A fan-favorite since his first appearance, Shifu solved some of the earlier questions in Stargate SG-1 lore and brought us closer to the characters of Sha’re and Oma Desala. Actor Lane Gates joins us LIVE to share memories from his childhood performance and to take your questions!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Hello and welcome to Episode 304 of Dial the Gate. The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. Really appreciate you joining me. Lane Gates who played Shifu in Season Four’s Absolute Power is joining us for this episode. This is one of my all-time favorite shows. Before we get started, how good are you at episodes? Episode titles specifically from Stargate. Because if you are, reach out to me at [email protected]. We are having an episode title exclusive Trivia episode coming up in just a few weeks here. So, if you wanna get on Zoom and join us, and participate live and see if you can take away that big, beautiful statue from Nicole for all her victories, please come in and take it from her. I would really appreciate it. But in the meantime, we have a very special guest. Lane Gates who played Shifu in Stargate SG-1. How are you man?

Lane Gates:
Good. How are you?

David Read:
I am good. Thank you for agreeing to come on and I have to ask, when I first got in touch with you a while back, were you surprised that this character and this show is still vibrating with people, is still resonating with people, or was it like, “Oh yeah, I totally got that. I knew that from the beginning that that was gonna be something that people would be talking about for years?”

Lane Gates:
No. It’s interesting because every few years I’ll get a fan from the show that’ll find my address somehow and send me a piece of mail with some pictures or something to sign.

David Read:
What do you do?

Lane Gates:
Well, you’ll sign it [and] send it back.

David Read:
You do?

Lane Gates:
Sometimes. Not all the time. I think the last one was from Sweden or something. So, she sent it a really long way [for] me to sign a photo.

David Read:
They’re actually looking you up. I don’t know about that. Come on, respect your boundaries please.

Lane Gates:
Of course.

David Read:
Only reach out to you through social media.

Lane Gates:
It’s hard to think about that it was almost 20 years ago that I played this character, and it still means so much to people.

David Read:
How old were you?

Lane Gates:
I was 11 or 12, I believe, and I just turned 36.

David Read:
This was 2000.

Lane Gates:
I haven’t acted in about 20 years.

David Read:
I always ask this with the child actors who come on. We’ve been privileged to have several of them so far. Whose idea was it? Was it yours or was it your folks?

Lane Gates:
So, my mother originally got me into modelling and stuff like that. I went on a couple of auditions, and I really liked it when I was a kid but as I got older… If you watch the episode, my voice is at the crackling stage of my life. So, it was a little awkward trying to be serious when your voice cracks every few minutes. That was the last big hoorah for my acting. After that I got more into girls and horses and didn’t really… Wasn’t interested in acting as much. But I still did some stuff behind the scenes. It was more or less my mom that kept pushing me because I was really good at memorizing lines. But I really didn’t enjoy the acting part of it too much. You’re a kid. You don’t really understand the rollercoaster of emotions that these characters are going through because you’re a kid. You haven’t really experienced a lot of those things yourself.

David Read:
For sure. This is a whole system you’re being thrown into. I can only imagine what it’s like. Especially if this is something that your parent thinks that you’re good at. But if you’re not truly enjoying it yourself day to day, if it really is a paycheck for your, I can understand being like, “You know what? I’ve done it. I love you, mom. Let’s move on to something else. Girls and horses. Please.”

Lane Gates:
Right. So, Stargate was the last thing that I did other than maybe some stuff behind the scenes for smaller projects. We worked on – I don’t know if you guys deal with this in the States, but we watch a movie called The Lottery. Basically, it’s everybody in the small town, farmers… All involved in this lottery and the winner gets stoned to death as a tribute to the harvest gods or something like that.

David Read:
Oh my, this is 1969.

Lane Gates:
Yes. So that was… The short story was based off of… We did something that ended up in the Vancouver Film Festival. So, I was just behind the scenes picking up equipment and using my pickup truck and things like that. But that was the very last thing that I did acting wise.

David Read:
It’s a huge portion of your industry up there so it makes sense that sooner or later you’re gonna cross people who you can do favors for and things like that. I’m not surprised at all. So, this represented three or four year of your life when you were younger?

