We are privileged to welcome back David Hewlett to Dial the Gate for our Season Two premiere! David will be answer your LIVE questions and bring us up to speed on the goings-on of Tech Bandits and his other projects!

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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:52 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:35 – Welcoming David
5:57 – Social Media and the Internet
11:00 – Technology with Children and Family, and Internet Information
16:31 – A Pandemic With No Internet
21:13 – Gimpy G
30:46 – AI Script, The Technology, and Amanda Tapping
40:22 – AI Audition Videos
43:06 – Slim’s Game VS McKay’s Characteristics
47:44 – Road Trip and 3D Printing
53:54 – Physically Challenging Scenes
1:00:22 – Jason Momoa and See
1:12:49 – The Shrine and David’s Sister, Kate Hewlett
1:16:55 – Which expedition leader did McKay connect with the most?
1:20:58 – Cancel Culture and Society’s Modern Perception
1:29:20 – A Fan Thanks David for “Sunday,” Story of Depression
1:32:40 – Stargate Legacy Novels, and an “Evil McKay”
1:35:54 – Star Trek Guest Appearances, Auditioning, and Guillermo del Toro
1:40:40 – Thoughts on “Meredith”
1:42:18 – Wrapping up with David
1:46:18 – Post interview housekeeping
1:48:21 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
So that is supposed to say part three, not part two. Hello, everyone, my name is David Read, and welcome to Dial the Gate. David Hewlett is standing by here, we’re going to bring him in just a moment. I wanted to thank you so much for joining us today. I want to thank Joseph Mallozzi and Colin Cunningham, as well, this has been a terrific start to season two. And I’m so, so thankful. We’re almost at 20,000 subscribers. And that is all thanks to you guys. So, here’s the thing, I need your help in spreading the word on the project. So if you like Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that Like button. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and it’s going to help the show to continue to grow its audience forward. And please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, there’s a little Subscribe icon there. If you want to get notified. Excuse me, giving the Bell icon to click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guests changes because live streams you know, they kind of go that way with life. Sometimes things come up and we have to cancel and you’ll get a notification that way. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several days and weeks on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. So David and I are going to catch up for a little bit here. While that’s happening @youtube.com/dialthegate, you can go ahead and submit your questions to David. You can also submit questions to me and I will be answering the questions directed specifically at me at the end of the show. So big thanks to my moderating team who’s in there helping make this happen. Let’s see how crazy we can get today. Mr. David Hewlett, Rodney McKay. Once again, my friend. Thanks for being here again.

David Hewlett
Oh, it’s a pleasure, abosolute pleasure

David Read
I really appreciate having you.

David Hewlett
I’m dragging my carpet, my carpet? My carcass here after having my third, I’ve just had my booster shot. I feel like I’ve done the Wraith enzyme, coming down, I’m moving rapidly into Shrine territory here. So I hope I’m gonna be some use to you. As I was saying before, I’ve got my giant mug of tea and it’ll be like a fireside chat with a slightly doddering old McKay.

David Read
It’s the Last Man all over again.

David Hewlett
That’s it. It really is.

David Read
Any side effects? Mine hurt like hell for the next day in the arm and that was it.

David Hewlett
I had the ancient old AstraZenecas, so I did two AstraZenecas which you don’t even have down there, do you?

David Read
I don’t think so.

David Hewlett
Yeah, so basically it’s the dead virus one, it’s the old school one. And of course being the nerd that I am I was so disappointed cuz I was like, “What? I want the I want the fancy mRNA one.” But Canada’s like, “You get what you’re given. You know what you get what you get. You don’t get upset.”

David Read
I mean, yeah, the fact that these things came out as fast as as they did, and that they work, is just extraordinary technology.

David Hewlett
We were so lucky because a number of technologies came together. Like was it was cryo-microscopy? The idea that we could actually start seeing these molecules at such a tiny, at such a detailed level allowed us to do stuff that we just wouldn’t have been able to do before.

David Read
What a piece of work is man?

David Hewlett
Oh my god, it’s amazing. This is my thing is like I hear about all this, all of this stuff happening with the environment conference going on in Glasgow, or wherever it is. Yeah. And I keep thinking we’re never going to change. We’re terrible. Like we suck. Like we just suck as a species we just suck at looking after this planet. So what we got to do is now we got to come up with technologies to help us undo what we’ve done. Because I think technology’s the only thing’s gonna save us now. I don’t think it’s going to be a change of the way we are because that ain’t happening.

David Read
Human nature. I mean, the Star Trek fans that we are, I mean, for me personally, it’s always been like I completely believe in our ability for technology to get us out of problems. But I do not believe in our ability to put down a hammer when we can take it and beat our neighbor over the head with it.

David Hewlett
Yeah, there’s still that aspect of it, I think for sure.

David Read
But I think the technology will win out. I mean, look at polio, took seven years to develop the vaccine for this. This took seven months. That’s remarkable.

David Hewlett
Yeah. I’s amazing.

David Read
And we still have a long way to go, don’t get me wrong. the science is always going to evolve, and there’ll be faster, more efficient ways of doing things. But it’s just…

David Hewlett
The world is a better place. It may seem like a terrible place now. But the reality is…

David Read
We get tunnel vision.

David Hewlett
Yeah, we’re obviously in a very privileged position. But but at the same time, I think that, sometimes it’s easy to forget that we have made huge leaps and bounds in quality of life for vast portions of the planet, we can do a lot more obviously.

David Read
But there’s still a lot to be done. But I think we’re headed in the right direction.

David Hewlett
I hope so. Yeah. I really do feel like we’re starting to and also just the generations that are coming up now. Oh, my god, you know you’re older and you start talking about, “And then the other generations.”

David Read
What’s your Insta, what’s your [inaudible]? Everything’s fire, like what the hell is fire?

David Hewlett
Is that fire? Everything’s sus.

David Read
I hear oh, everything’s fire. Suck, sucks?

David Hewlett
Sus, SUS,

David Read
That’s a new one on me.

David Hewlett
Like suspect,

David Read
Oh, my God.

David Hewlett
Or suspicious or something. But again, unless you’ve got like a 13, 14 year old hanging around you don’t know any of this. Nor do you want to. I’m not sure I want to. But it’s actually, it’s one of things I love, we’ve talked about before, that the Tech Bandits thing for me it helps me. I feel like it keeps me in touch with what’s happening in the teenage world, most of which I could, yep, I struggle with. But at the same time I think it’s fun to know what were their thinking is and where they’re going. And it just keeps you young.

David Read
Of when, there’s a certain amount of wanting to be aware of what they are thinking. I don’t know when…

David Hewlett
I think it’s important.

David Read
Yeah, well, I remember when shorthand became a big deal. And I was working in radio for six, seven years shorthand on on phones with texting. And there was a concern, and rightly so, that young people, and the older people who wanted to mistreat them in various ways, were using a shorthand that even if parents looking at the text messages, wouldn’t necessarily decipher. And it’s important that you stay at least abreast of a lot of what your kids are doing and what the things that they are saying mean.

