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David Read:
Welcome, everyone, to Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. I’m gonna dive right in. I have a very special guest today who is on a little adventure up in Big Bear, Louis Ferreira.

Louis Ferreira:
Hello.

David Read:
Hello, sir.

Louis Ferreira:
Hi.

David Read:
Colonel.

Louis Ferreira:
How are you? How you doing?

David Read:
I’m very well. How is it out of the freezer and into… Wow.

Louis Ferreira:
Isn’t that lovely?

David Read:
You get the gold star for the best spot for an interview.

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you for indulging me. I think it’s my ADHD. But this’ll help. The walk is good. A walk, I haven’t done an interview in, like, I can’t even tell you how long, so a little walk and talk action will be helpful.

David Read:
I gotta know–

Louis Ferreira:
So, thank you.

David Read:
Thank you for being here, Louis. I gotta know right off the bat: Papa Smurf. Alaina would call you this repeatedly around us. And I’m like, “I gotta know where that started.” ‘Cause I grew up on the Smurfs.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s a badge of honor for me because I just talked to actually Jamil today, and the first thing he said, he said, “Papa Smurf!” And I haven’t spoken to him in 10 years. And I was like, “Oh.” Again, it was an honor. I think it came from the role that I was playing. I think a little bit of where I was in my life, and to have that honor of playing that role and being that person in their lives in a way. I think it developed with that. Again, every time I hear it, it brings a smile to my face, so a great honor for me.

David Read:
I wanna apologize …

Louis Ferreira:
Oh boy, where are you going with this?

David Read:
… on behalf of my fandom for the reaction that a lot of my peers had when your show came out. And it just wasn’t right. And I have to apologize for a couple of the actors from the previous show who incentivized the fans to behave that way. That wasn’t right either. And I am so vindicated, Louis, by the fact that so many people, I’m told all the time, have watched the show since, and they’re like, “Damn, I didn’t know any better.” And it’s like, “I know, but welcome to the party because it’s two great years of television that fits right into any modern show lineup.” Brad and Rob knew what they were doing. They saw ahead, and it may not have been everyone’s cup of tea at the time, but it’s a hell of a ride.

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you for that. First, I agree with you. Here’s my thing: another Papa Smurf reference was The Four Agreements, and one of them is don’t take things personally. So, I didn’t. I think that anytime you’re creating another incarnation of a show, perhaps people are expecting it to be the same kind of show. And to be completely honest, that was one of the things certainly Robert Carlyle and I were excited about, that it was gonna be a departure from the first two, which was its own thing, wonderful and fantastic, but a very different type of vibe. And even as an actor, again, Robert and I talking about what we were looking to be a part of was the idea that we were gonna try to depart from that and try to create something from the ground up. This place, this ship, stuck and starting from scratch. We need air. We need water. We need… And just that, it appealed to us, obviously because, again, I think one of the things if you’re doing a show and you’re like, “Well, you’re gonna be the guy from the first or the second, you’re that character,” that’s been done. So, for us, it was an opportunity, and I think my brother from another mother, Robert, and I were thrilled to be part of it. And I do agree with you. I think Robert and Brad wrote and created a concept that it’s funny because I knew I was doing this, and I haven’t seen the show… It’s been 16 years. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years. It blows my mind. But I watched one scene, and it was a scene where we’re on the Destiny and the entire cast was there, and I just was like, “This…” I got a feeling if I was to play it back that it actually will hold up for the for the reasons that we thought and I think that Brad and Robert thought when they created it. And I gotta be honest, again, there’s a lot of me that’s like, “Oh, God, how much of it do I remember?” I remember it being one of the most wonderful experiences I personally have had as an actor. And that cast and that group of people, top to bottom was magic for me personally. But playing that scene, I was like, “I bet you this show would hold up.” And I wish we had had a little bit more of the, quote-unquote, “fandom,” that would be now where we’d be looking at the possibility of unfreezing and going, “16 years later, here we go. Season Three.” ‘Cause that would be hot to me. And I know that Brad was thinking of what a great concept that would be. I mean, it’d be phenomenal.

David Read:
David Lynch did it with Twin Peaks. It’s not unprecedented. And the fact of the matter is that this ship– The fandom is incredible for designing stuff. She was on a mission, and we only began to get an idea of what it was that she was after, and that’s something that I wanna get into a little bit later. But if we can park the ship for a minute, I wanna ask you something separate. Dial the Gate, a big portion of my show is about heroes, and about the people who help make us who we are, and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to tell me about Mr. Allen, and what he did to propel you in the direction that you went.

Louis Ferreira:
Mr. Allen.

David Read:
12th grade.

Louis Ferreira:
Sorry?

David Read:
12th grade. Directed you in high school plays.

Louis Ferreira:
Oh my gosh, you’re talking about Mr. Allen. You’re like, “Mr. Allen?” I’m like, “There’s no Mr. Allen on this show.” Greg Allen? Oh my gosh. Wow, you’re like Brian Linehan right now. That was a really cool question for me, dude. You just rattled me. I was like, “Who’s Mr. Allen?” I was gonna say, “I’m so sorry, you’re gonna have to tell me who that was on the show, ’cause I can’t remember.” This is great. Mr. Allen was my grade 12 humanities teacher, and ultimately my mentor. He also directed the high school plays, and I did Anything Goes, the musical, which was a blast. Especially for me and where I was in my life at that point, he was someone who saw something in me, believed in me, and to the point where, when I was 18, I actually moved out of my neighborhood, which I was living with my mom and my younger sister, and it was a subsidized home, and it was basically welfare-subsidized housing. And he built me a basement apartment, and I lived with this man for three years, who became a father figure to me, who became a mentor to me. I can’t say enough about him. You actually got me a little bit choked up, because I’ve certainly paid it forward by being a mentor to a lot of people now in my life. And I think, again, a Papa Smurf reference, that’s why it’s a badge of honor for me. So, Greg changed my life. I mean, I was working in factories, and I had a very blue-collar existence, which is nothing wrong. My whole family is that. That’s where I come from, and who I’ll always be, but to have this man– And I remember one of the things he would do before going off to school is he would put a word of the day on the door, and it would just be to help me with my vocabulary, for example. And we’d play backgammon, and he would read the classics. And one of the classics was Marcus Aurelius, which set me off on a spiritual journey to this day, and he’s one of the ones that I always go back to. Greg is forever a mentor. We still talk. I love him, and yeah, I’m just forever grateful to that energy that came into my life and changed my life and made such a difference for me. So, wow. You got any more of those doozies? ‘Cause that was, get ’em out now, ’cause I gotta walk here. Ooh.

David Read:
I come from a working-class background as well. We were very poor when I was really little. Not very poor, but I was always taken care of, and by 10, my dad had a good job once again. He was a Vietnam helicopter pilot and then flew until 2012 when he retired. So, I get it. And I remember Adam Barnard talked with you years ago about the fact that you talked about the fact that your mother was raising you on $410 bucks a month, and your rent was $280.

Louis Ferreira:
Oh my gosh, dude, you’re killing me.

David Read:
And I can relate to that because our folks sacrificed so much for us to have what it is that we need. And if we are lucky, we get folks in our lives who take us on, that we don’t even deserve. And it sounds like Greg Allen was that person for you, because what’s so remarkable about this, it’s either by accident or coincidence that that was the role that I’m sure you’ve done that in real life. But the Louis Ferreira that we know, who played Everett Young, did that for so many men and women on that ship.

Louis Ferreira:
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

David Read:
You look at, I mean, when Scott’s, when Brian is dying on that planet next to Chloe, and he imagines a world where he is marrying the love of his life, the person he sees as his dad is you. And that, it felt so right watching that as a viewer, because that’s who that guy became. And he’s stuck out there, hanging off the edge of the cosmos with these people, and he’s going to do whatever he has to do, even if it means going to toe-to-toe with fricking Jack O’Neill to say, “This is my ship. This is my crew, and you will not F with us. If we have to go this alone, we will.” And in hearing your story, talking about Mr. Allen, I mean, it only makes the two seasons that we got of SGU ring so much more true and real. And I think on a vibration, spiritual, whatever you wanna call it, level, I think that we get that as viewers. I think that that comes across as something that is truer than anything else in the human experience. And I think that I just need to stop talking now, because I’m just barfing at the mouth with these words that I’m trying to be more like, …

Louis Ferreira:
No, you’re good.

David Read:
… I’m trying to say something more profound than it is. But the fact of the matter was, that show touched me. And when it went off the air, I was gutted.

Louis Ferreira:
Please.

David Read:
So, it was something so special to so many of us, and I’m thrilled that so many of us are finding it now.

Louis Ferreira:
Again, thank you for that. We all were gutted. We believed in the show, and we thought, I like that Brad took the time to develop it and the pace of it. And I get that people might have thought it slow in the beginning, but that was, to me, the magic of it, and that is spirituality in a sense. I love that it’s called Stargate Universe I constantly, I pray to the universe. I ask the universe, I’m part of the universe. We’re all part of the universe. That whole metaphor is, you know, it’s such a real thing for me. And yes, spiritually, because I think that that show, of the three, definitely had the most in terms of that element in it. And again, by design, you know, the other two weren’t supposed to have that. And I’m not speaking out of turn, the other two shows were great. It was just that there was that element in it, and you know, getting to play a character like Young for me was, you know, I’m the goofball. I’m the guy who was the class clown, so that discipline, that integrity, those ethics, those values, these are the kind of men I admire. And one of the things for me as an actor is, wow, I get to embody this person that I would only have great admiration for. It’s the furthest thing from me in a lot of ways, but yet I have some of those core values and beliefs, just simply because of my journey. And that’s the blessing, when you can tie in the two, but even when I was watching myself yesterday, I was like, “Ooh, so, so serious.” And yet it still has become a part of me in my journey, even as an actor, because I think I look to play roles that embody– I want to be part of the healing, especially now more than ever. I was talking to Jamil Walker Smith this morning. We talked, and the first thing he said was, “Papa Smurf,” and I went, “Oh, my gosh.” And we had this amazing connection, amazing moment. And we spent the time talking about that connection. And he was speaking to me, he was like, “I’m the age you were when we did the show together.” And he was 27 when we did the show. I was 43, and here we are 16 years later, and yet he’s been on this spiritual kick and path for such a long time, and it’s always, we just picked up where we left off. And I think I would say that about anybody on that show, whether it’s crew, cast, I used to go into Brad’s office all the time and just sit there and talk about life, and I think that was all part of it. That all fed that, this is something real. This is about a people, a civilization, a community coming together, creating something. And you know, the circumstances are what they are, we’re on Destiny and stuff, but the universal themes are there. And to play someone who’s got all the levels of the complexity while still having to maintain this job and being the kind of person who cares about people and loves people and generally wants to be a good, good leader, I was thinking about it. If we were to unfreeze now and look at Earth and go, “What? No, no. What? No. What? No. You know what? We’re good. We’ll just stay on the ship.”

