Join us at a German exhibition as a French Stargate fan shares his Canadian-built prop and costume collection from an American sci-fi series! 

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome back to Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. I’m David Read. As you may be aware, or if you’re brand new to Season Six, welcome, I’ll make you aware. We are just as much about the fans as we are about the cast and the crew. For whatever reason, ours is not to ask why, the French audience is a huge consumer of this US paramilitary franchise and they have taken to it like a duck to water over the years. The more I cover this thing, the more I get exposed to this wonderful audience from across the pond who are artists and collectors and crazy people, but they all have a love for the thing that we love. I’m gonna introduce you to one of them now. His name is Julien and he’s a Frenchie who’s in Germany showing off his love for a US/Canadian series. So, while you unwrap that, go and check this out. Let’s sit down and talk with him first and then we’ll check his stuff out with him. Julien Guyard, Atlante Props, you are a big French Stargate fan, my friend,

Julien Guyard:
Yes.

David Read:
I have been looking forward to having you on the program for a long time. Welcome to Dial the Gate, thank you for being here.

Julien Guyard:
Thank you for having me here.

David Read:
I wanna get you off your throne immediately and jump into this space that we’re gonna look at. But first, where are we in the world?

Julien Guyard:
We are in Stuttgart Comic Con in Germany and we have a Stargate booth here. We have 200 square meters of awesomeness for Stargate fans who love the show.

David Read:
Wow. How many of these conventions have you done? With this whole setup.

Julien Guyard:
Right now, it’s the 20th convention in about, I would say, two and a half years of doing this.

David Read:
Man, and what has the response been like? Do people know what it is, or are people like, “Oh, that’s, I think I’ve heard of it. Is that the one with MacGyver?”

Julien Guyard:
People really love it. What I like about this convention and the set I’ve built is that it goes from 7 years old to 77 years old. Everyone loves it ’cause older people love the show, and people who didn’t watch the show told me, “We know what it is. We never watched the show, but the Egyptian ambiance is really, really cool.” It fits everyone. Anyone who loves sci-fi really loves to come on the sets and have fun with us and have tattoos on their forehead. That’s a really, really cool experience, whether it’s for visitors or for us; staff of the booth.

David Read:
Whether or not they know Stargate, they can still have a good time going through the exhibit. I don’t want to belabor this. I want you to take me through the exhibit and then we’ll come back and have a conversation. Does that sound good?

Julien Guyard:
That sounds good.

David Read:
All right, let’s do it.

Julien Guyard:
So, this is the exhibition I’ve created. The idea was to make a display for all the props I collected since 2013 and this is where we are now. So, we start here.

David Read:
Wow. Look at that.

Julien Guyard:
Everything is original props. I’m gonna make you the list. We have Ra’s helmet; that’s from the episode…

David Read:
“Moebius?”

Julien Guyard:
What was this one? “Moebius.”

David Read:
Did you light the eyes?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, I light them up. They were there, when I got it, there was no light inside, so I added them. I think the blue works well with the other colors, so that’s why I chose this color.

David Read:
In the movie, his eyes glowed blue. “Moebius” in French, what is it called in French?

Julien Guyard:
I was going to say the episode name “Back to the Future,” because in French, they called it “Back to the Future,” “Retour Vers le Futur.” That’s why I was going to say “Back to the Future,” but then I realized, no, it’s “Moebius.”

David Read:
It’s “Moebius” in all the English territories. That’s cool, man. Look at that.

Julien Guyard:
That one was made for MGM’s offices.

David Read:
So, this wasn’t used in “Moebius?”

Julien Guyard:
No, it wasn’t used in the show. It was made by the production and used in MGM offices. When I met Mark Nicholson – who you have had several times on your show – at Gatecon, I think it was 2018, he was flipping pictures on his tablets at his booth table and there was a picture with this helmet and this one as well. They have Egyptian engraving in the base. There were no lights, same as the other one, so I added lights in the eyes.

David Read:
So, is this also screen used?

Julien Guyard:
This is the same as the other one. It was made by the production and used as a display piece when you could tour the workshop back then, when the show was still running.

David Read:
This was what was in the front section of the prop shop?

Julien Guyard:
Yes, exactly.

David Read:
That’s amazing. I’m really impressed with your Goa’uld backgrounds here, particularly the lighting. You have managed to recreate the aesthetic.

