The mother of all Wraith, Andee Frizzell herself, sits down with Dial the Gate for a two-hour PRE-RECORDED interview. Now living in Thailand, Andee brings us up to speed on how she’s been getting herself through quarantine, and shares her many memories of portraying the various Wraith Queens in Stargate Atlantis.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:27 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:25 – Guest Introduction
10:55 – Traveling the World / Perspective Shifts
22:04 – Andee’s Upbringing
25:36 – Personal Heroes
27:59 – The Wraith Queen
33:51 – Stargate’s Relevancy Today
35:55 – Awareness of Stargate Prior to Casting
38:13 – Pre-Internet Days
44:50 – Playing the Keeper / The First Queen
50:37 – Being On Set
57:44 – Differentiating the Queens
58:49 – Martin Wood and Robert Patrick
1:05:07 – Meeting Joe Flanigan’s Family
1:06:28 – Costume and Makeup
1:12:09 – The Foam Mask in “Submersion”
1:20:41 – What was it like having your head removed by Connor Trinneer
1:23:54 – On-Set Antics
1:28:31 – The Wraith’s Psionic Ability
1:31:43 – Queen Outward Appearances and Personalities
1:34:24 – Trivia!
1:47:24 – Fans and Conventions
1:55:08 – Guest Thanks
1:55:41 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:56:55 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome to episode 13 of [Dial] the Gate, I’m your host, David Read, and we have a lovely, long show for you. Be prepared for the long-haul here. I just got off… this is the wonderful thing about these pre-recorded shows – Robert C. Cooper and Andee Frizzell – I can do the pieces out of order and then assemble them as an Editor later. I just got off the Zoom with Andee Frizzell. We talked two hours. So, what you’re about to see is a lengthy interview. It is a great interview, she stays fascinating the whole way through, so get your pee break in now because you’re going to need it. But before I go any further, if you like Stargate and would like to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal to me if you would click that Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience – it already has started. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. 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. This is key if you plan on watching live. Clips from this livestream will be released over the course of the next several days on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. So, this is going to be a pretty abbreviated episode in terms of the mechanics of it, because it’s all… so, this episode is going to be approximately two hours long, probably a little bit over or under, depending on where things land in the editing. But Andee was a hoot, and she’s communicating to us from Phuket, which is why my room is so dark, because the sun is on the other side of the planet. So, I’m going to go ahead and bring in Andee. Without further ado, I have on the line, straight from Thailand, Miss Andee Frizzell. Andee, how are you? It’s good to see you!

Andee Frizzell:
Hi! From the Pegasus Galaxy to Phuket, here I am!

David Read:
Why Phuket? Tell us the story.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, well, the story begins about two years ago, I decided to take a ‘walkabout’ the planet. I started my journey in Columbia…

David Read:
Yes, you did, that’s when we last talked.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly, so I literally did that convention, and that Monday morning I got on a plane, and that was the last time I saw 90% of my wardrobe, was that day. And so I packed a bag and I went to South America, so I was in Columbia for five months. So I did Columbia, down into Ecuador, Venezuela, that area, and then I came back to Canada for four days, and flew to Indonesia. I went to Bali. So, I was in Bali for three months, which was just incredible, absolutely incredible experience, and then from Bali I went back through Vancouver, so I just seemed to keep dropping off guitars that I buy, and suitcases. They’re just piling up in the middle of the living room. And then from there I went to Turkey for a month, Greece for five weeks, Portugal for five weeks, and then I went to Costa Rica, and I was in Costa Rica for three months, and then… I know, just a big walkabout! And now, with 2020 griding to a halt, I feel I’ve been so blessed that I took that time, previously, to wet my travel shoes – get out my travel shoes? – Then I went from Costa Rica to Australia, and I spent three months in Australia. So, I was making my way slowly back to Canada…well, actually, I was going to make my way to England first. There was a Cal Mah convention that was happening in June, so I wanted to do South-East Asia, because of my touch of it through Bali and Indonesia, I loved it so much, I went to Kuala Lumpur as well, in that time. So, I was like, “I know I want to come back.” So, I basically had plane tickets, I went from Australia, from Melbourne, to Phuket, and then I was going to spend a month here, then my next place was The Philippines and then I was going on to Sri Lanka. It was this whole journey, and so I arrived in the night, I went to sleep, and I woke up in the morning and went, “What?” And all my flights had been cancelled. The world stopped, suddenly. So, that was eight months ago. Eight months, I’ve been… so, I’m literally Thai now. I’m pretty much Thai.

David Read:
Yeah, for all intents and purposes.

Andee Frizzell:
I mean, I look Thai, right?

David Read:
I wasn’t going to say anything!

Andee Frizzell:
I just blend right in, you know? They’ve accepted me.

David Read:
Has it been stressful changing all the… obviously you didn’t plan on spending this much time here. Have you had to make new arrangements? You’ve just showed me, it’s obviously Paradise, but you’re still displaced. Is there a feeling of “I’m still trapped. I’m in Paradise, but I can’t leave here.”

Andee Frizzell:
No, I’ve even taken the word ‘stuck’… there were so many people like, “You’re stuck in Thailand.” I was like, “I have been so blessed and highly favored to arrive here.” I could have been anywhere in the world at this time when this happened and I am so grateful that I landed here. And so, in comparison to the upheaval that this has caused in so many people’s lives, I can’t even begin to make a complaint. We had a monsoon, well, we had three monsoons come through, or three tropical storms – typhoons – come through, and I still didn’t want to complain, because so many people are really displaced. And I am very lucky, I do voice work online, so it hasn’t disrupted my work, my creativity. You really only wear flip-flops and shorts. The only thing I would say, if we’re going to make a ‘complaint’, is I really didn’t have very many clothes, and after washing three things a lot, they start to dissolve, basically.

David Read:
Well, you’re tall. I can’t imagine that it’s easy to get stuff there.

Andee Frizzell:
OK, exactly where I was going. So, they don’t have Amazon here, they have Lazada, and I was washing the same two pairs of yoga pants, two pairs of shorts, because I do yoga every day, and so they were getting pretty thread-barren. I’m pretty sure my ‘Downward Dog’ was like ‘Moons Over My Hammy’ at some point. So, anyway, I decided to go on Lazada and order, right? And, of course, they have the sizes like small, medium and large…

David Read:
“Large”…

Andee Frizzell:
Ok, so, I ordered these shorts, and they came, and I was like… and I did order them large because I like baggy clothes for when I’m doing yoga. I can’t even describe how itty-bitty these shorts were, and this was the large. So, this is my complaint, that I’m a giantess in a country of itty-bitty, so that’s been kind of funny, and actually some friends of mine back in Canada were laughing, like, “You have to do a YouTube show where you open stuff from Lazada and try it on.” And I was like, “I think they have pornography laws here, because some of these outfits are pretty small!” But, I think they have some kind of YouTube thing, that’s like, ‘Open the box surprises’ or something?

David Read:
Of course, yeah, I mean, you can only put so much of it on! There’s a lot left to cover!

Andee Frizzell:
It would literally be just a band of inappropriate… anyway, yeah. So, to go on it, I don’t have a single complaint, so many people’s lives have been uprooted and yeah, there’s not a complaint at all. I don’t feel displaced, I was able to… because of my very – especially at the time – very nomadic… I mean, I was headed back to Vancouver to shoot. The entire industry stopped while they re-vamped a lot of their regulations and rules and stuff, so work came to – on that front – stopped anyway. So, yeah, no complaints here at all.

David Read:
I lived in The Philippines for the better part of a year when I worked at PayPal…

Andee Frizzell:
Oh wow, where in The Philippines? Look at this giant cup! This is perspective.

David Read:
I’m going to have to get a screenshot of this, this is fantastic.

Andee Frizzell:
This is… “Hi!”

David Read:
At least you got your… is it tea or is it coffee?

Andee Frizzell:
It’s actually water, but I though this looked gross. I thought this looked like an ad.

David Read:
Ah, I see what you are doing, I got it.

Andee Frizzell:
Because when you’re filming, they have to take all the brand names out of everything, right? So, I didn’t want to be like, “What else, David, ding ding ding.”

David Read:
“Andee drinks Crystal. Drink Crystal today. Andee approves!”

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly! So, I’m like, “Look at this giant cup!” Anyway, I’m sorry, I cut you off. Where in the Philippines were you?

David Read:
Makati City. The Capital. Manila. So, I love… I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to leave. I had made so many friends there… it wasn’t just the friends, it was… living there changed my life in a way that I can’t describe because they are so much happier than Western people are, and they look up to us so much, and as I told them again and again, “You guys don’t… you’re the ones to be envied. You have nothing compared to many parts of the world. Your home floods.” Many of my friends, their home flooded every year…

Andee Frizzell:
The monsoons.

David Read:
The monsoons would come in, and they would row to the call center, part way, and take the jeepney for the rest of the way. I’m sure you did the whole jeepney thing?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, yeah.

David Read:
With our heads ducked down because we don’t fit. But they’re looking up to us and saying, “You know, the Western world is…” You’re happier than all of us almost combined! And I learned a lot about who I was as a person, and when I came back, I would watch the news and, “So-and-so called So-and-so a such-and-such,” and, “[Gasp] A such-and-such? They called them a such-and-such? Can you believe that? Oh, now we have to initiate an apology! They must have an apology for the such-and-such.” And I was like, “Guys… you have roofs over your [heads], you have clean, running water that you flush down the toilet!” And it just changed my life, absolutely. I love the Pinoys, they’re the hardest working people I have ever encountered.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I think that’s why I travel, is to keep that perspective, because really, I can have opinions and thoughts on things, but it’s all just based on my experience, so the broader that I can make my experience. So, I told this saying – please somebody look it up, I don’t know where it came from – but I had heard it once and I make it my mantra, “A smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” So, not to say ‘mistakes’, but learning from other people’s experiences, so the more experiences I can put myself in situations, the broader I think my world view is. It becomes a world view because my view is of that entirety and not so narrowed. Because when you live in a small town, in a small radius, that becomes your whole world and so whatever can happen in that space is relevant and important to you at that [time], so when you’re saying the injustices of speaking out and apologies, and in that small world that really is relevant and important to the people that are experiencing that. I find the broader that I can make my experience… and right now, what do we value, as people, as relevant and important? When we are not able to go outside, thinking about connection with people, how many people live two blocks or three blocks from your house and you haven’t made time to see them? We’re all so busy doing all of these things, and then we’re locked in our house, and all you want to do is see that person that lives two to three blocks away.

