With Colonel Marshall Sumner swiftly dispatched by the Wraith in the pilot of Stargate Atlantis, it fell upon Sergeant Bates to be the foil to push back against Major John Sheppard in the early episodes of the series. We are thrilled to welcome Dean Marshall to the show to discuss that chapter of his life and to take your questions LIVE!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
0:12 – Opening Credits
0:43 – Welcome
0:55 – Guest Introduction
1:36 – A Moist Moment
2:28 – Realizing Acting
5:40 – Embracing the Craft
10:17 – Coming to Vancouver
11:19 – Auditioning for SG-1
13:31 – Bates Was a “Hardass”
16:50 – Bates Was an Island
20:00 – “You’re Trained to Face the Unknown”
21:06 – Softening to Sheppard
23:36 – Full Respect by Season Four
24:58 – Wraith Torture and Ethics
27:50 – Don’t Lose Your Humanity
31:05 – Wondeful Little Moments
32:22 – Atlantis Production Quality
35:24 – Character Influences
36:19 – Why Dean Left
39:53 – Characters Arent Real, But They Exist
42:38 – Hated Bates, Loved Dean
46:54 – Effects Work
48:44 – Dealing with Sub-Par Directors
51:40 – Becoming an Antagonist
53:06 – Bates and “Rising”
54:07 – Rodney the Tight-Ass
56:13 – Complex Dialogue
59:00 – Stargate’s Teachings
59:54 – Gatebuilder’s Puddle Jumper
1:00:35 – Inspiring Audiences
1:01:24 – Post-Interview Houskeeping
1:02:30 – Clips of More Obscure Guests
1:04:13 – Upcoming Shows
1:05:52 – End Credits

***

“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

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TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read:
Hello everyone. Welcome to Episode 307 of Dial the Gate. The Stargate Oral History Project. Just my microphone. My name is David Read. I really appreciate you being with me for this episode. Dean Marshall, Sergeant Bates in Stargate: Atlantis. One of our earlier, unexpected antagonists, inside. That’s one of the things that I loved about this show, was, you had the Wraith on the outside and then you had the people who were on the inside causing some legitimate issues as well. And Mr. Dean Marshall. OK. Get rid of that thing there. Welcome to the show, sir. I really appreciate having you.

Dean Marshall:
Thank you very much, David. Thanks for inviting me.

David Read:
What was it like re-watching…? Because a lot of actors don’t choose to rewatch the show before we get started. What was it like re-experiencing that?

Dean Marshall:
It was fun. Definitely a fun, fun visit. I literally had tears in my eyes. It was a lot of those…

David Read:
Really?

Dean Marshall:
It was a moist moment for me, for sure. It was fun looking back at that and watching that character develop over the series. It did. It brought back great memories. And seeing my buddy, Paul McGillion.

David Read:
Oh, Paul.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
A good guy.

Dean Marshall:
I remember one of our first scenes, and as I was watching I realized, the first time we shot, we shot together. There was an opening scene I always remember watching with Sumner coming up and telling me I should be using my sidearm on him for touching stuff, or something like, that to that effect. We had a good laugh about that. But Paul and I definitely bonded heavily in that series and had a lot of fun.

David Read:
I wanna step back a little bit earlier. How old were you when you knew that this was what you wanted to do for a big chunk of your life? When did you realize, “You know what? I think I can pull this off. I think I can entertain some people and get paid to play.”

Dean Marshall:
Exactly. And it’s definitely about the enjoyment of it. I think, as I got out of high school and I was looking for things to do, I went into pure and applied sciences, and I thought maybe I wanted to be a scientist of some kind. I enjoyed it so much. And then I went to college and failed miserably in physics and chemistry, and I wanna say it’s definitely a lot of my fault but I remember the entire class failing on chemistry and the teachers getting fired some years afterwards.

David Read:
It’s not a good sign, Dean.

Dean Marshall:
It was a lack of inspiration, for sure. And then, after that, I decided, “Well, I didn’t just wanna go pick up a job and go work at McDonald’s for the summer.” I went and joined the army and went in there for two and a half years, and enjoyed the experience. It was a hell of a discipline. It was hell of a learning experience. It taught me a lot about myself, about what I was able to endure and not endure. And acting was on the back burner in the back of my mind. I remember I tried out for production in high school for a lead character and I got it. And then I was terrified that I got it. And then I looked at all the information…

David Read:
Of course. “Yay, I got it. Oh shit, I got it.”

Dean Marshall:
“I really got it.” And I chickened out.

David Read:
You chickened [out]?

Dean Marshall:
I 100 percent chickened out. I did not think I had what it took to get all those lines down.

David Read:
Oh, no.

Dean Marshall:
And there was a lot of lines, and I was terrified. That being said, though…

David Read:
Do you remember what the part was?

Dean Marshall:
I think I was playing Joseph in a Jesus story, to tell you the truth. We were in a Catholic school. It wasn’t heavily Catholic or anything, but they were just telling one of the stories. And it was just too much. I felt so intimidated. But the bug was there. There was something about performing, and I had been performing since I was a young person. Probably around 9. My father was part of a steelpan band that came from Trinidad, Tobago. He was in the Coast Guard. They got brought over in Expo ’67 and moved to Canada, and of course grew up with Calypso and Steelpan, and playing that music. I was playing since I was 9 years old, and on stage, and loving that kind of feel of the crowd, and you name it. And I was, like, “I have to find a way back to the stage.” And after the very disappointing foray into sciences, I was, like, “You know what? Why don’t you try out for something you actually really love and would like to do?” And I did. And I went to my old English teacher to help me prep for auditions for theater program that I eventually ended up getting. And went for three years in there and found my true love. And I was truly blown away by the process. I was pretty ignorant about anything acting, of course, as I said, I was such a chicken and learning to muster my courage to delve deep into the work to let that sort of embrace you and guide you and try to make as true of a performance as possible in everything I do. And it stemmed from there and it stemmed from me just being fearful. And stage has always been that for me. Stage work has always been that “If it doesn’t scare me, don’t do it.” So now, it’s always about, “Find the fear. If there’s something that scares you, then that must mean that you should be trying to do this.”

David Read:
You are the second person who has told me that. The other person was Tom McBeath.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, really? Tom McBeath.

David Read:
Yes. He said, “I don’t do it if doesn’t scare me.”

Dean Marshall:
It’s gotta be terrifying.

David Read:
And I think that there’s something to be said for that because I think it acknowledges that you’re tapping against the edges of your perceived abilities.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent.

David Read:
And that you’re asking a part of yourself to take a step into a dark place where you can’t really see your footing. And you may fall.

Dean Marshall:
I mean, you rehearse. Yes.