David Read:
We’ll just stay out here.

Louis Ferreira:
We’ll just stay right here. This is great. We love this place. That’s kind of what I feel like. I mean–

David Read:
Why are we killing ourselves trying to go home? They got issues over there. You guys do you.

Louis Ferreira:
When you think about it, look, and see, when you put into context, and it’s something, again, I’ve never done, but this is cool from the perspective of, I’ve never done it: It’s like you did this show 16 years ago, and what was happening then, where were we as a world, as a society, as a planet, and look where we are 16 years later. Boy, you could write a couple of papers on that, and it can go on for days. You know what I mean?

David Read:
Sci-fi is more important now than ever.

Louis Ferreira:
I think so.

David Read:
The escapism, yes.

Louis Ferreira:
Yes.

David Read:
But the willingness for audiences to look at themselves in the mirror and say, “What do I need to do better tomorrow?”

Louis Ferreira:
The big questions.

David Read:
And you guys were willing to play flawed characters who didn’t have everything together. You know, the mantra for Season One, “These are the wrong people in the wrong place.” And Brad was always, Brad revealed to me in an interview that I hope that we can publish one day, is that, “Yes, Young and Rush started off as enemies, but that’s not ultimately where I wanted it to go. I wanted them to get to a place where they were partners in whatever this endeavor was, but having earned it through a crucible.” And we begin to see that at the middle of Season Two when they’re getting people out, they’re trying to get people back home, and Young goes to him and says, “All right, I’m with you on this. How many people do you need? Because I’m gonna get them, I’m gonna get the number that you need.” And he goes way over the 10 that he needs, who believe in this mission because they believe in Colonel Young. And I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it because this is a guy who, a few episodes before, was suffering from the fact that he had killed a subordinate to put him out of his pain, because he was trapped. And he went down such a spiral that the ship literally stopped in space to basically communicate to him, “OK, we’re not going any further until you get your shit together.” And then by the end of the episode, he does, or he begins to accept the fact that, “OK, I get to live with this burden for the rest of my life. But these people need me anyway, and I can’t lay here in bed and die. I need to get out there and do it.” And the moment he does, the ship goes on. And it’s like, message received.

Louis Ferreira:
Even you just sort of repeating that back to me, I mean, how insane is that in terms of– And then there’s how I would react in real life. You know what I mean? I love it, such strength of character, and that ability to– I also loved one of the things I really resonated with was the non-apologetic sort of, “This is not about you liking me or me–” A lot of times that happens, where you’re like, “Oh, I’ve gotta make it dynamic and entertaining and all.” But it wasn’t that. And I remember, I give so much props to– I can’t say enough about this cast, but Robert and I really had this, we were the two oldest. We were the mom and pop. And he did the pop, and Robert would be in his trailer, and then I’d be, I’d be taking care of the gang, and, “Don’t go, Papa’s taking a nap now,” and all that stuff. We had sort of that dynamic. But he would always say to me, ’cause I had been coming off some series where faster, louder, funnier, all that thing was that thing that you did. And so, once in a while, I would get caught up in the idea of going, “Wait a minute.” And Robert would go, “Lou, trust and take your time, and trust it.” And I so appreciated that because that was the core of who Young was as well. But sometimes Louis would get in there. I had a whole alter ego on set. I remember I had this Huevos Rancheros character, and so once in a while, they thought, they would turn around, and I would have this paper-thin mustache that I would put on, and I would do my, “Hello, it is Huevos Rancheros.” And I would do Huevos Rancheros as Young, and it would never work, but we laughed a lot.

David Read:
You had to …

Louis Ferreira:
We had to laugh a lot.

David Read:
… have levity. You were in a tin can that was beautifully designed by James CD Robbins, but it was a tin can.

Louis Ferreira:
And by the way, apparently, we’re still floating in it, and how cool is that for an ending? When I think about it, they’re still out there.

David Read:
They’re still out there.

Louis Ferreira:
I love that. And so, that’s kinda neat, on so many levels. But again, it’s just crazy because when this came up, I was like, “Uh, I don’t really do interviews. It’s not really my thing.” And to be frank, there’s a lot of actors that I like who I’d rather not hear being interviewed just because the work. For me, it’s always been about that. But this was an opportunity to get to meet you, and I know that there’s this sort of built-in fan base, or that’s a weird word for me to even use, but that people have seen the show and know the show. So, no apology, and going back to what you said, ever needed. I think that the group of people that found the show and it meant something to them are the group of people that were meant to find the show and have it mean what it meant to them.

David Read:
Exactly, and it’s going to come to us at a time when we’re meant to have it, if, if I may be so bold as to tie back into that spiritual component there, because I do think that if you wanna call it God, or you wanna call it the– Whatever you want to call it–

Louis Ferreira:
I do. I like calling it God. For me personally. It’s been my greatest strength ever.

David Read:
The universe is not poorly designed. And when you seek out something that is true, you are going to find something that responds to that. And I think for so many of us, especially since the show aired, SGU was a great …

Louis Ferreira:
Worthy.

David Read:
… reminder of that. And it continues, it continues to be so, for so many of us, and to the point where one of the big questions about–

Louis Ferreira:
Look, Big Bear Little Theater. It’s cute. It plays the three movies.

David Read:
Zootopia in there.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s Big Bear Village. It’s so adorable here. It’s so cute. It just feels like it’s all Christmassy, it’s won– “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Hello. How are you?

Unidentified passerby:
How are you?

Louis Ferreira:
Good.

David Read:
What’s your altitude up there?

Louis Ferreira:
It’s just shy of 8,000 feet.

David Read:
OK, so it’s not that high up.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s a little chillier than in Palm Desert when I left this morning, I won’t lie to you, but it’s adorable. I love it. I’m gonna walk you down to the lake. You’ll love it.

David Read:
Please, we’d love to see it. I love …

Louis Ferreira:
Big Bear Lake.

David Read:
… to go for walks.

David Read:
Take me, Louis.

Louis Ferreira:
Come on, we’re doing a little walk and talk. Here we go. Little village, just a little restaurant. Look at the lamppost. It’s adorable. Very cute.

David Read:
How often do you make it up there?

Louis Ferreira:
When my kids were young and I lived in LA proper, I would come up here just about every other weekend with them because I loved it so much, and it was a great place to feel like we were back home in Canada. So, it reminds me of that. I think that’s the nostalgia for me. I like to come up here as much as I can for that reason alone.

David Read:
Part of me wanted to have the very first question be– I know you’ve done sitcoms before, but why are you not headlining on one? Because everything that I’ve heard from everybody who has ever had the privilege of working with you is that you make them laugh themselves sick. And then you– See, he knows what I’m talking about. And the fact that you have this individual who had so much weighing down his past, to the point where they put him on an outpost that’s basically sitting on a Stargate that’s connected to a giant stick of dynamite, that’s very different from the type of man that I’m getting to know now, who’s just, “Check this out!” Is that– What I’m trying to ask is, is this something that you seek out in characters, to find something that is very different from who it is that you are and who you like to be? Or is it–

Louis Ferreira:
Acting’s been– Sorry. Forgive me, sir.

David Read:
Go ahead. No, please, go ahead.

Louis Ferreira:
No, you go ahead. Finish. I know you weren’t done.

David Read:
Or is it just that these are the roles that come to you when they come to you?

Louis Ferreira:
I think, in part, there’s truth in what you just said. But if I was to design, I would look at it from the perspective of almost like a bucket list, if you will. I try to check off things that I haven’t done, or things that are slightly different for me. Now, the reality of that: when I got Stargate, I’d been up in Canada for a while, and I wanted to get back to LA, the LA market. I got full custody of my son, and I was like, “OK, we’re going back to LA.” And I think it was two months later, we got Stargate Universe, and I went back to Canada. Which was wonderful, but again, I had never– I think I had done a couple of episodes of sci-fi, but this was different. I was gonna be the captain of a ship? The colonel of a ship? You gotta understand, there’s always a part of Louis that kinda can’t believe that this business has been so– Listen, I feel blessed, I feel grateful. It’s very difficult right now for a lot, even for journeyman actors like me right now; the business has changed so much. But in those days, where you were going into rooms and competing, and the best actor, you still had an opportunity to win the role, all of that stuff, that’s what happened with this; it was a blessing in every way. And then I got to also take my son up and raise him in Vancouver, which for me, ideally, was preferable to LA. Just because of the way I viewed LA and et cetera.

David Read:
Vancouver’s beautiful.

Louis Ferreira:
And so, Vancouver’s a beautiful city, and again, it was a gift. But again, if I go back to if I had my druthers, I like to try to– It’s been an escape, but the one thing I’ve never really been able to do great is to be the me thing. It’s like the branding thing; it’s a big thing because who you are is what you are, and God bless those actors. But I’ve always leaned more towards I wanna escape. I think part of it in the beginning was I got to escape my life. I got to act out roles that allowed me to do that. It was therapy without me realizing it was therapy at the time. When parts came up that were something I hadn’t done, I still looked for that. The last thing I did was a biblical piece, set in 1100 BC, and that for me was, wow, that was another bucket list thing. And also, that was me leaning into, even though it’s a sort of a faith-based show, the spiritual element of that was still there. And again, it was a complex role, and I always look for that element in it. I keep searching for that kind of stuff, if I’m given a choice. Ideally, I would love a Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Sopranos. That’s the two– I wanna be somehow, let’s put those two characters together. I feel like that’s a good fit for me at this age.

David Read:
I remember seeing Six Feet Under for the first time, and I was like, “OK, black comedy set in a mortuary. Now I’ve seen everything.” And the television now, the landscape is, anything is possible at this point. And there’s so much good stuff on that you can’t keep up with all of it. So, we are blessed in today, in terms of modern TV giving us so many wonderful niche things, especially as genre fans, which we are, in following this show. And you can pretty much do whatever you want. The question is, is there gonna be an audience for it? So, it’s really cool. Wow. Where are we?

Louis Ferreira:
We’ve made it to Big Bear Lake everybody.

David Read:
Great Bear– Wow.

Louis Ferreira:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you off. I heard everything you said.

David Read:
Big Bear Lake.

Louis Ferreira:
But can you tell I have a slight ADHD? It’s hilarious. There we go. There’s the duckies. There’s the thing. And these sunsets up here are ridiculous. There’s some dude smoking the reefer. Boy, Colonel Young wouldn’t like that. He would not like that.

David Read:
Geez. I have some fan questions for you.

Louis Ferreira:
Cool. Hello. I’ll do my best.

David Read:
I’m gonna look through some of these. J.darren2810, he wanted to know what your favorite episode was, and I’m more inclined to ask, really, what your– How do I–

Louis Ferreira:
I don’t know what’s happening. Sorry to interrupt. Your volume is dropping. Is that me or you?

David Read:
It’s quite possibly me.

Louis Ferreira:
Because I’ve got 17%, it says on my phone.