Lane Gates:
Yeah. I think I first started acting and doing that when I was about five or six. Major Crimes was the first real movie I was a part of, and I did a bunch of… Few projects after that. I was in The Crow and Resurrection, which was a movie with Christopher Lloyd in it. There weren’t very good movies, but they were pretty good for the time. And there was a lot of work as a kid.

David Read:
Was it an audition grind? Were you just doing it every once in a while? How frequently were you guys really pounding this in?

Lane Gates:
So, as a kid we were going on auditions quite a bit, sometimes two or three times a week, auditioning for all these things. And when you did finally get something, it was pretty exciting. Because memorizing all those lines for all these auditions was quite difficult as a child. But it was fun, too, at the same time. But as you get older, you wanna start doing other things. It wasn’t quite as fun anymore.

David Read:
For sure. Do you ride?

Lane Gates:
Not anymore.

David Read:
You don’t ride horses anymore? OK.

Lane Gates:
I’ve got three kids.

David Read:
You got three?

Lane Gates:
Trying to find the time to ride is far and few between now. So, I’m trying to get my daughter into riding.

David Read:
How old I the oldest?

Lane Gates:
14.

David Read:
How time flies. And what do you do now for work? You and I have talked a little bit of it previously.

Lane Gates:
I run heavy equipment in the oil field up in Northern Canada there.

David Read:
So, you’re up there… You’re away from home a lot then?

Lane Gates:
Yes. Sometimes I’m away from home for about six weeks. Our normal schedule we try to keep is 20 days working and 10 days off but that cannot… When times are busy, they’ll usually have us stay a little bit longer and then I’ll get to be home a little bit longer, too. I’ve just been off for about two weeks, which has been nice.

David Read:
Blue collar like my family. I totally get that. It’s hard being away from little kids.

Lane Gates:
It is.

David Read:
Especially the one that are yours. The other ones, you can take or leave them but your kids, that’s really tough.

Lane Gates:
When they call you on the phone and it’s, “Dadda,” it’s heartbreaking. “When are you gonna be home?” That’s a little tough, for sure.

David Read:
Keeping you in sneakers and diapers and everything else is not always easy.

Lane Gates:
Especially in Canada right now everything is skyrocketing.

David Read:
Everything’s all over the place. I don’t understand anything anymore. I don’t claim to. Had you heard… How aware you of you were Stargate… How aware were you of Stargate before the audition?

Lane Gates:
Not very. When I first went to the audition and was researching the show, I pretty much watched as many episodes as were available at the time. But not really. It was a really good show. I continued watching long after I was on the show, just as a fan.

David Read:
Really? So, you became one?

Lane Gates:
I definitely became a fan of the show after that.

David Read:
Did you see Maternal Instinct in Season Three, which sets the stage for your episode, with Khen and the monk there whom you’re a chip off the old block of? Did you see any of that episode before your audition and if so, did that inform your approach at all?

Lane Gates:
Absolutely. We were able to see that episode and see what they were trying to set up and go for. Some of the choices you made as the character… They pretty much tell you, as a kid, what they’re looking for, and you’re trying to emulate it as best you can without really knowing too much what you’re doing. You’d have it explained to you from the directors and things like that, and other actors, what they’re hoping for, which really helps as a kid.

David Read:
Absolutely. Do you remember anything about the audition? I know I’m really pulling at back end.

Lane Gates:
Not the audition itself but I remember a lot about actually filming. The actual audition itself was a whirlwind.

David Read:
Like you.

Lane Gates:
We didn’t really think anything of it either at the time because it was just one audition of many that we were going on. So, you tend not to think about the audition and trying put it in the back of your mind and not be hopeful, because more likely than not, you’re not gonna get the role. So, when you do get the role, it’s like, “OK. Now I can be excited about it,” or when they do call back, you can get a little more excited. But you try and forget about it altogether and just move on with your day. Because otherwise it’s – As a kid, you’re constantly not getting picked for things.

David Read:
For sure. How many are you up against when you have an on-site audition? How many Shifus are in the room with you? Is it 10? Is it20? Is it four?

Lane Gates:
So, when you go in for an audition, they have auditions for days on end. They have an audition… Every audition’s 15 minutes long. So, when you’re in a waiting room there is about five or six other kids with you for just that one hour period, and then they move on to the next. So, they’re going through hundreds and hundreds of kids.