Julien Guyard:
That was a bit challenging ’cause the original panels, the hieroglyph panels, actually they are more like orange-y, pumpkin-y color, and with light and post-production, they became really gold-y on screen. But actually, they are not in real life. When I made mine, I used an original panel from the show, which I made a mold of, and I made fiberglass casting, like boats, and I had to match the color with the paint and then the color with the lights to make it seem like it is in the show. Same for the column; I had an original which I made a 3D model from. It’s really orange-y, pumpkin color. It’s not as gold-ish as we see from the TV show.

David Read:
The lights so often create their own aesthetic with the props and the costumes and the set decoration. They aren’t just the color that they are; the lights complete the picture.

Julien Guyard:
Exactly, and then in post-production they can tweak it even more. It’s like the Ori helmets. At some point, I got the original mold from a collector and he wanted casts from those. I had an original Ori helmet so I painted it just like the original, but he wanted the same as on screen, which are way more copper-ish. The original is more matte copper, so the metal finish doesn’t really stand out and I had to repaint it in a bright copper for the collector. What we see on screen…you know that very well when you run all the auctions at Propworx…

David Read:
I have an Ori helmet, I get it. Do you have an Ori in the display, coming up?

Julien Guyard:
No. I sold it long ago. I only had a helmet and I never really found a costume along the way so I sold it back. That was the first section that you see there.

David Read:
That’s beautiful.

Julien Guyard:
The void is gonna be filled up with something later. I’m thinking about an aquarium with Goa’uld larvae.

David Read:
We sold the vat. It was really cool.

Julien Guyard:
I remember. I saw the picture. I’m trying to make a 3D model out of it.

David Read:
OK, well done. Is this screen-used Tok’ra costume, over here?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah. Da, da, da! The other corner.

David Read:
Wow.

Julien Guyard:
I wanted the main protagonists from the show. That’s why we have the Jaffa, the Tok’ra and the Sodans.

David Read:
Very nice.

Julien Guyard:
All is screen-used. The Sodan comes from Propworx, actually. The costume comes from Propworx. All of the staffs come from PropStore and the leather strap for the Sodan comes from Legends Memorabilia. The Sodan cloaking device comes from Propworx as well, from the second-hand market. Someone already bought it and I bought it back afterwards. I think it took two and a half years to gather everything. It’s always a hunt to get everything.

David Read:
Love your fire effect here. Make sure Brice gets a close-up of that because I think that is really cool; what you’ve achieved there. A little bit of a good time on the set. You guys are making a presentation and it’s really cool. This is really great.

Julien Guyard:
I worked in museums so I know that sometimes exhibition can be a bit boring when nothing happens. That’s why I wanted it to be exhibition/immersive/interactive for the visitor, which we’re gonna see later on. We have the Tok’ra there, it has everything. It has the Zat holster, I should put one in, but I haven’t yet. The TER holster as well. We have a ring controller and the whole thing. What’s not screen-used is the shirt and the pants, that’s the only thing I didn’t have. I bought that at a clothing store to match the whole thing.

David Read:
What’s so cool about this costume is the pig stomach lining. That’s what that is. That texture there, that is pig stomach that gives that texture. I swear to God, on the shoulder there, I swear it’s just an oven mitt, but it’s not. It reminds me so much of one every time I see it. It’s one of the coolest costumes.

Julien Guyard:
They’re really cool. They really crushed it really well; all the costumes, sets, props, etc. We have a little comm tower from the Goa’uld. That’s a cool one. The idea is to put a LED inside the bulb. I tried at a workshop and it does a nice effect but I didn’t have the time for the oven to make.

David Read:
So, it’s not opaque? It’s actually transparent?

Julien Guyard:
Inside, exactly, it’s like a … ta-dim.

David Read:
OK, look at that.

Julien Guyard:
It’s just a globe that they painted. I don’t know if you can see lights?

David Read:
It looks like a light fixture.

Julien Guyard:
Light fixture, either at your home or on the street. They put light inside and it gives you the ambient light. I tried to put an LED strip inside and it was really cool. I didn’t want to throw a LED strip, I want to make it go through there, having a switch around so it’s easy to set up here at conventions.

