We are thrilled to welcome back two Goa’uld goddesses for a double interview! Jacqueline “Nirrti” Samuda and Suanne “Hathor” Braun return to Dial the Gate LIVE. Come with your questions, and they may not blast us to the brink of extinction.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
00:29 – Opening Credits
01:01 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:17 – Welcoming Suanne and Jacqueline
05:07 – Stargate’s Longevity
09:17 – On-Set Chemistry
15:41 – First Convention Experiences
23:03 – Memories Of Meeting Each Other
27:17 – Cliff Simon
35:21 – Jacqueline’s Hallmark Movie
36:19 – Suanne and Slang
37:01 – Working with Peter DeLuise
41:21 – Playing Evil
45:26 – Working with Amanda Tapping
47:20 – Fan Films
48:22 – Suanne’s Project
56:35 – Jacqueline and Virgin River
58:10 – Wrapping up with Suanne and Jacqueline
1:00:27 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:03:25 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello everyone and welcome to episode 226 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read, thank you so much for joining me for this episode. I’ve been really excited about this one. Jacqueline Samuda and Suanne Braun, with an “e” on the end of it, are joining me for this episode to discuss their time as two goa’uld goddesses, Hathor and Nirrti, in Stargate SG-1. But before I bring them in, if you enjoy Stargate and you want to see more content like this available on YouTube, click the Like button. It does make a difference with the show and will help us continue to grow our audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. Clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live show we have moderators in the chat that will be taking your questions for Suanne Jacqueline. Tracy is in there so thank you Tracy for being here for that. In the meantime we are going to discuss Stargate history, we’re going to discuss our lives and fandom and everything else that goes into it. Jacqueline Samuda, Nirrti, and Suanne Braun, Hathor, welcome back to Dial the Gate. Thank you so much.

Jacqueline Samuda
Good to be here.

David Read
This is so cool guys. Jacqueline, how are you doing?

Jacqueline Samuda
Doing great, actually feeling very lucky. I’m sure many people know there’s been a strike so that’s affected work. I’ve somehow managed to continue to work because of voiceover. I’ve done a couple of really cool video games in the last little bit and Hallmark movies aren’t affected by the strike. I’m in the middle of shooting a Hallmark movie so that’s really good, it’s called Magic and Mistletoe. That will come out, I guess they’re going to do a whole stream of Christmas movies so look out for Magic and Mistletoe. My episode of Virgin River just came out last month, season five episode five.

David Read
Okay that’s great. We will check those out for sure. I’ll add those to the description after the show. Suanne, how are ya?

Suanne Braun
I am really great. Thank you so much for having us back on the show, it’s lovely to be here. Things have been pretty good for me as well actually. I was just saying to Jacqueline, I have just completed a nine month run of a show, a really cool character. I know we had some Stargate fans come from all over; from Scotland and Germany and gosh, I think the Czech Republic. So really grateful for that. That’s just finished and also working on some video stuff, video games and voice work which has been great because unfortunately the strike does seem to have affected the workload here. But it’s all good. It’s all good.

David Read
I’m so thankful to have both of you and it’s all because you guys were talking on Twitter/X about getting together again, hopefully at some point in the future, it was just like, “you idiot, you can make that happen. “Let’s see, maybe they’ll be interested in coming on together? Na na na na.” and it was “yes, do it. Here we go.” I’m delighted because, this is not hyperbole, you two were a couple of my favorite guest stars from the show. I’m really tickled to have both of you on together and I want to talk about, not just your experience in front of the camera, but conventions and Cliff and all these things that tie us together behind the scenes and really prove that this thing, this giant ring right here, has legs. It’s still going after 20 some odd years. Jacqueline, what do you make of it that people are still asking you guys to conventions and new generations are finding the show. What do you think’s going on?

Jacqueline Samuda
Well, I think it’s kind of an alchemy; when you get the right energy, the right people. Obviously the creators were fabulous, the writing was great. It had a fabulous foundation in sci-fi but there was also humanity and there was great humor. You take from that, then you get the relationships between the principal cast and then the opportunities for actors like Suanne and myself to come in and play these larger than life characters, you just dig right in. When you arrive you’re on a set that’s so warm and fun; you’re welcomed to do your best work. I think all of that creates an energy that goes right through the lens, right through the screens and into people’s hearts. It lasts because it’s memorable. It’s emotion, emotion creates memory.

Suanne Braun
Yeah, I will second that. I think something else, alchemy is such a good word. The other thing that Stargate seems to have, what do they call it, lightning in a bottle, that it seems to have done so perfectly is this combination of science fiction, great storytelling, but humor. I see so many shows, not just science fiction shows, but all kinds of shows. Look, we’ve been through a tough old time as a planet; global pandemic, strikes, wars. I get it, but I do feel like so much of entertainment today is very heavy handed. It’s almost like “oh, in case you didn’t get the message we’re going to put that in the writing even more.” There’s no levity, there’s very little kind of humor. I think that Stargate had that incredible combination of making it work so brilliantly; the humor, the writing and then of course all these great sci-fi stories.

David Read
It doesn’t teach treat its audience like idiots. “I don’t trust you to get the message on your own. I’ve got to give one of the main characters a huge speech to telegraph it out as though you are second graders.”

Suanne Braun
Exactly.

David Read
Not necessary. A lot of the messages I agree with, obviously. That’s a great thing about science fiction; to expose you to ideas that you weren’t aware of before, but treat me as an adult.

Jacqueline Samuda
It doesn’t age I think, for that reason. You can watch it today and I’ve seen people at conventions bringing their children. Now their kids are becoming massive fans and they can binge watch it today and it still feels fresh.

