David Hewlett is here to give us his take on the news about more Stargate and to update us on the acting front and the world of Tech Bandits!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:25 – Guest Introduction
0:32 – Opportunity for a New Look When Your Clothes Get Lost
0:56 – David Keeps Breaking His Glasses So He 3D Prints New Ones!
1:25 – Stargate is Coming Back!
2:43 – Being Fascinated in Science and Science Fiction Since Birth
4:13 – Discovering the News on Dial the Gate
6:02 – What David is Looking For in the New Series
7:37 – Embracing New Technology in Production and Using AI
8:54 – Stargate Explores Both Science and Humanity
9:32 – The Uses of AI and Its Potential
11:30 – The Morality and Ethics of Using AI
13:53 – Embracing AI as a Tool and Facilitating Creativity
15:57 – New Technology Does Not Mean Replacing People
16:54 – AI Brings New Opportunities
18:01 – Writing Things Down Aides Memory Recall
18:52 – Getting Scripts Early and Having Time to Prepare
21:06 – Technobabble Was Fun
22:59 – Jensen Ackles, Work Ethic and Leading By Example on Vought Rising
23:55 – Martin Gero’s Experience and Perfect Fit for SG4
24:49 – Raising the Bar for Talent and Possibilities
25:42 – Amazon is the Right Home for SG4
26:15 – The Challenge of Writing a New Series
27:31 – Focusing on Quality Over Quantity
29:12 – The New Series is Visual Effects-Heavy
29:40 – David Hates Being Out of the Loop
30:43 – David Never Gets Fed Up of McKay
32:15 – The Motivation Behind Taking on New Roles
34:19 – Acting is a Hobby and is Mixing Business With Pleasure
35:08 – Comedy is Going to Be Innate in SG4
36:37 – Are They Going to Use USB in SG4?
37:21 – What Has Happened to the Wraith?
38:04 – Reuniting With the Turtle Brooch
39:38 – The Lead Time in Production Means Jaw Dropping Quality
40:39 – Using the Right Tool for the Right Job on SG4
41:19 – Moving From SD to HD and Beyond
42:04 – Adapting for Streaming on Different Devices and Software
42:45 – Pros and Cons of Using New Technology and Techniques
44:16 – CG Makes an Invaluable Contribution to the Art
45:44 – The Awe of Realistic Body Doubles
46:47 – Fear of Technology No Longer Requiring Knowledge or Skill in Production
47:34 – There Will Always Be Many Creative Platforms in Which to Tell Stories
49:00 – Living in a New World of Audience Engagement and Keeping the Magic
50:05 – Becoming Immersed in the Story and Avoiding Technological Distractions
51:17 – Benefits of Live Performances and Embracing the Human Connection
53:30 – Adapting to Audience Tastes and Maintaining Engagement
54:42 – The Internet’s Influence on the Growth of Stargate Fandom
55:24 – Stargate Promotes Human Interaction
57:09 – The Importance of Fan Engagement in Modern Day
58:12 – A Good Story Should Always Be at the Heart of Any Series
58:59 – The Structure of Stories and How They Are Told
1:00:08 – Update on Tech Bandits and Other Projects
1:04:05 – Embracing Dial the Gate Interviews and the Enjoyment of Online Interactions
1:07:25 – The Power and Dedication of Stargate Fans
1:08:47 – Thank You, David!
1:09:01 – End Credits

***
“Stargate,” “Stargate SG-1,” “Stargate Atlantis,” “Stargate Universe,” and all related materials are owned by Amazon MGM Studios.

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
#TurtleTimeline

TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
David Hewlett.

David Hewlett:
David Read.

David Read:
You look very dapper and sophisticated with your jacket and your coffee.

David Hewlett:
We were in Berlin and they lost all of our luggage. My wife, I thought, was gonna freak out. No, she got very excited because we went and bought all new clothes. She basically dressed me the way she would like the person that she’s married to be dressed. I’m trying to adopt this sort of professorial look now.

David Read:
It works.

David Hewlett:
Look at you. You gotta do behind-the-scenes shots as well?

David Read:
He’s doing a little of everything.

David Hewlett:
It’s amazing.

David Read:
I don’t have to think about him. He does it.

David Hewlett:
The problem with 3D printing your own glasses is they fog up.

David Read:
Wait, these are 3D printed?

David Hewlett:
Yeah.

David Read:
You’re kidding.

David Hewlett:
I kept sitting on them and breaking them or losing them.

David Read:
You just made your own?

David Hewlett:
I need to sand those down because they’re a bit rough. They’re based on a model that existed. I’ve sort of tweaked it to work with my glasses.

David Read:
So, you order the lenses and you rock and roll?

David Hewlett:
I haven’t done that part. I pop the lenses out of the ones I sat on and then put them in that way.

David Read:
But they’re still your prescriptions?

David Hewlett:
Yeah, exactly.

David Read:
That’s awesome, man. Stargate is coming back.

David Hewlett:
I know.

David Read:
Thoughts?

David Hewlett:
There’s a twofold excitement. One, obviously, the favorite question that everyone always asked me was, “If it came back, would you do McKay?” My response was an instantaneous yes. Absolutely, I love that character. McKay and I are very much bound to each other. It brought such joy and pleasure to my life and a house to live in. Obviously, I would welcome the idea of it coming back. There’s that sort of level of it where I go, “Oh God, I really hope there’s a place, some little tiny dark corner for me somewhere.” That would be amazing, obviously. Also, it’s so much fun to see Gero, I remember when Gero was the new guy. He’s done so incredibly well, it’s so lovely to have him come back. I think of all of the voices that I liked on that show, him and Brad were so good at writing McKay. I was very excited. Again, “Well, he does write very well for McKay.” It’s entirely self-serving. At the same time, there’s that geeky part of me that’s like, “I can’t wait to see what we can explore.” One of the first things we did was talk to Isaac Arthur, who’s this wonderful YouTuber and futurist basically. Futurist is the wrong word. Speculative science fiction basically. Amazing guy and his background is physics and he’s been in the military and he knows all sorts of stuff. He does these sort of talks about various different sci-fi stuff. I thought, “He’s the guy I wanna talk to and find out what he thinks the way the show could be going.” I’m fascinated by what science has to say about this stuff now. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated in science fiction and science because they were inexplicably bound together.

David Read:
One’s our dream phase.

David Hewlett:
That’s it. Best quote ever. The first stage of engineering, it’s the dreaming phase. I love that because I think that’s the way I saw it as a kid. Judging by the number of people who make me feel very old by coming up and saying, “My parents made me watch it and now I’m an astrophysicist or whatever,” that is both horribly depressing.

David Read:
You lived with them until you were 30?

David Hewlett:
Yeah, exactly.

David Read:
Everyone does that nowadays, huh?

David Hewlett:
“So what are you, 21?” My son is now in university and he wasn’t even born when we were finishing up the show. Well, I guess the last season. Time has moved on and yet I still feel very sort of, to be honest, possessive of it all. I loved it; I love the people, I loved working on it. It was amazing.

David Read:
So take me back to November. Did Martin call you? Did he email you?

David Hewlett:
Martin is a classy guy. God, I wanna say bad things about him and it’s really hard.

David Read:
That’s all we’ve been hearing. This was a great way to reintroduce the concept.

David Hewlett:
He was so smart. I actually texted him today because I watched the latest GateWorld. Sorry, Dial the Gate.

David Read:
Thank you, thank you.

David Hewlett:
I guess it was a combo.

David Read:
It was a combo but I appreciate that all the same. Peace and love.

David Hewlett:
‘Cause that’s my news, in the same way that the GateWorld community was my way into the show as well. I’ve said this a million times, when I first showed up on SG-1, they printed out your Omnipedia so that I could read it. It’s like my sister faxing me a website. I was looking for a bible of stuff and you guys had it.

David Read:
Kate Ritter’s lexicon too. Those two in tandem, were it.