David Read:
Yeah. You drill it. You drill the material.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent. If anything about the army taught you that is drilling. Drill, drill, drill until you get it, until you understand it, until you become it. Whatever it is. You have to know it inside and out. Fear is the unknown and as much as you can control, that’s where you can alleviate the fear. And when you are fearful in the beginning and you decide that this is gonna be your opportunity to overcome that fear, it is an incredible feeling of your own personal success to get through that and manage to make it happen and get on that stage or be in front of that camera and work it out. That’s pretty much my journey into acting.

David Read:
I think that that should be a takeaway for a lot of people who… I think one of the problems with modern society is, especially with this younger generation, they’re afraid to fail. They’re terrified of failing. And if you aren’t’ willing to fail, you’re not gonna get anywhere because failure is such an enormous teacher. Now, blind, stupid failing is not what we’re talking about here. Directionless, unproductive. But if you’re trying, you’re gonna learn something. And if people laugh at you, so what?

Dean Marshall:
A really good quote I just recently heard. It was from a US comic, and it was, “The world sort of admires courage. And if you’re able to muster that, you will get recognition for it.” As long as that is not what you’re gonna… You’re not gonna be recognized but you’re going for the courage to accomplish that. And I think that if you do, it is. It’s a steppingstone in your life to say, “I could go on and try the next thing. What is the next thing that I could possibly climb over and hopefully have some success for it?”

David Read:
It has so much to do… When people respond to you, they respond to you so much more positively if you’re coming from a place of trying to admit to something that you’re not comfortable of, rather than saying, “Oh, I got this.” It’s amazing how we respond to that. It’s, like, “Oh, you got this, do you? You have nothing to learn, do you?” That may not even be your intent but so much of that delivery…

Dean Marshall:
I can see through that pain, too, when sometimes people are overconfident about it. You just see, “Oh, he must be struggling with something deep that he needs to mask that, or she or he, needs to mask that.” There is always the struggle. There is always uncertainty. As we talk about as actors, even from stage work or whatnot, that those butterflies are real. If they’re not, then you’re not in a good place. You have to be slightly on edge. That feeling of, “Anything can happen.” Especially live shows. That’s what keeps you on your toes and [is] keeping you trying to be as focused as possible to get the audience the message that you’re trying to send.

David Read:
You’re reminding me when I had a cubicle, I had a little piece of paper, it was like this, and it was a circle over here and a void, and inside the circle it said, “Your comfort zone.” And then there was a dot over here and underneath it, it says, “Where the magic happens.”

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
And I think about that all the time.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
Be willing to try something. When did you come to Vancouver?

Dean Marshall:
So, 22 years in Montreal. Five years in Toronto, doing a lot of film. I mean, a lot of stage work. Vancouver after that in… did I land in ’99 or ’98? Somewhere in that neighborhood. It was January. Pretty much needed to get out and start new again, and see what I could do in Vancouver and that’s where usually… That’s where most of the film work opened up, for sure.

David Read:
OK. Did you go into moving there with anything ready to go or was it, like, boots on the ground, “I’m starting from square one. Here we go.”

Dean Marshall:
Books and my guitar, and a couple of good buddies. And not that I used it to make any money playing guitar. I’ve always been pretty casual. I have used it in shows, for sure, but it’s not the thing that I said, “OK. Music is gonna take me here or there.” It was just part of my comfort zone to have those pieces around me.

David Read:
And how aware were you of Stargate before? And had you auditioned for anything on SG-1?

Dean Marshall:
Yes. I remember having a couple auditions in the early… The late part of their series. Because how many seasons did they do again?

David Read:
They did 10. Atlantis started with SG-1 Season Eight.

Dean Marshall:
Right. So, I felt, like, it was around [Season] Six or Seven, I guess in that time frame, where I started seeing a lot of that. I think at that time I was hitting all of the regular sci-fi shows from Poltergeist and…

David Read:
Outer Limits.

Dean Marshall:
Outer Limits, of course, and all of those things. I felt, like, I was doing the gamut, and I was feeling, like, “OK. I’m coming up. Gotta get me on one of these shows. It’s gonna happen.” And it was kind of fluky. I was in a really good space, and it was a one-on-one with Martin Wood, obviously the show creator and director and producer. That pulled this role into my life. And it was with a nod and a sort of, “That was good, Dean.” And then I didn’t hear anything. It was so quiet. It was so done. And I was, like…

David Read:
So, that was your response for Bates’ audition? “That was good.”

Dean Marshall:
That was from Martin Wood, “Yeah, that’s good, Dean.” Just the way he said it and kind of looked off, and I was, like… I didn’t think about it. I’m, like, “I feel like that was a one-off.” It was late in the afternoon.

David Read:
Not a chance in hell.

Dean Marshall:
I wasn’t even thinking about it again. I was, like, “OK. I went in the audition.” And I didn’t know the size of the role at the time either. I thought this was a one or two liner. It wasn’t gonna be anything. And next thing you know, I got pulled into this pilot and I’m standing next to Robert Patrick going, “What the hell is going on here?” And then I felt truly that little dot and that circle that you were just talking about. I’m, like, “Here I am now.” Here’s that weird, magical, uncomfortable, not sure what’s going on… Work very hard. But here’s where I was.

David Read:
99 percent work hard, one percent talent. Maybe feed more talent in.

Dean Marshall:
I’m trying to.

David Read:
I totally see the army now. I totally see that influence.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
Because you were a hard ass, and the character was… Sumner gets knocked off at the end of the pilot. Spoiler for everyone who hasn’t seen Stargate: Atlantis. That thing going through the gate and all that. This is really cool stuff in the show.

Dean Marshall:
Exactly.

David Read:
You were essentially his lieutenant. Bates was. And I think that a big chunk of this character was kind of representing his spirit in the room.

Dean Marshall:
One hundred percent.

David Read:
Because it was very antagonistic, and this Major comes along who was last on latrine duty at McMurdo in Antarctica. “Who the hell does he think he is? Just because he has some kind of alien gene in him that he thinks that he can run this entire thing? And the person who appointed it is a UN ambassador? What the hell is going on here?” Tell us who Bates was for you.

Dean Marshall:
He was a chain of command kind of guy. And I think you touched upon it. Especially by own training. And obviously there’s always room to be an individual, even in this man’s army. But the rule of law and the chain of command was absolute. So, when Sumner had of course died in the show, it felt like there was only one duty left and it’s to make sure that that military strategy, that military thought process of chain of command gets followed because now we’re in unknown territory. And if we do not have that chain of command. If we do not have those rules and regulations in place, all of this can come apart and that little society could be extinct in a matter of episodes.