David Read:
Uh-oh. OK. What do you remember as a highlight of the show in terms of the stuff that you got to do on it?

Louis Ferreira:
The pilot?

David Read:
Was the pilot it?

Louis Ferreira:
No. I thought that’s what I’m asking. I’m having a hard time hearing you now.

David Read:
I’m sorry.

Louis Ferreira:
I apologize.

David Read:
What was an aspect of the show that you loved to film? Was it earlier in the show? Was it later? Was it when they …

Louis Ferreira:
No. Throughout the whole show.

David Read:
… turned you old?

Louis Ferreira:
I loved it. I loved it throughout. Right from the pilot where I had the fart machine during the entire pilot, and we had a great time with that, doing that. I was lying on that ground forever and getting to meet people and knowing that we were part of something that was gonna be interesting and cool. It’s always exciting. I remember shooting that last scene, that last supper before we got frozen.

David Read:
The Thanksgiving dinner.

Louis Ferreira:
That was pretty magical. So, the whole, I don’t know. It’s the magic of TV and film. You go there and every day is a different day, and different things are happening. All scenes are an opportunity for growth and evolution, and that’s the gift of it. That’s the gift of this job. I feel like I’m that crazy uncle who doesn’t know how to use the ph– I’m like, “Hello, are you the… Hello?”

David Read:
No, we’re– This is great, Louis. What was it like getting to work with Brad again on Travelers?

Louis Ferreira:
How cool was that? It was amazing.

David Read:
Great show.

Louis Ferreira:
I love that character. I love that Brad thought of me for that character. I love what that character represented. And again, he cast me in kind of a leadership role, which is fun. So, I’m grateful to Brad. I think I really dug him as a human being, and I love what he’s about. And I think he’s a very talented man, so it’s a gift.

David Read:
Lockwatcher, thank you for that question.

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you for that question.

David Read:
Platschu wanted to know, is there anything that you learned from your peers or something that you got to take away with you from your experience with your peers in Stargate Universe that you carry with you to this day? Ming-Na, for crying out loud, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, you had these amazing costars.

Louis Ferreira:
Love them all. Listen, you are learning from each person all the time, and not just with the cast, with the crew, with production, with– I remember Anthea, I believe she was our craft service. I think they were the best craft service in my 40-year career that I’ve ever had. And she would make these mile-high cakes that were insane, and we love desserts. And I remember one of the things was as Huevos Rancheros. I would go into the catering truck and serve the crew every Friday, and it was just that kind of show. It was like we were a family. And so, going to work every day was a privilege. And in terms of learning, you’re constantly, in that environment, learning from each other at all times. I can go through the list and talk about each one of them and the different aspects and the different things that I’ve taken with me. Peter Kelamis, Patrick Gilmore, Jennifer Spence, Alaina. I love them all. We’re still in touch, and we support each other. And again, just a special group of people. And one of the things I took away that I– Now I’m starting to breathe heavy. Forgive me. One of the things I took away from it was the– Hold on, I’m having a senior moment.

David Read:
You’re okay.

Louis Ferreira:
Did I mention– Did I show you this?

David Read:
Wow, what is this?

Louis Ferreira:
There was something. What was I gonna say? It was a good thing that I–

David Read:
Oh, this is the street that we were on. OK.

Louis Ferreira:
Sorry, I lost you again. But there was something that I took away that was fantastic that I forgot but know that it was fantastic.

David Read:
OK. Sounds good. Do you wanna have a sit-down for a second?

Louis Ferreira:
No, never.

David Read:
You wanna keep moving? OK.

Louis Ferreira:
Gotta burn off my 10,000 steps.

David Read:
Absolutely. I’m curious, if the show were to come back, and a number of people have asked this, including ashtonknight2767, how quickly would you be willing to up and change your life in order to make that happen for, say, one more season, say, a Season Three, or, you know, a–

Louis Ferreira:
I think a resounding yes for the gang. I’m not gonna speak for all of them. But I think, as far as the actual show premise idea, the concept alone. To be unfrozen 16 years later, we wake up looking like this and being– And who knows what Brad would have in mind. That alone, the curiosity of what it could be, would be enough for me to wanna go back and return to that, sure.

David Read:
Absolutely. Where do you think the ship was going? I know that Brad’s not telling. I know David Blue knows something.

Louis Ferreira:
I know nothing.

David Read:
I don’t… If you did, I wouldn’t ask this. I wouldn’t ask you to reveal it. That wouldn’t be fair. But I’m curious …

Louis Ferreira:
But I sincerely know nothing.

David Read:
… when do you think–

Louis Ferreira:
I just know that I have to man the ship in spite of wherever it may be.

David Read:
That’s it.

Louis Ferreira:
But it’s a cool concept. I think the genius of Brad and Robert to keep it that way, put it out there that way to be like, “Hmm.” And for those who like the show, they can sort of fill in the blanks there themselves. Oh, she’s having ice cream. It’s cold and everything. God bless you.

David Read:
I wanted to know, actually, you know what? Let me put that on hold for a minute here.

Louis Ferreira:
Are you having ice cream now? It’s fantastic. Look, hold on. We’re doing a live podcast…

David Read:
Wow, that’s beautiful. Hello.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s fantastic.

David Read:
My gosh, look at that.

Louis Ferreira:
Have a great day.

David Read:
What would you like to do with the character were you to bring him back? Do you think that the time in stasis, the time away from humanity would have changed him in such a way that he would view his circumstances differently? Look, we were supposed to be in stasis for two years, three years, maybe. All this time has passed. How do you think he would handle that? He’s been gone for almost 20 years, removed from everything that he knew.

Louis Ferreira:
Is this you asking, or somebody’s asking this question?

David Read:
I’m asking that, yeah.

Louis Ferreira:
OK. I’d like to think of it as a rebirth for everybody on the ship. The possibilities of where it could go are endless in terms of who are we now? What’s happened? Where do we– Everything in terms of coming back into existence, what does that look like? Like baby’s back, but in a very different way because we’re not. But I love the idea of, just to be there, unfrozen and then end up maybe we go back to the dinner table and now it’s our first meal back. I mean, that’s a crazy scene to think about, I think.

David Read:
Eli, you look great.

Louis Ferreira:
Yeah, Eli.

David Read:
You found the gym.

Louis Ferreira:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He does look great. He’s lost weight.

David Read:
He looks great.

Louis Ferreira:
He’s all pumped up, so we know what he was doing on the ship.

David Read:
That’s exactly. Pumping iron, that’s right.

Louis Ferreira:
Yeah, you pump up– Eli, you look– You great. Anyway, sorry.

David Read:
Oh my God. That’s awesome.

Louis Ferreira:
Yeah, you look great. Pumped you up.

David Read:
Get to the choppa. Man. One of my buddies, William Murphy–

Louis Ferreira:
I forgot about him.

David Read:
Did you guys obviously have a lot of fun together. Was it ever hard to get your day because people were having such a good time, or did you always get your day?

Louis Ferreira:
No. That’s that line, the balance and again, why the magic is there. Now, I’ve had to sort of– as I’ve, an actor, done other shows, and I’ve gone now, in the last five years especially, I sort of come in some more supporting type roles, and I fondly remember what it was like to have the Stargate vibe, the Stargate crew, the Stargate cast, from top to bottom, because I think it was special. And it’s really about, we’re there to work and get the job done, and we always did. And the fun, we knew when we could and when we had to get to work. And I think that that’s the balance of it. No one ever sort of– We weren’t distracted by egos necessarily, which is another huge thing. I mean, as you got 12 actors working together, sometimes that stuff happens on sets. I’ve been on many where that’s the case. Not my favorite thing in the world, if I’m gonna be honest, but this is part of the nature of the business sometimes. Again, it goes back to, I think, mom and dad, Bobby and I were like, hey– Bobby was so disciplined and set the tone. And I think that Colonel Young and his character, that was all part of it, and I think we were so respectful of one another that it ended up being the magical experience that it was. And I’m really not being Pollyanna-ish about it, it’s just truly what happened. Again, like I said, a remarkable two years for me personally.

David Read:
Would you be willing to tell the story again of when you met Bobby Carlyle and you were trying to understand what he was saying and thinking to yourself, “Is this the accent he’s gonna use on the show? They’re never gonna understand him.”

Louis Ferreira:
We were walking down Washington Street in Vancouver. And he was doing this Scottish accent, but he was like, I’ll butcher it, but he was like, “And we’re gonna do the…” It was like Brad Pitt, remember? [inaudible] And I’m like, “Hey, man, is that the accent you’re gonna be using on the show?” And then he went, “Oh, no, no, it’ll be much softer.” And he did his thing, he did his Rush. And I was like, “Oh, cool. Just asking.” It was one of those where he was like– But it’s amazing, his accent work is proficient and all that stuff like that. But it was a funny moment for me because I was literally– And I consider myself a pretty good ear, but it was really– I was just like, “Oh boy, that’s gonna be challenging.” But that was not the case.

David Read:
He made it work. He’s a professional.

Louis Ferreira:
Again, oh my God, the farting machine in the pilot, I mean. The silliness of it all. And we had such great directors come and go and it just– Again, I can’t say enough about it, but– I’ll tell you a funny story. So, I had my dogs with me in the trailer. And I used to run them around the Bridge Studios. And there was this one time– And I’d have a walkie so if they ever needed me back on set, I turn around, get there in time, never late. It’s my thing. I remember one of the ADs, I recall him, 21, I believe we called him 21 because he was a young 21, Chad. And he would always call me and say, “Hey, we need you.” So, this one time, I’m in the golf cart, my Golden Doodle, Charlie Parker, takes a big poop. And then I get the call, “Hey, we need you right now.” And I’m like, “Oh, no.” And then I’m like, “I don’t have a bag. Oh, what am I gonna do?” And then I had a hockey stick that was on the back of the golf cart just ’cause I used to hit the ball to get the ball back, so I would wanna make the ball go really far so they’d get their good run in. Anyway, I didn’t know what to do. So, I get the hockey stick and I fling the poop over a wall that’s on the back lot. Think nothing of it only because I’m like, “There’s gotta be nothing on the other side of the wall.”

David Read:
Oh, no.

Louis Ferreira:
Cut to John Lenic coming up to me during a take.

David Read:
Producer.

Louis Ferreira:
And he goes, “Can I talk to you for a second?” And I said, “Yeah, John, what’s up? What’s going on?” He goes, “Well, we have a lady at the front gate who says she was walking and something came over the wall and hit her from this side of the wall.” And I was like, “Uh, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She–” And, I mean, you can imagine how horrible I felt, how horrified I was.

David Read:
You couldn’t have known.

Louis Ferreira:
I couldn’t have known.

David Read:
It was a mistake.

Louis Ferreira:
I mean, what are the odds, in terms of, at the right– She’s walking slow motion and then the whole thing was just bizarre. And that’s probably my most embarrassing moment I’ve ever had in my 40 years. So, I mean, I went up, apologized, took care of dry cleaning, all of that stuff. I did right by her, but I was just, like–

David Read:
Mortified.

