Stargate fans have been coming out of the woodwork for the past two weeks as they share in our excitement for the next series — including YouTube’s That Star Wars Girl! She joins us to talk SG and celebrate!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome everyone to Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read, I appreciate you being with me for this episode. I have someone very special joining us for this show. I’m gonna let her introduce herself though. Let me go ahead and share this little bit.

Darren Sumner [clip]:
Welcome everyone. We have a very special Stargate announcement.

Martin Gero [clip]:
This has been a very hard secret to keep for the last 18 months, but we can announce today that a brand-new Stargate series is coming to Prime Video.

David Read [clip]:
Oh my God.

Martin Gero [clip]:
It is so rare for the original creators to get to work on the new version of a show. This is a show for everyone, everywhere.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl) [clip]:
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

Brad Wright [clip]:
We’re gonna be able to do things that we could not do in 1997. I strongly feel that the fans will watch this show and say, “This is Stargate.”

Joseph Mallozzi [clip]:
In a 25-year span, their enthusiasm for Stargate has never waned.

Darren Sumner [clip]:
The one question that I think so many fans are asking, is this gonna be a reboot?

Martin Gero [clip]:
It is not a reboot. It’s its own unique chapter in the Stargate universe.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl) [clip]:
Oh my God, I can’t breathe. Yes!

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Hello.

David Read:
Anna, That Star Wars girl. How are you?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’m good. That’s embarrassing to watch myself back.

David Read:
Did you record yourself doing that the first time that you watched that?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No, but I was still excited. I think I got more excited as I processed that it was real. For those that don’t know, I just had a baby, she just turned a year or so.

David Read:
Congratulations.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’ve had a baby over the course of the year, so managing my time and time to film and stream, you gotta be really precise on your timing and scheduling. I saw that in between nap times and I was like, “Is this real?” I got more and more excited as I found out it was real and the more I found out about it, I’m like, “Oh my God, they’re gonna stay true to it. They respect the fans. OK, I’m even more excited.”

David Read:
It’s such a crapshoot today. You’ve got so many different possibilities of how this could go. Which one is it gonna be? I’ve been saying, we’ve gone through the quantum reality options of Stargate and we’ve come out the other side, “Oh, this is the reality that we’re in for this show.” It has a really great chance to be awesome and I think that it will.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
So do I. I’m actually so optimistic. Out of everything, especially for those that like Star Wars or Disney stars, I’m sorry. I hate it. For those that like the new Star Trek, I hated it as well. I had a little hope for Picard Season Three, and that one was promising. As far as Stargate, I’m so excited. There’s nothing really holding me back. Everyone that’s working on it has worked on it before, they got the original people back and it seems from your guys’ video that they care about the people that have been keeping the fandom alive for so long. You documenting all of this, and keeping this alive on your channel. Can you guys tell I’m nervous?

David Read:
No. Come on.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I know it.

David Read:
Give me a break. Girl, you are a rock star compared to me. I’m proud to have you.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Not even.

David Read:
Seriously, that was genuine. It was so genuine. Martin, I’ve known him since Season Two of Atlantis.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Wow.

David Read:
He’s a good guy and he knows what he’s doing. The fact of the matter is, he’s gone on to produce some solid television. I’m really interested in seeing what he and the other folks who are gonna be contributing to this have become as writers. Brad and Joe, I don’t know if they’re gonna be penning any stories, but their creative involvement is definitely gonna be there. They’re not the same people that they were, but I don’t necessarily expect that. When Brad says that it’s gonna be Stargate, it’s gonna feel like old Stargate, you can take that to the bank. I know it. Everything that I’ve watched of his, I have loved. Have you seen Travelers by any chance?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I haven’t. I know that there’s a little controversy over the ending of it. I need to add it to my list. Do you like it, do you recommend it?

David Read:
I did love it. I look at it like I look at SGU. You get a nice conclusion of the first act of a three-act play. Travelers was cut off very similarly. If you were able to watch Universe and enjoy it based on where it finishes, you will be able to watch Travelers and enjoy it based on where it finishes. There’s some time manipulation there; some iteration, some windows of opportunity, so to speak. You will get to see one of them. How long have you been a Stargate fan? How far do you go back?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I don’t even remember when I first watched it. I have such a clear memory of when I watched Star Wars for the first time and then Star Trek. But Stargate, I remember having the VHS of it and watching the movie. I grew up on a ranch, for those that don’t know. I didn’t have cable so whatever we could catch if I was at a friend’s house or whatever our bunny rabbit antennas could get, with tin foil.

David Read:
I remember watching Voyager that way. Ugh.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I remember seeing episodes here and there, so I was aware that there was a TV show. I didn’t watch anything while it was airing. I was still little when Atlantis came out. I remember Atlantis being really popular and wanting to watch it, but my mom was like, “We’re not getting cable.” I didn’t have that, but I did watch it all later. I remember, at least high school age, actually going through and watching all of it and enjoying it. I recently, maybe four or five years ago, watched all of Stargate Universe and I actually liked it. I don’t know maybe ’cause it’s so after the fact…

David Read:
It’s my favorite.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I wasn’t involved in the controversy of it but I liked it a lot. I think you just have to be prepared that not everyone is a saint on the show.

David Read:
That’s the thing. You’ve watched it in a time when more of that kind of TV… We’ve had Breaking Bad, we’ve had those kinds of shows. It was way ahead of its time. It was perceived as replacing Atlantis because Atlantis’s stories were not completed. The Wraith cullings were not handled is really what this all boils down to. It was a darker tone. It was a more adult, more real thing, in my opinion. I look back on SGU and that ship and I look at it as what it could have been had it run for five seasons. Boy, in the second season there, especially near the end, they were cooking with gas. It was so good.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Dude, it got so good. When it ended, I was like, “No!”

David Read:
I know. That can’t be it. Andy Mikita, they were mixing the final and the word hadn’t come down yet about it, but MGM was going through bankruptcy and everything else. They’re watching the ship sail away on the edit screen and he’s like, “I have a feeling that’s it,” and he was right.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
So crazy.

David Read:
What about Atlantis is your favorite? What makes Atlantis sit on top for you?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
First off, I like the Wraith; the Wraith are fantastic villains. That very first episode right off the bat is like, “OK, these guys are not to be messed with because it’s not like they’re narcissistic egomaniacs that just wanna rule. It’s like, no they wanna eat you.

David Read:
They’re just hungry.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
We are their food. It’s like being stuck in the ocean with a shark, which is terrifying. They’re out there and they’re cut off from Earth so there’s that aspect of it. A hero is only as strong as their villain, so when you have a strong villain like that, that’s scary, that you have to rise to the occasion to defeat; that’s some pretty big stakes for them. Also, I love the cast. I love the dynamics between Rodney and Sheppard. When there’s a good friendship in a movie, that’s what gets me. That’s what got me about Star Wars. I love the dynamic between Han and Luke. One of my other favorite movies that’s animated is The Prince of Egypt. I love the brother in that.

David Read:
I love that film. That’s my favorite animated film.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It’s mine too. It’s so beautiful.