David Read:
Yeah. There’s scientists and a bunch… And a few guys with guns protecting the scientists, essentially hens in a hen house, from wolves who wanna eat them.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
And I love this character because it didn’t feel cookie cutter. It didn’t feel mustache twirling, “I’m here just to push back against you.” It really felt like there was a legitimate adversarial voice to contextualize the situations that they were in, to make sure that everyone got the message that, “Look, we’re not playing games. We’re out here alone. There is no one else but us.” And yeah, “We’d like to do this stuff, and we’d like to help these people but I’ve gotta remind you folks of certain things here.”

Dean Marshall:
100 percent. And I think Joe’s character, Joe Flanigan… I felt he was an assault on the whole military. I think my whole [thing] in the first couple of episodes was just dealing with a guy who I thought took this all too lightly, who was too cavalier.

David Read:
Sheppard’s cavalier.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent. And I felt like it was an affront to everything I had learned and was taught under a man like Sumner. And I definitely pushed hard to try to rein him in, which of course you can’t. It’s Joe Flanigan.

David Read:
You better… You’d have an easier time herding cats.

Dean Marshall:
Absolutely. 100 percent.

David Read:
Was that fun to play? That kind of give and take. It’s a fencing match, and you are kind of really a man alone.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed. I saw that as an island, for sure. I think even… There were moment as I was rewatching some of the episodes where even… What’s her name?

David Read:
Torri? Elizabeth Weir?

Dean Marshall:
Torri, yes.

David Read:
Torri Higginson.

Dean Marshall:
Torri Higginson was, like, looking over at me, “Where are you going with this angle?” And I sort of saw it as, “Yeah, you are an island. You are the last sole survivor of a military idea from the States that is gonna die here unless you can get these people to see what we need to do to survive.” And I was trying to drive that home to them. Obviously too heavy-handed. Too young and inexperienced.

David Read:
Oh yeah, he’s cocky.

Dean Marshall:
Exactly. There’s too much of that going on where… And he needed that to stand up to Joe’s character and to, of course, David Hewlett who was a force on set, and as well as a character. And I needed those two to understand me the most. And it was vindication, for sure, when they had to turn around and say I was actually right, and that Bates was actually on point. “He went around it in a horrible little way at time, but he was actually right. And you should have been suspicious, and you should have been looking at all these little details that he tuned you into in the end.”

David Read:
I think when he has all the information, he makes very relevant observations. But when he’s out of the loop, like any of us, it’s, like, “OK. We’re missing some stuff here.”

Dean Marshall:
Conspiracy theorist.

David Read:
Right. I think that’s very representative of a good leader. This young man has watched someone essentially usurp his position.

Dean Marshall:
And watch a mentor die.

David Read:
Watch a mentor die. Someone he respected very much. And I think almost all of us have been in that situation where we feel that, if we’re lucky, “Hey! I am qualified for this. I know I am,” or “I’m the only one that’s left that is remotely qualified for this, even if I’m not fully qualified for this.” And then someone comes along and cuts our knees from under us. All of us have had that experience, whether we’re pursuing a partner, someone that we’d like to have as our partner, or a job. And you feel threatened. And I think if we really look at Bates’ character, I think that we can see that piece of ourselves in that.

Dean Marshall:
I had a philosophy in the early days where I was playing with it. It’s that, if you remember the saying, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” It just felt like I am walking around with blind people. I’m constantly shaking my head in disbelief, “Really guys? You really don’t get this.”

David Read:
I think when you’re in a situation where you have aliens that are literally trying to eat you, or spiritually trying to eat you, whatever it was. I think that it would have been far more interesting show if they were actually eating them. All bets are off. This is a whole new ball game.

Dean Marshall:
It is but it stems, especially from my point of view, and the character’s point of view, is where discipline comes in, like, if you’re here to face the unknown and all you have left is your training and what you’ve learned and your experiences of course. But training being paramount. We’ve been trained and you would assume that this was all… Especially everybody up on this expedition had been trained in the most bizarre ways, or had all kinds of very varying degrees of experiences around the world dealing with threats of unknown kinds, and going into situations where you might not completely control and how do you get control of the situation? This is a prime example of being completely out of your elements and still trying to find a base to focus on and stay grounded.

David Read:
Absolutely. When you were re-watching the show, did you notice the shift in Bates’ perception of Sheppard no longer as a threat but more as someone who is beginning to fall into the place of leader?

Dean Marshall:
100 percent.

David Read:
Can you talk about that? Do you remember that being on the page when you read it?

Dean Marshall:
As I was seeing it? Well, it wasn’t completely on the page, but I made it a part of it. And I was remembering…

David Read:
Please, say more.

Dean Marshall:
It was that one seating where we were looking at possible Alpha sites to re-muster everybody from Atlantis with the incoming threat. And there was a moment where he tells… I said, “Well, that one’s no good,” and he says something to the effect, “Is that actually happening or is that just your spider sense tingling?” And I turned to him, and I looked at him, like, almost for a second, like, “Go f*** yourself,” and then I smiled and went, “Of course. It’s Sheppard. No, sir. It’s the facts.” And that moment was a turning point for me, and I think Martin was actually directing that, and he had commented on it as well. It was time to soften Bates and that was the perfect opportunity to sort of say, “You know what, Sheppard? I’m not gonna fight you on everything. And we’re both humans and we’re both stuck in this situation. Let’s find a way to work.” And I think that was the sort of TSN turning point where Bates and Sheppard were now aligned.

David Read:
More, yeah.

Dean Marshall:
And we never looked back, for sure.

David Read:
And I love those beats because if… There are those people who are, like, “I’m never yielding. Not this is between you and me. This is no longer about necessarily what’s right or wrong. And I love that that particular choice was made because it you’re beginning to soften someone, you start, at least I start, experimenting by teasing with them.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
And you, “OK. Are you gonna play with me here or you gonna slap me down?”

Dean Marshall:
And I think it did.

David Read:
I love that. That’s very real.

Dean Marshall:
Absolutely. I think I did with Sheppard. It was that moment of, like, “OK.” Can I swear on this thing? I was trying to make sure. I was just, like, “F*** it.” I’m, like, I’m not gonna play these games with him. Obviously, I know he’s poking fun at me and he’s trying to poke the bear but the bear is happy. He’s got lots of honey. I’m good to go.”

David Read:
I think the respect factor comes along and it is full circle by the time that we see him again with Outcast. And I wanna speak about Outcast in terms of the relationship between superior and subordinate.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
When we see him again, there is clearly some stuff that we’ve missed in between the two of them where he has gone back to Earth. And I think he’s in a different point, now a Special Agent Bates, not a Sergeant. He’s at different point in his life and in his career, and I think Atlantis really made him grow.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed. Well, you see the… I think the deference [and] the respect that was given to Sheppard initially in that meeting was one, and we talk about in the scene, where it’s, like, “You don’t have to call me sir,” and I’m, like, “Old habits die hard.”

