Our favorite Ancient scientist returns! Gildart Jackson has remained in our memories as “Janus” in “Before I Sleep” and is back on the show to catch us up on his world and take your questions!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome one, welcome all to Episode 411 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. It means so much to me to have you with me for this episode. Gildart Jackson is responsible for one of my favorite characters in the entire canon of the franchise, Janus, an inventor and someone who I think is probably responsible for a lot more than we initially realize by the time, especially that we get to the end of the show, his name comes up again. Although we didn’t see him in person, which is such a tragedy, Gildart. They referenced you in “The Return.” We talked about this a little bit before. It’s like, “Can you give me a hologram? Can you give me something?” There’s gotta be digital copies of him floating around in that room that they made as your secret lab in Season Five. But it’s continued to be one of my favorite episodes that I’ve done, in the 411 that I’ve done. And it means so much to me to have you back, sir. How are you?

Gildart Jackson:
No, thank you. I’m very, very well. And it’s good to be back, and I heard– Can we talk about this now? I heard that there was news from the Stargate universe. But I don’t really know. You told me in an email that it had been recommissioned or something like that.

David Read:
I will send this to you afterwards, but it’s November the 11th, somewhere around there, last year. And Joseph Mallozzi reached out to me, and he was the executive producer on Atlantis, and he asked me to sign an NDA. So, after the hemming and hawing of five minutes, I did sign it. Two days later, my business partner, Darren, and I over at GateWorld found ourselves staring at Joseph, Brad Wright, and Martin Gero, who was just a tot on the first season there. That was his first season of television. He later went on and did Blindspot, he did the new Quantum Leap. And on the 19th of November, Darren and myself announced to the world, in what has now been seen over a million times, a Prime Video announcement of Stargate four. And it has been a whirlwind ever since. So, we not only were invited to be a part of the announcement, but we had the first lines in the announcement.

Gildart Jackson:
Wow, that’s great.

David Read:
So, I’m still waking up every day being like, “Am I still in this timeline?” Yes, I am. It’s there online, so I must be. So, it’s been one of those highs that I’m only beginning to come down from in some respects. And in others, it’ll just be pinch myself forever.

Gildart Jackson:
I would imagine, not that I– as you know, I don’t really know the Stargate world very well–but I would imagine that your enthusiasm for this thing over the years since it’s been down, and you were responsible in some fashion for the decision. They could look at your numbers and see, “Wow, a lot of people are still interested in this world.”

David Read:
Contributed, for sure.

Gildart Jackson:
Well done. That’s amazing.

David Read:
Thank you.

Gildart Jackson:
Are they gonna have the same actors back to do the lead roles, or is it gonna be a whole new thing?

David Read:
It’s what’s called a soft reboot. So, it is not a reboot-reboot. It is not wiping the slate clean and starting from square one. It is far enough; enough time has passed because it’s us in the here and now, unlike the episode where you were in, which was set specifically 10,000 years ago. It’s 14 years, 15 years have passed, so it’s gonna give them an opportunity, much like they did with Chris Pratt in Jurassic World, to tell a new story in that universe without having to erase anything that came before, but also there’s enough distance in time so that they don’t have to go to the same folks that they did before in order to solve problems. But Martin has his own story planned, its own ideas. And if I know Martin, sooner or later, someone from the past will make an appearance because it’s such fertile ground. There would be no reason to return to that same canon if not to, either in a Season Two or whatever, eventually do it. My genuine hope is that it’s going to be 51 minimum percent new content and 49 maximum percent fan service. And the tightrope walk will always be there because you have to speak to the new generation. They’re going to be the ones watching the show in 30 years. It’s not necessarily going to be me. It will be me, but not necessarily in this chair.

Gildart Jackson:
So, how did the powers that be pitch it and sell it to the network? How did that happen?

David Read:
Martin spent 18 months beforehand pitching to Amazon. To my knowledge, he has a contract with them for shows. And this was one of those pitches, and he went to Brad Wright and Joseph Mallozzi, and was using them to have someone to bounce off against and say, “This is my idea.” So, they’re part of this project as consulting producers. And you actually have Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich from the original feature film, who are on board as executive producers. And they always wanted to return to films anyway, and if this one is a success, there’s a whole multiverse thread about this franchise that you can leverage to go and tell stories like that. They’re working on Season One of this thing. They’ve recognized that it must be perfect in order for it to have the greatest chance of succeeding. If that’s a success, who knows? And the fact of the matter is, Stargate SG-1’s ten seasons are now back on Netflix, and to my knowledge, in less than a week, it’s already cracked the top 10 of watched shows. So, things are good.

