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Creation Grand Slam – March 28,
2004
At the Pasadena Convention Center
Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping,
and Tony Amendola
Transcript from Stargate Panel
Discussion
Legend:
AT: Amanda Tapping
MS: Michael Shanks
TA: Tony Amendola
Q: Questioner
XXX: indicates garbled, unintelligible, dialogue—usually due to audience laughing.
[ ]: When possible our best guess as to what that garbled dialogue was.
Stargate Panel – 12:00 noon
MS: Hello. (very melodic and drawn out) I said, "How is everybody?!"
(Shouts/cheers "We love you guys!")
AT: Thank you.
(They both sit in director style chairs up on the stage).
MS: I'm sorry. I apologize in advance for keeping these silly glasses on. I scratched
my cornea in November and I managed to do it again a couple of days ago. I'm a little
light sensitive these days. So, unfortunately I'm going to keep these on so I hope that
that's all right with everybody.
AT: He's a rock star!
(Cheers)
AT: This is a great thrill for us to be here. We've just started shooting season 8!
(Cheers)
MS: I know I'm [thrilled too]. (audience laughs)
AT: We started shooting 8 three weeks ago and we wouldn't be shooting Season 8 if it
weren't for all of you. So thank you very much.
(Cheers)
MS: There's also a new thing, a new Stargate theory. Some people discovered it just
won't go away apparently, so they created this whole thing that goes on after SG-1 goes
away, and that's also because of you, so thank you very much for that, too.
(Cheers)
AT: It's called Stargate: Atlantis and it's [already begun filming].
(Cheers, both AT&MS feign a jump back from the noise.)
AT: Whoa! Hello! But it actually doesn't take place underwater, contrary to popular belief.
MS: Dialogue would be a problem.
AT: And, wardrobe interesting. We're just going to open it up for questions, because I
don't know how much time we have up here. But we'll open the floor for any questions
you have. Bring them on.
MS:
We're starting already over here. (Gesturing to stage right.)
MS: Hi!
1. Q: Hello again. I saw you at Comic Con. I was just wondering if it's possible there
are a lot of people who don't get to many cons and only….
· MS: (he laughs) So don't watch it! (audience laughs). Thank you so much for
coming out anyway.
2. Q: I just wanted to say thank you for coming.
· MS: Thank you. Thank you very much. Our pleasure.
Q: I've been looking forward to seeing you and am planning to make it to the
Burbank convention. Tell the rest of the crew we are looking forward to seeing them.
I was wondering how are you guys enjoying the tours.
· AT: They're amazing. For us really
it's just a great way to meet people face
to face and to say thank you for
their support of the show. And, they're really fun.
I think that Michael and I have
talked about this…Chris, Michael, and I, about how
constantly overwhelmed we are by
how generous our fans are and how supportive.
And so, uh, thank you it's really
been great fun.
· MS: Thank you. Very, very much.
· AT: Thank you.
Q: We hope to see you again.
Thank you.
MS: Yes! (Points to new Q)
3. Q: In Resurrection there was a
behind the scenes photo of you two kissing.
What's the story behind that?
· AT: We like it!
· MS: Aww, did they cut that scene out
of the episode?
· AT: Damn!
· MS: (in a drawl) Amanda and I are
kissin' cousins. So every now and
ag'in we slip one in…like this…
(They look at each other, grin, then
lean over and kiss.)
(The audience cheers.)
· MS: And a bunch of flashbulbs go off!
· AT: (in a drawl) And then it shows
up on the internet!
· MS: I think our photographer didn't
know that that wasn't part of the
show and so he just decided to put
that one through anyway.
· AT: He thought that that's part of
the episode. That's so weird to
have Sam and Daniel kissing.
(audience member who didn't get the
shot gestures for one time.)
· MS: Oh, she wants one more.
· AT: Damn! I hate my job!
(they both sigh, then kiss again
for the cameras amidst cheers)
· MS: (heavy, put upon sigh) Now no more, we're married!
And not to each other!
· AT: Yes…sadly…! Just kidding!!
Just kidding!!
4. Q: Thanks for coming. You made
the comment just a few moments ago about
when SG-1 goes away. Does that
mean in Season 8 SG-1 the team itself gets broken up,
and I'd also wanted to ask Stargate Atlantis -
is that going to be a completely separate
show or are you guys going to be
doing stuff on that too and just anything that you
can tell us about what Season 8 is
going to be like.