David Read:
I’d like everyone to get a good shot of the Sodan outfit over here, if Brice could go back. I always loved this outfit because of the hammered copper on the chest.

Julien Guyard:
It’s really nice. Hammered copper, yes.

David Read:
It’s a beautiful piece. They just put so much craftsmanship in it to make the Sodan culture look so ancient, pardon the pun.

Julien Guyard:
Basically, medieval.

David Read:
Yes. Then top of that, you have the cloaking device on the left-hand arm there. It was one of the neatest, simplest little ideas; to put these components together with leather and hammered brass and the gauntlets. It’s one of the coolest costumes. When you came to Gatecon in 2018, I think it was wearing it. I was thrilled to see it.

Julien Guyard:
Yes, I was wearing it with Mark. He’s a collector friend; he has one as well. I remember when I bought it, I was like, “damn.” When I got it, I was like, “damn.” It was actually really cheap when you see all the work, the leather thickness. I was like, “It’s really worth it to get it.”

David Read:
They are recovering just single-digit percentages of what they spent in terms of production. The bottom line is that fans get to keep them and they don’t have to be destroyed.

Julien Guyard:
I have what we call a Jaffa Bible. It’s a binder where they register every material, every labor involved, to make one costume. It’s over 40 hours to make one, plus materials. I think back then, they were like 4K to make, 4 or 5K if you count everything. I remember this one, I got it at auction for 1,500 back then, 10 years ago.

David Read:
Is that a screen-used staff?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah. Screen-used staff. Everything is screen-used except this chain mail, ’cause my Jaffa is short-sleeved. I added something I found on flea markets. I found this and it suits the whole thing pretty well. Everything is screen-used.

David Read:
This looks like one of the staffs that we sold that had a little bit of a flex to it because they were sitting against a wall for ages and ages. They’ve kind of bent just slightly. That’s how you can tell that it’s screen-used; because it has that. That’s the secret to recognizing it.

Julien Guyard:
The fun story I was gonna say is that I bought it two or three years ago. Remington from SG-1 Props, he stored this for me for a few years until I had enough to ship to me. That’s what I like about this hobby, is we have a connection. I do the same for Remington, I store stuff for him.

David Read:
He’s a good guy.

Julien Guyard:
I got the staff about a month and a half ago. It was broken in three parts, like there, there and same as in there. I knew when I got it that’s why it was really, really cheap when I purchased it. Before the previous event a month ago, I was in Switzerland and I just glued it back together. I put it in a rack and yesterday, when I pull it out, it had bent over the position it was in. So, when you’re saying they bend over, that’s exactly what happened. For the last two weeks, it bent that way, on the right.

David Read:
You’ve done a great job.

Julien Guyard:
They’re heavy. They are full resin casts, so some are heavy, some are less. This one is heavy.

David Read:
It’s a beautiful piece. I’ve worn one. It sucks; it’s no picnic. It’s a full process, man, let me tell you. Tell me about your central piece here. This is originally Anubis’ throne. Isn’t that right?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, exactly.

David Read:
I think it was made for Season Seven, originally.

Julien Guyard:
Seven, the last episode. When Daniel goes to confront Anubis.

David Read:
Season Six, yes.

Julien Guyard:
Season Six?

David Read:
“Full Circle.”

Julien Guyard:
Yes, “Full Circle,” Season Six, when they destroy Abydos. That’s a recreation of mine, that’s not the original.

David Read:
I see. Very nice.

Julien Guyard:
Prop Store was selling it for years; it was sitting for years on their website. At some point, they wanted to clear their house so they put it in auction, that’s when it sold. I got all the measurements and I made a 3D model from it. This project is 12 years old. I started with the cardboard templates and when I got a workshop I started making it. This is in my mind for 12 years and I really made it in 2021, October 2021.

David Read:
It’s a 3D print?

Julien Guyard:
It lights up. This is cast from the original. The frame and the bulb from Legends Memorabilia, which I got years and years ago. From that, and using the measurements from Prop Store, I’ve been able to figure out the measurements of the whole thing. It’s a bit beat-up in some parts ’cause it has been to 20 events now, supporting people. It needs a bit of touch-up, but it’s holding up really, really well.

David Read:
You’re creating an experience here.