David Hewlett:
Extraordinary. I was listening to that and sort of texted him and said, “My God, this is so…” I like the way from the very beginning they’re embracing the fan base. The reality is Stargate’s a great concept. It would have been a great movie and then that would be the end of it. You’d be like, “Oh, I love that movie,” and that would be the end of it. Because of the show and because of this amazing collection of people who it spoke to at the right time, it was the birth of the internet, the birth of all sorts of technologies and the changes that have happened throughout that show, it’s amazing. I’m very sort of excited to see what the next stage is. Whether that is as a fan watching it at home or even better, someone involved.

David Read:
That’s the thing. We’ve all spent so much of our lives with this thing now. Part of me is honestly asking, “Martin, what are you gonna have that is, A, going to, in some way, top, plus compliment what came before, but also fit perfectly into this era now? That’s gonna be topical without beating you over the head with it?”

David Hewlett:
Or derivative of what else is out there ’cause there’s so much stuff out there.

David Read:
Where do you strike that balance? What do you think this show needs to do to speak to you as a viewer? Obviously, bringing McKay back on some level is a must.

David Hewlett:
Obviously, McKay in every episode.

David Read:
Every episode.

David Hewlett:
Apart from McKay in every episode?

David Read:
Mostly.

David Hewlett:
I think Martin hit it. First off, the production team sounds extraordinary; They’ve got the legends of science fiction there. I’m excited to see the sets at this point and the VFX. I think he always comes back to character. I think this is something that we’re seeing; I think the population is bored of formula. I think while there was obviously a certain formula to Stargate, it had its own rhythm and it had its own sort of quirkiness and character development. He’s spoken on it already; he’s already talking about the character stuff, so I think that’s probably a really good sign. Also, I’m really curious to see what we can do with both the technology, the filmmaking technology, that’s available now that wasn’t available before. Could they use AI? There’s certainly new visual effects and new ways of approaching visual effects that I’m excited to see, as well as the science world, where I’m really looking forward to seeing how they’re gonna explore some of the stuff that they’ve discovered, like all the potentially habitable planets that we’re now able to see. The politics of today, as opposed to the politics of before. Not too much politics, obviously.

David Read:
It has to resemble the world that we come from. That’s what I said, not hitting us over the head with it, but at the same time, I can see how that relates. It gets under your skin that way. “This is us, this is about us in some level.”

David Hewlett:
How would we respond if this happened now? That’s how the characters all responded, which I love. I always loved that introduction of Jeannie where she came in and had to sit there and look out at the planet from an alien spacecraft, having traveled with a Stargate behind her or whatever. It was that kind of like, “I knew it. I knew there was something more going on.” I’ve always preferred the science of fiction. I generally prefer the Star Treks to the Star Wars. I love Star Wars. I love Star Wars, but I love Star Wars in the way that I love Lord of the Rings or something.

David Read:
It’s heroes and villains.

David Hewlett:
It’s fantasy. It’s basically space fantasy.

David Read:
That’s exactly right.

David Hewlett:
Whereas Star Trek was science fiction and it was exploring.

David Read:
About us.

David Hewlett:
It was exploring our potential. What I loved about Stargate was that it somehow managed to blend the two. There’s a wonderful sort of fantasy-like element to it, but at the same time, it’s exploring some really interesting and sometimes quite dark and twisted ideas.

David Read:
There is a lot of concern about AI. I acknowledge and understand where people are coming from with it. Having said that, folks like John Gajdecki are already using it in Amazon productions with House of David. He did a whole demo where he shot an actor and then the AI absorbed that information and then put her in another environment. They took that and turned around and shot more stuff. They’re working with the technology hand-in-hand to create the best product. They give it to Amazon and they say, “Here’s the shot that we made with AI and here’s pure AI. Which one do you want?” More than half, Way more than half, actually, they went with the melding. So, it’s working; working hand-in-hand with the tech.

David Hewlett:
It’s a tool.

David Read:
Sorry, I’m playing footsie with you.

David Hewlett:
That’s all right.

David Read:
No, that’s fine. I’m enjoying it.

David Hewlett:
That’s right. I expect that, of course. We were talking about feet before; we’re continuing the theme. I’m awful in that I’m like, “I welcome our robot overlords.” I’m like, “I am such a nerd. I love this stuff. I immediately go tech optimist on stuff.” I definitely should start walking it back a little bit as we get further into these technologies. I think, though, that there’s so much marketing hype around stuff that we forget it’s a tool. It’s a tool. There’s a lot of human slop out there; there’s a lot of really bad writing and television and films and whatever. You wanna make that stuff and AI can make it faster? Of course, that makes complete sense. But if you put some smart creative brains together with those tools and technologies, that’s where it gets exciting to me because that’s where you go, “Who cares if it’s AI or not AI?” If it works, it works.

David Read:
It makes you feel something.

David Hewlett:
If it makes you feel something, exactly.

David Read:
That’s the thing.

David Hewlett:
The weird thing about AI for me was that I didn’t question AI, I questioned what it was to be a creative human. Are we just a collection of the not terribly accurate understanding that we have of the world that we live in and of the books we’ve read and the television we’ve watched or whatever? One of my sort of infamous arguments with a friend was, I said, “What if we could write an AI?” He does not like AI. I said, “What if we wrote a program that could tell you what all of the inspirations were for that AI? Think, we could send money to whatever the artist…” He’s like, “Great. Perfect.” I said, “What happens when I run your content through that?” He’s like, “Well, nothing, ’cause mine’s not AI.” I said, “No. You can’t help it. You’re being influenced by all the things that you’ve seen as well.”

David Read:
Absolutely.

David Hewlett:
“You don’t even know. You’re a faulty version of this.” Is it possible that creativity isn’t something that’s innately human? That’s terrifying to think of. As a human, what’s our purpose, then? I love that all of a sudden, those dropout philosophy students where you go, “You’re taking philosophy? Oh, great.” All of a sudden, things like the trolley problem and all these issues that have come up in pure academic circles are now coming to bear in our life. These things, how are they gonna affect us? How is it gonna work? I’m so excited about it. I’m also excited about it because I feel like I’m on my way out, as opposed to my way in.

David Read:
“You guys can deal with the catastrophe. We’re gonna flip all the switches and press the button.”

David Hewlett:
Kind of. I think there’s a lot of opportunity out there for people if they’re creative and they’re willing to do the work. I think there’s a lot of people who fall back on the, “It’s wrong because it does what I do OK.”

David Read:
It doesn’t make it go away. You’re going to have to deal with it.

David Hewlett:
It’s kinda hard to unlearn it. You may not like the internet, but by now, you’re probably on it.

David Read:
You’re probably on it.

David Hewlett:
Same thing with cellphones. I remember a lot of people, “I’m never getting a cellphone.”

David Read:
Or a smartphone on top of that.

David Hewlett:
A smartphone, the internet. “I don’t need email.” I’m so freaking old. I’ve been through this a billion times with different things and watched things balloon and pop. I think it’s really exciting, really exciting. A perfect example, a friend of mine, we did a little photo shoot for a pitch that he was doing and the pitch didn’t work out right then. He went back to revisit it later, and all of a sudden, there’s AI. He goes, “Well, wait a second,” and he took the images and he worked them with some AI and used his eye to take his image that is now being animated and pick the moments that worked and cut it together into a little promotional trailer that’s gonna help him sell the movie. He would not have been able to do before. There’s nothing uncreative about that to me, that’s not AI doing the work for you. He couldn’t afford to do that otherwise; he wouldn’t have been able to film the project. That’s impossible. So, all of a sudden, there’s this brilliant filmmaker who I love, whose work I love seeing and is now able to pitch stuff that way. I won’t say names because the weird thing is it’s so polarizing now. There are some people who feel that you’ve somehow cheated the system if you use AI. I’m not a believer in that and I don’t like the idea that people are having awards taken away because they used AI on a game that everyone loves or whatever, which has recently happened in the game’s world. If you love the game, who cares who made it?