David Read:
That’s right.

Dean Marshall:
But what I was really saying is, “Sheppard, in all the time that we’ve known each other and probably what I was briefed with, with my security clearances back on [Earth], I know what he has done to save humanity time and time again.” There is a level of settled respect. And that’s what I was trying to bring to those moments as well, where I felt, like, “You know what? This guy has done what we asked him to do and more. And he will get the respect for that.”

David Read:
One of my favorite shows from Atlantis is… Well, there’s a bit of an arc here. So, we have an episode called Suspicion where we capture a Wraith played by, I believe, James Lafazanos if I’m not mistaken. And then…

Dean Marshall:
Sounds familiar.

David Read:
And through that to an episode called Poisoning the Well where we’re actually experimenting on this guy. So that audiences know, at the same time this is happening, is also Abu Ghraib prison problem. How do you feel about how those stories played out and, when you were playing those characters in the moment, the heaviness of that issue, of, “OK. We’ve got an enemy?”

Dean Marshall:
“We’re about to torture him.”

David Read:
Yeah. Right, exactly. How did you feel about that as a person, and then plugging that into the character?

Dean Marshall:
Bates had no problems with it. Bates is, “Do what you gotta do to survive.” Because it’s a question of human survivability. And this is the predator that will wipe us all out. So, for me… For Bates, not for me personally but for Bates…

David Read:
And he’s right.

Dean Marshall:
Absolutely. All bets are off. For me, I’m a little bit more liberal but at the same time I’m also a realist. You would have to convince me that this makes sense for what we’re trying to accomplish. I wouldn’t go easy. Bates would. I wouldn’t. He’s got more national security in mind. I got more of, “This is a creature of this universe and should we be treating it as such? Would you want that on you?”

David Read:
Absolutely.

Dean Marshall:
He can’t help… The Wraiths [sic!] can’t help be what they are. As I always say, they are creatures of the universe as well. They need to feed, and this is what they need to feed on.

David Read:
Until we find them a substitute, though. I keep thinking of the scorpion and the fox, “I couldn’t help it. It’s my nature.”

Dean Marshall:
“It’s in my nature.” No more than trying to convince a cow that some human beings are good.

David Read:
Right, exactly. They may pet you and play with you and then they give you a little love tap on the back of the head here at a certain point. But they treat us… We are their cattle. That is precisely what we are to them. And if you were really in that situation, how far would you go to protect the people that…

Dean Marshall:
As a cow?

David Read:
Right.

Dean Marshall:
You look at [it] better that way. If you were a cow and you had the power…

David Read:
If you didn’t have hooves, if you had…

Dean Marshall:
Guns and ammunition.

David Read:
And ability to save yourself.

Dean Marshall:
You might, right?

David Read:
Wouldn’t that be crazy if all the cows ran amok?

Dean Marshall:
Oh my God.

David Read:
That’s a good story idea.

Dean Marshall:
Cows, chickens, whatever.

David Read:
Shyamalan should have done that instead of The Happening.

Dean Marshall:
That would have worked out. I know how we would do it. It’s, like, Animal Farm comes to life.

David Read:
Exactly.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent.

David Read:
I loved the big ideas that Stargate presented, especially in terms of our relationship with our adversaries. What it is that we owe them that we know that we’re not gonna get in return, and where the line is drawn between remaining human and becoming something that we don’t even recognize anymore? By the time… Let’s say years later, there was never any help, and they survived the first siege somehow and made it to the Alpha site. Whoever eventually came on that ship to discover whoever was left of humanity, how much human would there have been left in the survivors?

Dean Marshall:
Well, I think there’s a lot to be said about the humanity that we did find off-world, and their struggles with the Wraith and their kind. And what they did to survive and how yet their dignity stayed intact. How yet their feeling of survivability was still there. They had plans. They understood the culling was coming. They understood it, like, in effect they couldn’t do anything about it but there were ways for them to survive and to keep their history going and to have respect and dignity for one another. One would hope that this part of the gate would behave the same at some point and maybe we wouldn’t lose our humanity so much. We wouldn’t go down the dark road. Some will. Eventually, some will, some crack. But I think overall, with the right people, motivating you to be the best you can be in any situation, I think we might have, who knows, reflected what Teyla then brought to the table with the Athosians.

David Read:
Absolutely. That’s a really interesting perspective. I think you’re right on the money on a lot of that because even though the Wraith were essentially storm clouds on the horizon, or a regularly expected earthquake, or natural disaster that was gonna claim your people in a horrible way, that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to have and maintain a certain level of dignity and self-respect.

Dean Marshall:
I think all the good stories always tell you that. You’re up against the worst of it. You’re up against the worst of [what] life can throw [at] you. And somehow, you manage to find a thread that keeps you grounded enough to say, “Well, I won’t do that. I won’t go that far. I’m not gonna eat my father,” or whatever you feel, like, “Whatever your limit is, that we’re done here.”

David Read:
Even if I have to die.

Dean Marshall:
And we’ll go no further. Indeed. And that is sacrifice of your true nature. If you can get to that point where you say to yourself, “I would never cross this line,” then I think you’ve held on to your humanity.

David Read:
Wow. Damn, that’s a lot to chew on. Pardon the pun.

Dean Marshall:
Even for a Wraith. That’s right.

David Read:
Pass me a hunk of kneecap. Anyway.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
Any particular days you remember on set that stand out to you? Anything that I’m missing before I move on?

Dean Marshall:
No. I’ve always feel [sic!]… There was always just wonderful little moments and, like I said, it was a treat, especially for me as a young actor to be with… David Hewlett was a huge impact, on and off set. And what he said, I perked up to and listened. No matter where he was in the room, I felt like he was an inspiration to be around. The comedy of Paul McGillion always had me laughing and in tears and kept me relaxed on set. He was always a blast to be around.

David Read:
Did you know Paul before?

Dean Marshall:
Yeah. We’ve known each other through the circuit, because obviously as two Vancouver actors, we’d seen each other a lot in auditions and whatnot. So, we definitely hung together, and we’ve been to each other’s houses and met each other’s families.

David Read:
His kids are great. I’ve met them.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, have you? That’s wonderful. I have not met the older versions of them but we we’ve moved on from our… I obviously have two kids myself. I have two boys who are 16 and 13. And so, as time does at times, it just makes you drift apart. And I haven’t seen Mr. McGillion in a while but he’s always fondly in my memories. That’s for sure.

David Read:
What about the level of production value? The quality of the sets. The props. The costume.