Louis Ferreira:
Kind of a funny story maybe? I don’t know.

David Read:
I would hope that she would laugh about that now, but it’s, oh my God.

Louis Ferreira:
At the time, not funny. No, no, no.

David Read:
Crap. Literally.

Louis Ferreira:
I was horrified. I’m still working. It was one of those things where I was like, “Yeah, I’m sharing my embarrassing, vulnerable story.”

David Read:
I appreciate you for being willing to share that. Because we’ve all been in situations like that, where we’ve screwed up, and it’s like, “Oh boy, here we go.”

Louis Ferreira:
That was not my proudest moment, for sure.

David Read:
Where’s the power at on your phone? How much battery do you have?

Louis Ferreira:
Does it sound better?

David Read:
No, it sounds fine. I wanna make sure that you’re not gonna die on me.

Louis Ferreira:
Hold on. I gotta tell you how much power I got. I don’t think I have much more.

David Read:
I wanted to double check.

Louis Ferreira:
1%.

David Read:
Crap.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s gonna die. What do I do?

David Read:
Louis, if we’ve gotta let you go, we’ve gotta let you go.

Louis Ferreira:
No, but I’ll be home in seven minutes. I guess these things run– I can call you back if you’d like.

David Read:
If it dies, William, Jakub, if you guys are in the chat, if you can meet me in the Zoom feed, please come on in, guys, and we’ll hang out, and we’ll let Louis walk back. Louis, I’m gonna give you a break.

Louis Ferreira:
Hey, I’ll take that break. I appreciate you. I can call you back in 10, 15 minutes?

David Read:
You can call me back whenever the heck you want. So, there’s a lot–

Louis Ferreira:
I’ll call you back in 10, 15 minutes.

David Read:
There’s a lot to mull over here… I have something for you, so I do wanna give that to you on air.

Louis Ferreira:
OK. No, let me call you back. I apologize. I thought I had more power.

David Read:
Be my guest. It’s all good. You finish your walk, and you give us a ring.

Louis Ferreira:
OK, sir. Thank you so much.

David Read:
All right. Guys, please, come on in and save me. William and Jakub, I know you guys are out there. Come on in, ’cause you guys are the big SGU fans here. Why is that blinking that way? Just a second. Sorry about that. I hope that hasn’t been going that way the entire time. So, we’re on a smoke break with Louis, and I’m gonna go ahead and bring in my compadres here for a second. And we’re going to talk. And this is perfect, because there’s someone that I want to introduce you to. He’s been on the show before. But there’s an idea that I want to share with you that he has. Give me a moment here. Will, are you there?

William Murphy:
Yes, sir.

David Read:
I guess you didn’t expect to invade Louis Ferreira’s live stream today, did ya? Let me set this up here real quick.

William Murphy:
No, sir, I didn’t. I apologize. I’m out of uniform.

David Read:
No, it’s all right.

David Read:
I’m sure the colonel will be cool about it, but you’re gonna be Everett Young for a second there until Jakub comes in here. And I want you to be ready to share the story that you shared with me the other day, about what you think was going on, if you’d be willing to do that?

William Murphy:
I’d be humbled to. Absolutely.

David Read:
OK. Give me a moment here. Let’s go ahead and bring in Jakub. So, this is the first time that I think I’ve had a break in the livestream in this way before. We’ve had guests who were late, but we’ve never had guests who had to walk back to their places.

Jakub Olejarz:
Hello.

David Read:
Hey, Jakub. How are you, buddy?

Jakub Olejarz:
I’m good. Sorry, it’s really dark here. It’s the middle of the night.

David Read:
No, it’s okay.

Jakub Olejarz:
OK, bear with me one sec. OK.

David Read:
So, guys, we’re at halftime. How’s it going? The sports have been sportsing, and they sportsed a little bit more. And when they come back, they’re gonna sports more, and someone’s gonna win. Anyway, their income is higher than most countries anyway. This is an awesome moment for me. And I’m thrilled that you guys are here to share this, because I have been wanting to get this guy on for a really long time. He is one of the highlights of the entire franchise. Jakub, what do you think about how he’s reflecting on the show after all these years?

Jakub Olejarz:
I think it’s a very healthy approach, and lots of good stories. And I really liked how you started interview by clearing the air. I’m really enjoying it. So, hopefully, he’s gonna come back and tell us much more.

David Read:
Absolutely. I wasn’t sure how long we were gonna have him for–

Jakub Olejarz:
His reception’s great considering he’s walking outside.

David Read:
Exactly right. So, Will, I know that you were actually on Skype with me when he called, and we managed to actually secure him for Dial the Gate. And I was over the moon. What does SGU mean to you?

William Murphy:
I, like a lot of others, had the pleasure of growing up, in a way, with Stargate. Everyone kind of has that feeling, especially if you’ve been a fan of the whole franchise. But for me, that show landed as I was transitioning into that phase of adulthood, going into early 30s, late 20s, early 30s, where you start to confront a lot of aspects of real hard life. Loved ones starting to– And everyone’s got emergent themes throughout their lives. But as more people aging, moving on, some of the friends you’ve known through high school can have some premature departures from your lives. And the show, from a tonal perspective, hit at this perfect moment in my life where we transitioned into this aspect of the franchise where it was really starting to hit some real hard questions on a real solid basis. And I needed it, is the only way I could put it. You said it best, you were talking just a little while ago where science fiction, in its highest state, will force you to take a look at yourself in a mirror.

David Read:
I think so.

William Murphy:
And it is kind of like that. One of my favorite episodes of SGU, “Human,” where Rush reconfronts Gloria’s death and how he buried himself in the Icarus Project to not deal with it. And she has this line that says, “I know you love me. You don’t have to take it out on everyone else.”

David Read:
Wow, that’s right.

William Murphy:
And I remember that hit me like a ton of bricks, because I’m guilty of that. I have been guilty of the same behaviors. Speaking between you, me, Jakub, and several hundred of my closest friends, I’ll lay it out there: I’ve fallen into anger cycles before just because I couldn’t cope with something else going on. And moments like that, that’s just one of a dozen of SGU, just slapped me hard in the face. But seeing those characters develop in such a meaningful and slow way, and you were talking with Louis about that as well, is where they took the time to give us such meaningful change of characters. It’s not to slight Atlantis, Universe, or SG-1 at all, but it was more or less really great people already becoming super great, almost perfect people. But–

David Read:
They had a lot of learning, they had a lot of growing up to do.

William Murphy:
Yes.

David Read:
And there’s, uh, SG-1 and Atlantis were… SG-1 in particular was very much, it was the Stargate version of The Right Stuff.

William Murphy:
Good analogy.

David Read:
But the creators of that show said, “We wanted these people to be heroes.” And with SGU, I think they wanted to start them at a different point along their paths. And tonally, it was a shift. It was still Stargate. The humor was buried a little bit more. You didn’t have the energy of an O’Neill or a Sheppard or a McKay. But it was there, and these were people who were growing into being the heroes that that ship needed, to the point where if it wasn’t getting what it wanted out of them, like I said before, it would just stop and hang in space and be like, “OK, I’m just gonna chill here.” Jakub?

Jakub Olejarz:
About what you said a minute ago, someone said in the chat earlier that unlike SG-1 and SGA, SGU started with the characters already in the middle of their lives, in the middle of their problems.

David Read:
And in their relationships with each other.

Jakub Olejarz:
And relationships with each other, yes. It was much more grounded as a show. And I like what you said, William, your angle that it’s true for all three shows, or any other show, is that we watched these things in the past at different moments in our lives, and we all find those different stories reflecting our own experience. So, that’s what makes Stargate great, because it’s a huge franchise. Full of great characters, great stories, and all of us can find something, a lot of relatable stuff in it.

David Read:
It doesn’t have to be the same thing every single time. I think we’re so terrified about losing what it is that we love in the next iteration of the thing, because for whatever reason, especially in the American mindset, we value novelty above almost anything else. And if something new comes out, it’s like, “Well, that thing now exists, so it must have replaced the thing that comes before. And so, it’s just tainted everything.” I think you’re thinking of it wrong if you think of it that way. These are things that–

Jakub Olejarz:
There’s place for both.

David Read:
I think so, too. I think Star Trek: Prodigy is a great example of that, where you have ostensibly a kids’ television series, a Nickelodeon series, a series that has no business, all things being equal, being on Nickelodeon. It’s an extraordinary television show for two seasons. And I look at SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe as different flavors of ice cream, but it’s still ice cream. You’ve still got that Gate. And it’s still the storytelling vehicle that perpetuates things forward. And speaking of that, Will, you were willing to tell me where you think that Destiny was going the other day, and I haven’t been able to get this out of my head. And we had this conversation right when I learned that Louis was going to be on the show. So, I want you to pitch it, what you have felt is going on, like you did to me then.

William Murphy:
Yeah, so, I’ve kind of fleshed this out over the years, but–

David Read:
He’s a nuclear engineer, by the way, so he knows some things.

William Murphy:
But as Louis very astutely stated, that Universe really pushes the spiritual element. The notion of meaning at a universal level. And even from the get-go, touching on almost Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a little bit with the religious beliefs of the characters. But anyways, for me, thinking about everything from just a practical production to what would be a satisfying answer to such a monumental question, it’s almost one of those television questions that, if you do go all the way and say, “Oh, yeah, there’s just some big, floating, white-robed guy at the end of this tunnel,” it’s always gonna be underwhelming. It’s always gonna fall flat. So, I’ve been pondering for years: What would make sense? Where are the breadcrumbs that Brad obviously left, in my opinion, from the very first episode, with some physics built in? So, where I’ve arrived is that, in my opinion, the notion of Destiny, as the Ancients called it, the Destiny of All Things, is extremely accurately named. Destiny itself is the tipping point that triggers the Big Bang. The ship is following a heterogeneous, so basically not uniform, cosmic microwave background that is not uniform across the entire universe. That’s how you get greater and lesser densities. So, Destiny is following this breadcrumb trail that’s getting denser and denser, as the seed ships are picking that up and relaying it back to help plot the course. That’s what Rush said.

David Read:
So, they’re not traveling in a straight line toward an outer edge.

William Murphy:
Exactly.