David Read:
Just to get the right one. So, it does feel like winning the lottery when you get it.

Lane Gates:
Absolutely. And then you try to forget the ones that you don’t because the chances of you being picked out of these hundreds of kids is quite slim. Luckily, I[‘m] really adept at memorizing my lines, which I think pissed other people off sometimes because I know my lines and your lines, and I’m a ten-year-old kid.

David Read:
Well, some people… That is a muscle that some people just have, and they can drill it, they can… It goes in and they can spit it right back out. Peter DeLuise directed this episode. One of my favorite directors, if not my favorite director.

Lane Gates:
He was a whole lot of fun.

David Read:
Really? Did he bribe you with video games by any chance?

Lane Gates:
Not with video games but we kept goofing around and he kept telling me to quit hitting on his girlfriend.

David Read:
Anne Marie? Anne Marie was there?

Lane Gates:
Yeah.

David Read:
That’s great. When you got the sides for this, did you have any though where it’s like, “This character is kind of cool. I’m basically a weapon?”

Lane Gates:
Absolutely. The coolest part was… I’ve got all this power to be good or evil. That was really cool. And the premise of the episode escaped me until later when we watched the episode but to really understand the significance of it. That was cool. The first thing you come and read in that you come in as a tornado. That’s pretty badass, I thought as a kid. You can understand the power of this one character to…

David Read:
Exactly.

Lane Gates:
…go either side.

David Read:
We don’t really know what they are yet. We eventually find out that they’re what the Ancients became. And just to re-establish for everybody, Apophis sired a child with Daniel’s wife, Sha’re, between Season One and Season Two. And in Season Two, Shifu is born. Big, blue eyes on this little boy in Season Three, and Season Four, they bring you in. And we’ve been looking for this child but weren’t looking for him to be 12. We were looking for him to be two. And then you come out of this storm, and everyone is like, “OK. What are we dealing with here? We’re dealing with something powerful. And what is it beyond that?” Did you find the language to be bizarre, intimidating and was it hard to maintain this façade of just, “I don’t get to be myself?” Maybe you were quitter. I’m curious. Were you quieter? Were you more like Shifu or were you opposite?

Lane Gates:
No, I consider… I think I’m more like Shifu, quite more reserved that way. So, that actually felt a little bit more natural to me to take a step back and be thoughtful with your words. But no, I had no idea what I was really saying at the time.

David Read:
I don’t think anyone does now.

Lane Gates:
You get it. Oma teaches.

David Read:
Oma teaches.

Lane Gates:
“I’m teaching him right now.” So, things like that. I forget what the last line was.

David Read:
“Thank you for telling me of my mother.”

Lane Gates:
What’s that, sorry?

David Read:
“Thank you for telling me of my mother.” That gets me in the feels every time. “A spark lights a flame, but the candle can only burn as long as the wick.” That was fantastic.

Lane Gates:
That’s right. That’s from (inaudible).

David Read:
Rick is funny.

Lane Gates:
I think what he’s saying is, “Good wick or long wick is always good to have.”

David Read:
“Essential to the whole bowl of wax.”

Lane Gates:
That made me giggle pretty hard watching it with my daughter the other day.

David Read:
Yes. I’m gonna get to that in a minute. Do you remember what Shifu’s name meant?

Lane Gates:
No, I don’t.

David Read:
Light.

Lane Gates:
Light, that’s right. That makes sense, too, when you think back.

David Read:
But actually, in Chinese it has several different meanings, one of which is master. So, again, relating, inside this avatar of a small child you have God knows what kind of power. Once he comes to the SGC, he is the most powerful force on Earth. That’s spooky. You rewatched this the other day.

Lane Gates:
I did.

David Read:
With your oldest?

Lane Gates:
She made it about halfway through the film and then got disinterested.

David Read:
She did?

Lane Gates:
She didn’t finish watching it with me, unfortunately.

David Read:
Oh no!

Lane Gates:
But I made my girlfriend stay and watch the whole thing.

David Read:
Wait, did that hurt your feelings just a little bit?

Lane Gates:
No. If you know my daughter, she’s seen me. She just gets distracted.

