The first Get in the Gate winner, Bonnie Arbuthnot, joins Dial the Gate to reveal memories behind her cameo in SG-1’s “Lost City!”

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
0:35 – Opening Credits
1:05 – Welcome & Guest Introduction
1:40 – Bonnie Misses the Fan Experience
2:30 – Being the First Get in the Gate Winner
3:54 – Bonnie Had Watched Stargate From the Very Beginning
4:26 – Bonnie Never Dreamed That She Would Appear On the Series
5:01 – How Bonnie Discovered She Had Won the Competition
6:06 – Bonnie Only Had Two Weeks Notice
6:29 – Bonnie Was Able to Wear Her Own Clothes
7:15 – Being Recognised By A Coworker
8:02 – Not Being Able to Speak in a Scene
9:17 – Bonnie Was Allowed to Wear Her US Peace Corps Pin
10:00 – It Was a Thrill to Work With William Devane
11:12 – Stargate’s Nod to William Devane’s Previous Role As President
11:53 – Doing Multiple Takes With William Devane
13:01 – The Set Had Been Created for X2
13:47 – Getting An Extra Scene But Missing the Set Tour
15:06 – Getting Foot Trapped Under the Carpet
15:37 – Chatting With William Devane During Scene Breaks
16:20 – Every Take Was Different With William’s Ad-libbing
17:47 – Jessica Steen Thought Bonnie Was a Professional Actress
18:33 – Walking Into the SGC for the First Time
20:04 – Meeting the SG-1 Cast
20:36 – Making Eye Contact During Filming
21:09 – Having to be Registered as an Actor to be Able to Work
23:33 – Discussing Favourite Episodes With Martin Wood
24:25 – Brad Wright is a Great Science Fiction Writer
25:01 – Travelling to the White House Set
26:38 – Feeling Like a Kid On Set
27:06 – The Crew Were Very Kind and Forthcoming in Answering Questions
28:27 – Being Collected From the Airport by X-Files Limo Driver
28:56 – Seeing Dan Payne During Lunch
29:59 – Meeting Peter DeLuise at the Water Fountain
30:35 – Bonnie’s First Cruise to Antarctica
34:22 – Bonnie Got Her Set Tour in the End
38:25 – Over Hearing Stargate Would Be Filming at the North Pole
43:31 – Not Getting to Sit in the Arctic Chair
44:55 – Attending Upcoming Conventions and GateCruise
47:30 – Getting to Travel in Richard Dean Anderson’s Limo
49:15 – Reconnecting With Social Media
50:39 – Being an Extra on Dark Knight for Charity
51:42 – Thank You, Bonnie
53:06 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
56:29 – End Credits

***
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TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read:
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 452 of Dial the Gate: The Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. It’s been a while since I’ve been broadcasting to you, but it’s been a busy summer here and I really appreciate you being with me for this episode. Thanks to everyone who’s joining us live. Bonnie Arbuthnot, the first Get in the Gate winner for Stargate, is joining us in this episode and you would recognize her as Bonnie from “Lost City.” Hello dear.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Hi.

David Read:
How are you?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m fine. Nice to see you too.

David Read:
Bonnie, good to see you.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Nice to talk to people.

David Read:
How are you doing?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m doing well, recently retired. You know what? With all this talk of Stargate, I’ve been really missing people, especially the people I met at conventions and the actors I met at conventions. So, if any of them are on here, hello. I missed you.

David Read:
There are a few who tune in. DeLuise watches pretty much every episode, I know that. You never know who you’re gonna find. We’ve been so fortunate to have so many of the folks who created this franchise over the years on. I was so thrilled when you reached out into the livestream chat that we had for the last State of the Gate that we did. I was like, “Oh my God. There she is. Please, call me.” You were the first Get in the Gate winner that they did several years, and I know that there are several others on here. I have a few of your names. If you wanna be on the show, email me. We’ll have you on; we’ll tell your story. I definitely wanted to start with you.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I would definitely watch that.

David Read:
You were the first.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No, I was the second.

David Read:
You were the second?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I was the first to air it. There was a guy the year before me, but he couldn’t go to Vancouver, so they just named a character after him, but I don’t know what his name is.

David Read:
So, the first year for it was…they specifically said that they were gonna use your good name, which was Sandy Van Densen, I believe.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Ah.

David Read:
So, you were the first walk-on role.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes.

David Read:
That was the difference. So, Season Six, they did Sandy Van Densen’s name. They gave that character to… Now, let me see here really quick. It’s Tom McBeath’s partner and that part went to Karin Konoval. So, she played the character who fixed Jonas up in “Prophecy,” went in there into his brain and got the tumor. You were definitely the first walk-on role. How long had you been a Stargate fan up to that point? How long had you been watching?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
From the very beginning. I was a big fan of Richard Dean Anderson from MacGyver and I’m a huge Stargate fan. I like the movie and I’m an Egyptophile anyway. I actually went to Egypt and I was there watching the first episode when it was on Showtime and it was great from the beginning.

David Read:
Did you ever think that you would be appearing on the show?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No. It was a Saturday, I believe, and I was working on my computer and running a rerun on my TV. It said, “Join the Get in the Gate contest” and it said where to go. Took me five minutes. I went to the site where it was and filled out the form and that was that. Not too much later, I think a month, I found out. Do you wanna know how I found out?

