind SGU’s “Eli Wallace” joins Dial the Gate for a special hour to discuss his amazing journey on the outer fringes of the universe and the friends we left behind in stasis.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
0:18 – Opening Credits
0:46 – Welcome and Episode Outline
1:10 – Call to Action
2:10 – Guest Introduction
6:44 – Acting Inspires the Actor
15:17 – Movies and Acting Influence View of the World
17:57 – Eli’s Character Arc and Fan Representation
21:29 – How Are You Unlike Eli?
26:30 – Who are your heroes?
28:24 – Who among the SGU cast helped you most?
35:38 – Destiny’s fate (2×20 Gauntlet & 2×18 Epilogue)
40:45 – New Stargate Series
44:08 – How David Would React in Eli’s Shoes and Favorite Video Games
50:34 – Eli VS David’s Personal Experiences
52:30 – Hardest Day on SGU
54:27 – Do you prefer playing one character in a series or many roles in a brief time
55:37 – Which non-Stargate Sci-Fi show is your favorite?
56:30 – Any other Stargate characters you would’ve liked to play?
59:08 – Patrick Gilmore on Travelers
59:37 – Working with Robert Carlyle
1:01:42 – Would you be game for another Stargate RPG?
1:02:59 – Reach out convention and support!
1:04:45 – Any favorite books? Do you read Sci-fi?
1:05:52 – Lou Diamond Phillips’s Tinderbox and Ming-Na on The Mandalorian
1:07:31 – Influence on SGU Scripts and Insight into the Movie Industry
1:13:39 – Dial the Gate Archive and David Blue’s Twitch
1:16:14 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:19:29 – End Credits

***

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

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome to episode 44 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. Thank you so much for joining us. Hope your Saturday is going good. I have a very special guest waiting in the wings here: Mr. David Blue, Eli Wallace, is joining us from the very edges of existence, and he’s looking fit as a fiddle. So before we bring him in, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would really make a, it would mean a great deal to me if you click the “like” button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. This is key if you plan on watching live. Expect clips from this live stream to be appearing over the course of the next several days and weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. For this episode, I am going to be interviewing David for the first several minutes, and then we are going to be inviting, while that process happens, we’re going to be inviting the fans in YouTube.com/DialTheGate’s chat to submit questions to David Blue. I will be asking those near the end of the show. Without further ado, from Destiny, Mr. David Blue.

David Blue:
Oh hello!

David Read:
Hello, sir!

David Blue:
Hello. How’re you?

David Read:
I am well. You found the treadmill on Destiny. You look fantastic.

David Blue:
I found the treadmill way before the Destiny but also I have a concern that you stole everything from the SGC, behind you.

David Read:
I mean, I kind of pillaged. Yeah. There is some of that.

David Blue:
Pillaged is putting it lightly. Oh, and some Imperial stuff too.

David Read:
This is true. But I don’t know if you noticed, my lovely lady here.

David Blue:
I love it. Love it. You know, it felt bigger when we were on it.

David Read:
I have miniaturized it. It’s like Catspaw in [Star Trek TOS] you know? Where I’m the witch who’s shrunk the ship to torment. Now I just need a candle.

David Blue:
I love it. I love it. It’s perfect.

David Read:
How are you, man?

David Blue:
I’m good. I’m very, very good. Just a warning to everybody, I’m not, I’m going to be taking to you, I promise I’m not going to be one of those people who’s distracted, but I am also texting in the chat. My name there is homeSchooled Series because that’s a show I created. It’s the only YouTube account that I have, so I can’t log in with David Blue. When homeSchooled Series chats in chat, that’s me. Anyway. How are you? How was your interview with Joe [Mallozzi]?

David Read:
Joe is amazing, as always. I am doing well. Making hay while the Covid sun has been trying to kill us all. By little shows like this one. You were originally with us for the live roleplay game back in October. Thank yo use much for that. That was so much fun.

David Blue:
It was, it was indeed. It’s funny, I’ve said this over and over in my Twitch channel and in other interviews but I find I keep having to let people know. A lot of the cast members of Stargate, in addition to being great people, are huge nerds. We love to play games, we love to play games with each other. Since the pandemic started I have talked with David Hewlett, Robert Picardo, Ben Browder, Alexis Cruz, and Conner Trinneer probably more than I have in years and a lot of it has been around gameplay.

David Read:
This thing has been a double-edged, before I proceed, what’s your Twitch handle?

David Blue:
It’s 4DavidBlue. The number four, DavidBlue all one word. I’ll just get this out of the way: I’ve never been on Twitch before until the pandemic, and I joined and now its been almost 11 months, which is crazy. I love it. I do everything from gaming with friends, actors you know and also just streamer friends, to doing interviews. Also to hosting D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] games were I DM [Dungeon Master] one-shots. The one that I think everyone in chat probably cares more about is every Saturday at five, which is 5pm Pacific, so in about four hours from now, I host SGU [Stargate Universe] watch parties on my stream live, where I provide…

David Read:
Oh, legit!

David Blue:
I provide live commentary for an episode or two, with everybody.

David Read:
Where are you right now?

David Blue:
Where am I right now? I’m in my beautiful…

David Read:
Not geographically or existentially. I mean in the show, c’mon!

David Blue:
We just finished Clover[dale] I believe. No, we just finished Trial and Error.

David Read:
Trial and Error.

David Blue:
Season two. We’re gonna, my goal is, since a lot of people seem to be showing up for them, my goal is to continue doing watch parties with other shows and movies once we’re done with SGU. Maybe even go back and watch other Stargates again. But for right now we’re just getting through SGU and I’m enjoying providing live commentary for people.

David Read:
Do you have guest come on and commentary with you?

David Blue:
Funny you should say that. Not yet. But today there might be.

David Read:
Alright! Very good. Well, you know, we’ve been wanting to do commentaries in the future as well, so best of luck to you. That sounds great. It sounds like you’re almost through the show. Getting those last…

David Blue:
I don’t save the videos, I should warn you. If you or anyone else are interested you have to come live because I don’t save the VOD

.

David Read:
Understood.

David Blue:
Because the DVDs have commentary that we did mostly at my apartment while drinking. I would love to do more and I love doing conventions and things. I think the live experience is one of my favorites, so I try not to just record it and put it out there.

David Read:
Understood. Alright, very good. I get it. I want you to take me back to little David Blue.

David Blue:
OK.

David Read:
Tell me about your earliest memory of your mother. No. What made you fall in love with this craft.

David Blue:
With acting?

David Read:
No, I’m talking about gaming. No, I’m kidding.

David Blue:
I mean, you know what’s funny.

David Read:
We all had the Legend of Zelda. No, I’m kidding.

David Blue:
It’s kind of true. Every time I start my stream I always introduce myself and I get through about ten hyphens and I get tired. Because I like learning and doing stuff. Acting is weird. Acting, I started in second grade, just kind of doing it with school, and I eventually started doing community theater and stuff. It was weird, it’s hard to look back and see it. Back then it was just something fun that I enjoyed. It was a lot of musicals, and a lot of dancing. I’m a trained singer and dancer. Actually a lot of people on SGU are. Then when it came time to go to college, I was actually going to go for computers. I had this last minute, I used to run a BBS [bulletin board system]. I was up late programming the BBS and I just had this thought: wait, what if instead of going to school for what you can do, what if you go to school for what you want to do. And I just changed my major, changed my school, and never really looked back.

David Read:
Changed your life.

David Blue:
Changed my life. I mean, at the time, everyone was like “you’re crazy” and then in hindsight they’re like: “we always knew you’d make it.”

David Read:
Oh, of course. Yeah. Right. Well you know there is, it’s not a reliable consistent profession. Ninety-five percent of you on a given week are out of work, under normal circumstances.

David Blue:
Yup. Or more, actually. Before the two unions, SAG, Screen Actors Guild, and AFTRA, the American Federation of Televisions and Radio Artists, before they merged, the stat was one percent of people in the union make a living acting. Now, that’s not one percent of actors. That’s one percent of people in the union. Once they merged, the percentage lowered. I teach acting as well, and coach actors, and what I always say is, the reason that old adage exists of if there’s anything else you’d rather do, go do it. It’s not because people are jerks, it’s because if you want to be happy, and this is true about anything that you’re pursuing in life, if you want to be happy, pursuing something incredibly difficult is only worth it if it’s what makes you happy. If there’s other things that make you happy, go do that. Be happy. Run a pizza place. Work at a Starbucks. Focus on a family. Whatever you need to do. For me, unfortunately and fortunately, I realized really early on that acting makes me happier than almost anything.