· MS: So everything then…you want to
know everything.
Q: I want it all!
· AT: Okay, so first of all, we always
say that every season is going to be the last
and clearly we've been proven
wrong time and time again.
(cheers)
· AT: So, we're not going to say this
is going to be the last season because
we just continue to look like
idiots…but uh, Atlantis…
(turns to MS)
· AT: Oh you can talk about that…you're
on it!
· MS: Ah, Atlantis, all we've shot so
far is one episode, the pilot –
Richard Dean Anderson and I appear
in the pilot, in the early parts of the pilot…there's
been some discussion of having a
crossover episode for their show where you see the
SG-1 team in Atlantis…as it is it
will be a separate entity as the team goes off and gets
cut off in there for a long period
of time so the idea is that the two shows are going to
operate in separate, two strips of
the universe so to speak, for the first year at least,
and then we'll see what happens
after that. Oh, the uh, the end of SG-1 doesn't mean
that SG-1's going to go away or get broken up,
whatever. We just always say that
because we think the show's going
to end but then we go, "Oh" I guess we're doing
another year or so.
·
AT: You guys keep supporting us and we
keep coming back.
(cheers)
· AT & MS: Thank you.
5. Q: Okay, um, my question is mainly
for Michael but I guess it's more for the Producers…
· MS: (pretends to look around the
stage for the Producers)
Q: So you get to ask them for me…
· MS: Okay.
Q: Why does it have to be either Daniel
OR Jonas? Why can't we have both?
(cheers)
· AT: Michael?? (she leans attentively
towards MS)
(laughter)
· MS: I get this? Producers? (Looking
around stage again) Since the Producers
couldn't be here today and to answer
that difficult complex question. I think it has
more to do with the characters covering
similar ground and also to do with simple
finances to do with running the
show. If they add one more regular character on
the show it would cost them a lot more
money so I think it's just more about that
than anything else.
Q: I hope he comes back for a guest appearance again.
· AT & MS: Right.
· AT: We'll tell the producers who
aren't here.
6. Q: I'm wondering if you're related
to the Michael Shanks who teaches Archeology
at Stanford University?
· MS: You know I've heard about this
guy. Yeah, but what you didn't know
is that we're the same person…
· AT: Have you ever seen the two of
them in the same room at the same
time? No…
· MS: Yeah, I've published forty novels,
things like...no. It's
very funny,
I get asked that question a lot more and
there's absolutely no relation.
I think that's very funny that I
play an archeologist and he IS one. Uh,
but there is no relation there.
7. Q: I wondered if you could regale us
with some behind the scenes
moments, maybe some with Chris
Judge involved?
· MS: Oh, regale. Regale!
· AT: With Christopher Judge who saves *us* the embarrassment.
(Laughter)
· AT: Where to start? Where to start? Hmmmm.
· MS: Something clean…something clean (singsong voice)
· AT: Right...
(MS and AT pretend to lean over and whisper secretly behind
their hands but the microphones picks it up)
AT: (in a stage whisper) Can we talk about his flatulence?
(Laughter)
· MS: (in a loud stage whisper) What else is there?
(Laughter)
· AT: Nothing! I can speak as the female on the show, that the boys
have a...Michael perhaps less than the others (she touches his shoulder
reassuringly).
· MS: Thank you. (with a gracious tilt of the head.)
· AT: Because he is so refined (he dips the microphone and looks
away in surprise. She squeezes his shoulder.)
· AT: Have contests in which they judge the sound, scope, aroma
and general visuals of their…… flatulence. Christopher inevitably wins.
And I've actually told this story before. Uh, of how he can clear a room.
(Laughter)
· AT: Christopher, God bless him. We've actually stopped putting beans
on the catering truck, and oat bran, no longer at the breakfast table.
But, ah, he literally clears the room. The crew has to walk off set. So a
couple of instances. One, where he had to wear a full spacesuit, a full
NASA spacesuit (MS nods) that took a good hour to get into. And then
you're hermetically sealed into this thing.
· MS: Payback time.
(Laughter)
· AT: Payback time. So all of sudden you hear this little rumble (laughter)
and look over, and he's trapped, literally. And the guy from NASA is trying
to get the helmet off...and Christopher is… you can see him...he turned
white…basically. (She looks over at MS and he nods in agreement.)