Julien Guyard:
I have the back in my workshop; I haven’t finished it yet. If you remember, in “Full Circle,” the back lights up. When they switch it to Ba’al, it’s only gold color. There was a long back like this on the back of the throne.

David Read:
Is there any particular reason you picked Ba’al over Anubis here? Is it just a nod to Cliff Simon? Was that your intent?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, Cliff was still alive when I built it and I always found the throne really, really, really cool for people to sit on. What I like to do when people sit in the throne, because they are at a convention, they are in a laughy mood. I tell them, “No, you have to be a god. You have to be mean.” They instantly try to have a mean face, ’cause you have to be a god. The idea along the way was to be at a convention with Cliff and for him interact with a visitor, but he passed away before I finished it. I always loved Ba’al and to me, ’cause I watched the show maybe twice in my life, but I remember it well, the throne stands out more for Ba’al than it does Anubis.

David Read:
That’s a fair point.

Julien Guyard:
That’s why I choose Ba’al; he’s a really lovable mean guy, it’s easily recognizable with his sign and the throne.

David Read:
Symbol. Very good. That’s great, man. You did a great job.

Julien Guyard:
I was really, really sad when he passed away ’cause I really wanted him to be on the throne. It’s really heartbreaking.

David Read:
It’s a nice way to remember him. That’s very cool.

Julien Guyard:
Then we have the Pel’tac controls.

David Read:
My god, you got the Pel’tac! Does the drawer still pull out?

Julien Guyard:
Exactly. Hold on.

David Read:
Boy. Very nice. OK.

Julien Guyard:
Ta-da.

David Read:
You need some crystals.

Julien Guyard:
The remote has no battery anymore, but this lights up. This lights up.

David Read:
Look at that. We need to get you some more crystals in there.

Julien Guyard:
I need to make a mold and cast several of them.

David Read:
Yes. The clear ones were always the Earth ones, the colored ones were always the Goa’uld. This is great. I’m really glad that you got this, this is a good piece. This was a heavy piece, but at least it came on casters so we were able to roll it around really easily. This was created for “Within the Serpent’s Grasp,” I think the end of Season One, and they used it throughout the rest of the show.

Julien Guyard:
Exactly. They only had one. Those were on pneumatic rods. I removed them and the idea is to put electrical rods in instead.

David Read:
They had a rig for them to raise and lower; they adapted the design from the feature film. It was one of the things that carried over. Your diorama with the Earth in the background is amazing.

Julien Guyard:
The idea was people can put their hand [on the scanner] and then they have Earth.

David Read:
Wow. Such a beautiful piece. Look at that! You’ve got the fingers to light up. Very nice. That’s great.

Julien Guyard:
There are bulbs that lights up as well in this. When I restored it, the thing was running on halogens. It was 800 watts so I switched it to LED and now it runs at 75 watts max.

David Read:
So much better.

Julien Guyard:
The next step is to have the column on electrical roll and repair all the little…

David Read:
Production scratches and everything else.

Julien Guyard:
One idea is to put a sensor here, so when you put your hand in, the column will rise up.

David Read:
The columns come up.

Julien Guyard:
Then in the middle of the exhibition we have more props. Always props.

David Read:
Oh, my gosh. Look at this. Oh, wow.

Julien Guyard:
Here it is.

David Read:
Look at that. You’ve got the other Eye of Ra. There it is.

Julien Guyard:
It’s not totally original. That’s a plaque from Stargate Origins. The DHD over there, boop, just a sneak peek, was used in Origin and when I got it back in France, Matt from Vanishing Angle gifted me the plaque for the loan of DHD, basically. The Eye of Ra, the center orange piece is original and the other parts are replicas from the original.

David Read:
Wow. The frame that it’s in.

Julien Guyard:
The gold frame, a collector loaned me the original mold which I’ve been able to do two casts, which I glued together ’cause it’s double faced. The details from the gold frame, it has on the other side. I had the original artwork from which I printed the eye of Ra, which is starting to be a bit beat up from all the conventions. I’m gonna replace it like a sticker. We have a Dakara panel there.

David Read:
So, this is from Dakara. This is not from P4X639?

Julien Guyard:
It’s from Dakara.

David Read:
OK. I always assumed that they just reused them.

Julien Guyard:
I think they reused it. I’m not sure.

David Read:
It was definitely used in Dakara, for sure. I’ve got one as well.