David Hewlett
Well, the very nature of English, language in general is that it changes and adapts all the time. I mean, it’s constantly changing and adjusting the meanings of words and things. I mean, I get schooled on a lot of stuff. I mean, because I’m older, I grew up in a different time with different thoughts on things. And it’s fascinating to me. Again, I used to feel sort of threatened by it. And now I find it, I mean I get told off about something now, it’s like, “Thank you.” Because I obviously don’t mean to…

David Read
Never quit learning.

David Hewlett
…do the wrong thing. Exactly. That’s it lifelong learning, man. I think it’s not even rational it’s a technical term. It’s almost like a technical way of calling it. The reality is, it’s just, the world is an amazing place. There’s amazing stuff going on. It’s why I love science fiction, its people experimenting with a future that hasn’t happened yet. You know what I mean?

David Read
And also perhaps warning us about futures that we don’t want to go down to.

David Hewlett
Yeah, weird, though. And yet, we still, like we still literally just sign ourselves up for it. I mean, it’s just amazing to be people talking about Facebook right now and the evils of Facebook, I’m like what about this? What about data privacy and stuff? It’s like, “You gave them everything.” What do you like? It’s not like they had to take anything. We happily give this stuff up for five bucks off a whatever, you know what I mean, like, so…

David Read
Praise from strangers will happily expose ourselves in all manner and means.

David Hewlett
Getting more and more like an actor. It’s terrifying. Everyone just wants attention all the time. Our competition is increased by millions.

David Read
By 7 billion. Yeah, all the world is literally a stage. And the thing that scares me is the stuff that we’re putting out there now, that intentionally or not, maliciously or not, we have no idea, will be able to be used against us in the future. Like when you send, when you text your nude to your your girlfriend, and then your girlfriend turns on you and posts that online, that is out there in the ether now, and may come back to haunt you later on. What was the girl who drank bleach, and ended up killing herself after that just a few years ago. We are so mortal and we have to really be careful about what it is that we put out there because once you cast that, that fishing pole, you can’t always reel it back in.

David Hewlett
Yeah, and the internet is permanent. It’s like stone, it’s worse than stone. It’s like writing in stone, it keeps getting dug up, over and over again. Yeah. But I think the thing to remember that was a sort of a philosophy that we all understand but to have it said sometimes helps, is just that, is that you go on the web, you get all depressed about how many stupid people there are, and the stupid things that are said, or the inappropriate things or whatever. The reality is, it takes nothing to say something stupid, or to react to some in a bad way. It takes no thought at all. It takes a lot of thought, like this, admittedly it’s just a conversation, but it still requires you to organize this stuff, to plan it, to actually take some time to put stuff together, have some semblance of a plan for the chat or whatever, to do something that makes, that is useful to people requires work. So there’s always going to be more like crap out there than there is quality stuff, always. And that’s not a testament to humanity. That’s just the nature of work, you know?

David Read
And also knowing your audience, as well. I remember when Steve Jobs came out with the iPad, and the iPhone. And his son Reed was pretty young at the time, and it was eventually revealed that Reed was never allowed to touch any of this stuff.

David Hewlett
I wouldn’t want Steve Jobs as my dad.

David Read
Well, when you’ve got other, I’ll never forget my neighbor bringing out her 18 month old, the kids crying, she snapped an iPad into the entertainment center, pacifies the kid immediately.

David Hewlett
Absolutely.

David Read
Did you and I may be straying a little personal here. What kind of boundaries did you set down for your family being as tech heavy and aware as you are and as you tried to be?

David Hewlett
I think I made all the wrong choices. I mean, I was completely, we were definitely very much aware of what was being used on the iPad. And we tried to sort of skew it towards things that were, I mean there were some fantastic, some brilliant games out there that I love. Dragon Box, or whatever it was, which is basically teaching. I mean, it was, God, what would it have been? I can’t remember this. This is where my brain goes, this is where it’s okay I blame COVID. I blame COVID vaccine for this. But algebra is the word I’m looking for. Thank you. But basically, it teaches you algebra, but using images, little kids working stuff out using images instead of numbers because basically, whatever it is, math is just a bunch of symbols in [inaudible]

David Read
Your brain connects it the same way.

David Hewlett
Like my brain is not connecting now. But I’ll stay away from math in this conversation. Because there’s gonna be a few no fly zones for the ones where I’m not gonna make any sense. But, um, but yeah, so there was a lot of, we actively looked in a nerdy way I would look for things that were hopefully of use to him. But the reality is I was never allowed to use the television.

David Read
That’s right.

David Hewlett
And I as a result, I really feel like I missed out because Monday morning you come in and I didn’t know what happened on Six Million Dollar Man the night before.

David Read
And you somehow wound up on TV.

David Hewlett
And yet, absolutely. I mean, but I am also one of those people who can’t go into a bar with TV on. I never learned to do that multitasking thing that everyone else seems to do. So it was, there was always something special about television and films to me. It was like, my father hated television but always brought films home to watch, always, was a huge movie buff.

David Read
He appreciated the art?

David Hewlett
Yeah, I think that was it. I think what he didn’t like and I caught myself saying to my son the other day, he didn’t like the flicking of channels because then he felt the TV, the networks were telling you what to watch. It’s what caught your eye.

David Read
A friend of mine once said that you’re not watching what’s on, you’re trying to find, you’re trying to watch what else is on.

David Hewlett
And you’re waiting to get caught. It’s like waiting to get caught. You’re like a fish, like you’re just waiting for that hook. Oh, what’s gonna get me and that’s what happens with the algorithms on YouTube and stuff. So one of the things I say to my son is like, “Please don’t just watch next.”

David Read
No.

David Hewlett
Think of something you want to watch and look it up.

David Read
Don’t let it feed you.

David Hewlett
Exactly. So that’s the sort of stuff we do. So the other thing I told my son which was one of the MythBusters talked about this, was that the Internet hates women. So I taught my kid that any question he asks the Internet keep in mind it’s probably sexist, racist, homophobic, ablest and everything else. Because it’s like asking your dodgy uncle a question, you know you’re gonna get a, you may not get the most appropriate answer to stuff. And that’s been interesting as well so just like trying to get him to go to different sources so he’s it’s not just, he’ll come and go like the answer from everyone like Cliff Clavin from Cheers. They all come in with, “Well actually, the virus is caused by you know…” Everyone’s got like…

David Hewlett
An opinion on something. That’s it. Well, yeah, that’s in the false case. But I mean, but it’s also people have these useless facts that they’ve learned on the Internet that they like to throw into conversation now, a lot of the kids do. And I’m always big on, give me three sites, give me three sites that can back that up. Because that sounds amazingly cool. But there’s a very good chance that it’s not even, it’s not even real, it’s just something that they’ve come up with that they know is going to hook people’s attention.

David Read
5g

David Read
The search algorithms are often, for better or for worse, because they just churn us more often, for better or for worse, lowest common denominator machines that are going to feed us whatever it is that we want, not necessarily what we need, or what someone else thinks that we need, but what we want to keep on using it.

David Hewlett
Yeah, it’s like the little rats going up and electrocuting themselves to get the cheese. Like they’ll just keep doing it over and over and over again. I mean, we’re not designed for this world. Our brains were not designed to have this much information available to us…

David Read
We’re farmers.