David Read:
OK. Well, you are bookending the story. You’re not there for the middle portion of it, except to eat a bowl of Froot Loops.

Lane Gates:
That’s right. I didn’t get to eat Froot Loops as a kid so that was my favorite scene throughout the whole show.

David Read:
Really? They let you eat them? That’s great.

Lane Gates:
I was so full and sick by the end of that episode, I’ll tell you that.

David Read:
What do you think of it as an episode of television now as a warning? The thing that was interesting at this point in the show was that we were never getting advanced technology. We wanted it and we never had it, and it’s like, “These aliens are just stringing us along.” Brad Wright gave us an episode where, “OK. We’re gonna give it to you. And not only we’re gonna give it to you. We’re gonna carve out a land mass with some of it. And so, we get it and it also gets taken away at the end of the [episode]. But the audience gets the satisfaction of seeing a dark path that we would go down were we to achieve what we wanted to achieve, which is to take the information out of your mind and put it to use. As an hour of drama and as a sci-fi warning, metaphor, what do you think of it and Michael’s performance?

Lane Gates:
His performance was great. The show — Even him, as a moral man, with… Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That this path that we were essentially wanting to go down, where would basically lead to the destruction of yourself.

David Read:
That’s right.

Lane Gates:
Choosing the path of morality and personal growth, and going down that path, is basically what’s gonna save you at the end. Not this weapon and technology and just being the bigger bear.

David Read:
“The only way to move forward is to deny it battle.”

Lane Gates:
That’s correct.

David Read:
Was Michael good to you?

Lane Gates:
He was great. He was fantastic. Really great to work with. Really patient with a kid understanding of what was going on. Made me realize at that time, this be my last episode, that these guys love doing this way more than I do. They’re truly invested into these characters and really understand the meaning behind the episodes that as a kid you miss out on. But it was such a good episode because… We all wanted to see them have cool weapons and you go, “Why are you using bullets when these guys are shooting lasers?” It feels like bringing a knife to a gunfight….

David Read:
That’s it.

Lane Gates:
…a lot of the time. So, it was really cool that we got to see all that and what we would do with this technology, but ultimately in our hands that’s not what was gonna win us the battle. It was our moral integrity and our ethical compass to drive us forward.

David Read:
100 percent correct. I could not say it better. Were you present on the set when they were shooting the opticals with the lights or were you off in school for that? And I’m curious, do you recall your reaction, when you first saw it, of how amaz[ing]… They turned you into a glowing Q-tip. What a cool… It’s still largely stands up. And I can speak for Bruce Woloshyn and his team at Rainmaker. Turning that into you and you into that, that is a hard effect. That’s one of the hardest effects that they ever did.

Lane Gates:
Especially at the time. Seeing that episode of what they did to me versus acting it was quite different. Basically, there’s just all these lights around you that they’re using just to blind you out, and it was… I just remember being incredibly hot, being next to all these blindingly bright lights. But basically, they’re attaching a bunch of light bulbs to you having a bunch of whole lights behind you, and the fact that they were able to turn that into what you see on the screen is quite cool.

David Read:
It’s just ridiculous quality effects.

Lane Gates:
One of the moments where I touched Daniel’s head and they have that light come out of my hand there, that was just a light bulb in the palm of my hand, which… I couldn’t bend my hand too much or I’d burn my hand on the light bulb, or I’d burn his head when I touch his head. Had to be a little careful of that.

David Read:
Thanks, Lane. Thanks a lot. Makeup. Makeup. A lot of makeup.

Lane Gates:
“Where’s the aloe?”

David Read:
Before I forget about this, there was a game that came out later called Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. It never… — OK. It didn’t come out. It was in development. And this was around Season Eight, which would have been… Season Nine, I think. Season Eight, Season Nine. So, it would have been ’04-05, and what a lot of people don’t know is that Shifu is in it. He’s got dialog. Was that you? Did they reach out to you?

Lane Gates:
No.

David Read:
So, someone else did those lines?

Lane Gates:
Yeah, it appears so. My voice would have been very different, too.