David Read:
You have to recognize how lucky you are to know what makes you happy.

David Blue:
Oh my god, yeah. And in fact, college, it was a double-edged sword because that experience of trying a bunch of things in college, I didn’t get because I was already doing what I wanted to do. I almost envied my friends who had no idea for the first few years. It’s great. It’s also a bit of a curse because there are moments when, because there is no such thing as job security in acting, no matter how successful you are. You never know if and when there’s going to be a next gig. It ends up sometimes you have up and down moments and in the down moments you have to check in and go “is this still what makes me happy.” And if the answer is yes, God bless you. Good luck. If it’s no, you have to be willing to let it go and move on to the next thing.

David Read:
No, you have to…

David Blue:
Which is how you get all these actors…

David Read:
Exactly. You have to reassess. I mean, I’m 37 and my parents, to this day, are always like “why don’t you go out and get a normal nine to five”, you know? Which I have done, but they’re like “just get a job and stay in it for 40 years.” That’s not really our generation anymore.

David Blue:
No.

David Read:
We’re more willing to take risks and try things out, and fall on our butts an awful lot. And at the end of the day, maybe we are going to be a little bit less financially secure than you are. But I think it’s the goal of always trying. To try something new.

David Blue:
It’s tough. It’s really, really tough. As I said, when I’ve taught classes, master classes at SAG and colleges and stuff, I always lead with what we’re talking about now. I’m here to save you 20, 30 years. If this isn’t what makes you happy, just don’t do it. Do it as a hobby on the side. Do community theater. That’s great. But anything that you love, especially the arts, whether it’s painting, music, acting, teaching, writing, whatever. If it is what makes you happiest in the world, you just have to create. Constantly create, always try to get better, always try to improve yourself, and you’ll realize, not to quote Stargate Universe, but it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. I can’t tell you the number of jobs that changed my life that weren’t my first choice. Or the ones that I thought would be every, I mean, we can talk about it if you want, but the ones I thought were going to be life changing, I didn’t get. At the end of the day, it’s not about…. Maybe this is too personal. I’m a pretty private person. A while back I adopted this mantra that, to put it in a douch-y way, that has served me well, and it’s want versus need. It’s a harsh mantra but it’s a real mantra. I try to do that with jobs and with gigs and with what you want, and the truth is, as creepy and weird as it sounds, acting isn’t just want I enjoy, it’s part of me. If I don’t do it for awhile, I’m not happy. Every time I get to do it, it cheers me up.

David Read:
Expressing yourself through creativity is oxygen. If you don’t do it, not everyone is creative, but for those of us who are, if you don’t do it, you lose pieces of yourself.

David Blue:
Yeah. And even more so…

David Read:
And they’re very hard to get back.

David Blue:
For the people who do enjoy acting, if there are people watching right now who do, it’s even more than that. It’s, the thing that I love about acting, or writing, is you are exploring humanity. Every role I get to play, I get to understand another person a little bit more. I’m really good at reading people in real life because I’ve been spending so much time doing this. Seeing motives, seeing tactics. Why are you doing what you’re doing. You’re essentially an armchair psychologist if you’re a decent actor. It helps you understand the world a little bit. And that’s kind of nice.

David Read:
You’re also exploring a facet of yourself too.

David Blue:
Yup.

David Read:
A piece of you is endowed in everything that you create. The dial is how much of you. And for Eli that was probably a little bit closer to you than it was to, OK I need to go and study this. Because I’m not this.

David Blue:
Well, you know, actually I’ve had this conversation before. It’s an interesting thing, forgive me I fidget a lot.

David Read:
You’re fine.

David Blue:
It’s an interesting thing because my theory is every role you play should have some percentage of you. Like a tank. I’ve played some roles that had strong parts of me. Cliff St. Paul in Ugly Betty was the most optimistic version of me. Moonlight was the sarcastic version of me. Eli in SGU, he and I were very similar. As much as my cast mates love to give me crap about being the one who wasn’t even acting, they’re like “he’s just playing himself “, we had a lot of differences, for sure. The inroads to the character were of course easier because I watched all the Stargates before I ever got cast.

David Read:
Right, You were a fan.

David Blue:
I loved video games, programmed, loved to film things, took a lot of pictures. I was worse with women than he was.

David Read:
Welcome to Dial the Gate confessions. I’m your host David Read. Today, we’ve got a sad case, folks.

David Blue:
There are pieces though. And it’s interesting, not to go too deep in to my coaching and teaching of acting, but I do like these character sheets, D&D style, for any character. I had one for Eli for the audition, and I kept that in every script for the entire first season. When we went to do season two I made a new one, because he had changed so much. It wasn’t just a sheet describing me, it was sheet describing him. There were some parallels and overlaps, which made some of those parts easier, but there were quite a few things that were different. Honestly having played him for so long, there are some quirks that I picked up from him.

David Read:
Isn’t that interesting.

David Blue:
It’s weird. It’s strange.

David Read:
It becomes part of your identity. I have a habit of, if I watch a show, like I’ll go on a Seinfeld binge. Three or four or five months of just Seinfeld. You incorporate a lot of that stuff in to you if you, for me at least, if I watch it long enough. I’ll be quoting the show constantly and looking at the world through a more of a Jewish sense and things like that. I can see how it would kind of consume you that way. It’s not like you’re doing evil. For that kind of a character it’s OK to let you go on that kind of ride.

David Blue:
Even then, there’s that old wives’ tale, which is kind offensive when you think about that phrase, there’s that old urban legend that playing Joker made Heath Ledger go crazy. If you watch the amazing documentary about him during that time, it shows that it’s not really true. But when you spend a lot of headspace inside of a character, sometimes you do pick up those things. I did a play/ that turned in to a movie that I’m very proud of, called Lear’s Shadow. He was a very confident, Shakespearian actor, the character, and I found myself analyzing more during that time. It can be something if you’re not aware, as an actor, that you take home your work with you. But if you’re trained, and if you know what you’re doing, and you’re careful, it’s really, really simple. It’s just about putting on a costume, and then taking it off. Now, I have always taken a lot of pictures, my whole life, especially back when they were actual cameras. When I got cast as Eli, I kept doing that more and more and more and more. To the point were some of my poor cast mates were like “David, put the camera down.” I took so may pictures, those of you who don’t know…

David Read:
Have you seen the set we’re in?

David Blue:
The MGM…

David Read:
I’m taking pictures. It’s beautiful. I’m sorry, go ahead.

David Blue:
But also, I would take pictures of that. I have so many videos of Louis [Ferreira] saying “stop. Stop filming.” I did it not only for my own memory, and I kept telling them “guys, this will not see the light of day. This is for us.” But also I would take separate pictures using Eli’s phone. Those of you who don’t know, the MGM blog that was from Eli’s point of view, I pitched to MGM and they let me do. I wrote the blog, and all the pictures that were from Eli’s point of view were ones I took as Eli on set. It was half that and half for myself. Looking back, I took way more pictures than I normally do while I was playing Eli because that was sort of bleeding together, you know?

David Read:
You were becoming him while you were working on that because you were trying to look through his lens, as it were.

David Blue:
A little bit. I got a little bit more acerbic in my sarcasm and my sense of humor. I started fidgeting with my hands more, which is what he did. Weird little things like that.

David Read:
He had some level of a neurosis. Imagine the life that he went through, having to be the man of his house. So he wasn’t prepared for that, and it was a job. If we’re going to take, and it’s very much an ensemble cast, but if you want to take a look at SGU and the hero’s journey, it is him. That is, he is the reluctant hero, in pyjamas, who has to ask for pants, and go to this other world and hold his breath before he goes through that gate.

David Blue:
The holding the breath was something I decided to do in the moment. I’m glad they kept it. I had no idea the camera was on me during that moment. I just always thought you would do that. You would of course do that. Every time I ever watch any, again, I watched all of the series before I ever even auditioned. I was always like, why is no one holding their breath? You’re going in to a pool, you would hold your breath. This one huge wonderful thing from the Brad [Wright] and Rob[ert C. Cooper] perspective, all the producers. Brad and Rob, those of you who don’t know, the audition, and the callback process, and the test process, were actually really drawn out. It was like weeks, and a month.

David Read:
Oh my god.

David Blue:
And then three months before they announced us.

David Read:
Kill me.

