Few people can say they worked on Stargate from Day One of SG-1 to the final shot of SGU. Andy Mikita, director of more than 60 Stargate shows, is one of the few. He joins David for a pre-recorded Dial the Gate interview to discuss some of his fondest memories working on the series!

Share This Video ► https://youtu.be/A2XPmo_loNc

Visit DialtheGate ► http://www.dialthegate.com
on Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/dialthegate
on Instagram ► https://instagram.com/dialthegateshow
on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/dial_the_gate
on Discord ► https://discord.gg/z7xRrs4cQX
Episode Artwork ► https://www.deviantart.com/spiritwolf77/art/The-Joys-of-Conventions-5501141

MERCHANDISE!
https://dialthegate.redbubble.com

SUBSCRIBE!
https://youtube.com/dialthegate/

Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
0:05 – Opening Credits
00:33 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:00 – Guest Introduction
02:10 – Starting with Stargate
3:48 – Watching Stargate Form from the Ground Up
05:33 – Stargate’s Secret Ingredient
10:38 – Starting as First Assistant Director (First AD)
14:58 – Typical Stargate Episode Production Cycle
18:10 – Editing and Producing Forty Episodes for Three Years
20:52 – “Heroes” (SG-1 7×17&18)
24:06 – Saul Rubinek (Emmett Bregman)
27:30 – Commitment of Cast Members
34:12 – Blowing up the Jaffa
37:17 – From SG-1 to Atlantis
41:41 – Directing “Enemy at the Gate” (SGA 5×20)
45:01 – Atlantis at San Francisco Bay
48:30 – Stargate Universe (Air Part 1 to 3)
55:19 – Lighting in SGU
57:09 – Syfy Presence in SGU
59:33 – “Gauntlet” (SGU 2×20)
1:00:34 – Joel Goldsmith
1:01:56 – Current Projects
1:04:27 – Brad Wright’s Travelers on Netflix
1:05:25 – Family Law
1:06:39 – Thank You, Andy!
1:07:27 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:10:27 – Call to Action
1:11:27 – End Credits

***

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

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
#TurtleTimeline

TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read:
Hello, everyone, welcome to Dial the Gate, my name is David Read. Thank you so, much for joining us, this is Episode 46, I believe. We’re gonna hit the big 5-0 pretty soon here. Thank you so, much for joining me. This episode is gonna be featuring Andy Mikita. This is a pre-recorded show; this is why it’s dark and soon about to be light again and soon my hair is about to grow longer all of a sudden on you. This was recorded earlier this month. We actually have a story, a Jack O’Neill story, in relation to hair that has been brought up before, but it will be brought up again in this episode. So, Andy Mikita will be coming on in just a moment here. As this is a pre-recorded show, we took questions in advance, so, those are gonna be sprinkled out through the conversation, as with James CD Robbins later on, more specifically. I hope you sit back and enjoy it and if you’re in the YouTube chat, have a good time chatting with your friends and fellow Stargate fans. That’s what’s gonna be happening there. After the show, I’m gonna be revealing some new merchandise that’s going to be available and giving you one last chance to submit trivia questions for your communication stone. So, that’s enough from me. Let’s go ahead and bring in producer, director, Andy Mikita. He goes all the way back to the beginning of the series with “Children of the Gods” and he was one of the lifers going all the way to the end. Thanks so, much for tuning in. Enjoy! Producer, director, Andy Mikita. Welcome to Dial the Gate.

Andy Mikita:
Hey, thank you. Thanks David. Thanks so, much for having me on. This is exciting.

David Read:
I appreciate you being here sir. You joined Stargate SG-1. When did you start with regular involvement in the show?

Andy Mikita:
I was one of the lifers. I was there from the very beginning to the very end. I was the first assistant director of the pilot episode, directed by Mario Azzopardi, “Children of the Gods.” From that point on, I stayed with the show to the very end. I recognized a good thing when I saw it. Such great people.

David Read:
Absolutely. Were you brought over from MacGyver? Were you involved in MacGyver at all?

Andy Mikita:
No, I wasn’t involved with MacGyver. It was interesting ’cause I worked with Jonathan Glasner on 21 Jump Street. I was an assistant director on Jump Street and I think that was the show that I met him on. Anyway, we had met before that on something. I’m not sure what; I think it was Jump Street. He had called me in for an interview for the pilot to work with this director. I also, at that time, met Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson. When I saw Rick, we recognized each other from playing hockey ’cause there’s a bunch of film guys that play hockey on Thursday nights. There was Rick and he goes, “Hey, I know you.” I’m like, “Yeah, I know you.” I didn’t know him from MacGyver. I’d never seen MacGyver before.

David Read:
Really?

Andy Mikita:
I didn’t even realize he was the actor on the show. We were just players on the court.

David Read:
You recognized him from the court?

Andy Mikita:
Yeah. So, our interview was basically talking hockey and just life. We didn’t even…

David Read:
That’s too funny. Wow.

Andy Mikita:
… talk too much about…

David Read:
Tell us about watching this show form from the ground up, the first one. I assume this is a show that you really cut your teeth on.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, absolutely, it absolutely was. It was, for me, really my first sort of foray into science fiction. So, that unto itself… it’s just the language of the different types of life forms and the planets. It’s based on the film, which certainly informed me greatly, but it was a big undertaking. There’s no question about it. The huge builds, building the Stargate, building the actual bunker location and just the scope of the undertaking for episodic television. In those days, the orders were for 22 episodes. It’s a sizeable chunk of time and it’s a huge commitment. Whereas nowadays, most of the TV episodic stuff is 10 episodes, maybe 14. Not quite such a commitment. Going into it, I didn’t, for even for a heartbeat, realize or consider that it was gonna go on for over 10 years. It’s a huge part of my life.

David Read:
You have a great chemistry between the cast and crew that’s so, conducive to a productive relationship that can continue for a decade. Just the first one alone and then you had five with Atlantis and then unfortunately two with SGU. But what do you think the magic was? What do you think the secret ingredient was? Was it the Stargate itself? Was it that storytelling mechanism?

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it. The fact that it was grounded in a certain degree of reality with the US Air Force component, so, there is the reality. It’s a real existing entity, the Air Force. Then you’ve got the Egyptian mythology, which was super cool and, to a certain extent, was part of real history, yet with the plot spin of the pyramids being used as potential landing platforms. All these really cool, interesting sorts of connections and the combination of those characters from those different places and the chemistry that formed from those relationships. At the time, did I think it was gonna become a huge hit? I don’t know. I think we were too wrapped up in the process itself to look that far ahead to see if we actually had something special going on. Some of it, to me, seemed a little bit far-fetched. Some of the costumes were a bit much and the headdresses were a bit much. Human beings with these adornments seemed, on the surface, to be a little bit… maybe a bit much, maybe a little bit campy. But then again, when you were watching it, and the scripts were always really great and really well thought out… Brad and Rob and Jonathan, they really did a remarkable job. Joe and Paul and Carl Binder and Alan McCullough, the whole gang. It was a really good, very smart, creative group of people that… I’m sure I’m missing all kinds of names here. But it started to really come together pretty quickly to all of us that, “OK, this is a smart group of people.” It’s a fun premise. Science fiction is cool. There’s obviously a fan base for it. We thought, “Hey, maybe this thing’s got legs.” But never did I ever dream it was gonna go for as long as it did.