David Read:
Rameses should let his people go. Seriously, that’s awesome. It’s often compared that Rodney and Beckett are the best of friends. I’m on the fence. I really think that Rodney and Sheppard were. I think Paul would probably dispute that, and rightfully so, but there’s some special connection between them. The show never got more real and grounded than the two of them sitting on that pier drinking beers as Rodney’s mind is slowly unspooling. I mean, “you’re a good friend, Arthur.” I’m getting tingles thinking about that scene. That was peak Atlantis and that was peak Brad Wright. He was on his game; he made some of the best stuff.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
With everything coming out with the Fantastic Four last year, I had this realization. In my opinion, they’ve never really got the dynamic correct between Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. When you watch Atlantis, it’s like, “That’s Reed Richards and that’s Johnny Storm.” That’s it. That dynamic is what was, I guess, lovable about those two characters in the Fantastic Four ’cause they’re so different. That’s Sheppard and that’s Rodney. It’s like, “Oh my gosh, they got it,” but it’s in sci-fi, it’s Atlantis.

David Read:
Martin Gero brings that up in First Strike. He’s like, “They’re a good team and we’re a good team. We’re the Fantastic Four.” Rachel, Teyla’s like, “And why do you get to be Mr. Fantastic?”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
‘Cause it’s Rodney.

David Read:
That’s right. Rodney’s gotta be the Human Torch. That’s awesome. I was hearing you talk about Season Three of Atlantis. I’m really curious…

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Ugh.

David Read:
I’m sorry. I’m gonna go there.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Do you like this episode?

David Read:
“Sunday?”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Is that the one, the exploding bomb?

David Read:
Exploding tumors?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
… exploding tumors.

David Read:
You ready for me to rock your world?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You like it, don’t you?

David Read:
It’s my favorite episode of Atlantis.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I get it. It’s all heartfelt, but really?

David Read:
Yes, and here’s why. Martin and I talked about that episode a year before he wrote it. I picked his brain for a year before he sat down and wrote that thing. He was a big fan of a film called Elephant. I don’t know if you’ve seen it…you wanna talk about a dark film. I don’t know why it’s called Elephant, but it is. You can look it up. It’s one of those where it’s really dark. He wanted to do a show that was told in different perspectives, and as you moved along, you gathered pieces to the puzzle until something major happened and there was no going back. That’s really what Sunday was and he wanted to do an episode where everyone had a day off. Hidden in that concept was, “Let’s do something where we’re not just chill. Something irreversible happens to all of them.” That’s the reason that I love “Heroes,” that’s the reason that I love “Sunday; when you get to illustrate someone’s sacrifice for the people that they love. You can’t often kill a lot of these characters, but if you do kill one of them, you can wound the rest of them in the process. It’s showing how the show was more real. The flip side of that is, and of course the dark side of that is, if you lose your favorite character, you lose your favorite character. I’m guessing Carson was up there for you.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
He was. I still go back and forth on which death was more infuriating to me, his or Elizabeth’s, ’cause it changed the whole dynamic of the show. I guess maybe if it was something different than exploding tumors, ’cause I had Joe on a while back, and I was like…

David Read:
Mallozzi?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
…”Really?” and he’s like, “Yeah, it was silly, but…”

David Read:
“Exploding tumors, you gotta be kidding me.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It happened that way. You know what, as far as the storytelling goes, I’ll give it to you, that is a great episode. It leaves you on a cliffhanger because Ronon asked Sheppard why him and Teyla never got together, and then that happens. Elizabeth’s on her date and then the whole time it’s “Just go fishing with him.” In the episode it’s “You should have just gone fishing with him!”

David Read:
I know. “I should have just gone.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Ugh.

David Read:
That’s him having to live with himself and the consequences there. I think you could probably take it as read that Sheppard was gonna say, “I’d be willing to marry again if the right person came along.” His ex is not a horrible human being. One of my favorite lines from the entire series is, “Remember me telling you about my ex-wife?” Everyone says, “Yeah.” “Yeah, ’cause here she comes.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That is a good one.

David Read:
Sheppard has the capacity for a more stable relationship, if he can get out of his own way with the world that he’s presented. He’s dealing with life-sucking aliens week after week and he goes home and deals with a Replicator on the side. That’s what I love about Stargate; it takes you to these odd places. Sam, she’s going and negotiating with Tok’ra and before she goes, she’s talking about her father whose cancer is worsening. The juxtaposition of the two, that Star Wars a long time ago and Star Trek a long time from now can’t really touch. It’s more than colloquialisms; it feels more like us because it is us.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It takes place right now, back then. This new one’s gonna take place right now. It’s gonna be interesting to see them all with iPhones and AI. When you’re watching it, “Yeah, this could be what our military is doing right now that they’re all keeping secret from us.” I love the episode; I blanked on the actor’s name.

David Read:
It’s all right.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
The one from The Nanny, remember? He’s the billionaire that you almost fight?

David Read:
Alec Colson.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes.

David Read:
We just had Charles Shaughnessy on last week. “Hello, Miss Fine, and by the way, I have an Asgard in the back room.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I love those episodes, those with him are great. “This would happen.” Some billionaire would find this out, and he’s like, “I’m exposing this.” Come on, Elon.

David Read:
I really think that there would be a place for Alec Colson in this new show, because he’s that kind of a character. He’s not Elon so much as he is like a Steve Jobs.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I didn’t know who Steve Jobs was until after he died. I grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.

David Read:
What state were you in?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
California.

David Read:
Colson was more of a visionary, whereas Elon is actually getting involved in the creation of it. Shaughnessy was basically saying I think he hired the people and was able to coordinate the creative efforts of the people in that case. I think Jobs would be a more appropriate person. With this day and age where we have all these moguls and these larger-than-life people throwing their weight around, it would make sense that someone like another Colson or Colson himself would come to the fore again, even if he’s on some planet somewhere. You don’t keep that person with that kind of brain power and resources out of the loop. You would wanna take advantage and leverage him. I was convinced he was on Destiny, but he wasn’t.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Honestly now, I feel like someone would be figuring it out on their computer at home, going, “Look at every single time this energy spikes from here, it’s coming from underneath Cheyenne Mountain.” I feel like us at home with the technology we have now… so it’s gonna be really interesting what they do with this new show. Circling back to that episode and Atlantis, I understand it’s a good episode, I understand exactly why you like it. I don’t like sad endings, sad movies. I don’t like characters dying.

David Read:
That’s fair.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That’s why I watched it once and maybe if I do another rewatch, maybe I’ll power through it and watch it again, but I get so emotionally attached to these things that it’s hard for me to watch it ’cause I don’t wanna go through that heartache again.

David Read:
I totally get that. “Heroes” is one of the hardest things for me to watch. The problem with being in the loop on GateWorld was, you see all this stuff coming a mile away, especially with the spoilers. I’m really interested to see how they’re gonna handle a lot of the spoilers for this new show coming up, because we just kept on getting all these leaks. On a certain level I had to be informed, so it kinda sucked. With this new show, television’s done completely differently; it’s not even on TV anymore, it’s streamed. It’s all night and day, and I really have no idea what to expect. What do you think we’re gonna see? Do you think it’s gonna be set in our galaxy? Do you think it’s gonna be set in another one? What do you expect to happen?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Every single show, it started off on Earth. Stargate Atlantis started off in Antarctica and then Universe started off…

David Read:
Icarus.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Trying to remember this.

