From aliens to metaphysics to McKay, David Hewlett returns for another riveting two-hour discussion of Stargate memories, and to take your questions.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:50 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:11 – Guest Introduction
05:54 – The Latest Project He Can’t Talk About
07:58 – Rodney McKay
10:18 – Tech Bandits
15:30 – Sci-fi Weaved with SG References
19:29 – Season One of Clarice
21:53 – How long will it be before we see you on Star Trek?
22:40 – Graphene Technology
28:28 – Scanning, 3D Printing and McKay Pop! Figurines
32:41 – NFTs, Crypto and V Bucks
46:40 – Working in Cube
54:27 – What is secret to learning and remembering the techno babble?
1:00:31 – What was your favorite day working on Stargate?
1:03:13 – Have you come up with a name suggestion for your future niece?
1:05:23 – Did you get to pick the food to eat on set?
1:08:38 – What are your thoughts on leadership? “Letters from Pegasus”
1:10:07 – Will there be a “Dog’s Lunch”?
1:13:07 – Happy Birthday greeting to Moderator Antony
1:13:43 – Which alternate universe version of McKay would you like to revisit?
1:14:28 – If you could take something from SG and make it real, what would it be?
1:22:13 – With who would you want to be quarantined with in a lockdown? Ronon or Rodney?
1:22:41 – What genre outside of sci-fi is your favorite to act in?
1:24:45 – What was it like to change the stereotype where the geek gets the girl?
1:31:33 – Have you talked to Amanda Tapping about Dr. Who?
1:34:24 – Reprising McKay
1:37:13 – Prior to Atlantis, what was your favorite SG1 episode to watch?
1:39:09 – Are you a member of the Planetary Society?
1:40:00 – How much input did you and Jewel have on the development of the romance?
1:41:17 – Did Patrick die at the end of A Dog’s Breakfast?
1:42:59 – What is the secret to a great scifi story?
1:46:46 – David thanks David for his appearance
1:47:40 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:49:10 – End Credits

***

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

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Episode 74 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. For my next guest, difficult takes a few seconds, impossible a few minutes. David Hewlett will be joining us. When we have him on, man, we know how to party. All right. Before I bring him in, I would like to invite you to share this program with your fellow Stargate cohorts. If you don’t have fellow Stargate cohorts, get yourself some. Join us in the chat here, and make some Stargate cohort friends. All right, enough with the cohorts. If you like Stargate and wanna see more content like this on YouTube, it would really mean a great deal if you clicked the Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show continue to grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. And giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll be getting my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. This is key if you plan on watching live. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several days on the gateworld.net YouTube channel, our partner site. Thank you so much for joining me, and I hope you have a great program. Meantime, I’m gonna spend some time with my friend, Mr. David Hewlett. Hello, sir, how you doing?

David Hewlett:
I’m good. How you doing?

David Read:
I am all right.

David Hewlett:
I’m trying to get the chat in here as well.

David Read:
Yeah, absolutely.

David Hewlett:
I’ve got my phone going. Digging in for a full geek-out here.

David Read:
Multitasking? Absolutely. And your little robot assistant behind you here. Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that…

David Hewlett:
My creepy robot friend?

David Read:
… man. That is so cool.

David Hewlett:
The Meccano was not creepy enough, so I had to add the pi eyes. That’s a little Raspberry Pi running a little animation loop, which is nice. What I’ve gotta do is get the dragon eyes on there. You can change the graphics.

David Read:
The … graphic.

David Hewlett:
So, I wanna get some dragon eyes so that when we do Dungeons & Dragons or Magic: The Gathering or something, I’ve got the suitable-

David Read:
Is it listening right now? Is it … Does it have an audio sensor?

David Hewlett:
Probably. The Meccano does, or the … whatever you say in America. Let me see. I’ll pin it down.

David Read:
Konnichiwa.

David Hewlett:
There you go. It has a whole sort of voice control thing as well, which … I think I’ve just killed the batteries ’cause I left it on last night. But you could take its hand, and it’ll follow you around and stuff. And this was a Tech Bandit, an older Tech Bandit, who apparently was cleaning up and found this lying around and went, “Oh my God! David will love that,” and donated it. So, of course, I have loved it. And that’s my best and only friend. I can’t have an Asgard, so I’ll go with a…

David Read:
It’s the closest thing. Exactly. You drive the wife and the kid out of the house. It’s like, “Well, you know what, this one’s always gonna laugh at my jokes and tell me how good-looking I am, and everything else.”

David Hewlett:
I need to program it to be slightly more obedient to the rest of my family. That’s all.

David Read:
We are not long from the world of Her, let me tell ya. You’re dating your OS? How’s that going?

David Hewlett:
I am so taken with this stuff. I was showing Baz the Elon Musk Monkey Pong thing today. You’ve seen that, I’m assuming? The Neuralink?

David Read:
The Neuralink.

David Hewlett:
Which of course is … Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I freaking love that stuff. I’ve been playing with brain-computer interface stuff for so long now. Why’d it go out of focus? So, weird.

David Read:
‘Cause you put your hand in front of it.

David Hewlett:
Is that what it is?

David Read:
Yeah.

David Hewlett:
Is that what that is? It’s so responsive. It’s amazing. Of course I suck, ’cause all I do is wave my hands around all the time doing…

David Read:
No, it’s all good. You need a tablet. You need one of your tablets.

David Hewlett:
The brains. It’s true. The brain-computer interface stuff, though, has always been absolutely fascinating to me.

David Read:
It’s read-only at this point. It’s not writing into his brain, is it?

David Hewlett:
It’s just reading. And it’s really simple in a way, because … I’ve been going on about this for ages, where I’m like, we’re strapping things on our heads for VR and headphones and trying to come up with those ridiculous treadmill things to make it look like you’re actually walking in VR and stuff. I’m like, “Guys, we’ve just gotta hack the signals.” We’re just a big, lumpy gray computer with signals coming in and out. We hack those signals; it’s completely immersive. We’re in the Matrix.

David Read:
What was the movie with Christopher Walken? What was that one called?

David Hewlett:
Was it Altered States? No.

David Read:
Is that what it was? Louise Fletcher was in it too, I think.

David Hewlett:
No, where is it? Altered States with…

David Read:
They had the huge Emmett Brown kind of style thing on his head.

David Hewlett:
Yes. It was…

David Read:
I can’t–

David Hewlett:
… something space. Outer space.

David Read:
And they were able to record and then replay…

David Hewlett:
Memories.

David Read:
… experiences. Exactly.

David Hewlett:
And I remember as a teenager, there was a whole sex thing there, and I was like, “Oh. Oh my God.”

David Read:
And then after death, what is it that you see?

David Hewlett:
“He almost died from having sex.” I remember as a teenager being traumatized by that.

David Read:
We can’t talk about the project yet, but there is something coming up.

David Hewlett:
Does it suck… in a world… we’ve got so many means of communications, and the film and TV industry is still so terrified that someone might say the wrong thing in the wrong way or something.

David Read:
I get it. There’s a time and place. There’s strategy for everything that’s involved. It’s not like we’re releasing a new form of technology or military secrets or anything like that. But there is…

David Hewlett:
But it feels like they are sometimes.

David Read:
It does come off like that. But there’s a very well-known show that we will be seeing you in soon. And you told me what it is, and I am very excited about it. And congratulations.

David Hewlett:
Great. Thank you.

David Read:
This is good stuff.

David Hewlett:
I am very excited about it, and I think what makes me even more excited about it is that my son is very excited about it as well. For once, it’s a job that he’s not thoroughly embarrassed that his father… Clarice, he’s still a bit not sure what to do with me, ’cause we were watching it together, and he was on Twitter, and the response, of course, to this odious character that I play is so wretched on Twitter. He’s like, “Dad, you do not wanna know what they just said about you.” “What? What did they say?”

David Read:
“What did they say?”

David Hewlett:
“Oh, God.”

David Read:
“I’m an actor. I’ll take it.”

David Hewlett:
Exactly. I love it. I’m like, “It’s attention, baby.”

David Read:
That goes back with Ronny Cox and… Senator Kinsey in SG-1. Even to this day, people are like, “Oh, I hate him.” I’m like… “Well, then he’s doing his job.” You’re not supposed to like that character.

David Hewlett:
It’s hard for actors to not be liked, because we… it’s like we’re programmed. We’re like desperate little puppies dying for people to love us. the idea of getting a role, where you have to play a truly unlikable is very… Like Kavanagh, another great one that keeps coming up.

David Read:
Terrific. Ben Costner.

David Hewlett:
That is testament to good acting.

David Read:
That’s right. And if you were only on for “48 Hours,” pardon the pun, the episode… McKay would largely have that as well.

David Hewlett:
I still get that. It’s hard to live that initial SGA introduction down.

David Read:
SG-1?

David Hewlett:
SG-1, sorry. It’s been so long, I’ve got them all confused now.

David Read:
Go suck a lemon, Rodney.

David Hewlett:
I still get asked if I’m actually allergic to citrus, which I’m not. But I do like to then list all of the other allergies I have, to show how McKay I really am.

David Read:
I think it’s really funny, because then we get into an alternate reality where he’s perfectly fine with it. So, either he’s full of crap, or they’re suggesting something more metaphysical about how we’re all put together and everything else.

David Hewlett:
I feel like there’s a certain amount of hypochondria in McKay. I like to think that perhaps that may be more about me than McKay. But there’s definitely an element of this whole pandemic thing. I was kind of germophobic and a bit hypochondriac before. I am now ridiculous. I’m washing my hands all the time.

David Read:
It’s definitely, in terms of quirks and everything else, brought out the best and the worst of us, for sure, for better or for worse.

David Hewlett:
I don’t know about you, but how are you finding this? I think I was built to live in a bunker and stream.

David Read:
I’ve Ubered 6,000 rides and Lyfted 6,000 rides since this happened. The way that I have always looked at it is… This is not fatalist or anything, but I’ve had a really good time. Not to say that I’m not taking precautions, but if it’s my time, it’s my time, and I’m OK. But I’ve always lived that way — thankful for each and every day — but take your precautions. Wear your mask.

David Hewlett:
Wear the mask.

David Read:
Do your due diligence.

David Hewlett:
It’s so easy. World War II… they’re rationing butter and sugar, and all they’re asking us to do is to order in and stay at home? I’m like, “Guys!”

David Read:
We’re so plump. We’re ripe for alien colonization.

David Hewlett:
“This isn’t a pandemic. This is fricking paradise.” You know what I mean?

David Read:
I know. But it’s not the same.

David Hewlett:
Bradley and I have been having a great time with it.

David Read:
There you go. How’s Tech Bandits going?

David Hewlett:
It’s great. I love it. I love it.

David Read:
Fill us in.

David Hewlett:
We sort of were gathering people as we go. It’s a bit like a circus. We’ve got a new young lady from England who’s joined us, the guy from Seattle. We’ve got Lance, who’s known as Gimpy God Gaming. And Lance is an old math teacher. Well, old. He’s my age, retired. I’m like, “What? How do you retire?” Anyways, he’s retired, and he has quite a severe physical disability, so he can’t really move. So, he’s joined us on Tech Bandits because he can really help me out with the teaching side of it. I try not to teach anything, but I get interested in stuff, and the hope is the kids are getting interested with it as well. Gimpy G, as I call him, has been great about sort of keeping me on track and coming up with neat little things. Because the other thing, of course, the other love of my life is this assistive tech stuff, which I think is the coolest. Gimpy G and I are working on some gaming stuff, which could be kind of fun, where we can… I will attempt to use some of this assistive tech myself to battle him in a couple of games.