Julien Guyard:
You and I bid on one at GateCon and then you came to me and were like, “Why did you bid more?” Because I already had one, that’s why.

David Read:
That’s funny.

Julien Guyard:
We have another case.

David Read:
Very nice. Is that the original Antarctica Earth symbol?

Julien Guyard:
Exactly.

David Read:
Wow. That’s a piece.

Julien Guyard:
There is many stories.

David Read:
Right there.

Julien Guyard:
The Atlantic device. I’m gonna start from left to right. The Atlantic device is an original hero working one. This was worn by Richard Dean Anderson and I got it at Gatecon 2016 from his agent, Paul Brown. He was sitting on a booth and I was working for his daughter at Legends Memorabilia selling props. At the end of the show, I bought it from him. It works. The little wings, they move, they can retract around your arm.

David Read:
Evil Kenny’s worst nightmare.

Julien Guyard:
Then we have the classic Zat and TER.

David Read:
Are these all screen-used as well?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, screen-used, all are screen-used. As you spotted, that’s the Earth symbol from Antarctica. The story is someone on Instagram contacted me saying he has six tiles from the DHD. It was really, really weird because the DHD was sold with all its tiles. It turns out, in Vancouver, they can film stuff a bit wherever, and he actually stole them from the sets, 20 years ago.

David Read:
He did? Oh my God.

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, he did.

David Read:
Now he’s turning around and selling them. He’s got balls.

Julien Guyard:
I think that he had six of them. It was like 20 years later, so he said, “OK, let’s sell them.”

David Read:
Wow.

Julien Guyard:
He didn’t really sell them publicly; it was more of a private sale.

David Read:
I always wondered where mine came from because I know it’s screen-used.

Julien Guyard:
They are definitely screen-used because I checked afterwards. I checked the episodes.

David Read:
The paint? You matched the paint up?

Julien Guyard:
Exactly. You can see the one the guy had, later on in the Stargate season, the paint was different from all the others.

David Read:
Got it.

Julien Guyard:
They, in fact, have been taken from the sets and the production had to remake some.

David Read:
Wow.

Julien Guyard:
This is the Antarctica symbol.

David Read:
It sure is.

Julien Guyard:
That was really cool. When I saw all of them, I was like, “That’s the Antarctica symbol.” I was like, “I have to get it.”

David Read:
What’s your last case over here? What have we got in this one?

Julien Guyard:
We have a last case with little ones, little props.

David Read:
This looks like mostly from the Propworx collection.

Julien Guyard:
The DHD tiles are from Propworx.

David Read:
Yep, from our storefront.

Julien Guyard:
Movies, pictures, from Propworx as well. The Atlantis file from Propworx as well. The top-secret folder is from VIP Auction. They gifted it to me because I bought some stuff 10 or 12 years ago. The crystal is from Legends Memorabilia and the green crystal and the Asgard crystal is from a crew member.

David Read:
OK, yep. Very good, brother. This is great. Very, very nice setup. I’m very impressed.

Julien Guyard:
I have other stuff at the workshop and at home but it’s not yet displayed. That was the Goa’uld mothership that you see there.

David Read:
Wow. Did you build this so that the ceiling is lower? Is that on purpose?

Julien Guyard:
Yes. I’ve built all the walls and I’ve put a new roof so I can control the ambient light. Otherwise, that’s the light from the convention.

David Read:
It gets blown out. Exactly. That makes a lot of sense. Really cool, man.

Julien Guyard:
Otherwise, you can’t really have all this effect on the wall and whatever you want to do in terms of lighting.

David Read:
Julien, your Ra helmet, was that used in Origins?

Julien Guyard:
No, that was Brian Capri. I think he provided a few helmets for that show. That wasn’t mine.

David Read:
Very nice. Very cool, man.

Julien Guyard:
That’s the first part. People can sit on a throne, interact, et cetera. Then we have a Stargate and a ramp and a DHD.

David Read:
Original DHD and a custom ramp.

Julien Guyard:
That’s an original DHD we have there.

David Read:
This Stargate is so authentic.

Julien Guyard:
It’s an upscaled Stargate.

David Read:
How did you do that? The paint is perfect.

Julien Guyard:
The paint on the Stargate or the DHD?

David Read:
The paint on the Stargate. There it goes.