David Read:
The base.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
They started off on…

David Read:
In the Milky Way.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It starts off, here is SG Base whatever it is, and then it goes off into a different… That’s what I guess I would expect for the very beginning, and then introduces into whatever. “OK, we’re gonna go get the Destiny. There’s a Wraith outbreak and they got out, so we gotta go, I don’t know, to the moon of this galaxy over here. Instead of Pegasus, let’s go to Andromeda.”

David Read:
It could be Andromeda. I suspect it’s gonna be another galaxy.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I kind of hope so.

David Read:
Every show has a new network.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
We had Atlantis in Pegasus, Destiny’s all over the damn place, so it would make sense to bring up Andromeda. Just me saying my two cents on it.

David Read:
Some Ferrero Galaxy, though. That’s where it’s gonna be.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
We shall see.

David Read:
Who was your favorite in the cast of SG-1?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I feel like the answer would always be Jack. But you know what? I like Daniel’s episodes a lot.

David Read:
Daniel was always my favorite.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Daniel has great episodes. When I think about it, I’m like, “Who would I wanna hang out with? Or who would I wanna be stuck on a planet with?” It’s like, “OK, well, if it’s technical, I’d probably wanna be stuck with Sam.” If we’re gonna get into a fight, probably Teal’c. If I need entertainment, Jack. If I wanna learn about history and stuff or have a conversation with something interesting, Daniel. It’s hard, ’cause they’re all so lovable.

David Read:
How did you feel about SG-1 once Rick left the show?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I was so angry.

David Read:
Really?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I get frustrated. I’m a creature of habit; I’m set in my ways. If things are going good, I’m like, “OK, they’re going good.” When he starts to leave, I angrily Googled and I’m like, “Why is he leaving?” It’s like, “Oh, he wanted to spend time with his kid. Ah, I can’t be mad at him for that.”

David Read:
You can’t blame him for it at the same time.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No.

David Read:
It doesn’t mean you’re not gonna miss him any less.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It was a hard adjustment. I didn’t like Cameron for the longest time. He’s got good episodes, but I’m like, “You are from Farscape. You are not Stargate.”

David Read:
It’s a different character.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It is.

David Read:
We were spoiled on Crichton. I’m saying that as someone who has only seen a handful of Farscape episodes, I’ve not really watched it yet. It’s near the end of a long list. Crichton was just so… “A brand-new car!” You put that against Cameron Mitchell, Cam doesn’t have a chance in hell. He’s so much more strait-laced and uncomfortable with himself in some situations. What’s the episode where the bear turns into a mutant thing? “Uninvited.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I haven’t seen that.

David Read:
He’s in the woods at Jack’s cabin with General Landry.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes. That episode. OK, I remember.

David Read:
He’s on his laptop out there doing work; he’s unable to chill. They’re all so different. I loved what Jonas brought to the show, even when Daniel wasn’t in Season Six and Daniel was always my favorite. I really try to sit back and accept the season as it’s being presented. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna love all of them but there are good episodes to be had in any of them, for sure.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Jonas, I did like him. He’s very childlike and innocent, which makes it, “OK, you have to like him.” When Daniel left, that bothered me. I get it. The whole, “I lost my wife. What is my purpose? Why am I even doing this? We’re just getting beaten down on.” “OK, yeah, dude. I get it.” I knew he was coming back so I guess that one didn’t hit me as hard.

David Read:
You already knew?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I had the DVDs, so it’s like. “OK, he’s on this box, he’s on the picture, so I know he’s coming back. I don’t know how yet. OK, he takes the season off, whatever. We get this one guy. OK, we got another alien on the team,” which is cool, and then they circle around back to him. When Jack left, it wasn’t the same.

David Read:
It was a very different temperature. It was a new villain. The war in the Middle East was really hot and everything that was going on out there was being expressed in our television. Enterprise had the Xindi arc, which I think is some of the best Star Trek ever created, in my opinion. SG-1 did a treatment with that with Ori. I love the Ancient backstory, I love all the information that we are provided there, but it was very intense and dark. It really took the show in a different direction. They were gonna rename it Stargate Command.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I did know that.

David Read:
Had they done that, salaries and dollar figures and everything else could have made a completely different future for that show. It could have gone on its own in another three seasons.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Now I’m like, “Why don’t they name this new one Stargate Command and you have different…” There you go.

David Read:
They could, if they really were gonna set it on Earth. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just Stargate because if it has a colon and then something after it…

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Tell us, Mr. Spoiler Man that’s got all these insights, you think it’s just gonna be Stargate?

David Read:
I think it may be. I don’t know for sure, but I would think that because of this. If you’re wanting to attract new viewers, you’re not gonna wanna suggest that this is the fourth in a long chain of other shows, as obvious as that may be. You want to infer, not a reset, but that this is for a new audience member, as much as it is for me, and I think that that’s OK. They’ve proven in the past that they can thread the needle of expectation. Not everyone’s gonna like something right away, but we’ve also been sitting this franchise out for 14 years and all of us wanna get back in the game. Darren, over at GateWorld, he ran a poll a few weeks before the announcement that basically suggested that on a certain level, as long as it was of quality and had great production value, people were ready to rock and roll on almost anything.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That’s how I felt. I’m like, “I don’t really care where it’s set or who’s in it.” As long as it’s good, that’s my only real standard for it.

David Read:
Exactly.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
As long as it’s good, as long as it stays true to everything that Stargate is, I don’t really care. “Is there a Stargate? Can you go through it to another planet? OK, good. We’re rolling.”

David Read:
What is it about that storytelling device that works so well?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
‘Cause it’s an adventure. You go through and it’s to another world and everybody likes adventures. Everybody likes the mystery of it. And guess what? You get to come home at the end.

David Read:
That’s it.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
There’s a way back, or there’s hope.

David Read:
It’s the hero’s journey.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It is.

David Read:
Also, there’s a quality of humor there that I think is unique. I’m not a big fan of Doctor Who, I find it rather campy. I had a few friends who were like, “Well, Stargate’s gotta be the same way.” Then they watched it and they were like, “It’s not.” There’s a little bit more sophistication to it in terms of some of the things that Rick put into it that were just so unexpected. I think that it just occupies its own space on the genre shelf, as it were. I’ve been trying to define it since 1997, when I started watching and I can’t. It’s something that’s completely unique and its own identity. I’ve had 354 and I would like more, please.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I know. Because our military is so secretive, this honestly could be happening. They could have a Stargate that they’re going through and going and finding aliens and all these alien worlds and it’s hidden from us. I feel like you watch it and it’s like, “This could be happening.” Whereas with, obviously, Star Wars, galaxy far, far away, Star Trek, it’s like, “OK, that could possibly happen in hundreds of years, but it can’t happen right now.” Whereas Stargate is like… you go to bed at night. It’s like, “This could be happening.”

David Read:
Who knows?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
“This could be real.”

David Read:
You could be meeting these people in the grocery store when they’re going to get their milk. They are not us, but they are, and we know that there are people who live among us who have all kinds of lives and secrets and things that they have to deal with that we will never know. God bless them for doing the work that they do. I have a little bit of a treat for you, Anna.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
What is it?

David Read:
I hope that you’re cool with this.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
OK. Let’s see. What is it?

David Read:
I have someone very special that I would like to introduce you to, if he will join me here just a second.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Please.