David Read:
We’re on these all the time.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly! We’re experiencing the world through that distance, through that technology.

David Read:
And it’s continuing to separate us more and more. Otto von Bismarck, he was a Prussian German Statesman. “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes, the wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” Died in 1898.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I Andee-ized it!

David Read:
You Andee-ized it, that’s great.

Andee Frizzell:
But it’s that kind of… the more experiences that you can have, you can see the prioritizing, what they prioritize. My experience here when I came to Thailand, or came to Phuket specifically, I was here for the lockdown, and so it wasn’t just the airports closing, they locked down Phuket into its districts, and so I was in this district. The Government announced that this was going to happen, everybody was to stay in their homes, and then there was a mobile unit that came around and tested people. Anyway, so that lockdown was happening, and I went to the store, to the grocery store, to stock up for food, and you could see the difference between the Westerners, the foreigners, and what we were buying, and what the Thai people were buying…

David Read:
The types of things in your shopping cart, you mean? Or your basket?

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, and the amount. And I like how you say ‘basket’. So, the foreigners were in lineups with wheely carts, two to three of them, and you’re pulling like a train towards the checkout, full of alcohol and chips…

David Read:
Everything they’ll need for a month, probably.

Andee Frizzell:
Everything they’ll need for… and the lockdown was a month, it was a month long. So, that’s what they were like. Then right behind them – and this was two foreigners, a couple, say – and then right behind them was a Thai family, so there was the father, the three children, the mom, and they had rice, vegetables, they were carrying… they didn’t even have a basket. They were like, “This is what we’re going to need.” And it just was interesting, not in a judgmental way, but just, “What is a priority? What do we prioritize, as you’re going away for one month, what are you going to pack?”

David Read:
And how much do we really need?

Andee Frizzell:
And a lot of pre-packaged food and a lot of alcohol. It was very interesting to me, just what we prioritize, and I think if now, after that month you put those same people, and said the same thing was going to happen, would they choose different things now that we’ve had that experience. It would be very interesting. And also the… I don’t want to say the disposable income, and I am speaking very globally, and only from what I witness and my personal experience, so of course, anyone can say, “That’s not true of…” For sure, my theories, my opinions can be challenged, so I just like to put that out there, it’s not every Thai person, but I feel that they don’t live with credit like we do. So, to get three carts of food at one time is accessible to a culture that lives in credit, or has credit cards and whatnot, and I found that the Thai people don’t have access to that, they live quite frugally, and they live… not hand-to-mouth, but in that sort of cycle. There’s also that difference, when you don’t have this accessible credit, what do you prioritize? Do you want six cases of beer if you have to pay, from your future you’re paying for them. I don’t know, it was just an interesting place to be. And then, of course, to see what’s happening in the West, in relation to what’s happening here, and I’m not making opinions about who did what right or wrong, it’s just everything is being documented and so you can see these very different views and very different ways of handling things. So, I found that very interesting. Especially the mask culture. And I’m not here to judge or to opinionate anyone’s personal choices, but here, though, the majority of people ride scooters, I, myself included!

David Read:
Good for you, I loved it.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I look like a giant match, you know, with this helmet and this skinny body, hitting lots of wind surface. I love my scooter. And so, it’s a scooter culture and because of pollution and bugs and things, everyone wears a mask. And so it was seamless to move that mask from outside to inside. It’s just part of their culture here. And then speaking with my friends in Canada, Vancouver specifically has a large Asian population, and so masks… and I’m not speaking for everyone at all, and saying it’s the 100% rule, it’s just an opinion.

David Read:
The Eastern cultures tend to wear masks more than we do. I saw it when I was in Japan. If you’re sick, or if you feel sick, you wear a mask.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and so they just have a different view of… again, and this is the whole conversation we’re having right now is a different view. It’s not a right or wrong thing, just a different view of it, so for me it became quite seamless. Masks were very accessible, you found ones that worked and ones that didn’t, like, some that made you way sweatier, dripping down here, but it was just a different way of approaching the situation, it seems. And then you have – because everything is so documented now, right? – seeing how different cultures, different countries, just handled it so differently…

David Read:
How we’re all handling it, yeah.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, and not to say anyone… we’ll only be able to look back and say, “Who did it better? Who wore it best? Who wore 2020 the best?” in hindsight. We’re in it right now and it’s unprecedented, so maybe this is a Pollyanna view of it, but everyone’s trying to do the best they can, in my opinion, trying to make it work in unprecedented circumstances.

David Read:
I’m really grateful to have you on this show, this show is supposed to be an Oral History of Stargate, but we also want to capture you, as a person, so if you can do me a favor and tell me about your upbringing. Where are you from, originally, and who were you as a young person?

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, that’s pretty funny. What I wanted to say is, I don’t even know what time we’re at right now. What we’ve learned about me is that I talk a lot. That’s what we learned about so far.

David Read:
No! Not possible!

Andee Frizzell:
I know! I’m waiting for the red light, like, “It’s over, get off the [stage].” So, that’s what we’ve learned about me so far. I’m Canadian, I was born on the East Coast of Canada, a little island called Prince Edward Island. As you see the nomadic genes don’t fall too far from the tree, my mom travelled… we lived in every province, one territory, so I grew up moving around the country. And then when I was 17 I moved myself to Europe and then I travelled extensively for about 11 years, all over Europe, South America. So, yeah, I’m much more comfortable… you know when people say your ‘comfort zone’, and I feel like my comfort zone is out of myself…

David Read:
The frickin’ planet?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah! When I’m not comfortable, when I’m like, “Where’s the water and why is there a lump in this bed? What’s that?” I’m much more comfortable in uncertainty than when it’s too certain. So, I grew up all over Canada…

David Read:
Did your parents instill in you a sense of – because of the movement – a sense of wonder about the world? Who’s responsible for that?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, it’s interesting because I’m a little bit older, so I had parents in the ‘80’s, and ‘80’s parents weren’t really like, “Let’s sit down and talk about the welfare of my child,” they were like, “This is what we’re doing, and we have the food, so if you want to come with us, you might want to get in the car.” So, I just find it really interesting, because we now superimpose today’s parenting of openness and discussion…

David Read:
“Honey, what do you want?”

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah! There wasn’t really… like, I remember coming home from school and seeing a couch go out the door, and I’m like, “I think I’m moving!” and then my friend’s like, “Really?” and I’m like, “Yeah, OK, bye!” And whatever the motivations behind that, like, economics, for work, I’m sure, but also curiosity on my mom’s part of finding better jobs and schools and things like that, and she wasn’t tied down to certainties, so I guess that was instilled in me. And I guess you can go two ways with that, you can embrace it and have a curiosity about it, or you can become anxious about it and want to create even more stability in your life, to really not move. So, I guess I embraced it and then took it global.

David Read:
Who are your heroes? Who made you the person you are today? Through real life, through study? Who do you consider your heroes?

Andee Frizzell:
It’s funny you should say, “Who made me the person I am today?” I don’t know if it’s a person, but adversity absolutely made me the person I am today. I think that’s really how, by putting yourself, by going outside of your comfort zone and challenging yourself, and adversity coming up, and problem solving, and that creates who you become. I have heroes, I have people that I admire, that I look up to, especially in my career, with actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman was just… yeah, right? Incredible.

David Read:
Gone too soon.

Andee Frizzell:
Absolutely. And Cate Blanchett, and just so many incredible actors, and someone I admire very, very much, because of his ability, is Brad Pitt. And it never ceases to absolutely amaze me that this man is one of the most – someone can challenge my statistics, by the way – is one of the most photographed people on the planet, and yet… so, we know his face and yet, you can go into a movie theatre – I guess you used to be able to! – you can watch a movie…

David Read:
One day.

Andee Frizzell:
One day! You can watch a movie that stars Brad Pitt, and in seconds, you forget that you’re watching Brad Pitt. His ability to create this character that’s so believable, that even your logical brain that knows, “That is Brad Pitt, he’s so recognizable,” you are completely lost in the story and lost in his character. That, to me, is an incredible ability, and something that I would love… I mean, I have been so lucky that my characters are not – thankfully – are not even recognizable to myself, like, I get to come alive in the chair with the Wraith Queens, so, I’m already ten steps ahead of having to create that out of a non-recognizable… he’s so recognizable and then he has to work against what you already know, and he’s so good at that. And I’m like, “You don’t even know what’s happening under here!” I’m sure I’ve shared with you multiple stories of the first season, going to the wrap party and walking up to Bev, who at the time was the mic lady, and I was like, “Hey, how’s it going?” and she was like, “Good,” and kind of turning away from me, and I was like, “Hey, lady!” Yes, I was like, “Hey, you just had your hands down my pants yesterday, and now you won’t even look me in the eyes?” And she was like, “A-a-andee?” Because mic-ing is the last thing that happens, so I had already spent all my hours in the chair, and because of the length of time putting the prosthetics on, I arrived hours before even the other trailers. But I’m not even talking just about the other actors and the crew, and catering, I arrived before other trailers arrived! I would get to the lot and there would be one trailer, and that’s where I’d go in, and the circus would be built around me while I was getting my face on! Then I would walk out and be like, “There’s people!” So even catering had never seen my face, even the guys that put the trailers together, the teamsters, they had never even seen my face until second season.

David Read:
James… is it Lafazanos?

Andee Frizzell:
Yes.