David Blue:
Between getting the job, after the test, Brad and Rob called me when I was at a party. They called me and they were like “we want to talk to you for a little bit.” I think they wanted to make sure I wasn’t a jerk. Also they wanted to tell me that, a little bit, that Eli was going to be the inroad for the audience. That was so much pressure, but I took that to heart. Eli was us, watching the show. It really mattered to me, so any time people say they feel Eli was that, it feels like a little pat on the back because it feels like I did my job.

David Read:
Do you have an idea how many times I’ve been compared to you?

David Blue:
Oh god, I’m sorry.

David Read:
Serious. No! I wasn’t even consciously aware of it when I was watching but yeah, I would do that. I would do what he would do in that situation. I found a lot of other people felt the same way. I think it’s a testament to the quality of the work that yeah, you did unlock something that was true and faithful to the nerds’ experience. By George, we’re taking over the world now.

David Blue:
Yeah. God bless that. It was kind of fun to be around as that was happening.

David Read:
Ascending.

David Blue:
Friends with Zac Levi and a few other nerd actors, and at the time nerding was just starting to become cool and it was a weird mind screw, because the things we used to hide. I played Magic: The Gathering in high school and we’d always get made fun of for playing it during lunch, and to then go to conventions and the nerds are the cool kids was interesting. Also to see some of the dark side where some of the people were starting…

David Read:
Yeah, you can go too far.

David Blue:
…to be negative in the nerd world. It’s kind of nice to see now. I’ll never forget, I was in Australia for my first convention, my first Stargate convention at all, internationally. I called myself a nerd a few times and somebody in the audience said “don’t do that.” I was like “what?” “Don’t make fun of yourself.” “Oh, no! I’m sorry, I guess that hasn’t spread here yet. In America, it’s actually really cool to say that.” Let your nerd flag fly, is what I love.

David Read:
It’s a loud and proud thing.

David Blue:
Yeah.

David Read:
That’s exactly right.

David Blue:
I love that it’s kind of like that now. The weird things you’re in to make you unique.

David Read:
It’s been in the back of my head since you brought it up. You said that there were parts of Eli that were easy to identify with and there were other parts that were kind of hard to crack. I’m interested to know one of those facets that were not so obvious to us as viewers, or to you as a performer, that you went in and was like “I’m going to have to work on this part of it. This isn’t something that naturally flows with something that I would expect to do with him.”

David Blue:
There’s a few. I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome and confidence my entire life. If I remember correctly, the breakdown for Eli was: acerbic sense of wit, a wunderkind who has not been tested. Honestly, it’s part of the reason I almost turned down the audition because that sentence sounded like [Rodney] McKay, and I loved David Hewlett.

David Read:
Like early McKay.

David Blue:
Yeah, I can’t be more David Hewlett than David Hewlett, nor would I want to try, so I almost turned down the audition. But when I started looking at it from a what did they say and what does that mean to how I see the character, it got easier. He, Eli, actually a little bit more confident than I was at the time. Much better at math. I took honors calculus in college but I don’t remember that anymore. He was much better at math, much better at the science stuff, he was actually a little bit more brave in speaking up for himself and talking to people. His humor is little bit darker. The mom’s, the mother stuff, was, you know, the having to grow up fast because of that, wasn’t really my experience. And in a weird way, not to get too insider trading about it all, the competition between Rush and Young over Eli and how Eli felt about that, and where his loyalties lied. Even just little micro choices, like once he realized Chloe and he were not really an option…

David Read:
I’m in the friend zone.

David Blue:
…but that Chloe and Scott were together, realized that that was two of his friends who were now happy. Protective of her, but realizing he wanted them to be happy. Things like that really kind of solidified him for me. When I first met RDA [Richard Dean Anderson] on set, first time I ever met him, we got in to a van and he just like “hey, I’m Richard”, I just laughed. “Yeah, I know! Oh my god, you’re Richard Dean Anderson! I watched MacGyver and Stargate.” I was freaking out. Whereas Eli meets him, he’s like “get off my lawn.” I would be a little bit more willing to believe people if they’re like “we have a space ship.” “Where do we go? Sign me up. I’m in.” Eli was little bit more reclusive and yet outgoing. It’s really hard to describe. But a lot of that is the writers. I give a lot of credit to the writers, even after our first table read, which we did, for those of you who don’t know, in the Stargate Atlantis set. They were watching us, a lot. They were staring at us, and looking at us, and I asked Brad “what were you guys doing?” “We were trying to see who you are as the character so we now know how to write the next steps.”

David Read:
They’re working, yeah.

David Blue:
Yeah.

David Read:
Those brains are never off. They’re always looking for an in, just as you as a performer are always looking for an in. It’s like, OK what is happening here.

David Blue:
And as a writer now, Julie McNiven, who plays Ginn, and I have become somewhat writing partners. We’ve written a lot of scripts now. I get it now. I wasn’t as much of a writer back then. I get it now. An actor, again, I apologize if this is too insider, but an actor doesn’t just play the role that was written, nor do they just come in and do whatever they want. A good actor merges the two. They take what’s on the page and they add a little bit of something themselves. I respect the hell out of Brad, Rob, Carl [Binder], Joe, everyone who directed and wrote and produced the show, because they not only gave us a lot to work with but they also let us play. One memory comes to mind, I forgot about until I was doing Eli commentary on my Twitch channel, for Water in season one. I decided, I don’t even really know why, I decided that Eli was afraid of insects. In the scene where the bugs are all over the ship, I don’t even have any lines, and I’m in the background doing this [brushes imaginary bugs off shoulders]. I’m freaking out thinking there’s a bug on me, and I remember Robert Carlyle coming up to me, going “what are you doing.” And I said “oh, Eli is afraid of bugs.” And he’s like “OK”. And he walked away. But Brad and Rob were in to it.

David Read:
It just fits.

David Blue:
Yeah. It made sense to me. They let us play, and it was one of the biggest compliments, I think Carl gave us, midway through season one, he said “you know, we don’t have to write for you guys as much. Because we don’t have to have our scripts be too overwritten because you guys bring so much.”

David Read:
What a nice compliment.

David Blue:
And that’s a huge compliment for an actor.

David Read:
David, who are your heroes? Who are the people who gave you the courage to jump and grab your dreams?

David Blue:
You mean as an actor, or as a person?

David Read:
As a person.

David Blue:
Hmm, that’s a hard one. I don’t know. That’s a really, really tough one. It’s a good question. It’s hard to answer because I find heroes just in the world. People who are just nice, even though the world treats them like crap. People who are brave. Hell, so I stared fostering a puppy a couple of months ago and she was horrifically abused by someone. When I first brought her, just to kind of watch her for the weekend, she was so scared she didn’t even use the bathroom for two days. She was afraid of noise, she was afraid of outside, she was afraid of everything. It’s been a little bit now, and the other day, she’s afraid of every noise, she’s afraid of the door. I put a leash on her, walked towards the door, she bolted out and started sniffing around, and I almost broke down. I was like “you’re so brave, you’re the bravest person I know.” It’s the little things. Yes, there’s the heroes. I find The Rock to be such a huge, huge idol because not only is he a good businessman but he seems to care about people. I find people like Barack Obama to be a huge inspiration. I’ve always loved Robin Williams because he is brave as a comedian and as an actor. In the movie Toys, I told my parents that I thought he was my actual dad because he was so much like me. So I find them all over the place. Some of my friends are. Actors, writers, it’s just really kind of too broad of a question to answer but it’s a really good question.

David Read:
I appreciate you taking a stab at it. I think that’s very insightful. Have any of your cast mates on SGU, who of those do you think, how do I want to put this, helped you grow the most as an actor and as a person.

David Blue:
They all did, in different ways. This is nothing against the script or the people, so let me explain. Reading the script of the pilot, before we ever shot it or rehearsed it, just reading it. The characters of TJ and Greer I thought were like “ah, they’re OK.” But everyone else was more interesting to me. And then I remember we were filming our first scene together and I saw Jamil [Walker Smith] make some choices, and I saw Alaina [Huffman] make some choices and I could not take my eyes off of them. And I went, “oh shit, you might be my two favorite characters now.”

David Read:
I agree.