David Read:
I would love to know.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I was walking my dog with a friend who was walking her dog. We’re walking down the street and the UPS van stopped dead right next to us and said, “You’ve gotta see this. You gotta see this.” I don’t know. I still don’t know how he knew. He handed me a cardboard packet and I opened it up. I used to write contests and sweepstakes rules when I was at Quaker Oats years ago and I knew right away what it was. There’s a lot of legal stuff; you have to sign your life away to do it. I knew right away. I drove people crazy ’cause I was so happy and I was so excited. So, that was fun to find that out that way.

David Read:
So, they didn’t call you. They mailed it to you, your notification.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah.

David Read:
Wow.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes, with all the legal documents. I ended up calling them, I think, first to verify some things. I only remember that correctly. It was a while ago. I do remember talking to someone a couple times before I went to Vancouver.

David Read:
Absolutely wild. So, you got notified, was this a couple of months out? How much time did you have to prepare, do you recall?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
By the time I knew what was going on, I think I had two weeks. It was really fast. My main thing was I didn’t have a chance to diet. I did talk to somebody on the phone and I said, “I have a new suit I just got ordered, can I bring that? Should I bring that?” ‘Cause they were asking me about size and costume things. They said, “Yeah, bring your suit.” I ended up wearing my own suit.

David Read:
You did?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah. They made me wear a different top though. It was very hot. I guessed what I was gonna do. That’s the first thing I said. “Am I gonna play someone in the White House?” I was trying to figure out where they could put me in that episode once I figured out what I was doing. Ah, I see you showing my picture. I really love that picture. One of the make-up people took it.

David Read:
It’s a good photo.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
It was really nice. That’s my suit. The funny thing is, years later, I was working at my job, and by then I’d calmed myself enough down that I didn’t tell people about being on that TV show anymore. Someone was homesick and I got this phone call in the middle of the day, “Bonnie, is there something you have to tell me?” I still had that suit. There was no mistaking it. That was pretty funny to get that out of a coworker, years later.

David Read:
That was funny. So, they were just watching the show, ’cause it’s your name. They go ahead and use that. If any of you folks in the chat, in the live chat have questions for Bonnie, go ahead and submit them and Anthony and the team will get them over to me. That’s wild.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Would I see that or would you tell me the question?

David Read:
I’ll get those to you. That’s wild. I’m curious, were they specific about not responding to William Devane? Not saying anything because you’re not a member of their union up there?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah. William Devane tried to give me a line. All it was was, “Thank you.” He says, “We’ve been trying to give you a line.” It was kind of awkward, because he’d invite me into his office and you don’t just get mute from the president. You say, “Hello, Mr. President,” or, “Thank you,” or whatever. But after a few takes of that, Martin Wood, the director, came out and said, “Bonnie, it’d be too expensive to pay you. You can’t have a line.” So, I said, “OK.” I kind of blamed it on William Devane. He did it. I would have signed something, “you don’t have to pay me.” It was fine. It was fun being in the episode, but what I was really there for is to see everything being made, hang out there. That was my favorite part.

David Read:
How many days were you a part of that process? Maybe we should look at the photos first, because it suggests that you were there at least for two. Let me pull this up here. Do you recall what this pin is? I tried to get the resolution on it.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes. It’s my Peace Corps pin. I had special permission to wear that. I was in the US Peace Corps and it’s my Peace Corps pin. I still have it.

David Read:
Fantastic, very nice. This is a great photo. The Hayes administration.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
William Devane on the left.

David Read:
And Dr. Weir.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Dr. Weir, Jessica Steen and on the right, Ronny Cox, who played the vice president. I was thrilled to work with William Devane. I’ve been a huge fan of his since I saw him, I think I was in high school, in a film that is hard to find now. It was a mini-series, I think, at least two episodes. Missiles of October.

David Read:
Missiles of October.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
About Kennedy, his brother, everybody.

David Read:
Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
The missile crisis. He, to this day, in my mind, played the best John F. Kennedy. I am old enough, I was in third grade when he died, that I remember how funny he was. That’s very rarely portrayed when they portray him in movies and all that. William Devane caught that; he got that about him. He was very wry and very funny and kind of like they talk about Obama now. He was very clever in speaking. They always focus on him being good-looking, which he was, but what made him popular was he was so funny and so clever and quick. I thought William Devane in Missiles of October got that. I am obviously not the only one, because they recruited him for that role. I don’t know if you’ve seen in the beginning where he stops at the mirror to check himself, but he kind of kneels, crouches down, and he’s looking at the bust of Kennedy and that was perfect.

David Read:
So, that’s the connection. I wasn’t aware that he had done that, but that’s a great little nod.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Someone who recruited him for that role, called him up, knew that, and it was perfect. He’s kind of known for playing politicians, but his first television role was president.

David Read:
He was an excellent president, absolutely. Getting him back for Continuum was just a treat. That was so cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I was jealous. I should have been there.

David Read:
How many takes did you guys do? His dialogue with you was ad-libbed. There was a couple of changes.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
A lot of changes. First of all, they didn’t tell me they were gonna name the character after me. So, the first take, he’s like, “Birdie!” I’m like, “Whoa.” I had no warning of that. They did that on purpose. They probably ruined the take, but it was funny. We did takes all morning with the camera behind me, and the clicker… What do you call that thing, where they click it? Like in the movies, take one, take two, take whatever.

