Two of Stargate’s most memorable double acts, Alex Zahara and Patrick Currie, are joining us LIVE to share memories from SG-1’s “Space Race,” “Enemy Mine” and more!

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome everyone, to Episode 331 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. I’m David Read. Welcome to the program. Two of my favorite guest stars are on with us today. Though if you’re a really casual viewer of Stargate, you might not have always known it, because you didn’t necessarily know what to look for or listen for, but most of us here do. Patrick Currie, Stargate’s Eamon and Chaka, Chaka 2, in Stargate SG-1 Season 7, and Alex Zahara, also from Season 7, Warrick 2 and Iron Shirt. Dion Johnstone, we’re missing Dion Johnstone here. It just dawned on me. How are you guys doing?

Alex Zahara:
Good.

Patrick Currie:
Good.

David Read:
Thank you so much for being here. It is a privilege to do episodes like this, because they’re like mini-conventions, where I don’t just get to ask all the questions. The fans do as well, and there’s a little bit of cross chatter in terms of remembering certain things and everything else, so it’s really a treat to have you both on at the same time. Patrick, what’s going on in your world?

Patrick Currie:
It’s a rainy day in Vancouver. It’s my day off. My Joe Job right now is doing a little tool repair at a tool repair shop. And I’m working on adapting a series I pitched into a novel. And just before COVID, I did Project Blue Book, and just recently I shot an episode of Tracker, and that’s about it. Auditioning away, as usual.

David Read:
What is the genre of your adaptation? I’m curious.

Patrick Currie:
It’s dystopian sci-fi. So, think Walking Dead, but no zombies just yet.

David Read:
But that kind of malaise, then, about the world. Very good.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah.

David Read:
Please keep us in the loop if and when that moves forward, please. Alex Zahara, welcome, sir. How are you doing?

Alex Zahara:
Good. I’m just sitting here with my puppy, Cooper. There you go. That’s my puppy.

David Read:
It is a dog!

Alex Zahara:
Little dachshund, he’s a year and four months old, very curious about everything. Like Patrick, my Joe Job, I’m helping a buddy renovate his house. I’m helping a buddy help my buddy’s house get renovated. So, I’ve been swinging a hammer like crazy for the last… Well, through COVID, and all the strikes and everything else too. That’s my sideline gig. I teach acting and whatnot as well, but I get more of a kick out of doing the construction stuff, honestly. I renovated our house during COVID and I got more of a handle on it. So, my skills have gone up through the roof, where I learned to cut granite and glue it and it’s been crazy. That’s how I keep myself busy these days too, ’cause it’s pretty quiet and– Mind you, I have got a recurring part in School Spirits coming up. School Spirits, third season starts shooting in July, and I play Principal Hartman in that, so hopefully I’ll be coming back and doing more stuff in that.

David Read:
Where can we watch that? Is that a Canadian show?

Alex Zahara:
It’s on Paramount Plus.

David Read:
Paramount Plus? And I must say, congratulations on the success of Final Destination Bloodlines. That is a pretty big one. I think everyone’s been really pleased with the ticket sales that it’s generated, if I’m not mistaken.

Alex Zahara:
It was number one in the world two weekends ago, I think it was. And it’s grossed, I think, over 200 million so far worldwide. It’s been good. It’s one of those things where you’re part of that movie. Now, if we’re sharing the profits of that, that would be great. I’d finance Patrick’s show coming up here. So, there you go.

Patrick Currie:
What’s that?

David Read:
Finance Patrick’s–

Alex Zahara:
I’d finance your show coming up, Patrick, your dystopian world. I would finance that if we made that into a TV series.

David Read:
From profit participation in Final Destination.

Alex Zahara:
From profit participation. There you go.

David Read:
I just learned that Spielberg and Lucas exchanged 1% stakes on Close Encounters and Star Wars. I never knew that. So, that was really cool.

Alex Zahara:
I may have heard this story, but each was convinced the other… they thought if one of the movies dies and the other does well, then they’ll cover each other.

David Read:
They float. Exactly right.

Alex Zahara:
Filmmaking is a cooperative venture, so there you go.

David Read:
That’s it. Gentlemen, you are so yoked with Stargate in so many ways, and I’ve had the privilege of having you on separately as I’ve mentioned before. I’m curious to know what you think of the ongoing success of the franchise, I’m curious to hear, and Patrick, I’m gonna start with you, what you think the alchemy is that allows it to maintain itself over decades. Obviously, it’s not an active show right now, but sooner or later, Amazon MGM is going to want to have another go round again. What do you think, Patrick, is a component of the secret sauce that makes this thing really work, that continues to make it last in fans’ minds?

Patrick Currie:
I don’t know. For my part in it, it’s the human nature of the stories that connect to everybody across all genders, races, sexualities, all that stuff. It was a very inclusive show. But when I was watching back these two episodes, one of the things I noticed… and Alex, you’re probably gonna note, I’m sure you noticed this too, is the sense of family and spirit of the actual team making the show. I remembered watching “Enemy Mine” when I think it’s Richard Dean Anderson says, “Penhall and whatever, you’re with me.” And that’s the reference to 21 Jump Street. And I was like, “I forgot how interlaced everything was.” And on that episode, everybody’s worked together in so many different ways. When I did Tracker, Sean Tyson, who played one of the Unas’, was my stunt double for Tracker. And Rob Hayter was the stunt coordinator. And Tahmoh was on Tracker. And we were sitting in the green room, and it was like, “Damn, we started our careers together with–”

Alex Zahara:
Stargate, yeah.

David Read:
Yeah, Tahmoh’s first screen presence I think it was Stargate as well. So, wow, wild.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, the Replicators.

Alex Zahara:
I didn’t know that. That’s cool.

Patrick Currie:
And I think that comes across somehow, the Canadian production that was entirely based in this… The city was the main character, and I think the audience just feels that connection.

David Read:
I think that’s a home run that the series does. One of my favorite shows of all time was Star Trek: The Next Generation. And for the first several episodes, potentially even more depending on who you ask, the characters are not fully formed. And I don’t know if you guys have gone back and watched some early Stargate SG-1. The characters are right there fairly quickly. In some cases, right in the pilot. Alex, do you agree? Do you have additional perspectives?

Alex Zahara:
No, I wholeheartedly agree. And it’s funny ’cause it must be true because both Patrick and I feel the same way about it too. The humanity of the stories, maybe that’s being, I don’t know, egocentric as humans, but dealing with a show about aliens, I think it’s a cross-species thing where we all wanna get along. Nobody wants to hurt each other, really. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to be injured or exploit people necessarily. But it’s the coming together, the humanity of the stories, working together to overcome. And that’s the whole thing with the Stargate crew and clan, the cast, everybody, it became a huge family. I was talking about this the other day, how shows like Stargate and Supernatural, that were all shot and produced here, and went 10 to 15 years in Supernatural’s case. But the crew becomes a family. And that energy, I think, gets translated to the screen because there’s so little tension. Everything works so smoothly. The connections, like Richard Dean Anderson’s connection– And Peter DeLuise directed that episode, who was on 21 Jump Street. So, they interweave all these things into the show. And we all wanted it to be a success and to work well. We were all trained to do our jobs, and it all came together. And that’s the thing. I think it’s the commonality of the story, and then everybody’s wanting to support each other. And it comes across the screen, the energy.

David Read:
Absolutely, for sure. One of my favorite pairs of episodes are certainly going to be “Enemy Mine” and “Space Race.” And I wanted to bring you guys in specifically to focus on these episodes. Fans may ask about some of the other parts in the show. I think we’ve covered that territory fairly well. But I wanna focus in specifically on these, especially ’cause Patrick and I have had these conversations about Eamon. And these two brothers are hilarious. They could have their own sitcom. One flies a spaceship and the other designs dumpsters. I mean–

Patrick Currie:
I think it’s called Frasier.