David Read:
One of my favorite artists that I’ve recently discovered… He took his name from a Terminator 2 quote. His alias is Wolfie’s Just Fine and one of his songs is Todd and Janelle. He does everything in every one of his pieces. I don’t believe he’s using AI, but he’s using synths and he’s using tools. He’s using the technology that music packages offer now – I’ll share some stuff with you – to create and compose music and it’s so refreshing. He’s up there with Deadmau5.

David Hewlett:
Look at DJ. DJ is a perfect example of that. DJ, when it first came out, everyone was like, “You’re just playing someone else’s record.” It’s like, “No, you’re not. You’re using that as an instrument. You’re composing.” Another example I use all the time is I was in a band, terrible band, when I was in high school.

David Read:
You was in a band. What’d you play?

David Hewlett:
I was the drummer.

David Read:
You played drums?

David Hewlett:
At the time, the drum machine came out and everyone went, “Your job’s done.” Then the synthesizers came out and everyone went, “Oh my God, we don’t need instruments anymore.” Guess what? I went and saw Beck play and he was with a full orchestra. I have not seen a band in the last 10 years that doesn’t have a live drummer and percussion or whatever. The reality is, yes, it can be replaced. It’s a freaking tool. It means that people can get their creative ideas out there, without it, I think it democratizes the process. Film has always been elitist. You have to have the time, the money, the energy, the connections to get into this stuff. If you look for whatever they’re looking for at that point, you’re in. If not, good luck. I think these are really exciting tools that could allow people who wouldn’t have been able to make this stuff previously. What about people with disabilities? How does someone who can’t move make a movie? Guess what?

David Read:
He can now.

David Hewlett:
AI can now do that.

David Read:
Are you gonna make him feel bad that he didn’t have to hire 20 people to do X, Y, or Z task?

David Hewlett:
Exactly.

David Read:
I look at it like this. The Winter Olympics just finished. Ilia Malinin.

David Hewlett:
Kinda fun, wasn’t it?

David Read:
It was pretty extraordinary. The fact that he can do quads now, everyone else has to do quads. Are y’all gonna feel bad because one guy is able to achieve this, y’all have to up your game in order to compete?

David Hewlett:
That’s interesting.

David Read:
You have to continue to increase your horizon. If you can rise to meet up with it, that’s great. If you can’t, it doesn’t mean that you can’t.

David Hewlett:
You can still find your place.

David Read:
You can still find your place.

David Hewlett:
That’s it. There are drummers who are never gonna use electronic drums, to this day. That’s fine.

David Read:
They don’t need them.

David Hewlett:
There’s gonna be people who won’t use synthesizers.

David Read:
They don’t want them.

David Hewlett:
That’s not their tool. The idea of saying you can’t use that as a creative part of your creative process seems crazy to me. At the same time, I understand that feeling. There are some people who still like to write in notebooks. I still have a notebook that I write jot notes and things.

David Read:
I saw you carrying one around at lunch.

David Hewlett:
For some reason, that process, for my ridiculous little squirrel brain, locks stuff in there.

David Read:
I know, you’re physically interfacing with something.

David Hewlett:
It makes a difference.

David Read:
I’ve heard that when people write, depending on the person, it does help them remember it better as well.

David Hewlett:
On particularly difficult speeches on Stargate, I would write out the words beside the words on the script. I have scripts that are with me writing out the words, usually spelled wrong.

David Read:
And you would internalize it then, that way? Isn’t that interesting?

David Hewlett:
I’m either completely focused or completely unfocused. It’s the one profession I’ve discovered, acting, which allowed me, for some reason, to focus in a way that allows me to do those scenes, which is extraordinary, given how completely scattered I am the rest of my life.

David Read:
Sidebar, if you didn’t have a chance to review the material the night before, would you sync with it or could you make it work?

David Hewlett:
You can always make it work. I think I must be a bit of a control freak because I wanna have time to play with it. We were very lucky on Stargate; it was rare that you would get new scenes on the day; they were way ahead of us on that stuff. But there are other shows that show up and suddenly you have completely different…and you just do it. I’m not sure that I’m good at it, I have to really go and hide. Some people could look at it and go, “OK, yeah,” and they’re done. I’m always like, “Dammit.” Can’t do that.

David Read:
That’s a super power I’d like.

David Hewlett:
The photographic memory stuff is amazing.

David Read:
Jason Alexander, The Sea Was Angry That Day, My Friends – that whole speech in Seinfeld that got the biggest roar, he read it less than two hours before. He read it once, he’s like, “Yeah, I’ve got it.” How do you do that?

David Hewlett:
I guess in a way it also does take some of the weight off your shoulders ’cause you go like, “Yeah, I just got this, so let’s see how it works.” I also feel like I’m a better actor if I don’t have time to think about stuff. I used to try to figure out how I was gonna say stuff. Now, I make sure I know the lines so well that I have the freedom to react to anything that happens. I think that’s it; that’s my secret weapon. I see actors who will create a scenario for themselves as to how the scene’s gonna go. Invariably, you haven’t seen the room that you’re gonna shoot in before. You haven’t seen how they’re gonna light it. You haven’t seen, “Oh, by the way, our lead just got sick so you’re talking to this tennis ball.” None of that’s in your head when you go in, so to me, you do as much as you can to prepare. I think the world and all of the weird happy accidents that happen make for much better cinema or TV than stuff that you sort of premeditate too much, especially when it comes to the acting side.

David Read:
I would imagine a part of it is, “I trust the writers who are generating this material.”

David Hewlett:
That too.

David Read:
“I trust that this will be in my voice in some way. Let’s throw it out there and see what happens.”

David Hewlett:
I talk about the technobabble on Stargate, as Brad calls it, gold. It really was. It’s fun to say, it’s fun to watch. Momoa does have that line, whenever I screwed up a line or I thought I was losing the thread, I would just have to look at him and he’d immediately panic and say his next line. Then you could go like, “Jason, come on.” Then it wasn’t on you. At one point he said, “You think it’s hard learning all those lines? Try listening to them.” Of course, it’s true ’cause now I play old, white, and inappropriate a lot. There’s a lotta sitting around, listening and stuff. It’s hard to watch someone else chewing up the scenery and you wanna get in there or you wanna hit the craft service table for some snacks or something. It’s very difficult to focus and to stay in character when you don’t have a lot to do. The beautiful thing about acting is there’s always something to be doing, you could always be reacting. I watch people doing all their performance and then when it’s on someone else, you see them sort of relaxing and getting ready for the next piece. I’m like, “Ope, just missed an opportunity.” You can’t have someone talking, you gotta have someone listening. You’re doing it now. If you weren’t listening and nodding your head, you’d have nothing, you’d be stuck with me.

David Read:
Be spaced out and missing an opportunity to connect with someone at the same time. You can’t stay 100% at all times, there is some fatigue in there. That’s the nice thing about when you’re on set, there’s plenty of time where you’re offline. You can be in another space and then when the camera goes, it’s like, “I’m with you, I’m here. We’re feeling each other out.” Acting is reacting.

David Hewlett:
I think so, and again, acting’s different for everybody. I’m not saying that’s the way you have to do it, that’s the way that’s worked for me. Something that I was very sort of heartened to see was working on Vought Rising, which is The Boys spinoff thing. Watching Jensen Ackles, who’s been doing this forever, has every right to be a very busy man, is on set and ready all the time. He sits in the chair, he’s in full uniform, he’s playing backgammon or whatever, but he’s there, and as a result, everyone else is as well. It’s infectious. The process moves quickly. The kids aren’t on their phones; they’re talking and playing music and all sorts of stuff. I was like, “Shut up, I’m trying to be on my phone.” ‘I’m old school. They’re playing word games. I was so excited ’cause I was like, “Holy crap, there’s hope for this.” Very, very impressed with that kind of trickle down with him. Him and I are amazing.

David Read:
I’m looking forward to seeing it. The fact is, you need someone to lead, for everyone else to go, “OK. This is how it’s gonna be.”

David Hewlett:
That comes back to Gero. He’s a nerd in his own way, but he’s not like a sci-fi nerd. He’s a writing nerd, you know what I mean? He loves the craft and he’s building these things and the trickle down there, again, is he knows his lane, he knows what he’s good at, he knows to bring in people who are better than him.