David Read
It’s aloud to transform in new ways because it was vague enough. I’m sorry Suanne.

Suanne Braun
I was just gonna say I’m a big fan of the rewatch. I love rewatching series. My husband and I are sort of like three quarters of the way through the Big Bang Theory for about the third time. I just love it so much. Funnily enough the other day, I can’t remember I had an hour or something, I was flicking through TV and Stargate was on. I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna watch this because it’s an episode I haven’t seen.” I sadly missed most of the plot, it was literally the last five minutes but the bit I saw I was like, “yeah, this still holds up.” It holds up because it’s great acting, it’s well shot. Probably the only thing now that would challenge it is that we’ve come quite a bit further in terms of special effects and that sort of thing. But there’s something also kind of cool about that, I quite like that it’s sort of 90s retro, like our eyes.

David Read
Oh gosh. Even through the course of the show the visual effect of the eye glows, season eight, they updated them. Someone was like “this fuzzy…naaa, we can do better.”

Suanne Braun
Exactly.

David Read
Jacqueline, you were tapping into something earlier that I wanted to bring up. You were saying that when you came on to Stargate you felt that it was a comfortable place to explore. Associate with like minded people who we’re really on the same page, the same mission, it wasn’t a contentious set. I want to ask you both this but Jacqueline did you did you feel free to…Even though your first episode Fair Game, in particular, but when you came back later on for season five did you feel freedom to experiment or to try things with the character in the confines of the mission, of the script?

Jacqueline Samuda
I think that came a little bit later. I will say just from jump, coming onto the set of Fair Game, with Vincent and Ron Halder, the three of us were just, we were just embraced and the three of us got along incredibly well. It was fun from the first moment. Even my makeup test, I had to have my test with Christopher. Oh, his last name is escaping me, he is such a brilliant makeup artist.

David Read
Judge?

Jacqueline Samuda
No, no, makeup artist.

David Read
Oh, makeup artist.

Jacqueline Samuda
Yes. He had created the eyes and so on for Nirrti and they had done the hair and then I was walked over to RDA and presented. He was like, “beautiful, beautiful” and got up and hugged me and off we went. We just had this fabulous time and just having a laugh from the first moment. Vincent was playing Yu, was in this costume, I’ve told the story at conventions. He was in a costume that was authentic enough that like in the period, you couldn’t sit down in it. He literally had to tilt himself against walls to rest. I think in period times they would have little stools they’d shove up the back of the skirt so you could perch kind of thing. We just had a blast and of course all the jokes with the Yu, the name and Yu, we just had a scream right from the start.

David Read
Christopher Pinhey.

Jacqueline Samuda
Hey, thanks.

David Read
Absolutely. Suanne.

Suanne Braun
I sort of concur completely. Obviously I was in it right at the beginning and I remember very clearly, and I’ve also told the story many times, kind of going in for the audition, not really knowing what it was. They were quite vague about the character, it didn’t say anything that she was a goddess. I was just like, “why does this woman speak in the third person? Is she mad or royal?” So I sort of played her a bit like both. I remember very clearly, I don’t know if this is a true story, this is what I was told. Basically, at one point, Michael Greenburg was married to Sharon Stone, apparently, and it was just before she hit it big, big, big, big, big time. She had signed on to do Stargate and she was going to play Hathor and then she did a little movie over the summer called Basic Instinct. Around about that time, I don’t know if it’s exactly that. But basically, long story short, she was like, “I’m not doing your show. I’m a big movie star now” and they had to find someone else. Thankfully, for me, they got me. I do remember though, being told on day one, the same thing. In the makeup tests they really wanted this kind of Egyptian, and obviously I’ve got curly hair, they were like “no, we need to put a straight wig on.” They couldn’t quite decide what they were going to do with the makeup so I sort of had half my face done and like half my hair in curlers and stuff. I was waltzed out to get something to eat and I was literally standing with a bagel, half a bagel, when I felt this tap on my shoulder and it was Rick going, “Hey, I’m Richard Dean Anderson” and I was like “[mouth full of food]…Hathor…I’m a goddess.”

David Read
And that was my introduction to the lead of the show.

Suanne Braun
They made us feel so so welcome. I remember also I arrived I think on a Thursday or Friday and I was only actually sheduled to start shooting on the Monday. I was on the lot having my costume and hair and makeup tests and stuff and Chris Judge just came over and was like, “Hey, I’m having a party in my house tonight. Do you want to come?” I was like, “Yeah, it’d be great.” John Lenic really looked after me, took me out all weekend, we went for dinner. We went to this unbelievable party at Chris’s house on a Saturday night, which to this day, I still don’t know how I got home. It was bad.

David Read
It sounds like a Christopher party.

Suanne Braun
Recovered on the Sunday. I think then we went to go and see Lilith Fair as well which was brilliant. I was just completely welcomed into the fold of the family. I didn’t know as much then as I do now; that is exceptionally rare, particularly with your lead cast. It really left a kind of indelible impression on me because I always thought if I’m ever lucky enough to be lead cast in something for long enough, that’s how you treat your guest stars.

Jacqueline Samuda
And that extended to conventions too. The very first convention I did in Australia, in Canberra. I was kind of getting my stuff out of my suitcase and just taking off makeup and stuff and there’s a knock on my door. There’s Chris Judge saying, “come down to the bar right now. You’re joining us!” I go down with him and his wife and other people and we just had this absolutely fabulous time before the first day of the convention. It was completely unexpected but it was great, it was great.

Suanne Braun
I was just gonna ask Jacqueline what she thought about her first convention, Canberra. When I got my invitation I was like, “is this a joke?” I would just love to know what you thought Jacqueline.