David Read:
17 seasons of television, man. Someone’s doing something right.

Andy Mikita:
Literally, whenever I go into a new show, I always reference back to that experience at Stargate with the showrunners: Brad in particular, Rob Cooper in particular, Joe and Paul. That’s a show that was produced properly, that was done right. They had stories and scripts well in advance. They had charted the course for the season and sometimes multiple seasons so, they could plan ahead. You would know that if we’re gonna be building this particular set, we’re probably gonna be changing it over three or four more times for other things as the season goes along. They would be able to sort of forecast what that would be and would work with the production designer and the rest of the art department to plan that out so, things became modular. The same thing with the locations. Basically, our line producer and main producer, our boots on the ground, John Smith, was also, integral in just keeping a really smart, well-thought-out schedule. Just that communication within the whole operation was great. Then as the show evolved and the group of directors got a little bit smaller with Peter DeLuise and Martin Wood and myself and Will Waring, we spoke the language. For somebody to come in outside that hadn’t been part of the show was a little bit more difficult for them, just to learn the franchise and learn the language. It would be tough for them. It made more sense to keep it a little bit more streamlined and have a smaller group of people involved.

David Read:
How common is that? To go with a specific set of directors, occasionally try someone else out, bring someone into the group, but to normally keep with a specific set of directors? How common is that in the industry?

Andy Mikita:
It is pretty common. Typically, on a new show, on a first-year show, you’ll wanna cycle through a bunch of different people to try to see who’s gonna be a good fit. But if the show is going to go on for multiple seasons, it’s quite common to have that core group of people that really work well with the story department, work well with the cast and instantly sort of become part of the team and are available and interested to be part of it on a longer term. Some people are more interested in being the gig of the week and drive-through and do multiple shows… or just single episodes of multiple shows is what I’m trying to say. But it is pretty common. I’ve been part of that for many years.

David Read:
So, you said you started off as first AD on “Children of the Gods?”

Andy Mikita:
That’s right. Basically, all of Season One was first AD and then I started doing some second unit directing, I think, in Season Two and I was a production manager. My strengths were certainly more on the set than they were in the administration. That’s where John Lenic, John G. Lenic kind of… He and I shared a lot of the responsibilities, and his strengths were certainly more on the administrative side. I basically spent more of my time on the set. I would help out the directors if they were starting to get behind schedule or whatever. I would take the B camera guys and clean up inserts or some of the action stuff, the folks coming through the gate. There are effects-type shots that I would do, just to help lessen the burden for the main unit directors.

David Read:
It’s really common to think, “This director directed every single shot of this episode ’cause he’s directing the show.” But that’s not the case. It’s a team effort and there’s all kinds… as you said: inserts, second unit stuff, tighter shots, that they just can’t necessarily get to in the…

Andy Mikita:
There’s obviously the efficiencies of doing it at the time, on set, instead of going back and trying to recreate things after the fact when you’re in post-production. You try to anticipate as many of those things as you can… right at the time. That was an area that I could provide my level of experience and expertise and that of course led to being offered the first episode, which was “Foothold.”

David Read:
Tell us a little bit about “Foothold.” Season Three, you have alien costumes that have never been seen before and a wacky premise that, man, if it’s not done right, it can be so, corny. But I think you guys really pulled it off. I loved it when I saw it originally.

Andy Mikita:
Did you really?

David Read:
Yeah.

Andy Mikita:
Great. Fantastic. I haven’t looked back at it for many years, obviously, but I do remember it was like, “oh my gosh.” This was quite something to saddle me with, all of this on my first episode. “Oh man, are you trying to put a stop to this right away, or what’s going on, guys?” But no, it was a great challenge. The things that you remember, of course the crazy aliens and the construction, the design and the construction of the suits themselves. The wacky pods that we had hanging from the gate room ceiling that, of course, just trying to get Rick and Don Davis and the gang, raise them up on cranes and put the harnesses on them and hoist them up and then wrap. Rick, as you could well imagine, was like, “What the hell is going on here? Am I…is this for real? You’re actually making me do this?” I’m like, “Yeah, pal, don’t worry about it.” It was fun, it was great. Those were obviously some of the challenges; working out some of the logistics with that. Got huge support from all the cast and all the producers and the whole crew. Everybody was on board and that makes a huge difference. You know that you can… It’s OK to trip and fall periodically because they’re gonna be there to pick you up.

David Read:
You have a support net. You have to come prepared but unexpected things are gonna pop up every now and then.

Andy Mikita:
For sure. You can only prepare yourself so, much, believe me. That’s the thing. You can prep yourself to the cows come home and then an actor like Richard Dean Anderson will ask a question that you’re just not anticipating hearing.

David Read:
And that’s perfectly relevant, and it’s like, “Whoa, I didn’t think of that.”

Andy Mikita:
Exactly and you’ve gotta have an answer. You can’t sit there and go, “Um, I don’t know,” or make something up because he’s a smart enough guy to know that if he’s being BS’d or not.
But yeah, they were terrific.

David Read:
What was the cycle of an episode on the show? Through the course of those 17 seasons, I’m sure things got tightened or stretched here or there and changed, but what was the typical cycle? How much time would you have to prep typically and how long was the production shoot and then post with editing and sound and everything else? How much of that would you be involved in specifically?

Andy Mikita:
Specifically, I would be involved in the seven to eight days of prep, typically. In the early seasons we had, I think, it was seven and a half shooting days. We would usually overlap, like at lunch one episode would take over for the next. You’d have basically seven days, seven or eight days, to prep the show. There would also be obviously conversations that would happen prior to that, before the actual official prep start. If Brad or Jonathan or Rob, had the story idea and had a pre-production draft of the script, they would certainly share that with you well in advance. Your official prep time would be basically seven to eight days and then you would go into production for the same timeframe and then there might be some second units beyond that. You would schedule based on efficiencies. If we were gonna be out at a particular location for a couple of days and that location works great for the next episode as well, then…

David Read:
Why not?

Andy Mikita:
Why not? Stay there and let’s shoot a day for that episode as well. Those efficiencies became more and more common further along into the season, or into the multiple seasons, where we really got good at crafting those sorts of things. But essentially, seven and a half days of shooting and then as a director, after a few days that the editors would have to assemble the material, you would go into the editing room and basically craft a director’s cut. You would get two or three days, typically three, to put that together. There wouldn’t be any sort of pressure to get it to time; you would just put the best version of the show forward that you could with the editor. You wouldn’t cut dialogue so, sometimes the shows would be long. A case in point, of course, would be what we’ll be talking about soon, I’m sure, with “Heroes.” “Heroes” started off, obviously, as one hour of television and unfortunately, I shot a little bit more than I should have.