David Read:
That’s it, he brings people.

David Hewlett:
If he’s telling the VFX people what to do, it’s not gonna be good VFX. You bring in a great VFX person and they’re telling you ideas and it makes you more creative. I think that’s why I’m sort of looking forward to this, because I think that there’s gonna be spectacle. Of course, you need to have that, I understand that, but there’ll be a heart to it and I think that’s what I’m really looking forward to seeing.

David Read:
I’m confident that he’s got the characters taken care of because he knows people. He knows people also enough to go and get Mohen Leo, who did Andor, and Nathan Crowley who worked with Christopher Nolan.

David Hewlett:
I know…that stuff!

David Read:
When we found out about those…

David Hewlett:
I saw you guys.

David Read:
…”OK, now, and sit on it for three days. Oh my God. Sit on it for three days!” That was hard.

David Hewlett:
I love the thing you said, “I cannot believe we’re talking about these people and Stargate.”

David Read:
They’ve got to be paying eight million an episode, they have to be. It has to be.

David Hewlett:
I have no idea.

David Read:
It’s gonna be extraordinary one way or the other, with these creative minds plugged into this thing.

David Hewlett:
Amazon has the budget for these things. You could do a little Stargate, but they don’t want a little Stargate. The whole point of Stargate is it’s gotta be like, “oh my God.” That’s what you want every time.

David Read:
It’s awe.

David Hewlett:
You want the awe, that’s it; shock and awe. I think that Amazon is probably the right place for that. Certainly, given what they’re doing with having worked on The Boys stuff, my God, the sets and the costumes, they’re just extraordinary. I don’t know, I’m a happy little nerd.

David Read:
What they did with Fallout was, I think, the thing that really did it for me because…

David Hewlett:
Beautiful too.

David Read:
… they proved that they can fit themselves, that Amazon can let creatives go into an existing sandbox that has a broad enough space to it, and they can say, “go and make something new in here.” They did and the fan base that already exists responded to it. It’s very fun.

David Hewlett:
I also think you don’t want to pander to it as well. Otherwise, you’re just creating the same thing. I think that there’s that Ford quote about people, if I asked my customers what they want, they would want a faster horse. You know what I mean?

David Read:
I would have made a faster horse. That’s true.

David Hewlett:
That’s the weird line that writers have to walk, less so now because you can do these limited series and stuff. The idea that you’ve gotta create the same thing, but different, every week. It’s gotta be familiar enough that it all makes sense and that you’re connecting with these people, but that you’re also being fun and different and shocking enough that you keep people excited about it. Are you regretting that chair yet? It’s wildly uncomfortable after a while, isn’t it?

David Read:
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m having the time of my life.

David Hewlett:
I was convinced your ass had gone to sleep with that chair.

David Read:
No, I’m just moving my ass so I can do this.

David Hewlett:
Nice, very good.

David Read:
Yes. I stroke the beard nicely.

David Hewlett:
Like I said, reaction, reaction, there you go, reaction. There you go.

David Read:
God, now you’re doing it. Stop it. I’m trying to think here. One of the things that, damn it, David.

David Hewlett:
It’s all right.

David Read:
One of the things that really made me feel more encouraged about what it is that he’s trying to do is that he’s not creating two or three projects at once. He’s focused on this single season of TV and if it’s successful, they can then expand into other directions. What that means is, in my opinion, if it’s that successful, we can spend money on projects that can perhaps be animated, that can go and tell some of the stories that were left behind and bring them into the now.

David Hewlett:
I think it opens it up for all of us in a way.

David Read:
That’s what I’m saying, another Atlantis story! Not necessarily “Extinction,” but something similar to it.

David Hewlett:
Stargate McKay and everyone’s animated except me. I like that.

David Read:
Or everyone else is Muppets but you.

David Hewlett:
Even better.

David Read:
I think that that would be a great idea.

David Hewlett:
Although I’m probably more Muppet than the Muppets at this point.

David Read:
I would watch an Atlantis with Muppets.

David Hewlett:
I could see that.

David Read:
Except for McKay.

David Hewlett:
I feel like they were close. They did the Thunderbirds puppets. No, they were marionettes though, weren’t they?

David Read:
Those were definitely marionettes. I think that we’ve got something here.

David Hewlett:
It’s kinda like The Simpsons.

David Read:
Martin, are you watching?

David Hewlett:
It’s kinda like The Simpsons where there’s almost nothing that Stargate hasn’t done at this point. I’m both very excited for Martin, and also, “oh man, you’ve got your work cut out for you.” He’s a confident guy and he knows his stuff, but there’s gotta be a part of him that’s going, “oh my God.”

David Read:
The idea that he’s pitched is apparently one that’s going to take a huge amount of post-production because of the visual effects that he has in mind for it. “What are you creating?”

David Hewlett:
You have to though; you have to do that.

David Read:
He’s got a concept that’s gonna take a lot of time to realize on screen. What are they doing? Are they doing zero-g? What kind of a world are you building for us through that portal?

David Hewlett:
God, I don’t even know.

David Read:
I know. That’s what’s so exciting about it. I feel like we’re just a few months in.

David Hewlett:
It’s maddening that I’m on the outside now. I don’t like the outside.

David Read:
In some cases, I know more than you do. Let me tell you something, it’s delicious.

David Hewlett:
I guarantee you, you know more than I do, which I hate. I always like being the inside guy. At this point in my career, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am an actor and the actor who comes in at the last minute, usually screws everything up, messes with schedules, all that stuff.

David Read:
And then gets it right.

David Hewlett:
And then hopefully creates something that’s in the world that you’re working in. It’s always been frustrating to me how little there is to acting, other than learning your lines. Learn your lines, be on time, try not to eat more than your share – I’m working on that – and don’t bump into the furniture basically.

David Read:
But you’re creating, and co-creating, for an IP that you love.

David Hewlett:
That helps too.

David Read:
That you would watch anyway.

David Hewlett:
I never got tired of playing McKay. I never got tired of being McKay even after we stopped the show. Everyone’s always like, “Oh, are you pigeonholed?” It’s like, “Yeah, pigeonholed.” I loved that work. I stand by that work to this day. The idea that I could do anything more with that character… There’s nothing I wouldn’t wanna do with McKay.

David Read:
Let’s be fair, he’s also a lot of you.

David Hewlett:
God, yes.

David Read:
He’s you if you chose to be really insufferable on a certain level.

David Hewlett:
There are certainly insufferable parts to me as well, ask any member of my family.

David Read:
On our worst days.

David Hewlett:
Exactly. On our worst days, exactly.

David Read:
You would always tell me, “Jane would let you do McKay for 5 to 10 minutes,” when you’d come in with the snapping fingers and the pointing.

David Hewlett:
It was 15, I got 15 minutes.

David Read:
Then she would kill it and that’s fair.

David Hewlett:
Look, the problem with acting is, it’s difficult to sort of leave it. I’m getting much, much better at compartmentalizing stuff now. We were talking to Baz about filming or watching shows and stuff. The reality is, my acting is my acting, and I’ve got to the point now where I think I’m quite good at going, “OK, that’s over there. This is over here.” I love my science and tech stuff; I love doing that. That doesn’t mean I don’t love the acting any less.

David Read:
No.

David Hewlett:
I get to be a little pickier and choosier now and it’s quite nice.

David Read:
Is part of it because you feel that you have less to prove, and so, “I’m gonna do this because I wanna do it for me, or I wanna do it for the people that I enjoy being with?” There’s a certain freedom to that as well.

David Hewlett:
I got into it for all the wrong reasons.

David Read:
You did?

David Hewlett:
Yeah. I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be James Dean.

David Read:
Really? OK.