David Blue:
You know? They’re so good, and Alaina has become an incredibly good friend, a bestie of mine. She’s so good, and so good to watch, and I have a memory, a clear memory while shooting, funnily enough, the episode Water where Robert Carlyle and I were acting as Rush and Eli and we were yelling at each other as the gate was going off, and people were doing stuff, and they said “cut”, and I was like “what do you mean cu… oh god, we’re acting!” I forgot we were acting because I was so in it. Doing the rewatch on my Twitch channel now, on Saturdays, watching some choices people made that I forgot about, like Louis losing his mind in Trial and Error, you’re like “god, you’re so good!” And then as a person, we all got close real fast. We were a very close cast. We hung out constantly, we watched episodes together. I would say that me, Brian [J. Smith], and Elyse [Levesque] at the time hung out the most together. Brian, I think is an amazing actor and an amazing human being. I remember, I was in London for a convention, and it just happened to coincide with him doing The Glass Menagerie in the West End, where he was nominated for an Olivier Award. I went and watched him, and I had forgotten about The Glass Menagerie. I forgot, because I hadn’t read it since college. I knew he was the gentleman caller, and I’m like “oh, cool, that’s your background.” It didn’t even place in my head. He came on stage and he was such a force. We went out for drinks afterwards and hung out all night. And I was like “dude, you’re living the dream. You’re on a show where you travel the world, Sense8 at the time, you then got nominated for a Tony, got nominated for an Olivier Award, you live in the West End right now, you’re doing amazing work. Also as a fat kid, at the time he was living above a bakery. It always smells like pastries. I’m like “dude, you’re my idol.” I, every one on that show was so good, and also such a great person. It’s part of the reason we all still keep in contact now. We were more of a family than we were workers.

David Read:
In season two you all moved next to each other. You all shared the same block, if I understand correctly.

David Blue:
We really did. Which is funny, because back then Alaina and I didn’t see each other much, and now when we can, we see each other all the time. It’s funny.

David Read:
I thought, in many respects, this is an off-topic thing, that Alaina was in many ways a better commander than medic. I would have loved to have seen couple or three alternate reality episodes where she was in command of that ship. Because she could do it. And it’s like in episodes like Water where we do see her take on the command role. Part of me is like, where does Louis fit then if she’s going to do that. Her and Jamil didn’t get nearly enough screen time.

David Blue:
It’s also really hard, to be blunt about it, it’s really hard in an ensemble cast, as a writer and as an actor, because you can’t shine a light everywhere. Even when you’re writing a pilot, a first episode, you want to show all ten characters. You can’t. You won’t sell it, and nobody will watch it.

David Read:
Yeah.

David Blue:
You have to introduce them to a few and then others. So that was a problem. It’s funny from an actor perspective, I’ll tell you, everyone is so good. I don’t think I’ve ever said this in an interview. Everyone is so good, that I remember in season two, we’re all friends, watching an episode with Patrick Gilmore in it, and I went “wait, I haven’t done as much in the past two episodes, and he’s so good. Oh no, they’re replacing me with him.” I remember having that thought, and then going “wait, no. There’s room for everyone. It’s fine.” But it was this weird moment of I realized I hadn’t done much for a couple of episodes. It happens. The time off is nice. But it happens. It doesn’t mean anything. In season two, which is where we’re at with the rewatch with the watch parties on my Twitch, now Alaina’s stories are starting to come to the forefront, and we get to see more of Greer’s childhood, and all these things that we didn’t get before. It’s kind of why I loved SGU. Sorry to preach to the choir here but it’s kind of why I liked SGU. Even at the beginning, people were like “it’s not fast enough.” The first two episodes, are like “quick, quick.” We…

David Read:
It’s slower, yeah.

David Blue:
And I like that, as a fan of other shows too, I like a slow burn. As a writer, I write…

David Read:
And look at modern television.

David Blue:
Yeah, well we were a little bit ahead.

David Read:
Uh-huh.

David Blue:
I like it because you get invested in the characters more. I think I actually said this at my first convention. I said “give it a few episodes, you’ll be more invested later.” And it’s so beautiful to see people say it now: “I care so much. Why?” It’s because you took the time to get to know them.

David Read:
You took the journey with them. Season one, they are the wrong people in the wrong place. In season two, they are forced to become the right people to deal with their situation, and rise above their station in life and what they were expected to do. That was the point of the show. The series ends at the end of act one of a three act play. That’s how I look at it.

David Blue:
I respect them for that. I hate to address any sort of negative stuff, but since that Lou Diamond Phillips interview came out recently and people ask me all the time. The premiere of it was an unfortunate perfect storm of events. But they knew where they were going. I trust, and still do, the producers and creators of the show, even when they wanted to make it, I respected the hell out of them that they wanted to try something new in the world they created. They didn’t want to do more of the same, and I don’t think anyone wanted to watch more of the same. I hate quoting people who aren’t in the room, but I think Brad put it in an interview once, “Daniel Jackson became a superhero, which is so cool”.

David Read:
He became an angel.

David Blue:
“But when you’re a god, there’s no risk.” It’s kind of like the prequel of Han Solo. It’s like, Solo? Are we going to survive? As the audience, you’re like “yeah, because you’re in the next movie. You’re absolutely going to survive.” So when you lose that risk, it gets harder. By meeting a new group of people, who could die at any given moment, that aren’t superheroes, it gives them new stories to explore. I really respect that as a writer but also, take the fact that I was in it out, as a fan, I would have watched SGU and loved it at the time.

David Read:
You are one of maybe five people, maybe even less, who know Destiny’s fate and know where she was going. I’m hoping one day, in the fourth Stargate series, that we will find out what happened to that mission. When the show ended, I was crushed. It had become my favorite Stargate.

David Blue:
So say we all.

David Read:
Right?!

David Blue:
We were all crushed.

David Read:
Where’s Adama when you need him? Not everyone feels that way but that’s how I felt, because I grew to love it. Not knowing her fate is going to haunt me until Brad either finished SG4, or tells me. But what I want to know from you is, knowing where she was going and what the cosmic background radiation, whatever that was, knowing that information for yourself, does it bring you closure, having those answers. Were those answers satisfying?

David Blue:
Here’s my point of view on it. Those people who haven’t heard me say this at conventions or interviews, I sound like I know every little piece…

David Read:
No.

David Blue:
But I weirdly, we were just about to go in to hiatus, and I went up to Brad and I said “what are we doing next season, where are we going?” And he told me some stuff and it was really cool. I will never say it out loud, because as I…

David Read:
Nor should you.

David Blue:
The way I disclaim it to people is one, it’s not my story to tell, it’s Brad’s. Two, if I tell it, it’s spoiled and there’s no hope that it could happen. So I keep my mouth shut because those two reasons. Now that being said, the ending of season two was not supposed to be the end. We were all on hiatus, I was back in L.A. auditioning for some stuff and taking some time off. A couple of people were on a boat.

David Read:
You weren’t on the [USS] Carl Vinson?

David Blue:
I wasn’t. I was in L.A. A lot of us found out we got cancelled via Twitter. It was very unexpected. None of us knew it was even a, I mean at the end of any season you’re not sure if you’re getting renewed. None of us knew we were being cancelled. That being said, I hope it continues in some form or another. I want it to. If they want me to be a part of it, I would sign up in a heartbeat. I think any of us would. But first me. I love the ending. Even though it wasn’t supposed to be an ending, and let me tell you why.

David Read:
We’re talking Gauntlet.

David Blue:
Yeah.

David Read:
OK.

David Blue:
I like it. People are like, “oh, it ruined it.” I like it because, spoiler alert, you had nine years, but spoiler alert, it’s a choose your own adventure. It allowed the story to end in a way where fans can now pick up the slack and make their own stories in their head, write their own stories, whatever. Are they canon? I can’t say unless I know what’s in it. But I love that part of it. I love that part of it. Would I loved to have done more? Yeah. Even our last shot all together, we were all sad because we wouldn’t see each other for a few months, and we were celebrating. It didn’t feel like goodbye, it felt like see you later and that kind of sucks. But if it has to be, let’s say that the world, the planets don’t align and there isn’t a closure at all, there isn’t any more SGU. I like it for what it is because it means you guys can picture the Destiny out there exploring, and Eli at the helm. I like that.

David Read:
To be fair, we did get an ending, with Epilogue. I love those two episodes. Carl Binder was brilliant with that as well. We did see something, and there was a certain amount of closure with that as well. It was an alternate them, we saw the alternate them. That last ten episodes of that season, that second season, was some of the best sci-fi that was ever done.

David Blue:
There’s one, I won’t say it because I’ve been promising everyone on my Twitch stream that I would say it when we got to the episode on the watch parties so forgive me, but there’s one thing in those two episodes, probably the only thing in the show, that drives me crazy. I’ve talked about it at conventions but I’m going to talk about it on my stream. There’s one choice, and it wasn’t even a choice. In the script it was different. They had to cut a scene for time, and that scene was so important to me, for Eli, and it pisses me off that it wasn’t in it still, especially now that we ended. With the exception of that, I love those episodes. As an actor, any time you get to explore other versions of yourself later on, earlier on, it’s so much fun.