Dean Marshall:
Amazing. I used to come home and joke around with my family at the time or whoever… Not my family because I guess I wasn’t even with my family at that point. But just to say that they’re using old vacuum hoses and pieces of broken car and put a paint job on it and it’s there, looks surreal and out of this world. Days on set, especially that Stargate set itself, busting through the Stargate itself and then coming on to this incredible set, I was truly just in awe. And listen, I’m a sci-fi fan since I was a kid. Of course, I was a Star Wars kid and everything to do with anything space-wise. So, it was a child in a playland that was amazing, and it was surreal. It was unbelievable at time where I would stand in certain parts of that set and go, “I can’t believe I’m standing here.” It was truly amazing. And that happened a lot. Because obviously between cuts and scenes, I’m wandering around learning my lines and then I’d have to stop and go, “Oh, look what they made that from. Look what they did with that.”

David Read:
The thing… I was always split and amazed, as the show… As the franchise got older, they began to have the ability to manufacture more and more things that [were] more complicated, and then… But when you would turn around and I’d be, like, “OK. That… What is that?” And they’d be, like, “Well, this is actually this and this.” I’m, like, “It is. You got that from that?” And part of me… The first half of me would be, like, when I would talk to the production, from Bridget McGuire all the way down, would be, “You transformed an everyday object into something else,” and then second… My other thought was, “What kind of mind would it have taken to come up with that?” It’s, like, “Who are these people?”

Dean Marshall:
The artistry.

David Read:
The artistry.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent. They are truly artists. When you look at any of the great artists… What’s the famous one who did all the Alien stuff?

David Read:
Oh, Giger. H.R. Giger.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, Giger. Giger’s mind. But look at the intricacies of just a little piece of a painting. Don’t even look at the whole thing but come down here and go, “Look at what his mind developed in that little corner here.” And that’s what I felt sometimes being on these sets. It’s, like, “You’re looking at the artistry of imagination.” And it’s truly… I love being on that edge with people, especially in a modern production at the time, of watching their brains work and find these little things that you would never conceived of. And that’s why you appreciate a production. You appreciate all these minds coming together, building this incredible thing that you’re putting together.

David Read:
What percent of the character is informed by all those externalities, compared to how much of the character is what you put into it? Is it fifty-fifty? Somewhere around there?

Dean Marshall:
I think it’s definitely… I would think it’s solidly in the fifty-fifty line because all of a sudden you could find yourself, even as a character, as you should, if you are aware and you are looking and you’re watching. Because acting is never just about the person in front of you. It’s your whole environment. So, I’m constantly looking around and trying to find something new in the room to interest me, where it’s, like, “Wow. Those Ancients really thought of it all. And they got this.” And I’m always wondering, “What does that bathroom look like,” is what I really wanna know. How do they take care of business on the pot?

David Read:
Oh, God. The latrine. No. What’s the army designation?

Dean Marshall:
It is. It would be the latrine.

David Read:
OK. Got it. So, there is a departure for you from the show.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
Is there a story behind that or was it just, like, there was no material for Season Two?

Dean Marshall:
The funniest story is, I was actually… After the first season, they had released CD box set director’s cut commentary. On it, was Joe Flanigan, Martin Wood…

David Read:
Different episodes had different groups.

Dean Marshall:
Exactly. So, they grouped different people together. So, on the episode where I went down into a coma was the first time I figured out I wasn’t coming back. And Martin said it in a way that made complete and utter sense to me. It’s, like, “Sometimes you actually do have to kill characters that people love to get them to care that much more about what you’re trying to do with the overall show.” And that was the first time it hit me. Of course, the ego and the sense of, like, “I might not be a part of this production anymore.”

David Read:
Of course.

Dean Marshall:
Crushing, where you’re feeling, like, “Oh my God.” I felt like I was in the zone of zones, and this could roll as long as the show’s going. It took definitely a maturity on me and just to sort of suck back my own ego and realize that what Martin said was absolutely true. If you look at any of the good shows, eventually somebody’s gotta go for you to care that much more. And I’m glad that they thought I was that person. Between me and, I think, Craig Veroni. And it was just that feeling of, like, “Yeah.” It made sense. And that it made sense to bring me back. Absolutely.

David Read:
Well, that’s the thing. No one’s ever really dead in sci-fi.

Dean Marshall:
We always say that. And even casting come down, they’re always, like, “Don’t worry, Dean. You don’t die.”

David Read:
No. And when the doors of Apollo open and you step through, I’m pretty sure I jumped to my feet because I didn’t see your name in the opening credits.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, that’s hilarious.

David Read:
And I was, like, “Here we go. Now we get to find out what happened.” And there’s a brief exchange of dialogue. “Hello, Aquaman. How you doing Sheppard?”

Dean Marshall:
Yeah, exactly. That’s right. That was my first time meeting him.

David Read:
Oh, there you go. What was it like coming back?

Dean Marshall:
It was great. And it was good finding out that Joe Flanigan actually helped co-write that show. So, in effect he kind of brought me back. And that was one of the first things I remember saying to him, “Thanks. Thanks for thinking about me.” And he says, “Yeah. It was a show that we were developing and something that they were thinking about for a while, and they managed to put it together.” And I’m, like, “I couldn’t be more thankful. And what a way to bring me back.” And it was absolutely one of the best weeks back that I’ve had on the show, for sure. It was great. It was great, of course, meeting Jason Momoa, who I knew nothing of but just this beautiful, God-like creature. Even at the time, you’re just, like, “Oh my God, who’s this guy? He’s like… This is a star.” Not knowing, of course, that his star would shine so brightly. And he was a wonderful person to meet as well and played guitar on set.

David Read:
That’s right. You both play guitar.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed. But I was intimidated to pick up his guitar. I was, like, “I don’t wanna touch [it]. Jason sounds pretty good on his guitar, and I don’t wanna go over there and, ‘What are you touching my guitar for?’”

David Read:
That’s good impression.

Dean Marshall:
He had this way of dropping his voice down.

David Read:
Right. “I wanna be serious.”

Dean Marshall:
“That’s right.”

David Read:
“Just don’t make me talk to you in Dothraki.”

Dean Marshall:
“Well, exactly. What are you gonna make me do, Sheppard?” I just loved him.

David Read:
There is something… The conceit in a show like this, or in any piece of programming, is that we know that these people aren’t real. You’re portraying facets of yourselves. But there’s that part of us, like, “They still exist. If they lived, they continued. They probably were shipped back.” Actually, no, they wouldn’t have gone back on the Daedalus. He would have been through the gate because they had power then. But that these people have lives and continue to be. So, when you come back to someone a few years later, had you ever returned to a character in that manner before where you picked up a role that you had left behind and had moved into a new space with one?