David Read:
To be fair, Rob also wrote a lot.

Andy Mikita:
It was long, it was a longer script, and it was so, good.

David Read:
It was so, good.

Andy Mikita:
It evolved. We can get into that eventually. But anyway, to answer your question – seven and a half or the seven to eight days of pre-production, the same timeframe to actually shoot the hour and then you’d have two or three days to just edit the picture edit essentially; assemble a director’s cut. At that point it goes to the producers and then they get their cut.

David Read:
Would editing take place immediately after the show was shot, or would you sometimes have to move on to the next episode, or was it scheduled so, the directors would have breathing room to do all that before moving on to the next one?

Andy Mikita:
There was always a little bit of breathing room. Sometimes there was overlap, but for the most part there was breathing room to be able to make that work. We would always try to cycle three directors, four directors so, you wouldn’t be going necessarily back-to-back-to-back and you would have that opportunity to have a decent amount of editing time. But again, when SG-1 and Atlantis were shooting concurrently there for a couple of seasons, we were going back-to-back and that was a lot on our plates.

David Read:
40 episodes a year? What are you talking about? That sounds like it’s easy.

Andy Mikita:
Exactly.

David Read:
What are you complaining about?

Andy Mikita:
Oh, trust me, there was no complaining. But the workload was such that, yeah, it got to be a little bit of a dance.

David Read:
I wouldn’t blame you for a little complaining. I mean, 40 stories a year. You gotta probably broaden your director pool a little bit, but still.

Andy Mikita:
We did. We broadened the pool and the team grew obviously at that point. But honestly, for a while it just became a blur, it really and truly did. Hats off to Brad and Rob and Carl and Jill and Paul, Martin Gero, the whole gang, Carl Binder, for just having the vision to be able to actually construct all those stories that made sense. There were very few duds in my opinion. There was a few that were maybe not quite as strong as the others, but for the most part they were all great hours of television.

David Read:
When you do 40 hours of TV a year, they can’t all be home runs.

Andy Mikita:
No.

David Read:
It’s just not physically possible.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah.

David Read:
You’re going to have to throw in some of your B-level ideas at some point because you can only do so, much and you can’t just expand the team to get more good ideas. It would just unravel.

Andy Mikita:
No, absolutely. But you would infuse, you’re bringing in somebody like Peter DeLuise, for instance.

David Read:
He’s incredible.

Andy Mikita:
That was incredible. As you could well imagine, just so, much energy, so, much enthusiasm, so, many great ideas, so, creative, so, fun. That was a real infusion of really good, positive energy. Same with Martin Gero and everybody that came into the show, they just elevated it to the next level. It was great. It was wonderful to be a part of.

David Read:
I wanna go back to “Heroes.”

Andy Mikita:
Sure.

David Read:
I fought long and hard with myself trying to figure out which stories I wanted to ask you ’cause I’d love to have you back in a few months again to talk about a few more episodes, but it’s like, “Which ones do I talk about this time?” Rob Cooper and I had recently sat down and discussed him bringing “Heroes” to life and adding a subplot with Robert Picardo to fill it out to two hours. That episode, based on my understanding of it, was not typical because it was originally designed to be earlier in the year and then Cooper had to go to the network and say, “We’ve got this idea for two hours. Can we expand it?” My understanding, and correct me if I’m wrong on this, but my understanding was that it wasn’t… Parts of it were shot all over the place, like shot when you could get to it. Is that right?

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, absolutely. I think, if memory serves me correctly, I think we actually shot a great deal of that episode as a second unit, because again, we were getting these great efficiencies where we were doing a lot. We had basically built ourselves a second unit crew from the core production crew that we had. We certainly had all the resources available to us to be able to do it. So, if, while one episode was shooting, our B camera operator, Andy Wilson, who we upgraded to director of photography, he and I basically would go off and be shooting scenes from “Heroes.” There was obviously a fair bit that was done first unit, but there was a significant amount that was done as a secondary unit, and I would literally be trying to steal the actors whenever I could. If I knew that Amanda had a little bit of a break between scenes, I would literally be, “Hey, Amanda, I can squeeze in a…”

David Read:
A shot of “Heroes.”

Andy Mikita:
“… do you have a little bit of time? We can actually grab this interview scene with you and Woolsey, and it’d be great if we could do that now. Are you OK to do that?” We’d schedule it, obviously, as best we could. But there were many opportunities, or we would look for opportunities where we could beg, borrow, and steal wherever we could. The other sort of strong memory for me with “Heroes” is it just seemed to go on forever. Because of the fact that… I believe there was a hiatus somewhere within the shooting schedule of “Heroes” ’cause it seemed to go on forever. It was the episode that just would not, uh, it just kept on giving.
Good on Rob. He saw the potential in that first hour that I think we were probably 20 minutes long. I don’t even remember exactly.

David Read:
Sounds about right.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, I think it was about 20 minutes long, but it was good stuff. Credit to Rob, credit to our entire cast, my gosh, and to our guest stars. We had Saul Rubinek, he was a handful. He was really invested in the character, and he had a lot of discussions with Rob.

David Read:
They said that it was some very passionate discussions, particularly about the conversation about his speech in the hallway there, which I will contend is one of the best speeches in the whole show.

Andy Mikita:
I seem to recall too, I think Rob was on set when we were shooting that.

David Read:
Yes.

Andy Mikita:
I remember Saul…did he tell this story? ‘Cause I think Saul, after the speech, he looked over at…

David Read:
He was like, “Ah? Ah?”

Andy Mikita:
… Rob and was like, “Huh?”

David Read:
Exactly right.

Andy Mikita:
“Was it all right?” OK, good. I did get that story right. ‘Cause it was actually pretty neat. I could see Saul’s position. I was on the set directly with him and if he had ideas on things, he would often run them by me or would at least say, “Hey, I’ve gotta talk to Rob about this ’cause I’ve got some thoughts and this is what would be involved.” There was no way I was about to sort of give him the opportunity to do that without Rob’s authorization so, I made sure that they got together and worked things out. To both of their credits they listened to one another and they worked together. I think at the end of the day it was all good. It all worked out for the better. That second hour, when Rob went back and wrote the remainder of the material and brought Picardo in… ‘Cause I think that was even Robert Picardo’s first…

David Read:
That was his first.

Andy Mikita:
It was, wasn’t it?

David Read:
My understanding was he did it in one day. Was that correct?

Andy Mikita:
He did it, yeah, I think he did it in a day. I think it was basically his character introduction in the series.

David Read:
That’s exactly right. He comes in as the hatchet guy.

Andy Mikita:
The hatchet, yep.

David Read:
I can’t fathom the brain that it takes to remember all of that information and get all those lines out in the correct sequence in one day. That’s a lot.