David Read:
Sometimes Dan Payne, those people who were the Wraith entourage, they would have known who you were, but other than that…

Andee Frizzell:
And that’s it, and James and I really only worked together…

David Read:
The OG.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, so it was like, we knew. And then we also had to be fitted for contact lenses and stuff like that. I will say, one of my favorite stories is actually being in the contact place, and I had yet to meet him, but I went there to get the lenses fitted and I turned around and he walked in the door, and both of us were like, “Uh!” I had never seen this man who looks exactly like me. We have the same bone structure, we’re the same height, we’re both blond, and we looked at each other like, “Do I…? Are we related?” How did they find the two of us? And Vancouver is not such a giant city, but I’d never seen him before.

David Read:
Brad Wright always said that the Wraith are very genetically similar to one another, so it made sense that they found someone that looked very similar to you.

Andee Frizzell:
And it was so crazy because we were both like, “Wow! How have I never seen you before? Like, at a showing of something else or mini pitch-and-putt in Stanley Park. How have I never seen you before? And you do look like my brother, you know?” I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway, where were we going? Yes, so for me, the real essence of an actor is to be able to take you into the story and someone who can do that who is so recognizable I just think is incredible. And Cate Blanchett, as well, her ability to just absorb you into the story, and you’re like, “I know this amazing, beautiful woman…”

David Read:
You forget you’re watching them.

Andee Frizzell:
Absolutely! And you’re completely absorbed into their character.

David Read:
I have the same reaction to Johnny Depp. He is a chameleon. He disappears right in front of you. Even if he’s not heavily in makeup.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and that’s what I was saying, I had the benefit of heavily in makeup. I guess if you say those are my heroes, but hero is such an interesting word. I like how you use that word. I think the heroes are really the people that are going to get out of this situation that we’re in right now.

David Read:
Definitely, that is definitely the most pure form of hero, as far as I’m concerned. But yeah, the people that, in that kind of context – and you answered – the people who enable you to professionally aspire to what you want to be and things like that.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and that was a professional…

David Read:
Right, not necessarily the ‘life’ person, like, if I’m going to do something at the most critical moment of my life, the reason that I’m on this earth, that’s what you were referring to there, is that other form of hero.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, just kind of like, they inspire you to look inside yourself. And so that was professionally, but just heroes in general, that’s what I mean by how we come out of this on the other side. Those are the people that are inspiring me, because it’s making me look inside myself, and those are heroes to me, it’s not so much what they do, but what they can inspire in you to do. And so you can take that professionally, you can take that community-wise, socially, in relationships, in my opinion. So those are heroes.

David Read:
Is any of Stargate’s content, in your estimation – what you worked on, at least – more relevant now than it was when it was filmed?

Andee Frizzell:
Oh. That’s interesting. I think I know why Stargate is intrinsically… people love it and they’re such devoted fans of it, is because of the inspiration of imagination. It takes us out of the here and now, into the imagination, into pushing boundaries and things, new worlds, new explorations, that curiosity, so I think that is why sci-fi shows have these lasting fans, because no matter when you watch it, you’re still inspired. It still broadens you to this different world view, like a bigger world view that encompasses more worlds, right? But specific content, or specific messages? That’s where I’m jamming up because I don’t really know.

David Read:
Hey, if you didn’t see it when it was on the air, you said you didn’t have a television set?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I didn’t.

David Read:
Some people don’t watch TV.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and that’s what I was trying to say, is that, I understand the value of it, I absolutely understand the value of the show, but to speak in particulars about the content, or certain content, I don’t want to speak out… fakely. There’s enough fake news out there, I don’t want to fake it…

David Read:
Add to it. Let me ask you this then…

Andee Frizzell:
That’s why it’s jamming me up, I think.

David Read:
How aware of the franchise were you before being cast? I mean, you were in the Vancouver area, it was shot up there for seven years before Atlantis even appeared.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, which is interesting that you say that because we cast this in 2004, and I was living in Vancouver. I’d just moved there in 2000, so Stargate… what did I know about it as an actor, was that it was casting and that I had auditioned for parts and roles and things that were coming up, smaller things, but watching the actual show… See, this is what’s so incredible about the show is, even though I’m not a sci-fi series watcher, is that I heard of the show, and I watched the movie, the original movie, and I thought that was fascinating, the idea that there would be a gate that would take us to these other worlds, and how much of the unknown things that are here on our planet now, unexplained things, could come from this. The imagination was incredible. Again, you and I have talked about this, one of our first interviews, about the religious and social ideas that came out of all…

David Read:
Spiritual, yeah.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, spiritual. So, I found, even though I wasn’t watching the show, I still knew of the show, and I knew the show’s impact, even if I didn’t know specific episodes. But now, of course, with streaming and the internet, to be able to check into a show that you’re going to audition for, just to see how they’re filming it, what kind of themes are working with, it’s completely different. At that time there wasn’t… I mean, even if I had a television and cable network, I would have to have waited until the episode aired! Remember those days? It sounds like I’m taking about it so far in the past, where we didn’t have running water…

David Read:
That depends on your perspective!

Andee Frizzell:
I know! It’s so funny how quickly we adapted to this technology.

David Read:
People who were born when you were shooting, are driving now, Andee.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God. Are they? Or are they just telling their car to do stuff and the car is driving? It’s crazy. I actually went… silly story, side story… Please do feel free to edit whatever you want, by the way, I will just keep talking to you. But side story, I was at a friend’s birthday party, and it’s a younger guy friend of mine, and they were talking about Facebook, and I’m not on Facebook, not for any other reason than it just seemed one more password to have to remember. I’m like, “Nah, forget it.” And if I didn’t speak to you from kindergarten, there’s probably a reason. You ate that red crayon and I wanted to use it. So, anyway, the point being, I’m not on Facebook. So, I was talking about my travelling, and they were very curious as to how you keep in touch with people before… and then I was saying before Facebook. And I said, “I travelled around the world before Facebook.” And this guy says to me… no, I said, “I travelled around the world before the internet.” And this guy says to me, “Yeah, I remember when it was only Myspace.” And I was like, “Myspace? Fool, I’m talking no internet, like, not even just social media platforms, there was no internet! There was no Google maps…”

David Read:
Were there cell phones?

Andee Frizzell:
There was no cell phones.

David Read:
So that’s pre early ‘90’s.

Andee Frizzell:
1992 I started travelling. 1992. Well, my first trip to France, I left late ’91. I remember, in 1999, I was living in Athens, and the internet existed. At that point they existed and there was Hotmail, and you could get… honest to God.

David Read:
I had one in ’98.

Andee Frizzell:
But, I’m not, like, a thousand years old, that’s what I’m trying to say. This is incredible, that it’s happened so quickly. So, to say, again, I was travelling a lot, and then I moved to Vancouver in 2000 and I started my career then, my acting career. So, I’d heard of the show, obviously it was casting there, and I heard of the impact from the fans of what they were creating, the content that they were creating, how imaginative it was, but had I accessed it and watched? I didn’t watch television.

David Read:
Got it.

Andee Frizzell:
I know! I still don’t. OK, can I tell you another little secret?

David Read:
Yeah!

Andee Frizzell:
So, I’ve been in the room that I’ve been in now for three months, and a friend in the building, something happened because we had these typhoons coming through, so the power was going out, towers were going down, and so he text me and he said, “Is your cable on your television, is it working?” And I wrote back, “I have a television?” And I was looking around my room, I didn’t even know, and there’s a giant flatscreen, like a 60 inch… I haven’t even turned it on! Cable? Why am I watching Thai cable television?

David Read:
I was in Chicago for Christmas, and I was in a bedroom at my cousin’s house, and we were on death watch, watching… my uncle died of Agent Orange, and so we were there for three weeks…

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, David, I’m so sorry.

David Read:
Thank you. We got to spend some time with him before he went. But anyway, the room that I was in also had a giant flatscreen television, and I mentioned something about not having a TV or whatever, and they were like, “There’s one in there. There’s one in there!” And I walked in there, and I noticed it for the first time. So, it’s not just you! I rarely… it’s my device. I’m not saying that I don’t use that stuff, but I don’t watch TV. So, it’s not just you, Andee.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and then people laugh at me, they’re like, “How can you be an actor?” And I’m like, “Well, studying…” That’s why the internet has been so incredible, being able to study The Actor’s Studio, to watch actors, to do… When I was in Australia, I went to the Howard Fine Studio of Acting there. He’s a coach from LA, that has a studio in Melbourne, and I got back on stage for the first time in a long time, oh, it was incredible. And so, the tool and skill of acting is not necessarily watching shows, right? I’m an avid, avid, avid reader. Avid. I think they just sent me a ping saying since January I’ve read 1200-some books.

David Read:
Good for you. Wow, you slurp ‘em down like Skittles, holy cow!

Andee Frizzell:
I do! And, obviously, I have lots of time on my hands, so I wouldn’t expect a normal person to be able to get a thousand books down in 10 months. And I’m not saying they’re tomes of physics…

David Read:
But they’re not Goosebumps books, Andee, I mean they’re probably…

Andee Frizzell:
Um…! I’m just saying it’s… yeah, well, I like the Goosebumps books! I do! I can’t believe you picked them specifically.

David Read:
Well, I was thinking of something short. Shorter than that is like Amelia Bedelia, from when I was growing up, so come on.

Andee Frizzell:
I do have a bunch of the Goosebumps books.

David Read:
R. L. Stine?

Andee Frizzell:
I love those!

David Read:
Oh my gosh, secret reveal. That’s too funny.

Andee Frizzell:
It’s so funny. So, that’s what I was saying, I can understand the allure of sci-fi and fantasy and fiction, and I love that. My medium of absorbing it is through my Kobo. I’m not carrying a bunch of books with me, even though this makes it look like I am!

David Read:
No, you’re the library there. Let me bring this back. So…

Andee Frizzell:
To actual questions.

David Read:
What was your initial breakdown of The Keeper. She was a Queen, we know that now, that she was a Wraith Queen, and what did you infer, just based on the script, and tell us about the audition.

Andee Frizzell:
What was super exciting about the script is this character had never been seen before, and I was the Queen.