David Read:
When you say assistive tech, are you talking about for people with disabilities that have…

David Hewlett:
Yeah. But it’s not…

David Read:
That stuff is coming such a long way.

David Hewlett:
It’s coming a long way. We were just talking about this before… the whole Elon Musk Neuralink thing.

David Read:
Neuralink.

David Hewlett:
With the monkey being able to play Pong. It’s hacking those signals between the brain and the body, and once we figure that out, we can basically have a completely seamless virtual reality. But for people who can’t move, it is a level of freedom that is just… that would be revolutionary. Gimpy G talks about his video game adventures, and we all experience that, where we sit down to play a game and we go, “Wow, it’s so cool.” We look at IBREC’s stuff with Stargate Command and go, “Oh my, look what they’ve done!” These 3D environments for Atlantis and wandering around this stuff or playing the RPG game… but then you go, “OK, imagine if you can’t move, and all of a sudden, you’re able to move and interact and help your teammates destroy dragons or… ” It’s a whole other level of nerdiness to this stuff.

David Read:
It’s a whole other level. And the advancements that are coming with the smart homes. Especially the Gary Sinise project for these disabled veterans is extraordinary, and the implementation of that technology with the internet…

David Hewlett:
And it’s pushed a lot of it. The military has pushed a lot of this stuff, and it’s funny how we like to sort of blow people up and then we like to sort of put them back together again.

David Read:
Exactly.

David Hewlett:
I wish we could skip the blowing up…

David Read:
Now that you’ve done that for us.

David Hewlett:
I wish you could sort of skip the blowing up part. And I think eventually we will because, again, we’re beginning to move more and more towards the robotic side of this stuff, which I know terrifies people, but I’m a total sort of pessimist on just about everything. I am the dark cloud at the party, but at the same time, I still have a great faith in technology. I still feel like technology is gonna save us. Plus, I wanna be walking around in one of those suits at some point.

David Read:
Exactly. You may have been in that one. It’s one of the three, for sure.

David Hewlett:
I’m so sorry. If I have, there’s a lot of Febreze needed probably.

David Read:
Brian J. Smith said the same thing when I messaged him ’cause he was the one who had the tags last used in it. I’m sure you’ve seen the Black Mirror episode with the dog… and that’s a later, smaller version of the Boston Dynamics critter that they’ve got now.

David Hewlett:
By the way, I drove a prototype of one of those. I was at a robotics convention…

David Read:
And how was that?

David Hewlett:
Amazing. This is what I love about Stargate is… First off, I get to go to a robotics convention because I played a smart guy on television. I play brilliant on television, so I get invited to places where brilliant people hang out. I get to hang out, watching this stuff, learning about technology that I could’ve only dreamed of as a kid. And Boston Dynamics was there. They did a presentation. They talked to all these robotics experts about stuff. And then at the end they had a demonstration of Spot, and it was the first time I’d seen Spot with the arm — with the extra arm thing on — that sort of Muppet-like hand thing. And I’m standing there watching it, and I look over and I make eye contact with the guy who’s controlling it and he goes, “You’re, McKay, you wanna go?” And hands me the controllers. And all of a sudden I’ve got this fricking robot and I’m thinking exactly like Black Mirror, “I am God here.” The technology is absolutely extraordinary.

David Read:
Crazy.

David Hewlett:
And science fiction, there’s a great quote that a guy I talked to, a brain-computer-interface guy actually, one of the guys who founded OpenBCI, which creates these EEG sets — these sort of 3D-printable EEG sets and DIY stuff that you can play with — was saying that you have to remember that science fiction is the first stage of engineering. It’s the dreaming phase.

David Read:
Correct.

David Hewlett:
And that is…

David Read:
Including all those avenues that we don’t wanna go down.

David Hewlett:
Exactly. Yes, that’s true. That’s where we get to pontificate about…

David Read:
The day-after, those things are important.

David Hewlett:
And I think for so long we’ve rewarded people for creating new stuff. We’re now beginning to realize that we need to create new stuff with an eye towards how that stuff’s gonna be used. And again, Stargate, perfect example of that. We’re seeing that stuff all the time where you’ve got the McKays of the world: “give me, give me, give me all the tech, give me all the fun stuff to play with,” without really considering the implications.

David Read:
In the back of his mind, Rodney is considering the implications for humanity, definitely, but in the front of his mind he is satisfying his insatiable curiosity.

David Hewlett:
I think he’ll consider other people…

David Read:
Sometimes with solar-system-destroying effects.

David Hewlett:
… as long as he has fun, I think he’ll consider other people, generally, but the curiosity is that Pandora’s Box quality to him. Like many of us, like myself, you wanna take things apart to see how they work, and they don’t always work the way you want them to or even again once you’ve taken them apart.

David Read:
And it’s so easy to take a look at something and say, “Oh, I have an idea of how that works,” and open it up and absolutely have it explode in your face. I’m thinking of “Trinity,” and he’s like, “I’ve got this. I’ve got this. I know what this is gonna do.” And it ends up wiping out a solar system.

David Hewlett: Not the entire solar system, but…

David Read:
Not just three-fourths or whatever it was. You’re exactly right.

David Hewlett:
And it wasn’t inhabited. It wasn’t… Big deal.

David Read:
But I heard an interesting analogy a couple months ago regarding the iPhone. You could send an iPhone back to 1500s Columbus era and promise them unlimited resources, and they would never be able to crack it. They would never be able to duplicate the technology because they don’t have the math. They don’t have the building blocks of skills to process what it is that we’ve created. It’s completely beyond them, so when you look at what we’re doing and we’re like, “The ancients. We can create this thing.” Maybe not necessarily. Maybe we have a long way to learn.

David Hewlett:
I definitely think that’s a big part of it, and I think this is one of the things I love about sort of diversity in the sciences as well, is we talk about… I think for so long we’ve had white male nerds in basements working away and doing stuff, so you’re always gonna have a certain perspective on things. And now that the world is sort of opening up, and we’re seeing more sort of female scientists and Black scientists and people of color and…

David Read:
All over the world.

David Hewlett:
It makes a huge, huge difference because all of a sudden you start finding different solutions to things. I know there’s a lot of sort of noise about… diversity in science, and, “What does it matter? It’s all science. What does it matter what color you are?” But the reality is that is what brings up ideas that didn’t exist before. It’s the…

David Read:
Perspective shift.

David Hewlett:
Clarice is a great example of that as well with the TV show, where you go, “OK, that is a show that very, very easily could just be a procedural serial killer show,” and I would love it, because it’s all killers and cops and great. But they’ve chosen to say, “OK, yes, that’s the framework for our show, a sort of procedural thing. But we’re gonna add this whole, “Let’s turn it on its head and look at the FBI itself and see how these various different sort of racial and sexual politics come into play,” and it just adds a whole other level of stuff going on there, which is really exciting.

David Read:
So, I think Season One has started airing, and you were in it. What was it like working on that show?

David Hewlett:
It was amazing. It’s funny because I’m so old and jaded now that I generally would rather not work. I’ve got a nice setup here. I got a robot that agrees with me. I don’t really like to leave the house, but this came up, and… it was sort of very soon after we’d sort of just got used to filming in the pandemic. I’d finished up the Guillermo thing and had done another project, and they were odd because they were still trying to figure it out. And then I got on Clarice, and a friend of mine, Paula, is the producer on it, and… man, she’s got that thing. I don’t know how she’s done it because they’ve got a big cast. All of a sudden, trying to film a scene in an FBI office is a whole different world because if you’re seeing all of those desks, they have to have FBI agents. Except what do you do when you can’t have the FBI agents because there’s a pandemic on, and we’re only allowed a certain number of people? So, tons of testing, tons of personal protective stuff, rewrites to make it work… she’s been very, very smart.

David Read:
I would think it’d be a lot of forced perspective with the camera too in order to make certain shots get pulled off.

David Hewlett:
Or just simple things like we went from an office that had these beautiful windows to these beautiful windows that had been frosted carefully, so you can sort of get a sense that there’s stuff going on outside without actually seeing. And also, they’re just putting a lot of weight behind this thing. The cast is fricking amazing. They’re all fricking children. It’s been really fun to be a part of… And again, it’s a couple days here, a couple days there… Come in, cause chaos, leave again. But it really is, it’s got to the point where I’m actually going to the read-throughs on Zoom even though I’m not in the episodes. They’re like, “What the hell are you doing here?” I’m like, “I wanna know what happens next.”

David Read:
I’m a fan.

David Hewlett:
I got episodes I missed. I gotta know.

David Read:
I’m hooked.

David Hewlett:
They can’t get rid of me now.

David Read:
How long before we see you on Star Trek, man?

David Hewlett:
Man, how amazing. Look, it’s not for want of trying. I’d love to be in that.

David Read:
You’ve auditioned for it?

David Hewlett:
Oh, many, many times. On lots of different things. I feel like in these things, either something comes up that’s right or it doesn’t. And I’m very excited about this other show that we’re not allowed to talk about because there’s definitely some fun sort of… not sci-fi per se, but…

David Read:
It’s fantastical.

David Hewlett:
… it is fantastical. And I am gonna be fantastical.

David Read:
You are?

David Hewlett:
There is much fantastical… lots of fantastical in there for me.

David Read:
I have yet to see it.

David Hewlett:
Really? OK, great.

David Read:
But it’s on my list though, so I’m looking forward to it.

David Hewlett:
All right, very good.

David Read:
Absolutely. Have you been following this development in graphene technology with batteries?

David Hewlett:
Yes, a little bit. I don’t know enough about it, but what’s the deal?

David Read:
So… it’s made with carbon and a sheet of palladium. That’s the fundamental construct of it. This graphene carbon woven piece of… power pack that charges like 200 or 300 times faster than normal, and has the same output as a normal battery brick. Like one of these.

David Hewlett:
The graphene is more efficient in this form of charge.

David Read:
Correct. I don’t know all the exact ins and outs of it, but the exciting thing is it uses carbon… It can take carbon dioxide and form this technology.

David Hewlett:
Nice.

David Read:
So, we are literally being cleaner by creating these things and being more efficient as a result. And the fact that it’s a longer-lasting, faster-charging battery capacity. When you upscale these things to cars, I mean, I’m really interested in seeing where battery technology goes in the next two or three years.

David Hewlett:
And we have to get this stuff right because we’re gonna have to. We don’t have any other options. We have to be using this technology. Everything relies on batteries at this point, so bringing down the power requirements, upping the storage capacity, and there’s another one that they have now, which is the… I can’t remember if it was… is it the dry cell instead of the… there’s some kind of a lithium change now, and instead of these lithium batteries breaking down, I think it may be a dry cell instead of a liquid so that it doesn’t break down as quickly, which is kind of fun. It’s one of the two. I get it confused. There’s too many cool things going on.

David Read:
I know, it’s hard to keep track of.

David Hewlett:
Monkeys playing Pong with their brains. I can’t keep track of it all.

David Read:
The other thing that blew my mind that I wanted to bring up with you is Perseverance and Ingenuity are now taking pictures of each other. Did you see that?

David Hewlett:
We’ve got like the Kardashians of robots on Mars, who are constantly taking photos of themselves. No that is like a particular… I was really depressed that they pushed it. They pushed the actual helicopter launch for a little while.

David Read:
Yeah. That’s my understanding.

David Hewlett:
We saw Perseverance on the ground being worked on at JPL when we were there.