Alex Zahara:
Frasier. Exactly. It kinda was.

David Read:
Tell me about getting these roles. Let’s specifically start with “Space Race.” Was “Enemy Mine” or “Space Race” shot first, guys? Do you recall?

Patrick Currie:
“Space Race.”

David Read:
OK. They were right next to each other in the production order.

Alex Zahara:
Yeah, I think so.

David Read:
Patrick, let’s start with you. Did you know that Alex was going to be in it at that point? And I think, if I’m not mistaken, this was your first shot at really heavy prosthetics on Stargate, or had you done it before?

Patrick Currie:
I’d done prosthetics on The Outer Limits once before. And it was a horrific nightmare. And I found out years later that the person doing the makeup on that show had blown the budget on something else because of personal reasons, and he decided to share the cowls, the headpieces.

David Read:
Oh, boy.

Patrick Currie:
So, I got to work with a guy who had a much smaller nose than me. And I was in pain the whole day, and I thought, “Maybe this is what it’s supposed to be like,” ’cause I was new. And then they had an assistant come to me at lunchtime, who walked around and held my nose up for the rest of the shoot. And then at the end of the shoot, they took it off and I had a blood blister, like black.

Alex Zahara:
No.

Patrick Currie:
It was brutal.

Alex Zahara:
Dude, that’s the worst.

Patrick Currie:
It was ridiculous. So, when they first offered it to me, ’cause I had just done my first Replicator episode.

David Read:
You had just come back, done Fifth, it was about eight months before.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, they had offered it to me and I was like, “No. Nope, not doing it. Not gonna do it.” And then my agent was like, “It’s a guest star, it’s a lot of days.” And they actually went and offered me another prosthetic right afterwards.

David Read:
You got them both simultaneously offered?

Patrick Currie:
I believe it was a suggestion. So, I did the first one, and then by the end of the first one, I was signed up for the second one. That’s never happened to me in my career ever again, people offering you roles.

Alex Zahara:
Me either, same thing.

Patrick Currie:
So, my agent twisted my arm, and I took it. And this makeup team was incredible. Incredible. We had the typical problems I think you have with prosthetics, and they handled it so beautifully.

David Read:
Ones that are designed for you, for your face.

Patrick Currie:
Exactly. “We’re gonna use one that fits your face.” “OK.” But if we hadn’t had that team, it could’ve been a much rougher shoot. It was amazing. Four hours in makeup, I think, for him and–

Alex Zahara:
Three, four hours, yeah.

Patrick Currie:
And then the makeup for Chaka, it was harder only because we were in the trailers up in the mountains at like 4:00 AM. Were you there? That early?

Alex Zahara:
Oh, yeah. We were open so early that they didn’t have craft services and stuff for us, so when I got picked up… Luckily Stargate would pick us up and stuff, and I said, “OK, we’re stopping at McDonald’s,” so I bought… It was the only thing that was open, bought McDonald’s breakfast burritos or whatever, McMuffins for everybody and just do that. And I think eventually certain people clued in and went, “Maybe we should get those guys some food at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning.”

Patrick Currie:
‘Cause they’re not gonna be eating any more.

Alex Zahara:
That’s right.

Patrick Currie:
Chaka was like, yeah–

David Read:
Alex, do you recall getting the tap on the shoulder for Warrick, and did Iron Shirt happen fairly similar in terms of what Patrick said, maybe a twofer?

Alex Zahara:
Totally. Same thing, exactly like Patrick. The first episode I did was “Spirits,” and I played Xe’ls, and then I did the hippie episode, Michael the hippie. And after that, I never auditioned again for them, except for when they did this episode with Warrick, when I played Warrick, because Dion couldn’t do the episode. So, they said, “Do you think you could reproduce his performance?” So, I said, “Yeah,” and they asked me to come in and sort of do my version of Dion’s character of Warrick, and they went, “OK, that looks like it’s gonna work, great.” So, they said, “We’re gonna do this one and probably another one back-to-back. Are you cool with that?” And as probably Patrick would agree, I’m an actor… Although I didn’t have the negative experience with the prosthetics, I’m like, “Back-to-back days, episodes, and money, and offers? Yes, I’ll take that. Thank you.”

Patrick Currie:
I’ll amend what I said off of that. I did read for both the roles, but they were not full auditions, it was like, “We’re looking at you for this, come in and read for it.” So, I did read for Peter and Andy for those.

Alex Zahara:
Exactly. I came in for Warrick and they said, “Just see if you can reproduce and make it so it can be something believable.” And that’s exactly it. And then for the other one, they knew I could be an animal, so “He can play a freak, so that’s good.”

David Read:
This wasn’t your first Unas either.

Alex Zahara:
No. I’d done a few Unases before.

David Read:
And some lady Unases too.

Alex Zahara:
Yes. And I played that female waitress. And I laugh because you talk about family and stuff, Mike Shanks and I went to university together, we were one year apart, and–

Patrick Currie:
Wow.

Alex Zahara:
Yeah, he was the year ahead of me. And I always say, “Mike, if I’d only been out there and was auditioning, I might’ve taken your character, hey, different show, different–”

David Read:
It wouldn’t have been impossible, I could see it.

Alex Zahara:
There you go. But I don’t–

David Read:
People are yelling at me, but I don’t care.

Alex Zahara:
I worked with James Spader right as Michael got Stargate, I did a movie with James Spader, and it was sort of funny ’cause I went to school with the guy who’s playing his character in the movie now and I’m working with him. It was kinda weird. But no, those guys are a good group of people. But I’m saying, history and stuff goes back, and the guys at MastersFX who did the makeup for our shows with Patrick and myself, I mean, Mike Fields, as in Holland and those guys, and Todd, they’re great, and Dan Ribera, and others, and they were just solid. Stargate had the budget, they didn’t really scrimp and stife, so there’s no blood blisters on my nose or Patrick’s on this one, I’m sure. I can’t believe it, ’cause people don’t understand, it’s so– One time, I was doing a prosthetic makeup gig for Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers, and this other woman, with the way we put on these cowls, her ear got flipped down like this, and mine did too a little bit one day. And it’s incredibly, unbelievably how painful that stuff gets. And I’m like, “Listen, man, I don’t care what you gotta do, cut it open, flip that ear up, do something, ’cause this is killing me.” ‘Cause you can’t act, it’s so painful. It sounds stupid, like “You’re being a baby.” Absolutely not. And I’ll find the pictures here. Patrick, I did a show where they were saving on money, and it was for a favor. For Todd. And they used a skull cap on me for this gear while it created these enormous welts on my head, because it was not made for my head. And they were about that tall, and that wasn’t fine. I had about a week off between shooting, because after they formed up, then they blistered, and it looked like I had some alien disease, and then they popped and drained, and scarred. And that’s just it. Either prosthetics can be no problem, or they’re hell.

David Read:
I had no idea.

Alex Zahara:
If you scrimp and try to save money, they become hell.

Patrick Currie:
The actor can be a problem too because you’re young and you think you’re helping if you go, “It’s a little tight, but it’s fine.” It’s not gonna be fine. They need to know exactly what is happening. And when they ask if you’re comfortable, they mean, “Are you as comfortable as you would be with nothing on your face?” “Or nothing on your–” And you have to be honest or they can’t do their work properly. So, you learn a lot.

David Read:
I had no idea that it was ever considered anywhere to be proper for them to use someone else’s measurements of prosthetics for someone else.

Patrick Currie:
It’s not. And I think this is a story I had heard after I had done The Outer Limits a few years later and when I was considering not doing Stargate. And someone had said to me in explanation, “That was a problem with that particular episode and the crew, and it was a very personal thing happening behind the scenes.” And we just weren’t informed what was happening, and it wasn’t explained to me afterwards that… well, I knew afterwards because I was never fitted for the piece. I thought it was normal. They were like, “This is where we put this on you. You’re about the same size.” It’s not like a tight sweater. It’s very different.