David Hewlett
…all the time. We’re also not designed to operate at 100 miles an hour on highways. I mean, I think we have been outpaced by our technology. And we are now beginning to look to other technologies to help us with the technologies that we have now. So we’ve got autonomous vehicles, we’ve got AI working through the data for us, we’ve got big data, we’ve got all these things, all these technologies are coming out right now are ones that are basically augmenting us as humans and allowing us to actually compete and function in this world that is just too fast and too vast for us at this point. Right?

David Read
But at the same time, I’m thankful for so much of the technology. Like we have the ability to sit down and talk with you across borders. Transmitting around the world across borders, anyone who has access to it, it’s reminder…

David Hewlett
In the pandemic, could you imagine if the pandemic had happened without the Internet?

David Read
I’ve often thought about that.

David Hewlett
So we’d just be, it would be a disaster. I mean, we saw it really showed up a lot of the haves and have nots in the world, from the education standpoint, as well. But the fact that there was a possibility to get any education during the situation was extraordinary.

David Read
I mean, part of me was like, if we didn’t have the Internet and the pandemic happened, what chances are there that there would have been a spike in reading books, that’s a part of this. But I mean, their [inaudible]

David Hewlett
Books is an interesting one though too, because I started thinking, well, would we have invented books if we’d been able to go straight to the Internet and video from the caveman days? I mean, when we were like living in caves, telling each other stories, we’ve really gone back to like podcasts and these kinds of things. We’ve gone back to telling stories in the way that we’re most used to it, which is by looking at people and seeing them wave their arms around and stuff, some more than others apparently. A little call back to Nykl.

David Read
Right, David Nykl.

David Hewlett
And then there’s the idea that we came up with books purely to allow us to distribute the knowledge that we had, or to keep it contained in some ways. But the idea that it was an abstraction that we were forced to create because there wasn’t technology that allowed us to do this. If we leapfrog over that stuff I’m not sure we even need books. And that of course, some people get very, very antsy about that It’s like books, I love books!

David Read
It’s not just that. There is a reduction in speed and a thoughtfulness of process to putting your thoughts into a book that allows you to be considered of your thoughts, and allows you to make multiple drafts and refine your thought rather than just like this. It’s life, once it’s out, its out, and the things that we say, aren’t always 100% what we mean, but having a chance to do that. And the the flip side of that is so few, and this is the thing that that I’m even noticing in myself and probably you are too, we’re not patient enough to absorb the information. Our mind wanders so fast. And it’s like [inaudible]

David Hewlett
Plus like me, I mean, I’m recently diagnosed with ADHD and it’s like everyone’s like “Yeah? Like no one, including myself, was that surprised. And in fact it doesn’t make much difference in my life anyways. But it just kind of fun to have that as another thing to learn about basically. But the idea that that, yeah, I think it’s every so often like I’ve got what the best invention, the best purchase I’ve made in the last like two years is just a pair of the Air Pods for my phone. Because I can go for walks and talk to people on the phone. I can always be doing something and every so often I’ve realized I have to take them off, put them on my pocket and just walk for a bit with my own my own stuff.

David Read
Your thoughts, how stuff arises to you.

David Hewlett
Yes, otherwise it’s just noise all the time, noise you’re constantly being buffeted by other stuff going on all the time.

David Read
Do you and Jane sleep with your phones next year nightstands or do you put them away?

David Hewlett
We’re awful, we’re awful. I mean we see each other by the glow of the lights. I probably wouldn’t recognize Jane without the glow of the light. The other problem of course with the pandemic is that we don’t just work from home, we live at work. I mean that’s the…

David Read
That’s the delineation we’re missing. I think it’s very important for some people because your home office can also become a prison.

David Hewlett
But I think you and I are somewhat familiar with this stuff. Like we’ve done this before. I think nerds, I’m assuming I’m including you and myself in this, I think we kind of thrive in this environment because it’s like we’re used to this. This is the cyber existence where we’re all equal because we’re all just from here up anyways, it’s just about what we have to say and I think that’s something we’ve always sort of reveled in, but I think what…

David Read
Back to us we also have to remember our trick is to remember when to step away.

David Hewlett
Well, that’s what I never do. I’m terrible. That’s why we got a dog. My wife got a dog. In spite…

David Read
To walk the humans.

David Hewlett
I fought it. She’s walking her humans. I mean, that’s it. Jane wanted me to leave the house. I was like, “There’s a pandemic on out there. I’m not going out there.” I’m a germaphobe at the best of times.

David Read
Yeah, this is crazy. Before we get into the Stargate section of the conversation…

David Hewlett
We’re never gonna get to the Stargate section. There’s too much stuff to talk about.

David Read
There’s too much stuff happening. You mentioned something to me at this at the start of the program that was like oh, I really want to bring that up, your friend Lance, GimpyG, what’s going on?

David Hewlett
So yeah, Lance is a friend of mine I met through Barnacules another sort of YouTuber and Twitch guy. Wonderful, wonderful guy, ex-Microsoft programmer. Just one of the things I love about the Internet, I love about like Twitter is everyone has these horrible stories about Twitter and I’m like, “I love Twitter.” I meet people I would never talk to otherwise and one of them was was Barnacules. And it’s what we started doing. I started, whenever I can I do a Saturday mornings Tech Talk with him. And assistive tech came up one day. This guy GimpyG gaming came up and said something about how do you do this? And Barnacules is like well, “I’m more of a software guy. I don’t really know much about Arduino and stuff.” And I was like,” Oh my God, dude, that’s my bag. Like I love that stuff.” I literally I’ve got an electric wheelchair in the other room that’s being operated by an Arduino right now. I love it. I’m going to kill someone but it’s fantastic. I gotta get the kill switch. That’s my next purchase is a kill switch because I realized that once it’s on, it’s on. It is very hard to stop the wheelchair when it’s moving.

David Read
At speed, yeah.

David Hewlett
I was smart enough that you can put it up on a little stand so the wheels go, but I’m very glad. Jane said like, “What’s that? What’s that burning smell?” It’s like, “Just me.”

David Read
Don’t mind theI motor.

David Hewlett
It’s fine. But anyways, so he asked about some assistive stuff. And I said, “Okay great, let’s chat.” And we started talking and he’s just a frickin hilarious guy. He was a teacher. So he’s a teacher who had to literally sue the Education Board to get the job because he’s the most qualified guy, never got the job. And they’re like, “Well, we’d have to build like ramps and stuff because he’s in a wheelchair.” So small town, obviously a lovely community that sort of rallied around and so what happened recently is that he just got set up. His brother-in-law had built the space up, his nephew had helped them out. They’ve got the whole Twitch streaming, gaming thing because his dream was, the one thing he can do is they can roll them up to the computer. He could control it with his head and a head-mounted mouse. And we had this we’ve got these assistive, if I can drag this in, so you can see it on camera, but so there’s like these amazing the Quad sticks where you can control it with your mouth by sipping and puffing, amazing things. All set up. He’s doing that. He just started streaming and then one of his streams, fire alarm if the fire alarm went off, or no, his sister came in and said we just had to call 911 and he literally on the stream goes, “I’ve got this sinking feeling.” And sure enough, he gets wheeled out and then the room just feels the smoke and his house burns down, on stream. He’s got nothing and of course the house is kitted up with all of his assistive tech. He’s got his mum there because his mum is in some quite a long stage of dementia. Got his sister who looks after him, his nephew who looks after him, his brother in law, they’re all in a Comfort Inn, which he says might need to change its name. But of course, what we forget is it’s not just about a bed because he can’t sleep in a regular bed. He’s gotta be moved. He’s gotta be able to adjust. Because when you’re just lie there, there are different pressure points that need to be adjusted.