Gildart Jackson:
How many episodes did they buy?

David Read:
I don’t know.

Gildart Jackson:
You say–

David Read:
For Stargate four, I don’t know.

Gildart Jackson:
So, Amazon …

David Read:
Prime Video.

Gildart Jackson:
… bought, and–

David Read:
That’s right, Amazon bought MGM.

Gildart Jackson:
How does that work? Oh, they did.

David Read:
Amazon bought MGM in ’21? ’22? The titles, the various titles have been percolating in the background, and Stargate has come up again and again over the years, but one thing after another has slapped it back down, either MGM’s filing for bankruptcy, or the pandemic, or a writers’ strike. I know in each of those instances, there was a potential of one going to happen. Its time has finally come …

Gildart Jackson:
That’s great.

David Read:
… for God’s sakes.

Gildart Jackson:
You must be so excited, and all of your listeners …

David Read:
Elated.

Gildart Jackson:
… and viewers must be. That’s so great.

David Read:
Very much so. What is going on in your world? Update me. I am eager to hear.

Gildart Jackson:
The thing I’m in the middle of right now, which has been a great deal of fun, is I’m doing a play, and the play is called The Shark is Broken.

David Read:
Yes, I read this. This is based on Jaws, yes?

Gildart Jackson:
It’s based on Jaws. So, if anybody likes Jaws, it is a sort of behind-the-scenes, what happened. Jaws, the sort of pivotal movie of my lifetime, was scheduled to be a 50-day shoot, ended up being, I think, 150 days, and quadruple the budget, and everybody knows that this is the movie that Steven Spielberg became Steven Spielberg doing. But, in fact, they had a big problem because they had to get the shots of the shark. They needed an enormous shark. And so they created a mechanical shark, and the shark was hell. It was very hard for them to take photographs of the shark that were any good. And the shark would break. The shark would get filled with seawater. Many, many things would happen. And so that’s why the schedule ballooned so badly. And there were three actors, as we all know, who were leading the movie, and they had to wait around for months on end for them to try to fix the shark, hence the title, The Shark is Broken. And the play is a largely truthful rendition of what happened in the green room, which was the spare Orca, the boat, where Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider were waiting for them to fix the bloody shark. The play was actually written by Robert Shaw’s son, and co-written with another chap. It’s about the hijinks that went on whilst they’re backstage in the green room on the Orca, while they were waiting for them to fix the shark. Dreyfuss and Shaw–I play Shaw–didn’t like each other. And Shaw was older, Dreyfuss was younger. Shaw was a big drinker, and they come face-to-face, head-to-head, nose-to-nose in the play as they’re waiting. And there’s a lot of conflict. It’s a comedy. It’s funny, and it’s a wonderful play, and it’s wonderful to be doing it. I’m doing it with two other actors who are really amazing. Both have a strong semblance to– Hang on, something just out– There we go. So, the guy in the middle playing Roy Scheider is Adam Poole. And the guy on the left playing Richard Dreyfuss is Will Block. And there’s me.

David Read:
And who’s this bloke over here?

Gildart Jackson:
There’s a very grumpy Robert Shaw on the right with nice mutton chops, and it’s great. It’s a really fun play, and it’s just really great to do. And those two guys who I’m doing it with are wonderful. And as you can see in all these pictures, I’m drinking a great deal, so that’s awesome.

David Read:
This is wonderful. When did you open, and how long’s the run?

Gildart Jackson:
We’re in actually two theaters. We opened a month ago in Santa Barbara at the Ensemble Theatre Company. We just closed at the Ensemble Theatre Company, and then we go to Laguna Beach on– I’m leaving to go to Laguna tomorrow. We have about a week of technical stuff, and then we open …

David Read:
March the 4th.

Gildart Jackson:
… March the 4th. You see? You know things much more than I do.

David Read:
I Googled.

Gildart Jackson:
No, it’s good. We open March the 4th, and I think the run is then another three weeks. If anybody loves Jaws, it’s well worth it ’cause you can really feel yourself there as they were making the movie. It’s great. It’s really fun.

David Read:
I may have to come out to LA.

Gildart Jackson:
Well, if you do, you have to work out, ’cause Laguna is about an hour south. Actually, it’s probably closer to LAX. But it’s a very good, fun night out. People have been saying nice things about it, which is nice. And it’s been great. And we’ve been getting great houses, which is also good. I think it plays well in the beach towns because more likely to have salty chaps there who like their ships, and it’s fun. The set is the boat, and there we are sitting on the boat having a wrestling match.