David Hewlett:
I wanted to be James Dean and ended up being C-3PO. C-3PO would be even better. I got into it for the wrong reasons, but discovered in doing it, I found the love, found the work. It wasn’t just posing and smoking cigarettes and leather jackets and stuff. I remember reading stories about him and then going, “Wait a sec, this is… I don’t wanna be that.” Then, “Oh, he was inspired by so-and-so. Let’s read about him. Oh, no, I don’t wanna be him.” You find your own place in it. I’ve said this to Jane a million times, “I hate being an actor. I love acting.” Even the auditions, I don’t like auditions, but I love setting up all the cameras and trying to make it work. I love that we do this at home now because I don’t have to go outside and meet all the people who are up for the same part.

David Read:
People are the worst.

David Hewlett:
It’s terrible. People suck. I get to play and I feel at home on set. I feel useful on set. I know when to step back. It’s all technical at this point. If things are getting tense, I know when to crack the joke, I know when to keep things light or to make it heavy if we need to be. I love it. I feel very, very comfortable on set now, and as a result, I think I can be a little pickier about what’s gonna work for me and what’s not.

David Read:
Can you ever see yourself retiring from this? Can you ever see yourself waking up one day and being like, “You know what? Eh.” Or is it just a matter of modulating amount?

David Hewlett:
I don’t think so. I think the problem is it’s a hobby for me that also just happens to be my job. I got into it making little films with my friends. We still make films, they’re not so little. The Cabinet of Curiosities involved Oscar winners and all sorts of stuff. It’s a different world.

David Read:
It really is.

David Hewlett:
But the heart of it…

David Read:
Getting in the backyard and getting your feet dirty.

David Hewlett:
That’s it. That’s it.

David Read:
And hands dirty.

David Hewlett:
I love the big shows. You can take lots of time to do stuff, you get lots of takes and all this kinda stuff. I think even more, I love that run-and-gun, “We’re making a movie. How are we gonna do this?” I get excited about all the cameras. Just doing this, I get excited about the cameras.

David Read:
There is such a frontier here and I’m so looking forward to taking this journey along with you and everyone else. It’s like, “God, what is he gonna do?” I think that it has to have the exploration/inner exploration of humanity component. It has to have the comedy.

David Hewlett:
I think the comedy’s innate because Gero is so good at spinning that stuff into stuff.

David Read:
Look what he did with Blindspot. It was ridiculous.

David Hewlett:
Look what he does in Blindspot, look what he does in Conversations.

David Read:
That’s true, too.

David Hewlett:
You know what I mean? I am not worried about that, I feel like that’s a given at this point. Him and Mallozzi joking around, that stuff is gonna get into the script.

David Read:
Is there anything that you wanna show off while we’re here? Oh! I’ve got us some stuff right here.

David Hewlett:
what about that? You brought it all the way here.

David Read:
All the way here…

David Hewlett:
Oh, wow. Oh my God.

David Read:
It’s been a while since you’ve seen this. [Zat]

David Hewlett:
Oh my God, it’s heavy.

David Read:
I know.

David Hewlett:
I don’t remember it being that heavy. Oh my God.

David Read:
Does it still work?

David Hewlett:
Does it power up?

David Read:
That’s the question. Here.

David Hewlett:
What batteries does it use?

David Read:
I guess it’s dead.

David Hewlett:
Can you get into it for batteries?

David Read:
You need a hex key

David Hewlett:
Do you?

David Read:
See? On the other side.

David Hewlett:
It’s the universal hex key.

David Read:
That’s it.

David Hewlett:
That and the USB port. That’s the other thing.

David Read:
That’s it.

David Hewlett:
That’s what I wanna know. What kind of cabling are we using on the new Stargate?

David Read:
They’re gonna be USB-C. To connect to the gates?

David Hewlett:
To connect to anything. What do they do? They gotta build an interface for it. Is it gonna be fiber?

David Read:
I don’t know.

David Hewlett:
Wi-Fi?

David Read:
I don’t know how it’s gonna work.

David Hewlett:
iPhones showed up while we were filming. God. The progress is so unbelievable.

David Read:
They’re using our gate, it takes power from so many different sources, so you could literally probably put one of those iPhone docks up to it and charge it…a really big one. I’m hoping against hope that humanity has developed its own Stargate now.

David Hewlett:
That sorta makes sense.

David Read:
Eventually.

David Hewlett:
What about AI? How are we gonna get that involved?

David Read:
I don’t know. We’re gonna have to have some kind of a modern component to it, for sure.

David Hewlett:
Whose ring is this?

David Read:
That’s a Wraith ring.

David Hewlett:
Is that a Wraith ring?

David Read:
Mm-hmm.

David Hewlett:
Oh my God. Those poor guys.

David Read:
I know.

David Hewlett:
How are they gonna do that now? If they do Wraith.

David Read:
I don’t know what’s gonna happen there.

David Hewlett:
We’re so used to these perfectly integrated alien races and stuff. Are we gonna go further afield now?

David Read:
Exactly. I don’t know where they’re gonna go with that.

David Hewlett:
Gone are the days where we sort of always show up in the same field in British Columbia, I’m guessing. Judging by the fact that he says, “Yeah, we gotta find locations.” I was like, “Locations?” Whoo! Luxury.

David Read:
They’re shooting in the UK.

David Hewlett:
You notice that David’s like, “Yeah, you can have that back.” I was like, “Yeah.”

David Read:
I wanna put something else in your hands.

David Hewlett:
What have you got? There you go. OK, there’s that. There’s that. What is this?

David Read:
Are you ready for a blast from your past?

David Hewlett:
What is this?

David Read:
Put your hand out.

David Hewlett:
Yey! Oh my God, is that the original one?

David Read:
Yep.

David Hewlett:
Oops, I broke it.

David Read:
The turtle brooch.

David Hewlett:
The turtle brooch. I freaking love this thing. You know I made a T-shirt of it?

David Read:
You did?

David Hewlett:
I thought it’d be fun to walk around with a T-shirt with that on. It’s funny. There’s a couple of people who’ve actually built their own versions of these.

David Read:
That’s one of the originals.

David Hewlett:
That’s the other thing that’s gonna change as well.

David Read:
Everything’s gonna be smaller/

David Hewlett:
It’s 3D printing.

David Read:
Electronics.

David Hewlett:
We’ve got electronics that could allow us to do basically anything.

David Read:
They did two or three different versions. This one was the one that had the button actually concealed directly. Nothing concealing about that, on the front, and then in the inside here, it’s just…

David Hewlett:
I thought I broke it.

David Read:
No. This one is just six watch batteries.

David Hewlett:
Wow. It kept falling off too, ’cause the magnets weren’t…

David Read:
It did?

David Hewlett:
It was a risk.

David Read:
I’ve seen the one…It’s the breakaway for when he suddenly decides that he has to be heroic and it just falls off of him.

David Hewlett:
I love it.

David Read:
It’s like, “Oh, great.” Risk McKay’s life and then it comes off.

David Hewlett:
That was early on, wasn’t it?

David Read:
Yes, “Hide and Seek.”

David Hewlett:
I remember thinking, “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

David Read:
Exactly right.

David Hewlett:
“This is gonna be a great series.” That’s fantastic. Personal shield.

David Read:
That’s it. I think it was Peter Bodnarus who designed this.

David Hewlett:
I should’ve really been drinking my coffee while I do it.

David Read:
And pour it all over you. I’m sure Jane would appreciate that.

David Hewlett:
We do that all the time. The carpet is so stained at this point.

David Read:
I can’t conceive of what Nathan Crowley’s gonna have at his disposal; it’s gonna be mind-blowing. To have two years of runway! They’re bringing him in now. They’re barely in pre-production; they’re not even calling it that yet.

David Hewlett:
I remember being taken around the set of Atlantis and going, “I am so jealous of whoever gets to walk onto those for the first time because that’s gonna be spectacular.” Or is it? That’s the next thing.

David Read:
Is it gonna be digital?

David Hewlett:
How much of it’s digital? How much of it’s practical? I don’t know. We’re moving back into a Kirk Star Trek era where there’s the screen and then there’s a couple of boulders and then people talking.

David Read:
Parallaxes.

David Hewlett:
It all makes sense and it parallaxes it all. We’re now so used to this stuff that we gotta start mixing it up a bit.