Jacqueline Samuda
This is a story I’ve told many times because it was unforgettable, it was crazy. It was at the peak, I would say possibly, of Stargate popularity. Nope, sorry, I’m switching two things. Blackpool, I think was the first. Yes. Blackpool, England. I arrive and I’m told that I’m a surprise guest and I’m feeling like “well, no one’s going to know who I am.” I’m told that I’m going to be picked up by a van with the other performers and we’re going to go to a green room and then we’re going to introduce ourselves to the attendees. We get into this green room and it’s all of these brilliant, hilarious actors of course. They start going out on stage one by one and I had been told “you just say your name and when you’re going to be signing your pictures.” I’m like, “okay, I’m a little nervous.” Everyone goes out and they’re like “da da da da da” stand up comedy. I was like, “Oh my God, I’m totally unprepared. I have no idea what to say.” And then I’m also asked, “since you’re the surprise guest, you’re going to climb into the sarcophagus behind the stage and then…” Suanne you’ve heard the story I think. It was a huge Stargate on the stage and it was a massive airport hangar, there were thousands of people there. “…you climb into the sarcophagus with your live mic and we’re going to push it through with the sound and light effects and then the sarcophagus lid is going to slide off, two Jaffa will help you out.” I’m just gonna be like, “hello, you may not know who I am.” Anyway, I get into the sarcophagus, I’m like, “this is the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” I could feel it sliding through the Stargate and I get out and I say, “Well, I was jet lagged when I got in that thing but now I feel great and there’s a mini bar in there.”

Suanne Braun
Right? Way to recover.

Jacqueline Samuda
It was spectacular. It was so amazing. I couldn’t believe everybody knew who I was and everybody jumped to their feet and they were like, “Yay!” I was like, “wow.” I hadn’t quite understood how powerful the show was and how far reaching it was. That was a real education very, very quickly.

David Read
Gary Jones talks about the same thing; “you want me to do what?” You come in, your you do your part, you have a good day and you move on to the next project. This thing has stuck in people’s craw and just won’t get loose for some people. It’s this wild thing that keeps on meaning new things to new generations again and again. Even as I rewatch the show it’s like, “oh, this has new meaning now than it did” or “this was talking about then what’s happening now.” and some things are just more relevant. You guys are the pieces that tell that story so being able to meet you and talk with you we feel an indelible part of it.

Jacqueline Samuda
That’s cool. Suanne what was your first experience you were mentioning?

Suanne Braun
Well, my first one was also funnily enough Australia, Blackpool you said, sorry, and it was Sydney. It was so bizarre. I was doing a show called Offbeat Broadway which, if anyone’s ever seen or heard of Forbidden Broadway, is an American show with four singers and they basically pastiche all the musicals on Broadway. You’ve got four people doing the whole of Les Mis[erables] kind of thing and this was the South African version with two boys and myself. We were in a town called Durban and this is just as the internet is starting. I mean, hello, dial up. Remember that anyone? The hotel manager comes to me and says, “I have an email for you from somebody in Australia. They want to fly you there because of some Egyptian part you played.” I was like, “what?” Anyway, I read this thing and then I was like, “this has to be a joke. This has to be a mistake, it cannot be real” so I just ignored it. They wrote again, thankfully, and then I showed it to my dad. I was like, “What do you think Dad? Do you think…?” and he’s like, “Well I think you should reply.” We kind of constructed an email and immediately it came back. Anyway, long story short, I get on the plane. I just remember the flight out because there was no one else with me from Stargate. I was like, “am I about to be shipped off to some sort of weird cult?”

David Read
Yeah, you don’t know what’s gonna happen?

Suanne Braun
Or worse? I was like, “what happens if I get there and there’s no one to meet me? Nobody.” Anyone who’s ever been to Australia, their security is hardcore. Four times I’m pulled over and they search my luggage, they’re very polite but they’re like, “how long are you staying in Sydney and what is the reason for your visit?” I come through the doors and thank goodness it was about two o’clock in the afternoon for them. I thought, “let me just quickly put a bit of slap [makeup] on in case there’s one person to meet me.” I had to try and make myself look a bit more respectable. I came through the doors, there was a banner that said, “welcome Suanne,” little fluffy koalas and about 40 people. “Oh my God.” I was also with Chris and his wife and they were brilliant. They took us to the hotel, went to the bar, went up for lunch, wined and dined, had no idea. Next day, next morning, walk into this room and there are like 400 people, chanting and I was just like, “Oh my God, this is extraordinary.” It is amazing that Stargate has definitely…and it’s universal. It hasn’t just touched a nerve in certain countries. I remember when I was growing up in South Africa, Knight Rider, for some reason in South Africa, is uber uber uber popular. Little House on the Prairie is an obsession in France, it’s an obsession. It’s funny how these shows, for whatever reason, people in those countries are really kind of attracted to it, but Stargate is universal.

David Read
Yeah. That’s the crazy thing about it. We’ve got a Canadian and a South African-born UK talking about foreign countries, visiting foreign countries for conventions for an American based United States paramilitary unit. There’s something in there that keeps on rattling in people’s brains.

Suanne Braun
For a show that was 25 years ago. It is absolutely amazing and I’m so delighted to be a part of it.

David Read
Jacqueline, when did the two of you meet? Tell me about your little brood that you got going; the goa’uld. I’m constantly seeing photos of you guys with Peter Williams and Cliff. Tell me about that when you guys got started.

Jacqueline Samuda
I always get mixed up as to which was the very first convention where we were all four together. Suanne was it…?

Suanne Braun
I think it was Gatecon.