Andy Mikita:
It was a ton and I had this sort of goofy plan of transitioning. Rob and I had talked about this, of transitioning the characters within the context of the interviews. He had to do it in a very fragmented way also, ’cause we would be taking people out of the chair and drop the next person in while the camera continues to move and it was a little bit of a brain twister for all of us, quite frankly. Hats off to Robert ’cause he was just unflappable and was just happy to be there and he was so, well-prepared. Such a great guy, real classy guy. Really, really enjoyed him and he did such a terrific job. You get somebody like Robert Picardo on set, and everybody elevates too.

David Read:
Absolutely. Not only does he have an amazing background with all he’s done, but he has the sci-fi background as well, so, he gets it.

Andy Mikita:
He gets it.

David Read:
It’s like slipping into a pair of leather shoes.

Andy Mikita:
Exactly.

David Read:
He’s got it.

Andy Mikita:
That’s absolutely the case. A fond memory of “Heroes” for me was, obviously it was kind of our love letter to the armed forces, which was an important thing for us to do. But it was also, the level of investment from all of our cast and tonally was so, different. We saw components of our cast that we had never really seen before: a sensitivity, a realism.

David Read:
Vulnerability.

Andy Mikita:
A vulnerability, big time. There was one scene I recall where it was with Amanda coming, storming down the hallway from an action sequence where obviously something very traumatic had happened.

David Read:
Fraiser’s just died.

Andy Mikita:
Janet Fraiser had just died so, she was a mess. We tried to shoot it as much as possible just from the documentary camera’s point of view and it was really powerful. I remember on the day, shooting it, and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” You really felt the emotional weight of Amanda’s performance there. They all were doing it, all of ’em. Chris Judge and his interview, Mike Shanks throughout the whole thing. They were all amazing, they really were. There was another thing that was quite funny actually that I remember about… I’m sure Rob mentioned this too. After that hiatus, Rick came back and he cut his hair. I don’t know if you heard about that one.

David Read:
Yes.

Andy Mikita:
You knew about that?

David Read:
There’s no cut between scenes.

Andy Mikita:
No, nothing.

David Read:
It’s just a hallway change or something and his hair is shorter.

Andy Mikita:
So, all of a sudden, he’s got shorter hair and hopefully no one’s gonna notice. I remember people were like, “Rick.”

David Read:
I didn’t notice.

Andy Mikita:
“Oh sh– We’re not finished with this episode yet.” “Oh, really? Oh well.”

David Read:
What are you gonna do?

Andy Mikita:
“What are you gonna do? The hair’s gone, I can’t put it back on now.” There were a few things like that. The death scene, with Fraiser when she got shot. That was obviously a hugely impactful day for us, just having to do that. Having to shoot that scene was tough.

David Read:
What was it like being the one to point the camera on a character and watch her pass? A character that we had loved and cherished and I’m sure you as performers and creators loved and cherished for seven years. But it wasn’t even her last scene. The next couple of days she came back to life again.

Andy Mikita:
That’s right. It’s always tough to do that sort of thing and you start to question whether or not this is a really… Are we doing the right thing here ’cause she’s such a loved character? As a human being, we loved her. We adored having her on set. Teryl Rothery is a rock star. She still is. I love working with her any opportunity I get. It was tough. There was a lot of emotional weight to the scene, obviously. It was not easy, but it’s for the good of the show. She got it, she understood. It’s not like she was holding a grudge that she was being shot.

David Read:
No, not at all.

Andy Mikita:
Nothing like that at all.

David Read:
I’d still be pissed, but you still get that for this material. Even Rob said it, we really had to put your money where your mouth is on this one.

Andy Mikita:
That’s true. Absolutely.

David Read:
This is telling a story about people who make the ultimate sacrifice. If you don’t have that, it’ll still be a fine show, but it wouldn’t be an exceptional one.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, absolutely. I have to say, for all the episodes that I’ve been a part of, I still put “Heroes” right up there amongst some of the work I’m most proud of. The other guest star that we had in that, Adam Baldwin.

David Read:
That’s right.

Andy Mikita:
He was great. He was fun.

David Read:
He was fantastic.

Andy Mikita:
That was real cool. What a great guy and a lot of fun having him on set; really invested and loved picking the gun that he was gonna use. We did a big, I’m sure you recall, a big action sequence. I remember when we were actually staging that and Rick was asking about, “Where’s this going?” Instead of trying to explain it in any kind of great detail, “No, it’s just a big gratuitous action scene, Rick. We’re all gonna have bombs going off everywhere. We’ll do a big strafing run. We’ll have ships flying everywhere. It’s just a big action sequence and that’s it.” There’s no other explanation for it.

David Read:
In retrospect, I think “Heroes Part Two,” once it cuts from sol saying, “This is unbelievably boring” and then you have the shot of the puddle and the soldier’s boot running through it. Is it a strafing shot? Is that what that’s called, where it goes sideways for 50 feet?

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, we just laid a big, long dolly track.

David Read:
Dolly track.

Andy Mikita:
I wanted it to be almost like a continuous type of a shot. The design was that it could play as one. You start close on a foot hitting the puddle and coming off of that, “This is so, incredibly boring,” to, “Well, this is what it’s like out in the field. Not so, boring, is it?”

David Read:
No, it’s not.

Andy Mikita:
Foot into the puddle and then up, tilt up and just track…

David Read:
Alkesh and gliders and staff blasts.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, the gliders, the bombs going off, the staff blasts. The gliders going through, dropping, doing their sort of napalm runs, until they take cover at the rock and ultimately going to where Rick gets shot, or O’Neill gets shot. But it was quite fun when we were setting it up. It didn’t take us that long. We shot it all in a day. It was not that long a day either. We were well-prepped and we had a third camera, and we still shot a bunch of coverage. Essentially it was just this big tracking shot that got to the rock and then that was it. But Adam was quite funny because, of course, he was in Full Metal Jacket and said just, “If this was a Stanley Kubrick film, I’d be at this rock for three weeks and you guys are getting it done in a day. This is awesome.” He had a lot of fun. It was cool. He was really game for everything, and he was a welcome member. It would have been nice to have had him around for a longer time.

David Read:
I agree. Have Colonel Dixon back. Absolutely. If there’s an SG4, I’m totally rooting for Adam Baldwin’s return.

Andy Mikita:
I think he might have even been pitched for Atlantis at one point.

David Read:
I wouldn’t be surprised. You blew up a lot of Jaffa as well in that episode. How do you execute scenes…? I guess Dan Shea would have been heavily involved. I just remember these Jaffa just shooting through the air. Springboards or something have got to be hidden behind some of these rocks. How do you pull all that off?

Andy Mikita:
We would have these little mini trampolines. We would have ratchets. We would have all sorts of little gizmos that would help launch them up in the air. Ray Douglas and Scott Stoffer and the boys would set the explosive charges. When the explosion goes off, stunt guys would be there with their finger on the button, or the actual Jaffa stunt guys themselves would have their finger on the button.