David Read:
Wow.

David Hewlett:
So, I feel a little…

David Read:
Connection to it.

David Hewlett:
I’m name-dropping a little. Or a lot. But the whole concept of this sort of second generation of autonomous drone… The landing’s spectacular. The fact that they’re there is spectacular, and then the fact that it poops out a little helicopter and then it drives on. And then I’m like, “Oh my God, this is the coolest thing ever.” This little lonely helicopter sitting there.

David Read:
I’m gonna pick on my mother for a moment here ’cause I know she’s watching and she’s gonna be like, “Oh no, what are you doing?” But when it originally landed and I was telling her, “We’re gonna be able to hear another planet,” my very pragmatic mother is like, “There’s nothing there. What do you expect to hear?”

David Hewlett:
What are you gonna hear?

David Read:
And it was like, “We’re just gonna.”

David Hewlett:
But the wind… that wind is weird. I kinda wanna loop it and then listen to it in my hearing aids at night while I’m sleeping and see if it induces any kind of… interstellar dreams of some sort.

David Read:
… hypnagogic thing? Absolutely, no. There are certain things that you just have to do to say that we’ve done it, and it’ll inspire one little kid somewhere. Like rocket mail… we could do it, but we just choose not to. But I think hearing Mars will have more utility than rocket mail and things of that nature. I think that the transformation of technology is happening so quickly in our society, and we’re all just struggling to… some of us don’t care, but the rest of us are like, “What’s happening next, and how is this gonna reshape us as a culture and as a group?”

David Hewlett:
I’m a little worried that there’s gonna be a backlash. That people are gonna start casting aside the technology and sort of trying to go back to basics in a way that I think… I don’t know… I guess there’s a place for that to some extent, but there’s such a distrust for technology, and I keep coming back to the fact that it’s not the technology; it’s the people. And that distrust comes from the fact that I don’t think we trust ourselves with this stuff. Ray Kurzweil talks about the singularity, the idea that we’re…

David Read:
The singularity moment.

David Hewlett:
… yeah… and the fact that we are already unable to keep up with the amount of data that we get every day to the point where our phones are becoming more and more powerful. I was complaining about paying so much for my phone, and then Jane said, “What do you use the most? You’re on the phone. You do everything on your phone now, so it’s your camera; it’s your phone. It’s your computer. It does everything, so why not spend the money on that instead of on a computer?” I did it on both.

David Read:
When you break down the number of hours you spend on it…

David Hewlett:
I did it on both. I bought both things.

David Read:
There you go. But when you really break down the amount of time that you spend, it really is peanuts that we pay for it for the resource that we use… for a couple of apps, so absolutely.

David Hewlett:
It is amazing. I’m still uncovering new things on this… I got the 12 Max, so I’m playing… because it’s basically like having a MALP in your pocket. You could scan the room and then have a 3D model of it.

David Read:
Isn’t that nuts?

David Hewlett:
You could scan your face and make your own action figures. I’m just saying. Not that I would do that.

David Read:
So, these right here are custom-made Stargate SG-1 Pop Figures! by a fan. These are the prototypes. He sent these to me, and…

David Hewlett:
I have a horrible story about that. I was at Dragon Con? I think it was Dragon Con. This lovely couple comes up to me and presents me with the coolest McKay Pop Figure! I have ever seen. It was perfect. It had slightly less hair than I would’ve liked. It came with a little handmade ZPM. All of the artwork on the box and everything. I was like, “Oh my God. This is the coolest thing ever,” and I gave it to my handler and said, “You’ve gotta look after this, and you’ve gotta send it to me.” I was scared it was gonna get crushed in the… I thought, “Ship it. We’ll pad it all up and ship it.” I have never received it, so somewhere it has gone missing along the way.

David Read:
Oh, no.

David Hewlett:
I’m not blaming my handler. I’m just saying. I love that they’re called handlers. It makes me feel like a lion. It makes me feel like a dangerous, untamed beast, David.

David Read:
Hopefully, they’re out there watching… because the talent in this community is just ridiculous. I wish I could take ’em out and show ’em to you. They’re just amazing… the detail.

David Hewlett:
Why does MGM suck at merchandising so much?

David Read:
Well…

David Hewlett:
Because there are just these fantastic ideas out there. Every other franchise I’ve seen has these cool, constantly changing merchandising things.

David Read:
Pop! also has to agree to do a Stargate line, and I don’t know if… I’ve been in some meetings, so I have to be careful of what I say… It’s just not every brand is gonna say, “Oh, OK, we’ll do that,” even though it seems like Pop! is doing absolutely everything and its mother.

David Hewlett:
But you have to pay… Pop! must pay a licensing fee or something.

David Read:
Correct.

David Hewlett:
And MGM, I’m guessing, has pretty expensive licensing fees.

David Read:
Right. I’m not sure. But at the same time, Pop! also has to look at it and say, “OK, are we gonna make money at this? Do we think that there’s a market for it?”

David Hewlett:
I think they do. I, myself, would buy a lot of my own. I’d buy a crate of it myself right away.

David Read:
Have them all around the house, put little speech bubbles next to them, “Jane, please do this for me.”

David Hewlett:
I used to have so many of my figures, because when we did them, they said, “Are you OK with doing this?” I said, “Yes, but you gotta give me a box of them.” And so they gave me a box of these things, and I was so cavalier… I’d meet someone. They’d be like, “Oh my God. You got an action figure?” I was like, “Yeah, I have one.” And I would give them all away. I now have two. I have one of each now. They’re both in the box…

David Read:
OK, good.

David Hewlett:
The other one my son had as a child, and he’s been dipped in everything. Thrown around. He got beaten up by fricking Doctor Who.

David Read:
So, how do you explain to a little kid that this is daddy? That’s gotta be weird.

David Hewlett:
I don’t think he cares. I think if you’re used to that, there’s nothing… For us, the idea of an action figure is, “Oh my God… I’m done. I made it. Bury me now.” But they’re of a generation where it’s like, “Well, just print one on the 3D printer.” You’re like, “Oh.”

David Read:
Right. He can have his own of his if he wanted to for an easy amount of money. That’s fair.

David Hewlett:
It’s really interesting talking to a kid about NFTs right now, these non-fungible tokens, this crypto stuff, because trying to explain it to adults is almost impossible. They’re like, “I don’t understand. It’s pretend. What do you… I don’t get it.” But you talk to a kid, and all you have to do is say, “Well, it’s like exclusive skins for Fortnite.” They’re like, “Oh, OK, we get it.”

David Read:
For 2019 Christmas, the most wanted item for Christmas from kids was Fortnite V-Bucks.

David Hewlett:
Virtual money…

David Read:
That is crazy!

David Hewlett:
… money that you can put into a system, and you can’t take it out again. It’s amazing.

David Read:
Yeah, for the company, absolutely it is.

David Hewlett:
It’s funny, I was talking to Michael Cudlitz, who’s on Clarice and was famous from Southland and Walking Dead, of course, as well. It’s kind of fun to talk to him about conventions and stuff ’cause he’s got the whole Walking Dead… the Stargate fans are lovely and mad and crazy like myself, but the Walking Dead, though… it’s like there’s legions of these…

David Read:
Almost walkers in themselves…

David Hewlett:
Yeah, and all different elements, whether they’re fans of the character, they’re fans of the Dead, or they’re fans of the… it’s just so many. Although, to be fair, I have had a few Wraith come up and say hi. He’s got a game company that he’s invested in that’s making the same kind of thing, this kind of NFT built-in stuff, and I was like, “You’re a genius. That’s gonna pay for your retirement right there.”

David Read:
We are not financial advisors, but have you invested in any crypto?

David Hewlett:
Not really. I feel like investing in general, whether in the stock market or crypto, is just
gambling, so you have to… I have to see it like, “Oh, I’ve gone on a silly holiday or I’ve gone to a movie or something, and that money is gone,” is the way I have to look at it. Is the way I have to look at it. So, I… the first thing I did was a friend of mine… had started a — or his friend — had started a company that sold these… brilliant idea — I think they went under when the Bitcoin thing first dropped — And they were these cards, these little cards that you could… like gift cards for crypto. So, you’d buy a $20 card, and then you would exchange that $20 card for $20 worth of Bitcoin or whatever. So, to test it out, the guy gave me a $15 one or whatever it is. I signed up, and I was like, “Oh, that’s kinda cool. That’s kinda neat.” It’s kinda fun to watch it go up and down, up and down. Then I forgot about it and went and checked it recently when all the numbers were going crazy. It’s now worth almost $200, and Baz, my son, is like, “What? Why did we invest in crypto?” I was like, “Because it’s 20/20 hindsight. You don’t know… ” You know? But I did buy a little bit of Ethereum. I have bought a little bit of Bitcoin. I bought one of the Tech Bandits Bitcoin for his birthday as a birthday present. I just thought it would be fun for him to watch it go up and down. So, I get these sort of weekly updates from him as to where it’s at. But one of the things I wanted to teach the kids was the idea that… that value is entirely in the eye of the beholder, right? That is…

David Read:
It’s in here…

David Hewlett:
Yeah, we make this up

David Read:
Right. In prisons, it’s ramen.

David Hewlett:
Exactly! There you go. So, I started buying Lego figures… I bought as many Lego figures as I bought Ethereum, and I started opening the Lego figures and going, “OK, I bought this for $4.99. What’s it worth on eBay now? Oh, it’s worth 6.99, or it’s worth 12.99, or it’s worth a dollar.” And so the point being is… It’s what you want to invest in. And for me, my enjoyment comes from… I like Lego figures. I like having them. Magic: The Gathering cards… Pokémon cards. I have discovered I have a problem with collecting. I am addicted to collecting. I collect collections, basically, at this point.

David Read:
I don’t know… I don’t know what you’re talking about at all, so…

David Hewlett:
Exactly. This is why I don’t get a tattoo because if I get one, I’m gonna wanna get all of them.

David Read:
You’d have to complete the set.

David Hewlett:
I’d have the sleeves and everything.

David Read:
I just cannot get over the fact that if I… instead of buying Toy Story 3 on Blu-ray when it came out, had put it into Bitcoin instead, I would be a multimillionaire today.

David Hewlett:
Really?

David Read:
… and that is a fact. I do have some Bitcoin and some Ethereum and have put it aside to the point where if it all just goes to zero today, I’m fine with that because I was a part of an experiment. And I think that this is an experiment that’s going to change the world.

David Hewlett:
Yeah, I agree.

David Read:
Because these prices are just skyrocketing for all these currencies. It’s like, unless we’ve all been totally punked over the last decade, which is entirely possible, but the company’s pretty transparent…

David Hewlett:
I am a bit worried.

David Read:
… and I think that we’re on track for something else really, really cool.

David Hewlett:
Yeah, I think there’s a tendency to get caught up in the hype and forget the underlying technology, and I think the idea that there is a decentralized currency — or many decentralized currencies right now — that’s fascinating. China’s created their own digital currency now as well… which, of course, will compete with all the others. But I think there’s something innately fascinating and interesting to that, and the fact that it’s not just a currency to us. This isn’t just about tokens that have value. These are tokens that can change depending on whatever parameters you wanna give them. So, these smart contracts that say… with Ethereum now you can do things like, “OK, I’m gonna sell you one of these non-fungible tokens.” It’s a perfect example… This is something I am literally looking into, and you’re welcome to try it yourself. What if you sold an NFT for this Dial the Gate? So, you say, “OK, who wants to own Part Two of Hewlett babbling on Dial the Gate?” Of course, everyone could still watch it. Everyone can still see it online and everything.