David Read:
So come on in, sir. Just a moment here. Paul, you’re muted, buddy. Share your audio. Paul, you’re muted. Unmute, Paul. Hey, there he is. Meet Anna.

Paul McGillion:
Hey, there. Hello, Anna.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Hello.

Paul McGillion:
How are you?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’m good. This is crazy. Hi. It’s nice to meet you.

Paul McGillion:
Nice to meet you. David told me so much about you and I had to pop in to say, “Hello, love. Thank you very much.” You must be a big Doctor Beckett fan.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I am. I was so upset when they killed you.

Paul McGillion:
Terrible. It was like killing a puppy.

David Read:
Aw.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It was, but when they brought you back, I was really hoping you wouldn’t be a clone and the clone had died. I was like, “Even if it’s a clone, you’re still back.” Oh, my gosh. Hi.

Paul McGillion:
I came back. I made it back, Anna. I made it back strong. David’s told me so much about you, so I wanted to pop in and say hello and wish you a Merry Christmas. I understand you have a new little one, a new little Stargate fan.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I do. I have a little one-year-old.

Paul McGillion:
Congratulations.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Thank you.

Paul McGillion:
It’s amazing.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Thank you.

Paul McGillion:
That’s amazing. I love Star Wars too, I’m a big fan.

David Read:
Paul, what’s going on with you right now? What’s keeping you busy? I know that we’re doing some stuff with you here in a couple of weeks, but where can we be looking out for you in the near future here?

Paul McGillion:
I’ve been busy. I’ve been working on a series called My Life with the Walter Boys on Netflix, which is really fun. We just wrapped the season last week out in Calgary and that’s a really great show on Netflix, very, very popular. I’ve been fortunate to be on that show. I just finished a Hallmark last week and I went to Ireland earlier in the year. Did three different series of movies called Providence Falls and a bunch of other things too, Billy the Kid. It’s been busy, I’ve been very fortunate.

David Read:
I’ve heard Billy the Kid’s a really good show.

Paul McGillion:
That’s cool. I haven’t seen the episodes yet, but I’ve seen a bit of the show. It’s great. I haven’t had a chance to see this season yet, though, but I will, at some point in time. Do you have any questions for me, Anna? Do you have anything you want to ask me?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’m sorry, I’m really awkward around celebrities.

David Read:
Paul is… Look, seriously, Paul is the best and he really is the Cowardly Lion from Atlantis, so you can tell him your secrets.

Paul McGillion:
Exactly, you can ask me anything. I don’t bite. Go ahead.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I don’t know. You’re putting me on the spot, I’m nervous. OK, after they killed you off, you were done, what was it like to come back?

Paul McGillion:
That’s a ridiculous question. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. No, honestly, that was a good question. It was weird at first, but it was really fun. I talked to Joe Mallozzi about that and he just said, “Would you like to come back on the show?” I said, “Yeah, of course, that’d be amazing.” The fan base, I also thank them, the Saving Carson Beckett campaign and just the amount of outpouring there was when the character had been killed off with the exploding tumor. When Joe said, “Can you come back?” I said, “How are you gonna do that?” He goes, “It’s sci-fi, we’ll figure out a way.” He told me about the clone and I said, “Do I act any differently?” He said, “No, you’re just the same.” I came back, everyone was awesome and it was a lot of fun. It was different playing him at first, but then I played him exactly the same way as Carson would be. It was really fun to come back onto the show and see everybody again, of course. I was down in Los Angeles at the time and came back up to Vancouver for it. It was oddly different, because no one expected it, which is great. When I came back, the outpouring was really awesome. It was, I think, a really nice thing for me personally and for the fan base as well, I think they really loved it. Of course, Carson flew Atlantis back into the San Francisco Bay at the end, he has that special gene.

David Read:
That was really full circle for that character as well, because he could barely get a drone to stop running in Atlantis in the pilot. By the end of the show, he’s flying the city home.

Paul McGillion:
I know.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Michael gave his clone a super ability to control the ancient gene, probably.

Paul McGillion:
That’s good. Exactly. For me, as David will attest to, like Carson in the first season, I’m very technically inept. Carson’s more of a humanitarian, so to speak. It’s not really my forte. Trying to get me to do some of these things, I’m like, “OK, let’s do a little test first.” Where you get nervous about asking a question, I get nervous with technology. My wife is great, but I’m not great.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You came back and you had probably the most fun episode to watch, the survival episode where you guys are all in the mist and you had the Wraith people.
David Read:
“Whispers.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes, that episode is awesome.

Paul McGillion:
That was cool.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That was a fun episode.

Paul McGillion:
That was really cool.

David Read:
That’s scary as hell.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It is.

Paul McGillion:
They had me running in a fog on a treadmill, at one point in time. I don’t know if that really worked, but I couldn’t really see. “Are you OK?” and they picked up the speed. “I’m OK” and I couldn’t see my feet or anything, but I was running on a treadmill looking around. I think they used some of that in the studio. That was really crazy, ’cause we couldn’t see, for safety reasons, it was so foggy. It was a cool episode. Joe and I had a lot to do in that episode.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That episode, if I know anyone that’s never watched Stargate, I’m like, “Oh, you just wanna watch something fun? Let’s watch that episode.” You don’t really need to know there’s background. A little bit: “This guy came back, OK? Now watch it. These are the bad guys.”

Paul McGillion:
Now watch, I’m telling you, watch Beckett.

David Read:
That’s it and the all-female team, everything in that cast in that episode works; the setting, the ambiance, everything. You guys had to have been coughing up smoke for days. I know it’s water vapor basically, but still.

Paul McGillion:
It was a little bit weird. There was a lot of smoke in that one but it was OK. We would pop outside whenever we could and they were really great at controlling the atmosphere and stuff. It was a really fun episode.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It’s so fun to watch.

Paul McGillion:
Thank you, thank you. Thanks for bringing me in.

David Read:
Thank you so much for popping in. I think we’re gonna be able to see you at Albuquerque at the convention center in January.

Paul McGillion:
Yes, anybody who does Albuquerque Comic Con in January, I think it’s the 16th to the 18th, I’ll be there.

David Read:
I also wanna point out the fact that Paul has a Cameo available as well and you can submit messages to people.

Paul McGillion:
Yes, a Christmas Cameo for your family.

David Read:
Oh my God.

Paul McGillion:
Who doesn’t need a house call during the holiday season from Dr. Beckett? Thank you very much.

David Read:
That’s it, exactly right. I’m gonna put links to both of those in the description below, after we wrap here. Paul, thank you so much.

Paul McGillion:
You’re welcome. Great to see you, man.

David Read:
I’m looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks.

Paul McGillion:
I will see you. Anna, very nice to meet you.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It was a pleasure meeting you.

Paul McGillion:
Merry Christmas, everybody.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Merry Christmas.

David Read:
Merry Christmas.

Paul McGillion:
Have a great holiday, Christmas. OK, all the best. Bye, guys.

David Read:
Bye, buddy. Bye-bye now.

Paul McGillion:
Bye now.

David Read:
I’m sorry, Anna. I know about how you can feel sometimes around celebrities. When I knew that you were a big Carson fan, I couldn’t resist.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You got me. I think I’ve learned after meeting William Shatner to be a little less awkward.