David Read:
That’s not how the universe works anyway. It’s more like an expanding balloon and they’re traversing the surface of it, so–

William Murphy:
Right. So, they’re chasing these breadcrumbs that are becoming greater and greater, that, as Rush said, once had “genuine complexity, genuine coherence,” I believe was the phrase he used. But ultimately, I believe that was gonna lead to a singularity or some kind of temporal rift, insert technobabble here, that would permit Destiny to go back to the moment of the beginning of time. And one of the puzzles to this day in physics, in modern physics, is something called the matter/antimatter symmetry problem. Because you hear about matter/antimatter in Star Trek. But one of the greatest stupid questions in cosmology is, why are we a universe of matter? Why did matter win? Why wasn’t matter and antimatter created? ‘Cause when you create, in pair production, which is a form of gamma ray interaction with matter, when pair production occurs and a gamma ray strikes a particle in the right way and creates an electron, it creates an antielectron immediately. Why didn’t that symmetry exist at the Big Bang and then immediately consume itself? Well, that’s because Destiny, being made of baryonic matter, as in matter matter, tipped the scale. That was the answer to the cosmic microwave background asymmetry problem. And then the signal itself, in my opinion, is nothing less than Eli’s documentary.

David Read:
Hot damn.

William Murphy:
I think that towards the end, they would have picked it up and gotten enough of it to start recompiling it, and it would’ve been a great climactic moment where the staticky thing or whatever, and it would have been Camille saying, “Just let her know my last thoughts were of her,” or Riley saying, “The moment I saw the Stargate I knew I was gonna die out here somewhere.” Just one of those moments.

David Read:
So, let me get this straight.

William Murphy:
They were just blowing their own heads.

David Read:
The Ancients millions of years ago, hundreds of thousands of years ago, pick up a signal buried in the fabric of creation written and edited by a 25-year-old MIT dropout with too much time on his hands.

William Murphy:
That about sums it up for me, in my opinion. I think it’s the only answer that would have made sense, and it wouldn’t have just been some disappointing, you know, oh, they’re super Ancients or super descended beings or God or whatever. It’s a total predestination, closed-loop thing. And it is almost, in my opinion, what Brad and all of them did with Novus, as far as reiterating that it’s about the journey, not the destination. Rush’s quest to change things, right the wrongs, all the stuff that he put it. At the end of the day, they would have realized that’s immaterial. Everything led them to this moment, to this growth that they had, and I felt like there was gonna be some big adventure around it. Maybe some other antagonist was gonna try to beat Destiny to the punch, thinking that– ‘Cause again, the Lucian Alliance lore about whoever controls Destiny will eventually command some great power. There could be some Anubis-level threat that says, “Oh, if I can get to the beginning of space-time, I can change the universe at its foundations and do whatever I want.” But Destiny, the crew’s ultimate outcome would have been, “No, we’re not gonna change a darn thing,” and just start the cycle anew. Be that seed. And maybe some of them ascend, or not, or they could have done anything like that, ’cause obviously there’s no greater shedding of your burdens than being willing to fly into creation to start the founding of the cosmos, but yeah.

David Read:
What greater purpose is there to existence than that?

William Murphy:
Yeah, exactly.

David Read:
I dare you to come up with one.

William Murphy:
That’s my humble theory.

David Read:
Jakub, is he crazy?

Jakub Olejarz:
No, I was thinking, how can I top that? Because my idea is much simpler.

David Read:
What do you think it is?

Jakub Olejarz:
But it’s great. What do I think? I think they get to whatever the center of the universe physically is, and there are some beings involved in it, but it’s a very simple concept: it will take them back to Earth, back where they started, but something will happen along the way. They will experience something. Maybe it’s the sum of the whole journey. Basically, the ending of the show is gonna be hopeful and positive because that’s what this franchise is about. Even though Universe was much darker, it would have had to end on a positive and hopeful note. And those characters, on behalf of the whole humanity, I guess, would have learned something. We would have learned something about ourselves, and it would be hopeful. That’s us walking towards the sunset.

David Read:
The pain that we endure as individuals and as a species cannot be for nothing. It’s one of my issues with the end of Game of Thrones, and it doesn’t make sense. OK, so we followed this princess through her trials for eight seasons, watched her raise a family of creatures that save the planet from being conquered, literally. And we get to the end of it, and the moral to take away is, “Don’t bother trying to change the way that your heritage has behaved in the past, because in the end, you can’t.” And for another character who’s returning to a twin sister, “Don’t bother trying to change the person that you are, because in the end, you won’t be able to.” I think that those are terrible messages to leave an audience. If you’re creating a piece of entertainment, do they always have to be uplifting? No. But if you’re gonna take someone on an eight-, nine-year, ten-year journey, and you leave them with that, of course you’re gonna get the reaction that people were left with. It’s that latent feeling that– And the same thing can be said for House of Cards. The whole journey that I watched, in the end, was empty calories. It didn’t change anything. The battles that were fought ultimately didn’t matter at all. Was I entertained? Sure. Is this something that I can utilize as a message in my life, in addition to the entertainment? Like, “Oh, yeah, no, that Khaleesi, she–” How many parents have regretted naming their kid Daenerys, for crying out loud? It’s like, “Yeah, that Daenerys, don’t grow up to be like her. Now you’re old enough to understand it, but the show is over, and we made a bit of an error there.” And it’s just–

William Murphy:
That’s why you always make names like that the middle name, in my opinion. You guys leave it behind a middle initial.

David Read:
I’m responding to Louis here. We were talking about Destiny’s journey. You guys have a question for him?

William Murphy:
You already asked the one I posed.

David Read:
I guess I did.

Jakub Olejarz:
I did have a question.

David Read:
You didn’t have a question?

Jakub Olejarz:
I did.

David Read:
Did you ask it yet? Or did I ask it yet, should I say?

Jakub Olejarz:
No, I certainly didn’t, and he didn’t–

David Read:
Keep in mind that he’s only gonna remember so much detail, so you may wanna make something a little bit–

Jakub Olejarz:
It’s a very specific question.

David Read:
That’s the thing. I’m hoping that if we are privileged to get him back at some point in the future, that he’ll be willing to take a look at the work and be able to come back with a couple of specific, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” But a lot of them don’t. And it’s a shame because it’s a hell of a piece of work. But I’m really grateful that you guys came in to save me from sitting here and talking with myself for 20 minutes, because I didn’t figure out with him at the beginning just how long we would have. This is kind of awesome, so– I’m thrilled to have him because he created a character that, in spite of all of his flaws, became someone that I grew to deeply admire. And when he goes into that stasis chamber, that is, the last 15 minutes of that show are really, really hard to watch. And sometimes I just can’t– I’ve rewatched it a couple of times. I haven’t rewatched it a lot because of where it ends. It’s so empty. Even though it’s capped with the best piece, in my opinion, of music that Joel wrote. I think empty is the wrong word. It’s bittersweet, but really, really bitter. It’s like, I remember where I was when I heard the news that it had been canceled. And so, many of the crew were on board the USS Carl Vinson with Brad and with Martin. I was in LA working at Propworx, and I was going in– I forget what it was I was at, but the back half hadn’t aired yet. It was still a little ways out. So, by the time that we saw it, we knew that what we were seeing was it. And it got to be so good by the time it was over that it was gutting. And it’s something that has stuck with me ever since, because there was some really good sci-fi in there. There was a real great set of entertaining ideas. And I’ve never gotten over it. Kind of like losing someone that’s, like a lost love. Not losing like dead, but losing like, “Oh, I lost them.” William, can you relate to any of that?

William Murphy:
It’s hard. I had similar recollection of when I heard that the show was canceled. And then it was before the finale aired, that there was the Creation Convention in Vancouver that year.

David Read:
Tell this story. OK, here we go.

William Murphy:
Brad Wright had made a snap decision to– ‘Cause there was still talk about the possibility of doing a concluding straight-to-DVD film, because before the housing crisis recession, and then MGM’s bankruptcy and everything, there was talk about cranking out at least one a year between one of the franchises. You know that very well. So, there was still a–

David Read:
They needed to keep the lights on for the sets.

William Murphy:
Exactly.

David Read:
They’re sitting there, and that costs money.

William Murphy:
There was a real hope that they were gonna, at least if they couldn’t do Stargate: Extinction, Stargate: Revolutions, then they could at least do something that’s gonna tidy up, do a three-show total franchise finale film. Brad Wright did an unannounced appearance at the last day of that convention, and then he dropped the hammer. And I remember GateWorld covering it on the website, but I heard it live. He’s like, “No, this is over. That’s it. The sets are struck. There’s no outcome here, there’s no off-ramp for this idea.” And I remember the room went deathly silent. And that was hard, but he was so generous, and to use that– Almost in a 180, the same vibe as coming to you and Darren to announce that the show’s back. He went straight to the fans to tell ’em it’s gone, it’s over. He wanted it to come from him to the fans. But yeah, I relate very, very much to that. And I think that’s what made watching the back half of Season Two so hard is that, first off, that was peak Stargate. I mean–

David Read:
I think so too.

William Murphy:
I loved all of Universe, I celebrate the whole franchise, but you give every show a bit of time to spool up. I–

David Read:
You have to.

William Murphy:
You do. There’s a lot of Season One episodes of Next Gen as well as SG-1 that you’re gonna go ahead and go to next chapter on your DVD. But–

David Read:
I’ve seen this one.

William Murphy:
That’s fine. Don’t need to– Let’s skip past that. But man, Season Two just– “Common Descent,” “Twin Destinies,” “Gauntlet,” “Malice.” My word.

David Read:
“Oh my God, we dialed Pittsburgh.”

William Murphy:
So, much, so much brilliance, and then, in that last episode, I vividly remember watching it and counting down the minutes in my head: this– I know it’s gonna be a 42-ish minute episode, I’m on minute 15, 20, and I’m like, “There’s only 15 minutes left of this franchise now.” I remember eating every last scene, and then that, like you said, the reverse of the opening sequence from “Air,” how they filmed that, and edited. I’ve watched it a few more times than you, I think, but–

David Read:
Will you please share the fan who went up on stage and–

William Murphy:
I was gonna skip past that, but you deliberately asked.

David Read:
I did because I wanted to illustrate what I was talking about at the beginning.

William Murphy:
Going back to that convention in 2011–

David Read:
I don’t relish this. But let’s rip the Band-Aid off.

William Murphy:
Let’s do it. So, Brad went up there and he laid it out. And it was pretty much a hushed quiet in the room, but he said, “Now, it’s a great convention. Let’s all celebrate what we have. Let’s do a Q&A. Anything you wanna ask about anything.” And there was various random questions, but then I remember this one individual in particular that came up, and this is a core memory seared into my brain. Wearing a Stargate Atlantis shirt with, like, Flanigan, Hewlett, McGillion’s faces on it, and they came up and said, if you wanna call it a question, it was something to the effect of, “So, how does it feel to have your precious Stargate Universe canceled, since you’re the one that killed Stargate Atlantis to get it? I hope you’re happy with yourself.” That was pretty much the question, and they turned around with a smug smile, and before Brad could retort, they charged away from the microphone.

David Read:
To be fair, they got a boo?