Julien Guyard:
I checked pics online from the show and from the auction and I’ve been able to match the paint. It was a bit of a process. I think it took me two trials to get it right, eventually I made it to the end. Online there is a guy called David Giancursio, I will send you the name afterwards. He made a really nice 3D model of the gate. From his model, I used his model the inner ring and the outer ring. That’s the model I printed. I 3D-printed in resin, then I made a mold, then I made resin casting. The glyph track, I have the blueprints from the movie. I drew the whole thing and then cut it with a CNC machine. What you can see close up is that the glyph track has grooves in it. It’s not flat, there’s grooves. I already had the symbols, because I had to restore the DHD, so I just reused the symbol and it was carved with a CNC machine. The chevron, I have a spare chevron from the movie which they got back from the desert shooting place at the beginning of the movie. It was quite beat up but I made a 3D model of it. I was already selling upscaled chevrons on my website. What I didn’t have was the outer and the inner ring, which I got from David Giancursio. That’s the Stargate to go with the DHD and the ramp.

David Read:
Check this thing out.

Julien Guyard:
The ramp is there too. I finished building the ramp two days ago. That’s what I was speaking about earlier; to have an interactive exhibition for people. People can dial the DHD and then they climb up on the ramp and take pictures; that’s a whole experience there. For the DHD, the bottom and the top are originals, which were really damaged when I got them. I had to recreate the whole dome with the tiles and the red button. Another collector has the first DHD, which I got reference from to make my dome for this DHD. Does that make sense?

David Read:
Yes, it does.

Julien Guyard:
The paint was a real pain in the ass to recreate. I worked with Remington from SG-1 Props and it took us a year and a half to crack the code. It’s actually a really tough one. I’ve asked many, many people from the industry and no one could figure it out back then. At some point we cracked it and there was the whole Holy Grail of paint technique.

David Read:
There’s a lot of it there because I know for the puddle jumper, there’s eight or nine layers of paint. It’s ridiculous.

Julien Guyard:
I think it’s five layers on the DHD tiles, something like this.

David Read:
So, is it a random sequence every time?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, if you don’t press the DHD for 30 seconds, it randomly does its own. What I programmed is that you can only go up to seven symbols. If you try to do eight, you can’t. If you do three symbols and you push the red button, it shuts off everything, just like a phone. If you don’t do enough numbers, then everything shuts off.

David Read:
Very cool, man. Thank you so much for taking us through this.

Julien Guyard:
We have a cheat code. If you press one glyph two times, it lights up everything.

David Read:
Awesome. You have been busy. Jeez.

Julien Guyard:
I really love it when everything glows. It’s so nice.

David Read:
Very cool. Something that we never really got to see. Adria made it sing and dance for a little while.

Julien Guyard:
Exactly, this is what I was going to say. Adria did that.

David Read:
“The Quest Part Two.” Great minds think alike.

Julien Guyard:
You were talking about restoring to their glory a nice feature from the Earth symbol. Actually, the square top, if you can see on the left, it’s a bit rounded. It’s actually, I guess, a failure from the production when they cut it. So, I remade the same mistake.

David Read:
You kept the flaw in place?

Julien Guyard:
I kept the flaw of the original.

David Read:
So, this is the one that they would have recovered from the Russians.

Julien Guyard:
Exactly.

David Read:
It was stolen by the Red Army out of Berlin after the Second World War. That’s the thing that I loved about Origins; it completely tracked in terms of the DHD. They were very deliberate and there’s a reason for that.

Julien Guyard:
‘Cause for 60 years, we don’t really know what happened with the gate in the series. The whole plot hole in the show.

David Read:
That’s exactly right.

Julien Guyard:
We have the VR from Brice.

David Read:
Do you wanna show that off?

Julien Guyard:
We can show that. The last thing we have is a tattoo.

David Read:
Very nice.

Julien Guyard:
That’s for people, it’s part of the experience. I’ve got stencils from the Propworx Auction which I drew and then I made a 3D-printed mold. I poured a silicone stamp and then if they want to, they get stamped like Jaffa.

David Read:
Very good. That’s great.

Julien Guyard:
Then we have the VR experience made by Brice, IBREC, for those who know, which got on your show several times.

David Read:
This is ridiculously amazing.