David Read:
That’s one of the things that Gero keeps on talking about, is that we’re gonna use the best disciplines of all of them. Whatever is the most reasonable, I think, and looks the best, will work. The fact of the matter is now, they don’t have to turn out these visuals in two or three weeks.

David Hewlett:
That’s true.

David Read:
There were some of the shots in Atlantis that were amazing. There were others, “Yeah, that could’ve spent a little bit more time.” But it’s TV. It’s network budget.

David Hewlett:
You get what you get and you don’t get a reset.

David Read:
That’s it. Exactly. Good, cheap, or fast.

David Hewlett:
That’s it, it’s definitely that triangle and you’re always fighting with that as well. They were editing them in little windows like this and then all of a sudden, we’re shooting in fricking HD. HD seemed insurmountable at the time, we’re now 8K. My wife just did a series, they shot in 8K. It was a little series, 8K.

David Read:
The cost-effectiveness is mind-blowing. But at a certain point it’s like, “OK, the eye can’t see anything.”

David Hewlett:
8K, it gets expensive again. You gotta buy hard drives.

David Read:
That’s the other thing, too. But the eye can’t see any more information. What’s the point? Once you get past a certain K, you can AI up-res it and you can’t tell the difference. A lot of my 1080 stuff I’ve also shot in 4K. I took some of the 1080 copies and up-res’d them to 4K, I can’t tell.

David Hewlett:
Can’t tell the difference? It also depends on what you’re looking at.

David Read:
That’s true too.

David Hewlett:
A lot of this stuff is gonna be streaming. Some people are gonna watch it on a big screen, but frankly, most people watch it on their phones at this point, or iPads or whatever.

David Read:
Or through a web browser.

David Hewlett:
That’s true. When you see even fairly modern shows now, where you’re watching a scene and it goes to night with fog, all of a sudden you go, “Oh, I guess they didn’t think that through.” Because we’re streaming, you’re getting blockiness, you’re losing resolution. I don’t think people are really designing for that, for what the majority of people are watching on their screens.

David Read:
It’s one of those things about high dynamic range. It’s very much a double-edged sword. If you look at Wicked, it is beautifully shot.

David Hewlett:
Which is gorgeous. I wish they didn’t sing.

David Read:
It has this Candy Land kind of texture to it. You look at Dean Cundey’s work in the ’90s, going from Jurassic Park to The Parent Trap. His use of light and dark and depth, there is something that is so cinematic about it.

David Hewlett:
And I think a lot better.

David Read:
That holds up better and that you lose with HDR.

David Hewlett:
We’re gonna see this with AI as well. We saw this with CGI; when it first came out you went, “Oh my God, you can make anything… look terrible.” You know what I mean?

David Read:
Yeah.

David Hewlett:
All of a sudden all of those films that went, “Ah, hell, we’ll do it with visual effects later,” they don’t hold up anymore. Oh my God, the things I’ve been in where you look and you go, “Wow, literally, there’s an Instagram filter that could do that monster.”

David Read:
It gets the story across, but at the same time, are you gonna remember it in 20 years?

David Hewlett:
I think there’s a big push right now to say that, “Oh, we didn’t use CGI.” Yes, you did. You absolutely did, you just didn’t use it to make that element or whatever. Again, I feel like they’re becoming bad words and I think there’s a whole artistry to the CG side of stuff as well, which I think is not to be underestimated. The best CG is stuff you don’t know is CG. You’re not even looking.

David Read:
You’re not even looking, that’s the thing. I watched Top Gun: Maverick and I was literally thinking every single plane in there is real. Then I watched the special features and at the end it’s like, no, they had a plane and then they used the CG to duplicate it. So, they had a reference-

David Hewlett:
Or F1, another example where you go, “OK, we’ve got the cars. We’re skinning them different.” I’m like, “You’re changing the cars, you added rain where there wasn’t rain.”

David Read:
You have a point of reference, though, that’s real, so that you can make it exactly the same. That’s the trick.

David Hewlett:
If you held that for too long, you’re gonna lose your audience. It’s our attention spans, it’s filmmaking. Go back and watch 2001, there’s only a few moments where you go, “Oh.” You know what I mean?

David Read:
But they were earned.

David Hewlett:
For the most part you’re like, “I get it.” “I’m there.” You know what I mean? “I buy it.” I’m trying to think of another one I saw recently that held up really well, surprisingly well. Look at things like Sinners.

David Read:
I haven’t seen it yet. I’m getting ready to. I’m really looking forward to it.

David Hewlett:
I didn’t know that it wasn’t two different people playing the leads; I did not know it was the same actor for both. The performances were so different. I’d never seen him before anyway, so I didn’t know whether he was gonna be dead in a minute or what the deal was. Beautiful film, oh my God. I’ve seen it twice.

David Read:
Sam Rockwell with Moon. They got another guy who looks so much like him that you’re not paying any attention. That’s artistry, that’s lighting and that’s finding the right actor.

David Hewlett:
Go back and look at the stuff we were doing. You could literally see other people, you can see the guy who played my body double in some scenes and stuff. We’ve come so far with that stuff now. For a hundred bucks you can have a motion control camera now. That, you used to have to wait for months to be available for us to play with and stuff. Again, it’s democratizing this process, but at the same time the industry’s gotta keep up, it’s gotta keep creative. People are going back to film for God’s sake, which I don’t understand at all. They wanna do something different; they wanna sort of go back to their roots of chemical process and all.

David Read:
I do genuinely fear that we are going to lose the institutional knowledge to create a lot of the technology that brought us to where we are. I do hope that we continue to hold on to the continuity of what brought us to where we are so that there will be people who will still be able to make a lot of the film, the chemical processes, that we don’t have to just go to a book and say, “OK, how did they do that?” “OK, this is kinda good.” There is something to be said for maintaining the continuity of those niche areas of invention into the future. We still have horse-drawn carriages, you just have them in certain spots for tourists.

David Hewlett:
That’s humanity. We are such a wide and varied species that there are some people who are gonna be drawn to what other people are gonna feel are very antiquated things. The reality is, when film started, why did people need to go to plays anymore? Sorry, I guess when movies started it was a different thing because they weren’t getting the talkiness of plays or the musical numbers. Once film could do that, then TV comes up. Why do you need films? The reality is they all can co-exist. None of them truly remove the other art form, it just reduces its potential. Basically, reduce its budget, reduce its audience, whatever. I think there’s a snobbery to film, and television to some extent, which feels like it’s always gonna be there. I think we gotta be careful because no one’s improved on how many hours there are in the day. If you’ve got an hour of someone flicking through Instagram or TikTok or something, that’s an hour they’re not watching Stargate or they’re not watching something else. We talked about this earlier with the two screens. When we started Stargate, the TV was the main screen, it was the only screen. Now, I would argue that it’s the second screen because the first screen’s in everyone’s hands. Maybe that’ll change and the other generations seem to be less inclined to spend all their time on that, that’ll be fascinating. When the new Stargate comes out, what are the interactions between the online world gonna be like? You’re literally exploring a new way of producing a television series. The audience is involved at this stage and the process is being shared. The reality was Stargate didn’t like sharing behind-the-scenes stuff.

David Read:
I didn’t feel that way, but I see where you’re coming from because they did want to be able to surprise us.

David Hewlett:
They wanted to surprise, exactly.

David Read:
You blow up Asuras and then five minutes later we see Weir in the chair of an Asuran ship and it’s like, “OK, whoa, what’s going on there?” Those were big tentpole moments.

David Hewlett:
There was definitely a sense of hiding how it’s made; the magic. You don’t wanna lose the magic and I think that is something that I do miss. I miss that feeling of “Wow.” “How did they do that?” Everyone knows how everything’s done now. Interesting story: My son recommended Marty Supreme to me and I was really surprised. I was like, “You liked that movie?” I hadn’t seen it yet. He said, “Yeah, yeah, you gotta go see it, you gotta go see it.” We went and saw it in the theater and I was like, “Oh, it’s great.” I thought good performance; it’s an interesting film. Their style of filmmaking is very sort of in your face.