David Read:
The Shat’s gonna shat and there’s only so much that you can do.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
He remembered me from the day before, taking the picture. He was super nice and I blew it.

David Read:
How did you blow it? What do you mean you blew it?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I did the whole awkward, my friend rushed me over, he’s like, “Nobody’s there, he’s got no line, let’s go talk to him while he’s here.” I was not mentally prepared, so I was rushed into the situation. I’m in full cosplay as Seven of Nine, I have the prosthetic on and he’s looking at me and I’m just not talking. He said something to me and I’m like, “You’re my hero.”

David Read:
Oh, no.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
He was like, “Uh.”

David Read:
Oh, no.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I was like, “I wanna die. I just wanna crawl under my bed and hide.”

David Read:
Look, there are those of us who feel that way. I had a very similar reaction to meeting Brent Spiner for the first time, you get through it. You get used to seeing people who you feel in your heart are larger than life and the more you do it, the more you get used to it. You should’ve heard me when I was on the phone with Amanda Tapping for the first time. That was my first audio interview ever. My heart was racing and then I went upstairs and talked to my parents afterwards. I was still a kid living at home and I was like, “Oh my God. Amanda was so wonderful. She’s amazing.” My dad looked at me and he said, “Don’t get stars in your eyes.” That’s all I needed to hear. It was like, “OK, they do put their pants on just like everyone else does.” They just have an outrageous job.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
With some of these people, I don’t know anything about them. I didn’t know that Carson wasn’t really Scottish. That was new to me, I learned that just now.

David Read:
Oh, really?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I don’t like to look up the actors’ lives and all that. Unless I’m watching the making of, and then it’s like, “OK, whatever they wanna say.” I like these characters; I’m watching it for the characters. I also feel really bad for celebrities ’cause when I was a kid, I remember when Britney Spears shaved her head and there was the whole thing about her getting stalked by the paparazzi. I’m like, “This is kind of intrusive.” I don’t know how much information is online that they personally want versus some stalker or some paparazzi that put it out there.

David Read:
Good point.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It’s inevitable, especially with the internet now, what you see. I don’t wanna know every single dirty little secret about William Shatner. That’s Captain Kirk, he is Captain Kirk. If you guys don’t like what he does in real life… I really try to keep the person separate from the character that they play. I do my best, sometimes it’s really hard. I’ve had terrible interactions with Mark Hamill on Twitter. I’m like, “Ugh, that’s Luke Skywalker and he’s being such a dick to me on Twitter.” I’m just like, “Ah!”

David Read:
I know. That’s the frustrating thing about the modern social media culture. It’s that politics and everything have folded in… Thanks COVID. There was nothing else going on for years and now everyone’s personal opinions are out on everything. It’s so hard to isolate an artist from their art. I don’t know if you saw the interview that Jennifer Lawrence did a few weeks ago, but finally, some of them are just saying, “I don’t want people to think of me for anything other than my craft.” It’s like, “Yes!” That’s OK. I wanna see these characters and not the actors who played them when I watch Empire Strikes Back, which to this day is my favorite movie. There’s a special place that I hold in my heart for Luke and when he dies in Last Jedi… Sorry everyone who hasn’t seen it, but I didn’t care. Now, how is that possible?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It’s ’cause the people making the movie didn’t care.

David Read:
It felt like that.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It did. With Rian Johnson not even caring about Star Wars.

David Read:
Who’s a good filmmaker, by the way, some of his films are brilliant. It’s just like, “What’s going on there? Don’t subvert my expectations too much.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It really feels like it’s being made by people that have malicious intent for this IP. If you don’t like it, then don’t work on it. There are other properties that you could work on, but it is what it is. As far as celebrities, I guess I’ve learned my lesson not to make a total idiot of myself. Also, I don’t know if it’s gonna enrich my respect for them versus take away. I love watching documentaries on Leonard Nimoy. His absolute love for telling stories, he did this really great interview years and years ago, I think it was even before I was born, about this movie he did with Michelle Pfeiffer. He’s just talking about it and he’s like, “Nobody liked the ending but that wasn’t the point. That’s not what her character would do. That’s why it’s not a happy ending.” Just him talking about what he’s making, I can respect that a lot. People want him to talk about things and try to trap him, talk about politics, and he’s like, “Well, I’ve never really thought about it. My entire mindset is obsessed with this. This is what I’m focusing on.”

David Read:
And that’s okay.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Honestly, I feel bad for some celebrities ’cause I feel like they’ve been baited. They’re put on the spot in interviews and it’s like, “Well, what do you say on the spot?”

David Read:
You didn’t do X, Y, or Z, why didn’t you do X, Y, or Z? “Well, maybe because I didn’t even know about it.” Inaction can be inferred to be all kinds of things these days if you don’t participate in something, or if you do… One way or another, the pitchforks, at some point, are gonna come for you. How you stand up to them or ignore them will say a lot about your character and your personal constitution at the end of the day.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That’s why I gained so much respect for Gina Carano because she stood up for herself. I did not like The Mandalorian; as much as I love Baby Yoda, I hated that show. The first episode had some kind of promise, but it just fell apart for me and so I really didn’t care for her character as much. When I was at Star Wars Celebration and she just talked about it, she’s like, “Oh my gosh. You guys are all so welcoming. I love being a part of Star Wars,” and that made me like her, or at least like her and her character. I’m like, “She’s such an open and warm and kind person.”

David Read:
I’ve always been a fan of her from her fighter days. To see her in this universe was like… “Gina Carano!” I liked Cara Dune and I saw a little bit of Season One of Mandalorian, but I haven’t really watched it, just to put that out there. I don’t have any context.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
See, I’m just like, “Just show Baby Yoda. I don’t care about anything else. Just show me the baby.”

David Read:
I grew up with Gremlins, so he’s a green Mogwai. And what’s up with the eyes?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
He is, and Mogwais are cute.

David Read:
Why are the eyes like that?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
They’re cute.

David Read:
They are indeed.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
See, I got one right… Where’s my arm on here? Right there. Right above me there.

David Read:
There you go. Have you seen the animatronic ones?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes.

David Read:
My gosh.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Of course. I want them.

David Read:
The sophistication of some of these things is mind-blowing.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
They’re so cool.

David Read:
Some of the stuff that they’re producing. I got a couple questions for you, Anna.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
OK. Let’s go.

David Read:
T0FFII, “Would you have preferred Sheppard to end up with Teyla or Wier?” Inquiring minds want to know.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
OK. Gonna put this out there, I like it being left open. I loved the sexual tension and the dynamic between him and Wier, but I feel like it would have ruined it if they got together. I think the thing that I really liked about it was they really respected each other and you can see that. He knows he can trust her. Even when he doesn’t agree with her, he can trust her to get the job done and vice versa. Even though that sexual tension was there, the chemistry was there, they respected each other enough to never act on it. At least that’s what I got from it. With Teyla, I could see how it could work. I really thought, since they were writing her pregnancy into the story anyway, it was gonna be him. He was gonna be the dad and they were keeping it on the DL.

David Read:
Really?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I thought that.

David Read:
That would’ve been quite the line that he would have crossed.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
When they threw in the other guy, that could’ve worked. Then especially with how mad he got when he’s like, “You didn’t tell me you were pregnant and you went on this mission.” Then she’s wanting to name her kid John. I’m like, “Hmm. Oh, this random guy we are now hearing of is the baby daddy? I’m sure, Teyla. I’m sure.” I thought that they were building up to that and they were really trying to keep it secret and professional to everyone.