Jacqueline Samuda
It was Gatecon because I remember you and I went for lunch, we went to Granville Island. It was just a coincidence that I happened to drive past Suanne, her Lyft driver or Uber driver dropped her in the wrong place. She’s walking through Granville Island and I’m like, “hop in!” We go for lunch and I remember sitting down and just having a blast. Suanne I remember you telling me “my husband was like ‘you’re going for lunch with this person. You don’t know her very well, how’s that gonna go’?” We just had the best time. I’ve known Peter for some years and I’d done an episode of Da Vinci’s Inquest, he was in it and had been very supportive of my performance. He didn’t actually remember that performance but I remember how kind he was to me that day on set because it was shortly after I’d moved to Vancouver. because he’s Jamaican and my father was Jamaican, we’ve always had an affinity that way. I’m telling you, again, that word “alchemy.” The four of us in a room was just meant to be, absolutely meant to be. Cliff and Suanne obviously have a long history and a great friendship and both from South Africa. We clicked and we were friends immediately. That’s how I felt anyway,

Suanne Braun
Same, I 100% second that. I remember after our wonderful lunch, it was an amazing restaurant on a bridge, incredible views. Then you took me shopping in this really funky, amazing district and I bought two cool, cool pieces of clothing that I still have. It has always just been easy, effortless. Then we kind of were altogether in New Zealand I think, Australia/New Zealand and we really bonded then and then of course Kelmar happened. Of course now, in hindsight, so grateful we have that. That was before the pandemic and obviously was the last time we were all together. We just had these hilarious three days, do you remember us filming in the hotel corridors?

Jacqueline Samuda
Peter was in bed and I had an injury so a guest had lent me her wheelchair so that I could be shuffled around the convention in the wheelchair. It was sitting outside my room and…actually I have pictures of us lounging on hotel beds all together. We were all kind of going back to our rooms and then oh my god. Suanne and Cliff got a hold of this wheelchair and just started doing the most hilarious routine’s up and down the hallway and I thought “we’re gonna get slaps on the wrist from the hotel.” Peter was in his room, he didn’t hear us apparently. Videos of those pranks…Even after we had all finally gone, we laughed so freaking hard I was sleeping. I go back to my room and then I’m like, “oh maybe I’ll bring my wheelchair inside” and I leaned out my door and there’s Cliff leaning on his door because he was gonna come and grab my wheelchair and we were both like [staring at each other]. It was so funny.

Suanne Braun
The funniest thing also was just watching him completely lose it. I’ve posted the videos before but I will happily post them again after this interview.

David Read
Yes please.

Suanne Braun
Maybe send them to you David and you can put them on your show.

Suanne Braun
There are about three I think and Jacqueline doing brilliant filming on all of them. At one point you were so tired Jacqueline. She was like, “I’m so tired, art is hard.”

David Read
I can.

Jacqueline Samuda
It is true. Also Cliff, certainly on the show, he was terrifying. He’s suvch a brilliant actor and very intimidating and scary in his character. But just the funniest, most hilarious, most fun, warm, cool person with a very interesting history. His love for life was just absolutely infectious. To see him in those light moments is just such a contradiction to what you see on screen. Across his career he’s played really scary kind of mean characters and this other side of him is just so so fabulous to see.

David Read
That man knew how to live.

Jacqueline Samuda
Oh, yeah.

Suanne Braun
He did. And always remembered. It’s so funny because weirdly I was going through my phone the other day and the four of us have a WhatsApp group called “the other fab four.”

David Read
That’s great

Suanne Braun
I found the message of me leaving the message for Jacqueline and Peter where I was just like, “I can’t believe I’m having to say this but this is what happened.” Still sometimes I can’t quite believe I’m never gonna hear him laughing or talk to him again. The comfort is that he went doing something he loved and he did live his life every single day. He lived life, you know?

Jacqueline Samuda
Absolutely.

David Read
His performance! We had a preview of him in season five with Summit and Last Stand. They called it goa’uld Mardi Gras but it really was like goa’uld auditions in terms of what was going to be happening for future seasons were they ever to come back. They were deciding who was going to potentially be the next big thing. Season six starts and O’Neill gets captured and we see an outline of him at first and later in the episode he walks into this room…I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about this. Stargate was light and fluffy and fun but he walked in and I was scared. I was like “Jack’s not going to get out of this unscathed. This is going to be bad.” That was Cliff’s gravitas. Those outfits did not wear him, he wore those outfits. You know what I mean by saying that. The synergy, he could turn that thing on and it was like, “I’m terrified of this guy.” He was just a powerhouse, he could pull anything off.

Jacqueline Samuda
Yeah, I met him on the set of Continuum. My introduction to him was being one of the multitude of goa’uld’s standing there and he had to have a presence that dominated this entire room and this entire group. I was blown away. I was like, “this guy has got stage presence, like crazy.” Gravitas is a great word for it. He really commanded the space and I admired his work immediately.

David Read
Absolutely. And you knew him for how many years to him? Everyone’s always surprised. “So you knew each other? “Yeah, they knew each other.”

Suanne Braun
I’m trying to think when we exactly met. Weirdly, somebody sent me a photograph, again, which I’ve also put up of us. He was in a South African soap, a very, very famous soap opera in South Africa, called Egoli, which means City of Gold. It’s City of Gold in Zulu which is what they called Johannesburg. He was in Egoli and I at the time was working as an announcer/presenter/host for the first independent TV channel ever in South Africa. It was kind of like MTV meets VH1 and it was called M-Net, it’s still going today. I was one of the first continuity hosts so you would tell people what was coming up. At the time Egoli was so huge that they would do these roadshows around the country where they would literally go and meet the fans. If you think Stargate had a feverish, majorly excited, turned on fan base you should see these guys. I think we met, the first one was when they asked me to host it and we met then. But weirdly we also realized that we have mutual friends. We were babies, I must have been 20, 21 and we realized we have mutual friends but we didn’t really know each other well well. We just kind of like “hi” or “whatever.” We kind of got to know each other over these series of road trips, things that they did and he was with Colette then. I remember very clearly because she was a bit like, “I’m not going out with you. You’re like this big movie star. All the girls like you, I’m not running after you.”