Julien Guyard:
Pegasus Project.

David Read:
The Pegasus Project.

Julien Guyard:
That’s a really cool one. I’m not a VR fan, I’m crazy about physical stuff. Brice is crazy about digital stuff so we complement each other well. You can see here on the screen you’ve got the VR helmet and you have a five-minute experience when you step into Atlantis City. My first instinct, I watched the floor when I got the VR helmet and where the legs are, it’s not a flat floor, it has notches, it has hills.

David Read:
That’s correct, just like it did in the set. It was a lived space.

Julien Guyard:
Just like the set would be. Exactly. It’s really, really nice and people love it. People are thrilled. They have a big smile on their face, which is really, really cool.

David Read:
Julien, thank you for that. That was really special. You have worked for years to build this thing. How long ago did you get your first Stargate prop? How long has this project been really in the making?

Julien Guyard:
Oof, that’s … Damn, you’re making me old. I think my first purchase was at FedCon 2014, my first original props purchase. I bought a DHD crystal, a mimic device, a P90 anti-module.

David Read:
Yes, for the Kull Warriors.

Julien Guyard:
Kull Warriors, the disruptive weapon that they put on the P90. I started with those in 2014. It has been a long journey. When I first did conventions as a visitor, I didn’t really find any Stargate sets or Stargate experience. This idea has been in my mind since 2012, to have a recreation of a Goa’uld set, ’cause I really like the Egyptian theme. When I started to be a prop maker in a professional way, I had my own company, et cetera, that’s when it started to really, really grow again in my mind. I was like, “OK, I have the tools, I have the skills. I can now do what I have wanted to do for years.” It took about eight months to do all the walls, but it was during COVID so I couldn’t get supplies, materials, whatever. It took a bit of time to get the walls done. Overall, I would say the idea started in 2012 and I started collecting original props in 2014.

David Read:
And here you are in 2025.

Julien Guyard:
It’s been 13 years-ish.

David Read:
Man. It’s so wonderful to be with fans like you.

Julien Guyard:
Thank you.

David Read:
Who have gone through in creating a vision and bringing it into reality. You, me, EMG, GateWorld, Brice with his 3D projects. So many of us have been inspired by this show. The last week here, in Season Five on Dial the Gate, I’m gonna be showcasing other fan creations that we’ve found over the course of the year. So many of us have been inspired by Stargate. What is it about this show that compels you?

Julien Guyard:
To me, it’s definitely the mythology about the show, that they mix it up with Egyptian, Greek, Asian culture. You have a bit of both. You have real life, you have mythology, you have sci-fi; it’s a good combination. For me, it is because of Stargate that I became a prop maker and now a production designer, whether it’s in the movie industry, museum, temporary events, pop culture events; Stargate made my life.

David Read:
Is it beginning to pay for itself in terms of your exhibit or is it really just a labor of love that you’re willing to continue to put up money for? I’m really curious if you’re willing to talk about that just a little bit.

Julien Guyard:
Yeah, sure. I will say it’s a bit of both. When I do an exhibition, the convention pays me to come there. We have seven staff that set up everything and we’re in the world where everything costs money, storage, materials, et cetera. I’m charging a fee, of course.

David Read:
It’s based on your time and resources. I don’t think you’re making a hand over fist profit for this.

Julien Guyard:
No.

David Read:
These things are pieces of history and you’re taking a risk just by moving them. I can’t imagine your insurance costs and everything else.

Julien Guyard:
You nailed it down. You have transportation, insurance. This is a bit stupid, but you have meals to cover for people. Accommodation, transportation. I’m doing it and I have to charge because this is my work, because, like everyone else, I have bills to pay. If I really had to charge to make a real profit, I wouldn’t be at conventions. This is a bit of both. You have to think about making money, of course, but this is also a labor of love, as you said. We spend three intense, really intense days, whether it’s physical or emotional. It’s the love for Stargate, definitely.

David Read:
What did you think when you saw the announcement for a fourth?

Julien Guyard:
I’m really thrilled, When I worked in the movie industry back in summer 2021, the workshop I was working at got requests for quotes to make sets for a Stargate movie. That was just a few months after Amazon had bought MGM.

David Read:
They were looking at options.

Julien Guyard:
I knew something was coming up. I didn’t know what exactly ’cause I left and I didn’t get any updates since then. But I knew something was coming up.