(audience laughs) And that was great comeuppance but the other instance
was when he was strapped to the bed in the infirmary. Literally shackled onto
the (indicates railing with an unusual sound) and couldn't move, and had a
moment as it were. He cleared literally the set. I think we all went outside
the studio which was rather large, bigger than this (indicating the large convention
hall room) and there was Christopher alone, strapped to the bed, weeping like a
baby. So there you go. That's what happens behind the scenes on Stargate SG-1.
(cheers and laughter)
8. Q: [man speaking] Good afternoon Ladies and Gentleman. My question to you,
Michael, are you strictly coming in as a one time, on SG-1, as a guest appearance?
Cause you're not coming back on full time are you?
· MS: What season are you on?
(Laughter)
Q: You're back already?
· MS: Are you watching on syndication?
Q: Yes, I guess so.
· MS: Ah! Well let me get you caught up. Jonas is gone…
Q: Is he? Get me up to speed.
· MS: Yeah, I come back as a series regular in Season 7 so...
(Cheers!)
Q: Excellent, yes, good to hear. Welcome back!
· MS: For those of you who didn't know about that…it's spoiled.
· AT: Look it up on the Internet.
Q: I appreciate it. Thank you.
· AT: You bet.
9. Q: My husband and I are very big fans of Stargate. He really likes you, Amanda,
and I think you're a hottie, Michael (laughter) and I'd like to know about Richard Dean,
is he as funny in person as he is on the set? I've heard that…
· MS: No.
(Laughter)
· MS: He's a lot funnier actually. Speaking of flatulence…
(Laughter)
· MS: Rick is one of the few people on Earth that can actually fart on cue.
So whenever they yell cut, you usually hear something after cut. And another
great story from the flatulence point of view is, watch for a scene in our two
parter in the beginning of the eighth season where's the inauguration of
General O'Neill.
(Cheers, "Yes!")
· MS: Colonel O'Neill becomes General O'Neill. Now, as we're decorating this
officer or announcing that he's taking over the SGC, he comes out of this
door. Now the door sort of rumbles when it opens. So the cue is given, the
rumble happens, the door doesn't open! Then the door opens and everyone
is still looking in this direction and all you see is Rick coming out of the door
going (MS stands, walks around vigorously fanning the air around his backside.
He sits back down.) That is his opening scene as General O'Neill. So watch
to see if that makes the finished cut.
· AT: He then walks up the ramp and coughs into the event horizon and thus
begins his reign. Just watch the three of us try to keep a straight face as he walks past.
MS: Hi.
10. Q: Hi Michael. Hi Amanda. I normally call you by your characters names, I love
your show. I've been watching it. I have all the DVDs. Michael, what was it like being
ascended and Sam, are we going to see your cop boyfriend again or are you and
Jack finally gonna get together?
(assorted cheers, hisses, and boos)
· MS: What to do?
· AT: Tell her about your ascension first, shall we.
· MS: Well, my ascension involved heading out to Las Vegas.
(Laughter)
MS: Being on the golf tour down there and going to a place called Club Paradise.
(audience laughs) At least in my mind, in my off camera mind that is that's how
I envision what ascension would be. For the character I'm sure it was much more
soulful, philosophical and different, but for me, I always imagined it as spending
time in strip clubs and golfing.
· AT: You even improved your golf game.
· MS: I improved my golf game by 15 strokes, thank you very much! So I
think I enjoyed my ascension, I think Daniel did too. I think he learned a lot, but
he can't remember any of it! (audience laughs)
Q: Sam, what about your boyfriend?
· MS: Oh oh! Boyfriend issues! Oh oh! Aruga. Aruga (makes red alert type sounds)
· AT: Pete Callahan, as he is known on the internet as Stalker Pete. Which causes
David DeLuise no end of angst. First of all, let me address the people on the internet
who claim he's a stalker. Sam is not aware that he did the FBI check, she is
not aware that he…that he, you know, followed her to the last stakeout, but
she doesn't know all this stuff and maybe we'll address that later on but at
this point she just thinks he's just a really sweet, cute, sexy kind of guy. So,
he *will* appear in season 8.
(Cheers)
· AT: I mean he's lovely! The character of Pete, David DeLuise is really quite
a lovely man. As for Sam and Jack. Um. My idyllic ending for the whole series
from our character's perspective, would be that he finally asks her to go fishing
and she says yes.
(Cheers)
AT: Fishing. JUST fishing. You know what I'm talking about, I know you do.