David Read
I met Colette, she was great.

Suanne Braun
I remember him saying things like “I have to have her. I have to be with her. She’s the one.” That was true, you know? We’ve known each other for years but really became good friends funnily enough on Stargate conventions. I went to L.A, we saw each other a little bit in LA but were not really that close. Then I left L.A and I came to London so we had probably about five, six years where, it’s pre-Facebook I think, where we didn’t really…it’s not like we didn’t talk but I didn’t really see him. Then we did a convention together and that kind of re-ignited the friendship. After that he said to me, “let’s stay in touch” and he would email me, not all the time, not often. Kelmar was the one I think where we just all had the best time. We went out for this fantastic dinner, the four of us. Do remember that?

Jacqueline Samuda
I loved it.

Suanne Braun
Sort of a converted church or something. Lots of talks. Peter’s also so brilliant to hang out with because he’s a great storyteller, he is funny. These two would go full Jamaican and then we would go full South African. It would be an interesting night.

David Read
The conventions are, only half of it is about the fans, the other half is the cast getting back together, some of them meeting for the first time and falling in love with one another as people. As a convention goer, when the throngs are coming on, sometimes remind other people “got to give them space to catch up with one another too.” That’s the great thing about the greenroom; people are coming in and out and they can come in, get a water and catch up and have intimate conversations with one another to bring each other up to speed on their lives. It’s a week of a really really memorable experience and then we spread to the four winds again. There’s just something about the convention experience that we all get back together for it. I’m so thankful for them because it helps us remember what’s most important and that is to dream. That’s what the show allows us to do, is dream.

Suanne Braun
Yeah, I agree.

David Read
I’ve got some fan questions here for you guys. Tracy wanted to know – Just curious Jacqueline, the Hallmark movie, was that the one in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They’re shooting one here now?

Jacqueline Samuda
No, it’s not. Hallmark is so prolific. I think they have 45 Christmas movies to air very soon. 45! Can you imagine? This one is called Magic and Mistletoe and it’s shooting in Vancouver, BC.

Suanne Braun
Are you the magic?

Jacqueline Samuda
I’d like to think I’m a little piece of the magic. I’m the mom of the lead. It’s lovely characters, very warm and sweet like many of these films are. This is probably the third Hallmark movie with the word “mistletoe” in the title that’s been shot in the last three months. They shoot, constantly, really hear.

David Read
They do good business, can’t blame them. ZubiForce says – Suanne, if you could have introduced some South African slang into the character, what would it have been?

Suanne Braun
How’s it China? You’re alright [brew]? Which means “hello my pal, you all right my brother.” [Brewed] in Afrikaans is brother and it just sort of became shortened to [brew] and probably [lacquered]. If you’re Afrikaans you’d say [lacquer] and if you’re English you’d probably say [lecker]. “Oh that’s [lecker]” which is just nice, groovy, it’s fab. It’s all those things, it’s [lacquer].

Jacqueline Samuda
Cool.

David Read
Just wanted to know what it was like working with Peter DeLuise. Did either of you work with Peter DeLuise?

Suanne Braun
I didn’t sadly.

Jacqueline Samuda
I worked with Peter a few times. Was he the first? He didn’t do Fair Game, I think that was Martin Wood. Peter is awesome on set, so relaxed. I did a movie with him just a couple of years ago so I can speak to a span of over 20 years. I can say that even 20 or 25 years ago, his confidence and his air of relaxation was absolutely communicated to everybody he worked with. He was so funny and so efficient at the same time. He would direct like he was telling a joke and he would never talk down to cast and he wasn’t bossy. He would just be like, “well, you know, a guy comes into a room and he’s gonna go over there and he’s gonna do this and then that. Go!” Everyone would be like, “Oh, yeah. Okay.” and off we go. He also gave me such a fabulous opportunity in, oh geez David, please help me up. So there’s Fair Game then the next episode when I came back with Cassandra…

David Read
It’s Cassandra’s episode. Oh for god sake, season five and it was…my memory. I used to be able to pull these off and I hit 40 and it’s like “oh my god.”

Suanne Braun
Can’t help. I’m sorry.

Jacqueline Samuda
Well, that will come to us. Everyone understands it’s Cassandra’s episode and I’m terribly evil and I’ve been hiding…

David Read
Rite of Passage.

Jacqueline Samuda
Yes, Rite of Passage, thank you very much. I had this big standoff with Dr. Fraiser and all this stuff and they’re going to actually let me go. They should never let me go but they do. They’re going to let me go, we make a deal and I am about to go on the Stargate and I have this exchange with RDA. I don’t even know if I have a line to be honest, maybe I had one line. Peter was just like, “milk it.” I just stood there gazing into RDA’s eyes with a whole bunch of dialogue in my brain even though it wasn’t coming out of my mouth. It was one of my most fun moments and just to be given that permission, “you’re a guest, he’s the star. You make him wait and you let him just sit there and feel your power before you exit this episode.” It was awesome. That’s how Peter was as a director; he wanted people to bring themselves, bring their best and have fun and not waste time. He was efficient and fun and light and everything got done and everyone was in a good humor.

David Read
Yeah, that was a great episode. I love that scene because “this is the reason why we’re the good guys, even though we know that she’s going to go out and destroy another civilization” more than likely. All you’re communicating through that experience is “you’re a fool for letting me go. I wouldn’t let you go.” It’s just so juicy.