David Read
Adjusted all the time.

David Hewlett
I always thought like, well, if you’re quadriplegic that you don’t have to worry, but you don’t feel anything. But of course, the reality is, in his case, he feels everything he just can’t move it. He sort of laughingly talks about a time that a spider made a web on his face, and there’s nothing he could he’s like, [blowing] trying to get rid of it. And it’s…

David Read
Just nothing you can do, like in an iron lung.

David Hewlett
But he is so freakin positive. He’s so funny. I was playing Magic Gathering with him and stuff before all of this. And then this happened. And I sort of feel like if there’s one little thing I can do, it’s sort of point people at his GoFundMe. I know times are tough for everyone right now. So I totally understand if you can’t, but if you can, he’s a great guy to help out. One of the things that happened was the heat from the fire was so intense his vehicles burst into flames. So his wheelchair assist, like his wheelchair lift van, that’s gone. And apparently, one of the last things his mother did was to renew the insurance, and it was not insured for fire. So they’ve just gone, “Yep, sorry about that van, buddy.” So he’s got to get it at least, at the very least, he’s got to get an assistive van because that’s how…

David Read
Where can we go on GoFundMe?

David Hewlett
Yeah. I think he’s called himself the Quad Squad. Let me see if I can find the link for you. I’ll, it’s and again…

David Read
Lance Carr.

David Hewlett
That’s the man. Did you find it?

David Read
I did indeed. And it’s on the screen right now. Oh, he’s got puppy.

David Hewlett
He does. Oh, my God. Yeah. who I thought was snoring in our last Twitch chat. But it turns out it wasn’t it was one of his family.

David Read
Yeah, GoFundMe. I just put it on Google, GoFundMe Quad Squad. Yeah, he’s halfway to his goal.

David Hewlett
Well, this is the funny thing, originally that goal was to get him kitted up with assistive tech. Now, as I say, life is a lot more expensive than 50 grand. So I think he’s gonna need any help he can get.

David Read
Absolutely.

David Hewlett
Honestly, I think this is the other thing that I’ve said, “How do we turn this? How do we turn GimpyG into a phoenix rising from the flames?” And I think what’s kind of nice is his channel got a huge bump, because, of course the news outlets jumped on this and goes, “Quadriplegic man rescued from burning house on Twitch stream.”

David Read
It’s something you’d want to see in the comic almost.

David Hewlett
There you go.

David Read
It’s incredible.

David Hewlett
So he’s got a bunch of new stuff, which I think has picked up some interest and stuff. So and I was saying like, “Well, great, let’s just run with it.” I’ve been bugging a few friends in the HGTV space to see if they can, maybe, but I just thought what a great episode that would be about getting a bunch of Stargate nerds together to come and rebuild his house as an assistive palace of some sort. And I mean, just I don’t know something, just to help fund it. Pay for it.

David Read
Absolutely.

David Hewlett
And I for some reason, I don’t know why, assistive tech fascinates me. The idea of like, augmenting ourselves. I mean, we define ourselves by our technology, the idea that technology will soon be at a point where it basically makes them, its semantics. You know what I mean? Like when we can all move the same way, or we can all move depending on what kind of machinery we’ve got attached to us. I think that’s a pretty amazing place to be living.

David Read
Amazing and scary, where do we end and does it begin?

David Hewlett
Well, it’s beginning by having a phone in our pockets, I think.

David Read
No, I mean, I think these frankly,

David Hewlett
That’s true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that’s right, I suppose now, we’d also probably be able to see better if we weren’t at the computer all the time. But yeah, the fact the fact that eye wear now has become cheap enough that people can see where they couldn’t before. And that’s kind of extraordinary. I hadn’t even thought of this. It’s very smart. Very smart. Smart guy, right. there

David Read
Absolutely. So we’re going to post the link as well. And it’s in…

David Hewlett
Thank you very much.

David Read
Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. And thank you Sommer for posting it in the chat.

David Hewlett
Sommer rocks. Thank you Sommer

David Read
Sommer rocks.

David Hewlett
And keep an eye out. And the other thing is, if you can, just go and follow him on Twitch, because we’ll get some big numbers for him. That’ll help him get some help even just itself that doesn’t cost anyone anything.

David Read
What does he do on Twitch?

David Hewlett
Games. He games.

David Read
Like what specifically, as the gamer in the room.

David Hewlett
Well I mean, just I got him into Magic: The Gathering, which he really quite likes. And he’s really good at it now. It drives me crazy.

David Read
I’ve never gotten in to it.

David Hewlett
Really?

David Read
No, I’ve tried and I’m like, Errr, there’s so many moving parts.

David Hewlett
Baz came up with this idea, which I thought was brilliant to do like a Magic The Gathering for us sci fi nerds. And we wanted to call it Astronauts and Aliens and do like the same kind of thing and have different houses. Like, there will be like a there’d be like a race of tree like creatures and a race of insect like creatures, there were humans and you had to build. It’s a great idea. I’d love to try to figure something out with it because I do love the mechanics of Magic The Gathering. And the idea of having a Magic: The Gathering that wasn’t just all these sort of, I was never a huge fantasy fan. I mean, I read a bit of sort of, Piers Anthony and stuff, but it was all pretty sort of like teeny bop kind of fantasy stuff. I preferred the the sci fi. So the idea of being able to do a Magic: The Gathering only it’s like Science: The Gathering would be just I think it’d be a lot more fun.

David Read
If you guys pursue that, please let me know because I’d like to be in the loop for sure.

David Hewlett
We’re gonna get GimpyG.

David Read
Oh, absolutely.

David Hewlett
And Q on that. Yeah, that’s true. You guys are good.

David Read
I’ve got several fan questions that have already been submitted that I do want to come around to [inaudible]

David Hewlett
So whatever you want to, yeah.

David Read
I gotcha. So the first of which we have to get to right off the top. Jenn Colin, “Did you enjoy the AI script?”

David Hewlett
Oh, my God. It was, I mean, it’s like a fantasy for me. It didn’t make any sense at all. But I was blown away. The thing that blew me away about the AI script stuff was that it got the stage directions right. Like they were, if you think about what it requires for it to have, it had a progression. People would enter the room, people would say something, people would leave the room. The gate was dialed.

David Read
The Stargate opened at one point. I was kind of surprised that it went there.

David Hewlett
He looks at her. She looks at him.

David Read
He looks at her.