Alex Zahara:
No. And they brought me in after I healed up. They brought me in, and recast, and did my head, and made the proper thing, and it was never a problem after that. But even a couple millimeters too small, and you think about that, it doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re there all day and this is pushing, pushing. It got to be so bad for me, I felt nauseous all day. I couldn’t eat anything. I just felt like throwing up. And the second they took it off, it was relief, unbelievable relief. But again, never happened on Stargate, they were awesome, but this other show, it was just an accident too. I volunteered it. I said, “Yeah, I think this will work. It doesn’t feel so bad.” No, no, no. I had never had an experience like that before, so I thought I could take it. Absolutely not. If there’s such a thing as torture, honestly, that was probably torture.

David Read:
Wow.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, and the makeup people on The Outer Limits, I’m sure, had said to me, “Is this comfortable? Are you OK with this?” And I was saying, “Yes, I am,” because it did feel comfortable. Even though–

David Read:
But you have no point of reference. “It’s comfortable at the moment. Like, I can deal with whatever I’m feeling,” but you have no point of reference.

Patrick Currie:
It would be like putting a clothespin on your nose for 10 hours. That’s what it ended up being.

David Read:
That’s crazy.

Patrick Currie:
Again, the makeup people are incredible on– Every experience after that has just been incredible. And they’re such pros. There’s so many little things that can go wrong. And they deal with all of them impeccably.

Alex Zahara:
All right, OK. I’m gonna show you this. See if you can see this. Hang on. So, this is the aftereffect of what had happened. Look.

David Read:
I’m assuming that’s your forehead.

Alex Zahara:
That’s my forehead. And see what I mean?

David Read:
Wow, it’s blistering.

Alex Zahara:
That’s after the welts went down. You’ll see me there. There I am. It was ugly. And that’s a week or four days after this. Look at this. So, that was me coming off set the first night. Hang on. Look at that.

Patrick Currie:
Ow.

David Read:
So, it’s like you’re auditioning for “Metamorphosis” already.

Alex Zahara:
No kidding, eh? It was hell. Look at this one. You’ll love this one. Look at this one on the side of my head. Look at that.

David Read:
Oh, my. Wow, your body is reacting.

Patrick Currie:
That took a week?

Alex Zahara:
That took a week to come down. I think it was three or four days it turned into those blisters. And then they popped and drained, and it was disgusting. And then about a week later, they went and did my full-on– Here, look at the next day.

David Read:
I don’t know if I can take much more.

Patrick Currie:
I know.

Alex Zahara:
I don’t know if you can see this. Look at that. That’s the size of a golf ball that thing there. It was ugly. It was about a golf ball in height and about, I don’t know, a centimeter and a half off my skull.

David Read:
Because it’s glued down onto you, and it’s immobile.

Alex Zahara:
This one was a helmet. This was a fiberglass helmet that held a rigging, because I had two eyes on the top of my head that went around like this. And then look, here is me getting… About a week later, they did the cast on my head so I could have a proper gear.

David Read:
A custom casted Alex is a happy Alex.

Alex Zahara:
That’s right. But I did it so I could help my friends save some cash. I thought, “Hey, it’s no problem.” But I had never experienced anything like that because all the makeup before had been made for me. I thought, “It should be fine.” No, no, no, no. And it wasn’t makeup. It was a fiberglass helmet supporting the rig for this thing. And my God, it was painful. But check this out. Here’s me getting the life cast done. There you go.

David Read:
Patrick, can you relate to that specific experience, the life cast?

Patrick Currie:
No, I’ve had the head cast. I haven’t had the whole-body cast. The head cast was a nightmare, ’cause I’m claustrophobic.

Alex Zahara:
That was a head cast, not a life cast. You’re right.

Patrick Currie:
I’m pretty claustrophobic.

David Read:
OK. As a claustrophobic person, please share your hell in going through the head cast. Wow, look at that. That’s pretty amazing.

Alex Zahara:
That’s what it was supporting, was those eyeballs.

David Read:
Wow. The only thing I recognize is your tongue. Jesus.

Alex Zahara:
There you go.

David Read:
All right. Patrick, what was your experience like through the head casting? Can you walk us through the process?

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, if it hadn’t been for Todd’s team, I don’t know if I woulda survived it.

David Read:
Todd Masters, man.

Patrick Currie:
They were so amazing. They explained everything that was gonna happen. “It’s gonna go on your head, and it’s gonna get really cool. And then all of a sudden it’s gonna go hard, instantaneous.” It heats up, then it goes cool, I think, and then it hardens. It’s fast. And they answered all my questions. “What do we do if the fire alarm goes off? Do you guys run, or do you take me out first? What happens?”

David Read:
There’s gotta be a procedure in place.

Patrick Currie:
The assistant was like, “My hand’s gonna be right here, two inches from yours. And if you need to grab it at any point, go ahead. You might need to know that someone’s still here, ’cause your body’s gonna start feeling like you’re isolated and alone and trapped.” And that’s pretty much how it felt. But as soon as it hardens, it’s off right away. And you’re breathing through a straw. And it’s very fast. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to do it. It’s insignificant once you’ve done it once. But I think my claustrophobia made me paranoid at first. But it was good.

Alex Zahara:
You don’t have to worry about that anymore, because now they’ve got this laser scan handheld thing and they scanned my face for Final Destination and all I did was lie there and they just went with this thing, tick, tick, tick, tick, flashing light above my face, and it looks more realistic than anything I’ve ever seen before.

Patrick Currie:
Wow, okay.

Alex Zahara:
It’s a laser scan of your face. No more alginate, nothing. Anybody who’s a claustrophobe or not won’t be affected.

David Read:
I almost feel bad for all the people who have gone through that process before. I guess the technology’s gonna continue to improve and you can certainly get more accuracy with that ’cause now it’s a digital file. I’m curious, though, when you have this mold taken of your face, I would want it to be in my contract that I get to keep it. Because it’s of me. And especially if it’s a digital file of you, Alex, they can take that, that’s your… That’s you. I’m curious, did you guys get the molds, or is it just–

Alex Zahara:
I know.

David Read:
No, ’cause they can continue to use it. That was the whole thing with Crispin Glover supposedly. And Back to the Future Part II. Patrick, what is your thought on that?

Patrick Currie:
I don’t know, it’s such a big issue. I have no idea. In terms of this show, I didn’t ask for it, and you wouldn’t have gotten it anyway ’cause I think that’s Todd’s work. It never even crossed my mind. What you’re talking about now with the digital scan of your head then just being used anywhere they like, it’s scary.

David Read:
Exactly. Alex, I’m curious.

Alex Zahara:
Todd, we’ve been friends for years. And 15 years ago at least, he said, “Hey, do you mind if we use your head as the shop head? Your mold of your head, so we can just mount… It’s a generic head we mount stuff on and work on.” And I said, “No problem.” So, it was really funny ’cause I’d go into his shop from time to time and of course there’s 27 of me on the walls. It’s kinda weird. And now, he’s got, not a museum per se but it’s an interactive “Come-and-view-all-our-stuff,” it’s like a —

David Read:
It’s like an exhibit.

Alex Zahara:
Yeah. So, I laugh because a lot of the masks that are mounted, that’s my head, I can tell. That’s my head right there. So, I gave him permission for that. But the crappy thing about the scans and stuff is that they have it now, and what’s to stop them from doing anything that they want? With all the people cloning the voices and cloning faces and all the virtual AI and stuff, or whatever, AI today. We’re crossing a lot of dirty ground as it were.

David Read:
And quickly.