David Read:
You’re acting a daydream.

David Blue:
Yeah. Even just being a series regular. When you’re playing a guest star or you’re doing a play, you know this person for this set piece of time and that’s it. As an actor on a show as a series regular you get to grow with them. You get to watch them change. Look at Daniel Jackson, nebbishy heh to “I will smite you.”

David Read:
It was a great two seasons, and I am confident that Brad will make something of SG-4 that will give us the answers that we were wanting while at the same time push the story forward.

David Blue:
I hope so. People rephrase it, or phrase it the wrong way a lot. They’re like “do you want there to be a reboot?” Well no, because then I won’t be in it. I would hate there to be a reboot. Reboot means [inaudible]…

David Read:
Yeah. Do you know the definition of reboot here?

David Blue:
A continuation? Yes! Because, you know, in whatever form, I’ve said this since the minute we were canceled. People were like “you guys don’t want to come back.” Every single one of us loved working on that show and would come back in a heartbeat. Now or then. In continuations or revisits or popping in, if they wanted us? I can’t speak for everyone else but I’m pretty sure I am not wrong. I’ll speak for myself. I loved playing the character of Eli. I loved everyone involved in that project: writer, producer, PA [production assistant], AD [assistant director], costumes, publicity. All of us would, I would love to revisit and explore more stories. Now, I have some idea of what they’re putting put there, or trying to do, and I think it’s cool. I’ve always said, and I say this to the fandom, forgive me for sounding like I’m on a soapbox, but if you love a franchise, even if you love a part of a franchise, great. If you don’t, don’t watch it. But be careful about ever damaging a franchise because you want to get more of that franchise. Look at Star Wars right now. Look at Star Trek right now. It’s just expanding and expanding and expanding. That’s because the love for the series is there, whether you watch it or not. I always say I love [Star Trek] The Next Generation, like Deep Space Nine. I didn’t really get in to Voyager. I never watched Enterprise. Well, during the pandemic I finally went back and watched Enterprise and I really enjoyed it for what it was.

David Read:
The Xindi arc’s good.

David Blue:
The same thing. If there is a version that comes out, whether you like it or not, watch it or don’t. But don’t ever be negative to the people who created the franchise you love, or the franchise, because that a long damage that can slow the works down. Show your support, spread the love.

David Read:
If you love Stargate, then you love Brad and Rob. And Joe and Paul, and what they were doing.

David Blue:
That was kind of, not to talk about the negative, but that’s what bothered me when we, before we premiered, when there was a little bit of a trill, people were like “it’s not Stargate.” Well yeah, it is, because Brad and Rob.

David Read:
Right, exactly.

David Blue:
They created it.

David Read:
We could deconstruct all of that. Not everyone is going to love everything.

David Blue:
No.

David Read:
And they don’t have to. But don’t sabotage it.

David Blue:
It’s funny. I can’t sleep at night so during the pandemic I’ve been rewatching. I’ve since rewatched Next Gen, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise. I just now restarted Voyager and I’m loving the journey. Now, Next Gen will always be my thing.

David Read:
Absolutely. There’s something about it that’s soul food.

David Blue:
Just like I liked Atlantis but I was an SG-1 dude. So, it happens, but it’s still a world full of stories that I love.

David Read:
I hear you. I have fan questions for you.

David Blue:
Please do.

David Read:
Alright.

David Blue:
We can go a little bit over if you need to, by the way.

David Read:
You sure?

David Blue:
Yeah.

David Read:
OK. Alright.

David Blue:
I don’t want to cut anyone off.

David Read:
I just wanted to make sure that if you have a hard out, that we take care of that.

David Blue:
I need to eat or I will pass out, but I’ll give you, we can go a little bit late.

David Read:
Michael: At the start of SGU, Eli is beamed up to the Hammond. If that happened to you in real life, what would your reaction be?

David Blue:
I would be stoked. So, Next Generation fan, this is the dorkiest thing I’ve admitted. I used to have a fantasy that I would go to the bank and I would turn, I would hear a weird noise and I would turn, and Jean-Luc Picard would be standing there and he’s like “we need you.” And he would just kidnap me and I’d be on board the Enterprise. I would love it. Where Eli was uncertain, if there was a mission to Mars, a one-way mission tomorrow, if I could sign up I would.

David Read:
Romainthblt: your favorite video games of all time? This is something I’m interested to know.

David Blue:
Romaine, bacon, lettuce, and tomato? Is the romaine the lettuce, or is there also lettuce in addition to the romaine?

David Read:
Romaine for BLT.

David Blue:
Sorry, what was the question?

David Read:
Your favorite video games of all time.

David Blue:
OK. Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

David Read:
Yes! Yes! Revan.

David Blue:
One of the best, without spoiling it, even though it’s been a hundred years. One of the best plot twists…

David Read:
Ever!

David Blue:
…of any script or game I’ve ever played.

David Read:
That’s right.

David Blue:
I really enjoyed this game. So I just started on Twitch, and a lot of people have been gifting me really some cool games and stuff that I never would have played otherwise. I’m having a blast streaming like six days a week. One of the ones someone gifted me was called Starcom: Nexus. Everyone needs to play this game. It’s essentially all the space exploration video games we even wanted, where you’re building up a ship, you’re customizing it. It’s like Starflight back in the eighties, which I loved as a game. You’re exploring, you’re doing interspecies relations. It’s essentially SGU, the video game. I played it for weeks and weeks to the point where sometimes I couldn’t sleep at three in the morning. I’d wake up, turn on the stream, and just start playing it. It was so much fun. I loved it.

David Read:
Have you played Elite Dangerous?

David Blue:
No, but I think it’s on my wish list.

David Read:
I have sunk five hundred hours in to that game.

David Blue:
Yeah?

David Read:
One-to-one scale Milky Way Galaxy. It is, check in to it. But be careful!

David Blue:
It’s tough. It’s a double-edged sword, became I’m enjoying this time…

David Read:
I know!

David Blue:
…playing games and stuff. But I got an Oculus Quest 2 and I started playing Super Hot and now I feel like I’m John Wick. I’m not. I can’t do anything I do in that game, but I like to pretend I can.

David Read:
Have you played [Star Wars] Jedi: Fallen Order yet?

David Blue:
Yep. Beat it, loved it.

David Read:
I can’t wait for the next one.

David Blue:
So much fun.

David Read:
So good.

David Blue:
The controls, I almost wanted to burn, and kill it with sticks. But it was one of the most beautifully visual, if you like Star Wars, if you haven’t played that game, there’s something wrong with you. It’s so beautiful.

David Read:
Tony Amendola was great, Cameron [Monaghan] was wonderful. Terrific. So, you teach acting. Jen Kirby wants to know: is there a website or e-mail for contact about classes?

David Blue:
Indeed there is. It’s called BookYourAudition.com. I do private coaching, I do master classes, I do ongoing classes, all sorts of stuff. It’s something that I’ve always done word of mouth, just because I like to help people, and then at a certain point became something that I offered to people. I’m lucky to say that a lot of my clients are working a lot.

David Read:
That’s great!

David Blue:
It’s nice. It’s nice to be able to, it’s a creative outlet for me, but it’s also really nice to be able to help other people achieve their dreams, you know.

David Read:
There’s something about that, that there are few jobs that are more important than teaching. It’s just one of the most satisfying things that there is.

David Blue:
Yeah. Although it is funny, there is a part to it, to be completely transparent. I coached a friend of mine for a recurring guest star on Flash, and he called and he’s like “I booked it.” And I was like “Yes! Yes!” Oh, I don’t get any more money off of this. [Inaudible] hit me. I’m very happy for you, but I didn’t book it. Huh. [Inaudible] I’m imagining it’s what it’s like being a parent. “Yes, I’m proud of you! My life is unchanged.”

David Read:
Right, exactly! I get to live vicariously though you. Have fun! Well, that’s terrific. CaptainMark RedAngel: would you do voice acting for a Stargate animated series if one was greenlit?