Dean Marshall:
No. That was absolutely a first-time experience. Oh, no. I lie.

David Read:
No, you just misremember. Lying is very different.

Dean Marshall:
Misremember is Hillary Clinton line.

David Read:
My mother always gets [mad]. “You’re not lying. Stop that.”

Dean Marshall:
You’re misremembering. I do remember it because of course I was playing a detective in a show, for five years, called Da Vinci’s Inquest. And then when they moved on to do the next [show], Da Vinci’s City Hall, they brought me in as, instead of Constable Carter, I was now Detective Carter. So, there was an evolution of character and a sense of progression to that show, where all of a sudden, I felt, like, “Oh, wow. Here we go. I get to bring this character back in new shoes, with new ideas, and new thoughts, new scripts and whatnot.” And director, producer… Sorry, I’m always horrible with names, and hope he doesn’t hate me. But he saw it in me, and he used to tell me that of the first part of the five years was that “Dean, you’re the mailman. You’re the constable. You’re gonna come in. You’re gonna deliver the mail to Da Vinci, let him know the situation.” And then by the next series it was, “OK. Now I am a decision maker, and I have to decimate information, come up with plans, and do something.” It was a great feeling of evolution between the two, and I felt that similar sensation through Stargate where [it] became from sort of a delivery man of certain kind to a decision maker. And it was nice to evolve through that. For sure.

David Read:
You’re picking up where you left off but also not. But also accepting the fact that there’s some time missing.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
And things have to be given an opportunity to transform underneath you so you can discover and be surprised.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
It’s funny. The previous chat before we started… Before we started, we were wrapping up with Corin Nemec and I apologize out there in the chat, but someone had said, “I really hated Bates.”

Dean Marshall:
That’s fine.

David Read:
And he said, “And I loved the actor.” Which I think suggests that you’re doing your job.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
It’s not like this is a poor performance. It’s that it’s a good performance of someone playing the part that they’re playing.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
Where you’re trying to go with it.

Dean Marshall:
I remember in the early days that they always tell you, “Whatever you do, do not read your own reviews.” It’s crucial because you’ll feel so high when everybody’s saying such lovely things about you and then feel like piece of shit when they’re not. So, in the early days, of course, that young ego was still trying to find some sort of validation for the things that I was doing. And I remember coming across, “I hate Bates” posts.

David Read:
Yeah, but they’re not hating you.

Dean Marshall:
I understood that. It was still that sensation, “I just don’t understand what he’s even doing. Blah blah blah.” And then to have the episodes come back later Suspicion and everything like that and to sort of see that that worked itself or we’re, like, “Yeah but I hate to admit it. He was right.” So, then you go, “OK. Don’t take it personal.” These people are being affected by what you’re putting out there, which is absolutely what you’re supposed to be doing. They’re supposed to be affected by what you have to say and how you’re portraying a character. So, I did appreciate that. But I also did stop reading any reviews.

David Read:
Right. Because even though it’s you, it’s not you.

Dean Marshall:
Exactly.

David Read:
You didn’t choose what words to put in him. You didn’t choose the things that he was gonna say and the actions that he was gonna take. Some of the delivery is yours, of course, but yeah… That’s a double-edged sword, man. I think that that would make me paranoid as a person in terms of what I was gonna select for myself next as a performer, or maybe I don’t even have the option of selecting. Maybe, what I’m gonna get next? Am I gonna be asshole? Is that how I’m gonna come off?

Dean Marshall:
Exactly. But it is… It’s purely an ego thing. Other than that, once I just sort of turned that part off, you just enjoy the jobs that you do get. And you stop worrying about what the rest of the world will think about it. You just… All I can do is try my best and whatever role I’ve been given and audition for and put it out there, and then let it go. I sort of cut myself off of social media for that particular reason where it’s, like, “I don’t wanna hear things that…” I don’t think they’re critical. I have a director for that. He can be critical. I have producers for that. They can be critical. Because they’re looking for a specific thing and they want me to perform and get to that level, which I’m totally fine with. That’s what I’m working for. But for general public, I love the fact that they’re engaged. I just don’t wanna hear their opinions about me. It’s, like, “I don’t want it. I can’t take it.” As most artists will tell you…

David Read:
Most artists are very sensitive.

Dean Marshall:
100 percent. We put our heart and souls into stuff and it’s never gonna work 100 percent, and you’re gonna get haters no matter what you do.

David Read:
For sure.

Dean Marshall:
So, I’d rather not read the good or the bad or the ugly.

David Read:
Yeah. I can imagine there are probably a handful of actors out there, probably, who… They go online and say, “Oh, I hated that character.” And they go, “Good.”

Dean Marshall:
Well, you wanna see “Good.”

David Read:
“That was the idea, damn it.”

Dean Marshall:
Exactly. If you get the opportunity to portray something so diabolical and then it’s so much fun, and then watching people go, “Ooh, he creeped me out,” or “Oh, that was so hard to watch because it was so… He looked like he was enjoying it.” And you’re, like, “Yes, OK.” Now, friends come to me, and they tell me, “Dean, I read this thing.” “OK. I’ll listen to it. But I’m not looking for it.”

David Read:
Oh, for sure. Absolutely. Lockwatcher… I’ve got some fan questions for you. Lockwatcher… We’ve talked about most of this. I’m gonna ask his question and kind of massage it into a new direction. “When it comes to Stargate Atlantis, how did it compare with other series or films you have done – sets, technical direction, other actors that you may have worked with?” If you have something for that, we can certainly discuss it. But I’m also interested in the heavy effects work that you had to do. The amount of green screen work. The level of sophistication with the technology. Was that a dance to maintain a grounded human perspective, like, “This is actually real?”

Dean Marshall:
Very fun dance. Some people feel like it’s too much when you green screened around. We weren’t in Stargate, that’s for sure. I went on to do… What was the disaster movie? 2012.

David Read:
Yes.

Dean Marshall:
Spent a couple of weeks on set with that. And that was a green screen extravaganza, where Roland Emmerich…

David Read:
Can’t imagine why.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, my goodness. So even that whole scene where we walk in and there’s these massive ships that the Chinese made that are gonna save humanity and everything, and the awe that you’re supposed to be inspired by as you’re walking down these gang planks to see these huge equipment and pieces of course that you do not see. There’s nothing in front of you and your imagination just runs wild as, like, “Here there be tigers.” All I’m looking at is unicorns and fairies, as far as I’m concerned, going, “What the hell? This is real?” And that, you wanna talk about a technical level, and what they put into that show was truly, truly amazing. I would think, for TV and what they did, it was truly amazing to watch a big budget film like that unravel its story the way they did and with the green screening and everything, that was a truly amazing experience as well.