David Read:
But they don’t own it.

David Hewlett:
But you are the guy or the girl or the Wraith or the Goa’uld who owns this episode. And maybe… there’s 100 shares in it or something… or 10 shares in it. You sell those off, and then you, as the creator of these tokens, can then have an ongoing percentage whenever those are sold. So, I ascend. I’m no longer here on your mortal plane. All of a sudden, this Dial the Gate is worth a lot more money. People wanna sell it. They wanna sell a share of it… you would then continue to get a little percentage of that, and that would help pay for more episodes of people just basically saying how much they love me.

David Read:
Because people have derived value out of it. Not just entertainment, but they think that it, in and of itself, is valuable… Is it the same thing with art? People are creating artwork for these NFTs…

David Hewlett:
Yeah, like Beeple and stuff like that.

David Read:
… And it’s online. Anyone can see it, but you are actually the one who possesses the intangible version of that.

David Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
It’s so funky.

David Hewlett:
It’s so hard to get your head around it. Because it’s basically just digital scarcity. It’s just saying that this is a digital product… Up until now, digital was always something that could be copied numerous times. Now, they’re saying, “OK, no, there is a way of making this specific to this one person.”

David Read:
The blockchain.

David Hewlett:
Like a trading card or whatever. The NBA’s doing it. That’s interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a lot of companies try to do… There’s gonna be a lot of snake oil charlatan stuff going on, I’m sure. As always, when there’s a gold rush, you wanna get involved in the picks and the axes. You don’t wanna be the idiot chasing the gold. You wanna be the guy selling those idiots the shovels, the picks, and the… I feel like there’s a lot of ancillary stuff around here that can be kind of fun. I’m exploring a lot of other crypto currencies and stuff because I find that much more exciting. The idea that there could be new Bitcoins out there that you’re either… There’s one I’m looking at right now that does farming instead of mining. It’s almost like a giant global game of Bingo. And that’s how it adds value to these things. Another one actually you might be interested in as well is LBRY. Have you heard about this, LBRY Odysee?

David Read:
Vaguely. No, I haven’t looked a great deal into it.

David Hewlett:
So, you upload or link your YouTube stuff or your videos, or you just upload the videos to this LBRY Odysee system, and you get their crypto currency for the video upload. It’s tied directly to how much of your content is up there, how much it’s watched. But it’s completely free of any kind of business influences. There’s no advertising forced on you. There’s no Google looking over your shoulder, or Facebook. It is entirely up to you to do what you want with that content, and you can monetize it from there.

David Read:
It’s so exciting. People who have the wherewithal and who have, at the very least, the bare minimum of access to the technology… the world is their oyster in so many ways. These people in Venezuela, where their currency is absolutely fluctuating all over the place. They can transfer the value of their currency into a crypto and hang onto it, and it’s actually, in some respects, more stable there than it is elsewhere.

David Hewlett:
Isn’t that bizarre? That a digital currency is more…

David Read:
Correct. They go out to run 10 errands, and then by the end of that day — I was reading this in a book — particularly in Venezuela, the prices are in such flux in some of these stores that they can’t even mark them on the shelves. They have to compute them with a calculator every time they’re at the cash register. I’m just so thankful that this blockchain technology exists now, and the fact that Ethereum… I think Ethereum has far more applications than just a currency. But that technology is…

David Hewlett:
It doesn’t have to burn power too. It can solve… it can do folding at home. It can be of some use in its processing. And then with the farming stuff, the idea is that you’re not doing processing. You’re basically seeding a hard drive with a number of different things. So, it’s not about the processing power. It’s more about how much space you’re willing to give it on the drive. I don’t know all of the ins and outs of that.

David Read:
We’re all learning.

David Hewlett:
That’s it. I am purely there to play. This is like the longest possible answer to “Do I own crypto currency?” I am purely there to play with it. I can’t wait to see what we can do with Tech Bandits. I’m looking at maybe making some little coins, some actual physical Tech Bandit coins so we can then…

David Read:
Please email me if you do.

David Hewlett:
I will, for sure ’cause I’ve got a friend who gives out these little challenge coins almost…

David Read:
It’s a challenge coin.

David Hewlett:
… like the military uses. But he gives them out to people who are important in his life or whatever. Or he just says that to everybody and gives them a coin, so they all feel special… and I’m never gonna throw that out ’cause there’s something solid and tangible.

David Read:
It’s also a symbol of friendship.

David Hewlett:
And that’s it. I think if you could then tie that to a digital thing that says, “I own this number… of whatever of them,” it just adds another level to it. And you know this… we’re always looking for ways of… I gotta somehow figure out how to pay for my Tech Bandit stuff. My wife is not thrilled with the amount of my acting money that goes towards me playing with kids. It’s fun, and working with Gimpy G on the gaming stuff… we’ve gone and got a couple of these Quad Sticks, which allow us to control the computer with our mouths.

David Read:
Wow.

David Hewlett:
Coming up with neat ways of funding stuff, to me, that’s part of the fun. You know what I mean?

David Read:
And uncovering the next big thing? We’re always on the lookout for that thing. Not so much the Winklevoss twins or anything like that, but there’s always something coming out next.

David Hewlett:
They were the Facebook ones, weren’t they?

David Read:
Exactly. They were the ones who invested 10% of Bitcoin. They both snapped that up years ago.

David Hewlett:
I’ve got friends who were in Bitcoin, and I’m very curious to know where they are now because I know they were really depressed because for a while there, they thought they’d lost everything. My fear is that they’ve sold.

David Read:
Oh, no.

David Hewlett:
And if they’ve sold, ’cause so many people, it’s that…

David Read:
That’s my thing. Buy it and hold it.

David Hewlett:
Holder, holder!

David Read:
Hold onto it. Forget about it. Don’t lose the keys.

David Hewlett:
Oh God. That’s the next thing I’m worried about. I am so disorganized. I could be…

David Read:
That’s the thing.

David Hewlett:
For all I know, I do have Bitcoin somewhere. I wouldn’t remember. I play with stuff all the time.

David Read:
I have some fan questions for you.

David Hewlett:
I thought you might. Sorry, I do tend to babble on a bit.

David Read:
No, please, you’re good. This is what we do. Chuck Vance, “What was it like acting in Cube?”

David Hewlett:
Hot and sweaty. It was a neat project because it was… one of my best friends growing up was making it. So, I’d done all of his short films. Andrew Miller, who played the kid with autism in the movie…

David Read:
The only one who possibly survived.

David Hewlett:
Exactly.

David Read:
Sorry. Go see it.

David Hewlett:
It’s been around… it’s a 30-year-old movie. I don’t care.

David Read:
I know, but still.

David Hewlett:
We literally have checks for that movie that have zeros on them, just zeros, because we put the money back into… In order for the unions to accept it, you have to pay the… The unions are fine with you not getting paid for anything as long as they get their union stuff.

David Read:
And they’ll go ahead and print the check anyway.

David Hewlett:
And they’ll print the check for zero to you.

David Read:
That’s 25 cents a check. Why? Why do that?

David Hewlett:
But it’s great for me because we literally framed one and sent it to him saying, “Thanks for nothing.” We were very much invested in the movie purely from a friendship standpoint. And it was a tiny, tiny budget. It was his first film. Everyone thought he was crazy and didn’t know what he was doing, and of course, we’d been working with him since we were 13. So, we were like the disciples. Anything he wanted, we were there…

David Read:
You believe in him.

David Hewlett:
Absolutely. The guy’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He’s now working on… a new William Gibson series with one of the Nolan brothers, the writer Nolan.

David Read:
Like Neuromancer William Gibson?

David Hewlett:
Yeah. Is it for Amazon or something? He’s in England right now working on that. Vincenzo Natali is his name. Vincenzo worked with Andre, who was another kid we grew up with. So, these were all school buds making a movie.

David Read:
The Peripheral.

David Hewlett:
The Peripheral, that’s right. That’s right… which, of course, you just know is gonna look, it’s gonna be… it’s gonna be beautiful because Vincenzo’s got this beautiful sense of…

David Read:
Good for him. That’s great.

David Hewlett:
Did you watch In the Tall Grass?

David Read:
I have not seen it.

David Hewlett:
It’s insane.

David Read:
OK, I’ll check it out.

David Hewlett:
It’s insane. I have no idea, I was like, “Dude, I think you did a great job. I have no idea what was happening. But I think what you’ve done, I’m sure, is a masterpiece. I have no idea with that.”

David Read:
Is it really artsy or… ?

David Hewlett:
It’s artsy and horrific and…

David Read:
On Escape, and something evil lurks. OK, I’m down.

David Hewlett:
It’s pretty twisted. But if you’re into horror, it’s a fun horror mind mess, shall we say. But the process of actually shooting Cube was actually quite rough because this was pre-LED, so it was all the big, hot lights… had to be lit from all angles.

David Read:
Correct, because the Cube is always…

David Hewlett:
… and that plexi began to get a bit warm. Of course, because each wall and floor and ceiling is the same, they all had lots of things to trip over. So, it wasn’t just about hitting your mark. It was about hitting your mark without breaking your…

David Read:
Without breaking yourself.

David Hewlett:
… ankle or someone else’s. So, it was a strangely physically demanding film, but it completely played into it because I feel like I’m not that good an actor. I was that unhappy most of the time, so I think that certainly helped with the thing. And it was also one of those neat things where I came in with one idea on what to do, and then started watching other people perform and decided that, “You know what? They’re doing that kinda thing. Let me try… ” It’s the first time I’ve really tried to be not quite so showy if that makes sense. Normally I’m a little over the top in general just because that’s who I am.

David Read:
No. No, David.

David Hewlett:
What are you talking about? That’s subtlety. But it was the first time I tried to sit back and be very real if that makes sense.

David Read:
How much…

David Hewlett:
… and it was a shift for my acting. I got other jobs because of that.

David Read:
Interesting because… You can’t necessarily go in and play the key that you expect to play on the documents that you’ve been given. I would think that a lot of it would have to be, “OK, where is my place, not only on the documents, but with the ensemble of people that they’ve hired?… What’s the energy that’s not been taken here so that I can complement them?”

David Hewlett:
It’s a classic reaction thing too, where I feel like honestly the best acting is people reacting to what’s going on. And there are a lot of actors — and I’m not finding fault in this — I’m saying that it’s an approach where people will meticulously work on lines and delivery and how they’re gonna do stuff, and they’ve got little moves they wanna do, and they’ll map all this stuff out. And that’s fine as long as there’s the flexibility there to realize that sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. But there is an amazing thing that happens, though, when you get on a set and all you know is your lines. That’s it. And you know them so well, so they can come out, and that, to me, is the most important thing. And it sounds so silly, but it’s amazing how often people don’t know their lines. If you can react to stuff, the lines come out without thinking, and you’ll find that… I don’t think we’re as smart as our instincts. Certainly I’m not. My instinct, the things you do that you don’t mean to do, the things that you think you look stupid doing or whatever, I’ve long ago learned that those are the things that, when you’re watching a film, you go, “Ooh, that’s cool.”

David Read:
It knows what it’s doing.

David Hewlett:
They’re real, but they…

David Read:
If the director and the editor are willing to go with it.

David Hewlett:
Absolutely. So, that was neat, because I never played subdued characters. I was always waving my hands around and being… generally more of a character actor than a heroic one if that makes sense. So, I think Cube in part played into getting me McKay because it did well in Canada… well, it didn’t do that well in Canada, but it did very well internationally, and thus it got known in Canada, and I think a lot of people saw it and that. I seem to remember it coming up in conversation when I was first on Stargate.