David Read:
I’m not familiar with it.

David Hewlett:
It’s amazing, it’s absolutely worth seeing. I’ve seen better films, I just thought it was great. I was surprised that this was the one. I suddenly realized the reason why he liked that film so much was because he was trapped in a theater watching it. If he was watching that at home, he’d have his phone going, he’d have a laptop; he wouldn’t be as engaged. When you’re stuck in a room, forced to just focus on that, not even forced, but you allow yourself to just focus on that, it’s a completely different experience. I’m really hoping that we can have watch parties for the new Stargate. The idea of going into a big theater and watching live with a bunch of people would be friggin’ awesome.

David Read:
I would really love to. We deserve that. We’ve been out of the game for 15, 16 years by the time this thing comes along, for sure. When’s the last time you saw something live? Live performers?

David Hewlett:
Jesus. I’m trying to think about the last thing I would have seen live. It was probably Beck. Beck in concert was the last.

David Read:
I went and saw The Shark Is Broken with Gildart Jackson, Janus.

David Hewlett:
The Shark Is Broken?

David Read:
The Shark Is Broken’s based on…

David Hewlett:
Jaws?

David Read:
On Jaws. That’s right.

David Hewlett:
Wait a second, wasn’t there another one?

David Read:
It’s the play.

David Hewlett:
And they’re all sitting in the boat and they’re talking.

David Read:
They’re all sitting in the boat.

David Hewlett:
I saw that.

David Read:
You did?

David Hewlett:
I saw it with Harris’, was it Harris’? Who is it? Who played the…

David Read:
The lead?

David Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
His son. He also co-wrote it.

David Hewlett:
Great. I saw it. I gotta say, I was disappointed, I guess.

David Read:
Really?

David Hewlett:
I was so excited about it. I love that story. That’s filmmaking in a nutshell to me. The Shark Is Broken. I didn’t realize it was called that.

David Read:
The Shark Is Broken – him working through the speech throughout the production. Interfacing with performers on stage, they’re getting your reaction. You’re getting the reaction of your peers watching it. As we get more into this space, I find in talking to people, especially creative people, are drawn to that more and more, finding a human connection. Those of us who feel that we’re missing it because we experienced it before will have the benefit of taking advantage of these spaces. These young ones growing up, if they’ve never had that to begin with…

David Hewlett:
If it’s always available, it loses its sense of… The thing that I think people forget or had forgotten was that these are events. The reason why sports is doing so well is because you can’t… You could show it later, you could show clips or whatever, but the idea is you’re not sitting down with your friends and watching it later.

David Read:
The communal experience is gone.

David Hewlett:
With sports, you can have that communal experience. I think with film and TV it’s a little trickier because it’s not necessarily day and date. There’s obviously gonna be Stargate people who are waiting for that thing to drop and will watch it the moment it drops. The reality is you want that community. One of the things that got me into acting and science fiction in the first place was an aftershow after Doctor Who. We’ve talked about this before, where a scientist or a sci-fi author would talk about the potential science that we’ve just watched in the show. Why was that there? It wasn’t there ’cause someone was a genius that came up with it, it’s there because they had a block of time to fill because Doctor Who was a half hour in England, which it’s hard to put ad breaks in and they needed to add to it. They added the science to the science fiction because it was a PBS show up here. I love that we’re seeing that more and more now. The Walking Dead, you got the Talking Dead, you’ve got all these aftershows.

David Read:
They do great ratings.

David Hewlett:
It’s brilliant.

David Read:
People get into it.

David Hewlett:
It’s a club, it’s a fan club. I was a member of the Duran Duran fan club, I had a little pin and everything. That was something and I was proud of that. I was a sad act once. I was so proud.

David Read:
I love Ordinary World.

David Hewlett:
That’s nice. They’ve got some nice ones. I think we’re all looking for our little niche and the wonderful thing about the internet is that while yes, it does a very good job of splitting us up, it also brings us together. I don’t know if I have any data to back this up. Secretly, I think the success of Stargate is directly linked to the adoption of internet and internet communities because I think that’s what allowed people to find other people who are into this stuff.

David Read:
Rick Berman is on record saying he had heard someone say that the internet caught on because of pornography and Star Trek.

David Hewlett:
There you go. Pornography’s always the first.

David Read:
That carnal thing, absolutely.

David Hewlett:
Sex sells, kids.

David Read:
Fans go to their first Stargate conventions to meet the talent; they come back to be with each other again.

David Hewlett:
I was humming and hawing about going to these things. We’ve talked about this, about how much of this stuff do you feel comfortable monetizing, how much do you not? I originally naively thought that the convention thing was something that I wasn’t gonna do. I had dinner with a couple of friends of my father-in-law and they said, “We’re not idiots. You’re not conning us into anything. If you don’t wanna be there, we’re not gonna be there. The reality is, you’re the entertainment at a wedding.” I was like, “Oh my God.” That’s totally it.” It’s like, yes, we could say Coldplay played our wedding. That’s amazing, but it’s still our wedding first and foremost. The fact that they wheeled that old guy from Stargate Atlantis onto stage during my time at the convention, that is just something that I can now discuss with my friends, some of whom were there, some of whom weren’t. It’s that event nature of it. I think it bodes very well that we’re seeing that already happening, the way that Gero and I guess Amazon… I’m assuming Amazon is involved, I guess they must be. The fact that they’re bringing that audience back together again, it’s a bit like someone going around collecting all the old Avengers and bringing them all back together.

David Read:
Little Samuel L. Jackson stuff happening.

David Hewlett:
Only with the fans.

David Read:
That’s the thing that continues to blow me away. I told Martin this, “you guys could have announced this on the ISS if you wanted to and they would have probably done it.” They chose to come to us. What does that say?

David Hewlett:
A, they’re smart, because there’s no better tool for that than this.

David Read:
It makes sense that they want fandom to participate in the process of creating this one, because much like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it’s here because fans demanded it.

David Hewlett:
That’s cool. If there’s one thing you can learn from Stargate, and a lot of science fiction, the most important technology is communication.

David Read:
That’s it.

David Hewlett:
If you can communicate with people who are like-minded, if you can let people know what’s going on, you don’t even have to necessarily follow all of their suggestions or where they want the show to go. The fact that you’re putting it out there for them to discuss, that is absolutely key. I think it’s communication. There’s a wonderful book that I’m reading now called Nexus, which is by the guy who did Sapiens. He talks about how information doesn’t represent reality; information is a story. The way that we have advanced beyond sort of tribes of monkeys running around is that we learned how to tell stories and discovered the power that could bring people together and I think that’s what I love. At the core of all of these things, you find a story and they’re writing a wonderful story. Even just to get us to that first episode, we’re already involved in the story. I think that’s wonderful.

David Read:
At the end of the day, we’re finite. We view everything through a lens of a beginning, middle, and end, because when it comes down to it, that’s really our nature.

David Hewlett:
Hollywood’s dodging that now. I feel like Hollywood doesn’t even bother with a setup anymore. We just go middle and then middle. They don’t even end ’cause they’re often like, “Yeah, well, if it works, if it works well, we’ll do it again.” It’s like, “No, finish the damn story.”

David Read:
You feel something disingenuous about it; it feels half-baked.

David Hewlett:
As soon as you start talking about IP… I think you lose.

David Read:
How can we milk this thing?

David Hewlett:
Then it becomes a product, it’s not a story. We were talking about marketing, marketing’s just telling a story. Having a conversation is just telling a story. I think that no matter how much technology, no matter how much things change in the world, the innately human element of all of this is our ability to tell stories and to connect with people through them and also our love of it. Even if you don’t watch films and TV, you’re still getting your stories from wherever, even if they’re little, tiny, short little verticals or TikToks or whatever. The ones that stay with people tell some kind of little story.

David Read:
Tell me about any updates to your story. You gave me this [Tech Bandits coin]. Thank you, by the way.

David Hewlett:
You’re welcome. The little Tech Bandits coins.