David Read:
Have you ever been stuck with a director [or] with another performer who is… And I don’t want you to name names. I just wanna… I’m curious about your feelings about how you approach something. Who was clearly not up for the task.

Dean Marshall:
Paul McGillion. Just joking. I’m 100 percent joking. He’ll kill me. No, no, no. Paul was brilliant, always. He’s so much fun. I would say, without naming names…

David Read:
And what do you do in that situation is what I’m getting at.

Dean Marshall:
Without naming names. To tell you the truth, the only director I really never liked or didn’t like was on a commercial I shot. Other than that, I’m a pretty easy-going guy. And when I step up to work, I do, “I’m here to work. I’ll give it 100 percent.” There’s never been a feeling like I’m in a position with a director or producers or stuff that I feel uncomfortable with, or I don’t feel like I could work with them. And definitely in the early days, there were some actors where you’re, like, “Oh, that’s what a Hollywood actor ego is. Look at the eyes of that.” And dwarf me in comparison where you feel like the air is being sucked out of the room when they walk in. You’re, like, “That’s a Hollywood star. And you are not. So, behave accordingly.”

David Read:
That’s so ridiculous but absolutely true. It shouldn’t be but it is.

Dean Marshall:
It happens. Folks like Robert Patrick, and I’ve met wonderful actors like him as well, were… He’s all about business. He’s on set to do his job and he will shut you down if you need to. But he was a person who you could engage with. And I had lots of, 100 million, Hollywood questions for him about what I should prepare for. This is a young part of my career, and I was, like… I had a million things that I needed to know and he couldn’t provide them all. And every once [in a while], [he’d] be, like, “Dean. Not now. I’m in the zone.” I was, like, “OK. Pull back.” For sure. And thankfully.

David Read:
To have that relationship with someone on a… Even just for a couple of weeks, to be able to have that, that’s really cool.

Dean Marshall:
Absolutely.

David Read:
I’m trying to get him on this year.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, really? That would be so great.

David Read:
Yeah. We’re working on it. He was so good in that.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, yeah.

David Read:
His namesake is my partner over at GateWorld.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, really?

David Read:
He was named after Darren. Darren Sumner.

Dean Marshall:
Oh, get out.

David Read:
So, we’ve always had this kind of special relationship with that character because Darren and I had been doing this for, gosh, almost 25 years now.

Dean Marshall:
Very cool.

David Read:
We’ve been web buddies for a long time. This… Let me see here. Let me pull this up. OK. No. Matt T, “When you were cast, how quickly did you find out that you were gonna be kind of the role of an antagonist?”

Dean Marshall:
I didn’t know.

David Read:
You didn’t know.

Dean Marshall:
Until I saw the script.

David Read:
OK.

Dean Marshall:
I had no idea what was coming. So, from the pilot, I remember just that feeling of, like, “Here I am.” I had no… There was no development ideas. Nothing was going on as far as I knew. The writers probably knew. And when… I’m sorry. Excuse me. When I got Suspicion, I was, like, “Oh. Here we go. This is what this guy’s about.” And I started delving into who this character could be and trying to flesh him out even more and trying to carry what I brought from the pilot into the series. I think it took Suspicion to settle me into that role, and sort of go, “OK. This is what they’re asking from me.” And then, as they explained it to me, they definitely needed that antagonist against Joe’s character who could be so flippant about things. They needed somebody to solidify the other side. And I realized that and tried to engage and grasp on to that role as hard as possible. I think there was some success, for sure. There were moments where I was looking through, even some of this, going, “I would have taken another take.”

David Read:
For sure.

Dean Marshall:
If I have one more take. There’s a definite other take I would have preferred but sometimes the directors see things that you don’t see.

David Read:
When you were auditioning for Rising, was it at that point clear that this was a potential recurring? Was it guaranteed recurring? Was it just the pilot?

Dean Marshall:
As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea what was happening. It was literally… I had four lines or five lines to audition with. I went in as a military character. There were lines that eventually I remember hearing that were Joe’s lines, for a particular scene calling out Rachel in something for… What’s her name?

David Read:
Teyla.

Dean Marshall:
Teyla’s character. And I remember, it was, like, “Teyla, are you there? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” And then I remember seeing that scene later on going, “Oh, that’s what I auditioned with.” Right? I had no context of what was coming.

David Read:
You were really in…

Dean Marshall:
Until Suspicion.

David Read:
OK. You were really in the dark. OK there. Wow.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed. That’s what I’m saying. Sometimes the magic happens all on its own. You have nothing to do with it. It just sort of, “Step by and let life take you for a ride.”

David Read:
Absolutely. Paul Brickler​​, “With David Hewlett being such a nice guy, how much fun was it to see him act with his sister?” Are we seeing this? I don’t believe that’s the same episodes. So, David…

Dean Marshall:
The one with his sister, wasn’t it the one in…

David Read:
Kate came in to play against David in a few different episodes starting in Season Three. She was a really great foil for him.

Dean Marshall:
Right. But I don’t think I had met her for my part.

David Read:
I don’t think so either.

Dean Marshall:
No. But like I said, David was just wonderful to watch. And wow. He did so many amazing things on set. It was inspiring for me to try to carry over into the other roles just to see how he structured his work, and how his performance and his delivery… And just his way… He had a way of looking panicked even though he wasn’t. He always made every scene like that interesting to watch. And I was just in awe and feeling so honored to be working with that caliber, for sure.

David Read:
There is something to be said for a performance that is coming off, like… McKay is always operating… You just know that man’s ass cheeks are always in a clenched position.

Dean Marshall:
Tight!

David Read:
But yet he’s OK. Maybe not always on the surface. Because David could certainly get agitated.

Dean Marshall:
For sure.

David Read:
To be right at that level the whole time, you kill yourself.

Dean Marshall:
To see David in the zone, and surrounded by a bunch of professionals and everybody working at the highest level, David was in the peak of his time on set. I always felt like he worked the best when everybody else was working their best as well. There was… And when you’re working with him, you know you all have to deliver. No that I say that he’s a man that doesn’t suffer fools, but he won’t tolerate.

David Read:
He had those days. He admitted that to us.

Dean Marshall:
For sure. Indeed.

David Read:
The thing that I am always blown away with you guys is the ability, and I just don’t know how any of you do this, to absorb complex dialogue and release it on a line of gaffer’s tape at a certain point in the exact same sequence every single time. And often it doesn’t come out that way but the fact that you can get 99 percent of the way there, how do you do it?

Dean Marshall:
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

David Read:
Yeah. Drill, drill, drill.