David Read:
I wanna see it again. It’s been a few years since I watched it and…

David Hewlett:
They did a remake.

David Read:
… I’ve been trying…

David Hewlett:
A recent remake.

David Read:
I’ve heard about that.

David Hewlett:
I wanna see that, the Japanese one. I think that could be cool.

David Read:
Absolutely. And I’ve been trying to find a copy of Pin. I’ve always wanted to watch Jude Law-David Hewlett in a…

David Hewlett:
Do I have one?

David Read:
No, I’m not gonna ask. I will find it. I just need to get my butt in gear and do it.

David Hewlett:
It is hard to find. That was Jude Law-David Hewlett. That’s so funny. I had an ex-girlfriend who used to…

David Read:
Kate said that.

David Hewlett:
Really?

David Read:
Yeah.

David Hewlett:
So, funny.

David Read:
Kate said, “He looks like Jude Law in this movie.” And I went and found the pictures and, “Oh my gosh.”

David Hewlett:
It’s weird. It’s so funny because I was so self-conscious at that age. I should be much more self-conscious now, but I’m not.

David Read:
At a certain point you’re like, “Ah, whatever.”

David Hewlett:
That’s it. You know what I mean? I’ve trapped Jane into a loveless marriage with a child, so she’s stuck. Basically I’m all right now.

David Read:
Aw. Geez. Going back to what we were talking about earlier about taking the dialogue in… Scotty0709, “What is the secret to learning and remembering the technobabble?” Because…

David Hewlett:
You tell me ’cause I don’t know what it is.

David Read:
… as you and Kate were saying, it doesn’t necessarily come easy. You can sweat over it.

David Hewlett:
It’s just repetition. Over and over. In a weird way though, and I begrudgingly give this to Jason Momoa, I think having less lines is sometimes harder because there’s no… You are often then initiating stuff with your line as opposed to just responding to other stuff. And you can get into a rhythm with those longer passages where it’s almost like memorizing a poem. I always felt like it’s a bit like memorizing a poem. But for me… I know people with photographic memories who are amazing at this stuff. It is purely repetition for me, and it’s obsessive. Jane loses me for at least a day before we shoot or even auditions because I’m just going through… I can’t do auditions. Kate was trying to teach me how to do auditions without learning lines. I was like, “How do you, I don’t know how you… How do you do that?” And she’s like, “Well, you could tape up sides and all this… ” And I was like, “But I can’t, I don’t know how to… ” I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that I will only audition for things that I’m willing to memorize and enjoy memorizing. And that’s because I don’t know any other way of doing it. And it’s not fun to me to be trying to… and I’m too blind and…

David Read:
The technobabble we just talked about, it’s a language. And you’re either going to be predisposed to the language or you’re not. Your brain is either gonna say, “Hm, more please,” or, “At least I can deal with that,” or, “Nah, this is not coming in right at all.” I’ve tried…

David Hewlett:
It helps to care.

David Read:
… to sit down and do Shakespeare, and I’m like, “Ugh.” I love hearing it… but I can’t say it. I can’t say it.

David Hewlett:
Shakespeare’s an interesting one because… when I first started wanting to pursue acting and what route we were gonna go with it, I was sort of being pushed by the drama teacher into obviously sort of the stage stuff because that’s what he felt was more likely to happen. Weirdly, I was doing film with friends at the time and hadn’t really… There’s a bit of a separation there. But I loved the Shakespeare stuff because you just get to play with the sound of your voice and the words and that, they’re…

David Read:
It’s lyrical.

David Hewlett:
And also, if you care about them, it helps. I couldn’t sit through a Shakespeare play. They bored the crap out of me, and there’s always people overacting and stuff. But those speeches… every so often there are those speeches, and you’re like, “Aw.” When Macbeth gets going or Hamlet or even to some extent — I was never a big fan of the Romeo and Juliet stuff — but Tybalt, oh my God, Tybalt had some great… And then when it comes to Stargate, if you can look to see what might be real in there, that’s fun too ’cause as a nerd, you get to sort of explore that stuff as well. If it makes sense to you, it’s a lot easier to remember. Same thing with Shakespeare, I think. Once you’ve studied a bit of it and you understand where these ideas come from or what’s going on behind the scenes, it’s much easier to remember the lines because you’re making connections in a different way than you would just try to learn stuff by rote…

David Read:
And I was thinking…

David Hewlett:
… At least it was with Stargate, I think.

David Read:
And I would think that having an appropriate partner as well would make things easier because it’s almost like verbal tennis. You and Michael Shanks are dynamite together, and you’re feeding off one another, and you can tell that you’re having a good time in the dialogue.

David Hewlett:
Oh my God, we had so much… I’m amazed we got through many of those scenes, but that was the beauty of Stargate, I think, is for me, I just really enjoyed that stuff. It was fun and I think that’s infectious too. It could be a long day and it’s kind of boring and sometimes you’re sitting around a lot, and then to be able to come into a scene and be able to bounce stuff back and forth like that with someone like that. Shanks is such a wonderful guy. He’s just like… there’s so many of those people — I always use this term — they light up a room. You know what I mean? You don’t miss Michael Shanks if he walks into a room. You don’t miss Amanda Tapping. You don’t miss Chris Judge in the city or Jason Momoa for that matter.

David Read:
They devour the set. In a good way.

David Hewlett:
They’re wonderful and I think there are times, I guess, in my life where I’ve butted against that, and the reality is, it’s not as much fun as sort of in a way yielding with them. It’s not a competition. It’s about both enjoying the situation, and I think it’s not something you work out… it’s not something you actually work out as you go along, but I think in hindsight you realize that I’m very good, in my mind, at sort of rolling over and go… you know, when the dogs roll over and go…

David Read:
I’m done.

David Hewlett:
… “It’s okay, I’m no threat. I’m just enjoying myself.” I think that helps a lot too if people know that you’re just there to make them… that working together is gonna make you both look good.

David Read:
I’m not gonna bother… it’s the tuna that swim with the current. Sometimes you just have to become a salmon and go with it.

David Hewlett:
I think that’s it. I think that is it to some extent and I think…

David Read:
Is it a tuna or a salmon?

David Hewlett:
Yeah, I’m definitely… I’m a salmon… probably being eaten by a bear.

David Read:
The journey of 1000 miles sometimes ends very badly.

David Hewlett:
There you go, it’s true. Sometimes it ends with sushi.

David Read:
Sometimes it does. John Barnett, “David, what was your favorite single day working on Stargate?”

David Hewlett:
Man… there’s so many different ones of those. There’s so many…

David Read:
A favorite then.

David Hewlett:
I think the one that stands out the most to me was Brad Wright walking me through the Atlantis set for the first time, and they were still building it and everyone else was on set, and this was all pretty…

David Read:
You were last one hired of the principal cast.

David Hewlett:
… And it just made it all sort of feel real if that makes sense. That’s the one that stood out so much to me. It was one of those ones where there was something sort of, I don’t know, maybe it’s an elitist thing of me or something, but it was so behind the scenes. There were all these people working on the set, and they sort of stopped and Brad would say, “Oh, this is David. He’s playing McKay.” “Oh, yeah, yeah.”

David Read:
You’re being welcomed into a club.

David Hewlett:
And it felt like they pulled back the little velvet rope, and I was now a VIP. You know what I mean? And the same day, we watched some rushes of Flanigan doing some stuff, and he did this sort of heroic climb up a hillside and then did a little trip.

David Read:
When he’s with Teyla. And he falls down. It’s…

David Hewlett:
… and I was like, “Oh my god, this is great.” This is exactly… They’ve captured that Stargate irreverence. Reverential irreverence, if that makes sense, and comedy. That was the day I think probably stood out the most to me.

David Read:
I can only imagine because you were going from a concrete set as a guest star in a bunker that’s supposed to be 28 levels below the ground to this magnificent… what you guys refer to as “Gatrium.” This airy stained glass… and you were one of the regulars.

David Hewlett:
And it was very full of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was very sort of like a…

David Read:
Very much so.

David Hewlett:
It was beautiful, and it was before all the bubblers started getting moldy and things, so it was…

David Read:
I sold those things.

David Hewlett:
Did you?

David Read:
They were.

David Hewlett:
They were getting a bit manky there for a while.

David Read:
You know what I mean? They served their purpose for sure. Absolutely. Bernd Backhaus, “Have you come up with a name suggestion for your future niece?”

David Hewlett:
That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that. Interesting.

David Read:
Congratulations, by the way. Kate announced it publicly on our show.

David Hewlett:
Apparently because I screwed up originally. Apparently I…

David Read:
No, you didn’t. I told her that you promised me to secrecy, and I never told anybody.

David Hewlett:
Very good.

David Read:
And she was like, “Oh, that’s okay.” I told her that you had told me and she was like, “OK, let’s announce it on the show.”

David Hewlett:
Really? Is that how… Great. So, good… I did force her into it. That’s nice. As long as I’ve had some kind of impact.

David Read:
No, I kept my word, but then when I had her on, before I started the show, I was like, “So, David told me a thing and congratulations.”

David Hewlett:
It was that, or she’s gonna have to admit to eating a lot. It’s one of the two. So, I would say I’m trying to claim I’m pregnant too.

David Read:
Geez. That is so unfair.

David Hewlett:
I do. But it’s true. I think I’d have to see the kid first. I feel weird naming anything before I’ve seen it. But maybe Gateship One.

David Read:
Gateship One. All right. There you go. Was Elon’s most recent child named Gateship One?

David Hewlett:
Oh my God.

David Read:
I can’t even.

David Hewlett:
That poor child.

David Read:
I know, geez.

David Hewlett:
Ugh.

David Read:
Can you imagine his Social Security card? All right.

David Hewlett:
Names are so weird though because names have… you find this when you write scripts that people will catch on names and say, “You can’t use that name. It’s a terrible name.” And you’re like, “Why is it a terrible name?” It’s because they’ve had some experience or person in their life that has affected that name. Names are so personal.

David Read:
They’re attached to a lot of emotion.

David Hewlett:
So… that’s a tough one, and it’s a girl, so you can’t even… maybe Davida?

David Read:
Davida.

David Hewlett:
That’s what they used to call me when I was a kid.

David Read:
Boring, uninteresting fact about me. I am the only person that I know of whose parents did not name him.

David Hewlett:
Really? How did…

David Read:
They let the nurses name me. They couldn’t figure out what to name me.

David Hewlett:
Shut the front door, seriously?

David Read:
So, they named me after my dad. Yep.

David Hewlett:
That’s good. I was named after my grandfather.

David Read:
Ah, there you go.

David Hewlett:
There you go.

David Read:
Theresa Mc, “Did you get to pick the food you would eat in eating scenes on Atlantis?” How did that work?

David Hewlett:
Some stuff. They would basically run stuff by you to make sure you weren’t allergic to anything. They were pretty good about that. Food on set is never… I don’t like… Weirdly, though I do it all the time, I hate eating in scenes because invariably, you end up doing… or smoking. Oh my god. Smoking in scenes…

David Read:
Really?

David Hewlett:
… it’s disgusting. It just, even as a smoker, I couldn’t do it because you’d end up, you’re not take…

David Read:
How does a nonsmoker smoke then? How do you pull that off?