David Read:
It’s one of those things that they could retcon in the future.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
They could. They could always say, “No, we wanted to keep it secret. We wanted to protect it.” In Star Trek, they at least have it where there’s protocol when it comes to inter-species relations like that.

David Read:
They allow fraternization, but you have to report everything to the doc.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Especially in the military, so there could’ve been something going on. I don’t know. It still could be answered. The guy that was the dad supposedly…

David Read:
Kanaan.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
The dad. Really? That was how you guys did it? I don’t know. It felt like a set-up to me. Even now, I still don’t believe it. I still think Sheppard is her baby’s daddy.

David Read:
Yeah, I think that there’s a real possibility. Kanaan just came out of left field. “OK, what’s going on here?” We see him for one scene. We see him have dialogue for basically one scene I was never really satisfied with it. I can tell you Rachel wasn’t all that satisfied with it either.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
The episode where Carson dies, Ronon literally asks Shepard. He’s like, “Why haven’t you and Teyla been a thing?” He’s about to answer and then it gets cut off. “You guys already have it set up.” I’m not big on the romance aspect of things, so I don’t need to see it. I guess I’m not that kind of girly girll it doesn’t pique my interest as much as other girls. If they said, “Oh yeah, we’ve been together.” “All right, cool.” I don’t need to see all the mushy stuff. “You guys are happy. You respect each other. You guys get along great except for when you’re pregnant going into battle. That’s probably not a good idea, Teyla.” Sheppard’s right in that sense. I think it could’ve worked but at the same time, I was fine with it being left open-ended and nobody ending up together. I think that really killed X-Files. I hated it when they made Mulder and Scully get together ’cause they could ruin it. I’m glad Wier and Sheppard never got together; I’m fine watching the first three seasons with that relationship that they had built. The relationship he had with Teyla, I think, was great, until she got pregnant, and then there’s this other guy thrown in from left field.

David Read:
No, that’s a fair point.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It has to be Teyla now, but before, I don’t know. I liked his dynamic better with Elizabeth, but it is what it is.

David Read:
Yeah, I go back and forth. It depends on the day. “OK, what side of the bed did I wake up on?” Kevin Weaver wants to know, “If you were asked tomorrow to pitch an episode for the new Stargate show, what idea do you think you might want to pitch? What would have to go in?”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Ugh. There definitely would have to be aliens, ’cause that was my gripe with Joe. I’m like, “There needs to be more non-human aliens in the show.”

David Read:
What was great about SGU is that the visual effects were there and when we finally had humans, they earned a great reason to have humans. That’s a great point.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
SGU had aliens, so I’m not gonna knock them for that. But it was so many empty planets. Even if you go to a planet and there’s a cat-like creature there, there’s a fish, a bug. There was that one episode, the time loop one on SGU with the…

David Read:
Squids?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes, those things.

David Read:
Absolutely. You had the flesh-eating plants that went and bit Scott and made him hallucinate. That’s one of my favorite episodes, frankly. There was a lot that was going on there. You’re right. There was a lot of empty planets; that’s a fair point. There’s not that much out there, I think, the further that you go out.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
See, I disagree. If there’s life, if there’s plant life, if there’s water on a planet, there can be life. If it had a James Cameron Avatar level of budget, could you imagine the worlds? A world like Pandora, going through and there are giant humanoids. “We have to wear masks to be able to breathe on this planet.” If it’s the starting episode, let’s have Jack on the beach, he’s finally on his beach, his tropical paradise. You hear a phone ring, camera pans over and it’s Sam sitting next to him. She gets the phone, she answers it, and she’s like, “Hey babe, I gotta go back. They need me. Something’s going on with the gate.” He says something clever and leans back and then Sam has to go back to Stargate Command. It confirms that they’re together. Jack’s finally on his beach, drinking mimosas. Sam goes back ’cause she’s running the gate program. Eli found a way to get them there and woke everybody up. Destiny’s coming back. Destiny contacts them, “We found something. We need a team with somebody that’s got ancient blood.” Somebody else that we’ve met, we need this type of specialized scientist. We get a whole new team; they go through and then it’s the new one. That’s, I guess, what I would like to see. As far as a one-off episode, remember that episode where they find the crashed ship and they’re like, “Oh, our ship crashed,” then they actually find out that they’re prisoners?

David Read:
Yeah. For sure. Season Six.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I wish they would’ve touched on that a little bit more, those people and their planet.

David Read:
The Serrakin. We went back and saw them in Space Race.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yes, the one with the mixed guys.

David Read:
Yes, exactly.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
When it comes to Stargate, I want you to know, I have watched it many times. I don’t know the episodes.

David Read:
Don’t apologize.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I don’t know everyone’s names.

David Read:
No, you’re OK.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You asked me that kinda stuff about Star Trek, I got it. But with Stargate, I like it, I’ve enjoyed it many times, but I’m not as up on my knowledge as you.

David Read:
One of my favorites was in Season Four of Voyager with Chakotay when he goes down to the planet and he’s working with the human resistance movement and they’re fighting the Nemesis on the other side. “OK, what’s really going on there?” By the end, you don’t know who’s really a villain, you have no idea. That’s what I loved so much about some of those Star Trek episodes. Robert Beltran finishes the line, “I wish it was as easy to stop hating as it was to start.” That’s what Star Trek is about. Stargate can be about that too, but one of the things that Brad and Rob, and they’ve all said from the first, is it’s entertaining first ’cause that’s what we’re making it for. If there’s a meaning or a message… that’s a bonus.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I feel like there was meaning and a message in almost all of them. It’s not that overarching, “this is the meaning of life” kind of episode, it’s little friendship gestures, “Oh, this is what it means just to have a good day with your friend or to have somebody’s back.”

David Read:
Chicken soup.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I like that kinda stuff. The reason why I like that so much and the Space Race one is a nice continuation of it, but those are other cultures that are a couple steps more advanced than we are. I wish that they would’ve interacted with them more, especially when they were really wanting to have allies, like with the Tok’ra. I feel like we should’ve seen that a little bit more. Maybe a little bit more with delegates and people that are ambassadors going forth between, “OK, well we’re from here and we wanna, maybe we don’t have enough water, salt water, on our planet so we need some of your ocean water.” Something silly like that, the campy chicken noodle soup stuff. Maybe Earth has something to trade with these other aliens?

David Read:
Deuterium, heavy water, with René Auberjonois when they turned out to be space white supremacists. That’s one of my favorite episodes, “The Other Side.” That’s another Brad Wright episode. That’s good science fiction.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
When I was interviewing Joe, he’s like, “That’s a question for Brad. That’s a question for Brad. You should hit him up.” I was like, “He doesn’t follow me on Twitter and I’d probably be one of those annoying people asking him 10,000 questions.”