David Blue:
Of course! I do a lot of voice acting. You guys might have heard me in World of Warcraft, Sunset Overdrive, a bunch of cartoons and things. I love it. It sounds so cliché but I love acting, in all of its forms: theater, voiceover, television, film. If I could, and I drive my representation crazy with this, I would be acting 25 hours a day. I’d love to do it. I would much prefer to be on a series because I just love the imagination of it. There’s sorting so fun about exploring other planets, running the ship, and wherever. I would, like, I’ve had, so the SGU watch party has triggered my subconscious in a way that’s fun and annoying. I had two or three different dreams during the pandemic that we were filming season three. I remember in one of the dreams Alaina came up to me and she’s like “isn’t this crazy?” And I was like “yeah, we’re, no one knows we’re doing this but we’re back and we’re filming. They’re going to freak out when they find out.” And then I woke up and I was so pissed off that it was a dream. I would love to revisit that character. I would. Or any character, really. I just like what I do.

David Read:
Yeah, absolutely. You get what you need out of it.

David Blue:
And if you haven’t watched it, by the way, there’s something called Plague Nerdalogues. I helped with charity for my friend Marc Bernardin, who’s a writer on Start Trek: Picard. He got a bunch of actors you might know together: Jonathan Frakes, Tricia Helfer, myself, to do iconic nerd monologues and I got to do Joker. I highly recommend you check it out.

David Read:
OK.

David Blue:
Also, I love playing things I haven’t gotten a chance to play. Part of the reason I was so intent on losing weight once we started SGU. Bring me a Daniel Jackson that becomes a superhero and I’m in.

David Read:
Absolutely. Caryn Burns: were there any personal experiences you’ve drawn [upon] to play any particular scenes of Eli?

David Blue:
Hmm. Well, you know, it’s actually kind of weirdly, I guess, kismet. Spoiler: when everything happened with Ginn on the show, I was actually going through a breakup. I had a very long-term relationship, we lived together, and we were breaking up. So I was actually sad at that point, and the storyline actually helped me cathartically work through it. But also it helped me bring a lot of extra stuff to it. Yeah, yeah. It’s kind of odd, not to sound too spiritual about it. If you pay attention in your life you’ll notice weird coincidences all the time, and I find that with my acting. I’ll be going through something weird when the character is going through something weird. I’ll be celebrating something when the character is celebrating something. I consider that little gifts from the universe. I would say that with Ginn for sure. And in a weird way, starting the series. Because I had never been to Canada, I had never been a series regular before, I didn’t know any of these people. So we all moved up to a new country, those of us who weren’t Canadian, which was about half the cast, and started a new job with new people. This is kind of why, all these cast members and crew will always be near and dear to my heart. We disappeared in to each other. We leaned on each other. We all lived near each other. I would go to yoga with Brian. I would go see a movie with Elyse. I’d go out drinking with other people. We needed each other because we didn’t know anyone else there. Kinda like the people on the Destiny. It was a weird parallel. It worked.

David Read:
Wow. Melissa D: what was the hardest day for SGU, for you.

David Blue:
That’s a hard one.

David Read:
Camera on your head?

David Blue:
No, that was a blast.

David Read:
In the rain?

David Blue:
Yup. Even though I was soaking wet, like when you walk your shoes are like squish, squish, squish. See, I’m weird, I love that stuff. I think the two hardest days I can think of, one is season one, I had a bunch of, playing the nerd techno guy, you have a bunch of technological lines, which are usually not a problem for me. But when you’re working 20 hours a day, six days a week, and getting tired, you start to run out of hard drive space. So I remember we’re doing the scene in the caves and it was all dusty and crazy, and we’re trying to escape from the caves, and I was supposed to say this whole thing about where Destiny was, and draw it in the sand. First of all, could not remember my lines to save my life, and that’s not me. When I show up to set, I’m off book. I’m not even holding my pages. So I was, it was frustrating to not know what I was supposed to be saying. I felt like I was failing, and being bad for everyone. But then also a light moment, I drew the two orbits and Robert Cooper was like, “draw it differently.” I was like “why?” He’s like “those look like boobs.” So I had to put a cap on that. But, I would say, I mean the emotional moments for Eli were tough because I really enjoyed hanging out with my castmates and we would sit around the chairs and laugh, and when Eli was going through that stuff I would put on certain music playlists and I would just sit by myself. I felt very isolated because Eli was isolated. I would try to get myself in that headspace before filming but it’s tough, become I didn’t want to be doing that. So those two come to mind. There’s probably a better one, but that’s what comes to mind.

David Read:
I appreciate that. Dan Zimmerli: what’s your preference, playing one character long term or a number of characters for a more brief time? I guess at this point in your life, at any point, that would change, probably. But where you are right now?

David Blue:
I know it’s going to sound like a cop out, but both.

David Read:
OK.

David Blue:
I did the play Lear’s Shadow, which is essentially a two or three person King Lear. We ran for a month and we filmed it as a movie. Doing theatre, I love it, I love being in a character and getting a new crack at it every night. As a series regular, like I said, it’s really fun to be able to watch a character grow and change. Financially and career wise, I think the series regular is my favorite because it evolves and you get to learn and grow. But my goal has always been, much to my detriment, to never stop working. I want to go do a series. I want to be Brian Smith. I want to go do a series, and then on my two months off go do a Broadway play, and then go do a film, and come back to the series. I want it all, you know?

David Read:
He’s a rock star.

David Blue:
He is. And he deserves to be. He’s one of the greatest people I know. He absolutely deserves any modicum of success.

David Read:
Robert Den DoovenR: what non-Stargate sci-fi show is your favorite?

David Blue:
OK, well putting aside Next Generation because I already talked about that. For me it would be Quantum Leap was a huge part of my childhood. Quantum Leap, Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, absolutely loved it. Firefly, absolutely loved it. Buffy [the Vampire Slayer], Angel. I watch a lot. I’ve always watched a lot. Solarbabies was one of my favourite movies when I was younger.

David Read:
I’ve not seen it.

David Blue:
SpaceCamp. That’s why I went to space camp.

David Read:
Oh, OK.

David Blue:
All sorts of things. As long as it’s smart sci-fi. Like 12 Monkeys. My friend Todd Stashwick was on 12 Monkeys and I thought it was one of the most brilliant timey wimey shows I’ve ever seen. I just like stories. Telling them and hearing them.

David Read:
Jett Ison: any other Stargate character that you would have played, if given the chance?

David Blue:
It’s going to sound like a cop out but no, because I think they did it well, you know? As much as fun it would be to play McKay, David Hewlett killed it. Same with Shanks, same with RDA, same with Amanda Tapping. Now, that being said, when we started filming SGU, I was one of the only, I was the only overweight actor auditioning to play Eli. So when I booked it, I gained, I’ve yo-yoed my whole life, but I gained weight for Ugly Betty. And then I kind of started working regularly because of it. When I booked SGU, I pulled Brad and Rob aside and I said “hey, it’s really important to me, if you’re OK with it, that Eli loses weight during the show. It’s a survival show. We have horrible access to food so it would make sense anyway, plus I want to feel more healthy and get some energy back, and I think it could be fun for the character, you know?” The minute we started filming, I started losing weight. If you watch the show again, you’ll see me lose about 40 pounds over two years, and then I lost the rest after. One of the things while doing it that was in my mind, and this was before Guardians of the Galaxy or anything, was that sort of Chris Pratt thing. I like the idea, because I’ve never done it, of being the action hero, of being the James Bond, of being that. It’s something I haven’t gotten a chance to try on, that I would really, really like. I’m lucky in that I’ve lost enough weight, and worked out enough, that I’ve gotten some opportunities, but I haven’t gotten the actual chance to yet.

David Read:
It’s just a matter of time, man.

David Blue:
Knock on every piece of wood I can find.

David Read:
George…

David Blue:
That’s the weird thing, too. We don’t talk about it much as actors. If you watch the Brie Larson video, I highly recommend it, because we don’t get a job, you don’t hear about it. Some of the roles I’ve been either close to or up for, its really hard as somebody who loves fandom, who loves doing conventions, to not talk about it. Because when I’m up for a role that I want, that I know fans will freak out over, all I’m thinking about is the fans. I’m like, god, can you imagine at Comic Con, they’re like “wait, what?! Eli Wallace is going to play Flash?!” You know? It means a lot to me. And I almost feel like you guys are all my family and I’m trying to make you proud.

David Read:
Well you know, I think we’re all connected. We’re invested, we’re here, anyone whose listening to the sound of my voice, because we’re invested in the product that you guys created as an ensemble. Any success that you have, you know. Absolutely.

David Blue:
And per Mr. Gibbs, by the way, sorry to look at chat, and Travelers. I loved Travelers, and if you haven’t watched it, please watch it. Because first of all you’ll see everyone from Stargate.

David Read:
You sure will! Patrick is great in it.