David Read:
My best friend lives in Trabuco Canyon, near Rancho Santa Margarita, so outside of Irvine, so it’s not impossible.

Gildart Jackson:
Ah, that’s pretty close, yeah.

David Read:
Exactly. Those are good dates. How much prep time did you have, and is this one of those that’s gonna be really hard to let go when it’s over?

Gildart Jackson:
We had a month of rehearsals, which was enough, but it was intense. And we’re very lucky that the show got snapped up by Laguna Beach. It’s a co-production with the– And it happened before we decided to, before we signed on to do it. But the show would be gone if we were just at one theater. So, that we’re at two, we get two bites of the cherry. And apparently there is talk of another theater somewhere in the south being interested. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, but amazing things do happen, like Stargate gets commissioned for another Season Four, so you never know.

David Read:
Janus isn’t dead. We never saw him die. I’m just putting that out there in the ether. Sprinkle, sprinkle. How cool is that?

Gildart Jackson:
But it’s been great. It’s been a lot of fun.

David Read:
How much research did you end up doing on this guy, and did you find an appreciation for the film that wasn’t there before?

Gildart Jackson:
Yes. The other two guys playing Dreyfuss and Scheider are much better at research than I am, and they’re big Jaws fans. I think the movie’s fantastic, but I’m just not the kinda guy who’s gonna sit and watch a movie 10 times.

David Read:
I’ve seen it twice, yeah.

Gildart Jackson:
Yeah. And I think that I– It’s always hard. It’s an interesting challenge to play a real guy, a guy who really lived, and we can all see the way he does stuff. I am imitating him in many ways. But it’s not an exact imitation by any means. It’s my own take on him. And I’ve been told it works quite well. So, what did I do? I did watch stuff. I watched his interviews, I watched, but somehow, it’s a little magical. I don’t really understand it. Somehow, something happens and you hook into something about the guy. And then I think I’ve learned enough to trust that, for me to trust that. And so, without trying to be too clever, I just basically ride the wave of whatever that is during the show. I hook into him in a way, and it’s great fun to do. It’s a lovely show and it’s a lot of fun.

David Read:
I’ve been in experiences in my life, there are certainly experiences where I’ve beaten my head up against a wall and just never achieved what I’ve wanted to achieve at something, and just have to face the facts that them’s the breaks. I forget who it was who tried to learn how to bake his own bricks in an oven. He was tired of paying for bricks. And he ended up baking around 50,000 of these failed bricks to build his home before he finally admitted he wasn’t probably going to get the idea of the thing. But there is a satisfaction that comes when you’re working at something and working at something and working, and any human can relate to this. And oftentimes, subconsciously, before you realize it, it’s clicked 10 or 15 paces behind you, and you’re already in the thick of it and it’s working, and you have to stop yourself and say, “Wait a minute. It’s fine now. I’ve got it.” Or, “I’ve got something to hang myself from and ride this wave. This is something that I can use.”

Gildart Jackson:
Yeah, I think so. I think that trusting that has been a part of my own personal process through this particular endeavor. Very quickly, I was able to hook into who I think the guy is, and that’s basically what I’ve done since then, is I feel him in some way, and out come the words.

David Read:
That’s it. I’m curious. So, it’s co-written by the …

Gildart Jackson:
The son and another chap.

David Read:
… son.

Gildart Jackson:
Joseph Nixon and–

David Read:
So, it’s Ian Shaw?

Gildart Jackson:
Yeah.

David Read:
Has Ian seen your version? Has he given you his blessing at all?

Gildart Jackson:
No, he’s not.

David Read:
Have you had any communication with him?

Gildart Jackson:
No. So, the way this works is he played Robert Shaw on Broadway and in the West End. So, he basically wrote a play for himself to play his father. And it was on Broadway, I don’t know how long for, but he went around the world playing his dad for two years, I think. Then what happens is the rights to the play get released. And the artistic director of the Ensemble Theater Company in Santa Barbara, which is a really wonderful theater, really beautiful, lovely people. They managed to buy the West Coast premiere rights to the show. So, we’ve had the West Coast premiere of the show. It now is open, I think, to play, or you have to buy the rights, to play in other places. So, it would be great if Ian Shaw would come, but I doubt he would. Also, it would be great if the only one of the three protagonists of the show that is still living is Richard Dreyfuss, and it would be interesting for him to come, but he probably won’t because Shaw is pretty cruel to him in the play, and at times, he’s the butt end of a bunch of jokes, but–

David Read:
He’d have to sit there and take it.