David Read:
Brad’s good.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I would like to see something more with them because that first episode, that’s a great episode. I like it when it’s that swap so it’s like, “Oh, they’re good guys,” but then it’s like, “Oh no, it’s a prison.” Then the episode with Flash Gordon…

David Read:
Yeah, Aris Boch, Sam J. Jones.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I had Sam J. Jones on my channel a while back and I asked him about it. He said he was like, “They all had their system and I was kinda the outsider in. I was interacting with these people and I did my thing but they had their own thing going.” I wish that they would’ve followed up with that story ’cause he gave Carter the drug so she could find a cure and we never got a follow-up with that. He literally is on the run now so we don’t even know if he’s gonna be alive; if he died or not. He didn’t fulfill his mission, I would’ve liked to see that. We never got a follow-up. That ended with a very open ending so that would’ve been nice to see.

David Read:
The species definitely, there’s a lot of things that are left out. What they did with that was they brought in Vala ’cause that was what they were going for. There would’ve been no Vala Mal Doron without Aris Boch. I wasn’t the craziest about Vala, but sometimes she worked well.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
See, I love her. She’s so fun.

David Read:
She’s a wild card. Exactly right. You don’t know what she’s gonna do. “All right. Removal of treasure from a sealed metal enclosure.” It’s ridiculous stuff that they could put her in and having her be the mother of the Ori Messiah was clever. Three different instances in that franchise, in one of each of the shows, they made a baby work with the story and they were really clever about how they did it. Four if you include Olivia, Amanda’s baby. How do you juggle your show and your infant? You’re literally feeding in one hand and editing with another, I’m guessing. Or most of your stuff is live, I would suppose?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No. I am a night owl; I am a vampire. My daughter goes to sleep usually between 7:00 and 8:00, I have all night, and then she wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning, so I have time.

David Read:
She’s out. Wow.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
She is the best baby. It’s this whole time, ever since she was born. Obviously, I took time off when she was brand new. She’s a great sleeper. My husband and I, we have it worked out when I need to get stuff done, but I’m not working as much as I did before. If I had my before-baby schedule, it would not work at all. I have my scheduled shows, all of them are in the evening. My husband works, I’m at home and we figure it out.

David Read:
Have you found that your priorities evolved the moment you made eye contact with that little face? There were things that weren’t as important anymore, that were like, “You know what? It’s OK to let this thing go. There’s a few other things that I want to devote far more energy to.” Am I wrong?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No. I feel like once you know you’re pregnant, everything changes. I had a really rough pregnancy and I had to have the whole emergency C-section thing. They were like, “We need to get this baby out of you ’cause you’re about to have a stroke. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” I had to have the emergency C-section. My baby was four pounds. She was this big.

David Read:
How many months in?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I was a full nine months. It’s 38 weeks, so it counts. They said that counts as full term, so I was nine months.

David Read:
She was itty-bitty.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
She was itty-bitty, she was my little itty-bitty baby, but she was like, “What? Why is everybody making all this racket?” She’s a spunky little kid. Nothing phases her, she’s a good baby. Everybody tells me, “You’re so lucky. You have such a good baby.” I’m like, “I don’t know. It’s just her personality.” When she comes out here, she wants to look at everything and touch everything. When I have this stuff on, she likes it. She likes watching Star Trek, especially The Original Series. The colors right now, she likes it.

David Read:
Very bright colors. Following up after Bluey… we’ll put Star Trek on.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Basically. Actually, yes, guys, that is how my days go, especially on Wednesdays. Priorities now, if the video doesn’t get done immediately or come out the day for a reaction video, I don’t care. It’s gonna come out. The people that wanna see my reaction to things are gonna watch it. I don’t have to stop everything and do it right then, right now. If it’s not perfectly edited, I don’t care. It is what it is. As far as live streams go, I just schedule it and instead of going for six hours, I go for two or three.

David Read:
You used to do six-hour live streams? What do you talk about all that time? Where do you go to the bathroom? Wow. That’s amazing.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You can go to the bathroom; you just play a little clip. To be fair, it’s not just me, myself, and I, but usually I’m interacting with the chat and chatting about whatever is going on that week or on a tangent about Star Wars or Star Trek or a movie review. The six-hour live streams, I do a show on Thursdays called The Jack Show and it’s me and my co-host and then friends chatting. You can chat with your friends for six hours.

David Read:
Absolutely. Once Stargate comes back, I would love to make an appearance at some point on there ’cause you’ve got a great vibe over there. You guys know what you’re doing and I love the diversity of thought and opinions. This has been terrific, Anna. I really appreciate you taking the time. Where did that Star Wars Girl moniker come from? Did someone say that to you once and it’s like, “Oh, yeah. That’s me.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
That’s what everyone called me. When I was little, my mom had my hair cut like a boy and I hated it. I was like, “Everything is princesses. I have to wear a princess dress every single day and I’m only watching princess movies. I’m a girl, I’m not a boy, Mom.” In her defense, I have crazy, thick, curly hair that she could not maintain. I was a little bit of a butt that would not let my mom brush my hair and now I’m learning that with my own child. My aunt was watching me, ’cause my parents were at the hospital having another baby. How dare they? My aunt, all of her kids are older, she didn’t have very many VHSs and the only princess movie she had, I think, was The Little Mermaid. I was like, “We’re watching this over, and over, and over, and over again.” She’s like, “Anna, I cannot watch this movie anymore.”

David Read:
“Look at this stuff. Isn’t it neat?” I grew up with it.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
She’s like, “Why don’t we watch this? Or watch this one?” I was like, “No. No.” She’s like, “Wanna watch Star Wars?” I said, “No.” She’s like, “There’s a princess in it.” I was like, “Turn it on right now.” She went and shut me in a room and I watched Star Wars. My life changed. She’s like, “You wanna watch the other ones?” I was like, “There’s more?” I binge-watched all of Star Wars at two and a half, mind you, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Everyone that’s ever known me has known I’m obsessed with Star Wars. I went to the same high school as George Lucas. When I graduated high school, I gave a speech all about George Lucas and Star Wars. Everyone, middle school, elementary school, high school, everybody knows me as “That Star Wars girl.” I was usually “that weird Star Wars girl,” but that’s what everyone always called me. The YouTube thing happened on accident; I was thinking of a name and I was like, “Well, this is what people call me, so there you go.”

David Read:
Makes a lot of sense. It’s not like you took it out of turn.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No.

David Read:
Carrie was a powerhouse. I’ll never forget when I found out that she died. I was devastated. I was like, “Please, God, let her survive off of that plane.” The tribute video that Disney made for her is some of the best five minutes of anything edited, ever. It’s a great sequence of clips. “I think I am Princess Leia and Princess Leia is me. It’s like a Mobius Striptease.” She was a powerhouse and she was the one in charge. I can’t see how it could have gone to anyone else to play that. She loved that character and she loved that franchise.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
She was great. It was funny. I watched it because of the princess, but I loved it because of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. I was in college when she passed away. I was doing my midterms, man, and my friend walked in, ’cause I was in the dorms, he was like, “Did you hear about Carrie?” I was like, “Carrie who?” He’s like, “Fisher.” I’m like, “What happened? Did she say something ridiculous and is the whole internet on fire again?” He’s like, “No. She’s in cardiac arrest. She was on an airplane.” I was like, “I can’t draw anymore.” I was so upset and I was like, “You know what? She’s strong, she’ll pull through.” Then I found out the news and I was like, ugh. It was devastating.

David Read:
And Debbie was gone within a day.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I know.

David Read:
Heart was broken.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Now that I have a child, I understand. If my baby died, I don’t know if I could keep going, so I get it.