Alex Zahara:
I gotta show you one other picture real quick here. Check this out. This happens when people cheap out on stuff. There’s Dan Payne, good friend, Dan. We were doing a show together. You notice the headrest here?

David Read:
Yes.

Alex Zahara:
And these wooden blocks? Do you see those wooden blocks there?

Patrick Currie:
Mm-hmm.

Alex Zahara:
OK? So, on this show, they were trying to “save money.” And I say, put it in quotes, because you never save money when you try to save money. It always costs you more in the end. So, they didn’t provide us with makeup chairs with headrests. And every day, we were doing four hours of makeup, people prodding on your head, so you had to push forward. You couldn’t rest your head. So, by the time you did four hours of makeup, went to set, your neck is just killing you. And I wore this entire rig where it was up here and 10 pounds of stuff here. So, I’d be like, “No.” And I said, “Enough of this crap.” And they wouldn’t pay for the chairs. I said, “OK, fine.” So, I went out, got some blocks of wood, went out to Auto Wreckers. I bought headrests from wrecked cars, and I drilled holes in the wood and we came in with tape and taped it to the chairs. And we put the blocks up and whatever.

David Read:
And they held.

Alex Zahara:
And of course the producers after that, they were all, “Oh, well, you know, whatever.” And I’m sorry, but I blasted ’em. I said, “Listen, this is the minimum that’s required. The minimum.” And I think after this they went out and got real chairs after a week of using these. That’s the problem. When people cheap out and they think, “Oh, yeah, OK, I’m saving $60 a day on a chair,” you have no idea how that translates into your actor’s performance because if you save $60 and my entire back is seized up because I’ve been holding my head up for four hours in a makeup chair since 3:30 in the morning, good on you. I’m giving you the worst performance I can that day because I have no choice. I’m in so much pain.

David Read:
Wow. Let’s talk about “Space Race” specifically, and the–

Alex Zahara:
No, no, that was another show. Don’t worry about that. But that’s the opposite. The Stargate guys, that’s my thing. They were always on us. When I did “Foothold,” we were all in the lobstermen outfits and stuff, and overheating a bit. And then some poor guy was almost passing out. But they were always watching us. Even when… Patrick, do you remember this? When we were shooting “Space Race,” there was a scene where you were showing the– I think we were looking at a monitor…

David Read:
The Loop?

Alex Zahara:
…in your shop– of the Loop of Kon Garat or whatever. And I was standing there and I think I had lines, and I started saying something. And all I know is that suddenly everybody stopped and came around me. They unzipped my costume, pulled it open, and were stuffing ice packs down my back because apparently I’d started speaking in tongues.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah.

David Read:
Geez.

Alex Zahara:
I had overheated so bad that I didn’t know I was overheating. And I remember distinctly being in there and all of a sudden, there was stuff going on. My brain could see people moving in my eyes and all of a sudden, it was like being in that train, whoosh, and I was back in the room. And I could hear people again and I’m like, “What’s going on?” And I had this sort of…

David Read:
You had a blackout, standing up.

Alex Zahara:
I had a blackout standing up, but I was still apparently gurgling out baby words. I don’t know.

Patrick Currie:
In my recollection, I think we were in the hydro facility…

Alex Zahara:
That’s right.

Patrick Currie:
…and I was facing you and we were doing dialog and then something started going really weird. And then they were like, “Um, everyone on Alex!” And then people swept in. I remember ’cause your costume was half off and they were behind you with the ice packs. And you didn’t really know what was going on.

Alex Zahara:
No, ’cause I didn’t even know I was overheating. But that’s the problem, the costume looked great, but it was a seven-millimeter-thick wetsuit I was wearing that had been painted. And it’s an insulator, so I was slowly overheating.

David Read:
Cooking.

Alex Zahara:
And I didn’t know it. But from then on, they just made sure they monitored my temperature, would open the back up all the time and stuff. But that had never happened before or since, luckily. Little misadventures with costumes and makeup.

David Read:
Tapped by God for a couple of moments there. You see the divine and then we bring you back.

Alex Zahara:
And then he walks by and … “I’m in outer space.”

David Read:
Oh my gosh. Tell me about these brothers. What do you guys recall about them even all these years later?

Alex Zahara:
I think Patrick nailed it. It was sort of like Frasier in a way. It kind of was. You had the–

Patrick Currie:
I was on…

Alex Zahara:
Go ahead.

Patrick Currie:
I was at a convention and a woman got up in the audience and said that, I think I’ve told you this before, David. She said, “My mother was watching the episode and she said, ‘That’s the guy who plays Niles.'” And they were convinced by this.

David Read:
I don’t remember that.

Patrick Currie:
And I was like, “Well, that’s a compliment.” But they had to look it up, and this was before, I think, they could just fly into IMDb or whatever. And she was convinced. They had a bet that I was being played by the gentleman who played Niles…

Alex Zahara:
David Hyde Pierce.

Patrick Currie:
…Niles Crane. Yeah, David Hyde Pierce.

David Read:
That is a high compliment.

Alex Zahara:
Wow.

David Read:
I would agree.

Alex Zahara:
That vibe, that energy you brought, and then I wasn’t maybe quite like Frasier, but it had that sort of reminiscent dynamic.

David Read:
Wow.

Patrick Currie:
Andy Mikita had come up to me on, I think, my third scene. I was in the ship and he came up and he said, “I just need to talk to you for a moment.” And I was like, “Yeah.” And he goes, “So, you’re in a lot of reptilian makeup and everything and I’m not sure how this is happening, but I just want you to know, he’s a little gay.” And I was like, “Yeah?” And he was like, “No. It’s okay. I just wanted to let the actor know how the makeup is translating so that you’re getting the performance you’re trying to do.” And I was like, “Oh, you’re a moron.” No, that’s a quote from the show. I can’t–

David Read:
That is so great.

Patrick Currie:
It was very funny ’cause I wanted him to be quite the poncy, thinks he’s better than his big brother kind of guy.

David Read:
The effeminate is coming through on the performance. It’s not because of the reptilian makeup, it’s because that is your approach for this character.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, he was like, you would’ve been the football player and I would’ve been the drama…

Alex Zahara:
Exactly. There you go.

Patrick Currie:
There you go.

Alex Zahara:
But see, that’s perfect for siblings. They’re two polar opposites usually. One’s more into sports and racing, whatever, while the other one does the technical, behind-the-scenes stuff. There you go.

David Read:
I’m sure Eamon was thinking, “Warrick will work for me one day.” I know he’s thinking that.

Patrick Currie:
Absolutely. And he’s always trying to prove himself and Warrick is so solid in who he is. And Eamon’s still trying to find himself by somehow bringing down Warrick.

Alex Zahara:
That’s the part of the thing I was thinking about with the back history for the character of Warrick, I can’t remember exactly how long they were trapped. In the previous episode, Dion established the character. They were trapped on a planet for however long, so he’s a survivor.

David Read:
That’s exactly right. Now he’s back and I’m sure Eamon’s like, “Seriously though, it’s been great. And now he’s a lead in a friggin’ race. What the heck is going on here?”

Patrick Currie:
It’s like, “I wanted you to come back.”

David Read:
That’s exactly right. What about–

Alex Zahara:
I had to laugh though, because when they made Warrick’s character, they sculpted it. Now, of course I’m a little heavier than Dion, fair enough. I’m probably 10, 15 pounds heavier than him, easy. But it was so funny ’cause when they did the sculpture, it really bulked out. And I thought, “So, Warrick came back from being trapped on a planet with no food and he ate his favorite food a lot. He bulked up a little. OK.”

David Read:
It makes sense though. You could see it…

Alex Zahara:
In a way, he does.

David Read:
…that way that he would’ve gained a little bit having returned to civilization.