Suanne Braun
I need to watch that.

David Read
Rite of Passage, it’s a good show, it’s really good.

Suanne Braun
I watched all of Jacqueline’s stuff and more for Hathor hosts but it’s been a while and talk about forgetting things. I can’t even remember last week!

David Read
Oh really? Oh that you didn’t remember…okay. I think that you are the only two who have successfully seduced, or attempted to seduce rather, members of the SG-1 team. Hathor obviously did her number n Hathor and Nirrti did the same thing to Jonas as well. That’s kind of interesting where you use your beauty.

Suanne Braun
Get us!

David Read
Right. That’s good stuff.

Suanne Braun
Our wily ways.

David Read
Well, you know, goa’uld have got to goa’uld. They’re going to do their power trip “I’m going to give you power.” Let’s see here. Question, Tereza Žáčková Motalová, I’m sure I butchered that, I apologize. Question for Jacqueline – Nirrti was pure evil, was it difficult playing her at any point? What did you most love about sinking your teeth into the character?

Jacqueline Samuda
Suanne and I have both been asked similar questions in the past and I think we both have a similar answer. To be honest it’s extremely fun to play an evil character. Iin fact you actually have more in a way to sink your teeth into because what an actor is really playing when one is working is subtext. You’ve got your script and you’ve got all the lines that you’re going to say, but what you’re actually doing besides saying the lines is what’s underneath the lines, that subtext. If you’re a bad guy, you’ve got tons of subtext, you’ve got more subtext than the average character. You’ve got more to sink your teeth into, it’s fun, you have to justify and that’s also fun. You can’t be doing something “Oh, I’m just evil,” that’s not a good enough.

David Read
You have your reasons.

Jacqueline Samuda
That’s right. I want to create a Hok’tar, I want to develop science to its nth degree. Some eggs are gonna get broken so I’ve got to justify what I do, but it’s for the good of this larger than life project. That part wasn’t difficult, it was genuinely just fun.

David Read
Suanne.

Suanne Braun
I think the other lovely thing is, you’re right, there’s more to sink your teeth into. I think the other thing is that playing somebody who is very removed from who you are is massively challenging and exciting. That, for me, was one of the greatest things about Hathor. She was way more, certainly more evil, way more forthright, openly played on her feminine wiles. It would be, I think, such an interesting character to see today, what they would do with that character today. She was in some ways a product of television in the 90s and I think it would be a very different Hathor today and I’d be really interested to see what they did with that if it ever came back. Has there been any update on that?

Jacqueline Samuda
I just want to add too that the only hard thing that I always found with Nirrti is that I always wanted more.

David Read
The rumor is that something’s going to be getting announced, potentially, at I think it’s New York Comic Con. There’s a possibility there, but it could be a rumor, it could be completely wrong. My Inkling is that we may get an announcement here in the next six months now that everything’s clearing up. But you’re right, I think modern Hathor would be also be seducing the women. I think she would be going after everyone. II think that would be an interesting angle to approach.

David Read
Don’t all goddesses?

Suanne Braun
Absolutely.

David Read
When, I think was Wodan, it was either Eggar or Wodan, whoever snapped your neck in season six. I just remember, it’s just an expletive that came out of my mouth, it’s like, “That’s it!” You don’t stay dead in sci-fi as Continuum showed and hopefully we’ll see the same for Suanne at some point here. Still, it was like, “ah gosh, that’s the main storyline.” But at least you went out with a snap and a bang.

Jacqueline Samuda
Yes. True. True.

Suanne Braun
Bend and snap.

David Read
AlexDeLaNuit – What was it like working with Amanda Tapping?

Suanne Braun
Oh, she’s awful. I am joking internet, please.

David Read
Have either of you worked with her as a director yet?

Jacqueline Samuda
No, I came so close.

Suanne Braun
I would love to. I would love love love to. The three of us talked about potentially trying to do something and then at one stage Kate Hewlett was in the conversation. But one day, one day, She is everything you would want and hope, I think, from a leading lady. She is warm, she’s unbelievably friendly and welcoming, utterly professional, knows how to have fun but without it impeding or interfering with the work. Really good at her job, bloody talented and today a really excellent director and a gorgeous human being. Really, I can’t think of anything horrible to say about her.

Jacqueline Samuda
Yeah, so down to Earth. I came very close. I was sent to network and Amanda was a big part of that for a continuing character in Motherland. It didn’t work out because one of the existing cast members was kind of moved into that character. But just that process was great, she actually reached out to me personally after my audition. She texted me and said, “that was great, we’re sending you to network and you’re awesome.” That’s not typical so it was just very generous of her to do that. She’s just so down to earth and just a real human being. Not fancy, not like, “oh, I’m in the film industry.” Nothing like that. She’s just fresh, she’s just real and very talented and very disciplined.

Suanne Braun
Yeah.

David Read
Homo Erpel, and this is true, I’ve been seeing some Stargate fan films pop up with some of the goa’uld – are you interested in or would be opposed to appearing in fan films as your characters?

Suanne Braun
I don’t know.

Jacqueline Samuda
I’m not familiar with them. I don’t know what it would entail or what they look like. It would just depend really.

David Read
I’ll send you a link to one that a friend of mine, Samuel, did. He got…what was the actor? Oh gosh, my brains sucks. What is this with 40 people? He was Seth, he played Seth and it was Robert Duncan. I don’t know if he’s done it yet but he’s agreed to shoot one. I think that’s an interesting direction to explore for these characters. They’re shorts, they’re like 10 to 15 minutes long so that’ll be really cool to get all the goa’uld back together.