David Read:
Beautiful piece. Tell me about Tech Bandits. What’s going on?

David Hewlett:
I had so much fun. I sent the design to the company and the person who took the order said, “I’ve given it to our designer,” and then right away got back and said, “Our designer’s very excited, apparently she watches the show.”

David Read:
You’re kidding.

David Hewlett:
I feel like I had an unfair advantage in that they did a beautiful design, and then, of course, I had another wonderful nerd, Jack Jastrow, who did the design stuff for me. John Raymond, a friend of mine, gave me one of these coins once. I couldn’t get over how much it meant to me. It’s not a business card, it’s “you mean something.” I love the idea that, of all people who I’ve been talking to since God knows when, it seemed nice for you to have one of them.

David Read:
I sincerely appreciate it. What’s going on with the show and what are you excited about? What’s new and noteworthy that you wanna speak on?

David Hewlett:
Like I say, the science and tech stuff for me, I’m really enjoying these. I’m doing these sort of “I’m With (Stargate) Genius” chats. I added the Stargate because I wanted to call it “I’m with Genius,” but then I realized I sound like I’m being McKay. I added on the Stargate Genius.

David Read:
You can have that shirt.

David Hewlett:
Exactly. That’s the element to me, that’s my in, to Genius, that I’ve always said. Because I played smart on television, I’ve been very lucky in that it’s allowed me to weasel my way in with people who are actually doing very interesting stuff. This week, I talked to Sarah, who is an aerospace engineer, an astrophysicist, and is using AI to detect potential other planets that are out there.

David Read:
Exoplanets.

David Hewlett:
Exoplanets. Thank you. Obviously, I didn’t listen very well. I find it absolutely fascinating; this stuff is exciting to me. When we’re talking about story, I love sitting down and talking to people about this stuff that they’re doing. It’s all completely new to me. I don’t understand most of it, it makes me do some research. It keeps me focused on what’s up and happening. Also, it’s that community thing. I find it therapeutic where, at the end of the day, as I nestle down to bed, I’m like, “I made something. I made a little show which is telling people about…” I’ve really, really been enjoying that. We got another one coming out that Agne’s invented and talked me into. She wanted to do something that’s based in the industry and I was like, “I don’t wanna talk to actors and all that stuff.” She’s come up with this thing, because she said there’s other actors out there who have side hustle things that are not all about Hollywood stuff. We’re doing this thing called “Actually Brilliant.” I’ve done one interview with my friend Vincenzo Natali, who did Cube and Splice and In the Tall Grass and the Cabinet of Curiosity and stuff. It was so wonderful because I’ve known him since I was 13 and we were making movies together since we were 13, 14 years old. Sitting down and having that chat was so insightful to see where his head’s at and I was so impressed with where his head’s at. It’s really a chance to have people who are in one world talk about the other, talk about little hacks that they have in their lives, or technologies that they find exciting, or what else they would have been doing if the universe was different.

David Read:
This is where ideas start, this is where they get born. I remember pitching Dial the Gate to you in 2020.

David Hewlett:
God.

David Read:
I was like, “I wanna make an Archive of American Television kind of program, but for Stargate.” I remember you telling me, “I’ll do one.” I’m thinking to myself, “One? OK, I’ll have to make it a banger.” Before we got to the end of the first one, you said, “When are we doing this again?”

David Hewlett:
“We’ll do this again.” I love the sound of my own voice.

David Read:
People are recognizing what it is that we’re trying to achieve and see a utility in it.

David Hewlett:
There’s so much stuff out there. You can find everything that you want and if you’re a Stargate fan, even loosely, or a fan of whatever actor you’re speaking to from something else, I think it’s fun to know that stuff. It’s funny, I’ve got to a point now where I don’t wanna know what other actors have to say about stuff because I feel sometimes it ruins the story for me. I love knowing about behind-the-scenes stuff, I love knowing how things are made. I love it. We’ve always enjoyed geeking out. Do you know Steve Ramos? Have you met Steve Ramos?

David Read:
The name rings a bell, but I never met him.

David Hewlett:
Steve Ramos is this amazing writer guy. He used to write for SciFi Magazine and stuff. He has his own website now, but he has all of these archives of, most of them, audio interviews he’s done with all these old SciFi actors. You should talk to him because I think it’d be a fun collab because I think there’ll be overlap there. It’s new content that’s old. He’s also the most wonderful guy. He’s got this Boston accent and he’s just wonderful. He’s a wonderful, wonderful man. He’s got a book coming out actually, there’s a book that he’s got of interviews that he’s done. I should put you in touch with him because he’s wonderful. I can’t remember the name of his blog now. He’s so old school, he’s got a blog, you know what I mean?

David Read:
Like Joe Mallozzi?

David Hewlett:
He’s Mallozzi. He was built for the internet, that guy.

David Read:
It has been wonderful catching up with you.

David Hewlett:
Oh my god, it’s so true.

David Read:
Thank you for inviting me.

David Hewlett:
I’m so glad we got to do this.

David Read:
This was terrific.

David Hewlett:
And it wasn’t because he bought me lunch, just so you know.

David Read:
It was a good Greek lunch.

David Hewlett:
We’ll work for food. Basically, we’ll interview for food.

David Read:
I was texting Paul McGillion.

David Hewlett:
McGillion.

David Read:
I was like, “I’m gonna be up in Toronto. Is there anyone over there that you recommend I reach out to?” He’s like, “Well, Hewlett’s up there.” I’m like, “That’s right. He’s not in Vancouver.” I emailed you 8:30 last night and I was like, “Well…”

David Hewlett:
Is that what it was?

David Read:
It wasn’t that late, but it was pretty late.

David Hewlett:
Like I say, I like last minute.

David Read:
I know.

David Hewlett:
If I have time to think about it, I’ll figure out why I can’t do it. I generally talk myself out of leaving the house.

David Read:
This is a great time to be a Stargate fan.

David Hewlett:
It really is.

David Read:
I think this is a great time to be in tech. You know what? There’s going to be shit stuff happening in the world.

David Hewlett:
That was the beauty of Stargate.

David Read:
We’re gonna figure this out. Every time we turn around, there’s something new developing in the tech front, in the medical front. It’s extraordinary the stuff that’s coming up.

David Hewlett:
What’s Beckett gonna get up to? We’ve surpassed the stuff Beckett was working on already.

David Read:
Exactly.

David Hewlett:
Worst doctor ever, I might add. It’s funny. I should say this because I think it’s important. I am amazed that you are still doing this.

David Read:
Really?

David Hewlett:
There was a while in there where I was like, “This could be going nowhere. How long is there gonna be content for you to make this stuff?” But you were always there, always did it. It’s the same thing with the fans. This show wouldn’t be happening, I wouldn’t still be getting to wander around the world and talk to you and see people, if it wasn’t for that fan base. You should know there is a power there, huge.

David Read:
I am discovering more and more all the time. The thing that blows me away is how much more there is to learn that I didn’t even know there was. Peter DeLuise emailed me not too long ago and he said, “I’m learning things that I didn’t know about and I worked on it.” That’s powerful.

David Hewlett:
I gave up on that a long time ago. I used to think that I was supposed to be the fountain of knowledge for this stuff, but now I will crack a joke based on whatever it is that you’ve got about the show that I have no memory of at all. I literally have already forgotten what I had for lunch, but I still appreciate it.

David Read:
That’s the nice thing about senility is rediscovering some of this stuff.

David Hewlett:
Hey!

David Read:
That’s awesome.

David Hewlett:
David, you’re here. When did you get here?

David Read:
It’s good to see you again.

David Hewlett:
Whose house is this? It’s nice. Pleasure, man.

David Read:
It comes for all of us. It was so good to see you. Thanks, brother.

David Hewlett:
I’ll do that.

David Read:
Appreciate you.

David Hewlett:
Cheers and I appreciate you as well. Thank you. And I appreciate you, thank you for staying awake.

David Read:
Thank you.

David Hewlett:
Poor, poor guy is like, “Oh, shut up.”