David Read:
The clapper.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
The clapper. They did that right in front of me, which was very cool. I didn’t mess up any takes, but I didn’t have any lines. Shouldn’t have seen me.

David Read:
You didn’t trip over your heels.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
The morning one, I was way back by the outer office door and they filmed me walking in, him calling me and me walking in. Then, about lunchtime, Martin Wood came out. This was a three-dimensional set. It was created for the X-Men movie.

David Read:
X2.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Beautiful, perfect rendition of the White House. It was very intimidating. But because of that, Martin Wood and Mr. Greenburg. I’m blanking on his first name right at the moment. Michael Greenburg.

David Read:
Michael Greenburg, exactly. Producer.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Were behind the scenes in some kind of remote viewing thing. I actually got to be back there with my friend earlier in the day when they were filming. A lot of ozone back there. It was hard not to cough. You didn’t wanna cough and make any noise, but that’s how he had a viewer thing. If he wanted to talk to you, he came out. He said, “Bonnie, I have good news and bad news. You’re gonna be in another scene, but you can’t go on your tour.” So, I didn’t get my tour or my lunch with the sci-fi people. I found out there was a gift basket I somehow never got. A friend told me she saw it, my friend that was with me.

David Read:
Wow.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I still, to this day, wonder what was in that gift basket.

David Read:
Were you in more than one scene?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No. He tricked me. It’s the same scene, but he decided to redo it, like Strangers on a Train, if people have rent the film. Strangers on a Train is famous for filming the whole scene in one camera, one take, and they just follow everybody. That’s what they did. They put the camera on a dolly and had it in the Oval Office. What happened was, as I came in, I think that’s when they changed it where I’d be talking to Holly Dignard, who played the president’s executive secretary. They had us fake talking. I knew how to do that from high school drama class. We were fake talking. He’d call me in and I’d walk right in front of the camera, blinded me every time. The first time, I actually caught my foot under the carpet and then they closed the door. They basically closed the door and the scene continues in the outer office. The first time was kinda funny, ’cause when I realized, I didn’t wanna talk ’cause the scene was continuing outside the office, even though the door was closed. I pointed down and William Devane saw my foot caught under the carpet and I extricated it, then he jumped up and down on it ’cause he didn’t wanna do that himself.

David Read:
Carpet roll.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
The couch, which looks exactly like the White House couches, he says, “Sit down.” He immediately started talking to me about Knott’s Landing and people in Knott’s Landing and I went totally blank. I was like, “Oh my gosh, he’s talking about Knott’s Landing.” It was really cool. He was very friendly. People wonder what happened when we were trapped in the Oval Office while the scene continued in the outer office, with Ronny Cox and I’m blanking out who else was in the scene? I know Holly Dignard was there.

David Read:
That’s Jessica Steen.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Jessica Steen came in. We were just in there gabbing. He was a really nice man, very funny. Really was, he’s great.

David Read:
I’m hoping that this is not a fabrication of my memory, that you said one of the takes was instead of saying, “Good to see you,” he said, “Hope you brought your cheque book.”

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
How did you remember that? I must’ve said that ages ago.

David Read:
That’s a conversation that you and I had. I was like, “I think that that’s right” and I wanted to double-check ’cause I wanted to add it to the record here.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Every time, it was something different, but one time it was, “I hope you have your cheque book ready.” The documents I was carrying were actually a top-secret dossier of Daniel Jackson. Very impressive. I thought I was a big wig. I had this top-secret document and now he’s making me someone donating to a… He just kept me on my toes. I didn’t know what he was gonna do. It was so hard to talk because when he asks you questions, you wanna answer ’em. “Oh yeah, I’ve got my cheque book,” or whatever, but I’d get in trouble.

David Read:
Exactly.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I couldn’t say anything.

David Read:
I would just mime. “Do you have to pay me if I’m moving my mouth? Is that it? Or if the voice comes out?” That’s funny.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I looked down a little bit in the scene that they chose, because I was being blinded by the camera. I really wasn’t trying to look down; I was trying to be able to walk in without tripping over the camera.

David Read:
Look, you’ve got a lot thrown at you in that, five, ten seconds, and you’ve never been on camera like that before. You have 50 people around you and you don’t wanna mess the moment up. A scene with William frigging Devane and Ronnie Cox and Jessica Steen! So, hold onto your hat and get through it.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Jessica Steen thought I was a professional actress, she thought I was an actor. I had to tell her I was the Get in the Gate contest winner. She had no idea; that was such a compliment to me, that she didn’t know I wasn’t real.

David Read:
You are real, for a day.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah, for a day. Actually, that’s a quick funny story. The first day, we got to watch them filming in the conference room right above the Gate Room. That was so cool. My friend and I walked in. They guided us in and they said, “Be really quiet ’cause they’re filming now. We’ve got a break so we can walk in,” but quickly. We’re walking in what looked like a warehouse and then I see the tape on the floor and I was like, “Nancy, Nancy, look, look, look, look.” We realized we were going to the Gate Room right then, and then the gate appears, and we couldn’t go touch it or do anything. They just escorted us quietly past it. Then we went to those stairs that they have in the show, another three-dimensional set. The Stargate set’s real, they didn’t make it up, it was totally real.