Gildart Jackson:
He’d have to sit there and take it, and also tell us that it was probably incorrect as to what actually happened. Although he has verified over the years that it wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience. But, I mean, the great thing is, in the play at least, it comes full circle and the end of the play is very satisfying, and the relationships you see, the admiration that they actually do bear one another, despite the difficulties of the circumstances. Shaw, he’s a terrible alcoholic. Within a couple of years, he dies. He died of a heart attack, but probably because he was drinking way too much. So, that’s a little bit sad, but it’s been great.

David Read:
I’m sure this is not the first time you’ve played someone who’s lived and passed. What are your parameters for recreating a life and doing respect to that person, through the context of the work that you are creating?

Gildart Jackson:
I don’t know.

David Read:
Do you trust that the material is going to do its job?

Gildart Jackson:
I don’t know if I’ve– I can’t remember if I’ve played anybody that lived before. I must have done but I can’t quite remember right now. Janus. Janus was alive.

David Read:
Most definitely.

Gildart Jackson:
I guess I’m not overly concerned by it. I just inhabit the character. I just want to do as good a job as I can. As you say, within the parameters of the play, recreating the situation, and then just let the play sink or swim, so to speak.

David Read:
So, to speak.

Gildart Jackson:
I guess– I haven’t really– I’ve not been worried about …

David Read:
It’s OK.

Gildart Jackson:
… what would he think if he was still alive, or what would his people think? And maybe also because it was written by his son. And Shaw, I like to think– There’s a lot of vying in the play as to who is the actual protagonist of Jaws. And then they talk about that a lot in the play. But my position is that it’s Shaw, and that he comes off in a pretty favorable light, despite the fact that he’s completely toasted for 30% of the play. Which is fun to play.

David Read:
So, this is a three-man show? We never see Spielberg, we–

Gildart Jackson:
No.

David Read:
It’s just them?

Gildart Jackson:
We hear his voice, but it’s just a voice. So, one of the through lines in the play– In Jaws, there’s that big USS Indianapolis speech, where Shaw tells the story of how he sat in the water with the other members of the vessel. And they all had to bat away the sharks for five days. There are ten scenes in the play, maybe eleven. The third scene is a recreation of that scene when they hadn’t gotten the script right. The sixth scene is a recreation of that scene when I’m completely blasted off my head and unable to perform, but throw a lot of things and have a little bit of a tantrum. And the final scene of the play is me recreating that very famous long shot where he performs the Indianapolis speech.

David Read:
For the take. It’s supposed to be …

Gildart Jackson:
For the take.

David Read:
… for the take. Wow, that’s cool.

Gildart Jackson:
It is. We’ve been through the hijinks of getting to this moment, and then we actually see it, and then the play ends.

David Read:
I’m coming out. I’m coming out to see it.

Gildart Jackson:
It’s great. It’s a fun night. If you can …

David Read:
I will.

Gildart Jackson:
… that would be great.

David Read:
I would love to see it.

Gildart Jackson:
It’d be great. Let me know, and We’ll go get a drink afterwards. If we can find a joint in– If I haven’t had too much to drink in the play.

David Read:
Do you drink on stage?

Gildart Jackson:
No.

David Read:
How auteur are we going here?

Gildart Jackson:
Unlike Shaw and his cronies back in the day, where they would drink a bottle of whiskey just to get going. No, I’m not that caliber of an actor, sadly.

David Read:
That’s awesome. No, this is great. I’ve not watched it a lot, but it’s always been one of those films where– You cannot deny that it, along with Duel, made this director. Who this day is known for just crunching these things out one after the other on time and under budget, or early. You have to find your way. And that’s fantastic to get to play a character who spends an hour or two working to find his way in an environment that is hostile to him, and where he’s frankly hostile to himself.

Gildart Jackson:
It very much is. And the other thing that has to be remembered about Jaws is all of the modern way of doing cinema, which may be disappearing now because of all the streamers, but this idea of you release a big summer movie, a big summer blockbuster, that this was the first one. This set the tone for that. And so many people who come to the play, this was the formative movie of their life. And they remember going when they were 13, 16, to see Jaws, and the cinema was filled and everybody was screaming. And this is all over the world. The people would fill cinemas and it’s really sad because that doesn’t happen really anymore. Maybe Oppenheimer had that for a few days. But the idea that you can create something which will be seen globally and everybody will go see it because you have to see it, because if you don’t, you missed the big event.