David Read:
That makes sense.

Andy Mikita:
We would obviously… we rehearse that pretty carefully to make sure all the timings would work. The most fun part of the show is just getting to blow stuff up and shoot guys and just launch them every which way. The effects guys were great. They could load ’em up in no time at all and put the staff hits on them. It was great, good gratuitous action. Lots of fun. In fact, to this day I have tinnitus and I think that tinnitus is from so, much P90 gunfire without proper ear protection.

David Read:
I would think that that would have been mandatory.

Andy Mikita:
It is mandatory. The props guys would come around with the cans, or the foamies to insert into your ears. Sometimes you’d just say, “Yeah, no, I’m fine, I’ll just put my fingers in my ear.”

David Read:
Oh, no, and that’s cumulative.

Andy Mikita:
You get caught up in the moment and there’s dialogue ahead of time, so, you’re listening carefully to the dialogue and then, “Oh shit, here comes the gunfire.” You don’t get your headset off fast enough and get your fingers in your ears to protect yourself and you get a good three or four seconds of P90 fire.

David Read:
Right in your ears. I understand.

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, in your ears. When you’re doing it inside!

David Read:
Yes.

Andy Mikita:
That’s when that percussion would just be insane.

David Read:
I’ve shot weapons. When you don’t see someone flinch… If there’s a gunshot off-screen, “There was no gunshot.” If there was an actual gunshot there, you at least blink because it’s intense.

Andy Mikita:
Oh, yeah.

David Read:
It’s so, visceral.

Andy Mikita:
For sure. That’s a very common thing now, is to do a vis effects muzzle flash for the gunfire and it just never works because there’s no kickback percussion, there’s no blinking of the eyes. Like you said, you just can tell when it’s being faked because…

David Read:
Something’s wrong.

Andy Mikita:
Something’s wrong. We very rarely did that unless we were pointing it straight at somebody’s head or right into the lens where we would have to do a fake muzzle flash. For the most part we just loaded up the blanks and had at it.

David Read:
I want to set SG-1 aside, I’d love to come back to it in the future with you. Atlantis, the Pegasus Galaxy, very different type of animal, very different cast in terms of their intensities and a different group of people. What was it like switching gears from SG-1 to Atlantis? I’m sure you went back and forth throughout those three seasons where it overlapped. What was Atlantis like in comparison to SG-1? Was it basically the same type of thing in terms of scheduling and production and everything else? Were there other considerations to make? Tell us about that.

Andy Mikita:
The production component, by and large, was very similar. The format is still the same. We were in the same physical building. If you came downstairs from the office, you turn right to go into the Gate Room.

David Read:
SG-1.

Andy Mikita:
You have to hang a left and you go into the Atlantis Gate Room.

David Read:
That’s right.

Andy Mikita:
You could easily, “Oh shit, I meant to turn left but I turned right.”

David Read:
Am I going to Milky Way or Pegasus?

Andy Mikita:
The crossover was quite seamless, to be honest. Obviously, the different dynamic with the cast and crew, but for the most part, it was pretty seamless. The dynamic was different, certainly, because the characters are different. The performers are different so, you would relate to them in a different way. The set was very different. It was very expansive and very clean, very pristine, very modern. The show had been set up by Martin Wood, who did such an amazing job with the first episodes and “Rising.” We just tried to build upon that. It was pretty seamless and then ultimately we even got into some crossover which really helped. It was good. It was surprisingly straightforward and I don’t really remember big sort of trip-ups or stumbling blocks in that first season. I think it was pretty smooth sailing. You may correct me and tell me otherwise from what you learned from other folks, but my recollection at least was it was pretty smooth.

David Read:
I would imagine, because with SG-1 the bunker is from the movie. For Atlantis, it was pretty obvious we were gonna make an expansive space for that Stargate and give you more options. I would think the flexibility in choices of shooting were better typically for Atlantis than it was for SG-1, where you were basically simulating an underground space.

Andy Mikita:
You’re absolutely right. The design of the set was fantastic. All these multiple layers and because there was a big open expanse down below you could literally craft a shot that would start tight on one of the consoles up on the top deck. You could follow that person right out and down the steps and down to the other levels, right down to the actual Gate Room level. You could really choreograph some big expansive, beautiful stagings. The set was designed specifically for that and I’m sure Martin had a big voice in the design of it as well, just to be able to connect all those dots. Because, of course, he was renowned for his big expansive stagings, which were always loads of fun to watch. It was a great set to shoot in.

David Read:
The second season added a change in Weir’s office. There was a bridge to go to Weir’s office and she had this corner there. In the second season you guys expanded that into about three times the size for a much bigger space. I always wondered, “I guess they found some hammer and nails while they were in the Pegasus Galaxy and expanded this office?” It’s those kind of little retcons that you just have to say to yourself, “This really was there all along, they just removed a wall and we didn’t see it.”

Andy Mikita:
You try to do those sorts of things and try not to hang a lantern on them too much and hopefully people won’t notice them. It certainly helps to give a little bit more breath.

David Read:
I wanna go to “Enemy at the Gate” because it was such… Atlantis was much more action than SG-1 was. SG-1 definitely had its Indiana Jones qualities and moments but there was something much more intense about Atlantis overall. It seemed to set the contemplative stuff aside, ’cause I don’t think there wasn’t really much of a Daniel voice in the show. There was a little bit with Weir and a couple of the others, but I think that the running and gunning of the show for Atlantis proved to be one of its strengths. Would that make it longer for pre-production?

Andy Mikita:
No.

David Read:
No? You just managed to fit it in?

Andy Mikita:
If memory serves, I think we managed to keep it all in the same sort of schedule and mold. You’re right, there was definitely more. It felt like it was more involved, that there was more to it. Certainly, in the visual effects component of it as well, I think they certainly had more challenges. Mark Savela and his team of artists, it was a lot more involved with the big space battles, the Puddle Jumper and everything that came with that. Scheduling-wise and production-wise, it was all pretty much the same. But the levels of intensity, like David Hewlett for instance. It was just great, he was always so, invested and it just created that palpable energy all the time, whenever he was on screen. That was infectious and the rest of the gang followed suit. Flanigan was the calming force, and it was a really nice combination of energies too.

David Read:
Rob Cooper wrapped up SG-1 with “Unending,” and you were charged with wrapping up Atlantis with “Enemy at the Gate.” Was it another day at the office getting this second series completed or were there thoughts of… ‘Cause you knew at that point that the show was not coming back for a sixth season when you guys shot it.

Andy Mikita:
We knew we were done. We knew that we were finished.

David Read:
How was that?