· MS: What is she talking about? (asks innocently)
· AT: Fishing! (whispers to Michael)
· MS: Fish-ing.
11. Q: Hi, I'm looking forward to see you guys at Gatecon again it's going to
be so awesome. You both have now directed an episode, are you planning on
directing any episodes this season or maybe on Stargate: Atlantis?
· AT: I would like to…I'm actually supposed to do an episode this season
but I'm not sure it's going to happen because we're on such a tight shooting
schedule and consequently, we never get a day off of shooting something.
We're off on one episode while we're simultaneously shooting on another, and
it's really difficult. But I'm pushing for Atlantis, personally.
· MS: We're on a very abbreviated schedule this year so I don't think there's
a lot of room for us this year to explore our chops. If you write, you can
write in your spare time and whatnot but to direct. It's very difficult. I think.
· Q: So maybe next year on SG: Atlantis—
· (AT&MS nod) Here's hoping/There's a possibility.
12. Q: First of all, I like to extend greetings from Germany.
· MS: The whole country?! (he looks at AT) Wow!
(she gives him a playful shove in the shoulder)
Q: And second I'd like to congratulate you on your great work in Grace.
What an amazing role, and I'd like to know you approached your role in this.
· AT: Grace was an interesting episode, and actually we had
discussions about this...(looks at Michael who is staring back at
her shocked and she says, "yes". As she says this AT reaches
over and squeezes MS's chin. He closes his mouth and gives a big grin.)
· AT: Grace, for those of you that haven't seen, Sam gets trapped
on the Prometheus, she has a head injury and starts to hallucinate.
So, through these hallucinations, Daniel comes to visit, Teal'c, Jack O'Neill,
her father and this… tiny girl, Grace. And the people that she sees, are sort of
her interpretation, or her subconscious view of her friends.
· AT: So Daniel is...(looks at Michael and touches his shoulder) I mean you
played it WAY....
· MS: Annoying? (audience laughs)
· AT: No. He's hyper and excited. (smiles and flickers her fingers up and
down as she says this) And Teal'c, actually Christopher and I decided
that he would call her Samantha as opposed to Major Carter because in
her subconscious she really wants Teal'c to call her Samantha. The whole
thing with Jack is interesting, I think it's Sam's way of letting go of the idea
of her and Jack, and in doing so she allows, she lets Jack let her go, which
makes it easier, if that makes sense. And the little girl is either Sam's inner
child that never really flourished because she was so serious and studious,
or it's the child she may potentially have, if she allows herself a fuller life
outside of the SGC. So it's several things she could be. I chose for it to be.
But now…she's got a life. Finally! She had sex for the first time in seven years!
(Cheers)
· MS: It's all about Sam having sex, isn't it?
(Laughter)
AT: Hello! (She reaches behind her and rubs MS's shoulder)
13. Q: This question is really for Amanda but Michael you can jump in if you
want. In the director's commentary for Full Circle, Martin Wood said, there
was a little scene between you and Michael cut for time reasons, that you
insisted upon, where Sam and Daniel reconnect. Could you tell us some of
the dialogue and how you felt when it turned out he hadn't come to you?
· AT: It was a scene because while Daniel was ascended, he visited
Teal'c, he visited O'Neill but he never visited Sam. And Sam is like,
"Why didn't you ever visit me?" and I think the dialogue went
"well, you didn't need me as much as the others."
(She looks at MS to confirm this and he nods.)
"Yeah, but, you know, I missed you." "But all the same."
So it was an interesting little, sort of brother/sister, sibling rivalry dynamic
that's sort of fun for us to play. And they ended up cutting it
from the dialogue, we did shoot it, but they ended up cutting it from it.
But I just thought it was important that there was something addressed
as to why Sam and Daniel hadn't connected during his whole
ascension. That she felt left out.
Q: Did you ever think that any of those cut scenes or bloopers might be put into the DVDs?
· AT: We would love it if they would.
· MS: I do know that the SciFi channel has gotten to airing,
the seventh season, putting them on their website. You can
download them. No, you can't download them? You can watch
them though, right? You can watch them, not download them.
I don't know if they'll ever end up on the DVDs because they're
not committed to the finished prints. So, we'll have to wait and
see. But write a few letters and see what happens. I don't know.
But see if they can put them in.
MS: Hi!
14. Q: Have you ever read any fan fiction on the internet?
(Laughter drowns out the rest of the question.)
·