Suanne Braun
Yeah.

David Read
Bernd Backhaus – Suanne, would you be willing to share your husband’s cinnamon bun recipe?

Suanne Braun
If only I knew it, I genuinely don’t know it. I took one look at those babies and I was like, “I can’t go anywhere near that. I’m gonna end up like Jabba the Hutt.” They’re so good but I think they’re about 2000 calories for one, they’re just ridiculous. I’m sorry, I don’t have the recipe, I genuinely don’t have it.

David Read
Eva L – Suanne, wanted to thank you for a wonderful show. You are wonderful as Belle. Lots of love from the Czech Republic.

Suanne Braun
Thank you.

David Read
What programme is she talking about?

Suanne Braun
So this is a musical, it’s not really a musical, it’s an immersive piece of theater that had jazz in it which I’ve just done for the last nine months. Basically it’s based on a true story and an amazing woman called Belle Livingston, who was, her and another woman called Texas Guinan. There’s a good story for us Jacqueline. They were known as the Queen’s of the Speakeasies. Basically Belle had this extraordinary life, she was born in Kansas, according to her own legend found under a sunflower. As a little kind of a baby left in a field, adopted by this family, kind of had this unbelievable zest for life right from an early stage. Ended up moving to Paris, married four times, devoured men, devoured money. She was unbelievable with money, n like 1802 or something she lost $100,000 in a night and then managed to get it back. Basically after the fourth husband she’s forced to come back to Manhattan after like 30 years of being away. She comes back to Manhattan and it’s in the height of prohibition and she finds it very pedestrian. She’s like, “where’s the glamour? They’re drinking in these rat infested dives, like “where are the great clubs?” She has this idea to build like an uber speakeasy, which she does, which is called the 58th Street Country Club. Our show, it was mainly about the opening night of this club which was raided. Apparently the Prince of Wales was there and Al Capone was there. Everyone was so excited to be at this opening that the whole of Manhattan came to a gridlock. It’s kind of her story but also with three course meal and then an amazing jazz band who performed throughout the night. Also Belle does a few songs, it was an amazing part to play.

David Read
So you are recreating this opening night for the guests?

Suanne Braun
Exactly.

David Read
That’s really cool. I think I’ve seen your outfit in that.

Suanne Braun
It’s a red dress. A long red dress.

David Read
Man, that was good.

Suanne Braun
She was such a kind of outlandish…So it was amazing also to get an opportunity at this point in my career to create a role. I auditioned a year ago for the workshop and then kind of we devised it together, we made this show. There were parts that were extraordinarily difficult. Also, it’s so different doing something with live, where people are, there’s a live band and it’s like a club. In the beginning it really threw me because I was like, “oh my god, I’m talking and no one’s shutting up. Why is nobody stopping?” They’re all talking, they’re all eating, like a nightclub. So you have to control the audience and that took a good month I’d say. Then also that combined with the servers and waiters running out and the bar making drinks. There’s one very poignant moment in the show that she talks about the one man that she did love and he unfortunately died two weeks into their marriage. I’m literally talking about the love of my life and this bartender like mixing a big drink going “do you want that with ice my love? Do you want it with ice? Yeah, no? All right darlin.” Like “you’re in Manhattan.” Yeah, I heard some crazy, crazy things I gotta tell you. People’s responses were bizarre. We had a lot of discussions about this with the organizers and the producers because sometimes I think people don’t know what they’re coming to see. They think they’re coming to a jazz club, which it is, but it is also a theatrical piece. I am playing a character, this isn’t Suanne, she’s called Belle Livingston. You walk inbetween the tables and you’re face to face with people. Sometimes I sat on people’s laps; she’s very sort of outrageous and flirty and all that. Then just sometimes people would have this really bizarre…So one night there was a woman who was quite loud, clearly had a bit too much to drink. In the middle of this, I’m talking about, again, the Count, which was the hardest bit actually. All the raucous party bits people could get down in but in the second act it goes very quiet. The lighting goes down, they’ve had their main course, they stopped drink service for this bit. Everything is indicating “be quiet, it’s now a performance.” She tells you this heartbreaking story of a man that she loved and it’s very beautiful. There are these cherry petals that drop from the thing, it’s very moving. They get married in Japan and she talks about “whenever I see cherry petals I’m back there.” There’s this beautiful dancing and she just stands under these petals as they fall while somebody is singing Solitude which is that beautiful Billie Holiday “in my solitude,” beautiful song. One night in the middle of all this the girl just leant over, very loudly to her partner, and went “Oh, it’s so good, isn’t it? I didn’t know there was a story. There’s a proper story.” But loud like that.

David Read
“Yeah Lady. Do you mind if we continue telling it?”

Suanne Braun
We had another, sorry, I won’t waste any more time, just there was one woman, one night, who was clearly off her face. It’s very distracting; it’s like acting with antenna. You’re like, “something’s happening here but I’m talking to these people. Do I need to stop the show? What’s happening?” I could see all the security were like [uncertain]. I don’t know what the problem was, apart from the fact that she was drunk, but she kept complaining and she had a voice like this [deep and grating]. A bit like a fog horn. “It’s not proper dancing. That’s not 1930s.” She was going on and on and on about how the dancing wasn’t the right style and she remembered. Finally, I just thought I have to nip this in the bud, I turn around and went “honey” because she’s a Southerner. Miss Belle is a Southerner. I was like, “Honey, could y’all stop your gums from flapping for one hot second so I can tell a story.”

Suanne Braun
The whole room just went [stunned]. She looked at me and I went, “yeah, I’m looking at you baby. I’ve seen you talking all the way through, now can you hush the hell on up.” The rest of the audience burst into applause. [inaudible] This one woman for the rest of the night, she was like [sulking].