David Hewlett
It was just, but it was like reading a script written by a child. Like I’ve been there. I’ve been handed those scripts by my son and you’re like, you’re laughing about how ridiculous aspects of the [inaudible] back when he was much, much younger. But now it’s scary. He comes up with ideas and you’re like, “God, that’s good.” But the idea that it was capable of doing that, I think the fact that we’re seeing it at this level, and Laurence Moroney, as well is another, he’s just a wonderful guy to talk to you. I think secretly I kind of, one of the reasons why I jumped on that one, as opposed to other things, was just because I felt that there was some crossover there with Tech Bandits and my own sort of learning stuff. And I was just fascinated. And as a result, you know, Laurence and I have been chatting with them again. So we’ve got all sorts of stuff having like the other trouble we can get into now as well. But I just love that Brad was sort of prescient enough to jump on that stuff. I mean, the guys, I mean, Brad’s, I love him. He’s just wonderful to have around. He laughs at my jokes. And I, yeah, and then just to see everybody again, that’s the other thing. It’s really nice to, even in a Zoom chat. I haven’t seen Amanda for like decades at this point. We’re like ships in the night. She like arrives in Toronto and goes and I go, “Aye, you in Toronto?” And she goes, “Yeah, tomorrow.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I leave tomorrow.” We’ve just been, it’s just been ridiculous. And I’m so impressed with her career, like the directing stuff is fantastic.

David Read
I have wanted to get her on. And that her people are very…

David Hewlett
She’s hard to get.

David Read
She’s hard to get. And I’m so conflicted, because on one hand, I’m so happy for her. And on the other hand, I’m like, “Please give me an hour.”

David Hewlett
Take a freakin break.

David Read
Right? But yeah, she’s just absolutely just extraordinary. And it couldn’t have happened to a more well deserved person to have the career that she’s wanted.

David Hewlett
Both as a person who is just such a fantastic person, and also who just knows her craft. I mean, if’s anyone’s gonna tell you how to do something at a scene it’s gonna be Amanda. She’s been doing it longer than anybody. And doing it really well and has always been one of those team player actors that is there to help facilitate the storytelling, not just their own ego. I mean, and she’s just, I love her to bits. It’s amazing.

David Read
The thing that really surprised me, and you’re right, very much on the point of the stage direction being what it was juxtaposed to the dialogue…

David Hewlett
All over the place,

David Read
Which was all over the place and I didn’t I…

David Hewlett
Some of the funniest lines though. I think Brad should steal a few those lines. Yeah. “I’m Daniel Jackson if you don’t know me, you should study more.” I like that one.

David Read
Right. I walked into it not knowing what to expect. And I got a text message from Richard Pasco, who’s one of the founders of GateCon. And he, I think, said it the best, “I think Brad’s job is safe for the considerable future.” And I said,” I think so.”

David Hewlett
For a while though. But here’s the thing though, those technologies, they start slow and clumsy, like…

David Read
But how long has Watson been around? You can put that up against, I mean, that thing beat the Jeopardy contestants and that’s been what, 5, 6, 7 years more? I was just kind of surprised.

David Hewlett
I mean, again, I also don’t think that people have been putting it to… I think, what I love about Laurence and what Laurence is doing with this is that he, like ourselves, is someone who just revels in the science fiction, revels in the science, is someone who’s constantly trying to sort of just basically wants to live in that sci fi world. So he’s playing with this stuff. I think if there were, I think if people put some some time and resources into this, I think we’d be amazed at what it comes up with. Because I think that the weird sort of haunting back of my neck thing that I got was I’ve read the script before. And I’ve read it from children. Yeah, and I mean, and they develop, right? I mean, they learn – they learn. And the more they learn, the better they get at this stuff.

David Read
But I also have to admit, it textually, even though it was all over the place, textually it did feel like Stargate and it wasn’t just because the gate opened.

David Hewlett
Aw, come on!

David Read
There were things that gave me a little bit of heebie jeebies. And I was like, “Am I seeing a preview of our future?” I mean, in 20 – 30 years, are we going to have Her, with Scarlett Johansson’s voice and all?

David Hewlett
But again, if it’s good at it, great. Yeah. I mean, if they can come up with new Stargate stories for us. That every night I go to bed and I listen to a new Stargate story written by an AI and I don’t know, and I don’t care, because I enjoy it that’s fantastic. And that just frees people up to do other stuff. So you know, I…

David Read
Emergency breaks in me always warn, are constantly warning myself at equal proportions just don’t get swept away by the tech.

David Hewlett
I think, he talks about the, there’s this unrealistic expectations with these things. Where you come into, text to speech or speech to text. And you’re like, “It doesn’t work.” You know what I mean? And it’s like, well, it doesn’t work right away. But here’s what it’s good at. Yes. Or here’s what it’s good at, or here’s what it’s, but again that’s the funny thing is that the tech, I think up until very recently, has all been about trying to adapt the human to the tech. Look at the keyboard for God’s sake, it’s designed to slow us down so we don’t mash keys on a typewriter. Our technology is designed by engineers, and because generally geeky white nerds in their basement, and that’s changing now. And that diversity in tech, is I think, gonna have a huge impact on where things go now, because all of a sudden, we’re saying like, “No.” I’m one of those guys now who, when I pick up new software and stuff, if it’s not intuitive enough for me in the first couple of days, if I can’t go through, if I can’t do an introduction tutorial, and be able to at least do something with it, I’m like, screw this.

David Hewlett
That’s it. And that may be just my ADHD. But it’s also, I think, it’s to me, it’s like, “It’s not advanced enough yet.” It should be it should know, it should be designed around how an artist works or how whoever is using, whatever you’re using it for, data scientist or bio, whatever it whatever you’re into. It should be designed to work with us, not us have to figure out how to work with it.

David Read
That’s true.

David Read
I mean, to a degree, I think that the latter is expected, but it should be a fraction of a percent compared to the other way around and I think looking back on the AI scripts, the other part that I took home was when it was said, “What comes out of it can only be as much as what was put into it.”

David Hewlett
Garbage in, garbage out.

David Read
This was an experiment, and something tells me that it potentially, maybe not, but if they poured millions and millions of dollars, and research into coding more specific information about Stargate into this thing. Who knows how refined a script would have come out?

David Hewlett
You know what would be interesting if they did? If there was some way of having the AI process like the GateWorld glossary. Because then it would be armed with everything in a way. See if you could get, if you could have it parse what’s on that huge tome of stuff on the omnipedia, or even just the combination of like, it could look at the things that people say in the chat, it could look at things that have been written about the episode, it can look at reviews…

David Read
Fan fiction.

David Hewlett
Fan fiction, all sorts of stuff, and then start going like, “Okay, this is what I’m beginning to get a sense of patterns here.” And in a weird way, it’s kind of perfect for television, because television is all about doing the same thing differently every week. People want things to be different, but they don’t want it to be too different, otherwise it’s not the show that they’re interested in, right. So in a way an AI is perfect for that going like okay, “How far can I go before we start losing people’s interest?” You know?

David Read
Yeah, straddling the uncanny valley.

