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stargÅtefan.com : fun stuff > conventions > gatecon 2000

The next day we also had another panel with Tony Amendola (Bra'tac).

Some of the key things Tony talked about that day was about his interpretation of Bratac and Jack's relationship. He said he sensed, "a competitive thing between him and Jack." Commenting, " After all he got my prime student into trouble didn't he?

Also, he mentioned that in Serpent's Lair he and RDA were locked into the cockpit of the (I'm not going to even try to spell it) Jaffa attack craft and he laughed and told us how, "Oh, sure they had to bolt the cockpit canopies down and so told us that we'd only be in them for say about 20 minutes and not to worry. Well, *two hours* and 20 minutes later…let's just say that Rick and I sang songs and played a lot of mission control radio jokes. Actually it was a lot of fun."

He also noted that he felt that age was a big deal for Bra'tac. That it is an ongoing underlying thread and so deliberately added the line in Maternal Instinct of, "I feel young again." changed to him" feeling like a young man, a man of 90 again".

Also, Peter Williams (Apophis) was there with Tony again and brought up on stage a little child from the audience. I know you've probably heard this story already, but it really was the neatest thing. He sort of puffed out his chest and said how since his own personal bodyguard had now found other employment as a ….(mutter, grumble)...Shova. He really didn't feel safe without someone to guard his person. And that he needed a new First Prime to fill the role and might there not be someone suitable in the audience. He then proceeded to describe the type of Jaffa that could be his First Prime. He would have to be not only willing to serve, but also very young so that he could train him right. "Are there any Jaffa's in here that fit this description." And up the aisle toddles this little child. He had to have been all of 2 or 3. He's was wearing the brown robes that we see on Chulak's priests and on his forehead was painted the symbol of a Jaffa for Apophis. He was cute as a button. He clambered up onto the stage and Peter swooped him up and sat him down on his lap and proceeded to interact with the audience with his "new" First Prime at his side. And I'll say this child was amazing. It was obvious that the little boy didn't know Peter and yet he sat absolutely still without fidgeting, surveying the audience for about 20 minutes while Peter and Tony talked. I mean it, the child was a natural born actor, he never said a word or moved while he was on this strangers lap. And, of course, you could just tell that Peter loved kids the way he handled him and kept grinning down at the little guy. And of course to cap it all off he got the little one to say, "Kree" before he left as a little goodbye.

I think the best moment in this was when Teryl asked the audience to explain to her what fanfic was? "What is it?" She asked. I don't think she was being coy but it was hard to tell. Well, one of the fans in the audience gave a very generic definition of fanfic saying that it essentially was continuing stories of the characters like the novels do or was done to add scenes to episodes that the audience felt had been left incomplete. "Like scripts then?" She asked. And the audience agreed.

Someone then added (not sure if it was the original speaker or not) that there was a lot of it out there and that Janet held her own, in fact got it on very well. Teryl grinned at this and asked with who? The speaker said that there was a lot linking her and Daniel. Teryl, got a really wicked grin at this point and said rather victoriously. "Oh, yes!"

Then someone piped up with the fact that it wasn't just Daniel that she scored with but Jack also. Teryl literally did a double take at this. She laughed and grinned and then said, "Wow, you just gave me some insight into Janet that I didn't know."

Then someone shouted from the back that sometimes it was even her and Teal'c. At which point she looked floored. Like she had no idea she would get *all* the guys. Then she asked rather wistfully, "Any chance for me and Martouf out there?"

Let's see what else did I learn? Seems that Teryl is a "fanatic for stuffed animals" and her birthday is November 9th. They were going to throw her a party at Wolf Con in England since it's that weekend and instead of presents she's asked everyone to bring teddy bears so that they can be given to children in shelters and in hospitals.

She also shared with the audience how she enjoyed "going through the gate". And then she lowered her voice to this sort of confiding tone and added, "I know it's just a big stone ring that they've got up on a sound stage but you get this sort of buzz when you step over. When you pretend to go through. I don't know if everyone else gets that feeling too, but I just love the idea of what it means to step across that bit of space on the floor."