David Read
Good for you.

David Read
Well that’s just too darn bad. You took back control. That’s fantastic.

Suanne Braun
I came off stage and I was like [heart pounding].

David Read
Of course, yeah. You have to respect that everyone else is also here and has paid for the same experience that you have.

Suanne Braun
Exactly.

David Read
Don’t disrespect the room, you’re there as a guest.

Suanne Braun
Exactly.

David Read
Good for you. So, Jacqueline, before I wrap this up. You were in Trial by Fire on Virgin River, that aired last month. What was your part in that and can you tell us anything about being back with Martin Wood?

Jacqueline Samuda
I was so glad to be working with Martin, as always. Every time I’ve worked with him it’s been great. I was playing a really nasty lawyer. Basically I’m the lawyer who intimidates the young girl who’s been sexually abused and I’m trying to make her look bad on the stand. So absolutely one of those characters. I loved doing it so much because it felt like theater because you’re in a courtroom and you have to stand up and you have to command the space and so on. The way they shot it, we were block shooting it so it really did feel like theater in the shooting of it. I absolutely loved it. Watching it, my character is all about creating the reactions from this girl who’s one of the leads of the show. You don’t see a lot of me, really what you see is the effect that I have on her. I can tell you that the whole experience was just fabulous and I was pretty, pretty nasty. I look pretty nasty, too I gotta say. I wanted to apologize to my children. I was like, “If Mommy can look like that, that’s scary.”

David Read
Absolutely. So Magic and Mistletoe, this is going to be coming out on Hallmark later this year?

Jacqueline Samuda
Yes.

David Read
This was terrific. Thank you so much, thank you both for coming on to do this episode. I have been doing the show now for for three seasons, we’re about to close out our season. Michael Shanks has just agreed to come on for our season finale and everyone was always like, “when are you going to bring a couple of people on to do some of these convention style episodes?” It’s like “I’m getting to it.” This was a treat and I can’t wait to see you both again in the future here. Never underestimate the role that you played in bringing this magical space to life. I can tell you so many people, they get to the end of it and they go online and they say, “what should I watch next?” and it’s like “start it over again.” You guys are a part of that so thank you for making that magic happen.

Jacqueline Samuda
Thank you.

David Read
It’s a big deal.

Jacqueline Samuda
Thank you

Suanne Braun
Thank you so much David. I have to say you, honestly, I heard in your introduction that you’ve done, what is it now? Over 200 shows?

David Read
Yeah, we’re at 226.

Suanne Braun
That is unbelievable.

David Read
Something’s working!

Suanne Braun
Yeah. But really kudos to you; your passion and your love of the show and the actors and all the fans. You really bring in that like familial feeling and I absolutely doff my cap to you. It’s not an easy thing to do and you make it look easy and that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give you. Apart from the fact that you’re just lovely as well.

Jacqueline Samuda
I second all that and congratulations to you David. So nice to see you Suanna, I’m going to message you after we hang up here.

Suanne Braun
Let’s hope that we get to see one another, all three of us, in person at a convention in 2024. Come on. Let’s make it happen.

Jacqueline Samuda
Let’s do it. Let’s do it.

David Read
I’m down.

Suanne Braun
Let’s get ready for that.

David Read
Thank you both for coming on.

Suanne Braun
Thank you so much for having us.

Jacqueline Samuda
Bye everybody.

Suanne Braun
Bye everybody.

David Read
I’m gonna wrap the show up guys, you take care of yourselves.

Jacqueline Samuda
Cheers. Bye

Suanne Braun
Bye.

David Read
Jacqueline Samuda and Suanne Braun, Nirrti and Hathor on Stargate SG-1. This was a treat. I can’t thank them enough for joining me for this episode. I hope to do more episodes like this, particularly in season four as we move forward. It’s a great way to bring up new memories because you’ve got two of the artists feeding into each other and coming up with stories that they’ve put away in the back of their minds. Tracy, thank you for moderating for this episode, moderating the live chat. I really appreciate you standing up and pulling this one off all by yourself today. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions, I apologize I wasn’t able to get to all of them. Our schedule is pretty thick in terms of the content that we’re moving forward with to finish out season three of Dial the Gate. Next week we’ve got John Gajdecki, his pre-recorded show is going to be October 14th at 10 in the morning, I may slide a couple more in here, we’re trying to figure out the schedule for the end of the month. We’ve got a few that are still pending and I want to work them in, it’s just a matter of scheduling so we’ll see. Definitely John Gajdecki is going to be on this Saturday, October the 14th. The episode is all about Atlantis. He shared, what did he share? He shared pre-renders, pre-visualizations, for the pilot Rising, tor the puddle jumper dogfight with the darts and the Rising of the city itself. If you keep it on Gateworld you might just see the scene from Rising, the animatics of the city coming up out of the water before the episode airs. Keep it on |Gateworld for that. Stargate science with Mika McKinnon and David Hewlett has been rescheduled live Friday October 20th at 10am Pacific time. Heather Ash, writer and Story Editor Stargate SG-1, is live Sunday October 29th at 12 noon Pacific time. Two hours later, Michael Shanks, Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1, is joining us live October 29th at 2pm Pacific time. My thanks once again to Tracy for pulling this episode off by herself, I really appreciate all your work Tracy. My Producer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey, my other moderators, Sommer, Antony, Jeremy and Rhys. Big thanks to Frederick Marcoux over at ConceptsWeb, he’s our web developer on Dial the Gate, makes the website continually possible. Thank you so much for tuning in for this episode of Dial the Gate, I hope you enjoy the show and the content. My name is David Read, I’ll see you on the other side.