William Murphy:
I was slack-jawed for a moment. Yes, to the credit of a chunk of the room, they were booed pretty loudly. And Brad, a consummate professional, did stand up for himself and very clearly said, “I just wanna clear the air right now about a very common misconception. Atlantis is my baby. That was mine. I got to build it from the ground up. This wasn’t something like the original show that I picked up. I got to shape everything about that franchise with my fellow creators from the ground up. If anyone sits there and thinks that we deliberately put down Atlantis for the sake of Universe, I cannot begin to tell you how wrong you are. We wanted to keep it all going as long as we could. Atlantis was getting very expensive to produce, and we had this broader strategy with MGM, again, going back to the DVD films. That was already a direction we were going, and then we wanted to pick up Universe. Again, talking to the executives at the Sci-Fi Channel, a lot of things happened, we talked about it, it didn’t work out, but don’t sit there and say that–” It’s still a misconception that I think people in this chat have to this day. I see it on Reddit all the time. People still say they canceled Atlantis for Universe. That’s just not true.

David Read:
MGM was going through bankruptcy. Sci-Fi called about the possibility of renewing the show, and there was no one to pick up the phone in LA. There was so much that needed to happen that couldn’t, and within the past two weeks, it’s been the brightest light at the end of the darkest tunnel. That’s very overdramatic, we’re talking about a TV show here, but you get what I’m saying. The franchise has life brought into it again. Name your series right now, name your franchise where they’re saying, “You know what? They could really use to put this one away for a little bit, let it lie fallow and let it rest.” This one is ready to jump outta bed and go into a sprint, because this fandom has been patiently waiting. I can’t tell you how many folks have reached out to me over the past week and a half who I haven’t heard from in a while, who are like, “You know what? I’m still a fan, I’m ready to jump back on board. I’ve been away.” There were a couple of us who kept the lights on, for sure, and were in each other’s orbit, but I think that there’s going to be a lot of folks who are going to return to it, and I think that’s exemplified with the numbers that we’re having in the chat here. They’re listening to– We’ve got more than 200 folks listening to a few guys prattle on about something that in the broad scheme of things doesn’t even matter, but at the same time, this is what we escape to recharge ourselves so that we can return to our normal day-to-day lives. And that’s something that Ellie Harvie was talking about very specifically on Saturday. We need this to cope, because we’re not supposed to, as the type of beings that we are, live the lives that we live, in cities, with gas stations and supermarkets and everything else. We are essentially beasts of burden who are designed to till the land, and we have a sense of satisfaction from 18 hours of work tilling that land. And we need things like this to remind us that things are really crappy now, but things can also be better. And our guest is back with us, so I hope you both have something to say to him, because you’re gonna get to meet him. It’s the least I can do. Give me a moment here. As I live and breathe.

Louis Ferreira:
I’m sorry about that. That took a little longer than I thought. Is this the right way, wrong way?

David Read:
I’m gonna get taco neck. Yes, if you could rotate your–

Louis Ferreira:
Which way? This way?

David Read:
Yeah. So, just make sure it’s unlocked, and then turn it back again.

Louis Ferreira:
This way?

David Read:
Problem solved.

Louis Ferreira:
Here we go.

David Read:
Louis?

Louis Ferreira:
First of all– Yes, sir?

David Read:
I would like you to meet William.

William Murphy:
Good evening, sir, how are you?

Louis Ferreira:
Hi, William.

William Murphy:
How you doing?

Louis Ferreira:
How are you?

William Murphy:
I’m well. We actually met back at a Dragon Con convention in Atlanta in 2011–

Louis Ferreira:
I remember. I’ve done two of those. And 2011 I think was my first one.

William Murphy:
You and Julie and David were there, and Beau Bridges crashed your panel that y’all had together, if you remember that. He stormed out and David fanboyed out like a geek and pulled out his camera.

Louis Ferreira:
I remember wearing something that was really crunchy and it was messing up the mic. Because I went as a fan, and I was getting– And the other actors were like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “Dude.” I was dressed up like, I think, an alien or something. I remember I wore a costume, and people were like–

David Read:
You came in costume?

Louis Ferreira:
I did, I wore a costume. And I got one for my partner, Jackie, and I got one for my daughter, Sawyer, and we had a great time. But I don’t think they were too happy with me. That’s okay.

David Read:
That’s hilarious. So, that’s William, and then I have Jakub as well. And Jakub, will you please show your left forearm?

Jakub Olejarz:
I forgot. Hello sir, it’s a pleasure to meet you. That’s my forearm.

Louis Ferreira:
Hi. Nice to meet you.

David Read:
Those are the coordinates to get to a very special ship.

Louis Ferreira:
Wow, that’s amazing.

William Murphy:
Hardcore.

Louis Ferreira:
Dude, that’s fantastic. That’s an honor.

Jakub Olejarz:
I love the show. We were talking earlier about how Universe was different than the other two shows. But in hindsight, it’s the most mature, and I think a lot of us think it’s the best of the three.

David Read:
It’s OK for everyone to have theirs. It is, that’s OK.

Louis Ferreira:
Yeah, I think it’s true. Listen, I think it was, again, by design to be a very different show than the first two. I know that. I know going into it, for most of us in the cast, we were like, “What an opportunity.” ‘Cause again, even as an actor, you asked me what I, the departure’s kind of what appealed to me, if that makes sense. And then personally, having someone trust the process, because let’s face it, film is like, “Da-da-da-da-da-da,” and you had Brad going, “We’re gonna breathe, we’re gonna find things, we’re gonna take our time.” The pacing, the breathing. And again, going back to that spiritual perspective of, there’s a great quote, “Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I’m the universe.” Those kinds of things have always appealed to me. And you can see that I’m kinda a little manic. So, to be able to go– One of the funny jokes again on the set was that, between takes, I’d go, to play that stillness of Young, but then it was like Louis the jokester would come out, only to just sort of– That’s just how I release, and there used to be a joke with Robert Car– I think it was Patrick Gilmore actually did it, or Peter Gil– it was either Kelamis or Gilmore, they would always make fun of me. They would wind me up, and then I would, throughout the day, lose my energy, and they’d have to wind me up again. And you knew it was lunchtime when I was losing a little bit of energy, so.

David Read:
There is something to be said for finding answers in stillness too.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s the best.

David Read:
I have been… I was 100 pounds a year ago, heavier than I am now.

Louis Ferreira:
OK, I was gonna say, “Wow, you gained some weight, good for you.” Yeah.

David Read:
Sorry, it came out wrong, and I was like, “No dude, that’s wrong, you need to change what you said.” And it wasn’t Ozempic, it was diet and exercise, believe it or not.

Louis Ferreira:
Congratulations, by the way.

David Read:
Thank you.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s awesome.

David Read:
And going and running and not putting in earphones and just hearing my breathing, so much came to me. And when you have a great novel like The Stand or you have a great TV series like Breaking Bad, “Say My Name.”

Louis Ferreira:
“You’re Heisenberg?”

David Read:
There you go.

Louis Ferreira:
That was my second take, they didn’t like it as much.

David Read:
What a great cameo. There is something– I don’t have words to describe what a rejuvenation that is, and I think we’re moving so fast now that we need to slow down and take inventory of what it is that we have. And the more that we do that, the more we can appreciate the time that we’re given, because we’re not given a lot of it. And I think that SGU was a great example of, yes, we don’t have to have a touchdown in every single episode. We’re gonna do a gradual progression of downs, and then we’re going to hit space and we’re going to blow you all away by these aliens. And I remember Mark Savela talking about this shot where he was tied in on you and the camera pulls in and then it pulls back and your environment has changed and your outfit has changed. And I, as an audience member, I’m still getting tingles just thinking about this shot and how they pulled it off. And Mark was like, “Yeah, but there’s still a problem with the shot.” I’m like, “Dude, that was amazing!” It was amazing. An amazing trick. And it’s little things like that SGU gave us that were so cool.

Louis Ferreira:
Dude, you gotta send me that. That sounds amazing.

David Read:
I can– I’m whitelisted now, I can pull up the shot. There is so much about this show that was awesome, and Jakub, I didn’t get to ask your question. While I’m doing that, can you ask your question, or at least ask Louis a question?

Jakub Olejarz:
Yes, I can.

David Read:
Thank you.

Jakub Olejarz:
My question is about a specific episode called “Trial and Error.”

Louis Ferreira:
I’ll do my best.

Jakub Olejarz:
No worries.

David Read:
This is the one where the ship decides to stop until you figure your crap out.

Louis Ferreira:
OK.

Jakub Olejarz:
Yeah, my question was about your, how– what was your process, your preparation or maybe inspiration for that performance? Because it’s one of my favorites in the series.

David Read:
Let’s make it a little bit more general. Like, who did you reflect from your own life in terms of pumping into this character? This stiff upper lip, I’ve got a job to do, I’m here to do it. Am I the person that they asked for? No, but I’m going to do this job. Who did you look to for inspiration to create that role? Sorry, Jakub. Is that all right?

Jakub Olejarz:
No, it’s all good.

David Read:
Was there anyone specific?

Louis Ferreira:
Is that the right vibe, Jakub?

Jakub Olejarz:
Yeah.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s what David’s saying?

David Read:
I know this guy like the back of my hand.

Louis Ferreira:
No, and I appreciate that, I was just making sure we were all on the same page. I feel like, for me, it’s never necessarily one person or– I think just for me, again, when I go even back to the Marcus Aurelius and I read ethics and I read words like discipline, integrity and sometimes when you– Even just some of the training people that I’ve, along the way, have met with, that they have that sort of steadfastness, that center. These are men that I admire, really, is what it comes to. I always try to go, I get to play someone, imagine yourself as this person that could possibly impact a group of people with his ability to stay centered and who he was and his belief system. I have only admiration for people like that, people who are consistent in their, as you were talking about just now in terms of, I remember my grade seven teacher, Ms. Demartle, she wrote on the blackboard, and this is still why I probably don’t do social media to this day, I always felt this way, that she wrote, “There will come a day where technology will surpass humanity.”

David Read:
Oh God, that’s true.

Louis Ferreira:
And that stuck with me, that’s resonated with me, and especially now you look at the AI and you look at this aspect of AI called singularity where apparently it’s gonna be achieving every level of humanity and then surpassing it, and then the experts are going, “We don’t know what happens next. The truth is we don’t know. So, we gotta be very careful here.” And I agree with that, and I think, again, the removal of that for me has allowed me to do things like I do wake up and I meditate, I do wake up and I do journal, and it’s a blessing and a gift that I’ve been– And you talked about, David, when you come from a very different upbringing. My brother, who just retired from work at 72, worked in the same factory I was working with him at 14, 15, 16. I come from a Portuguese immigrant family. My brother and sister, who married a brother and sister, all worked at that same factory. And when I was 14, they said, “Quit high school. You don’t need no school. We’ll give you $5.50 an hour and you’ll get benefits.” And that was supposed to be– I was helping my mom, supplementing the income. I started working when I was six. But those kinds of values come from experience. So, when I get an opportunity to play, there’s something about embodying someone that you, in your own personal life, would like to be. When I read The Four Agreements, and I remember for a long time I would give everyone I would meet that was kind of on a spiritual kick, that was the book I would give them. I said, “You gotta read this. It’s such a great basis. It’s such a great thesis.” And so, I would say, “Read this book. It’ll touch you, it’ll inspire–” And it always did. And so, those values I could bring to Young, that kind of stuff where you’re, he was there and the discipline in him to wanna get these people home and care about these people in his own way, but knowing that he had this weight on his shoulders. And don’t forget, he had his personal problems going on at home. And what was that beat with Telford? That was not a good moment. That I remember.