David Read:
I think the last one was Avengers: Endgame. I can’t think of one we’ve had since. That’s a shame, culturally.

Gildart Jackson:
It is. It’s because of the nature of the people don’t go to the cinema much anymore. But I remember seeing something at Mann’s Chinese. Maybe it was a later Indiana Jones. It was a full theater and everybody was screaming, and it was so exciting. The energy of being in that room and seeing this thing together which we’d all been waiting for was so exciting.

David Read:
You get teleported. I had the same experience in that theater with Star Wars IX. I had the same experience first night. It’s like a concert or a large gathering at a church or at a stadium for football or soccer, what have you. There is something about being overcome by an audience who shares the same emotional layer that you are in interfacing with this experience. And I think it’s one of the truest reminders that we’re all the same on some levels.

Gildart Jackson:
Amazing to make something where you can do that. And Spielberg’s done it more probably times than anybody else. Really remarkable.

David Read:
And the number of people who swore off salt water after that film came out is quite remarkable. I know people who, to this day, will not get in the ocean because of that film.

Gildart Jackson:
And there were people–

David Read:
And you can’t really blame them.

Gildart Jackson:
No, I know. And the other interesting thing about it is that you think the movie isn’t going to hold up. But I watched it recently, obviously, and it’s a really good film. The ancillary characters’ acting is pretty dated. But the three leads are unquestionably wonderful. They’re really good actors. And the story and the other folklore about Jaws was that, because this shark was so bloody difficult, Spielberg– The script began, I think, with the shark, and that was the way they were gonna make you terrified. The way they ultimately did it is that the shark doesn’t even make an appearance until two-thirds of the way through the movie.

David Read:
Passes under the ship. It’s a scary, big thing too.

Gildart Jackson:
It’s a big thing, it’s really scary, but not done with any CG of any description. But he had to wait because he didn’t have the shots to put it in earlier. And yet, what it did, everybody hailed him as a genius because he made our imaginations imagine this thing for two-thirds of the movie. Finally, when we saw it, it satisfied our fear gland and we all got terrified. It actually was much stronger because he had to deal with the fact that this shark was broken and that he couldn’t get the shot.

David Read:
Correct me if I’m wrong. I’m curious because you’re the one to know at this stage. The sequence with the buoys, with it dragging it in its mouth, was that a result also of the shark being broken or was that always in the script? Because the buoys …

Gildart Jackson:
I don’t know.

David Read:
… or whatever they are, you see those things coming, you know what’s happening. It’s great. It’s peak cinema.

Gildart Jackson:
It is. It really is. And just getting him on the line and all of this is, I don’t know for sure. My gut is that it was designed. I know that they changed the script a lot as they were shooting. My gut is that it was designed to deal with the fact that they didn’t have a good shot of a shark, so they had to, in some way, show the danger and the power of this thing without actually seeing it.

David Read:
AI agrees. Bruce was constantly breaking down, it did not work, so they added the yellow buoys. There you go. It’s more intimidating because of it.

Gildart Jackson:
Totally.

David Read:
One of my favorite films is Tremors, the second one. I don’t know if you’re into B movies at all, but one of the worms swallows a radio whole. So, when they know that they’re gonna be encountering trouble, they hear mariachi music playing beneath the surface. And it’s like, “I know that song.”

Gildart Jackson:
That’s great.

David Read:
Or rock music or whatever it is. It’s a heightened level; it’s the same kind of thing, where less is more in many respects in art. This is great.

Gildart Jackson:
All that, that’s that. It’s a lot of fun.

David Read:
That’s awesome. The last time we spoke, you were heavily into Fireside Reading. Marcia wants to know, “I have really enjoyed your videos where you read classics like Pride and Prejudice.” When did you realize that you have a voice that people love to listen to? That this was a way that you could interface with and provide culture, and provide an enjoyable thing. I’m trying to remember: was it with your daughters?

Gildart Jackson:
No. I think, as a young man, I always used to get picked to read the lesson in church when I was at school. And I did a lot of acting, but there was something about being able to make sense of what I was saying that nobody had ever done before. It’s hard, reading the Bible to make it make sense sometimes. But for some reason I was able to do that. Then fast-forward to actually another show that is in the Stargate kind of world, not this specifically, the Stargate universe.

David Read:
Pantheon. That kind of.