David Read:
The race had never been seen before.

Andee Frizzell:
That’s what I mean, like, they didn’t exist. So, this is where great writing comes in. People can say, “Oh, I’m a great actor and this is a great Director,” and all of that works, but not on a silo. We need everybody. And so I can say I created the sense that they were more reptilian, I love that kind of idea, and James had the same sense, but where did we elicit that from? Is from the text. The writing was so good, that it just, again, it enabled us. And then the creativity of the masks, of the prosthetics, from the amazing creativity of that vision they had for the race, for the Wraith… the race Wraith… the Wraith race?

David Read:
The Wraith race.

Andee Frizzell:
The Wraith race! I love it, the Wraith race! And so I was able to elicit from then. The writing was super great. So, I remember the audition came through, and I had… I can’t remember what it was for… it must have been a Halloween costume or something, but I had this platinum blonde, egg-head kind of looking wig that was very severe, and most of my auditions I go in just wearing a black singlet and black tights and I just do it. If I can’t convey to you who I am without a costume, then, to me, I’m not doing my job. So, I don’t really dress up for auditions, but for some reason I just felt like I wanted to really wash out any humanness in myself. I put no makeup on, and I’m – unlike what these are telling you, it’s the lighting in here – I’m quite blonde, like, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, so I put no makeup on, and then I had this really severe wig, so it just was like all cheekbones and jaw. And then, in that audition itself, I just really focused on the eyes, because I felt like, again, from the writing, this is everything, I’m just picking it up from the tight, tight writing, was that this was like a predator/prey and I was the predator, and so it was all eye contact. So, that was the audition, and I will say – and somebody else can tell me different – but what my imagination told me was I didn’t even get a callback. We did first auditions, and then I got the part. I’m not saying there weren’t people in contention as well, I’m sure there was other very talented…

David Read:
Right, but this is your recollection.

Andee Frizzell:
There was no callback for that. And so, I felt like they saw in me, or I was able to pull from the page at least something that they saw. And I’m not saying there wasn’t other talented people in the mix, or other things, I feel like I really was able to embody what they were trying to convey on the page, and that’s how I got… I’d like to say that’s how I got it, somebody else would be like… Martin would be like, “Oh, no, she was the tallest one!”

David Read:
That’s funny. But that’s a point I don’t think you’ve ever brought that up, though. You were the peak predator in the Pegasus Galaxy, as the Queen knew, that was as far as she was concerned, and I don’t ever recall thinking about making piercing eye contact with your prey, like a snake would.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, and you’re starting to do it now, like it’s deductive reasoning, right? So, you’re like, “If I am this, and if I am that…” and all of it’s being pulled from the dialogue, all of it’s being pulled from the writing. And then, not having a precedent of what it was previously, the imagination just percolates. Then, to meet up with James, and him intrinsically having the same nuances as well…

David Read:
And physicality, probably.

Andee Frizzell:
That’s the thing, we were both like, “Ah, this is amazing!” That we both picked up that… but that comes from great writing, great storytelling.

David Read:
Great costuming, great makeup, great actors.

Andee Frizzell:
See, it all comes together, right? And so, I don’t think anything happens in a silo. I read it, and then I imagined all of this, I was able to pull from set-dec, even, walking into the set, and you’re like, “Oh, I was feeling…” Like, set-dec, here’s a great example of that.

David Read:
Mark Davidson, Set Decorator.

Andee Frizzell:
Thank you, with all the names. I’m the worst with names.

David Read:
Mark is brilliant.

Andee Frizzell:
Absolutely. And so, I remember walking onto set for The Keeper, and she’s devoured the skeleton, and so when I came on and I saw that full skeleton and I pass Dan Payne, and I’m talking to Robert Patrick who’s behind me, and I saw the skeleton there, and I just felt this taunting, like, “This is gonna be you, I have all the power here.” And I started to stroke the top of that skeleton, and then it really highlighted the fingers. But that just came from the [set]. I wasn’t [planning], I wasn’t in my trailer like, “You know what would be great?” I didn’t even know there was going to be a…

David Read:
“Stroke the skeleton.”

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, “Hahaha!” That sounded really gross. “I was in my trailer and I wanted…” Do not clip that part out! “I was in my trailer and I wanted to stroke a skeleton!” Anyway…

David Read:
But what you’re telling him is – Robert Patrick – is, “You’re next.”

Andee Frizzell:
That’s it. And it was like I was playing with the… and so, as an actor you use all the things that are around you, and because I was surrounded by so much talent, I wanted to say it was easy to create this character, because of everything that you’re given, right? So, those are my recollections of how she evolved, how the Queens…

David Read:
How did you work to identify with a species, or a character, that is more or less – like this guy back here – set up to be the epitome of absolute evil? I mean, these creatures absorb the essence of human beings.

Andee Frizzell:
You know, you literally just took us a full circle, my friend, full circle, because the very first interview I ever did, for Stargate, was with you, and was at a sci-fi convention – do you remember this? – and you asked me about being evil. And I looked at you and said, “I’m not evil! I’m just hungry!” Do you remember?

David Read:
Yes, I do now.

Andee Frizzell:
And I think you titled it ‘Queen of the Hungry’.

David Read:
Yes, I did, that’s right! Good recall!

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, because – I can’t remember people’s names, but – because as a character, as an alien, as a person, as a whatever, you never think your intentions are evil. You never think that. You think that you… See, we judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intent.

David Read:
Uh, that’s Stephen Covey. I’m pretty sure that’s Stephen Covey.

Andee Frizzell:
Who’s that?

David Read:
“We judge ourselves by our intention and others by their behavior.”

Andee Frizzell:
“…by their behavior.” That’s it, exactly. Yeah, so my intention, as this Wraith, was to eat, and to feed, and to procreate, and to keep my species going, at whatever that meant, or whatever my… Do you look at a bear and be like, “That bear is evil.” No. It’s in their nature, that’s what they’re doing. So, I remember this conversation, and I was like, “I’m not evil!” And you were like, “But you’re evil!”

David Read:
They’re evil to us, but… you have the line in the pilot, “All living things must eat.”

Andee Frizzell:
That’s what I’m saying.

David Read:
But she’s also not strolling in there and saying, “God, I’m really sorry I have to do this.” She’s playing with her prey, like a cat plays with a mouse.

Andee Frizzell:
Right, but that’s again, is that… this is what I think is really fascinating, is our limitations as humans, to put human characteristics on…

David Read:
Anthropomorphize.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly!

David Read:
It’s a fair point.

Andee Frizzell:
That just rolled right of of my tongue, exactly what you just said… is that you say, compassionately, she talks to him, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was intelligent enough to speak to, because if it was just a feeding frenzy, she would have just ate him. So, there is a human part to her that is doing the prey/play kind of concept. She is looking to get something from him other than sustenance, right, because she wants to…

David Read:
Information too. She wants to find Earth.

Andee Frizzell:
She wants information. Exactly, but she also wants to let him know, “I’m not afraid of… I’m in charge, I’m the boss here.”

David Read:
“I’m top dog in this galaxy, the top of the pyramid.”

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly, so I don’t have to apologize. You walk into a bear cave, and the bear’s like, “Argh!” and you’re like, “Oh, do you feel bad?”

David Read:
True, no, that’s my fault. I got into its space, so that’s a fair point.

Andee Frizzell:
But I do find that really amazing, though, that we add these human, faulty – not that compassion is faulty – but we add human characteristics to… So, I never felt that she was evil, I felt that she was trying to do what they do, which is keep their race going, right? So, yeah, I never felt that it was evil. I didn’t have to apply evil, because I didn’t think it was evil.

David Read:
It’s interesting, your frame of reference, as embodying this character, as the show progressed, it was basically confirmed that the Ancients created them…

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, yeah.

David Read:
…with the Iratus bugs, so they only became that which we allowed them to become by accident. It’s not their fault that they exist and that they do what they do.

Andee Frizzell:
And I think if you look and maybe you can cut away in the two parts of that first interview, but I believe I remember saying that exact thing, “It’s not my fault that you woke me up, that I’m hungry,” I actually believe there’s a point, so you might wanna look that…!

David Read:
I didn’t expect to be going back to 15 years ago! I should have done my homework!

Andee Frizzell:
Shh! Was it that long ago?

David Read:
I know!

Andee Frizzell:
I think it was so funny when you said that, because it’s full circle now.

David Read:
It connected you right there.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, absolutely. But again, even differentiating between the different Queens, again, was very easy because the writing was so solid. Her intentions were so clear. Like in Submersion, “Get out of here!” They were very… allies… everything, the intention, because the writing was so tight. I didn’t have to add on to my characteristics, I just changed my intent. And when you change your intent then you change your – like we were just saying – your behavior changes, right? You do things differently because you have a different intention. And the writers were so great at – and the story, the overall story – was so clear as to where they wanted me to go that I didn’t have to make it up, it manifested itself from my setting a strong intention, it was there.

David Read:
What was it like… you mentioned James. You brought up briefly while we were [talking about] Patrick and Martin Wood…

Andee Frizzell:
I love him.

David Read:
Absolutely. What was it like working with the likes of a Terminator and a Director of 80 episodes of Stargate, and a movie?

Andee Frizzell:
Well, Martin was very intimidating, I feel he…

David Read:
Really?

Andee Frizzell:
I felt very intimidated because he’s very clear on what he likes to see, and he’s very organized, but after one day, or one episode of shooting with him, you realize just how amicable he is, he’s a really comfortable, nice guy, you know? But that Director you have in your mind, there’s always like… and someone so established, that it can be – when you first meet him – very intimidating because you see the director before you see the person. And I don’t know if this is a story, but I remember the… I wouldn’t say the tension, it was the concentration of the Pilot, and how everything was being…

David Read:
It was a big deal.