David Read:
It’s totally a 360 set.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
We could see the equipment room with all the equipment. Then we climbed up where they get the gate going and everything. Then we climbed up the next flight to the conference room. They sat me down and the first thing that happened after they sat me down near the window is Ronny Cox came in and introduced himself to me like I was somebody. So nice, he was a very nice man. He was.

David Read:
That is so cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes.

David Read:
Is this photo taken from that day?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Notice Richard Dean Anderson is missing. I still take that personally ’cause I was really wanting to meet him. He showed up later when they were filming. My friend was a huge Daniel Jackson fan, so she got to stand next to him.

David Read:
This was great then.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Everybody was great to us and I got to talk to Amanda Tapping for a while. She’s a really nice person and she gives hugs. Everybody gives hugs and they all smell good. Then we watched them film. We were in the middle of the cameras and we watched them film, we watched them set up, and I stared at Richard Dean Anderson talking too much ’cause he’d caught my eye. He was like, “Why is she staring at me?” I thought I was watching the show. I had to stop staring at him. It distracted him.

David Read:
You can’t make eye contact; they’ll get on you. They got on me once for Rachel Luttrell.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I learned. They could have just warned me, but I learned not to do that. That distracted him. Then they took us away and said, “We have to go back to the border.” A guy took us to the border, drove us back there and I had to get approved to work in Canada.

David Read:
What?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
So, it took like three hours, but the payoff was I got a document put into my passport that said that my profession in Canada was actor.

David Read:
Technically.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That was fun. I hated turning that passport in. That’s when they used to make you turn them in. I didn’t like that.

David Read:
You would think that Syfy channel would have taken care of all that. I’m kinda surprised. So, you did your scene and then you had to go to the border?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’d gone through the border already, the one they have at the airport. I had to go back to get the approval to act. That surprised me that I had to do that.

David Read:
That’s wild.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
We missed some time watching on set and hanging out, but I thought the payoff was cool.

David Read:
But you got to see the ‘splosions?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No.

David Read:
Was this the next day or the day before? You didn’t get to see this?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No. I did not.

David Read:
You sent me this photo.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I accidentally sent you that photo. Sorry.

David Read:
It’s all good.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I don’t have my computer back. It was glitchy today. But that’s cool.

David Read:
But this is “Lost City,” isn’t it?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yep. I didn’t get to see that.

David Read:
OK. I was gonna say, they brought you out there for that, that would have been pretty cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I would have loved that.

David Read:
Makes me wonder what other photos you have that you haven’t sent me.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That probably was something somebody sent me.

David Read:
OK. It’s wild how much they go through in that production, as quickly as they can get through things. It’s wild how fast they can get through stuff as much as they have to do. It’s just a machine. They just keep on processing scene after scene, especially Martin Wood; he knows what he’s doing. That’s wild.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I still remember he asked me what was my favorite episode, and I actually gave him the wrong one, but thank goodness it was one of the ones he did, because he wanted me to say one he did. I said the one where they were being pulled through the wormhole. But actually, I think my favorite episode is “Abyss.”

David Read:
“A Matter of Time.”

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I just thought everything about that was so perfectly done. I was like, “Cool. I didn’t get to talk to him about ‘Abyss.'” I was so happy.

David Read:
It’s a perfect episode in so many ways.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He’s definitely my favorite director. Sorry to the other directors, I love you all. He’s very science-fictiony. He’s very hard science fiction like me, so his episodes are really the ones I like the most and guess who they were all written by?

David Read:
The last two? Brad Wright?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yep. I’m a super fan of his too and I later on got to meet him. I didn’t get to talk to him much, but I just love his writing. It’s always high science fiction, very crisp, a lot of spacings, all the stuff I’m a fan of.

David Read:
Have you seen Travelers?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes, I have seen Travelers. It’s been a while.

David Read:
That’s good.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That was good.

David Read:
I have some fan questions for you. Lockwatcher, “How far did you have to travel to be on the show where the White House set was located?” Was that over at Norco, or was that another studio from Bridge?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That was at Bridge.

David Read:
The White House set was at Bridge?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m sorry, White House set. I thought you meant the other one. No, the White House set was a lot further away. That was my first time in Vancouver, so I had no idea where it was. It definitely took a while to get there.

David Read:
I knew that they had used it for X2 and it was wild that they got to use it for “Inauguration” and for “Lost City.” It’s a 360 set of the White House, it’s one of those that’s “Wow. That’s gonna be top shelf.”

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah, and that location for the White House set was very big and they had brought in those trucks, those huge vans, that sometimes you see where I’m from in Chicago when they’re filming something and you always wonder what’s in them, and they were all dressing rooms. I got a dressing room. I really did get a dressing room. They’re tiny, but it had a shower, it had a TV, it had some kind of stereo and some place to sit. I did not use it. I went in there for a few minutes and as soon as I got in there, they’d call me out every time. “Come on, come on, come back. Can you come back?”

David Read:
“Bonnie, we’re ready for you.” It’s funny. Hannnahh-K. wanted to know, “Did it feel surreal the whole time you were there?”