David Hewlett:
The last time my wife made me do it in All About Who You Know, and we had these herbal cigarettes, but it’s just revolting. I can’t, ugh. But the food…

David Read:
So, you won’t cough for that. OK.

David Hewlett:
… The food stuff they were pretty good about. But in most cases, I would just choose the least healthy because I would go, “What could you do?” Because I have no choice. I’m working.

David Read:
One of your most iconic scenes from “48 Hours” is you and Carter in the cafeteria, and you are…

David Hewlett:
With the lemon chicken.

David Read:
You are pounding it in. I was like, “Man, if they did a few takes for that, he would have had to have gotten sick.”

David Hewlett:
That is before I learned my lesson.

David Read:
Oh really?

David Hewlett:
Yeah, I think… yeah, it was probably… although, I do tend to… Again, I feel it’s a reaction thing. Sometimes it just makes sense to eat, and I think you sort of have to do that. I keep thinking of a scene in “Duet” with a glass of wine. We had a glass of wine, and the poor props guy… the first take, I drank the entire thing. And the guy’s like, “But it doesn’t say you drink.” I was like, “Sorry.”

David Read:
Sorry.

David Hewlett:
But then, take seven or eight of that, I’m beginning to have tides of my own.

David Read:
Geez. That’s crazy.

David Hewlett:
But sometimes you have to sorta go where the food takes you, David.

David Read:
Absolutely. Especially the catering. I loved the craft service there on that set.

David Hewlett:
What job feeds you?

David Read:
It was so good, and feeds you well.

David Hewlett:
All the time.

David Read:
It was so good, that food truck.

David Hewlett:
It’s one of the things I’ve never understood. My God, they owe me like 15 years of my life, the number of burritos they fed me. It was Jewel Staite who said, “You don’t have to just take one.” I’m like, “What? What?” It was like she opened the doors of perception for me. I was like…

David Read:
God, that’s great.

David Hewlett:
… “You can order… ” I was like, “I don’t know which one to have.” She’s like, “Order them both.” I’m like, “Oh.” So, I don’t know how she does it because I felt like she ate as much as I did, but she doesn’t look it at all.

David Read:
Some people — their metabolism — they put it away. You look at them and you’re like, “Where did it go?” Where does it go?

David Hewlett:
I know exactly where it goes. You can see exactly where it goes right away. I can point it out to you.

David Read:
CarlosTakeshi, this is a little “Letters from Pegasus” nod. This is cute. “What are your thoughts on leadership?”

David Hewlett:
One day, for some unknown reason, probably ADHD, I decided to start writing down thoughts on leadership. And the idea was… what if you took established ideas of leadership and had McKay get them completely wrong? Basically, understand that it’s important to listen to people, and then ignore them and do what you think you wanna do. But the important part that McKay would take from this idea of leadership — that these books would teach him — is that you’re supposed to listen, but he doesn’t understand he’s supposed to listen under the idea of learning something. You’re just listening ’cause it makes them feel better, and then you go and do what you need to do. So, it’s the idea of taking–

David Read:
It’s just a means to an end.

David Hewlett:
Exactly. Leadership is about making decisions and sticking to them, no matter what anyone else says — that kinda stuff. So, I should look… I have to find it someday. I jotted it down ’cause I was having quite a fun time with it. I was doing things like looking up Seven Habits of the Highly Effective and then trying to make them ineffectively McKay. Tony Robbins and all that kinda stuff. Should get some…

David Read:
Be a great audiobook. Even if it’s a short one.

David Hewlett:
McKay on Leadership.

David Read:
I would back it. Julie wants to know — and this is interesting ’cause Kate and I were talking about the idea of A Dog’s Bed and Breakfast — “Will there be A Dog’s Lunch starring some of the Stargate cast in the future? And Huzzah, of course.”

David Hewlett:
Huzzah. I’d love to. That was, honestly, a joy to make.

David Read:
And an explosion of talent. You were ready to do it on VV tape and it turned into this whole production.

David Hewlett:
It was amazing.

David Read:
And they realized the caliber of that story. I still watch that movie and die laughing. It’s really good, Dave.

David Hewlett:
It’s such a ridiculous story. It’s a perfect example: because it was the first time we’d ever done it, we did everything wrong basically, and it worked exactly as it should if that makes sense. Ever since then, I’ve tried to work within the industry and listen to people who are supposed to know what they’re talking about, and I realize that nobody knows what they’re talking about in this industry. It is truly lightning in a bottle. I really believe that the only thing you can do is concentrate on making something that you wanna make the way you wanna make it because anything else is a disaster. I feel like that film was one of those wonderful experiences where you could say, “I understand that that is so flawed in so many ways, and I will own every single one of those because I happily made those mistakes.” I can talk to you about any of them happily because I came by them honestly. I paid for them literally myself. You have a tiny, tiny budget, but you have complete and utter control, and you’ve got friends who are there because they wanna be there. And it was a wonderful experience. I’d love to do another one. I just don’t know how to do it. Hey, look, maybe on the next series, maybe when the next thing starts up again, there’ll be a chance to do something again.

David Read:
I would love to. I have to ask, was the nudity a mistake, Dave?

David Hewlett:
There’s two types of people in the world. I’ve always said this, there’s two types of people. There’s people who look good naked. I think immediately of Jason Momoa. And then there’s people who look funny naked, and I am definitely in the funny naked department. So, I felt that… seeing me naked makes me laugh. I don’t know why it wouldn’t make other people laugh as well.

David Read:
I was like, “All right, there we go.” I was not expecting that.

David Hewlett:
Why am I seeing this? I don’t know, but OK.

David Read:
Geez.

David Hewlett:
I remember they kept bringing in ducks, little rubber ducks, and I kept saying, “They’re too big. I want smaller and smaller.” And they’re like, “It’s your funeral.”

David Read:
Rubber duckies?

David Hewlett:
“I want the smallest rubber ducky that we can find.” And the one that we got, finally, I was like, “Dude, I’m tucked anyways. It’s fine. Just get me a tiny duck.”

David Read:
That’s funny. Antony wanted to know, “Could I possibly get a happy birthday greeting from the two Davids? That would be awesome.”

David Hewlett:
Not a chance. What’s your name?

David Read:
Antony.

David Hewlett:
Antony, no way. Not a chance in hell I’m gonna say happy birthday to you. You are gonna get no attention from me. This whole birthday, “I’m older thing,” is a complete scam. So, forget it. Happy birthday.

David Read:
Happy birthday, brother.

David Hewlett:
How old are they?

David Read:
I don’t know. We’ll find out. He’s on my team. Antony, let me know…

David Hewlett:
All right.

David Read:
… how old you are, buddy.

David Hewlett:
Better not be too young.

David Read:
Come into the chat. No, that’s funny. William Arends, “Which alternate universe McKay would David Hewlett most want to reprise: the tech billionaire from SG-1’s “Road Not Taken,” suave Rod from “McKay and Mrs. Miller,” or the take-charge team leader of “Vegas”?

David Hewlett:
I wanna be that tech guy. I think it’d be so… Could you imagine McKay as Elon Musk? He’d be perfect. It would be perfect. It’d be so much fun to do.

David Read:
No, that would be absolutely legit.

David Hewlett:
Plus I’d be rich and I’d have a Tesla and stuff. I’d have all these cool toys.

David Read:
Geez.

David Hewlett:
A Silicon Valley meets Stargate McKay thing, you know what I mean?

David Read:
Antony is 42.

David Hewlett:
Child. A mere child.

David Read:
That’s funny.

David Hewlett:
All right. Happy birthday, Antony.

David Read:
“If you could take something,” Rhys wanted to know, “from Stargate Atlantis, if you could take something and make it real and usable, what would it be?” I think I’m gonna know your answer to this.

David Hewlett:
The obvious one would be the Stargate. Other than the Stargate? I gotta say the one that I like, as silly as this sounds, I love the MALP.

David Read:
Yeah?

David Hewlett:
I always loved the idea of a giant remote-controlled vehicle with all sorts of… Again, it comes back to the sort of Perseverance and stuff. I’ve always loved that kind of stuff. But, God, there’s the suit, there’s too many things. I’m gonna go with the Stargate.

David Read:
I would have expected you to say the ZPM.

David Hewlett:
But if you have the ZPM, then you’d need other things as well.

David Read:
That’s a fair point.

David Hewlett:
I know, the city. I’d love the city.

David Read:
The whole city.

David Hewlett:
A nice flying city.

David Read:
Joseph Mallozzi and I were talking about where the ZPM factory was.

David Hewlett:
The ZPM factory.

David Read:
In all practicality, yes. It would have been on the city premises somewhere, and he said that probably in his line of thinking, there was some kind of subspace pocket inside of the city where they were kept because making them might be a volatile process. You wouldn’t wanna have it… you would wanna have it in a place where you could tear away from it if something went wrong.

David Hewlett:
No kidding. Ha!

David Read:
And then they never discovered it. So, that’s the only thing that I can think of ’cause so much of what Atlantis was in terms of the story moving from week to week was how much power Atlantis had. And that was one of the fundamentals of the show because Atlantis in itself, when it was fully powered, was invincible, and it wasn’t practical to always tell those stories.

David Hewlett:
Once you’ve got all the power you need, where do you go with the stories, basically?

David Read:
Exactly.

David Hewlett:
That’s interesting. It’s true, the ZPM is beautiful. Not just as a device itself within the script, but the prop itself I always found beautiful. Recently, there was a Stargate fan who unfortunately died of cancer, and his wife and his friends were trying to figure out what they could do sort of Stargate-related — ’cause he was a big Stargate fan — with his ashes. And I suggested, of all the things to do, why not use a ZPM? Because the ZPM is something that you could have in a room and even non-Stargate fans could still take a certain amount of aesthetic beauty out of this thing. There’s a light to it; there’s a crystal to it. There’s the form factor of it and everything.

David Read:
It shines. It’s a pretty object.

David Hewlett:
I’ve been talking to a couple of people in the hopes of coming up with one that we could give to his widow.

David Read:
I know a guy who makes them.

David Hewlett:
Do you?

David Read:
Yes. Would you like me to put you in touch?

David Hewlett:
Please. That would be fantastic.

David Read:
OK. I will do that. We might not be able to put the ashes inside of it. For sure.

David Hewlett:
Again, I’m not sure. I suppose I should find out exactly what they wanna do. I wasn’t thinking the entire ashes. I thought you sprinkle… There’s a little bit of grandpa everywhere for us. The idea of having one little sort of central core.

David Read:
And they would light around it.

David Hewlett:
If I were gonna be cremated and I’m put in something, I’d want something that glows and make sure that everyone was very aware when I was in there.

David Read:
I am in that room. I’ll do that tonight. Absolutely.

David Hewlett:
Thank you.

David Read:
At least they’ll have an option.

David Hewlett:
I’ve been talking to people about 3D printing something, but maybe that’s…

David Read:
This guy sculpts ’em, and I’ve seen a lot of ZPMs out there, but this one really looks authentic.

David Hewlett:
Wow.

David Read:
This one really looks like the measurements have been taken. 100%.

David Hewlett:
And is it lit and stuff?

David Read:
Uh-huh.

David Hewlett:
You can light it up and… See, that’s great. Look, that would be amazing ’cause I’d love to do something for her. Apparently she loved the idea because that was one of the props he always wanted.

David Read:
Then there you go. Let’s make that happen…

David Hewlett:
That would be awesome.

David Read:
… just to give you an avenue there, absolutely.

David Hewlett:
Fantastic.