Gildart Jackson:
Battlestar Galactica. The reboot. When you’re an actor, you try to get on a series to do a long-running thing like all the guys on Stargate. And the way you do that is you audition, and then you actually have a sort of final audition in front of the network. And it’s a horrible experience ’cause you’re there with a bunch of other guys who look a bit like you, who sound a bit like you, and one of you is gonna get the part. And maybe there are six of you and five of you are gonna go home. But you have to make the deal first. So, you have to see how much money you’re gonna be making. You’re gonna see how many episodes you’re gonna be doing.

David Read:
That happens first to all six of you in that situation?

Gildart Jackson:
Yeah. I don’t know whether I’ve talked about this before with you, but I used to be a lawyer. So, I understand the reason for it, that they have negotiating power when you don’t know that you’re gonna get the part. I don’t necessarily think it’s a legal way to do it, but I’m not gonna get into that here. Anyway, I was in that final round for Battlestar Galactica.

David Read:
Which character? Would this have been Colonel Tigh?

Gildart Jackson:
He was an English guy who ended up–

David Read:
Oh, Baltar. OK, James Callis’s part. I didn’t know you were up for Baltar.

Gildart Jackson:
James Callis.

David Read:
That’s cool. You would have been too young for Tigh. Sorry.

Gildart Jackson:
There were six guys in the room and we all go in and read. Then you come out, and I did pretty well. I thought, ”This is good. I’m gonna get this.” And the casting director comes out, and it’s one of those awfully ignominious moments when he turns to you and he says, “Thank you so much for coming in, Gildart.” And you get released. So, you know that you didn’t get it. They released four of us and two guys stayed. And one of them got the part. But it was horrible, and I don’t remember now why I’m telling that story.

David Read:
What was it that we were, specifically? Wait, voiceover. Voiceover work.

Gildart Jackson:
So, I came back from that audition and I was like, “This is ridiculous, this is too much of an emotional rollercoaster.” I need to do something where I know I’m gonna make a certain amount of money, and I need a job, basically. But I don’t wanna go and wait tables, and I had, in my car, in the days of CDs, I used to love to listen to books on tape. I pulled the CDs out of my car and I looked on the back, and one of them was a company called Tantor Media. Another one was a company called Blackstone. And I got on the internet and I found the addresses of these places, and there was a person with an email. And I wrote to them both. And within a week, I was hired to do an audiobook for each of them. And now I’ve done maybe 500 audiobooks. I found the thing that, whilst I was waiting for a good acting part to come, would just keep me sane from the point of view of I can always make a set amount of money every year, at least until now. AI might be taking that away. We’ll see.

David Read:
It’s definitely crowding the space. It’s reached the point where I have a hard time telling now. And I’ve considered myself fairly well-versed in this, as you probably do, and it’s like, “This is getting serious.” And it’s not going anywhere.

Gildart Jackson:
Anyway, that obviously showed me that I was good at the job, because these opportunities just kept on coming. Then came the pandemic. And my mum had recently died, but I thought to myself, “There are gonna be so many people sitting at home in a little house.” I was imagining my mum, if she were alive, in her little house where I come from in England. “Without the ability to talk to anybody.” On the flip side, there’s this thing called Instagram, so I could actually sit in front of the fire in my house and read to her and to others like her. And my wife and a friend of ours said, “Well, why don’t you just do it?” And I just did it. That’s how it started, and then I did it for– Well, I did it from the beginning of the pandemic. I read at 5:00 in the evening, California time, for about 20 minutes, for maybe five years.

David Read:
Quite a while.

Gildart Jackson:
A lot of people sort of come in and go out, and I ended up doing it only during the weekdays. And hence, I have all these books on YouTube. But last year, we were still in the middle of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and on the 7th of January, there was a big fire where we live. Fortunately, our house didn’t burn down. But from that day on, I haven’t read again. We weren’t in our house for 10 months. We got back into our house just before Christmas, and then I did this play, and so I’m away again. But I still have a lot of people who are interested in finding out what the hell happens in the middle of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and I’ve gotta get back to it. Maybe when I get back after the play, I’ll do that.

David Read:
Cards on the table, I’ll be honest with you. I went and I checked in on the Instagram channel. And I saw where it was left off. And my first instinct was, I saw the date, and I only remember it now once you were still talking about it, and I was like, “I’ll bet that’s what had something to do with it.” And I wanted to send an email off to make sure– Not that anything had happened to you then, but that’s been a little while, and I wanted to touch base. And it was like, “Well, hell, let’s get him on and hear what there is that’s going on.” I’m grateful to hear that. And I do think that you owe it to your listeners to wrap it, for sure.