David Read:
This is Martin Gero’s project. It’s been in development for the last 18 months and people are wondering what it is. This is his baby; this is his idea. What do you think is gonna happen with your exhibit now? Do you think this is gonna catapult you into more visibility here? Is more visibility all the better? What is it that you want to achieve with this thing now that a fourth Stargate series is coming? What is it that you want to do?

Julien Guyard:
This is gonna make me work more at conventions, I think. Conventions usually work on trends that happen in the pop culture world. ‘Several times, I got events asking me, “What’s the news about Stargate that we can have in your exhibits?” There was not much news for the last few years so actually some events turned me down, which is perfectly fine. I think having a new show should have the exhibit going to more conventions for people to see. I’m hoping to get more props from the new show and have another part of the exhibit dedicated to the new show.

David Read:
They have to film them first, buddy, before you can buy them.

Julien Guyard:
I know, I know.

David Read:
It’s gonna be a longer process. God, he’s wants more.

Julien Guyard:
I want some more, of course.

David Read:
He’s saying…I am one to talk.

Julien Guyard:
I want more stuff on my set.

David Read:
God. Man, that’s funny, dude. This is a beautiful thing that you’ve created; your passion is clearly there. The ambiance of the lighting alone in recreating those sets is just perfect.

Julien Guyard:
Thank you.

David Read:
You’ve done a great job, you’ve done a terrific job. Hasn’t Rick, Richard Dean Anderson, signed stuff inside of your booth before?

Julien Guyard:
I was at a convention called Hero Festival in Marseille. It was in November 2023 and they had Richard Dean Anderson. The signing table was inside my Stargate booth, so it was really, really cool.

David Read:
No one makes Rick do anything, just so we know, but yes.

Julien Guyard:
That was really, really cool.

David Read:
Wow, that’s awesome.

Julien Guyard:
Shout-out to my people, without them I couldn’t set this up. It takes a full day and we are seven staff running this. Even during the events, because there is a lot of visitors, we need to be seven people to run this whole thing. Big shout-out to them. They really loved having Rick on the set back then, that was a really nice experience for every one of us.

David Read:
It’s a tip of the hat to all the work that you’ve done to be recognized by RDA himself in that space.

Julien Guyard:
That was really cool.

David Read:
Was he pleased with what he saw?

Julien Guyard:
Yeah. Back then, the Stargate was in front of the mothership set. He had a big wow on his face, he had to look up. That was really, really nice to see. When he was going through the Goa’uld sets, he was a bit like a kid. He didn’t know where to put his eyes ’cause there was so much going on at the same time. That was a funny one.

David Read:
Thank you again for this. Is there anything that you wanna share? Where can we support you? Where can we see more for fans who wanna follow you? Where do we go?

Julien Guyard:
The easiest way is going on social. I have a website, atlanteprops.com, Facebook, Instagram. I announce all the conventions I’ll be at, so people can follow me there. For people who can’t come, they can view from pictures on social, that’s the easiest way. If you want to support me, you can go on my store. I have replicas for sale, which I do from original props. They have a good provenance, or lineage. I don’t know the term you use.

David Read:
Yes, lineage, yup, that’s correct.

Julien Guyard:
Lineage.

David Read:
You can track it back to the original.

Julien Guyard:
Exactly. I think that’s about it. I have many, many more projects to come, whether it’s for replicas or for the exhibition. For the exhibition, for example, I’d like to build another Stargate, an Atlantis one with the Atlantis DHD from the console room, which Brice actually 3D modeled really well. There are many, many projects. In term of replicas, the staff, since I have one now, the idea is to 3D scan it and make a working one as a replica for fans to own.

David Read:
There are a number of your pieces that I would love to be able to include in my collection of your replicas. I wanna have a conversation with you offline about some of them because they’re beautiful. I would definitely want to be able to promote them in my set as we gear up over the next year and a half to promote SG4 in whatever form it’s gonna take and whatever it’s gonna look like on our screens. Thank you for taking the time and thank you for sharing this.

Julien Guyard:
Thank you.

David Read:
Your passion with fans, it means the world to have you, brother.

Julien Guyard:
Thank you, guys. Thank you. The pleasure is mine.

David Read:
Thank you.