David Hewlett
Yeah, well, then that’s and then yeah, that’s I mean, look I can’t wait I…

David Read
Those unreal faces, man, they just look a little bit dead behind the eyes. But other than that they are there.

David Hewlett
And they’ll get there. Yeah, if they’re not already, who knows we could be looking at politicians that aren’t actually politicians anymore.

David Read
Oh, politicians are definitely.

David Hewlett
The deep fakes have become very, very good.

David Read
Oh my gosh, man. Sommer says, “Your recent audition videos are funny and brilliant. Can you tell us about that project and will it continue?”

David Hewlett
That’s what a lot of my friends have said, like, “Dude, I think you may have found your calling.” I did them sort of as a joke. We were talking about The Companion, with The Companion guys about doing the AI thing. And sort of in passing, I made like, some stupid joke about I should audition for it. And we sort of ran with that as one of the ideas for helping to promote it. And I feel kind of weird about The Companion stuff because it’s a for pay service. And I guess I didn’t realize really how, I feel a little icky about that side of stuff. Not because they’re doing anything wrong. But just because I feel weird selling people on a service that I’m not using myself. Normally, if it’s something I’m selling to people, it’s something that I that I use myself and I like or whatever. So I was a bit nervous about doing it at first, but I liked the nerds who are running it. It because a bunch of wonderful British nerds. And people seem to like it. So people like what they’re delivering so and they also had a free giveaway thing. So you could get your first few months free and then you wouldn’t be able to see this stuff [inaudible].

David Read
Right. You’re incentivized to check it out.

David Hewlett
That was the that was the idea. That was sort of my, I think if that wasn’t there, I don’t know that I would have been up for it. But so we were talking about how do we let people know about it. I made a joke about these videos. And of course, as soon as I said, I got off the chat. And I was like, “Jane, what have I, I just committed to something else.Why can’t I say no?” And I just got Baz and we went downstairs and we literally just went, “Let’s just try it.”

David Read
Let’s just try it.

David Hewlett
And Baz was such a great straight man. Like all that off camera is Baz.

David Read
He’s a trooper.

David Hewlett
And he just makes that shit up. Makes that stuff up. He was like that whole bit about the Puffin. That was him. The one that got me that I didn’t even notice on the day, was I do the little flex. And I say how does that look better? And he’s like, “I don’t think anyone will notice.” And it’s just again, this is one of those amazing things. I mean, it gives sort of goes back to the AI in a way, but there was a time when Baz would just say nonsense it was just he was kid stuff. And you’d be like, “Yeah, yeah, there, there there.” And now all of a sudden it starts making sense and then it starts actually making you think. And I think that I sort of liken the AI to the child to some extent. And it’s kind of neat to watch Baz turn into empathetic and irritatingly quick, young teenager.

David Read
We move a little bit faster than the computers do but you know at a certain point for life, that’s the question. So absolutely. Planettv, “I played the game The Sims 3 and have as Rodney McKay’s traits, I have handy, genius, computer wiz, neurotic, and workaholic. Do you think these five traits work for McKay?”

David Hewlett
Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. I think it might have missed sarcastic.

David Hewlett
Yeah. Absolutely.

David Hewlett
And was there ego in there? I mean…

David Read
No, no computer wiz, genius. Yeah, definitely nothing in terms of like…

David Hewlett
I’m thinking maybe it’s like self-professed genius. Because one of the things I loved about McKay was he wasn’t just, he wasn’t just smart, he was irritatingly smart. Because he was one of those people who knew it, and just didn’t have, it was almost like, I don’t know if they call it Aspergers anymore. It’s sort of on the spectrum there. Where you are it’s just assumed that everyone is an idiot.

David Read
Right? Exactly.

David Hewlett
And I think it’s, and it was just it’s so much fun to play those sort of flawed, those flawed, wonderful. I mean, deep down probably an all right person, but…

David Read
Right. But the way that he presents himself, that’s the thing, and I think that that’s no finer demonstrated than in Sunday, when he’s woken up by the two junior scientists and they’re like, “You did the same thing last week.” And he’s like, “Yeah, that’s because I am me. You are you. When you break something, you don’t have to fix it. I do.”

David Hewlett
Yeah.

David Read
It’s like, we’re sitting there going, “Man, this guy is a jerk.” But at the same time, he’s the guy you call when you need the problem solved. So you can’t really argue with that. He just has, it’s like the line from…

David Hewlett
And smart people aren’t necessarily nice, they don’t necessarily go along together. I worked with a lot of people and I did IT for a little while and I met a lot of people like this who were like, really, really smart but really, really difficult to work with.

David Read
I tried to, the film’s name, I can’t think of it right now but it’s got Jeff Bridges and Ron Goodman in it, the dude abides, I can’t think of it. But…

David Hewlett
Oh, what with the dude, you mean, yeah, yeah, the brothers.

David Read
Yeah, exactly. The quote that always comes back to me is, “You’re not wrong, Walter, you’re just an asshole.”

David Hewlett
Yeah. But that’s it. I think that really is, I think that there’s a lot of, here’s the one of the other issues you have with going back to the tech stuff, to some extent, in reference to this is that we reward these sort of almost sociopaths with money, with fame, laud them, we put them up on pedestals, and then we go, like, “Why are people so such jerks?” It’s like, because that’s what we’re promoting. You know what I mean?

David Read
That’s who they’re emulating.

David Hewlett
I’m not sure, I think there’s an assumption that you sort of have to be an asshole in order to be brilliant. That’s just not true. It’s just not true. It’s just that they tend to get ahead because they’re willing to step on other people to get there. And our society has always rewarded that. And I think that’s beginning to change now too.

David Read
Yeah, what do we get in the process? I mean, if we’re going to let you run amok and do what you’re going to do, is what you return to society had better be leaps and bounds in comparison. You know?

David Hewlett
Yes, these people are exceptional humans, but they’re terrible humans.

David Read
Right, at same… Yeah, exactly.

David Hewlett
And then you get that sort of exacerbated by the fact that they are also ridiculously wealthy as well.

David Read
Exactly.

David Hewlett
A bubble that forms.

David Read
Around them.

David Hewlett
I mean, watching the Facebook guy.

David Read
Zuckerberg?

David Hewlett
Zuckerberg trying on virtual outfits as he changes the name of the company, the most reviled company in the world, to Meta from Facebook you’re just like going like,”Who’s telling him this is a good idea?

David Read
I’m convinced he’s an android. That Data deep fake man.

David Hewlett
Data had a better heart.

David Read
Well, to be fair, we got to know Data.

David Hewlett
It’s true. Yeah.

David Read
Instead of in front of a Senate hearing.

David Hewlett
And again, I’ll bet you if you meet Zuckerberg, he’s probably…

David Read
Probably. Yeah.

David Hewlett
He’s fascinating.

David Read
Have a beer with him. Yeah.

David Hewlett
Same thing with Bezos and Elon Musk is a bit crazy. I’m not sure I’d want to go out for dinner with him. I feel like he just do something weird and inappropriate. You’d be like, “Oh, come on, get off the table and pull up your pants.”

David Hewlett
But he’s also admitted that he’s on the spectrum. So I mean.