David Read:
At least there was– It was mind control at least, so there was– These two were friends, and all of a sudden, he’s banging his wife, ex-wife, and there’s things going on that– This guy was–

Louis Ferreira:
I didn’t like that scene. That’s funny. I’m making a joke about it, but it was kinda funny. I was like, bizarre. But again, Lou Diamond Phillips and Ona.

David Read:
Great actor. Ona.

Louis Ferreira:
So, many wonderful, wonderful people, the privilege of it all. But going back to the original question, where it was that, I think I drew a lot of it from people along in my life that I’d met that possessed those particular characteristics, and I leaned into it. I think Colonel Young didn’t crack a smile until episode 18 or something, and that was by design. I wanted it to be– And that’s why we were upset laughing. We had to. It wasn’t about– You didn’t have to like me as Young. There were no tricks. There’s not me like, “I know how to be charming as an actor, and I can make you all like–” It was more like, “Hey, this is the real guy for me, and this guy is in a real situation.” And by playing it that way, I think it gave it a lot more credibility for me, and something that, like I say, it’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve had personally, for not just the work itself but for the experience as a whole, who we were. We were a family, the entire group. And that is something that doesn’t happen, especially now more than ever, with the technology impacting our– It’s a different world out there for actors right now. We don’t go into rooms and audition the way we used to. Now there’s something called the self-tape, and it literally is like Destiny. It goes out in the ethers, and you hope, and you don’t know, and you don’t even know if it’s getting seen, and there’s so many people who are– You don’t know, and you’re not getting that “I’m meeting you as well” as in “I wanna know if I wanna spend my time with you.” It’s a two-way street. You’re not getting that aspect. “Let me communicate back and forth. Let’s get to know each other.” This is, as soon as you get on a set, it’s spending time with a family, and that’s important. This is your time. It’s valuable. I always had that thing going. Now you’re like, “Can we get feedback? Oh, we don’t do that anymore.” I’m like, “Can I get a note?” ‘Cause I used to love doing an A take and a Z take and then showing them I’m an actor, and then I can, all that stuff. And I think a lot of actors feel that way. But right now, there are a lot of brothers and sisters, actors, who are hurting because it’s very challenging, ’cause the industry has changed so much. The technology part of it is a big part of it. I think we’re moving so, so fast that we’re forgetting fundamentals. And I think that’s ultimately what we’re gonna have to get back to, and I think we need people doing that. When you go, “Let’s reboot Stargate Universe,” it would be great if these people came back and they could make a difference, because they’re still stuck in that time just before it kind of fell off the cliff, just to use a metaphor.

David Read:
When we first did our first episode back after having announced that Stargate had returned, one of the things that I did was I had Jakub and I think Antony pull a screenshot from SGU Season One, and it’s a screenshot of Eli using the iPhone 1 to take pictures of the team working a problem. And you can attribute a lot of the frustration of our modern society to that kind of technology. I think it’s exemplary that that’s the last time that we saw those people. And I think that Eli would have a lot to say about the transformation ever since, in particular because he was the stand-in for the audience. And he was–

Louis Ferreira:
He really was.

David Read:
He was the heart and soul of the audience, who was there to say the nerdy thing or the awkward thing on our behalf. It’s like we’re all thinking that. Oh, Eli’s gonna go there.

Louis Ferreira:
And we loved Eli. And there was the thing, and I think both Rush and Young knew that he was smarter than anyone else on that ship, and that’s why he was utilized and chosen. It was such a great character, and David played it so beautifully. I completely agree with you. That’s a really interesting fact to sort of process. If you think about it, wow, that alone is worth a look into something.

David Read:
Absolutely. Can you do me a favor and tilt your camera up …

Louis Ferreira:
Look at me. I’ve got–

David Read:
… a little bit?

Louis Ferreira:
There, there.

David Read:
There we go. Speaking of what we spoke… That was funny.

Louis Ferreira:
How funny. It’s a Luigi thing.

David Read:
It is funny.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s Luigi, and I apologize. I’m so sorry.

David Read:
Luigi, that’s right. That’s what he said. I think this is exemplary of the family aspect of it. We had camera operator Ryan Purcell on Saturday.

Louis Ferreira:
Love Ryan.

David Read:
He was awesome.

Louis Ferreira:
A partner.

David Read:
And he had nothing but good things to say about you and that cast. And the fact that I texted you and said that he said hello, and you knew exactly who he was.

Louis Ferreira:
Are you kidding me now?

David Read:
Those people were so– The below-the-line workers, they’re hard to get on the show. This is not what they do. They do not get in front of the camera; they stay behind it. And …

Louis Ferreira:
They’re the show.

David Read:
… They are the show.

Louis Ferreira:
They’re the backbone. Without them, there is no show.

David Read:
There’s no show.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s true. I consider myself a below-the-line actor, and that’s always gotten me in trouble sometimes, only from the perspective of, I really– Like I said, I’m a blue-collar dude who works, and I love showrunners, and I love, and I’ve been blessed with doing the 15 series that I’ve had. And I’ve worked with some of the greatest people, but I’ve always, I’m the guy who’s in– I’m at home with– I understand that people are there 80, 90 hours. The creatives are doing their thing, and they’re– And that’s another thing. For me, it’s always been about I like acting. I like to go, I like to act, and I like to go home and be with the people that I love, and I live that life. I have so much respect for what the above-the-liners have to do and the amount of work. When you look at, I’ve had the blessings of working with Steven Bochcos and Vince Gilligans and the David Goldbergs. All of these amazing, amazing people. And it’s a whole other world that I really can’t connect with. I admire it so much. But going onto a set, you’re gonna find me in the background tent hanging out in atmosphere and playing games, shooting hoops, and being that guy. And then focusing on the acting, which is the gift. It’s a gift.

David Read:
And some of the most talented people were a part of that process. And Mark Savela and his team, they– I’m trying to remember the director for “Space.” Can one of you guys look that up for me?

Louis Ferreira:
Was it Felix?

David Read:
Was it Felix? Let me see here.

Louis Ferreira:
I’d love to get one answer right. Was it Helen Shaver?

David Read:
I don’t think it was Helen Shaver.

Louis Ferreira:
Was it Andy Mikita? Was it Peter DeLuise? Was it Robert Cooper?

David Read:
Andy Mikita.

Louis Ferreira:
Hey, Andy.

David Read:
So, let’s show this shot. Andy Mikita and his team pulled this off.

Louis Ferreira:
He called me a baboon.

David Read:
My God.

Louis Ferreira:
What a baboon. That was my– that’s what, every time.

David Read:
Check this-

Louis Ferreira:
What a baboon.

David Read:
Check this out. So, this is from “Space,” and to this day, I find this amazing. We’re about to see– Can you see it?

Louis Ferreira:
This is like one of those real talk shows. No, I can’t see anything.

David Read:
Uh-oh.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s very exciting.

David Read:
Can you– What are you looking at, Louis?

Louis Ferreira:
I see you and all those fantastic things in the background, including the Stargate, and then I just see me in the top right-hand corner.

David Read:
I apologize. I’m not broadcasting this portion of it. Give me a moment here.

Jakub Olejarz:
You are on the YouTube stream, David. We are watching the scene.

David Read:
All right. Give me a moment here, and I’m gonna-

Louis Ferreira:
There’s three of us now. This is exciting.

David Read:
I’m gonna play it back here. Just a minute. I know what I was doing wrong ’cause I don’t usually watch it this way. Hang on, guys. All right, here we go. Now, can you see yourself?

Louis Ferreira:
I can see. No sound, but I can see.

David Read:
Perfect. So, this is all one shot. Your environment has changed, and what you’re wearing has changed. And as far as I’m concerned, it was flawless.

Louis Ferreira:
I haven’t aged a day.

David Read:
But that’s magic, you know?

Louis Ferreira:
Dude, that’s cool. Thank you for sharing that. Man, that’s wild. I’ve never– I don’t–

David Read:
It’s insane, the artistry, the lighting changes.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s really–

David Read:
And this set is actually the hallways, the corridors of Stargate Command. They have this alien environment put over the front of them, and that’s how that was pulled off. But the folks who made this show were brilliant.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s pretty cool. That’s really cool. Thanks for sharing that. That’s neat. I see, and it brings a smile to my face, as serious as it all is. It was such a good time for all of us.

David Read:
Frederick, or not Frederick, I apologize. William, do you have anything more to ask Louis before we wrap?

Louis Ferreira:
Can I say this, David?

David Read:
Please, sir.

Louis Ferreira:
When we were talking, I hope that I– The last 15 minutes I could barely hear, so I was hoping I was answering the questions correctly.

David Read:
You are.

Louis Ferreira:
But you people were seeing the inside of my ear, OK? ‘Cause it was on so low I could barely hear it. My apologies for that.

David Read:
I apologize for that.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s on me.

David Read:
You are all good. William, do you have anything? I don’t wanna abuse Mr. Ferrera’s time.

William Murphy:
No, not at all. I actually really wanna piggyback on Jakub’s question. Not getting into specifics, but, sir, you mentioned tapping into such noble historical figures and noble individuals from your life to bring that gravitas to certain characters, specifically Young. The episode that Jakub mentioned was the complete opposite. Everett had gone past his breaking point. Everything with Emily had fallen apart. The death of Sergeant Riley by Young’s own hands, the death of T.J.’s child. All that, everything just snapped. So, I guess, and I don’t wanna speak for Jakub, but I’m personally curious as a follow-up: to portray a character with such an extreme level of vulnerability. I’m not gonna say it’s easy to play nobility, but I think as an actor it would be even harder to show that broken back. So, what, how do you prepare for something like that, or such a vulnerable moment like that? That lasted a whole episode, for that matter.