David Read:
I will never forget the day that PropWorx got access to Bridge Studios and we were taking stuff for SG-1 and Atlantis. And I came upon the crate that said “ZPM Unit” on it, and I opened it up, and there it was in there.

David Hewlett:
Pretty beautiful.

David Read:
Just like when you opened it from “Siege Part Three,” and the little, teeny tiny hidden switch, and then it just… oscillating. It was magic. It was absolute magic.

David Hewlett:
Yeah, because a lot of this stuff… this was pre-3D printing for a lot of this stuff. All these props were made by hand. They were either vacuum-formed or even molded. They were gorgeous, and they were remarkably functional… If that makes sense. Even the little turtle of power, as I call it.

David Read:
The turtle power.

David Hewlett:
There was a magnet that not only magnetized it to your T-shirt, but it also, when you snapped it on, it lit up.

David Read:
Correct.

David Hewlett:
So, it’s little things like that. Their eye for detail was impressive.

David Read:
It’s crazy. Hang on a second.

David Hewlett:
I’m so jealous you get to wear shorts. It’s not warm enough for us yet.

David Read:
The machinery — the machine shop that they had — this was built in 2004, 2005, and…

David Hewlett:
Wow, that is gorgeous.

David Read:
… it still lights. Can you believe that?

David Hewlett:
What’s powering it?

David Read:
It’s batteries on the inside here. There’s those odd, not off-brand but nonstandard batteries that they always had around the set.

David Hewlett:
I wonder. That’s what I was gonna say ’cause they often had these weird, what they would call the robot batteries, the big cells, rechargeable cells.

David Read:
Exactly.

David Hewlett:
OK, so I’ll show off mine.

David Read:
OK.

David Hewlett:
I can do this. If I do this, this is from…

David Read:
Yes. Destiny.

David Hewlett:
… actually from Destiny, right?

David Read:
That’s right.

David Hewlett:
So, I’ve gotta put a new panel in there, and I wanna replace the… Right now, it’s a pressurized air system, so it’s a… I don’t know; I lost where I was…

David Read:
Can you tilt down a little?

David Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
Can you just…

David Hewlett:
Little too much headroom?

David Read:
Yes. Perfect.

David Hewlett:
It’s an air pressure system, and what I’d like to do is change it for a linear activator, so instead of having the arm activated by the high-pressure air that hits me in the parts that…

David Read:
The parts.

David Hewlett:
… could hurt, I thought it’d be better to have a slower-moving linear activator for that. So, that’s what I’m working on.

David Read:
That’s not a bad idea. The thing that has always blown me away about the craftsmanship… not just that, but the in-jokes. This here, in Ancient, translated… ’cause it’s character substitution… Do you know what this says?

David Hewlett:
I can’t, no.

David Read:
Made in China.

David Hewlett:
No.

David Read:
I kid you not.

David Hewlett:
That sounds like them.

David Read:
Absolutely.

David Hewlett:
I think they were having fun.

David Read:
Correct.

David Hewlett:
They had a budget as well. These were great, great jobs. Stargate, for every element, every aspect of the shoot, this was a great job.

David Read:
Absolutely. They loved what they did. And they could come up with even one of your final Game Boys here.

David Hewlett:
The Game Boy.

David Read:
Absolutely. Legit stuff, man… I’m gonna butcher the name… xuiqila, “With whom would you rather be quarantined in a lockdown, Ronon or Rodney?”

David Hewlett:
God, are you kidding? It would definitely be Rodney. Ronon, the guy, I wouldn’t have any room to move. It’s like having a Great Dane puppy running around.

David Read:
That’s… geez. What genre outside of science fiction is your favorite to act in?

David Hewlett:
Huh. Probably comedy, I think. Weirdly, I don’t usually like straight comedy if that makes sense. I don’t usually like… full-on comedy, but for some reason, there’s something wonderful about making people laugh. I suppose it’s probably some kind of attention thing, but there’s something, I don’t know, about it.

David Read:
Have you seen the Robin Williams documentary?

David Hewlett:
No.

David Read:
It was so good. And it would talk about how if he wasn’t on and making people laugh… he would retreat into himself into this dark little place where he was out of step and had difficulty finding value for himself. But then he could get up in front of an audience and absolutely explode and light up the room. And it’s… that dichotomy is so interesting.

David Hewlett:
I think a lot of comedy comes from that if that makes sense. There’s a sort of introspection to comedy that… things are funny because there’s little hooks there that remind you of yourselves in a way. One of the ones that I love is John Cleese… is that wonderful way that the Brits can be so angry without being angry. My father loved that stuff. So, we would watch that kind of thing, Fawlty Towers all that kind of stuff. Making Dogs Breakfast was really… I felt like I achieved my goal if my father laughed, and I’m sure there were a few things there that would’ve got a chuckle out of him.

David Read:
Absolutely. What was it like turning the stereotype on its head at the end of Atlantis where instead of the action hero getting the girl, the geek does?

David Hewlett:
I would argue that the action hero did get the girl, but… It’s interesting ’cause I don’t know. That’s such a weird thing because maybe I was so McKay that it never even occurred to me… that anyone else would. For God’s sake, I’ve done the work.

David Read:
That’s true. You’ve certainly done the miles with the dialogue. Boy, oh, boy.

David Hewlett:
I was very surprised. I’ve gotta say I was quite surprised because I’m not sure I would’ve chosen McKay. It’s that old saying — I’ve told you this many times, I’m sure — but Jane used to give me 15 minutes when I got home to lose McKay or she was gonna leave because there was a lot of… snapping fingers and…

David Read:
Snapping and pointing, and then she shuts it off.

David Hewlett:
… and pointing. Exactly. I had 15 minutes to lose that, and then it was… But it’s weird. I think this is… a lot of writers are geeks, and maybe even I would go so far as saying more like nerds in that I think there’s an, “I am God here,” power to the writers.

David Read:
“This is my space.”

David Hewlett:
I was very, very fortunate that I think I played them in a lot of things. I always have joked that if Brad Wright and Rob Cooper had a love child, it would be a McKay because there were so many elements of both of them that came into play with that character. And a lot of the other writers, I feel… and Mallozzi as well, for that matter. There’s a lot of McKay-like elements. It was almost like an outlet for them to sort of thumb their nose at the jocks in high school type thing.

David Read:
His impulses are not necessarily dark impulses, but not necessarily kosher ones in terms of behavior and what’s expected in terms of normal society. “I press that because I am me. You are you, so you cannot press that.”

David Hewlett:
It’s funny because I feel like I would be very curious to see what would happen with McKay now because it is thankfully a different world. And I think that there’s a lot of stuff there that he’s gonna come up against that would be very, very interesting to explore. Because he is very much problematic when it comes to #MeToo or…

David Read:
He’s a chauvinist.

David Hewlett:
Absolutely. But I think what I love about him is that he… I think there’s a tendency to believe that if you’re a sexist pig, it’s because you’ve chosen to be, or if you’re racist, you’ve chosen to be racist… or ableist or anything. But I feel like the true need for change is in the people who don’t even realize they’re doing it or are even doing it in an attempt to do good. And I think that’s the stuff where… Once we all realize that we’re allowed to make these mistakes if we are willing… if we are truly trying to be good and to make for change, I feel like… I read a book recently called So, You Want To Talk About Race, and one of the things that came up was that basically if you’re white, straight, and able-bodied, you’re most likely sexist, racist, and ableist, and there was a weird sense of freedom that came from understanding that that allows you to learn in a different way because all of a sudden, if you have stereotypes and bias built into your life, that’s not your fault. It’s only your fault if you choose to defend them or ignore them in the face of obvious realization if that makes sense. And I think that that would be very interesting to explore for McKay because I think there’s some stuff he would push back on, absolutely, because he wouldn’t understand. He just doesn’t…

David Read:
That’s the key. He doesn’t understand. There are a couple of instances where I would say he’s willfully ignorant because he knows that he is the only person there to get that job done in that certain way. And this is his playpen, and you’re gonna play by his rules. Because that’s the job he’s there for.

David Hewlett:
He’s a bully. He’s like an intellectual bully rather than a physical bully if that makes sense.

David Read:
Right, exactly. But at the same time, there’s something that makes him so damn endearing because I think we have the benefit of seeing the other side of his story…of seeing and meeting Jeanie and of seeing those chinks in his armor where it’s like, what he’s doing is performance art, and he is a bit of a peacock.

David Hewlett:
And it comes from… there’s terrible insecurity there, and that’s the stuff I saw with smart geeks that I knew. You know what I mean? I was the actor. I was never the smartest guy in the room, but I would watch the people who were, and they were often the most unpleasant… generally terrible with everything from personal hygiene to the way they spoke to people. I was fascinated by them, and I think once you realize that everyone is coming from a different perspective on these things, there’s so many neat things to explore with that. It’s very easy to dismiss someone as being a jerk, and that’s the end of it, but until we figure out… I sort of keep coming back to Breakfast Club. You know what I mean? In a way, Atlantis was like a giant Breakfast Club elevator.

David Read:
Breakfast Club.

David Hewlett:
You know what I mean? All these people are stuck in an elevator together. Then all of a sudden, they’re no longer the stereotypes that they created to rely on.

David Read:
They’re not just playing their parts anymore.

David Hewlett:
That’s it. That has fascinated me, and I think is a testament to the writing. The writing is spectacular on that stuff.

David Read:
Are you good on a little bit more time?

David Hewlett:
Yeah, of course.

David Read:
OK. Kicks 394, “Amanda Tapping is a fellow Doctor Who fan. Have you two ever talked about the show together?” Have you heard from Amanda lately?

David Hewlett:
I have not. She is… My God, she’s…

David Read:
On fire.

David Hewlett:
… I know. All the time. And who better, frankly? That woman has done so many hours of television. That she’s now able to make this stuff, it makes complete sense, and she’s so good on set. She’s so good with people. She’s creative. She’s funny. She’s… No, I absolutely love it. The last time she was in town, I tried to get in touch but again… as is always the case with this wretched industry, invariably we’re always in different places at different times. But she’s fabulous. And I say this all the time, but I don’t think McKay would have taken off the way he did if she hadn’t let me play the way she did.

David Read:
That’s true. She gave you a space, and it was one of those where, you know…

David Hewlett:
Absolutely.

David Read:
… the world that you were walking into, in terms of that area of expertise, was Carter’s space, and you come in there and… I think it was Amanda — it was either Amanda or Hammond — says, “It must be really exciting to see this in person.” He’s like, “Not really,” and the look on her face just drops away and it’s like, “Oh, we see where this is going.” And that was the tone, largely, for everything that followed. I go back to that lunchroom scene with the two of you sparring and going at one another in terms of how the crystals store power and retain energy and retain memory and everything else. And we as audience members, we’re sucking it up because she has met her match…

David Hewlett:
I certainly thought so.

David Read:
… And it is delicious. Absolutely.

David Hewlett:
But again, she’s a perfect example of an amazingly reactive actor. She is someone who doesn’t come in with… she knows her character; she knows what she’s playing, but she responds to what’s going on. She doesn’t have a set, a sort of standard response to any of this kind of stuff. It was wonderfully fun. It’s funny talking about the Doctor Who stuff. I think we do come from a very similar background as well. So, we both have sort of British parents… Canada as the sort of the new home and all that kind of stuff. So, I think there were definitely a lot of points of contact there. And also, she’s just… that woman can get along with a freaking attacking porcupine. She could charm anything. She’s wonderful, an absolutely wonderful woman.