Andee Frizzell:
It really was! They’re taking this very established series and then adding onto it. And already people wanted [it] to fail, because it’s not the original. So, he was taking something… so, there’s a lot of intensity, new characters, new people, everybody working. And so we call it the inner circle, is when the director calls in First Team and then we’re all around and you’re in the set and the atmosphere, and he’s kind of blocking it out, “This is what I want to see happen, this is where…” And so, still at this point, I think I’d been there, maybe we’d been on set… it was maybe day one or day two, I think it was probably day one. Anyway, this intense huddle, when everybody’s alert, “What’s happening, where do you want this to go?” And like I said, he was quite intimidating, he’s very sure and speaks with a lot of confidence, so he’s speaking, and then he stops, and he looks around the circle and he goes, “Someone farted in the inner circle!” And I died laughing, it just [broke], because he just said it with such intensity, and certainty, and then he just walked away, and that’s when I knew that to be intimidated is just… it was my thing, not his thing. “Someone farted in the inner circle!”

David Read:
SG-1 was known for its flatulence behind the scenes.

Andee Frizzell:
And maybe, I don’t know whether it was because I had that big mask on, or something, I didn’t smell it.

David Read:
It wasn’t in your section of the inner circle.

Andee Frizzell:
It wasn’t in my section of the inner circle, I’ll tell you that! But just, in that moment, you get past a Director to being the creative person that he is, and you see him as a person. He was great. And then Robert Patrick was amazing. As a Canadian actor and you have very established American actors coming in, and you hear all these stories about people’s attitudes and stuff, Robert Patrick could not be more… I want to say accommodating, but he was just a comfortable… he treated everyone as a peer, there was no pretense about him, and really… Terminator! You could have come in… and I know all of us would, rightfully so, had given homage, but he didn’t have any of those airs about him. Super comfortable. And I do have a funny Robert Patrick story. Again, we go back to the masks, to wearing prosthetics. So, fast-forward a couple of years later, I would probably say four years later, I’m just going to guess now. Maybe 2008, and I was flying from LA to New Zealand, and I was walking through the LAX, I was walking through the airport, and Robert Patrick was walking the other way. And without thinking, because he was so approachable, and so friendly, I was like, “Robert!” And he’s like, “Hey!” And I’m like, “Oh my God, it’s so good to see you! What are you doing in the airport?” And he gave me a little brief, he’s like, “Where are you off to?” I’m like, “Here, here, here.” We chatted, chatted, and then I was like, “You know, man, it was really great to see you, I really enjoyed working with you on Stargate.” And he goes, “Oh, that’s who you are!” And then, of course, we burst out laughing and I said, “You just figured out, just in that last sentence of what I said, who I was?” And he said, “Yes,” I said, “You gave nothing away. You’re a really great actor, you gave nothing away. I had no idea you didn’t know who I was.” And then he said – to my compliment – he said, “A beautiful woman walks up to you in the airport, and says your name, what are you gonna go, “I don’t know you?””

David Read:
Exactly.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, he was lovely, he’s a lovely human.

David Read:
I’m terrible with faces, and people would be like, “Hey, David!” “Hey… you!”

Andee Frizzell:
See? And we have the opposite, because you said to me, you’re dropping names for me and stuff, and I’m faces…

David Read:
Yeah, well, I’ve done my research, that’s something else. That’s funny.

Andee Frizzell:
I barely remember my name sometimes, I’m like, “It’s An… An…? Oh, it’s with a… no, two E’s, yep, there’s two.” But faces? Bang on.

David Read:
Really?

Andee Frizzell:
But then I forget that they may not have seen me with this face.

David Read:
Exactly.

Andee Frizzell:
I forget that. So I’m like, “Ah, what’s happening?” And they’re like, “Who is this person talking to me.” It happened with Joe, as well.

David Read:
Flanigan?

Andee Frizzell:
Yep. Because I, at the time, I had an apartment that was across the beach from Stanley Park, and Joe and his wife and their kids were out riding bikes. And so, I came down, I said, “Joe! How’s it going?” And he was like… he’s with his family, so immediately he’s like… I could tell he was like, “Wait a second.” Like, if this is a fan, which he’s completely open to speak to people, but this is his family he’s with, you know?

David Read:
Right, exactly, you have to protect them.

Andee Frizzell:
And I was coming in! I wasn’t like, “Hi.” I was like, “Hi!” Like, “I just tried to murder you two days ago!” And I was coming in, and then I recognized it on his face, and I was like, “Oh, Joe, it’s me, it’s Andee, the Wraith Queen.” And then he was like, “Oh my God!” And then he says to his wife, “Oh my God, that’s the [Wraith Queen], look at her!” It was pretty funny, but I think it might have been different if he hadn’t had his children with him as well.

David Read:
Of course.

Andee Frizzell:
But his first reaction was like, “What is this coming at me?” And I was like, “It’s me!” [Holds up Wraith hand] “OK, it’s her!”

David Read:
Speaking of all that makeup, a lot of latex, I would imagine?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah.

David Read:
And, in Rising, you actually had gloves. Those actually weren’t your fingers, right?

Andee Frizzell:
All the way up to the elbow. They were long. They were really long. And they had finger extensions inside of them to elongate, right? And so, to get your hand into this silicone, they literally squeezed two tubes of KY Jelly, and it was cold and wet and slimy… it was so interesting. I cannot tell you how grateful that I was that those hit the heap pretty quickly, they were pretty gross.

David Read:
Wash your hands before you eat anything, Andee. Oh my God.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, yes, it was nasty.

David Read:
The first, The Keeper, the first Wraith Queen to the last Wraith Queen, how long was that makeup process, what time would you get there in the day, for The Keeper, and then the last Wraith Queen that you did, how long was that in comparison? And there were different types of makeup applied, from beginning as opposed to the end.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, absolutely.

David Read:
You said it got lighter.

Andee Frizzell:
Absolutely. So, the very first mask, they made out of silicone, and so the silicone – for The Keeper – so the silicone was beautiful, it had a beautiful texture and then they do all the face paint on top of it. So, every time you see the Wraith Queen, that was a mask that they painted every single time, so it wasn’t pre-painted. They did all the splattering, everything, every single… from the get-go. So, the silicone had this beautiful sheen to it, however, it was difficult to emote through it, and as the characters evolved, and became more – in my opinion – more human, like, we had more human characteristics, sort of like the conniving, the lying, the silicone was a beautiful texture to paint on, but it didn’t have the pliability to really be able to emote what the character was doing. So, they went from using that thick sort of silicone and the gloves, to using bits of prosthetic, so to create the illusion of the same thing, so we used spray. So, the very first time – because it was a test of makeup as well – so we had to test the…

David Read:
You had to find it!

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, exactly, like, what are the hues going to look like, what is the movement? So that first time, with it being that thick and them changing and playing with colors and stuff, that was nine and a half hours. So, nine and a half hours in the chair, yeah. Which is so fascinating, because people meet me and they’re like, “How do you shut your mouth for nine hours?”

David Read:
They pay me!

Andee Frizzell:
“I don’t think I did!” Yeah, they’re like, “How did you do that?” So, the first time it took nine and a half hours, but then the last time, the last Queen that I did, they had perfected it down after the very first time, it never was nine and a half hours again.

David Read:
No, those were for the tests.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, exactly. And so the next one was five hours, so we kind of got it around five hours, and we got into this real routine. I had my Wraith Team, I called them. They’re the ones that followed me around the rest of the day when stuff would fall off and they’d have to glue it back on, or my eyes would do this, they were there to rescue me…

David Read:
Yeah, they shift after a while.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, the cat eyes, right? They would, like… ding!

David Read:
Would that be painful?

Andee Frizzell:
You don’t feel it, you don’t. Well, painful? I had my prescription contacts underneath, so I had four lenses in my eyes.

David Read:
I didn’t know you could do that.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes. So, I had my prescription lenses underneath these huge cat eye lenses, so the lenses were… they just naturally… ‘cause there’s a weight at the bottom, they would move. So, I actually have a headshot somewhere, a promotion shot, that one eye is off. It looks like a pregnancy test, like, “No! No babies!” So, I had literally an eye wrangler that would just come and put my eye back into place.

David Read:
An eye wrangler!

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I’d be like, “Eye wrangler! Over here.” And so, the Wraith Team, we really got into a good rhythm, they really knew their paces, Holland was my guy. They were amazing, they shaved off all the extra time, and I guess, after you get to know what process is next, and so you’re able to get into it quicker, so yeah, in the end, the process was we had it five hours and on it, really shaved it down. But they went from a silicone mask to a foam mask.

David Read:
Yes, so, Submersion.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes! And so…

David Read:
I love this story.

Andee Frizzell:
…one of my favorite memories of this show was this episode of Submersion. So, I get there in the morning, and like you asked, when did I get there? So, I remember driving there… so, call time, to be on set, was 9AM, to be actually on the set, so crew call was like 7AM. So, I had to be there five hours before this setup, right?

David Read:
So around four.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah! So, I remember leaving my house to go, my alarm went off at 2AM, and then at 3AM I’m leaving the house, driving my car. I was passing people coming from nightclubs, they were just like, “Woo!” and I’m like, “Going to work!”

David Read:
They haven’t gone to bed yet!