Alex Zahara:
Sure. And also the little bulky suit helped a little bit as well. But again, mind you, it almost made me cross the rainbow bridge a little bit, so…

Patrick Currie:
I was really fortunate with Eamon. I remember when they were putting it on, the makeup for Eamon was so delicate. Those layers… I had a lot of facial movement and a lot of expressions that were able to come through without a lot of effort. I do remember he raised his eyebrows a lot and at the end of the day, I was getting a tension headache from fighting the makeup to get those expressions.

David Read:
What about the contact lenses, Patrick? Do you remember any issues with them? These red contact lenses. From the original episode, they’re designed to make him look more threatening, because he’s supposed to be the good guy, but we’re supposed to think that he’s the bad guy, so they made them kind of devilish. Have you had issues with contact lenses? Are they comfortable for you? Do you dread them? I’m curious, Patrick.

Patrick Currie:
No, I don’t like contact lenses at all. Thus the thick-framed glasses. I’ve never really had to wear them. And that was my first time wearing ones that were the size of loonies. I didn’t like it. Again, the team was amazing, so it was pretty painless, and it was fine. It takes a little getting used to. The issue came up with Chaka, though, and Alex, I don’t know if you remember the issue with Chaka? I was in my trailer, and I was like, “This one feels funny. It feels funny.” And the eye guy is like, “Oh my god, it’s split. It’s cut in half.” I think they were $500 or something, and they weren’t skimping. They just never thought we would need two sets of contacts. They only gave me one…

David Read:
You didn’t have two?

Patrick Currie:
No, they only had one. So, I now had a human eye and a normal eye. And they were freaking out, and the guy left the trailer and I thought, “Oh my god, it’s my fault. I was blinking too hard. I don’t know what I did.” Then he comes back and he goes, “Oh my god.” And I’m like, “What?” He goes, “This is insane, but you and Alex have the exact same size eyeball.” And because you only had one contact, because your character only had one good eye, they were able to use your left eye.

David Read:
Oh, that’s fantastic!

Alex Zahara:
No way.

Patrick Currie:
It was crazy.

Alex Zahara:
I didn’t know, I don’t remember that. That’s crazy.

Patrick Currie:
The lens tech was like, “Thank god. Thank god.”

Alex Zahara:
That’s awesome.

Patrick Currie:
And I was like, “Are you serious?” And he’s like, “I would not legally be able to put this in your eye if it weren’t, but it’s the exact same measurement as the one we made for you.” So, yeah, it saved the day.

Alex Zahara:
That’s great, man. That’s crazy, ’cause when I was a kid, our family was in a car accident, and shards of glass went in my eyes. My mom had to hold me down kicking, screaming to pick the glass out of my eyes. So, I never liked anyone touching my eyes or anything. The first time I had to do lenses I was like, “OK, OK, OK.” I got used to it more and more, but again, the techs, Kevin, that was his name, he actually works at Costco. Kevin was one of the guys that did a lot with me, and then there was a lady, I think, was it Val? I can’t remember her name, blonde lady. But they were so good, they’re always so kind and so gentle. I’ve never had an issue of getting in and out of lenses, ever.

David Read:
Wow. Huh.

Patrick Currie:
So, we’re eye bros.

Alex Zahara:
We’re eye brothers.

David Read:
For sure, same eyeball shapes.

Alex Zahara:
I’ve literally never heard of that, because they always say everybody’s eyes are unique, et cetera. But apparently not.

Patrick Currie:
Apparently.

David Read:
Wow. That is wild.

Alex Zahara:
That’s hilarious. I either forgot or didn’t know, but that’s amazing, Patrick, eh?

Patrick Currie:
You knew it, because I know we talked about it on the day.

Alex Zahara:
It’s been decades. I forgot.

Patrick Currie:
I know, but we would’ve talked about it on the day.

Alex Zahara:
I’m sure we did. I was gonna say, forgive the big scraggly beard, but I’m growing it in for the show that I’m doing, and realized I’m starting to look like a bit of a hillbilly, so there you go.

David Read:
No, it looks great. I love it. I must.

Alex Zahara:
Funny enough, I look more like Uncle Howard today, the character from Final Destination, ’cause a group of us, our gang of friends, we call ourselves The Urban Tribe, we’ve been friends for almost three decades and 21 of us are going tonight to see the film.

David Read:
Fantastic.

Patrick Currie:
Nice.

David Read:
Very fun.

Alex Zahara:
It’s gonna be fun.

David Read:
In terms of settings, “Enemy Mine” was a flip of what you were having to deal with for “Space Race.” Exteriors for almost all of it, definitely almost all of it for you, Patrick, definitely for you, Alex. And being under these, not just suits, but you’ve got costumes on top of that. And I guess in some cases they’re fudging one for the other, ’cause you’re not gonna be seeing the lizard skin and everything else, or whatever skin they have. I guess I’m asking, how uncomfortable was it, Patrick? This is the hour of complaining about comfort on set.

Patrick Currie:
Again, they made it so comfortable. I can understand how, coming from the outside, you would think, “That must’ve been a nightmare.” And it could’ve been.

David Read:
It looked beautiful, and that usually suggests discomfort.

Patrick Currie:
First of all, the headpiece, we go into the trailer, it’s like 3:30 in the morning, it’s ice cold. You get in, they’re putting it on, it takes forever. And with this one, like I said, Eamon was almost like my own skin, it was so delicate. And just put on with the little brush. This one, I could feel myself being buried, I was deeper inside and my brain was sensing that any help I needed was outside of where I was now living. Then I wore a jumper, a long underwear with a big zipper in the front. And then they put on the coat, which was really heavy and really hot, and then I had arms to here and legs to mid-thigh. And those were on, and it was hot and a little awkward for movement.

Alex Zahara:
Didn’t you have the body suit to tie it all together as well?

Patrick Currie:
No, ’cause I had that coat.

David Read:
He had civilized his civilization.

Patrick Currie:
I was down to here, and then the coat went up to here. But what I remember is, for the first time in my adult life, I needed help to go pee, and I had an assistant who would walk me to the woods, undo the coat, tie it behind me. And they had a big loop in my underwear, and my big paw had to go in, and I would pull it down, and I would do the thing. And then I would shake, and then I would pull it back up, and then they would come and do the coat back up.

David Read:
’cause you can’t turn around and wash your hands.

Patrick Currie:
You can’t, like I did with the claws. So, they stayed on until lunch. The only thing they removed during shooting was the teeth. Thank God for those people, ’cause they would have to hold the thing in front of you, take out your teeth. It was not pretty.

Alex Zahara:
It was so gross.

Patrick Currie:
They allowed you to maintain your dignity and treated it in such a professional way.

David Read:
“Just swallow as much as you can before we have to grab them.”

Alex Zahara:
I’ll tag in on that. The first time we did a lot of the Unas, “Beast of Burden,” that’s the one. For whatever reason, they’d forgotten about the fact that we’re all clawed up and can’t get out easily, and they hadn’t built, like Patrick’s saying, the big hook or the circle to put your claw in and pull down the zipper. It was nuts. This poor lady, I think it was Nancy Kwan, it was her first day on set and she had to literally take us to the bathroom and pull our pants down so we could do our business and whatever. It was ridiculous. So, the next day, we show up and they have this big zipper built on the front with a large hoop so we could put our claw thumb through and pull down. But Patrick’s right, you had to get your junk out, do your business, shaky, shaky, shaky, and then as best you can, put it all back, zip yourself up, and then they come put your pants back up for you. But can you imagine your first day on set…

Patrick Currie:
Were you in the woods for that?

Alex Zahara:
Yeah.

Patrick Currie:
Point you to the nearest bush. So, it was better than having to try and aim the urinal or anything.