Andy Mikita:
There was certainly some pressure to that. It was a pretty complex, multiple storyline episode. It was so, dense. My recollection was any sort of burden of knowing that that was the last episode went away once it was boots on the ground when we were doing it because there was a lot to do. There were multiple storylines and it was a pretty big action show as well. We were doing a lot of different things, and I think that that pretty much took all the attention anyway, so, that burden of it being the last episode was pushed to the side a little bit. I tried to treat it as just another show but you also, tried not to compromise and, “OK, look, we’ve got the one shot at this, let’s not screw it up.”

David Read:
There were some great sequences in that. Atlantis re-entering the atmosphere of Earth and settling down just outside of San Francisco. It’s not used to seeing Golden Gate from that angle. Was there any kind of pre-production work involved in making sure that looked aesthetically correct?

Andy Mikita:
Yeah, a little bit. My recollection was that the original idea was that it was going to land in New York City at the Statue of Liberty. I think that was the initial plan but then it’s surrounded by landmass, I don’t think we can actually land Atlantis outside. I think that’s why it ended up going to the Golden Gate Bridge. I’d have to check with Paul and Joe on that one, they would be able to answer that one correctly, but that was my recollection. Obviously, we had to kind of set where the islands were going to be and what the lighting was going to be like at that point when they all came up to the railing to look outside.

David Read:
What was Flanigan like over the course of that run? Very different energy from Rick.

Andy Mikita:
Very different energy, very intense, very thoughtful. I think he might have given the impression from time to time that maybe he either wasn’t interested or he had other ideas, but that wasn’t the case. He always, at the end of the day, came to the party and delivered the goods. Just a little bit of a different energy and you would treat him a different way, but that’s the case with every one of them. You would always speak to each person a little bit differently and that’s part of our job. Actors are funny people; they require specific attention. They like to be spoken to one-to-one and that’s only fair. They want to be heard and they want to make sure that their ideas are being listened to.

David Read:
Considered.

Andy Mikita:
If they need a bit of an explanation as to why they’re doing what they’re doing, it’s only fair that they’re given that explanation. Joe was a great guy. He was fine. We never waited for him; he would come when he was asked. No complaints whatsoever. Back in the old days when I was an assistant director, good Lord. Sometimes the actors wouldn’t come out of the trailers for hours on end and those days are, thank God, at least in my career and my history, those days are gone, but it used to be ugly.

David Read:
Just pretentious?

Andy Mikita:
Pretentious… Essentially that’s it. Narcissistic.

David Read:
Is it just that we’re more sensitive now?

Andy Mikita:
Our tolerances are lower. Our tolerances are lower. We don’t have time to deal with it.

David Read:
Got it. Also, we’ve got these things to record.

Andy Mikita:
Exactly. 100%. That was actually quite a wonderful invention for us as a communication device and as a recording device. I think those days are gone and I think a lot of shows, a lot of producers, have come to the conclusion that life’s too short to deal with those kinds of people.

David Read:
That’s true too. That was the motto upstairs as well, LTS.

Andy Mikita:
Exactly.

David Read:
I think it’s one of the reasons that the franchise was as successful as it was on television.
Stargate Universe… “Air One” through “Three.” Holy cow.

Andy Mikita:
An amazing, amazing experience, I have to say. That was one that I did feel the burden of a little bit, but also, loved the challenge of starting off a show like that. We were under a certain amount of pressure from Syfy. They were looking for a show that bridged the Battlestar Galactica world and the Stargate SG-1, or the Stargate world, as they were trying to combine those elements. They wanted something that was a little darker, a little grittier, a little more visceral and serious.

David Read:
And realistic, in my opinion too.

Andy Mikita:
For sure, very much so. The performances, the way the camera was handled, much more handheld, more verité style. I’m very proud of SGU and was profoundly disappointed when it got canceled. That was a huge letdown, ’cause that set, I mean, if you had walked through that…

David Read:
I did.

Andy Mikita:
… with Destiny.

David Read:
It’s like stepping into H.G. Wells or Jules Verne.

Andy Mikita:
Incredible. Absolutely incredible. It was astounding. I remember walking in there with Robert Carlyle and he was just absolutely blown away while it was still under construction, too, when we walked through it. It was something else. It was a great experience. It was fun getting to go to New Mexico to do some of it.

David Read:
I was about to ask. White Sands, one of my favorite places on the Earth. Anyone listening, if you haven’t had a chance to go, do it.

Andy Mikita:
Absolutely.

David Read:
It’s an amazing place, especially at sunrise or sunset when the shadows are long. Man. Tell us about shooting “Air Part Three” in White Sands.

Andy Mikita:
It was amazing. One of the things that I wasn’t anticipating about shooting in White Sands, first of all, you didn’t have to go very far off of a road to find what you were looking for.

David Read:
Correct.

Andy Mikita:
In a way, it all looked the same. But at the same time, there was some really interesting different landscapes, and the wind would, of course, reshape everything overnight. You’d be scouting something in the day, come back the next day and, “Wait a minute, there used to be this huge dune over here.” Well, no. The wind…

David Read:
It shifted.

Andy Mikita:
It shifted. I didn’t really anticipate that. It didn’t cause too many problems. In fact, if anything, it probably helped with some solutions of not having to go so, far to look for a different kind of environment. ‘Cause that was sort of the challenge for me – was to make it feel like we were on this big, long journey. You needed some different landscapes. You needed the condensed, big dunes and then the open expanses, which, of course, are everywhere.

David Read:
Right, and the continuity between them to give yourself a sense of direction and how far they are from the Gate.

Andy Mikita:
That’s right. Totally. Thank goodness Rob was there the whole time. He basically shot a ton of the stuff while we were there. We basically had two units going all the time and he did some of the aerial stuff. It was great having him there as a helping hand. Of course, the heat, which we weren’t used to, coming from the Great White North.

David Read:
Exactly.

Andy Mikita:
Man, it was hot. You would get burned in places that you didn’t think you could get burned because the reflection of that sun off the white sand right up the shorts if you’re not careful. We were covered head to toe and we had to take all those precautions of making sure that we were covered and lots of sunscreen and well-hydrated. That was the added challenge on top of the shooting itself. We actually wrapped it early. I think we were done in four and a half days. We were due for five full days and we actually wrapped it up a little bit early, which was great. When we were done it was a full moon. Let me tell you, a full moon at night at White Sands is just otherworldly, as you could well imagine. You’ve been there too now.

David Read:
I can. I’ve never seen it at full moon. Wow. That’s so, cool.

Andy Mikita:
Amazing. Really cool.

David Read:
That troupe of performers, that was really an ensemble show. You could argue Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, Ming Na were the leads, but it really felt like with this one you guys were making a program that everyone really had their part to play.

Andy Mikita:
They did.

David Read:
It started off with Season One, very much wrong people, wrong place. Season Two was very much, we’ve gotta become the right people to rise to the challenge.

Andy Mikita:
Absolutely.

David Read:
I think the actors did that.