Andee Frizzell:
They haven’t even gone to bed, and I was already up. And then I would get to Bridge Studios and I parked, and I’d go around the back, and there was one trailer. One trailer, and it was the makeup trailer. They didn’t even have the catering, they didn’t have… nobody was hooked up yet. And this was before Starbucks moved in around the corner, which didn’t even open ‘til six anyway, but at the time there was nobody there. So, we get in, and I’ve read the script, I know where we’re going, it’s super exciting. So, we do all of our regular stuff, we get the face on, and then, of course, every time I died and came back as a new Queen they gave me a new hairdo. So, they got this huge…

David Read:
They’re all different personality-wise.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly. And different… where they were. So, with Submersion, she’s kind of murky and green and she’s been living in the dark. ‘Living’… sleeping in the dark, so she had a different hue. Anyway, they had this black hair, really, really long – gorgeous – and they wanted to prop it up, so it looked like a… not so stuck on my head, so they put a circle of foam thing, to give it a bump. So, I had this beautiful mane of hair, and then this gorgeous neck piece, and just a stunning outfit, again, such talented people in Wardrobe. Anyway, we go into set, and they’re like, “OK, here’s the plan. We’re going to have you… because we want to do this insane crane shot, right, and we got one shot at it. It’s going to start from the top, and you’re going to show the pool, and it’s going to come around, and what we need you to do is go under the water, and hold your breath, and count, so that you have a count to 10 as the crane is coming around, coming around, coming around, and then when it stops, we want you to creepily come out of the water. It’s gonna be amazing.” And I’m like, “This sounds awesome!” So, of course, it has to look like I’m not in the pool, so they took this gorgeous long hair, they tied it to my belt so that it didn’t float up when I was in the water. So, the pool itself, even though it looks really, really deep, was only about maybe up to my waist. And so, I get into the water, they’re describing it all to me, I can feel my mark, which happened to be a… I wanna say like a curling rock, but it was like a big rock with handles on it.

David Read:
So you could grab on to it.

Andee Frizzell:
Because I’m full of air, right? So, they didn’t want me to float, my butt go up in the air, and it also told me where my mark was, where I was in focus. So, I took a big, beautiful, deep breath, and I went under and I grabbed hold of this boulder, basically. And right away, I knew, “Uh-oh. This was a mistake.” So, I’m not a science expert, but foam floats. And we had completely forgot, no one had said to me, “Hey.” So, the second I got under the water, all this on my face wanted to shoot straight out of the pool, and I’m like, “Oh my God, we have one shot at this crane shot, I have to keep this face.” And at the same simultaneous moment, my hair also decides it wants to take off, and it’s tied to my pants! So, I’m holding on to a boulder under the water, full of breath, and all of a sudden, my pants, my hair and my face are trying to launch off, and I’m gripping this thing for all its life. I just have to count to 10. And the boulder is starting to bounce on the bottom of the pool. The foam wants to be free. And, I also, in the same moment I’m thinking to myself, “The second I let go of this thing, I’m going to shoot out of the water, and that’s the complete opposite of what they want.” So, I basically had to hold on to my pants, and slowly, slowly allow myself. But every single thing was trying to get out of the water. It was hilarious.

David Read:
Is that the shot that they used?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, it’s in there.

David Read:
That’s the one? It worked!

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, it totally worked.

David Read:
So, the foam didn’t disintegrate?

Andee Frizzell:
No. ‘Cause it was just trying to… I was in there 10 [seconds]. I just had to hold on 10 seconds. But here’s the thing, so when I finally come out, they’re like, “Amazing, amazing, let’s reset and we’ll go one more,” and I’m like, “No. We can’t go again, my face will come straight off.” Anyway, the masks were glued all the way down to my clavicle, all the way down to this bone, so that night when I got home, which is also an interesting story because I had to be driven home. Because of the cat eyes, they tunnel your vision, so when I took them out, I couldn’t drive a car because I couldn’t see the sides anymore. My vision was tunneled. And I always… I wanna say ‘unrobe’, but I had to take all the… it took two hours, people don’t realize it took five hours to get in, it took two to get out. To get out of the makeup. So, by the time I got home, I hadn’t realized, but there was a string of hickeys where the mask was sucking and trying to get out of the water, so I had a ring, a necklace of hickeys of this mask trying to take off from underneath the swimming pool.

David Read:
The punishment that you as actors take.

Andee Frizzell:
So interesting. And then, to elaborate, to finish up this story, we talked about what time I would get there and I told you that the Teamsters hadn’t even brought in all the trailers yet, the hair trailer, the wardrobe trailer wasn’t there, the catering wasn’t there, nobody was there. Well, one night, we shot out really, really late, I think it… was it Submersion? It might have been Submersion. We shot out really, really late, so I was the first one on and the last one to leave, and it takes two hours to get this stuff off, right? So, here I am in the trailer, in the shower, and there’s special stuff that you have to use to get all the paint off, all the body paint. I’m in the shower, and all of a sudden the whole trailer starts shaking, and I’m screaming, “Hey! I’m in here, I’m in here!”

David Read:
They’re taking off?

Andee Frizzell:
They though that everybody was gone, and I was the last trailer…!

David Read:
Was the water hooked up? I mean, is it completely portable?

Andee Frizzell:
They were trying to shut everything down, they were unhooking other trailers around me, and everything started shaking, and I was like, “I’m in here!”

David Read:
Jeez, man.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah. It was a pretty fun experience, that’s for sure.

David Read:
What was it like having your head removed by Connor Trinneer? Your last episode was The Last Man in a possible deleted future.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, that was so funny. Did you know that there’s – because my friends send me this stuff – there’s a web site… not a web site, but they make memes, like Wraith… they have pictures of Wraith and then they put funny sayings. Have you seen these?

David Read:
I’m sure I’ve seen some, yeah. The meme culture is huge.

Andee Frizzell:
And there’s one with Connor holding up my decapitated head. Have you seen it?

David Read:
I don’t think so. Maybe, but… what’s the one you’re thinking of?

Andee Frizzell:
That’s the… he’s holding it up and on it, it says, “When I asked for h**d, this is not what I meant.” I didn’t write it, I did not write it! Isn’t that the worst?

David Read:
Time code 1:35:30 to mute that word. Oh, Andee, that’s fantastic!

Andee Frizzell:
You have to look it up!

David Read:
I will! You could use that for Seven, you could use that for Game of Thrones. Oh, man, that’s bad. Oh, I’m sorry, that’s not professional.

Andee Frizzell:
I just told you how professional my job is, this is what happens to me. You can use that. If my cinematic moment has been turned into a meme, then I guess that’s it.

David Read:
And that’s not the weirdest one. I would think the weirdest one is Spoils of War when we find out how you make the drones. Not only are you in all this makeup, but you’re also plugged in to this tree…

Andee Frizzell:
Birth chair!

David Read:
…birth [chair], yeah! For God’s sake! Hopefully most of it was built and you just sit into it and they just attach it to you.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, that’s exactly. The reality of it, it was all the chair and then I just sat in the chair, and then they draped…

David Read:
That’s what they all say, Andee, “It’s just all the chair, it’s not you.”

Andee Frizzell:
It was not me! It was the chair. Yeah, they draped some stuff so that it looked like I was entangled in the chair. But, no, that was Set-Dec, the incredible creations that they made. But yeah, that was my story of my lost head.

David Read:
Any other antics that we may have missed? I don’t specifically usually ask the antics question, but you’re always a treat to provide the fun details.

Andee Frizzell:
Because I may not remember your name, but I’ll tell you a good story. I have a great memory for details. Well, actually, we’re talking about working with James, who is a comedian. Like, come on. And you do spend a lot of time waiting for set-ups and lighting… not a lot of time, but the time that’s needed to be taken, but there’s down-time, right? And when you’re in full prosthetics, to go all the way back to your trailer could really damage more of you than just sitting still. So, he was a great source of entertainment of those long hauls, I guess. And one of my favorites is, do you remember the episode where he gets turned into a human?

David Read:
Yeah, Allies. And you feed on him.

Andee Frizzell:
So we used the retrovirus. Yeah. If you remember the room, it’s like a bed, surgical…

David Read:
It’s the medical bay.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, like an operating room, I guess is the word I’m looking for. And he’s in Full Wraith, OK, and remember how I told you how long it takes to get out of Wraith. So, they didn’t have him in Close-Up-Wraith, but they had him in Wraith, really good. So, he’s laying on the bed and we’re waiting for things, and the lighting from above and this kind of stuff, and he’s being a ham. Anyway, you know those things that you stick on your… to take a heart monitor? I don’t remember what the thing was, but he decided to stick them to his head, and he was making me laugh, and then they’re like, “OK, now, First Team, first position.” And he’s like, “Ah!” And they were stuck to his face, so he’s like, “Slow ‘em down!” And then he was trying to pick these things off of his… oh my God, it was so funny.

David Read:
In makeup? But he’s already in makeup?

Andee Frizzell:
That’s it, and they’re stuck to his mask, which is stuck to his face… oh my God. So, he’s pulling, eyes are going like… I’m like, “Oh my God, you’re gotta get that thing off your face!” Anyway, it turns out he’s like, “Stall them, stall them!” And I’m like, “Aah! Aah!” And he’s pulling and pulling, and finally he just gives up, and he turns to… they’re like, “What’s happening?” Because his back is to them, and he turns around with these things, and he goes, “I can’t get them off!” And so they had to take them, they had to remove them, redo the makeup, put him in the bed, then do the one-shot where this happened, where he turns into the human, then they had to go take all the makeup off. So funny.

David Read:
50 to 100 people are waiting on you.

Andee Frizzell:
That’s it!

David Read:
You’re waiting on them, and then they’re waiting on you because you decided to be funny.

Andee Frizzell:
Because you stuck some things to your face! He was pretty funny. It was a great cast, right? Everybody was very… I wanna say one-ups-mans, I guess you put a bunch of actors in a room and everybody wants to make everybody laugh, you know?

David Read:
It’s a long day.

Andee Frizzell:
It is!

David Read:
You have to have a good time.

Andee Frizzell:
And that’s just it, and there’s no… and this is, again, pre-cellphone… everybody had a cellphone, but there wasn’t all these apps…

David Read:
The distractions weren’t really on it. There was a little bit of texting, but otherwise, yeah.

Andee Frizzell:
You were pretty much just talking to each other. Now you go on set and it’s silence. I find it really interesting. Usually background is conversing with each other, now everybody’s like, “Brr.” And then as soon as they say, “Ready,” then everybody’s put them away.

David Read:
What a different culture we live in now.

Andee Frizzell:
It’s so different, you know? I wonder now what the stories of more antics, if we had been so occupied. Because we’re on such a great set, too, it’s not like we were in a lawyer’s office or something, we were on another planet.

David Read:
In another galaxy! How much further out can you get?

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, trying to make each other laugh. We had a lot of good tools.