Alex Zahara:
If you had to go inside a trailer, one of the trailer toilets, forget it. It was so much easier… But that’s another thing about not eating. We weren’t allowed to eat during the day. We could have protein shakes and liquid, just liquid. But one of the times we did it, it was so hot, we were all drinking water and stuff. I never went to the bathroom anyway, had to do number two, as it were, because there was so much water coming out at me. But the thing is, we would sweat it out, ’cause in those suits, especially in “Beast of Burden,” we were running around in the forest, and I was a bloodhound, and I’m chasing myself, my other character and stuff. Boy, oh boy, talk about getting warm after a while, holy doodle.

Patrick Currie:
And your body’s sweaty and you’re panicking now that your prosthetics are gonna start coming off. “How do I keep my face from sweating and let my body do all this?”

David Read:
I was hoping that the makeup people would have thought of that when they glued me in.

Alex Zahara:
Yeah, they do.

Patrick Currie:
Nothing moved on my face. Very few touches ever needed to be done after that.

David Read:
Wow.

Alex Zahara:
It’s surgical glue. They start at the nose usually and work their way out, and then blend into the edges of the cowl. It takes three to four hours to put it on. At the end of the night, it takes about an hour to get it all off. ‘Cause it’s not easy. You have to put alcohol in and go bit by bit, and bit by bit. One time, Buddy accidentally hit me in the eye with his alcohol brush. Holy crap. I did the eyewash and the whole nine yards, but I was doing the funky chicken dancing around, man, that hurt.

David Read:
Wow.

Patrick Currie:
When they did my first makeup test, they have two different things they use to remove it. They can use two different things. One’s an oil-based, one’s an alcohol-based, I think. I don’t know the science behind it. They took off my entire thing and I was like, “Oh, that’s really cool. It feels like a cool bath on my face.” And they got it off. I left the trailer, I went outside, I walked 100 feet and then thought, “Something’s wrong.” And I came back and it was like I’d been slashed with a knife all over my face, ’cause I had an allergic reaction to whatever was used.

Alex Zahara:
Whoa. Oh, no.

David Read:
I guess we’re going with the other one from now on.

Patrick Currie:
Luckily I’ve known that for, even on Tracker, I had small prosthetics on, I was like, “Use the right…the other thing.” It was just an allergic reaction to it.

Alex Zahara:
Wow.

Patrick Currie:
They put on some of that Rescue Remedy stuff, and it went…

Alex Zahara:
Yeah, Rescue Cream.

Patrick Currie:
…it went down right away. But you live, you learn.

David Read:
You don’t know how you’re gonna react. Specifically you. That’s just wild.

Alex Zahara:
You just don’t know. I remember the first time they did it with me they were a little concerned about it, but it was fine. I can’t remember the name of the oil-based stuff.

Patrick Currie:
Myristet?

Alex Zahara:
Myristet.

Patrick Currie:
Is that it? Yeah.

Alex Zahara:
Myristate!

Patrick Currie:
Myristate. I was gonna say Monistat, but that’s a whole other thing.

Alex Zahara:
That’s a whole other thing. But Myristate, it’s super greasy, and the alcohol’s fine. I think it’s whatever works, works. At the end of the day, you don’t wanna have razor blades on your face or stabbed in the eye. There you go.

David Read:
There we go. For all the Unas everywhere.

Alex Zahara:
That’s right.

David Read:
Perfect.

Patrick Currie:
Yep. There you go.

David Read:
Absolutely wild, guys. I’m looking at the clock here to be respectful of Patrick’s time.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, I’m fine. I haven’t… The nieces and nephews aren’t here yet.

David Read:
You’re good for now. OK.

Alex Zahara:
Me too.

David Read:
Thank you, Alex.

Alex Zahara:
And if people are wondering, my puppy’s on my lap. Every once in a while I’m going like this, it’s ’cause I’ve got a puppy on my lap.

David Read:
Dachshunds, they are at rest on laps because they know when you move, they’ll wake up.

Alex Zahara:
That’s right.

David Read:
And most dogs. Patrick, what was it like for you now being the one to take on Dion’s role? And I think one of the things that I noticed when I watched “Enemy Mine” was that the movement was much smoother, it was distinctly different, and I ended up coming around to appreciate that. That as a performer, you’re not there to emulate another performance. You’re there to find that performance based on those conditions presented in that script. And what was it like getting into this second character that way?

Patrick Currie:
Having watched it back, I maybe would have preferred a little more weight to his character. But one of the notes that Peter had given me was that he’s been domesticated now, somewhat. He comes in… The coat was a big signature. Because he has a finely crafted coat, and he’s not the wild man anymore. That lent to him being a little more…

David Read:
Tame.

Patrick Currie:
…smoother in his movements and all that kinda stuff. But Peter, on the first day, came and grabbed me once I was fully in costume, took me outside, and basically gave me Unas dance lessons, or Chaka dance lessons, and walked with me, huffing and puffing walking around. He was amazing. He helped me build that character in a very short period of time, ’cause I had read for it, so the qualities he wanted were already there. But then he helped me refine it. A lot of the stuff that I thought, even before filming, was translating wasn’t getting through the coat and the costume. And I, as an actor, hadn’t dealt with having to go that big. I’d had the benefit of, like Alex, going to university for theater, so having done lots of movement training, and that helped. I don’t think I was trying to copy Dion, but I did study his performance to sort of get the head and the hand gestures right.

David Read:
OK. Alex?

Alex Zahara:
It’s funny you say that too, because, again, I wasn’t trying to copy Dion necessarily, but to recreate a version of Warrick. And especially the fact that… I looked at it like he’d been in prison, isolated on a desert island for years, and that changes somebody. So, he’s gonna be different when he comes home to his relatives and whatever. He’s gonna be a little different, right? Going through traumatic events like that, fighting for your life. I thought whatever comes out comes out, and that’s the new Warrick, so be it. You know what I mean?

David Read:
For sure.

Alex Zahara:
I never felt like I was held back trying to emulate Dion’s character. So, you know what we gotta do? We gotta do this another time and get Dion on here, and we’ll all three compare.

David Read:
I try to have him on. I wanna have him on. We’re gonna keep on trying. I’m gonna go to fan questions

Alex Zahara:
Good.

David Read:
William Arends wants to know, “Patrick, what was the process in developing Chaka’s communication with Daniel?” Because you’re starting to use some English words. You didn’t really do that the last time before. How did you work that through the prosthetics and the teeth? Was there an exploration there between the two of you as actors to try and figure out how to become articulate enough so that it would sell in the performance? What was the canal that you rowed through there?

Patrick Currie:
With Daniel and I, that was sort of the organic part of rehearsal and performance, just responding to what we’re… picking up what you’re being given. That was sort of organic. But Peter and I had worked again after the physical movement, then we went to the text, because everything was gonna change once I had the teeth in, and then I saw the limited amount of expression that I was gonna have. So, we talked through how to make those human words sound… We didn’t want them to sound human. We wanted there to be a hint of human in them and just enough for people to catch it.

David Read:
Be able to understand.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah. To understand that Daniel and I are… That sort of signified that we were communicating in a much easier way on every level. So, that was sort of the bridge, so the audience got why we were able to communicate so quickly when we are using total opposite languages.

David Read:
For sure. That makes a lot of sense. I’m curious, and Lockwatcher brings this up here, for both of you. Alex, I’m gonna take you first. Is there a role that you wanted on Stargate that you auditioned for that you didn’t get, or a role that you had wanted to have auditioned for?

Alex Zahara:
Yeah, Michael Shanks’ role.

David Read:
Daniel.