Teryl also repeated what had been said before that each letter received by the studio from fans is counted as representing 50 audience members and that the addresses to write are up (I think) at her website www.terylrothery.com.

Also, there was a cute little moment between Teryl and J.R. when they realized they were both going to be filming the same episode of "Beggars and Choosers" in a couple of weeks. Suddenly the audience ceased to exist as they identified who they were in the script to eachother and made plans to meet for lunch. You could tell they both thought it was very cool that they were going to be in the same ep together and had no idea the other one was slotted for it.

Next up, someone asked what Teryl thought Dr. Fraiser's reaction to Anise was. She replied that, "Yes, Janet didn't care for her much. Anise saw people as experiments, as a part of her research. She was too lacking in compassion. Janet is opposed to that and the fact that she had no regard for their lives. "

J.R. put in when asked, "I didn't like her because she was taking my job!" But then after that hastily added…"But she was a lovely girl."

(I don't remember the words exactly, but the gist of the next person who spoke from the audience was... ) To say she really appreciated them coming that weekend and sharing their time with us. That it had been an amazing thing. Then she stated that she would like to thank them and could she come up and shake their hands. [Now this started out as a typical "fan" moment but what happened next was really special.] Both Teryl and J.R. looked at eachother and said simultaneously, "No, you stay there we're coming to you." They both were obviously very moved by what this girl had said. And then they climbed off the stage and walked to the very back of the room where she was and both gave her big hugs.

Then when she got back to the stage Teryl said, "You know that's not the first time this weekend that someone has thanked us for being here. Us! This is my third convention and they are so much fun. Sure we heard the stories. But I haven't experienced any of that. (J.R. agrees and nods with this statement.) None of us have. It's been such an amazing experience. (Note-This is a sentiment that was shared by Amanda Tapping as well). I feel like I should say, 'thank you' You left families, or took vacation time, or planned vacations around this event so your kids could attend. You uprooted yourselves to come here for this weekend. Thank you for coming. I have gotten so much from this. Thank you."

Next, the little girl asked each of them if they could create a planet for the teams to go to what would it be like? Their dream planet.

Teryl said that it would be one with lots of trees. Then she laughed and said that seriously, "it would be a planet with lots of colors. Very vibrant. And with color simply everywhere. Oh, and with Patrick Stewart waiting for me." (Seems she has a major crush on him. Mentioned how she even was in an episode of something with him once and everyone knew she had a crush on him and so they introduced them while they were both getting ready in makeup and she was so nervous that she couldn't say a word or even look at him. She said, that normally she talks up a storm, but not a sound could she get out.)

J.R. said it would be a place with "big cliffs, and water running down off of them. But the gravity would be less, so that you could leap from cliff to cliff and not fall."

Suddenly, Teryl and J.R. realized that they were both describing images from the movie "What Dreams May Come" and they had a whole moment over it. Teryl then amended that maybe it wasn't Patrick she was seeing there but J.R., and grinned. He grinned back and said that it was definitely both their vision.

Okay, next panel was the crew for the show.

Now I'm not going to remember anybody's name they said them so fast and unfortunately with the exception of the actor who plays Siler I might mix up who said what a bit. But I know we had Sergeant Siler there (who also is RDA's stunt double, and the stunt coordinator for the show). As well as the makeup, special effects, props, location coordinators, art dept, etc people. (There was about 10 of them up on stage.)

And, with the exception of Siler, these people were obviously ill at ease. You could tell they were not used to speaking in front of people and were very nervous.

Learned where several of the scenes from this season were filmed for instance the O'Malley's Restaurant, which was in Upgrades, is the Horizon's Restaurant on Burnaby Mountain. Also, the outside shots of the temple in Maternal Instinct is the North Vancouver GURD exterior (sorry they said the acronym like it was something that everyone would know. Sort of like UCLA or LAX).