Gildart Jackson:
No, I definitely will. It’s funny. Our house did not burn down, so we are the lucky ones. But last year was quite a challenge, because we got a dog and a cat and a family, and we had to be out of the house. And then also deal with the insurance company, it was just a lot to do, in addition to trying to live one’s life. That was the thing that got missed, was Fireside, so I will go back to it, but it’s just a question of when.

David Read:
Well, you’ve only been back in the house for four months?

Gildart Jackson:
Even less, ’cause the last two months, I’ve been away, doing this play.

David Read:
You’ll get your feet in it again.

Gildart Jackson:
I’ll get my feet wet again.

David Read:
You’ll wake up one morning and be like, “It’s time.”

Gildart Jackson:
I was quite good at doing the daily reading, but I’m very bad– I don’t actually know… I know how to do a live reading on Instagram, but I don’t actually know how to put up a whatever you people put up, a post.

David Read:
I can help you with that.

Gildart Jackson:
That’s sweet of you, but I don’t even– My daughters could probably tell me, but– I have an email list, and I did send something out to most people, just so– Most people have all very sweetly sent me well wishes, and everybody understands.

David Read:
There’s some software out there that you can use. I use one called Fedica, F-E-D-I-C-A. And it connects to all five of our social accounts, and I put it in one. And then it distributes it to all.

Gildart Jackson:
Oh, that’s clever.

David Read:
And then that’s what– And it’s free. The trick is you set it up initially, so you could probably get some help with that, but then you go in and you do it, and it does it. So, you could …

Gildart Jackson:
Ah, that’s good.

David Read:
… even schedule it out if you wanted to. Because it’s a lot of work, especially in our case with running a bunch of different social media sites. But even still, with one, the software is always upgrading, and this thing is nice because it just handles that.

Gildart Jackson:
That’s neat.

David Read:
There’s a new update? We’ll patch it.

Gildart Jackson:
That’s good.

David Read:
I’m looking forward to you coming back to that, because there’s something … not soothing, but right with the world knowing that you are there at 5:00 PM Pacific …

Gildart Jackson:
Oh, it is. It’s a good thing.

David Read:
… when you’re not working on a play.

Gildart Jackson:
No, it’s a good thing. I feel proud about it, and I’m very glad that I’ve been able to do it for as long as I did, and I do need to get back to it.

David Read:
Well, I am thrilled because you and I met up not too long after that interview, and you recorded a piece for me …

Gildart Jackson:
That’s right.

David Read:
… that I’ve used a little bit. Financially it’s going to be a hit to pull off because of the number of people that I want to involve. But it has been your speech, in the mannerisms of the character, has been key in bringing a lot of people on board and turning their head and saying, “Yeah, when you’re ready to go with this, this I’m in.”

Gildart Jackson:
Oh, that’s good.

David Read:
It’s the Stargate timeline, what we’re talking about folks, and to the 10,000-year-old person, starts at the top.

Gildart Jackson:
And it’ll be even more important now that you’ve got the next season going. That’s gonna be great.

David Read:
Exactly. People are going to be jumping on ways to bring themselves up to speed in a manner that they want to watch, so for sure. So, it means a lot that you did that.

Gildart Jackson:
It’s very sweet of you to ask.

David Read:
So, anything else that we need to be on the lookout for?

Gildart Jackson:
No, I don’t think so.

David Read:
Do you recommend coming and seeing you sooner or near the end of the run? Not just me, but anyone who wants to come out and see you? When is the sweet spot when you go into a new space?

Gildart Jackson:
I would initially say the previews are always cheaper. So, I would say if you can afford it, come to the non-previews, the real show, because typically you use the previews to really find the play, but we’ve already had a month of run, so the show is very well-oiled. So, yeah, I would come any show. If anybody’s interested, please come, and after the show, if you’d like to say hi, just give word to the ushers and let them know to let me know, and I’ll come and say hi out front. ‘Cause it’s fun. It’s a very fun show, and if you like Jaws, or even if you don’t like Jaws, hopefully it’ll be a good night out.

David Read:
I think that it’s definitely a solid one. We’ve all been in situations where you can’t get away from people that you dislike, and you have to find a way to make it work. That’s a very human story relating to that kind of situation where it’s like, “Look, this is the number that you’ve drawn. Your number is up. Deal with it.” And they did. And they made a memorable part of film history.

Gildart Jackson:
And the antagonism that’s in the film, if you believe the play, was engendered by Shaw in the way he dealt with Dreyfuss. That he was goading him to get the big performance that they all got.