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes. So surreal. I think what kept me focused was, first of all, I was pretending to be a mature adult, because inside of me, the kid thing was going on. I was professional so they let you do this. The makeup people and the hair people and some of the people who worked around on set who I didn’t exactly know what their jobs were, were really great about answering some of my questions. We all have questions when we come up. The actual director, Martin Wood, and other people, they didn’t have time to do that. It was nice having some people be kind enough to talk to me and be nice to me and answer questions. It was great.

David Read:
For sure. That’s the thing, you are a contest winner, you are an extra line item on their day of things that they have to do. They could just check some boxes with you and send you on your way. When they recognize, and it sounds like in this case they sure did, how important fans are to this process, there’s some who will bend over backwards. Stargate Productions, as far as I’m concerned, has always been one. Every time Darren and I were on the set, we felt that way. We didn’t get it on camera, but you know what I’m saying.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I didn’t get to tell you how we got to the set. We got picked up.

David Read:
From the airport?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
From the airport by a guy in a van. It turns out, his main job, either right then or it might have overlapped, or it might have been his last job, was escorting people to The X-Files. Boy, we got some great X-Files gossip. That was good. The guy that escorted us worked in their PR department. He took us to wherever it is he ate lunch, so we got lunch right away. It was outside, they had some tarps up. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was good. He said, “The super soldiers are here.” I was like, “Who are super soldiers?” So, it’s the first time I ever heard of them and I wanted to go over and introduce myself. They were just sitting there with their uniforms half off. That’s always very impressive. One of them turned out to be Dan Payne, who, if you’ve gone to conventions, is so friendly. I could have probably gone up to him, ’cause he would have been really nice. I have met him several times since then at conventions. I think everybody who goes to one has. I remember him. The other guy, I’m not sure who it was, ’cause they were in outfits. They didn’t bring us in for quite a while and then they brought us in the main offices. My friend, Nancy, went to get a drink of water and Peter DeLuise actually was the one who got it for her, because he was nearer. I was like, “Do you realize who you were just talking to?” She’s like, “No. Who’s that?” I’m like, “Oh my God, Peter DeLuise!” I know who he is from his first big role in that other TV show and then being a director now.

David Read:
21 Jump Street.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
21 Jump Street. That was fun.

David Read:
I know him from SeaQuest.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He’s very nice to work with.

David Read:
He’s a good guy.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He’s a good guy.

David Read:
Now, I love him to pieces. FoothillClimber wants to know, is there any chance you’re gonna be attending the upcoming Gate Cruise?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
When is the Gate Cruise? I have to find out.

David Read:
January.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You know what? I’ll check it out. I went on my first cruise about a year and a half ago. The one to Antarctica I told you about, that was my first cruise ever, and I loved it so much. I love being on a ship.

David Read:
Did that have anything to do with “Lost City,” you wanting to go to Antarctica?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
No. Yes.

David Read:
Tell the truth and shame the devil.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
It looks so beautiful when you’re in the Arctic. I always wanted to be on a ship and I thought, “That’s my kinda ship,” where they have scientists talking to you and all that. I really wanted to bring my hat. Are you getting it?

David Read:
No. Put it in front of you. There we go.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
There we go. This is the cap I was given when we were in the outer office. We were given a couple T-shirts, which are long gone, and my Stargate SG-1 hat, which is a great hat. All the crew members wear it. I wanted to bring that to Antarctica so that Stargate has been to not only the Arctic, but the Antarctic now. I actually paid to camp on the land on Antarctica and it was with [the hat].

David Read:
Was it worth it?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes. It’s beautiful. There are lots of penguins and seals. We got to get so close to the whales. That was so impressive; you could hear their noises and everything. At our camping site, some penguins joined us. They were living on another hill that was on the same land. Most of ’em were hanging back, but two of ’em decided to join us. They were big.

David Read:
Some of them were curious.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
One of our crew members climbed up on a lot of lava rock and he started playing his guitar. They suddenly settled down like, “We’re staying,” and they stayed the whole night. I was actually pretty near them in my tent, but we weren’t allowed to approach them or anything. It’s not allowed, but I have pictures of them. I should have sent you pictures.

David Read:
If they interact with you, that’s one thing, but you’re not allowed to touch them.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yes. You know about this. That was a great story.

David Read:
One of our friends, Diana Botsford, actually set a couple of the Stargate novels in Antarctica. One of them specifically, so she went down there and did a whole tour of it as well. If you have any interest in Gate Cruise, I cannot recommend it enough, because you’ll have a chance to meet Rick again, along with Amanda and Michael and several of the others. It’s disembarking out of Florida, so it’s gonna be a pretty good time.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m gonna check it out, see if I can get it in my budget. It’s probably a lot cheaper than going to Antarctica, I’d say.

David Read:
I would suspect so.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Just the air fare to Antarctica, it takes you two and a half days to get there from where I live.

David Read:
Did you come out of South America through, what’s the southern tip of South America?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Buenos Aires.

David Read:
Buenos Aires.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Then we went to Ushuaia. It’s an island off of Buenos Aires and it’s part of Buenos Aires. You have to go there ’cause that’s where all the boats dock. Other people, if they come from England, often come out of Chile, I think.