David Read:
Well, his age growth stopped. So, were we to see him again, it would have made sense to have your voice a little bit deeper. So, in the dialog of the episode… I’ve always been curious about that because I have access to the audios, all the cast recordings for it, and it was just… It was a younger voice, but I couldn’t be sure, and I always wanted to ask you that so that’s cool.

Lane Gates:
No, it was not me. I didn’t even know that there was a game in development to be honest but that would have been cool, actually.

David Read:
It was a PC game, and it just didn’t move forward. But I love this character. What do you think happened to him after he went on his merry way.

Lane Gates:
Well, I’d like to believe that he tries to live a life of peace and share that with other people. As a child, I believe he’s probably just hanging out in the forest living his best life. I think the best thing for him to do was try to stay away from people that were gonna use him for what he knows and his power and stuff.

David Read:
I don’t think anyone could make this kid do anything.

Lane Gates:
I think a lot of people tried, though.

David Read:
For sure, absolutely. And get a toasted bottom as a result. This thing… Whatever he is now, is fully capable of defending himself. I’ve got some fan questions for you.

Lane Gates:
Absolutely.

David Read:
Let’s have a look. Lockwatcher wants to know, “Lane, did you end up with any props or relics? Anything you’d personally take away with you from your short time on this show, and if not, as a fan yourself, what prop would you have liked to have had?”

Lane Gates:
That’s good. Who wouldn’t like to have their own Stargate at home?

David Read:
I speak from experience.

Lane Gates:
(Inaudible) Yeah! But no, I didn’t really get to keep any of the props and stuff, unfortunately. I thought about trying to sneak some of the robes home for Halloween costume or something.

David Read:
Did you have two sets of robes, or did you have one set?

Lane Gates:
There’s three or four sets.

David Read:
Because you’re in the dunes so it was a little bit sandy.

Lane Gates:
And stuff can get ripped and stuff like that.

David Read:
Did you meet Erick Avari at all? Did you get any… Exchange any words with him on that day on set?

Lane Gates:
No. I don’t believe so. I think I just saw him in passing but not a full-on conversation, though.

David Read:
Crappy grandfather. All right. Very good. Tracy says, “You have a…” Tracy’s Canadian. “You have a really tough job working in the oil industry. With you living in Vancouver, has it ever crossed your mind at some point to get back into the industry in any little way?”

Lane Gates:
So, I live in Kelowna, B.C., the sunshine… The sunniest place in B.C. here. Not in Vancouver anymore.

David Read:
We are well aware of Kelowna.

Lane Gates:
We enjoy the boating here and the sunny weather. Growing up in Vancouver, it rained all the time. In Kelowna you get the sunshine. So, I don’t really see myself getting back into the industry. I really do love my job. It is hard. You’re working 12 hours a day. You’re away from home. You’re running heavy equipment in dangerous field, but I quite enjoy it. I’ve been running equipment since I was a little kid. So, for me it’s still playing in the sandbox. So, I quite enjoy it.

David Read:
How’s… Any concerns about – I have a friend who just destroyed his back in construction. Are you taking care of yourself?

Lane Gates:
We try to. The biggest things is, you’re sitting all day for 12 hours a day.

David Read:
OK. So, taking care of yourself down here is what you’re saying.

Lane Gates:
That’s right. So, you get off shit, you’re trying to do squats and trying to keep your legs fit and stuff.

David Read:
Marcia wanted to know… We already asked about their reactions to the episode. I’m curious, have any of them expressed any interest in the arts in terms of theater or getting in front or behind the camera, or anything creative?

Lane Gates:
My children? Yeah. My daughter, she thinks she wants to be an artist, doing things like that. She’s quite good at drawing and she wants to get into clay sculptures and I’m trying to get her into horses and have her on that side. They’re a goofy bunch but I don’t see anyone to put them behind the camera too much.

David Read:
No, I understand. Raj wanted to know, “At the time, was it decidedly a one-off, or were there any murmurs of mentioning to you in any way that, “Would you be interested in coming back? We might see him again someday?” A lot of the performers who come on are often told, “This could be recurring in the future in some way,” and I was curious to know if any of those conversations were ever had with you?

Lane Gates:
Yeah. They told me that it might be a recurring role if that was something that might come up later on, if I’d be interested in coming back. And again, I was transitioning out of the industry so I told them, “I would come back if they needed me for an episode to continue the story, just because I had committed to the part previously.” But other than that, I wasn’t really planning on auditioning for it and pursuing it. If they need it for their story, I would participate but it wasn’t something I was planning or hoping to come back and do.