David Read:
As an actor, do you relish in torturing another performer’s character on stage, even a little bit?

Gildart Jackson:
I suppose I must do because I get to do it all the time. Many of my characters are always bastards. Either that or they’re God. I get God, and I get son of a bitch and schoolteacher. Those are the roles that I typically do. So, I like it. The guy playing Dreyfuss gives as good as he gets. Fortunately, he’s not cowed, just as Dreyfuss wasn’t cowed by– Maybe Dreyfuss was, but the guy playing the character, he’s great, and it’s a pretty fair fight.

David Read:
It would be a shame for you to have to tap dance at this point in that answer with saying, “Well, he’s good. He’s good.” No, this guy is a foil for me. It works. That’s great.

Gildart Jackson:
And he’s amazing at being Dreyfuss. He is. And as is the other guy at being Scheider. It’s uncanny how good they are.

David Read:
Wild man. I’m looking forward to seeing you. If something comes up for me financially where I can’t, I will let you know. But otherwise, I will let you know in advance, and I will work with you on a date that will work for you.

Gildart Jackson:
Great. Perfect.

David Read:
We’ll say hello, and we’ll catch up.

Gildart Jackson:
If you can do it, wonderful. If not, I totally understand.

David Read:
This has been tremendous to see you again …

Gildart Jackson:
As always.

David Read:
… and to catch up with you.

Gildart Jackson:
It’s always lovely to chat.

David Read:
And continue to do good work, and continue to find ways to provide people with a break from the daily grind.

Gildart Jackson:
That’s good.

David Read:
Just to slow down and remember the finer things in life. Theatre and reading and enjoying story. So, thank you, Gildart.

Gildart Jackson:
Thank you very much, and well done for getting Stargate back on the air.

David Read:
We’re just getting started, my friend. It’s gonna be a …

Gildart Jackson:
Yes, exactly.

David Read:
… long road. They don’t start filming until the fall. Hot darn. I didn’t even bring this up with you. They’re filming in London, and that’s gonna be the hub for the shooting. Amazon has two studios out there. We’re placing bets as to which one it’s going to be. But I’m excited because there’s a lot of Stargate fandom in London. They better have some high fences.

Gildart Jackson:
Wow. That’s great.

David Read:
So, I’m thrilled. So, thank you sir, for–

Gildart Jackson:
Thank you as always. Congratulations and I hope to see you soon.

David Read:
Thank you, sir. We will be in touch. I’ll wrap up the show on this side.

Gildart Jackson:
Thank you. OK. Bye, David.

David Read:
Bye-bye. Gildart Jackson, everyone. Janus in Stargate Atlantis. My name is David Read and you’re watching the Stargate Oral History Project. If you enjoy the franchise and you wanna see more content like this on YouTube, do click that Like button. Do click it. Jolly good. It does make a difference with the show and will help us continue to grow our audience. And please also consider sharing the video with a Stargate friend. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click Subscribe, and giving the Bell icon a click 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 on both the Dial the Gate and gateworld.net YouTube channels. Tremendous thanks must go out to my moderating team who pulled this episode off, Marcia and Antony, thank you guys for making this possible. Really appreciate you. We’ve got a number of episodes heading your way. The 27th of February, 10:00 AM, currently scheduled Stargate Worlds part two. Dan Elggren, who was the studio head for Stargate Worlds, is coming on. We already taped it a couple of days ago, so I’m actually getting off of this call to go and edit it. It’s a two-hour discussion, of what’s probably gonna be a number of other episodes to come. If you were curious about that game and what happened and the people who were working on it and did some amazing work, these are a series of shows you are not going to want to miss. On the 28th of February at 10:00 AM live, Kerry McDowall, post-production supervisor for Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe. I’ve been privileged to have the directors on and the writers on, but I’ve never had anyone from post-production specifically, and I’m very eager to talk to Kerry. So, we are really excited to have her on to talk about the process that goes on after everything is in the can, what has to be done in order to get it to Sharpe Sound, for Stargate specifically, and to Joel so that he can create the music for it, and all the versions that go afterwards, including the one with commercials and the one without for DVD and Blu-ray. So, Kerry’s going to be around to answer a lot of those questions on the 28th at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. I hope you can make it for that one. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. I do appreciate y’all tuning in. I made a promise to everybody that I was going to do, well, to myself basically I made a promise that I was going to do 20 episodes in 20 days. This is day 18 and that was Episode number 20. So, yay me. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. I appreciate you tuning in, and I will see you on the other side.