Alex Zahara:
No, but when you stop and think of it, I was blond and blue-eyed like James Spader. I thought, “Well, why not?” No, I was still in university when that was going on, so I wouldn’t even have had a chance to audition for it, really. Didn’t even have an agent at the time. But playing Daniel Jackson’s character, that would have been pretty damn cool. I don’t know. I think I was really lucky with that show in the sense of I got to play so many characters, and, as you mentioned earlier, David, within one episode alone, I played eight or nine different characters. Smaller, like Unas carrying water, Unas working in the field, but then I played the female waitress Unas who serves Shanks a drink. And during rehearsals, Martin Wood was directing, and when Daniel Jackson’s character says “Thank you,” we’re slaves and we get mistreated like crazy, so when this person was kind to me, I leaned over and gave him a sniff in rehearsal. And because there’s no holes in the nose, it all sort of flexed and looked like I was really sniffing. And Martin yelled, “Ah, beauty, nice. Yeah, do that again.” So, stuff like that. So, I was lucky. I got to play a lot of different roles, and like Michael the hippie, exploring the horrors of war and not wanting to kill people, and a lot of political stuff, too, and “Enemy Mine” and stuff. So, I really think I got the best of all worlds ’cause I played a bunch of different characters over a lot of years, so it was great. But I would have loved to have played Daniel Jackson. That’s my one go-to. That would have been great.

David Read:
Patrick, did you pursue or want to pursue any characters in Stargate that you didn’t get?

Patrick Currie:
No, but I think everybody wanted to audition for the leads of the show. It would have been great to be Daniel. But in terms of after that, I think I talked to you about this with “Unnatural Selection,” that I had auditioned so many times, and one time Peter had leaned across the table to me and gone, “Every time you come in, it’s amazing. That was incredible, I loved it, and you’re not booking it.” And I was like, “Fuck.” So, ’cause I don’t read military. At the time especially, military was just never gonna sit with me. So, the performances are great, but the camera and I were not finding a common ground. And then that’s when I told my agent, “No more auditions for Stargate. It’s too demoralizing. I can’t… We take enough rejection, but they’ve seen me like 35 times.”

David Read:
“I’ve struck out plenty by now. My batting average is–”

Patrick Currie:
And then the producers and the writing team were so amazing. And when “Unnatural Selection” came up, they went to my agent and said, “Can you get him in for this one? We really want him for this one. We think this is gonna be great.” And then I got the part, and it was five episodes in total, I think, and gave me a really great fan following. And it spoke to a lot of people on a really deep level. So, I was really grateful for that. And then the other two were just fun. And watching them back yesterday and today, I was like, “I forgot how much fun they were.”

Alex Zahara:
Same here. I was watching today and yesterday, I was like, “Oh my god,” it was a lot of fun. Because again, come on, we’re playing dress-up and getting paid for it, in some respects. We’re not solving the world’s problems. Mind you, I’ve had a lot of fans at Stargate conventions come up and say, “If it wasn’t for the show, I wouldn’t be here today.” That’s what speaks to the humanity of the show, that it brought people back from the edge of feeling disconnected from the world, feeling disconnected from themselves, and brought them back into society, and that they’re still here and still moving on. I had a woman say, “I was thinking of killing myself.” And I was like, “Whoa,” that really hit me. I’d never heard anyone say that before about a show. Hey, I’m a fan too. I worked with Omar Sharif, and when Doctor Zhivago came on the set, my heart burst out of my chest pounding. But it’s a different reaction if you’re in a dark place and this show speaks to you and you find a connection to it. So, I was thankful for that. Not that I ever didn’t take it seriously, but I took our appearances and going to conventions and stuff far more seriously after that, because you realize at that point it isn’t just entertainment. Sometimes it’s a life ring or a life raft for people. But especially in the LGBTQ community too, I think. It comes up a lot.

Patrick Currie:
And I’m gonna retell this story, David, ’cause I told this to you before.

David Read:
Be my guest.

Patrick Currie:
We were at the Vancouver Airport, I think that was the convention, and this guy came up in his military gear and stuff. And I shift gears depending on who I’m talking to, that’s what you do as a human and what you do as an actor, and I wanna be able to talk to him in his way of speaking and how he connected to the show. And he’s like, “Yeah, I’m here because my kid loves the show too,” and blah, blah, blah, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s awesome and everything.” And then his kid steps out behind, it’s like a 13-year-old trans kid with her rainbow flag on. It’s a Stargate rainbow thing. And I looked at the kid and I looked at the dad, and even telling this, I’m on the verge of tears, because I was the link… The character that I got blessed to play was the link between that military dad finding connection to their kid.

Alex Zahara:
That’s awesome.

Patrick Currie:
You realize it’s insanely powerful.

Alex Zahara:
It sure as heck can be. It’s nuts. Like, my wife and I, as a personal relationship– We were watching Ozark the other night. Now, that can be some pretty dark material, but in watching Ozark, we see elements of our own relationship. And the communication, the characters end up going to a marriage counselor together, and we’ve done some marriage counseling and stuff. So, it was very reflective, where, “Oh, OK, I see my life there.” But that’s an amazing story, Patrick. To personalize it like that, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. That’s the type of thing where that’s the side benefit, I think, or maybe that’s the ultimate benefit of being in our profession, is that unknowingly, we’ve helped people bridge gaps of communication within families, within cultures, who knows?

David Read:
You are creating entertainment. And with entertainment, people are going to a place to unplug and step away. But while they’re doing that, they’re listening. They’re taking in not just the story that they’re being told, but they’re taking in the messages underneath. And they can tell when it’s being forced on them or not. And when it’s done thoughtfully and with good intentions, with no malice toward them, and it asks them questions that make them go, “Huh. OK, I’ve never necessarily thought of it that way before,” you can open doors in people’s minds. My father and I are way too similar, but we’ve always kind of been like this: love each other very much, but frequently like this. The man’s probably watching right now.

Alex Zahara:
Mummy’s home.

David Read:
But Star Trek was the thing that we both connected on on an intellectual level, because it was the first series that I was exposed to when I was four or five. When I was just beginning to ask, “Why is the one guy painted black on one side and white on the other?” And so, it has always been our connection. So, I completely get that Patrick, with what you’re saying with the father and child. And these places are our escape, to let go of the day-to-day grind and to dream. And to be a part of that just pursues itself over time.

Patrick Currie:
And I think that’s why I am really focused on writing now. Because there is entertainment, and there’s storytelling. And we have a lot of entertainment right now that isn’t necessarily storytelling. Because for me storytelling…

Alex Zahara:
Exactly.

David Read:
It’s just content.

Patrick Currie:
…storytelling is the human condition, and why we need to tell it. And the magic is when entertainment and storytelling can come together. Because how many times Alex, do you get a script and you realize that there was a story here that’s been sacrificed for entertainment value? And you think, “Why do you not…?!,” or even they edit out a performance because maybe the story that’s being told isn’t to one person’s liking. And that’s where Fifth was so amazing. He’s the first of his family of five to feel human emotion and to fall in love, and his family rejects him for it. And that’s why I’ve been lucky enough to go to all these conventions.

David Read:
And we can all relate to that. We can all relate to being part of groups or our own families where… Black sheep, right here.

Alex Zahara:
But that’s the thing. It might be entertainment, but Patrick hit the nail on the head, storytelling that is entertaining or meets entertainment, it communicates the life… the human experience and we learn from it. We see a show and it might not be our exact experience, but it’s relatable enough that it can bridge a gap and perhaps in our own relationships to other people, ourselves, the world… We can bridge that gap having vicariously experienced that on the show or through the show. And for me that’s what I think it’s all about at the end of the day. Patrick hit the nail on the head, there are never any scripts I’ve read… Literally I’ve been told, “Well, we’ve had to dumb the script down.” And I am like, “Well, why? Why do you assume that people aren’t going to understand stuff?” No, don’t do that. I’ve literally gone into an audition and I rewrote the monolog that I had, I changed it. “I’m not saying these words. I’m not doing it.” So, I wrote what it should’ve said, and the director went in and he said to me, “Wow, that was great. That’s exactly what I wanted it to say.” And I said, “So, why didn’t you?” I literally asked him, and he says, “I was told to dumb the script down.” I said, “Well, that didn’t work, did it?” He goes, “Nope.” And I booked it, and we kept a hybrid of what he had written and what I had written. And the studio was fine with it, because at the end of the day it appeared like there were enough changes, or there was enough drafts that, “Oh well, OK, they took our notes.” No, no, no. We just rewrote it and made it work better. But that’s just it. I hate to say this, but whenever suits, or accountants, or non-creative types get involved and they try to make it more affordable and cheapen it up, it loses focus. It’s like the old days when they used to make a copy of a videotape and make a copy of a copy, of a copy. By the end it’s just fuzz. And you don’t take a great story and turn it into fuzz.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, and Stargate is a testament to the fact that if you keep entertainment and storytelling together, you create a product that makes money and never goes away.