David Read:
If Brad Wright or Rob Cooper, whoever moves forward with Amazon and the fourth Stargate series or movie or whatever it is that comes along, and they say, “Hey, we’ve got this character involved in it again,” would you be willing to come back for a couple of days, were they willing to work with your schedule?

Lane Gates:
Absolutely. I would do that for sure. It’s a great show, and the fans are so great, and it would be cool to do that. I’m not a full-time actor anymore. That’s not really something I’m interested in doing but for a cool project, coming back for that, would be really cool. I’d be interested in that.

David Read:
So, if people approached you, you’re willing to let them sell you? All right.

Lane Gates:
Of course.

David Read:
That’s good, absolutely. Toffi wants to know, I think I know the answer to this, “Who was your favorite actor on the show to work with?”

Lane Gates:
The guy who played Teal’c.

David Read:
Christopher.

Lane Gates:
Christopher Judge. I couldn’t believe him. He’s such a good actor. He would be… He is the funniest man I’ve ever met to this day, and then for him just to go stone faced for every episode amazed me for starters. But he was so much fun. I’d say he was definitely my favorite actor to work with.

David Read:
The laughter that comes out of that man is absolutely extraordinary and completely infectious. Christopher is just… He is Shifu. He is a ball of light.

Lane Gates:
That’s right. He definitely made everyone’s day so much better, just hearing him laughing from down the hall. Just that deep, guttural laugh that he has was something else as a kid.

David Read:
Anything that I’m missing from that production? Anything that you wanna touch on that occurred to you? Is there anything that you’ve taken with you as one of your last film projects for the rest of your time that stands out?

Lane Gates:
It was just a really cool being a part of that big of a production, which was just really neat seeing how all everything works behind the scenes. Richard Dean Anderson, he was a great actor to work with as well. And same with Amanda Tapping. They just really made the experience as wonderful as possible for someone like me as a young kid getting into acting. And I think the biggest thing before I did Stargate was… I was on Outer Limits for an episode for that, which was a lot of fun.

David Read:
Also at Bridge.

Lane Gates:
Pardon me?

David Read:
Also at Bridge Studios.

Lane Gates:
That’s right, which is really nice because I only lived 15 minutes away at the time.

David Read:
“We gotta get out of here. We gotta be there in 10.”

Lane Gates:
That’s right. In Vancouver, that’s a huge bonus to be able to get anywhere that quickly. That was pretty nice.

David Read:
Do you have any advice for anyone who are trying to put their children through what you went through? I’m curious.

Lane Gates:
Yeah. Best advice is [to] encourage the things that they are passionate about. If it’s acting and stuff, understand what is behind that “wanna be actor.” Is it storytelling? Is it being in touch with emotions like a lot of these characters need to be? Or is it just wanting to be behind a camera and stuff? I think encouraging the kids that are more into the storytelling aspect and wanting to understand the people side of it. That’s where the real passion comes from. And so, letting your goofy kids wanna explore different characters and… If they wanna get behind the camera, in front of professionals, get an agent and slowly have them audition for things and if they enjoy the grunt work that comes with it, keep pursuing that. But if they decide that the work end of it isn’t really something they get excited about, then it might not be the right thing for them. Because it’s… 90 percent of it is just work and memorizing lines and understanding being on set on time. Then you’re also trying to fit in schooling and you’re doing homeschooling. A lot of times, they’ll have tutors there on set for you, but you really miss the social aspect of school when you’re not in school and you’re working on these sets. So, I found it quite difficult, when I was going to school, fitting in. So, you have to find other ways to fit in as a child and be a part of your social group. One that you don’t really get as a full-time actor or a working actor, essentially.

David Read:
Well, it’s one of the things that you hit the nail in the head, something I wanted to ask you about out. Do you feel that it wasn’t like, “Man, is this…?” I’m sure part of it was, “Man, is this cool that I’m here,” but also, “I really am missing some other things that I wanna be a part of while I’m doing all of the…” I’m not just talking about being on set but I’m talking about all the auditions. “I’m missing other things that I want.” That would be frustrating.