Andy Mikita:
They really did and they were fully invested. There was no question about it. They knew that they had something special in their hands and they took it to task and really delivered. Even just the way in which a lot of the characters were introduced when everybody was flying through the gate into Destiny and beyond.

David Read:
Faster and faster.

Andy Mikita:
That was a pretty spectacular entrance for a lot of folks, and it was great and everybody was into it. I remember I learned a lot during the shooting of that particular sequence and the “Air” episodes. Rohn Schmidt, who was a director of photography that we brought in specifically just to help us get started on the show, he brought a level of experience that was really comforting for me as a director. He was one of these very enthusiastic with every challenge. If, “OK, we’re gonna shoot a scene in a phone booth.” “Oh, this is gonna be awesome.” He would only look at the positive sides of things, and he had extensive experience shooting handheld cameras, which I did, but not to that extent. I have to give Rohn credit for helping really push the handheld aesthetic and that component of it. Which, of course, Jim Menard and Mike Blundell, our regular mainstay DPs, built upon and made it even better. Having a set like that, again, was extraordinary. Talk about a playground.

David Read:
The ways that you would light it. One of the things that surprised me when I was talking to you guys during production was that you wouldn’t necessarily fully light a scene. You would keep it much more organic in terms of, “OK, this is what this space has to offer and we’re just gonna shoot it a little bit more docu-style and it’s dimmer in here.” Or “We’re gonna have the actors move this way and come into this light here a little bit, but the rest of their face is gonna be in shadow.”

Andy Mikita:
That was something that, again, we weren’t used to doing in SG-1 and Atlantis, where it was a little brighter, a little bit more, we wanted to see two eyes, and we were a little bit more careful with SGU. We wanted it to feel a lot more organic and a lot more natural. They would be coming in and out of pools of light, maybe just a fraction of light on the back of the cheek or something and that would be it and we would go with it. It took a while to be able to train ourselves to stick with that.

David Read:
“This is missing. No, it’s right. It’s right.” It’s how it’s supposed to be. These characters are darker anyway. It was analogous to that.

Andy Mikita:
That’s exactly it. It ultimately became very liberating to photograph, to shoot, ’cause you would defer to what looked great to your eye as opposed to answering to any other, a network voice or whatever. That’s very common in episodic television, is the networks and the studios will get very involved with the aesthetic of a show, and they will wanna make sure that their stars are well-lit. That wasn’t the case with SGU. We just did what felt right and what looked good.

David Read:
Did Syfy’s presence feel more present in SGU than the previous shows? Were they more hands-on as the whole franchise got older, or was it different?

Andy Mikita:
The vibe was certainly different. I never really had a lot of dealings myself with any of the execs at Syfy. Rob and Brad and John, Paul and the boys would be able to provide certainly more insights into that. I had very, very little contact. I did at the onset. Rob and Brad and I had spoken to Syfy when we were in early prep, when we were pitching the concepts for the show, the visual concept and pitching me as the director. I was involved at that point but after that, once we were into shooting, no. I didn’t feel any sort of outside pressures from the network at all.

David Read:
So, if there was anything happening, they kept it from you?

Andy Mikita:
They kept it from me. It was certainly there. There was certainly that presence and you were aware of it ’cause you knew that the guys were having to deal with them. Whether that was ultimately the demise of the show, I don’t know. We were all very surprised that it only went for the two years. The numbers obviously weren’t quite as good.

David Read:
But no numbers were good anymore.

Andy Mikita:
No, that’s true too.

David Read:
We were entering this space where Netflix and all these others were beginning to rise up and MGM had its issues as well.

Andy Mikita:
MGM absolutely had its issues. You’re right. The landscape was changing at that time.

David Read:
It was getting ready for Chapter 11 or going through it at the time.

Andy Mikita:
It was a lot.

David Read:
It was unfortunately a series of unfortunate events, I think. I don’t think it was one thing.

Andy Mikita:
True enough. Nonetheless, it was a real letdown ’cause we were enjoying it immensely. We had high hopes for it and there was a lot invested. That set, the costs, as you can well imagine
associated with the franchise too. To walk away and know that it was the very end. I remember when Mike Banas and I, Mike who was the editor, the last episode of SGU, which I directed as well, “Gauntlet.” Mike and I sitting in the editing suite together, the two of us, ’cause there was speculation that it might be over and we were told, “We’re making something that could be a season ender, but maybe it’s, maybe it’s the end of it all.” so, we had to keep that in mind.

David Read:
‘Cause it wasn’t announced yet, to anyone who wasn’t there that…

Andy Mikita:
Wasn’t announced

David Read:
…its future was still uncertain.

Andy Mikita:
That’s right. There was still that uncertainty. When Mike Banas and I sat in the editing room, having just finished our first full sort of assembly with our first pass of music, we just sort of went, “Yeah, this is it. It’s over. It’s done.”

David Read:
You felt it.

Andy Mikita:
We felt it at the time. The two of us looked at each other and went, “Wow, it’s over.” Even though we didn’t know, it just felt that way. In watching the episode, it had that finality to it.

David Read:
Joel’s last piece of music for Stargate is, in my opinion, his best piece of music for Stargate.

Andy Mikita:
I 100% agree with you. It was breathtaking. We had used a Ludovico Einaudi piece

David Read:
Yes.

Andy Mikita:
in the director’s cut. I think it was called Fly. Wasn’t it?

David Read:
Yeah, and you had used him in the show in Season One as well.

Andy Mikita:
We did. Rob, Robert Carlyle’s episode, he used Einaudi. I love the guy. I’ve got all of his albums. I’m a big fan.

David Read:
Me too.

Andy Mikita:
So, we used Einaudi in his episode. “Oh my God it’d be so, cool to use it in ‘Gauntlet’.” However, we knew that, “No, we can’t do that. Joel’s gotta do this.” But we used that as the template and to his credit, he came back with a piece of score that was just off the charts. It just gives me shivers when I hear it. I actually was tearing up when I heard it for the first time. It was a really powerful, moving piece of music that just works so, well on the show. It’s crazy, something else. Best piece of music he ever did for the show, I agree.

David Read:
What are you working on right now? You’ve been pretty busy.

Andy Mikita:
It hasn’t really stopped. It’s been great. Hey, I’m the luckiest guy on the planet, I have to tell you. There was a short bit of time where things were quiet after wrapping up SGU because you’re branded as a sci-fi guy as a director. You’re going in for some police procedural drama.
“No, you’re a sci-fi guy. We’re not interested. You don’t speak drama.” It’s like, “wait a second.

David Read:
“I can do this. What are you talking about?”

Andy Mikita:
If anything, it’s that you’re an expert at everything. We’ve got the drama, we’ve got the comedy, we’ve got the visual effects, we’ve got the action. You know what I mean?

David Read:
Sci-fi is everything.

Andy Mikita:
Sci-Fi is everything and it’s by far the most fun.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Andy Mikita:
In terms of it being a playground for a director, you cannot beat science fiction, and you can’t beat the Stargate franchise. It was as good as it got. But yeah, I’ve been super busy. I worked with Joe and Paul on their show.