David Read:
One of the things that I wish had been explored more, and it just got dropped around Season 2, I mean, it was still very much a part of the species, but we just didn’t see it used for whatever reason, was their psionic abilities. They would invade other people’s minds. You could mine that for episodes.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, I mean, I think they touched again in that one episode…

David Read:
With Teyla.

Andee Frizzell:
With Teyla, yeah, but I think they leaned more that she had an ability to get into our minds…

David Read:
That’s right, Season 3, yeah, Submersion.

Andee Frizzell:
…versus us into her mind. I think, of course, I felt the show could have gone on and on and on and on, as I’m sure the fans would have as well…

David Read:
At least one more year, wrap up the Wraith.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, and there was so much to explore about them. It was exciting to see where they were going with it. What could they have done by diving into those characteristics? Where would that have gone? Possibility, right?

David Read:
Batmol, a fan, asked, “Would you like to make a return in Stargate in the future, and, a question, how would you feel about motion capture augmenting some of the makeup?”

Andee Frizzell:
Number one, absolutely. If they want me to play anything on a reboot of Stargate, of any… oh, yes, I had such a great time, I really love the writing, the concept of the show, everything. So, yes, absolutely. And I… not about the talent and creativity of creating the costumes and makeup and stuff, which I think the talent is unbelievable, I feel there might be more freedom in a motion capture and then adding… because there were limitations in the costume, in the prosthetics, even mobility things. I think there might have been more freedom to use the body more if we weren’t encumbered by so many of the prosthetics. And just the fatigue of wearing them all day, it takes a lot of energy to just have all of that on you all the time. So if you didn’t have that, imagine the exploration you could. But this is not to take away from their incredible talent of how they make these things.

David Read:
No, just maybe a different way to explore it.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, just give the characters different characteristics as well, give the race a different mobility. I feel there might have been more freedom with the motion capture, because of that, you don’t have the physical limitations.

David Read:
Did you utilize the difference of each Queen’s appearance as the starting place for giving them a slightly altered personality, or did the script come first, or was it a combination of both?

Andee Frizzell:
The script. For me, I think it’s a good combination of both, but for me it was more the script. The script tells you, the writing tells you what the intention is. And when you know the intention, then you have a behavior that gets you your… or attempt to get your intention met. You get your demands met. You’ll try different tactics, so I think the differences between the Queens was their different intentions of what they wanted.

David Read:
They all wanted something different, yeah.

Andee Frizzell:
They all wanted something very different, and so I happened to have these different characteristics. In Allies, the Queen was much more sophisticated, she was much more… she was less Wraith and more human. She was very fashion-conscious, she had great shoes.

David Read:
She did have some good shoes, and the leather, the white leather, I sold that outfit. But she was thinking very strategically. She was thinking much more towards galactic domination.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly, and she was using them, she was using more of her human characteristics to talk to them. I remember this one scene sitting across from Sheppard, and I remember thinking she’s really pulling back because she really wants to kind of…

David Read:
She wants something.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, she really wants something, but instead of using her normal, “I’m just the boss, give me what I want,” and I remember actually watching that particular episode, and I can see where my face changed as I made the decision to play it differently. And so that’s also in the organic moment of working with Torri and Joe in that moment. So, I don’t think the prosthetics came with me, if that makes sense? We make the intention based on the script, then the characteristics of the prosthetics came along with the character. They weren’t first, and then… that’s a long about way to answer your question.

David Read:
It works. Do you have a little bit more time for trivia?

Andee Frizzell:
I absolutely do! Look at me, I wrote down some questions! I wrote some questions!

David Read:
OK. Who was the trivia… it was submitted by a fan. Did you have their name in the email? OK, I can pull it.

Andee Frizzell:
I’m ready for… I didn’t even have the air-conditioner on when I got here, I am not that ready!

David Read:
That’s fair.

Andee Frizzell:
I thought I was excellent at finding paper and a pen! In this generation, I found paper and a pen! I thought that was pretty ingenious of me.

David Read:
So, Platchu submitted the questions that you’re going to ask for me, and I, of course, have ones for you. So, what is your easy question for me? I have not peeked.

Andee Frizzell:
OK. When was Atlantis’s shield raised, for the first time, by Atlantis personnel?

David Read:
They get the ZPM in The Siege Part 3, just before the darts do a kamikaze, I’m going to say it’s The Siege Part 3… no, I’m wrong! I’m completely wrong! No, it’s The Eye.

Andee Frizzell:
Wow!

David Read:
Was I wrong?

Andee Frizzell:
No, no, you absolutely got it right.

David Read:
It’s turned on for, like, not even a minute. It’s turned on just long enough to stop the tsunami. I have an easy one for you. Well, it’s the easy one of the three, there’s a medium and a hard. What is the function of the jewelry worn on the fingers of Wraith Queens?

Andee Frizzell:
So they don’t pick their nose?

David Read:
You, Andee, told this to me. I asked you once, and you said, “Oh, it’s for this.”

Andee Frizzell:
To make a fist?

David Read:
What’s on their hands?

Andee Frizzell:
The hand-geena. Close your ‘geena.

David Read:
Yes, Andee, that’s correct. Oh my gosh.

Andee Frizzell:
I just said that.

David Read:
No, not that! It’s armor.

Andee Frizzell:
It’s armor. To protect your genie.

David Read:
Yes. Keep that… my heavens.

Andee Frizzell:
I can’t believe I said that.

David Read:
That’s the first time I’ve actually heard you say that. Yeah, because their most sensitive… so it’s armor in case they get, you know, pummeled.

Andee Frizzell:
They get their ‘geena knocked.

David Read:
Andee Frizzell! Geez.

Andee Frizzell:
And you know how I found out that that’s what they call that, right?

David Read:
No, who said it?

Andee Frizzell:
They had a bunch of them in the prosthetics trailer…

David Read:
Oh, so they were applied?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, so they were reapplied. So, I was like, “Hey! What’s this hand-geena?” And they were like, “Wrong empha-SIS on the wrong syl-LAB-le,” and I was like, “What?” They were like, “It’s called a hand-gina.”

David Read:
Whatever makes it work, man.

Andee Frizzell:
So I call it a ‘geena’, “That’s the ‘geena’,” so the armor is to protect their ‘geena’s.

David Read:
Yes. Oh my God.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, man, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I forgot that.

David Read:
That was only Round One. You start Round Two.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh no! In which Atlantis episode do we see… oh, wait, no, I think that’s the hard one. Oh, OK. Whoops. In how many episodes do we see Samantha Carter with glowing Goa’uld eyes? SG-1.

David Read:
Yeah, that’s an SG-1 question. So, the first one was In the Line of Duty, and then the next one was Nightwalkers because she had an infant one implanted then. I think that’s it. I think that it’s two.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, you’re a wizard!

David Read:
I swear I’ve not looked at them, I’m not cheating. Is that it, is it the two?

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, you got both of them.

David Read:
If it’s a third one, I can’t think of a third.

Andee Frizzell:
No. You got both of them! Wow!

David Read:
Awesome!

Andee Frizzell:
You are super good at this and I’m super not good.

David Read:
I’m a super sad human being. Medium.

Andee Frizzell:
Not at all! That’s great. That’s the medium one.

David Read:
All right, so, medium question for you. Before Colonel Sumner, the first person The Keeper consumed was sitting at the table. What was the name…

Andee Frizzell:
The strokening [sic] of the skeleton!

David Read:
Yes, before he became Skeletor, what is the name of his race? Or his home planet?

Andee Frizzell:
OK, so… I don’t know that answer to that question, but I do know that he was with Teyla, and I will tell you a little story about when I went to see the premiere of the show. So, you know that when we shoot things, we shoot them out of sequence, right? So, prior to this, that was only a skeleton, right, so we’re in the show, we’re watching the premiere and I’m like, “Wow, this is really exciting,” and then I see Teyla and my friend gets scooped up in a beam, and I’m like, “Hey! I know that guy!” And three people around me started laughing. I didn’t know that that was him that’s the skeleton!

David Read:
That you ate!

Andee Frizzell:
That I ate. I was like, “Hey, I know that guy!”

David Read:
Oh, that’s funny. Geez.

Andee Frizzell:
So, unfortunately, I know the human him, I don’t know the…

David Read:
What’s the actor’s name?

Andee Frizzell:
Did we not just go over how bad I am with names?

David Read:
OK, that’s a fair point. OK, so let me give you a hint. So, the Three Musketeers, Porthos…

Andee Frizzell:
The chocolate bar?

David Read:
No-o-o! The Three… oh, gosh, for heaven’s sakes. Alexandre Dumas.

Andee Frizzell:
No, give it to me, give it to me, Three Musketeers.

David Read:
Porthos and… starts with an A.

Andee Frizzell:
Ath… Athos?

David Read:
Yes! She’s from Athos, you got it right.

Andee Frizzell:
Athos!

David Read:
It’s like pulling teeth. Like pulling Wraith teeth. All right. How was that, how was talking with… [teeth clenched] “All we want is the retrovirus.”

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God…

David Read:
“All living things must eat.” There was a lot of ADR, there had to have been.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, a lot of ADR. Which, I really would like to say, launched my voice acting career because I had to do so much ADR. Yes, we had a lot, there was a lot of… I mean, it was definitely not COVID-19 approved, those teeth, 100% sure.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Andee Frizzell:
I did a lot of spittin’, yeah. I did sound like Tweety Bird from the [inaudible], like, “I’m gonna kiss you,” and how, when you’re talking to Robert Patrick, and you’re like, “Kneel…” How he didn’t laugh in my face…

David Read:
Yeah, or Flanigan, how they just keep from laughing.

Andee Frizzell:
Exactly. How were they not laughing?

David Read:
What’s my hard question?

Andee Frizzell:
OK, your hard question. In which Atlantis episode do we see Kull Warriors?

David Read:
The Kull Warriors were in an episode…? That’s right!

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my gosh, can you…?

David Read:
I think it’s… the episode names are not that good for me anymore. I think that it’s Phantoms. Is that right?