On average an episode will take about a week or a week and a half to prep, and 7 ˝ days to shoot, with 42 days for post work up and effects. Currently they had slotted Double Jeopardy (the one MS is directing) for 9 days. (And hinted very strongly that this episode is HUGE!) and that there was a ton of second unit work on it. In fact it is/was such a big episode that there weren't enough lights in Sound Stage 6 since they had Chronos' space ship, Apophis ship, etc to deal with for this and the final episode. They actually had to have lights shipped in. Also, they mentioned that the set for Apophis ship is huge (100 square feet and 40 feet high).

Of course, these guys couldn't get by without the fans asking about bloopers on the set. The props guy stated that the zat guns were definitely one. They apparently have two kinds. The type that are just for show and one that pops open. Well, CJ "is notorious for dropping them". He can't seem to keep a hold of them and so they only try to give them to him at the last minute because they are very expensive.

As for stunts, "all of them want to do their own". Siler laughs, he says his job is to "reign Big Boy in." (Apparently this is his nickname for RDA, "Big Boy" and you get the feeling it's a full time job.) Also, it seems that when he's stunt doubling for him two of RDA's biggest teases/nitpicks is that Siler tends to hold his pinky out when he's carrying a gun and that he "flails" when he falls. No flailing allowed! And, it's a gun not a teacup! Pinky! He also confirms what Amanda Tapping had stated earlier which was that she and RDA are definitely klutzs. He agreed that they both have "bad feet". "As for Shanks, the boy has good feet. But he still has his moments too. We were doing this stunt and brought in this huge port o'pit so that when he took the leap he could land in it. Well, he jumped so hard that he cleared it and landed on the cement. Face down. He's definitely got good feet. But..."

"And Chris has had both knees fixed by surgery so we need to be extra careful with him too. Essentially we have to reign them all in." (One very much gets the image of a bunch of kids begging dad to play and him having to say, "No" a lot.)

Someone asks about the scene in Upgrades where Jack knocks Siler over the rail. Yep, that was really him. But "when I fell over the rail my lines were off. And so they had to dub it in later. Because it was pointed out that my timing was off because I anticipated the line before I fell."

Next, the makeup lady was asked what her biggest challenge was? "To get Rick to sit still in the makeup chair. Definitely. He has no patience. He gets antsy." She then adds the second one would be to get Chris to show up. She's always having to lean out the door and shout his name. (Note-this woman was sort of motherly and very soft spoken so that image was very funny.) She does later note that Teal'c turns grey when his symbiote is ill or dying and that the "X" pouch is an around the waist prosthetic chest/belt. Also, in Brief Candle when they aged O'Neill they created the look by using pictures of RDA's father and grandfather.

Q-Special Effects-How was the force field created in Upgrades?

A-"Wish we could say it was something really cool but actually it was Saran Wrap. We got some and put it up and had one of the guys walk into it. It looked like it would work so we got some huge industrial size sheets of it and used that. Then added the shimmer in CGI post-production. If you watch carefully you can see RDA's nose smash into it."

Siler, also related the other cell phone story similar to the one Christopher Judge told us about. Seems there was an episode where they were filming close ups of Siler and Jack. And Siler's cell phone went off while they were filming a shot. Whoops! (He winced here). He apologized profusely and RDA waved it aside as being okay. Well, about 8 months later when they had another scene together it seems that every single time Siler opened his mouth to deliver his lines RDA's cell phone just "happened" to go off. And it kept "just happening" to go off for a solid hour!

Now admittedly there was a lot of other craziness going on. I'll give you the highlights as a series of verbal snapshots. But from this point forward these are all my impressions of things.

First off, there were a couple of the larger props there. We got to see the stone tablet that Daniel reads from in Demons. It is very tall. Makes you realize how tall MS is that he leans over It was interesting because some of it seemed to be written in the words he said in the episode and some of it looked like pig-latin English. Enough that I think it may essentially be his lines from that scene. Will have to go look them up.

We also had two of the Tok'ra columns with the hexagonal pattern in them. They looked pretty fake in person. I've honestly never been a huge fan of the crystal cave look and so thought they looked pretty much the same in person as they did on tv but only with a rather stronger purple-ish tone. Also, the hexagons are about the size of two of your hands put together.