Lane Gates:
Yes.

David Read:
Because your childhood is here and then it’s gone. You don’t know that as much at that point.

Lane Gates:
No. You don’t know anything different, right? You know when you’re involved in sports. I was doing football and stuff and all these other kids, they all know each other. They all go to the same school. So, you feel like the odd man out. When you’re on set and you’re working with adults and other actors and then you go and try and play with kids, it’s very weird because you go from this mature area and setting and everyone’s got a job to do, and then you go to kids, hanging out with kids your age. They’re eight, nine, 10. And it’s just a very different world that you have to separate yourself from. But yeah, you realize that you’re missing out. Especially when I was after Stargate and getting into my teens that you really started to notice that just going on auditions and having to memorize lines… Quite often you’re missing schooling or you’re missing sports or you don’t really have the time to put into your other hobbies and interests. It’s all or nothing kind of thing, it feels like sometimes. But I guess it really depends on how much you’re auditioning, too.

David Read:
Did your classmates know what you were doing?

Lane Gates:
Yes and no. A few of my close friends did but for the most part I didn’t really want everybody to know. Otherwise, they just… Kids can be mean sometimes, so you’re trying…

David Read:
Of course.

Lane Gates:
…keep them away. Unless they’re close friends knowing that.

David Read:
Do you wish that you hadn’t gone… Your mom hadn’t gotten you into this or do you wish that you had pulled out sooner at any point?

Lane Gates:
I think I pulled out about the right time. My voice was starting to crack really bad, and I just went through a growth spurt after this episode. So, it seemed like the right timing to get out of acting. But I really enjoyed learning lines because I had a pretty good memory that way. So, I felt like I could have a leg up on other kids because I could memorize 10 pages of lines overnight, which is a pretty handy skill for school, thankfully. I enjoyed all that stuff. I got to really spend a lot of quality time with my mom, too, making a lot of memories with her. Because she always went with me on the auditions and helped me with lines.

David Read:
Are you an only child?

Lane Gates:
No, I had two other sisters.

David Read:
I see. A lot of girls in your life.

Lane Gates:
Yeah, too many. That’s why I work in the oil field.

David Read:
So, you have a balance.

Lane Gates:
That’s right. I’m always… My toenails are painted right now from…

David Read:
Of course they are.

Lane Gates:
Of course. And then you go to the patch and it’s diesel and oil and heavy equipment. That’s right.

David Read:
“Me Lane. Me throw rock.”

Lane Gates:
That’s right. It’s a good balance, that’s for sure.

David Read:
Was the financial aspect beneficial to you later on? Did it help with college or any aspect of that?

Lane Gates:
Yeah. It had me… When I was a kid, I didn’t have to rely on my parents buying me things. I just had my own income. I even had a lawn mowing business when I was a kid, mowing all the neighbors’ lawns.

David Read:
Me too.

Lane Gates:
I stayed pretty busy between the acting and mowing lawns, and as a kid had a decent amount of income throughout my life, which has been helpful, for sure.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Lane Gates:
As a kid, I bought every single Transformer that they made. I was really into Yu-Gi-Oh, so I bought a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I still wish that I held on to them but when I turned 20, I sold it all.

David Read:
Some of them are worth tens of thousands now.

Lane Gates:
I know

David Read:
It’s ridiculous.

Lane Gates:
I had a bunch that are still in the boxes, and they were Beast Wars Transformers, and then they recently came out with the Beast Wars Transformers movie. And so, I was like, “I should have kept those Optimuses and those First Gen.

David Read:
Woulda, shoulda, coulda, man.

Lane Gates:
I know.

David Read:
There’s only so much. Take it from me who has an eighth of the Stargate franchise in his house. There’s only so much you can keep. Too much sometimes.

Lane Gates:
There’s only so much room when you got three girls in the house. “You can’t put that there.” I get the garage. That’s about (inaudible).

David Read:
That’s funny. Lane, this has been really cool. I’m glad that you recognized how critical you were to the story, and that we had you to play that role because my favorite character has, I think, probably always been Daniel. And it was a great lesson that you bookended for a great episode of a great “What if,” and closed a lot of the doors for the earlier seasons of the show. So, to be able to get down with you… To be able to sit down with you and talk about that chapter of your life and that chapter of the show has been a privilege.