Dean Marshall:
Everything. 100 percent. Drill, drill, drill. And I remember, there was certain scenes I was remembering… There was a scene where we did a walk down with Joe Flanigan and I was telling him about the dangers of letting Teyla in too much security. And I remember, I actually took one of the extras and I had him drill with me about 25 times or so, coming up and down the stairs, knowing where I wanted to stop, knowing where I wanted to hit my marks, translating that to the DOP and to the director at the time, telling Joe about it. Joe could pick up any script and hit it and hit his marks. For me, I felt like I needed to work and make sure I knew exactly what I was doing to feel 100 percent confident. And I remember that was what I would do. I would drill myself on moments to make sure that I get exactly where I need to go and hit those marks properly. And of course, for my light guys, “Take it just a little bit in more. Just a little bit backwards. Find it. Find your light.”

David Read:
Oh, man. I’d be so afraid to be, like… I would be so afraid to offer a note. But I guess at a certain point when you’ve been around people long enough, you’ve been talking with them between takes.

Dean Marshall:
Yes.

David Read:
At a certain point you get to know them, you get to know who they are, who their families are.

Dean Marshall:
Sure.

David Read:
You wanna make each other look as good as [possible].

Dean Marshall:
Absolutely.

David Read:
And I’ve heard of situations where DOPs did not like certain performers, and camera operators, and they would lit them, light them, deliberately awfully.

Dean Marshall:
Listen, as far as I’m concerned…

David Read:
That still would get the job done but would make them look bad.

Dean Marshall:
I know but as far as I was concerned, those are heads of families. DOPs, all those kinds of things, these are the people you wanna make sure you’re on the right side with. Because yes, in the end, they’re telling that story with you inside that box, but they could only see that box in its entirety where you’re only seeing what you’re allowing yourself to see as far as the visual of being connected to the person across from you. What they see is the magic. What you try to bring in is the realism. And that’s where it combines, and I always think it’s beautiful. So, I have respect[ed] those jobs so much.

David Read:
What has Stargate taught you that you continue to carry with you, if anything, and what is it that you would like to leave us with?

Dean Marshall:
It’s started and began and will always end with the dream. It’s just the dream of the imagination. And I’ve always liked sci-fi and I’m a huge gamer as well. I just love stepping into imaginary worlds, be it on a sci-fi level or not. But sci-fi especially because I’ve always dreamt of the stars. The time I got to ride in a puddle jumper and send it back home to my mom and say, “Look, your boy’s in space now.” Those are the magical moments and as an actor I’ve always tried to find magic, because that’s what we do. We’re telling stories but there’s so many magical little moments that are… They’re beautiful, for sure.

David Read:
The amount of creativity that you guys have inspired in fans. Oh my gosh, the jumper is still running. Would you like to see it?

Dean Marshall:
Yes. Bring it close.

David Read:
I can’t hear you when this is out. Hang on.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed. Bring it closer.

David Read:
Oh, stop it. Oh, jeez, it’s so…

Dean Marshall:
There it is. I know. The puddle jumper. I love it. Oh, look at that.

David Read:
A fan made that, and it is debuting tomorrow, the unboxing of this.

Dean Marshall:
That’s excellent.

David Read:
And you guys create story and myth, modern myths, and bring it to life and inspire us to dream and to think critically about our world and the place in it, and to create.

Dean Marshall:
Indeed.

David Read:
And I really appreciate you taking the time, Dean, to come on, share your story and what the show has meant to you. It means a lot to me to have you, and long overdue I must say.

Dean Marshall:
Well, thank you very much David. I really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun, and it was great rehashing some of the best moments of my life, to tell you the truth.

David Read:
Awesome. Thank you for everything, sir.

Dean Marshall:
No worries. Thank you, David. Enjoy your day.

David Read:
I’m gonna wrap up the show. You take care.

Dean Marshall:
OK. Thank you. Bye-bye.

David Read:
Bye-bye. Dean Marshall. Sergeant Bates and Special Agent Bates on Stargate: Atlantis. Really appreciate you joining me today. My tremendous thanks to my moderating team, Anthony, Jeremy, Marsha, Summer, Tracy, Raj, Lockwatcher, Kevin. You guys make this show possible. I do not row this boat alone. So, it really means a great deal to have you guys there. My moderator, my producer, Linda GateGabber Fury. Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb. He’s our guy who keeps Dial the Gate up and running. And before we let you go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode give us a click of the Like button. It makes a difference with the channel 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 if you click the bell icon, you’ll be notified the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. We’ve got packed season heading your way, and I’ve got a lot more coming for you. Before I get to a couple of those notes, HahnTronics wanted to know, “David, are you able to show clips of your guests in their roles at the beginning of your streams as you’re introducing the guest for those not necessarily familiar with the shows?” Unfortunately, no. YouTube allows three minutes of… Three minutes, huh! Three seconds of copyrighted content, not even that, like, 2.29 [seconds], and that’s it. So, I would love to tee up each interview with a scene of the guest. Unfortunately, that would flag us, and we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere with the show. They would kill it. And the live stream would end. So, I wanna always make sure that I post the prominent character’s name along with their name and the title so you can go over to the Stargate Omnipedia or Stargate Wiki and put that in beforehand. I do expect a little bit of the leg work to be on the viewer as well as, you know, in terms of figuring this out for the guest. I’m also very thankful to have some more people on the program that it’s, like, “I know them, but I don’t know them,” that you have to look up and see who they are. So, that’s a back and forth there. I could certainly, I suppose, do a screenshot or two from their scenes. That’s something that I can certainly implement. I’ll have to think about it. But Google y’all. There’s Google. But point taken. I get you. Coming up, tomorrow we have the unboxing of that puddle jumper and me figuring it out for the first time. That’s coming up. I have just confirmed “the other guys” are returning to Dial the Gate. Patrick McKenna & John Billingsley. They are gonna be coming back to us Sunday, May the 4th at 11:30 a.m. in the morning. So, we’re gonna be trolling the Star Wars fans from some Star Trek actors and Stargate actors. So, this is one of my favorite episodes of the show, of SG-1, so, I’m really looking forward to having them on. Matthew Bennett, who played Jared Kane in Stargate SG-1, for… It was Icon and Ethon. And you may know him as Aaron Doral better, Cylon Number Five, from Battlestar Galactica. He’s gonna be joining us on April 26th. A number of other folks are lined up here as well. I’m not gonna be labor the point by going through the entire list but you can check it out at dialthegate.com for the complete schedule. I am off for the next two weekends after this so, these are pre-recorded shows. We’re just gonna drop them. I’m not gonna release them for comments for the YouTube chat and keep the moderators tied up. I’m just gonna drop them this season. So, I hope you enjoy those. I think that’s everything that we’ve got for you here. That’s it. Season Five is going good. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate and I’ll see you on the other side.