Louis Ferreira:
I appreciate that question. I think for me, it’s interesting. When I started acting, because of the sort of broken childhood, I was celebrated a lot in my earlier career for playing those kind of tortured artist kind of characters. It was given to me as the opportunities through the profession, as I had this father who just sort of took away a childhood. Not to be too serious, but it ended up being those kinds of characters were kind of easy for me to lean in, if that makes sense. So, I was every bad guy, psychopath. I was just– As a sort of a metaphor to use, I just watched Eddie Murphy’s documentary on Netflix, and I look at him now with his 10 children, with his wife, the evolution of him, and you think back at Raw when he was that nasty, and I’ve just seen the growth in him. And his ability to be who he was, this megastar with everything in his hand, to just know that he was gonna avoid certain pitfalls because he spiritually understood certain things about who he wanted to be and the kind of person he wanted to be. So, my life has been, and I think so many of us have been, always fighting those demons that can easily come up for me. So, that’s been the spiritual work. There’s actually a great book called Acting From a Spiritual Perspective that I’ve adopted, and I’ve actually done book clubs with and stuff like that, because I’m about– So, often it’s easy to, like, “Hey, do that thing you do where you’re tortured and you’re broken,” and we see how so many stories end for these wonderful, brilliant actors and stuff. And that’s something that consciously, I think the wiring, that complex wiring, is something that I’ve always had within me for whatever reason, and I’ve always felt that. But my choice is to lean towards the spiritual side. Help me, ’cause I believe in that. I believe in love, I believe in light, I believe in kindness, I believe in empathy, I believe in forgiveness. And these are the qualities I want to have in my life. And that darkness is something that I always felt very comfortable, and it’s kind of the easier stuff for me to lean onto as an actor. So, what you’re saying is when I had to– So, the nobility thing for me, in fact, is more challenging for that reason, if that makes sense, ’cause it’s in fact who I want to be. Does that make sense? So, it’s a process. Where I was at that age doing that show, I was probably closer to being able to connect to that darker side of me. Now, 17 years later, it probably would be slightly more challenging for that reason, but it would be different. It would just have a different tone to it. And I think that’s the beauty of it all. I think that’s the gift, again, of this profession where you can use wherever you’re at and put those things in your characters and your work, if that makes sense.

William Murphy:
That’s beautiful. Thank you, sir. I really appreciate that.

Louis Ferreira:
No, thank you, William. I appreciate your question.

David Read:
Tying back to that, you talked about a portion of that book that dealt with reciprocity.

Louis Ferreira:
I love that word.

David Read:
And you quoted this in the GateWorld interview. “In acting, it means mutual honor and appreciation between actor and director, actor and producer, actor and actor, and actor and audience. It means I am recognized as a valuable player by you, and you are recognized as a valuable player by me. It excludes either the tendency to look down one’s nose or up from the ground at another. It means the universal respect, appreciation, and love that life has for each of its manifestations, as well as that which each manifestation has for every other.” And I think that that is exemplified by the quality of the work that you guys put out, the relationships that you were willing to have with each other. So, many of you in the second season moved to be nearer toward each other, because for so much of that was you enjoyed being a part of each other’s lives. And I think it’s one of the reasons why the show continues to resonate with us and why you continue to communicate with each other over such a period of time.

Louis Ferreira:
David, you did it again. You pulled a Brian Linehan. That was amazing, where you got that quote. I mean, that’s been– When was I? When? That’s amazing that you brought that up. Thank you for that. That made me feel so good about it. Actually, I wanna share now– You tell me, I’m on this dinosaur here.

David Read:
You’re OK.

Louis Ferreira:
Hear me if I leave? If I go to a text, will you still be able to hear me?

David Read:
Yeah, yeah. We won’t be able to see you for a second, but yes, go ahead.

Louis Ferreira:
That’s fine. I want to share this with you because, when I talked to Jamil today, and we hadn’t talked in 13 years, and we picked up right where we left off, this was the quote that he shared with me today. And his quote was so beautiful, and I was just like, it just was like we hadn’t missed a day. So, the quote is, “When she becomes fully conscious of her powers, her role, her destiny, she is an artist, and she ceases her struggle with reality. She becomes a traitor to the human race. She has become permanently out of step with the rest of humanity. She transmutes her real experience of life into spiritual equations.” That’s Henry Miller, believe it or not. I just was so taken by that because it just speaks volumes to me about– I’ve always thought of the idea, the spiritual idea of in it, not of it, and not getting caught up. And that’s always something I’ve carried with me my entire life. And right from when I– I remember, I was 16 years old and I sat in a theater and I went to see Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, and I was like, “Oh, yes.” There I was, you know? And I’ve been wearing plaid shirts ever since. And, yeah, it’s just something I carry with me.

David Read:
Life is a journey.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s a beautiful journey, indeed.

David Read:
We’re never promised the morrow, and we take every day as it comes, and, you know– Go to bed, I go to bed each night thanking God and thanking the universe and thanking that which is greater than I am, ’cause I think you need to lean on something.

Louis Ferreira:
Amen to that. Absolutely. How do you do without?

David Read:
I don’t know how people do.

Louis Ferreira:
I don’t know either.

David Read:
I have been blessed to know some very talented people through this program. Do you know what this is?

Louis Ferreira:
It’s a Kino.

David Read:
You should. You got hit in the head by one.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s a Kino ball, right? Am I right?

David Read:
This is your Kino.

Louis Ferreira:
My Kino?

David Read:
This is your Kino. This was made–

Louis Ferreira:
Wow. That’s so cool.

David Read:
Hang on just a second here.

Louis Ferreira:
Jakub, where are you? Where are you located, Jakub?

Jakub Olejarz:
I’m in the UK.

Louis Ferreira:
Amazing. I’ve been going to Greece for the last couple years. I’m in love with Europe. I’m Portuguese, by the way, so I’ve been going to Portugal, the homeland. I’ve fallen in love with it. Anyway, and William, where are you?

William Murphy:
I’m in the Southeast United States, South Carolina.

Louis Ferreira:
Oh, that’s cool. I worked there once.

David Read:
Louis, how do you pronounce your given name?

Louis Ferreira:
I am Louis Henrique da Rocha Ferreira. Nice to meet you.

David Read:
It’s beautiful.

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you.

David Read:
This is one of the screen-used Kinos, and this is one of the replicas that have been made. This one has a little bit more of a frost to it to give it the age. They are production-molded and painted by hand. My friend, Remington Phillips at SG1Props. Did I get the wrong one? Yeah, that’s the right one. I can’t even tell when I sit them down. The weight of this thing. This is yours. And it is something that I’ve been holding onto for the day that I would get to meet you. So, he made these from the original molds, and if I can get an address for you, I’m gonna get this to you because you are–

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you.

David Read:
You and Robert were the fathers of that show. And I know that David has one, and it’s only appropriate that you do as well. The gift that you have given us tonight by spending some time with us has been so wonderful, and it means so much to me and to all of us to be able to share what this series means to us with you. And the fact that it’s coming back in some way, shape, or form, the fact that there is a glimmer, that there’s a possibility that that story in some way may be resolved, is a balm to that beautiful piece of music that Joel Goldsmith left us with at the end of that journey. So, this is yours and it …

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you, David. Thank you.

David Read:
… is a gift of love and friendship and appreciation from Remington and myself. And thank you for spending so much time with us tonight.

Louis Ferreira:
It’s been my privilege. Like I say, I’m not one who does this a lot, but this was a blast. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I appreciate you all. Much love. We’re all love and light, and I love that you guys– I am humbled. Thank you so much.

David Read:
It’s a privilege.

Louis Ferreira:
Thank you. My privilege.

David Read:
You have a great time up there.

Louis Ferreira:
Will do. By the way, I’ll leave you with this. Every single shot of us as a crew, as a cast, the Luigi, this was the face. Ready? That’s literally every shot. Every wardrobe shot. It drove them nuts. But again, we had fun and we’re just so grateful. Listen, thank you guys so much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much.

David Read:
You’ve been a treat, sir. I really appreciate your time.

Louis Ferreira:
OK. Much love.

David Read:
Be well.

Louis Ferreira:
All right. Bless.

David Read:
Bye-bye.

Louis Ferreira:
Bye-bye.

David Read:
This has been a real treat, guys, and I really appreciate you being a part of this. I’m gonna leave you with– You guys won’t be able to see it, but those who are watching the show will be able to. I didn’t know that this was out there. I didn’t know that anyone had a copy of it, but this is the Season Two cast and crew photo for Stargate Universe. And I wanted to share this with all of you. And there’s Louis right down there. This was a huge group of people who made such a great year of television. And I have been blessed to have so many of them on the show. We have been blessed as fans to get to hear their stories. So, it means the world to be able to share Louis with you guys tonight. Fellas, thank you so much. If I can find the right mode. Thank you so much for spending time with me here. This was a treat and a privilege to get to share my time with Louis with two of my friends. And thank you all in the chat for hanging out tonight, and for submitting your questions. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to everybody, but I think this was a good one. So, thank you, Will. Appreciate you making it out.

William Murphy:
Thank you. It’s such a privilege. I’m humbled. Thank you very much.

David Read:
Jakub, my lead archivist. You have been doing a hell of a job, buddy, and I’m really glad you’re on this road with me.

Jakub Olejarz:
Thank you, David. And thanks for tonight; it was awesome.

David Read:
Thank you. If you guys could–

Jakub Olejarz:
Being part of this.

David Read:
If you guys could minimize your videos– I don’t like staring at other people’s faces when I’m wrapping. I don’t know what it is, but if you want one of these, look at the description below. Refresh it and it’ll take you to the form where you can get one. Remington does brilliant work. It’s two halves of a sphere, and that’s all that they were. And it’s circles upon spheres inside of spheres inside of spheres. And it was one of the coolest things, I think, that James CD Robbins devised for the franchise, and Remington is making those available. So, if you want one, get one! My name is David Read. You’re watching the Stargate Oral History Project. If you enjoyed this episode, and God help you if you’re in it for two hours and you didn’t, please click that Like button. It does make a difference with the show and will continue to help us grow our audience. And consider reaching out to a Stargate friend and sharing this with them as well. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click Subscribe. And if you click the Bell icon, it will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. And clips from this episode will be released over the course of the next few weeks, or sooner, on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. My profound thanks to my production team, producers Antony Rowling, Kevin Weaver, Sommer Roy, Brice Ors, Jakub Olejarz, my moderators Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj, Jakub, Enigma, Stephen, Matt “Eagle SG” Wilson for his beautiful opening sequences for our show. That guy, the stuff that he has been able to do for this channel is just extraordinary. His art, that we get to open with a piece of art every single episode, and it’s such a blessing to have him. And to Frederick Marcoux over at ConceptsWeb who keeps DialtheGate.com up and running. No one rows alone, and I am thankful for every one of you who make this thing work. We’ve got coming up this week, if I can pull up my documentation here. We have, let me see. OK, Charles Shaughnessy, he is currently scheduled for Thursday, December the 4th at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Kelly Vint, young Katherine Langford from the feature film, we’re gonna have her back. We’re just nailing down the date and time. The music of Joel Goldsmith, I’m going to have to put that on hold for a moment, because there are some positive things happening and I have to give them time to percolate. But it is coming out, it’s just not gonna come out until it’s ready to rock and roll. I appreciate y’all tuning in. Let’s see what the rest of our fifth season here has for us before I wrap on the 10th of December and go up to Vancouver to shoot more stuff for you guys, because you guys are the best. I’m David Read for Dial the Gate. I appreciate you tuning in, and I’ll see you on the other side. Bye, everybody.