David Read:
Probably Santiago. This is awesome that you were able to come on and share your experience working on the show and in production. Did you continue to follow the franchise all the way through Atlantis and Universe?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah. I liked Atlantis a lot. I mentioned that I didn’t get my tour, ’cause I ended up working on set all day, which I’m not complaining about, but I am not stupid. What I did was, for the next convention I was going to, it was the very next one, I wrote Martin Wood a letter, a nice card, actually. A thank you card, nice letter. I said, “I never got my tour. In case you happen to be filming during the next convention, do you think I can get a tour?” He never wrote back and I was like, “OK, it’s not gonna happen.” Then I have an actual message from him on my hotel room phone. I don’t even know how he did that. He said yes, I was invited. I couldn’t bring a friend. I always ask my roommate. But I did get to go, I had to get myself there. John Smith, the producer, took me around. I actually got to touch the gate and go look at everything more closely, things I didn’t get to do the first day. I really wanted to walk up and touch the gate. We did get to see a little bit of filming in the morning. He dropped me off to meet with Martin Wood, who took me over to the Atlantis set. I got to watch them filming an episode of Atlantis.

David Read:
So, this is Season One of Atlantis? This would be the following year.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I think it was Season One, ’cause it was pretty quick afterwards. I remember which episode it was. Not one of my favorites, but it was the one where they … If I can get the actor’s name. He was in the movie too.

David Read:
Richard Kind.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Richard Kind playing a different role. He used something to get control of women.

David Read:
So, that was Season Two of Atlantis.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That’s what I figured. It was a little longer then.

David Read:
No, it’s Season Three of Atlantis because I was on set for that episode. “Irresistible.”

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
It has nothing to do with Martin Wood or the people there or anything. It’s just the topic. I didn’t like that at all. I got to see Jason Momoa. I got to meet David Hewlett. David Hewlett was very kind. I actually shook his hand when he had to go and he hugged me. I loved that.

David Read:
He’s a good guy.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He was reminding me that Richard Kind had been in the movie, which I’d forgotten until he reminded me. It was nice getting to see them film on the village set, of course, which everybody got to know after a while. They didn’t fool us. “That’s the village set again.” I forgot if it was right before or afterwards, Martin Wood took me up to the Atlantis set. I think it was afterwards and he let me touch things, like controls and everything, and that was really, really neat. I really enjoyed that.

David Read:
I’m trying to remember. I suspect there’s a good chance that we crossed paths on that day. We were there for that as well. It was all around the same time of the convention.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You want me to tell the Arctic story?

David Read:
OK.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I think it happened when John Smith dropped me off to meet with Martin Wood. They started talking very excitedly about someone who was there and how SG-1 people were invited to go to a naval Arctic base at the actual North Pole. They were so excited. It was Martin Wood and John Smith talking about this in front of me. I watch for a while and I’m listening to this and I finally said, “You’re pranking the contest winner, aren’t you? You’re not going to the North Pole, are you?” They said, “Yes, we are.” The main thing they said was, Martin Wood said, “I’m not just going there. We’re gonna film. If we’re going there, we’re gonna film something.” That ended up being the movie.

David Read:
Stargate: Continuum.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
They were gonna film there. That was so exciting to hear about. They swore me to secrecy because another person and his wife were on the tour with me, which I didn’t mention. At the time, I couldn’t tell everybody who he was. I could say hello to him and everything, but it turned out he was in charge of the naval base at the North Pole and he was the one that invited them and he was there at the convention.

David Read:
Barry Campbell.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Barry Campbell. He was really nice. I just walked by him at the convention and go, “Hi,” and then I’d walk on. I didn’t wanna draw any attention to him. Although, like anybody, I’d wanna ask him all sorts of questions about what was it like living at the North Pole and all that. Later in the day, after filming was over and I had to get home or get to my hotel room, we were having trouble getting a cab out there. Everybody’s leaving, it’s dark out. Martin Wood, “Have you gotten a cab?” I said, “We’re having trouble getting a cab here.” He said, “Wait a second.” He knew you guys were still there, so he ran out and caught you guys and said, “Can you give Bonnie a ride?” You knew who I was and you said, “Thank goodness you guys got caught and let me in.” You know what the first thing he said was? “They’re gonna film Stargate at the North Pole.” and you kind of went, “What?”

David Read:
You told us that.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I told you guys that. I think you just went, “She’s crazy or something.” I don’t know what you were thinking, but it just didn’t connect. You didn’t follow up with me on that.

David Read:
No.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Later on, it got published and I was like, “You gave somebody else credit.” I was like, “Hey, I’m the first one who told you.”

David Read:
We probably forgot about the conversation because if we can’t verify it independently, we don’t typically file it away.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You would have to verify it.

David Read:
Darren was a real stickler for that.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Maybe I would’ve gotten in trouble. They didn’t tell me I couldn’t tell anybody that, but maybe that was good.

David Read:
If they swear you to secrecy, you’re sworn to secrecy, Bonnie.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
They didn’t. They did not swear me to secrecy on that. They just swore me to secrecy on Barry, the naval commander from the North Pole, that he was at the convention. That’s all they swore me to secrecy on.

David Read:
I see. Interesting. I know it wasn’t a guarantee right away, that’s why it took two or three years for it to happen. There were a lot of hurdles to go through once you start the process. I do remember you telling us about that and thinking, “Well, that would be really cool if that were to come to pass.” A few years later, it obviously did. That’s a wild memory.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That was crazy. It was a crazy thing to invite a TV show up there. What they ended up doing, with that submarine coming up right behind them through the ice, my gosh, that was amazing stuff.