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, it’s totally right, yes!

David Read:
Because I did an interview with Dan Payne and I was bringing up the Kull Warriors, and before the episode had aired he was like, “I wear it again.” I’m like, “But they’re gone.” He’s like, “I know.” I said, “You wear it again?” He said, “Yeah.” And then Phantoms came out, and it was a flashback. It was Atlantis doing little ties to SG-1 and it was brilliant. So, I think that was Phantoms.

Andee Frizzell:
OK, so, for extra points, can you tell me what season it was in?

David Read:
Uh, I think it’s Season 3.

Andee Frizzell:
Ding!

David Read:
Is it Season 3?

Andee Frizzell:
OK, for extra, extra – it is – for extra, extra points…

David Read:
The episode number?

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah.

David Read:
It’s the early half of the season, it’s around seven or eight.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, so close! It’s nine. You’re so good!

David Read:
More of it’s coming back as I talk with you guys more. So, that’s kind of interesting. I’m not hopeless.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, you’re amazing.

David Read:
Andee, your hard question is…

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, no, is it my last name? Please let it be, “What’s my last name?” What’s my hard question?

David Read:
Name the only episode a Wraith Queen appears in Atlantis.

Andee Frizzell:
What? A Wraith Queen appears in Atlantis? That’s Allies. Yes! That was an easy one!

David Read:
Right. I thought it was hard.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God. That’s the easy one because I was… and I remember that episode specifically because I was with my friend Brent Stait, who was playing Connor’s character, yeah.

David Read:
Right, and Connor did the voice-over later.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, and so Brent… so, they were like, “Let’s wrap this up,” and Brent’s like, “Let’s take a bunch of pictures of us in front of this gate, because we’re never coming back!” So, we did a bunch of pictures in front of the gate, it was gorgeous. Because we’re always on our planet or whatever, on our ship, so we were like, “We gotta take a bunch of selfies of us!”

David Read:
So, bonus for you. Who did… Brent played someone in Season 1 of SG-1 for two episodes. Name the character from the movie he was playing, or the actor that he was replacing from the movie.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, you’re so mean. Can you give me another chocolate bar hint?

David Read:
“Standby for the Big Giant Head.” Oh, but you don’t watch TV.

Andee Frizzell:
I don’t! I feel terrible that I don’t know that. And Brent had done so much, he’s so talented and has done so many things…

David Read:
In the feature film, there’s an actor who his first name is a European language.

Andee Frizzell:
Ok, in the movie… is a European language…

David Read:
The actor’s first name is a European language.

Andee Frizzell:
Is his name Czech Republic?

David Read:
What the hell, man? Parlez-vous français?

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, his name is French?

David Read:
French…? He was in Third Rock from the Sun.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, I am so bad with names.

David Read:
French Stewart.

Andee Frizzell:
French… oh, French Stewart? OK.

David Read:
Brent Stait replaced French Stewart in SG-1 in the pilot episode and in the Season 1 finale, Within the Serpent’s Grasp.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, you’re amazing.

David Read:
I’m finally putting this information to use again…

Andee Frizzell:
You’re amazing that you can remember these…

David Read:
But it wasn’t for a while, and now I’m playing in the universe again and now it’s coming back. But hey, you got that hard question, you hit that out of the park! You got Athos, after prompting.

Andee Frizzell:
I feel like you had a list of questions, and you were like, “If she can’t answer number two, we gotta go back!”

David Read:
No, it’s all good, it’s great! Andee, my last question for you. The fans have really been tremendous in this… Happy Halloween, Andee, by the way, this’ll air on Halloween.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh, yes, almost.

David Read:
Of all the ones to air, the ones that make the best Halloween costumes, we’re talking to her right here. And I have seen some amazing Wraith costumes in cosplay. Before I let you go, I have to know, any stand-out experiences with fans over the years from the conventions?

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, that would be another hour and 40 minutes, for sure. Honestly, every single convention that I went to, I had an experience with just connecting with people. I mean, I’m a theater-trained actor, and when you do theater, you immediately feel the connection to the audience and their connection to your work, and so when you’re in the medium of film and TV, you don’t get that. And so going to a convention and being able to… I mean, it’s after the fact, but feeling from each of the fans, their… again, we go back to the imagination that it inspired in them, the creativity that it inspired in them…

David Read:
When it brought them peace.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, they just love the show so much, and then you get that connection with them through your work, and then it validates. It’s like you’re getting that, it’s later, but you do still get that connection with them. So, I would say, any convention that I went to, there’s not one… actually, that’s a lie. I just thought of a really funny…

David Read:
OK.

Andee Frizzell:
I just remembered one.

David Read:
You can’t stop there.

Andee Frizzell:
OK, so I think you might have to get permission from Holly. Do you know Holly?

David Read:
No.

Andee Frizzell:
OK, well then good. I’ll just say it’s Holly and I. So, we were in Chicago, near the hotel where the convention is, there’s a nightclub, like a casino, with a nightclub in it. And after the day’s events and we were all wound up, you get to meet so many people, it was so exciting and so much fun, and I wasn’t ready to sleep, and I’m like, “Let’s go dance it off at this place.” And so we ended up in this nightclub, and there’s all these guys dressed in these weird outfits and they were busting out moves from the 1980’s, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. I don’t know whether they were trying to pick up ladies or if they were paid to be there. Oh my God, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. So, there was that time, with Holly. Yeah, that was really fun because it was very spontaneous. But I do have to say, I wouldn’t want to single out just one fan because they’re all so amazing. And like you said, this show is still alive because of the fans, and it’s amazing…

David Read:
It’s doing very well in streaming.

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, it’s amazing, I love it. And it’s the fans that are keeping it alive, and keeping these characters alive, and so I can’t single out one. I love conventions, I love connecting with you guys, and getting the feedback about the show. And it’s really exciting for me that you know all this trivia. It means so much to you, and I got to be a part of that.

David Read:
It’s a very important part of my life. You weren’t just creating a character and then taking a paycheck and going home and doing the next gig. You guys were creating content that matters to people. And you’re making Shakespearean content that makes you think. And you had your part to play in that and I really appreciate you coming on and spending two hours with me.

Andee Frizzell:
Oh my God, has it been that long?

David Read:
Yes, they’re going to eat it up.

Andee Frizzell:
You’re going to have to edit!

David Read:
I will.

Andee Frizzell:
You’re going to have to edit, edit, edit. Andee talking too much.

David Read:
Hey, you were interesting! And I haven’t seen you in two years.

Andee Frizzell:
I know.

David Read:
What a journey.

Andee Frizzell:
Neither has my mom!

David Read:
Well, I hope you FaceTime her?

Andee Frizzell:
Yes, actually, I do, very much so. But it’s been a while since I’ve been back, that’s for sure. There’s so much gratitude that comes from the fans to us, and I don’t know if we’ve told you, or I, specifically, how much I appreciate the fans. The fans are always saying to us how grateful that they are to us, that we put this… be able to participate in this. I always want to thank the fans, to be a part of this and have it still living this long. Torri Higgins[on] and I did a convention in England a while back, and she said something that really resonated with me. It was the end of the convention and she was thanking the fans, and she said, “What other profession do people get to participate in something that lives like this, that the people are so grateful for, that thank us.” And she said, “I don’t know any other profession where you go to the Post Office, and you’re like, “Thanks for delivering the mail.”” Not the way fans…

David Read:
Maybe teaching, but that’s a one-on-one experience. You’re making a one-on-one connection with millions of people around the world.

Andee Frizzell:
And their gratitude humbles me. And I think that’s what Torri was trying to say, is that there’s no other profession that you get pulled up on – to these conventions – up on stage and just platitudes of gratitude, gratefulness coming at you, for something you created, co-created, with everyone else, writers, directors. It’s pretty amazing, and I am humbled by it, and you guys keeping it alive. And it’s still relevant because of you guys.

David Read:
I think the material makes it relevant. I think the fans are just responding to those ripples. You guys put out some good ripples.

Andee Frizzell:
Yeah, exactly. It’s just really amazing. So, I thank you for taking two hours to hang out with me. I really appreciate it.

David Read:
It’s always a pleasure. From that first dinner that we had at Earl’s before we sat down for that first interview, I was like, “She’s a keeper. And she is The Keeper!”

Andee Frizzell:
She’s a talker! Yes, exactly! Literally a Keeper.

David Read:
That was not on purpose! I didn’t mean to do that! Gosh, that happens to me all the time.

Andee Frizzell:
You have to do that, she is literally a Keeper. The Keeper. That’s going to be the title of this one. Because the other one was Queen of the Hungry, now this one has to be The Keeper. A keeper, The Keeper of the Keeper.

David Read:
That’s too funny. Andee, I would love to have you back when you are Stateside, to have a live Q&A with fans. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.

Andee Frizzell:
That would be fantastic. Ah, thank you.

David Read:
I really appreciate you being one of my first guests on the show.

Andee Frizzell:
Ah, thank you so much, and yes, when we’re in a time-zone that’s applicable, that’s compatible, yeah, when we’re in a time-zone that’s compatible, I would absolutely love to be on the show again.

David Read:
Thank you so much, Andee. I appreciate you taking time.

Andee Frizzell:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you.

David Read:
Andee Frizzell, everyone. The Wraith Queens. Thank you so much for hanging on with us through this show. We definitely ran a little bit longer than expected, but Andee was willing. So, hey, if I’ve got a guest who is having interesting stories and we’re not locked into the next… bumming up to the next guest, I’m certainly thankful for their time. But before we go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I would really appreciate it if you click that Like button. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm, and will definitely help the show grow its audience. Continue to grow, I should say, we’re doing amazing, thanks to you. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. If you plan to watch live, I recommend giving the Bell icon a click so that you’ll be first to know of any schedule changed, which will probably happen all the time. And bear in mind, clips from this livestream will be released over the course of the next several days on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. Thank you so much for tuning in, Happy Halloween to everyone that’s out there, I hope you guys are staying safe and we’ll see you on the other side.