David Hewlett
Well, so there that would not, really again, I don’t think anyone’s going like, “really?”

David Read
Right. But at least he’s aware. Yeah. Eva L. wanted to know, I’m curious about this, “When are you going on that road trip to visit Josef Prusa?” What’s the story there?

David Hewlett
So you know, I don’t know, do you know much about 3d printing? Are you a 3d printing fan?

David Read
I’m a fan. Yes. But I haven’t done much of it. So I mean, it just…

David Hewlett
Prusa’s is not just a man he’s a printer. I know. That’s really all 3d printers. Right? So the joke is that, many people love 3d printing, but very few of them are 3d printers. So Joseph is both a man and a printer. And he’s just, he’s a new type of leader. He’s a new type of billionaire. I mean, I don’t know if he’s a billionaire. But he’s someone who has got where he’s got because he loves what he does and he loves people. I would get tweets from him, like direct message tweets during the pandemic, where he’s freaking out because he’s got 500 people working for him and he’s desperate to keep them safe. Like desperate, this is not a marketing ploy. This guy is like, “I am responsible for these people. How do I save them?” And he’s responded and his solution to that was to go above and beyond with the creation of masks and shields and protection for his workers that then got adopted by the country itself. And he helped, I mean, I printed a number of his little face shield things for our local hospital, because they were desperate for shields at that point. And they’re brilliant. Again, it was a little plastic shield that you could print out, it didn’t take too long to print. And then you took a. you know those three ring binder protector pieces? And you put it on and then you had a face shield. And the hospitals are like eating them up because it’s like, “Oh my god. Brilliant.” Yeah. And it’s also shameful that our world was at a point where we had to do that. But you know, but still…

David Read
The fact that we have the technology and that we have people like you guys who are willing to say, “You know what, hell with it let’s do it.”

David Hewlett
Yeah, I did nothing. But the Prusa guys are the heroes here. I mean, and Joseph cares. That’s what I love about him is he’s just somebody who truly, he just loves humans. And I think that is not a common thing with a lot of these successful men. Anyway, so and I made a joke because there was a picture of one of one of his kids, not kids, but one of his, everyone’s a kid now, David,

David Read
I know.

David Hewlett
But one of these young people standing behind a booth, at the Prusa booth, and I was like,”Oh, man, I would totally hang out at the Prusa booth and talk about Prusas.” Because I’ve got these, I’ve got two 3d printers of his. And they’re brilliant and their kits. I have built them from frickin’ nuts and bolts. I love them.

David Read
You can tell those who are running the show. You can feel it in your bones and not with 100% accuracy. Those who look at us as people and those who look at us as consumers.

David Hewlett
Yeah, yeah.

David Read
There’s a difference.

David Hewlett
I never feel like I consumer with him. He truly, he is so excited about what he’s doing. And again, I think that can also turn into one of those psychotic leaders as well. But I mean, I think in this case, it’s truly, I mean, he’s doing something he loves. He’s hiring people he respects. He’s reaching out to, the 3d printing community is one of the things, apart from the Stargate communities, one of the most welcoming and supportive communities that you can be a part of. I mean, I loved, I think honestly I’ve got more out of the 3d printing community than than 3d printing, if that makes sense. Like I…

David Read
No, yeah, absolutely.

David Hewlett
Amazing. Like Wekster, there’s this guy Wekster, who does all of these, does a Patreon every week, he puts out a new little model and they are just beautiful what he does.

David Read
I think I’ve stayed away because…

David Hewlett
You can spend a fortune.

David Read
Well, that’s the part of it I think I’ll just just disappear and never come back out again. They are the beginning of replicators. You know?

David Hewlett
Oh, they are.

David Read
We will get there.

David Hewlett
They are replicators. I mean, Prusa’s got a room, it’s got a farm of, because the other thing about Prusa’s printers is Prusa’s printers are made out of, by Prusa’s printers. So Prusa’s printers print the parts that then go on to make other Prusa printers. So I snapped a piece because I’m an idiot. When I first built, built my second one, and I was like, “Oh, what will I do?” I go to the other one and I print the part and I put it in and it works fine. Because that’s what they do anyway, you know? No, it’s absolutely brilliant. And I think, again, I do think it is very, very easy to forget that there can be things that happened, consequences that happen from these technologies that we do need to be aware of.

David Read
Of course.

David Hewlett
I’m afraid that my first response is always joy. I’m always just like, “Wheeee!” every time.

David Read
You see the inherent possibilities, the important thing is that all of us remember to hit the emergency brake every now and then and ask, I just go back to Jeff Goldblum sitting with Sir Richard in…

David Hewlett
Jurrasic World There you go. Yeah.

David Read
In the lunchroom right there, saying, “Okay, have you stopped to consider this?” That’s one of the greatest scenes in cinema.

David Hewlett
It’s Crichton and he’s got a lot of those moments in a lot of his books. They’re fun books to read by the way. They’re really good science fiction because they are heavy on the science.

David Read
His nonfiction is amazing as well too. Travels is my favorite.

David Hewlett
Really? I didn’t even know he did that.

David Read
The man was crazy. So the things that he, yeah, go pick up Travels.

David Hewlett
Wow. Okay, well.

David Read
You won’t be disappointed.

David Hewlett
John okay.

David Read
Anima Confusa, “David I rewatched season two and I always feel bad for you hanging upside in Runner.”

David Hewlett
Yeah, so do I.

David Read
“In all five seasons what do you think were some of the more challenging scenes physically to film?”

David Hewlett
That was one that stood out for a couple of reasons. One was poor Rainbow was sort of getting pushed out at that point and struggling, he was really struggling. And in that scene he had some dialogue that he was struggling to remember and I was upside down slowly losing consciousness because I was hanging upside down. So and I’m fat and old and don’t want to be hanging upside down before lunch. So I literally said, I think I said something like, “Just shut up. Move your frickin mouth when I stopped talking. I’ll do my lines. I’ll do your lines.” And then so basically I just said each one of my lines in a row and then said, “That take. Get me out of this fucking tree.” Like total full on, I went full McKay because it was miserable and those hazmat suits, they don’t breathe, you’re sweating, you’re gross.

David Read
It’s probably dripping all up your face.

David Hewlett
And I was hungry, which is never good. It’s never good.

David Hewlett
Blood sugar.

David Hewlett
No one. Yeah, someone should have come up and just given me a like a Snickers bar or something, anyways. And then as I do that I look at and I see in the bushes I see, literally in the bushes standing in, like in nature somewhere there’s Jason. And he sort of went, he was like, “Oh, man,” because he hears the yelling. And then we make eye contact and he goes, and he pulls out his sides and starts looking at them. And I heard him telling a story later at one of these conventions and he said, “Yeah, I don’t want the fat man yelling at me. I need to know my lines.” So it was yeah, that stood out as a particularly painful moment. And I think it was, they were difficult circumstances in general. One of the other hard, one of the other hardest ones for me was the whole Rod and Rodney stuff.

David Read
Yes, with the tennis ball.