David Read:
You can understand it completely.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Awful.

David Read:
We saw Todd at the Chinese Theatre in LA when Star Wars IX premiered. He was there with his new book and they were doing an auction of a lot of Carrie’s Star Wars memorabilia and that was one of those things that’s a core pre-COVID memory. That San Diego Comic-Con, the number of people who were honoring Carrie and getting to take pictures of all of them and making eye contact with every one of them, going, “Thank you for honoring her.” Every one of them would go … Just no words. She meant different things to all of us, but a lot of it, she meant the same thing to all of us, too.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
She was our princess.

David Read:
She was our princess. That’s right.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Thinking about it, I don’t know if you’ve seen, her daughter just did that whole photo shoot with her kids.

David Read:
Really? Aw, I haven’t seen it.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Yeah, with the Ewoks, she’s all dressed up like they’re on Endor. It’s so cute. She just did an interview where she was talking about how she just goes and sits at her mom’s grave and talks to her with her kids. I’m like, “Oh my God.” Ugh. It’s too sad for me.

David Read:
There are some things you just don’t get over.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No.

David Read:
I wore a Star Wars shirt today.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I like it.

David Read:
“Hello there.”

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
It’s Master Kenobi.

David Read:
That’s it, Master Kenobi. Do you like the animated stuff?

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Everybody gets mad at me. I never really got through the 2D animated one ’cause I hate that style. I did watch the 3D animated one. I didn’t watch the seventh season that Disney came out with. I watched parts of it, but not all of it.

David Read:
The ending’s good. I liked it. There’s four episodes, 30 minutes each, it’s concurrent with Revenge of the Sith and it was pretty satisfying.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I heard, though, people were upset because it contradicts what happened in the Ahsoka book.

David Read:
I can’t speak to see that.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
The ending in the Ahsoka book. I have been really angry with everything that Disney has done. I’m like, “Do I really want to get upset again?” I haven’t gotten around to it, but maybe I will.

David Read:
You know what? It’s not going anywhere. That’s what I say about Mandalorian and all the others. Last question before we end. Marcia Middleton wanted to know, “We have just learned that the original Star Wars film, not the reworked versions, will be released into theaters in 2027 for the 50th anniversary. How excited are you to be able to see the original film, warts and all, on the big screen?” I saw it on the big screen in ’97.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’m gonna pull this card. I lived in the same town as George Lucas and I’ve seen it already in the State Theater there. I’ve seen it, but I don’t know if I’m gonna go again because of the baby. I’ve seen it, original, warts and all, unchanged, I should say. I guess, to me, it’s not anything new. I don’t know, maybe Disney has just really killed that bug in me.

David Read:
I get it.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I’ve seen it so it’s not brand new. If I had never seen it, then I’d be losing my mind, but I’ve seen it before.

David Read:
It’s one of those core memories of mine, going with my cousin and seeing it three days in a row on the opening weekend. The special edition came out in ’97 and it just wasn’t the same, with the imperial droid saying, “Nah-nah, boo-boo,” to the worker droid out there in the heat and just slamming it down. It’s like, “OK, it’s gonna be one of these. All right.” Very good.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
What was even cool was the high school I went to, I went to Thomas Downey High School, which is the same one George Lucas went to. My vice principal was a huge Star Wars fan too. Anytime he reached out to ILM or Lucasfilm, they were like, “Oh, yeah,” because obviously that’s where George Lucas went. I forgot what it was exactly, but I was a sophomore and I think we had all just finished a test so all the sophomores got to go into the auditorium and we got to watch it, the unedited original 1977 version of Star Wars, while I was in high school. I’ve seen it in high school and then also at the State Theater in Modesto.

David Read:
You’ve really grown up with this thing on the big screen. Marcia, there you go.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I guess, to me, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve done that before.” It’s not the biggest deal. I think I lost my mind more when I finally got to see The Wrath of Khan in theaters because I obviously was not born when all of those were coming out and I’d never seen any of the original Star Trek movies in theater. I dragged my husband to go see it and we were the only ones in the theater.

David Read:
Oh my God. It’s one of the greatest films. I prefer Search for Spock.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I know.

David Read:
Wrath of Khan is damn good. Ricardo Montalban was brilliant. Can you believe they nearly finished the script and were ready to go, and they’re like, “Someone should really ask Ricardo if he’s available from Fantasy Island.” “I think that’s probably a good idea.” Thank God he said yes.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
Probably.

David Read:
Same thing happened with Cliff Simon. Cliff said that someone hadn’t notified him and so they had to renegotiate his deal before the film, before he went and did the picture because no one had communicated.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
You know what? That worked out for him.

David Read:
This is what he said. Exactly. Anna, thank you so much for joining me tonight.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No problem. Thanks for having me on. It’s been fun.

David Read:
This has been great. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you and the rest of fandom. We’ve got a long road ahead. I’m looking forward to approaching this thing slow. Let’s let them take their time and do it right. We’ve waited 14 years.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
I know. We can wait. I am fine with waiting as long as it’s good. That’s all I ask for. Please just be good. Please, please, please, please.

David Read:
Thank you. I’m gonna wrap up the show on this side, but thanks so much for spending some time with me tonight.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No problem. Thanks for having me. It was nice being over here and hello to all of the chat. Make sure you smash that like button.

David Read:
Thank you, guys. Thank you. We have Martin Gero on tomorrow, the man himself. I’m gonna tell everyone a little bit about that but thank you so much.

Anna (That Star Wars Girl):
No problem. It was a pleasure talking to you. I’ll see you around.

David Read:
See you around. All right, everyone. That was Anna, That Star Wars Girl. You can find her on YouTube. I’m gonna be putting the link in the description below. Thanks again to Paul McGillion for joining us for this episode and popping in. Paul is gonna be at Albuquerque Convention Center on January 16th to the 18th next year. I definitely recommend stopping by if you’re gonna be in that area. He’s also available on Cameo as well. My name is David Read; you’re watching the Stargate Oral History project. Our season is coming to an end rather rapidly here and that is because tomorrow I can announce that Martin Gero is gonna be joining us for our last episode of the season. He has not done an interview since the announcement a couple of weeks ago. He is gonna be joining myself and Darren for that interview tomorrow at 2:00 PM Pacific Time. The links are already on our socials and I’ve already published the livestream so you can lock onto it and I definitely hope you can join us because this is gonna be a simulcast with GateWorld.net and Dial the Gate. My tremendous thanks to my moderating team. These folks have done so much work this season and I just cannot thank them enough for everything that they have done to get me through these 80-some-odd episodes. Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj, Jakub, our newbies, Enigma and Steven. Tremendous thanks to Matt “Eagle SG” Wilson for his amazing opening sequences over the course of this season. We’ve got more ships to come. My producers, Antony Rawling, Kevin Weaver, Sommer Roy and Brice Ors and Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb for keeping dialthegate.com up and running. We’ll be developing a lot of content for you up in Vancouver in the next couple of weeks here. We’re gonna be kicking Season Six off with a bang. A lot sooner than I would have suspected, let me tell you that right now. I was planning on coming back in about March. No more, ’cause new Stargate’s coming and someone’s gotta cover it. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. Thank you so much, Anna, That Star Wars Girl, for making our evenings a blast. See you tomorrow on the other side.