David Blue:
Patrick Gilmore, he’s always amazing. Patrick Gilmore in Travelers, I texted him maybe every episode, saying “you are so good!” He’s on the phone and you can’t take your eyes off of him. He is so good.

David Read:
He’s very magnetic. George Fotis Dramesiotis.

David Blue:
Nice. Well done.

David Read:
Sorry George, I completely butchered that. How was it forming a relationship with Robert Carlyle? Because these two characters have such a complicated relationship as well. There is a competitive side, there’s a little bit of a mentor mentee side, and then at the end of it, in my, one of the greatest lines of that show, you realize that you’ve surpassed him.

David Blue:
It always makes me think of The Lawnmower Man line: you realize, Dr. Angelo, my intelligence has surpassed yours. That’s was I was thinking of that whole fricking scene. This is a bit insider, but…

David Read:
Ah please.

David Blue:
…when you’re number one on the call sheet, it’s not just acting. You’re also setting the tone for the set, you’re setting the tone for the series, for the show, for the whatever. There are some horrible number ones out there who make sets toxic and just unbearable. And then there are good ones who make sets so much fun you never want to leave the show. I give a lot of credit and a lot of pats on the back to Robert Carlyle because from minute one he was great, and I can say to me he was great. I felt like I became friends with him faster than anyone else. Even on planes we would stay up having a drink, talking about life, and about not even about the show. I trusted him, I loved working with him, and full transparency, when I heard he was playing Rush, I was like “who?” I had to Google him and I’m like oh, I’ve seen his work.

David Read:
Right.

David Blue:
But it’s not like, you know, he was the most famous person in the world in my mind. I respect the crap out of his work, and him. I think that helped a lot, that sort of early friendship. It sounds like fan service but every single person, I would almost get lost in a scene watching them work. It’s distracting. He did a really good job. A lot of credit to him. Having been number one on a few things now, it’s tough. When you’re tired, you can’t be tired.

David Read:
Everyone is watching you and taking a lot of their cues from you.

David Blue:
Yup.

David Read:
Steffan Ames: Would you be game for another Stargate role playing game session?

David Blue:
Sure! Absolutely. I love playing role playing games, especially when I know them. As I’ve said, I’ve been DMing a lot during the pandemic. I actually DM custom one-shots for people via my Twitch now. We’re doing one tomorrow actually, at three.

David Read:
OK!

David Blue:
I love, I didn’t know it at the time because I’ve always played D&D, or role playing games. I didn’t know it at the time but as a storyteller I love helping people tell a story. And that’s what you are as a DM. I like Alexis [Cruz], he’s like my brother.

David Read:
He’s a great guy.

David Blue:
They’re just fun games. This is the thing about conventions. When we get invited to conventions, which, when we get invited to conventions it’s a blast, because we all love each other. It’s dangerous. You invite me and Rainbow Sun Francks and Alexis to a convention, no one is sleeping. Michael Shanks, Lexa and I became tight at a convention. Ben Browder, Robert Picardo, we explore together. We get along. So playing games with my friends is fun, whether or not I’m good at them. That being said, can I get on the soapbox just for a quick second?

David Read:
Be my guest.

David Blue:
I just want to say to everybody, because people always ask me “will you come to a con, will you come to this con”, just so you guys know, absolutely it’s wonderful to hear as an actor “we want you at a con”, but it’s actual not up to us. What I recommend is, if it’s me or other people, reach out to the con near you or whatever that you want them at, and say “I want this guest.” Because it’s up to the convention to reach out to us, and invite us, and organize it. For the most part, there’s only a few people who don’t, for the most part we all love doing it. We love hanging out with you all, meeting you all, taking pictures, having a good time, making memories. Especially if you’re a fan of SGU or us, please do, because there’s a few cons out there that for some reason will have all-Stargate conventions but only invite SG-1 and Atlantis.

David Read:
Yeah.

David Blue:
I don’t mind if I’m not invited but it always bothers me when I don’t see anyone from SGU on the list because that feels personal. So if you want us there, please reach out to them, we’ll be there in a heartbeat.

David Read:
I cannot underline that enough. Absolutely agree. Dierna Streaming: I have to know what this is. What triggered your love of llamas?

David Blue:
Ah, god. So Dierna is one of my mods…

David Read:
OK!

David Blue:
…and friend because of Twitch. There’s a running gag, so this is a green screen behind me. There’s running gag that I’m hiding something, and it’s somehow become about llamas. It’s because of Hamilton. There’s a line in Hamilton where Alexander Hamilton, played by Lin-Manuel [Miranda] says “and on my life Eliza”. But every time I hear it it sounds like “I’m a llama lover”. Every time. Go back and listen to it, it sounds like “I’m a llama lover.” So llamas have become this running joke on my Twitch. That’s what that is, Dierna.

David Read:
Lorraine Black: any books that you enjoy reading? Do you read sci-fi?

David Blue:
I do. So, huge nerd, growing up I read Imzadi, Vendetta, all the Star Trek ones, all the Star Wars ones, Jedi Academy series, all that stuff. I also read other things. I highly recommend The Goldfinch if you haven’t read it.

David Read:
Oh, OK.

David Blue:
One of my favourite books I’ve ever read.

David Read:
It’s a good movie.

David Blue:
I was traveling, reading that. I couldn’t put it down. All the Light We Cannot See. I just had a few books gifted to me by people on Twitch. The Gunslinger, the whole Dark Tower thing.

David Read:
Yeah.

David Blue:
There’s a few that I’m trying to get in to. I’m one of those people during the pandemic that somehow found myself more busy. [Inaudible]. So I’m not having the time. But I love reading. I’m trying to put as much time as I can in to writing and the Twitch, of course. Julie and I are writing our third script right now, and this one is fantasy sci-fi. We’re trying to get it done and get it out there in the hopes of getting it made. So that’s taken priority.

David Read:
Did you read The Tinderbox? Lou Diamond Phillips’ book.

David Blue:
Not yet, no. I really want to. I might have that one, actually.

David Read:
I had it read in two days.

David Blue:
Really?

David Read:
I’d love to have him on and talk about it. I loved it. It reminded me so much of Dune.

David Blue:
Oh OK, absolutely.

David Read:
Not even funny.

David Blue:
I’ve seen him posting about it a lot. Ah, Lou Diamond, there’s another one. I’ve been a fan of LDP since Young Guns. Stand and Deliver. Meeting him, he is an example of, he wasn’t number one on the show but an example of what the industry can be, what the world can be. When I was about to work with Lou Diamond Phillips I expected he’d be like, stuck up and egotistical because he was famous for 30 years. He was one of the most down to earth, friendliest dudes. To this day, if I text him he responds within an hour or two. That’s just a good person. He doesn’t need to be that, but he is.

David Read:
You want to talk about great humans, and Brian introduced me to her back at Comic-Con, Ming-Na [Wen].

David Blue:
Oh yeah. Ming is…

David Read:
Oh, my god.

David Blue:
If you hear Ming-Na’s laugh, you laugh. You can’t help but laugh.

David Read:
Yeah. She’s just a great human. Last…

David Blue:
I’m so stoked, I’m telling you guys, slight spoiler, Mandalorian stuff, and beyond. So happy.

David Read:
I haven’t seen season two yet, so say nothing.

David Blue:
I won’t say anything. I did text her and I was like oh my god, and her response is why you should love her. Her response was not like “thank you.” Her response was “I know, right?!” Even she has trouble believing how cool it is, what she’s doing.

David Read:
Last question for you. The ZzZzZzZzZz, and I won’t read the other Zs, but that was the person who submitted them. Where there any instances in SGU where you had a say or had an influence in a script:

David Blue:
Yeah, a couple. Again, part of this is naiveté in that I can’t believe I even said anything, and the other part is a compliment to Brad, Rob, Carl, Joe and all of them for even being willing to listen. When you write and produce a show, you can be the type of writer or producer that’s like “go do what I tell you to do”, or you can be the type that’s collaborative. And they’re very collaborative, and I really, really appreciate that. Can I say three things?

David Read:
Yeah. It’s the last question.