David Read:
Absolutely. Would you be interested in reprising McKay in video game form, doing science talk lines, Motap, Mocap?

David Hewlett:
I’d love…

David Read:
Redux wants to know.

David Hewlett:
… I’d love to do that. The problem is, again, as you know, how long did it take for the RPG to come out? It’s logistics…

David Read:
$100 million were spent on it, I think, and…

David Hewlett:
Is it really?

David Read:
… two or three years. It was a lot of money.

David Hewlett:
The logistics of this stuff are insane. I would love to do that kind of stuff. I’d like to hope that there’s something, that maybe there’s a way around it where I could play a character like that in a similar game type thing. But I think if I were to do McKay in something that has Stargate on it, then there’s nothing but lawsuits for whoever gets involved in it. I don’t own McKay, so it’s not really my choice. I think people who aren’t familiar with the industry think that the actors have more power than they do. A lot of actors think they have more power than they do too. But I wish… God, I wish there was more I could do in that realm, but I’m a hired gun on that stuff.

David Read:
We all have our role to play, for sure.

David Hewlett:
Exactly. But oh my God, look, when they talked about the MMO — they were originally talking about the MMO — I went to the execs in charge at MGM and said, “I am interested in a part-time job where I would play McKay in your MMO as the character. I would log in for certain hours every week. I would happily do this. You would pay me. It’d be the first time anyone had had a virtual real job,” and they were like, “You’re freaking crazy.” I love the idea of that.

David Read:
It’s so hard to see some of this technology in terms of where it’s gone… narrow-mindedness is infectious, and there are certain technologies like Netflix and Bitcoin that you don’t see coming until it’s too late and then you’re like…

David Hewlett:
The weird thing is that I…

David Read:
… “Well, what can we do to pick this up?”

David Hewlett:
… I bought Netflix stock when they were delivering DVDs to me in Point Roberts while we were shooting Stargate because I loved the idea of getting nine DVDs that I knew I wanted to watch delivered to my house. So, I thought, “Oh, I’ll buy stocks.” And I bought no more than I could afford. It was not seen as a big investment. It was, “I like these guys. Let me… ”

David Read:
Honest.

David Hewlett:
… it was almost like tipping them, and that was the best investment I’ve ever made.

David Read:
Wow, good for you.

David Hewlett:
Ever. I didn’t sell them. Every time they doubled in value, I would sell half of them so I always had the same amount at the end, and then…

David Read:
Good for you. “Prior to,” Mikael R, “Prior to Atlantis, what was your favorite SG-1 episode to watch?”

David Hewlett:
Wow.

David Read:
What made you say this is a rock-solid show?

David Hewlett:
Any of the ones with me in it, of course. God, I don’t even… the funny thing was it’s not like I was watching the show before. It was one of those things that I would be… it was that era when if you didn’t see it on TV, you didn’t generally see it. You’d have to go and seek it out to buy a DVD, but you’d have to know enough to go out and buy the DVDs if that makes sense. So, I would be flicking channels and, of course, being the nerd I am, whenever something came on that had any kind of aliens or alien technology or visual effects, that would stop me dead every time. So, I really enjoyed… there was a great episode, and I don’t remember the name of it, I apologize, where…

David Read:
Give me the information.

David Hewlett:
OK, where Sam Carter and this alien being are having a sort of, almost a relationship, and…

David Read:
And he glows?

David Hewlett:
… And he glows, yes.

David Read:
“Ascension,” yes. That was Sean Patrick Flannery.

David Hewlett:
I loved that episode. I just loved that… there was something about it that… I don’t know, there was something… it sort of reminded me of Escape from Witch Mountain or those old Disney kind of… And I remember really enjoying that.

David Read:
It’s got a City of Angels quality to it. An angel that falls because he fell in love with a woman.

David Hewlett:
And that’s it. It was kind of… I don’t know, maybe I’m just an old sap.

David Read:
Sap?

David Hewlett:
But there was something. I really liked that dynamic. That was an interesting take to me. And then, of course, anything where things blew up. I love blowing stuff up.

David Read:
Raj Luthra, “Are you a part of The Planetary Society?”

David Hewlett:
I’m not. I’m not and I should be.

David Read:
Robert Picardo is on the board.

David Hewlett:
I love that guy. Talk about people who I cannot keep a straight face working with. That guy is just one of the funniest, most wonderful… God… truly, you’d look at the call sheet and go, “Hey, Robert Picardo,” and it’s gonna be a great day. Mitch Pileggi as well, another one. Whenever Mitch showed up…

David Read:
Mitch? Really?

David Hewlett:
You knew that you’d be giggling the entire time. He would literally ask me not to be in the off-camera stuff because he’s like, “I can’t. Hewlett, look the other way, and say your lines.”

David Read:
Brianonealsingleton, “How much input did you and Jewel have in Rodney and Keller’s romance in order to make it more organic and not forced?” Did you have any at all?

David Hewlett:
I didn’t feel like I had any. Really. I truly didn’t feel like we had any. In a strange way, I think… Jewel and I always got along really well. So, it was kind of… we shared a similar sense of humor which involved her laughing at me. There was always… it was always fun and slightly awkward because I never felt particularly worthy. I think the chemistry’s there because I love and respect her. I think she’s hilarious. She’s truly one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Man, she’s fast. She’s so fricking quick.

David Read:
Yeah, she’s on her feet.

David Hewlett:
She is. And ruthless. She is… Man, you don’t even know you’re dead till you hit the floor.

David Read:
Geez. Couple more and then I’m gonna let you go. Ugly Pig. Ooh, I wanna know the answer to this, “Did Patrick die at the end credits to A Dog’s Breakfast?”

David Hewlett:
The funny thing is they kept trying to cut. “Can we cut?” I was like, “No.” “Can we cut?” “No.” ‘Cause I just keep walking and keep walking.

David Read:
So, let’s establish… they’re walking into the outback.

David Hewlett:
The lake.

David Read:
… throughout this movie, one has been trying to kill the other. And then it’s flipped at the end. And it’s like, “Uh-oh, the other one’s gonna go out back to basically get shot.”

David Hewlett:
I think if anything, Patrick is more likely to trip, fall, and drown than he is to actually be murdered by anyone if that makes sense. Funny story about that. We were gonna do it at my house, but we rented this house, and the weather changed as it does in Vancouver, and suddenly, this beautiful long lawn that we had scenes on became first a giant muddy swamp, and then a full-on lake. I think the most brilliant comedy in that stuff is all stuff that nature threw at us, frankly.

David Read:
That’s true. But I mean, the little things. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the stickers on the door, “Peace, Love,” “Love, Peace.” I mean, there was something about little things like that that were so funny.

David Hewlett:
That’s a lot of the Stargate set dec and stuff, having fun and going out of their way. All the amazing stuff that was designed for that was just straight outta the Stargate folks. Good question, though.

David Read:
That’s absolutely great. As a fan of science fiction, RMR V wants to know, “What is the secret to a great story?”

David Hewlett:
I think it’s like… For me, with science fiction, I really enjoy the science of science fiction. I love a show that I can sort of get a bit of science behind if that makes sense. Or that I’m willing to let a few things go in order to pursue an interesting sort of train of thought. So, for me, science fiction is about integrating the science. I wanna be able to believe this stuff. But I think, honestly, it’s really just another way of exploring how characters interact. I mean, it really is. When it comes to a television show, it comes purely down to the characters, I think. There’s a ton of science fiction out there. There’s a lot of fun stuff you can play with. The tone. One of the things I loved about Stargate was that you watched Stargate the way we acted Stargate. Literally, we responded to stuff on Stargate the way people would respond to us… It was contemporary, in a way. Not anymore. Now it’s almost historical. But for me, the appeal with science fiction is just being able to get lost in these concepts, and you go, “Wow, wait a second. If that’s true, then what about this?” That, for me, it gets you dreaming. It’s escapist. It’s the idea of either escaping into a worse world in a way or escaping into a better one. I feel like they both have the same kind of power to beam you up into a different… out of your own ordinary, dull existence.

David Read:
That’s exactly right. And we were talking about the Black Mirror episode earlier, that was, as far as I’m concerned, the scariest one of all of them. But it’s important to see those cautionary tales as well, and it goes all the way back to Twilight Zone. I mean, that’s what it is. Let’s go down these paths to A, find ourselves entertained and B, encourage people not to go that way at all.

David Hewlett:
I think there’s a tendency… My back goes up when I see people talking about Avengers and stuff like science fiction. Because I go, “That is fantasy. It’s just fantasy.” Same thing for the DC universe, all that stuff. I go, “That’s fine.” I’ve always preferred science fiction rather than science fantasy. And I feel like, with maybe the exception of Star Wars, just because I was 10 years old, and oh my God, their fricking lasers.

David Read:
But that’s a story of good versus evil. There’s more than just good versus evil.

David Hewlett:
Yes, and I think science fiction, especially televised science fiction, can get very lazy now. It’s very easy to hit on specific tropes over and over and over again and retell stories. But when you truly tie it to some interesting… when you find a great story about a scientific breakthrough, for example, we may have a whole new area of physics now. There may be a whole new series of rules of physics now. Take that, run with it. And all of a sudden, you weave in the characters, and that… that’s the fun to me, is the idea of seeing where you can go. This is like a time machine. You get to look into the future with this stuff.

David Read:
It’s crazy, man. David, it is always a pleasure to have you on the show.

David Hewlett:
Likewise. Man, I love it. I love it.

David Read:
I really appreciate your time.

David Hewlett:
Thank you all for the questions. It’s a pleasure.

David Read:
Absolutely. I would love later this year to have you and Mika McKinnon on.

David Hewlett:
Please.

David Read:
I think that would be a kick.

David Hewlett:
That’d be fantastic. I wanna catch up with her anyway ’cause I’d love her to come and talk to the Tech Bandits as well.

David Read:
Exactly. You know what? I’ll see what I can do there, and I’ll pass her email along and say, “Hey, we were talking about you.” So, we’ll see what we can do.

David Hewlett:
Please, that’d be fantastic.

David Read:
David, thanks again, man, for your time.

David Hewlett:
You too, man. Pleasure as always.

David Read:
You take care of yourself. I’m gonna wrap up the show.

David Hewlett:
I’m gonna go eat something now.

David Read:
You do that. Be well. Bye-bye.

David Hewlett:
See you, man. Cheers.

David Read:
Bye. David Hewlett, everyone. Rodney McKay from Atlantis and SG-1. I have a number of questions that have been given to me here. I will answer them at the end of the Gary Chalk episode because we’re almost bumping up into that, so I’m going to go ahead and mosey through this here. So, Dial the Gate has partnered with Big J Customs for the month of April to give you a chance to get your very own custom Pop! Figure. To enter to win these items, you need to use a desktop or laptop computer and visit dialthegate.com and 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, which we need to start doing again, or a special guest to ask me a round of trivia, which we really need to start doing again. The submission form does not currently work on mobile devices. Your trivia must be received before May the 1st, and if you’re the lucky winner, I’ll be notifying you via your email to get your address. And be sure to check out our partner’s website for more Stargate-related merchandise at bigjcustomsart.com. Gary Chalk is gonna be joining us here in just a moment. My thanks to my moderating team. You guys are the best. Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Reese, Antony, Sommer, you make it possible. Jennifer Kirby and Linda “GateGabber” Furey, couldn’t do the show without you. And my thanks, once again, to David Hewlett for another excellent installment of Dial the Gate. Gary Chalk coming up next. Hope you can make it to that one. My name is David Read. We’ll see you on the other side.