David Read:
Dark Matter.

Andy Mikita:
And with Rob on Unspeakable.

David Read:
I loved it. I loved it.

Andy Mikita:
Did you see it? It was great.

David Read:
I absolutely saw it. It’s on Amazon. I completely recommend that anyone go and watch it because it was exceptional. Michael Shanks was excellent.

Andy Mikita:
Isn’t he great?

David Read:
Lexa was great as one of the lawyers. It’s a kaleidoscope of Stargate cast.

Andy Mikita:
It’s true.

David Read:
It’s like “oh him, oh her.”

Andy Mikita:
For myself and Rob and Carl to get back together again was super fun. It was obviously powerful material. It was tough shooting it. There were times where you’re shooting scenes and you’d have to go for a walk afterwards because you’re so, emotionally beaten down.

David Read:
It was a hard watch as well.

Andy Mikita:
For sure. But then I also worked with Brad on Travelers, which was also, super fun.

David Read:
Great show.

Andy Mikita:
It was really great. We were sad to see that one go also. It had a very similar sort of a vibe, just with that camaraderie. All the relationships were so, strong and so, good. We really had hopes that that was going to stay a lot longer.

David Read:
To those listening who have not given Travelers a chance yet, perhaps because it got canceled, it’s three seasons of essentially act one of a three-act play.

Andy Mikita:
That’s true.

David Read:
If you go and see it, I would recommend to go and watch it because you get the impression that what is there is a complete arc, and it ends like, “OK, we’re getting ready for chapter two.” You don’t get chapter two, but the way that it’s done, there is conclusion to it too and it’s very much worth watching.

Andy Mikita:
I absolutely recommend it to everybody out there to check it out. I think it’s still on Netflix. It should still be on there.

David Read:
I think so.

Andy Mikita:
I hope it is. It’s very good.

David Read:
It’s one of those that I wouldn’t have any problem with that coming back in the future to continue as a Season Four and perhaps to wrap it up.

Andy Mikita:
It would be great. It’d be fantastic, actually.

David Read:
Anything currently that we should be on the lookout for in the next few months? You’ve been keeping low through COVID, or?

Andy Mikita:
I am part of a new series right now. It’s not science fiction; it’s a family drama comedy called Family Law that I don’t know if it has a US pickup yet. It’s an all-Canadian show and is produced for a Canadian network, but it’s called Family Law and Jewel Staite, of course, is the lead.

David Read:
Ah! Great.

Andy Mikita:
We keep the family together. Jewel, we brought on, and I’m an executive producer and producing.

David Read:
Congratulations.

Andy Mikita:
Thank you very much. We shot ten episodes last year. We were only ten days into shooting when COVID shut us down for four months and then we came back and managed to get through the remainder of Season One unscathed. We’re hoping to go to air in April and we’re also hoping to get back for Season Two in April.

David Read:
Good for you.

Andy Mikita:
I’ll let you know if we get a US pickup and if there’s a broadcaster there that’s going to be airing it because it’s a good show. It’s a lot of fun.

David Read:
Absolutely. We’ll put up links for that as well.

Andy Mikita:
All right.

David Read:
Andy, this has been wonderful. It’s been wonderful catching up with you walking down memory lane. I would love to have you back in a few months again to talk about a few other episodes as well.

Andy Mikita:
Sure, that would be loads of fun. That was great.

David Read:
I appreciate you very much and all the best to your continued success.

Andy Mikita:
Thank you. Thanks David and you too. Thank you for keeping the show alive with your interest and I love all the memorabilia you’ve got behind you. I love it and of course we’d all love to see Stargate come back in some way, shape, or form, ’cause it’s all very close to our hearts and we know that there’s further life to be had.

David Read:
There is a hunger for it and you’re absolutely right. Thank you so, much to Andy Mikita for joining us, producer, director of numerous Stargate episodes from all three series. Andy is a wealth of knowledge and I really wanna have him back later on as the show grows, so, thanks again to Andy. We have some fan art for this episode. This is the “Joy of Conventions” by SpiritWolf77, and the blurb is, “Yes, that’s what would happen due to my problems telling the difference between fact and fiction. Just a really quick pic that was CG’d from a really quick sketch done at 2:00 AM. There are anatomy issues and whatnot. I wasn’t trying to focus on getting it to look perfect, I just wanted to get the idea across for those of you who aren’t obsessive Stargate fanatics, or just in case I did this so, poorly that you can’t tell who’s who. From left to right, excluding the furry persona, SpiritWolf, it’s Michael Shanks, Corin Nemec and Richard Dean Anderson.” Very, very cool. Before I let you go… before I bring on the merchandise, wanted to let you know that our giveaway is running. This is the last day for it, January 31st. One of these communication stones is screen used and one is screen accurate, and for the month of January, Dial the Gate is giving away the replica. To enter to win, you need to use a desktop or laptop computer to visit dialthegate.com. Scroll down to Submit Trivia Questions. Your trivia may be used in a future episode of Dial the Gate, either for our monthly trivia night or for a special guest to ask me in a round of trivia. We need to be doing more of that, haven’t done much of that in the last couple of months. There are three slots for trivia, one easy, one medium and one hard. Only one needs to be filled in but you’re welcome to submit up to all three. Please note the submission form does not currently work on mobile devices. Your trivia must be received tonight, so, before February 1st, 2021, Eastern Time. If you’re across the line, that’s fine, just as long as it’s Eastern Time. If you’re the lucky winner, I’ll be notifying you via your email right after the start of February to get your address. That’s what we have for that. Merchandise! Are you ready? Big thanks to GateGabber for helping me to pull this one out of the hat. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching, but if you wanna support the show further, buy yourself some of our new themed swag. We’re offering T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies of various sizes and colors for all ages at RedBubble. We currently offer four themed designs and hope to add more in the future. Please note that for the word cloud designs, there is a version with a solid off-white background and another that is just transparent behind the letters. The solid background is typically used for when you pick darker colors but we wanted you to have some options, so, be on the lookout for that. Checkout is fast and easy and you can even use your Amazon or PayPal account. Just visit dialthegate.redbubble.com and thanks for your support. If you enjoy this show and you’d like to see more of these episodes, I would really appreciate it if you’d click the Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please also, consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you wanna get notified of future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. I you plan to watch live, I recommend giving the Bell icon a click so, you’ll be the first to know of schedule changes, which have happened to us a couple of different times during the run of this show. Thanks again to Andy Mikita. Thanks to my mod team, Sommer, Ian, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, and Rhys. Thanks to Linda “GateGabber” Furey and Jennifer Kirby. I cannot do this show on my own. It takes a village, even when I have a weekend off like this one. I appreciate your time, thanks so, much for tuning in. We’ve got James CD Robbins, our art director and production designer up next. I appreciate you tuning in. Stick around. See you on the other side.