David Blue:
Number one, between seasons one and two I was just, I’ve always been a writer but I was just starting to try to write scripts, and for fun, I decided to try to write an SGU episode. Just a spec one. And it ended up become a two-parter, that I wrote. I sent it to my lawyer and a couple of friends, and my lawyer said “oh my god, this is really good, man. You should send it to the producers”. I was like “no, they don’t care.” And he’s like “just send it.” I sent it, and Carl gave me notes on it and told me what he liked and what he didn’t, and they weren’t upset that I sent a script. They were cool about it. It felt like a nice, Robert Cooper told me some scripts to read, and books to read to become an even better writer. They were really supportive, so there’s that. Two, God bless Brad, for me overstepping and being cool with it. In season one there was originally, in one of the scripts, there was a moment where, I think Colonel Young lies to everybody and pretends he knows something that he doesn’t. I don’t know what gave me these balls, but I walked up to Brad, my boss, and said “hey do you watch Battlestar Galactica?” “No, I haven’t”. “So, sorry, I just wanted you to be aware, there was an episode where this kind of happened. And I don’t know if you care, but I thought maybe you’d want to know.” And he went “oh, no I didn’t know that.” And they rewrote it. They took that out. First of all, amazing that he didn’t just fire me on the spot, for questioning their writing. But he was willing to do that, because he just wanted to create this new thing. The big one though, I always loved, because I love pop culture, I always oived how much Eli quoted movies, and referenced them. Right around season two, because of everything that was happening in the show, it didn’t happen as much. I think I went up to Carl and I said “I’m just noticing that I’m not quoting movies or referencing them anymore.” And he’s like “oh, honestly I didn’t even realize that. If you see a moment where you want to, let us know.” In season two, towards the end, there’s a moment between Eli and Wray where he says “this isn’t Last Starfighter.” That was me, because the minute I auditioned for the show, I felt like I was in [The] Last Starfighter. They let me add that moment for Eli. That, plus in Time, one of my favourite episodes, the list of movies that Eli loves, desert island movies, Robert Cooper came up to me and said “what are your favorite movies”, and I said “mine or Eli’s?” He said “both.” The list of Eli’s is what I thought was Eli’s list. They were really wonderfully collaborative.

David Read:
I remember talking with you, the first time that we had an interview, and we are talking about Air: Part 3. You were walking across the dunes at White Sands [National Park]. One of my favourite places on the Earth. Going in your head “Muad’Dib, Muad’Dib, Muad’Dib”.

David Blue:
Muad’Dib, Muad’Dib, Muad’Dib. Well that, and also ow, ow, ow! Because thankfully you can’t tell in the episode but I had just pulled my groin.

David Read:
Oh no!

David Blue:
And we were running up and down sand dunes. This is the worst!

David Read:
Gosh, man. You looking forward to Dune?

David Blue:
I am. I am for multiple reasons. The cast is fantastic, I love the original movie, I’m curious to see. I’m not a huge fan of reboots in general, because to me a reboot, unless the original was lost in a fire, you can just watch the original, you know? That being said, I love entertainment, and I will give anything a try. I can be mad about them doing a whole new Star Trek, but I’ll still be the first one to see it on opening day, you know?

David Read:
Yeah, absolutely!

David Blue:
And usually we’re wrong.

David Read:
Yeah, often.

David Blue:
I’ll see it no matter what. I am stoked. I wish I could be in it. It’s going to be really hard not go Muad’Dib, Muad’Dib, Muad’Dibby during the movie.

David Read:
Right. I can’t wait.

David Blue:
I think what we’ve seen looks cool.

David Read:
It looks beautiful. It looks like they really put their money where their mouth is with it. I was a huge fan of the sci-fi miniseries and I’m really hoping that it takes the best of both, the David Lynch version and that.

David Blue:
Yeah. I mean that’s [inaudible].

David Read:
And does its own thing.

David Blue:
That’s the goal, you know are in such an interesting time in entertainment, where people are exploring and taking chances but also kind of revisiting. It kind of drives me crazy, but I really respect people who have an idea or a vision and either break some boundaries, Parasite, explore existing ones and expand them, [Star Trek] Discovery, try a new version Will & Grace, or a whole new one, Walker, Texas Ranger. I respect storytellers and storytelling and I want to hear their version. I’ll always give them a shot. Not everything’s for me, but I love, let’s be honest here, would any of us have gotten through this pandemic if it wasn’t for movies and TV?

David Read:
It would have been hard. And the ability to communicate with each other through it, too. For sure.

David Blue:
It’s really, really tough, and I hope everyone remembers that moving forward, but also I am so grateful to be in an industry that makes the thing that I love. I’m happy any day I get to do what I love for a living.

David Read:
David, this has been a treat. Thank you so much for this. I would love to have you back later this year, to go in to more specific episode details. My hope with this show is to create a lasting archive of Stargate for the future. For the future generations that haven’t even found the show yet, to come and discover it for themselves and the little behind the scenes tidbits and everything else. It’s great pleasure to have you on and it means a lot to me that you’re here.

David Blue:
I would love that. Give me an email and let me know, and if I may just replug, everyone please come and check out the Twitch channel for David Blue. It’s completely free to watch or follow. You can subscribe. If you don’t come for the games and the D&D, come to the SGU watch parties, because it’s a bunch of people who love Stargate, hanging out online, watching episodes together, telling stories and laughing. I love that about Stargate.

David Read:
That’s what it is. That’s what it’s about. Can you give the Twitch ID one more time?

David Blue:
It’s twitch.tv/4DavidBlue.

David Read:
That will be in the description in just a few moments here as well, folks. You’ll be able to click on it.

David Blue:
Thank you so much to you, David, and to all of you watching. The fandom and the nerd world, and all of you mean the world to me. Before SGU and even more so now.

David Read:
It’s great to have you, man. I’m so grateful that you play an active role in the community. It’s so nice to have people involved in such a great project who know the quality of the work that it was, and appreciate the fan base for what it is.

David Blue:
We would not work, don’t let any person, actor writer producer director, tell you different. We do it for you. We would not have jobs if it was not for fandom. That being said, you still have to crate the stories you want to tell, and hope it finds an audience. Literally means the world to us that you care.

David Read:
Absolutely. Not everything is going to land with everybody. You have to create what you believe in, and hope that it connects with someone else. And that’s the best you can do.

David Blue:
Build it and they will come.

David Read:
That’s exactly right, Kevin Costner! All right, my friend. Best of luck with your Twitch…

David Blue:
Thank you.

David Read:
…and we’ll be posting the link. You have a great new year, and we will be in touch.

David Blue:
Thank you so much. I’ll talk to you soon, bud.

David Read:
Take care of yourself, man. Be well.

David Blue:
Bye.

David Read:
Bye bye now. David Blue, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. Hope you enjoyed the show. And thanks to David Blue. David, he was in, they had just started season two, and I bumped in to him at Comic-Con. We had only seen each other once, the year before. I came up to him and was like, “hey, David Read” and I put out my hand and he was like “no, no, no. We’re in hugs now.” I’ll never forget that. He has always been so welcoming and such a kindred spirit, a kindred sci-fi spirit. It’s a delight to have him on the show now. Before I let you go, we have a live fan art. And that is not it. That is it. The guest artist for the week is Wulvrein. This is from, they say, from Stargate Universe. It’s a redraw of a piece I did a few years ago, which is probably one of my favorite old deviant arts. I love this of Eli. They’ve really captured his essence in this. Submit your Stargate art to us at [email protected]. And, if you enjoyed this episode, if you like what you’ve seen, I’d appreciate it if you click the “like” button. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the subscribe icon. If you plan watch live, I recommend giving the bell icon a click so you’ll be the first to know of any scheduled changes, which happen all the time. Clips from this livestream will be released over the course of the next several days, on both the Dial the Gate and Gateworld.net YouTube channels. If you want goodies, we’ve got goodies for you this month. One of these communication stones is a screen-used prop and the other is a screen accurate replica. For the month of January, Dial the Gate is giving away the replica. In order to win, you need to use a desktop or laptop computer and visit dialthegate.com. Scroll down to “submit trivia questions”. Your trivia may be used in a future episode of Dial the Gate, either for our monthly trivia night or for a special guest to ask me in a round of trivia. There are three slots for trivia: one easy, one medium, and one hard. Only one needs to be filled in, but you’re welcome to submit three. Please note the submission form does not currently work on mobile devices. Your trivia must be received before February 1, 2021. If you’re the lucky winner, I will be notifying you via your email right after the start of the new year to get your address. That’s all we’ve got for this episode. Jan Newman, the makeup artist for Stargate SG-1, all ten seasons and two DVD movies, is up at the top of the hour, which will be three o’clock Pacific time. Should make it six o’clock Eastern time. Thanks again to David Blue. A great interview, a great guy. I really appreciate having him on. I really appreciate you joining us. And you know what? We’ll see you on the other side. Take care everybody. Bye bye.