David Read:
That’s a cool sequence.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I know the Air Force worked with them a lot and now they have the Navy work with them. That was amazing.

David Read:
The Air Force got a little jealous and they had to give them fighter jets. They had to try to one-up the Navy but I think the submarine won.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I think they worked at them because I think that’s why the Navy got involved. The commander was a fan and he was a little jealous. “Let’s get the Navy on the show,” and he did. I didn’t know that’s how they got the fighters, that was really something. I thought that was CGI. I didn’t know it was real.

David Read:
Obviously, the ones that are in flight are CG, but they flew the fighters up and then they dragged them around behind a truck on the tarmac and that’s how that shot is done, when they’re in the planes themselves.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
By the way, the one thing I did get to see, ’cause I didn’t get really a tour, but they did take me to see the Antarctic seat, that control seat. I wanted to say, “Can I sit in there?” so badly, but they were rushing us through and that would have been really nice for a picture.

David Read:
It’s not comfortable.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You got to sit in it?

David Read:
When you said hello, I was sitting in that.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Wow.

David Read:
For the last episode that we did for State of the Gate, I was in Switzerland, and the guy who owned it, in his house, I was sitting in the Antarctic chair.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He got that?

David Read:
So, when I said hello to you, you go back and look at that episode, I’m sitting in the Antarctic chair. Isn’t that wild?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That’s wild. Now I’m jealous. That’s a long way to go to sit in a seat.

David Read:
But it’s so cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
They had it in a room all by itself on a pedestal, like, “Nobody go near this.”

David Read:
That’s exactly right.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I can see why that would be a problem. Everybody would be trying it out.

David Read:
If they’ve got Mark II naquadah reactors or ZPMs plugged into it, you better look out, because you can cause some major damage if you got the right gene. Bonnie, this has been such a treat to see you.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You too.

David Read:
GGWW1085 wanted to know, any conventions coming up that you’re gonna be at? Dragon Con, anything like that? Where anyone can possibly bump into you?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’ll have to check. I’ve been traveling a lot lately, since I recently retired, and this would be good to do. I especially enjoy going to Vancouver, there’s so much to do there. I’ve never been. Where is Dragon Con? I’ve never been to it.

David Read:
Atlanta.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Pardon?

David Read:
Atlanta.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Atlanta? Then I have to go through that airport again.

David Read:
Biggest airport in the world now.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I know. It drives me crazy. I went through it going to Antarctica, back and forth, and I had to go through international and all that, as far as you can go in that airport. It’s a big one.

David Read:
It is.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That’s a nice one to consider. I love the name of it. Let’s see. There’s no way I couldn’t go to the Chicago one, it’s very close to where I live. I’ve been to it a couple times and I’ve been to the Vancouver one a bunch of times, ’cause that’s where I’ve met a lot of my friends. We met on GateWorld. I would definitely consider that.

David Read:
If you have any chance to go to Gate Cruise, that’s the one that I would really recommend, because that’s gonna be absolutely wild.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Now you got me thinking about that. I got time. I’ve got time to get a good plane ticket.

David Read:
Absolutely. The tickets are almost completely gone, so go to gatecruise.com and look into it so that you can reserve your place. You can always cancel later if you needed to, but I really don’t recommend waiting too long and it will be great to see you.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m working my budget in my head. I bought a couch. Making sure I can put that down.

David Read:
Ass does need to be comfortable, but also first Stargate cruise of all time. That would be cool too and it’d be great to see you.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Is it the first one? My gosh.

David Read:
It’s not an official cruise, but everyone who’s somebody is there.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That’d be great. Now I’m into it. I’m gonna try to make this happen and it’s December.

David Read:
January.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
OK, but I have to book it fast, so I’ll look it up online.

David Read:
January of next year. Gatecruise.com. I feel like I’m advertising it.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
You gave them a plug, a good plug, because we’re discussing it here. “OK, everybody else, especially if I know you already, from GateWorld, you come too.”

David Read:
There’s gonna be definitely a few GateWorlders there for sure. This has been terrific.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Before we get off, if you have time, I want to tell my Richard Dean Anderson story.

David Read:
Please.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I never got to meet Richard Dean Anderson during that time, but I did get to see him. I got to watch him film. His daughter was there; she was little at the time. When he got off something, he would walk over and talk to her, she was on set too. I never was introduced to him and I was really sad about that. After filming at the White House set, they said, “OK, Richard Dean Anderson’s driver is gonna take you back to the hotel.” I thought, “That’s cool.” She came along in this big, I don’t know, might have been a Cadillac or something, I don’t know cars very well, but it was a big car, very nice. I sat down and it was a young woman who was the driver and I immediately almost fell into the backseat, ’cause it was really set for a tall person. I start to adjust it and she said, “Rick hates it when people do that.” I was like, “OK, I won’t do it.” I had to drive the whole way, hanging almost into the backseat, ’cause I didn’t want to mess it up for Richard Dean Anderson. That was my story there. I kept saying, “This is OK, ’cause I get to sit where he just sat.”

David Read:
There you go. No, he rides in comfort. That’s a great story.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
He’s a good six, seven inches taller than me. I did get to meet him at a convention later and I did get my picture taken with him. I actually wore really tall shoes, so I was actually in the picture. It was very nice.