David Read:
Exactly. That’s it, because it’s a lens– Yeah, go ahead.

Patrick Currie:
I’m doing another convention in September in England, Follow the Yellow Gate Road.

David Read:
Yellow Gate Road.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, it’s a really small one.

David Read:
Mama Nox is in the chat right now.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, Mama Nox. I’m thrilled to be doing it because it’s 200 people, because Alex will also probably agree. You don’t have enough time to talk to all the people who, when they come up to the table, you see the connection in their eye that they wanna say something and it’s not the right venue because they wanna… Maybe no one listens to them and some character we played all those years ago is still someone that they would like to be able to speak something to.

Alex Zahara:
Connect.

Patrick Currie:
Yeah, I think that’s the reason I’m excited about the small crowd.

Alex Zahara:
Tell them I wanna come. I’ll go with you.

David Read:
Mama Nox, Alex wants to go.

Alex Zahara:
Seriously, I’ll go. I have tons of friends in England. I’ll make a trip of it.

David Read:
Before we let you all go, I have to tell on Patrick here for a minute there, ’cause I was trying to organize an interview with him at Gay Con for the future, to pitch bringing him on. And he was talking with this young man who was a fan of Queer as Folk. And they had a very intimate conversation. And I wasn’t listening, I was far enough back. This is the only time that I’ve seen this happen at a conv– I’ve done a lot of these. Patrick got up from the table, he went around the table, and he gave the kid a hug and he held him for a minute. And it was like, “This guy is reading people.” It’s not just with words, he’s reading this kid’s body language and he’s– After he signed the DVD case, that embrace, we need that more than we think these days. We’re stuck in these damn things all the time and they’re destroying our culture. And we see artifices of the world through them that aren’t true. But through science fiction and fantasy, they bring things into a stark focus where it’s like, “This makes sense. This I understand. This I have experienced,” and you’re perpetuating that. And when you get to connect with people at conventions, like Patrick, you did with that kid. It makes all the difference in the world. You don’t know where that’ll go from there.

Patrick Currie:
Here’s a funny connection, you’ll like this. I was shooting Project Blue Book and my character’s name was Stewart. And the lead was Aidan from Game of Thrones, Little Finger?

David Read:
Yes.

Patrick Currie:
And he was yelling at me on the gurney. He was like, “Stewart, Stewart, Stewart.” And then I went, “Oh, wow.” I knew he had been in Queer as Folk, the original show, but I forgot his character was Stuart in that show. So, then we went into the green room, and I was like, “Hey, you were Stuart in Queer as Folk.” He was like, “Oh, you saw Queer as Folk?” And I was like, “Yeah, the British version.” He’s like, “Oh, that’s shocking to me.” He’s like, “Yeah, that was a huge deal.” And then I said, “I was on the Queer as Folk American version.” And then he said, “Did you meet…” why is his name escaping me right now? The creator, Doctor Who, the creator, Russell T. Davies. And I was like, “Actually, Russell visited the set in Toronto that day.” Then Aidan and I sat and talked about queer film, sci-fi film, and how they all came together. It was a really small-world conversation. It was great.

David Read:
You never know. You never know how it’s all gonna hit together. Gentlemen, this has been wonderful. Thank you for giving so generously of your time. We may have lost Alex. There he is. If it freezes like that, I often lose people. Thank you so much for walking us through these special characters. It means so much to have you both. Any closing thoughts, Alex?

Patrick Currie:
Alex froze.

Alex Zahara:
I don’t know if I’m frozen or not…

David Read:
I can hear you. Go ahead.

Alex Zahara:
I’m frozen.

David Read:
Go ahead.

Alex Zahara:
I was gonna say, it’s been great. And Stargate is a show that keeps on giving over the years. Doing these shows, it has expanded my life. I’ve made tons of friends from Stargate around the world, and I’m still friends with them today. And when we’re over in different countries or visiting or whatever, I try to connect or stop in. And look, we’re still connecting here. I haven’t been to a convention in a year or two or whatever, but I would love to keep connecting with people like that. And I love doing the show, so thanks very much.

David Read:
Thank you. Thank you, sir. And if you have not seen Final Destination, five is it?

Alex Zahara:
No, six, Bloodlines.

David Read:
Six, Bloodlines. Go and see it in theaters. Can you tell a quick story real quick about your experience on that film?

Alex Zahara:
Sure. So, I make my living dying on TV, as I say, because I’ve been killed 40 times in TV and film. And it was my 40th death.

David Read:
Wow.

Alex Zahara:
I’m not giving anything away ’cause it’s in the trailer. You see it. Howard steps on a hunk of glass. It goes through his foot and then he falls and all this, is it the Rube Goldberg, all the little machines and mechanisms of things have hit this, and that’s fallen, and the Frankenstein falls over and hits the thing.

David Read:
Jeez.

Alex Zahara:
And then the lawnmower rears up and shmick me on the face. It’s movie magic because… [muted] …Vancouver Spring.

David Read:
Oof, sorry guys.

Patrick Currie:
Alex is frozen, right?

David Read:
I’m sure it’s OK. We’re losing your story, buddy. I’m so sorry. I am so sorry.

Patrick Currie:
Vancouver movie magic.

David Read:
Yes.

Patrick Currie:
Vancouver Spring, then–

David Read:
Patrick, you’re gonna make me sick.

Alex Zahara:
It sucks. …movie magic. Can you hear me now?

David Read:
Yes and no. OK, you’re… OK. Yes. You got 15 more seconds. Go ahead.

Alex Zahara:
Long story short, it was movie magic, sunny, I died. So, there you go.

David Read:
Go check out Final Destination Bloodlines in theaters and watch Alex give a fantastic performance supine position. Patrick, thank you so much for coming on. I know a lot of people…

Patrick Currie:
Thank you for having me.

David Read:
…who are watching are looking forward to meeting you at Yellow Gate Road.

Patrick Currie:
Great.

David Read:
It’s been wonderful to have you, sir. Thank you both for being here.

Patrick Currie:
Take care.

David Read:
Be well. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Alex Zahara:
Bye, guys.

David Read:
That is Patrick Curry and Alex Zahara, Eamon and Chaka, and Warrick and Iron Shirt. Yes, I got them all. I can’t believe it. My name is David Read. You’re watching Dial the Gate. We have in just about 15 minutes from now, Kevin McNulty, who played Dr. Warner in Stargate SG-1 and Chancellor Lycus in Stargate Atlantis. I really appreciate you tuning in for this episode. If you enjoy Stargate and you wanna see more content like this on YouTube, do click the like button. It does make a difference with this show and will help us continue to grow our audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click subscribe. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and gateworld.net YouTube channels. My tremendous thanks to my moderating team, Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj, and Jakub. You guys make the show possible. My producers, Antony Rowling, Kevin Weaver, and Linda GateGabber Fury, and Frederick Marcoux over at ConceptsWeb who keeps dialthegate.com up and running. I appreciate y’all tuning in. I hope you can join us for Kevin next, Lou Diamond Phillips tomorrow as well. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate, and I will see you on the other side.