Lane Gates:
Thank you. It’s been a privilege to be a part of it. Daniel was my favorite character, for sure, especially as I grew up watching it and you realize, “This character is the last piece of his wife that he has to hold on to as well.” And the double-edged sword of, “I wanna help this information get out of him, that can help us get back at these people that took my wife from me.” But also, just being there in front of him just reminds him of that hurt.

David Read:
Absolutely. Something that could have been his and hers btu wasn’t because of such evil.

Lane Gates:
Because it was taken away.

David Read:
But also, good things can come out of evil acts as well.

Lane Gates:
That’s correct.

David Read:
That’s wild. What did you think when he died? When he became like you?

Lane Gates:
I really don’t know what to say about that.

David Read:
It’s one of my favorite episodes of any TV series. It’s an episode called Meridian. And that was a Rob Cooper show and made us reflect a lot about our purpose and what it is that we leave behind and setting a course for ourselves and taking a different path. But in the show, it didn’t work out for him. Like, “Screw this. One year was fine. I’m done.” Great episode. Appreciate you spending time…

Lane Gates:
That was a lot of fun and a privilege to be on the show, and I’m appreciated of all the fans that understand the importance of the character. It’s just surreal to me 20 years later, thinking about that part of my life again. It’s a real honor to be a part of it. That’s for sure.

David Read:
Good memories.

Lane Gates:
Absolutely. Great memories.

David Read:
Thanks for coming on. I really appreciate your time. I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show on this side.

Lane Gates:
OK. Sounds good.

David Read:
You take care of yourself.

Lane Gates:
You take care, too.

David Read:
Bye-bye, buddy.

Lane Gates:
Bye.

David Read:
Lane Gates, everyone. Shifu in Stargate SG-1’s Absolute Power. When you get the child actors on, especially the ones that aren’t acting anymore, you never know what you’re gonna get. You don’t know if they’re gonna be thoughtful about it. You don’t know if they’re gonna be just like, “That was a couple of days of my life. That was great. But that’s what it is.” He was far more forthcoming than I would have expected. I guess because Shifu was so quiet. So, that’s probably the big chunk of it. Thank you, Lane, for that. I really appreciate your insight. Before we go, if you like what you’ve seen with this episode, please click the like button. It makes a difference with the show and will continue to help us grow our audience. Please also consider sharing that video with a Stargate friend and if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. And if you’re planning to watch live, continuing in the future, I recommend giving the bell icon a click, so you’ll be the first to know of any schedule changes which happen from time to time. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. My tremendous thanks to my producers, Linda Furey and Antony Rawling, my co-producers, Yvie and Nicole, my moderating team who made this episode possible, Antony, Jeremy, Marcia, Summer, Tracy, Raj, Lockwatcher and Kevin. Can’t do the show without you guys. Big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb who keeps dialthegate.com up and running. Let’s take a look at that schedule. I wanna make sure there weren’t any questions for me before I go. No one has questions for me. That’s OK. Let’s look at the schedule here real quick. Pull this up. Button. All right. Robert C. Cooper is gonna be in about half an hour. I’ll be dropping that pre-recorded interview. Corin Nemec is joining us next Saturday live, April the 5th at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. We’re gonna have a specific episode delving into character and we’re gonna compare and contrast a couple of his characters, Harold Lauder from Stephen King’s The Stand, and of course Jonas Quinn from this little show called Stargate SG-1 that we know about. Dean Marshall, Sergeant Bates, is an hour and a half later, from Stargate Atlantis at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time live Saturday April the 5th. And then the next day we have April the 6th, unboxing a fan-made puddle jumper with Martin McLean. You don’t see that one behind me yet because I have not unboxed it yet. So, those videos are gonna be made later on this week. And then April the 12th, Rob Fournier is coming back for The Complete Earth Weapons Guide to Stargate. And Rare Earth Merchandise. Rare Earth. Rare Stargate Merchandise. You can read the rest. It keeps on going. We’re busy. My name is David Read for the Dial the Gate. I really appreciate you tuning in. Means a lot to have you. I’ll see you on the other side.