David Read:
Bonnie, thank you for coming on. Raj wanted to know, are you on social media anywhere where we can catch you?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I have to really get going again. I got off Twitter when it went the way it went. I’m on Blue Sky, so I have to get that going. I’ll have to do that again. Now that we’re really rolling again, I’ve gotta get back on GateWorld. I really enjoy that.

David Read:
For sure. The new show is not gonna happen, we’re all kinda licking our wounds over that. The #SaveStargate revolution is in full swing. It’s wonderful how playful it’s been. It’s not been malicious but it has been definitively trolling.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I didn’t give up on you guys. My social media, for two reasons, I had to really pull back on that for a while. One, that I went back to grad school. Then two, I became a teacher at Chicago Public Schools and the first thing they do? They try to find you online.

David Read:
Of course. If there’s something out there, they’re gonna dig around for it. They wanna see just how much of yourself you expose and what you’re willing to say and everything else now. It’s quite the world that we live in.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
They liked that I was on the show. We had to show the episode in class. They also liked that I was an extra in The Dark Knight movie, ’cause it was filmed in Chicago. I did that for charity, believe it or not. I did it for free.

David Read:
You did?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Yeah, and I got to be in that. Of course, that was very cool with the kids, that kinda stuff. That’s my two little claims to fame. Although, if you saw The Dark Knight, the only place you can actually see me is blurred out in the car crash scene.

David Read:
Wow.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
The blonde lady was blurry.

David Read:
Christopher is in Dark Knight Rises.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Really?

David Read:
Christopher Judge is in Dark Knight Rises.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Gosh, I’d forgotten. That’s really cool. There are all sorts of connections.

David Read:
There sure are, absolutely.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
If he sees this, say hi.

David Read:
I will at some point here in the not-too-distant future for sure. I need to get on the phone and talk to him about a couple of things. This has been such a treat to sit down and catch up with you. Thank you for reaching out and spending some time with me today. This was really cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Thank you for having me. I got way more than my 15 minutes of fame. I don’t deserve it, but I enjoyed it very much and people have been so kind.

David Read:
You deserve it as much as anyone else did. That was the really cool thing about that kind of program that the Syfy channel was willing to do. They were willing to create a platform that engaged fans in those early days of social media and gave us something to participate in. It gave you a story to share throughout the rest of your life and you came on to share it and I thank you for it.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
It made going to conventions really fun.

David Read:
For sure.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Some people, not everybody, would figure out who I was and that I’d been on the show. That was fun.

David Read:
Very cool.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
That’s why I said I got more than my share of my 15 minutes.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
I’m grateful for that.

David Read:
I appreciate you coming on. Hope to see you at GateCruise, but I’m gonna go ahead and wrap the show up on this side, all right?

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
OK. Hi, everybody. Thank you for coming and asking questions.

David Read:
Thank you, Bonnie.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Bye.

David Read:
Take care.

Bonnie Arbuthnot:
Bye.

David Read:
Bye, now. That was Bonnie Arbuthnot, Get in the Gate winner. You’re watching the Stargate Oral History Project, my name is David Read. If you enjoy Stargate and you want to continue to see content like this, do me a favor, click the Like button. It does make a difference with the show and will continue to help us grow our audience. If you’ve got some Stargate friends out there, consider sharing this episode with them. If you wanna get notified about future episodes, click Subscribe. If you give the Bell icon a click, it’ll notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. I cannot do this show without my patrons. I am so thankful for everyone who has been supporting me on Patreon to pull this episode off and related shows. Especially now that, unfortunately, the next Stargate television series is, at least for the time being, on the rocks. Is that the right metaphor, on the rocks? I’m not drinking the show. Anyway, we don’t know what’s gonna happen with the next project. So, until Amazon makes up its mind and decides what it wants to do, we’re really there for each other. You guys have been there for me through Patreon, so it means a lot to me to have you. My tremendous thanks to Antony, to Raj, to Lockwatcher for helping out today in the chat. You guys pulled this off. My moderators, Antony, Jeremy, Kevin, Lockwatcher, Marcia, Raj, Jakub, Enigma, Stephen, you guys make the show possible when we have these livestreams week in and week out. Big thanks to Matt “Eagle SG” Wilson. My tremendous thanks this episode to James Young, who has been responsible through Venture Pictures for our opening and closing sequences in this episode, and R.J.B. Mallacore for his Prometheus model. Cannot thank those guys enough for pulling these off. I really hope you enjoyed the “Lost City” sequences ’cause that was fun to watch. We have another livestream tomorrow. We’re gonna bring in Ron Wilkerson, who has written episodes like “Red Sky” and “Proving Ground” and “Between Two Fires.” I am so excited to talk with him about his shows, because so many of the great moral conundrums that SG-1 faced were in his episodes. So, you can go online and look up Ron Wilkerson at ronwilkerson.com, that’s his website. We’re gonna be talking with him about his SG-1 episodes as well as I definitely wanna get into TNG, The Next Generation’s “Lessons,” the episode where Picard fell in love with one of his science officers. We’re gonna have him on tomorrow at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. So, if you wanna ask questions about his shows, come and join us then. I appreciate you tuning in for this livestream. Thanks to everyone who helped me pull this off. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. Thanks so much for being here and I will see you on the other side.