David Hewlett
That was crazy hard. Because you’re talking, yes, either talking to a tennis ball or to a stand in who had been told that they could basically read the lines. And that was one of those I told you so, I was like, “Guys, you’ve got to get like an actor who can really pick up these lines, right?” And so I was so tense, because you’re doing two roles. So you got twice as many lines to do. You’re grumpy…

David Read
You’re already handling at least 50% of the dialog anyway, and it was fair.

David Hewlett
It drove me, I was feeling very hard done by. But the reality is, I think it’s a bit like, not at all, in my mind people laughing. It says in my mind I feel it’s a bit like extreme climbing or something. I feel like give me, I want to see how far I go before I break. Like how many lines can I have to say? How many roles do you play at the same time? I loved Orphan Black because I was like, oh my god, what a dream, what a dream. And what a nightmare at the same time. You know what I mean, like if you can make it through that. You know you’ve got the you got the goods.

David Read
Colin Cunningham and I just had this conversation not an hour ago, were if you’re not testing your mettle to determine the limits of of your experience. What are you doing?

David Hewlett
I think you become a soap actor. I mean, like you become a meta human. You’re not quite, you become an uncanny valley. Yeah, I think…

David Read
You’re just dancing through life.

David Hewlett
Yeah, I think it’s definitely, it was a great saying for us was, “To do something that scares you every day.” And luckily, everything scares me. So it’s not like, I don’t just play a coward on television, I’m very good at it in life as well.

David Read
In any of your peers that I have spoken with. The only like, even suggestion of a negative comment has been around this type of a situation. And you get the impression from them that they’re in such awe of your ability to digest the information and spit it out on cue that they’re like, “You know what? He’s saying most of the dialogue anyway, let’s give him it.” So.

David Hewlett
I definitely, I mean, people would laugh because my son laughs at me because when I blow hard when I go I am like, [gibberish] and it’s sort of amusing, some people find it scary, I guess. But I’ve definitely now got to a point in my life where I am dealing with that now. Where I’m trying not to go there because no one feels good in those situations. No one wants to be screamed at, no one wants to scream. I always felt guilty. I was constantly apologizing to people if I got grumpy about stuff. Weirdly enough, food was a big thing.

David Read
It’s a blood sugar thing. I mean, everyone who’s within the sound of my voice, I’m sure, has been in a situation where they have expectation of food, they go to a store or they go to a restaurant and store does not have your item or restaurant is closed. What reaction do you immediately have?

David Hewlett
The panic sets in and you’re hangry.

David Read
Yes, that’s exactly right.

David Hewlett
So that was a bit that was a big part of it. And also I’m incredibly tough on myself. Like I really don’t want to screw things up. I hate it when I say a line wrong. Tropper came up to me, Jonathan Tropper from See, brilliant guy who writes all the new See stuff. And he came up and he said, “Yeah, look I’m fine with all of your paraphrasing, but if we could just get this line to say that.” And I was like, “Paraphrase, what are you talking about?” I said, “I’m freaking word perfect.” He’s like, “You’re so not word perfect.” I went off and I was like, I came back and I was like,”There! How was that?” He goes, “Yeah, mostly.” I loved him. I absolutely I gotta say having one of the few showrunners that it was actually I would prefer to have him on set than not. Normally it’s like a showrunners are great to talk to in their environment.

David Read
See you guys. Yeah

David Hewlett
Otherwise you’re just feel like you’re being judged on set all the time.

David Hewlett
He was just the most wonderful amazing, amazing, amazing guy.

David Read
That’s fair.

David Read
Linda Alexander, “What was it like being back with Jason and Joe again on See?”

David Hewlett
Oh, my God.

David Read
Can you talk about it now?

David Hewlett
Yeah, a little bit. So Jason and I had had an altercation, a really nasty argument, at a convention actually, in Australia. And I had sort of come in last minute to fill in, I think, for Joe actually. So not only was he disappointed his friend hadn’t shown up, I showed up. And he was very, very angry about some stuff that happened on Debug that was unbeknownst to me…

David Read
That was the film you directed, right?

David Hewlett
Yes. The film that shall not be, please don’t watch it. I shouldn’t say that. I mean, it was a learning experience. It was something that I’m very glad is behind me. But it was a very, very frustrating experience for many, many reasons. And partnering with the wrong people who weren’t there to back you up on things and some things were not handled that should have been. And one of them was there was a rule about how he was going to be in a poster or something. I can’t what it was, there were something very specific that he was very angry about. And he, Jason is the kind of person who, if there is a problem he wants it changed. Like you don’t negotiate with Jason. Actually we’re very similar that way, I think we both tend to blow pretty hard when we go. So I found myself toe to toe with Jason having this massive argument about some frickin’ poster in England or something. And I’m like, “How the eff am I supposed to know what the hell’s going on? But it’s not my job.” “Well it was, you should have led them.” We’re back and forth having this argument in front of like, there were fans and stuff around, had this huge argument. And I was in complete shock, because I went to give him a hug.

David Read
Oh, you weren’t ready.

David Hewlett
Because the last time I talked to him, I had no idea. I felt like such an idiot because I’m like, “Come here.” And he’s like, “Whoa!” And I was like, “What the, I thought he was joking.” Right? So we had this big fight. Didn’t speak to each other the entire convention. He wanted me dead. I didn’t want to see him. And since after that I tried to get in touch a few times, because as always you cool down and you’re like, “Dude, like let’s just, you know, whatever.” And was never able to because the reality is Jason is a very, very famous man.

David Read
Yeah, he’s successful. And I’m sure you’re proud of him for it.

David Hewlett
Well, this is the funny thing is, I found myself struggling to be happy for him. And that really bothered me, like really bothered me, because I was like, I was happy for him. But then you’re like, and yet I have to see him all the time. And you know, so…

David Read
Yeah, on buses and billboards. And it’s everywhere you turn now.

David Hewlett
Yeah. So it was this constant reminder that I had this lovely friend for so many years, and that we were no longer talking really bothered me. And I guess it’s that happens as you get older. I think I used to be able to handle that stuff better. Now, it really eats away at me. Because I really, really love the guy. We are like oil and water, we are complete opposites. He is as cool and laid back as I am uptight and grumpy. And we just, but for some reason, he was always this lovely guy. He came to Dog’s Breakfast when he didn’t need to, to come and just to support the movie. And just, like just frickin loved him. Jane and I just adored him. And Baz would talk about this massive guy he remembesr stepping into the trailer and the whole trailer would go like this. Anyway, lovely, lovely guy. And See came up and it was shooting in Toronto. And I got a call about a role. And I said “No, there’s no frickin’ way.” I said, “I do not want to surprise Jason on set and have another frickin’ altercation. I’m not interested.” And my agent said, “Well, you know, just try.” I was like, “No, no.” And then Jane said, “You’re doing it.” So I said, so I went and auditioned for it. And I got the part. I was like, “Oh, look, look, they’ve got the sides.” And I was like, “Oh, God, this is so good. Like, it’s so good.” But I insisted that they let the showrunner and everyone know that Jason and I are not speaking.

David Hewlett
And I wanted to make sure that Jason knew and was okay with this, and that this wasn’t gonna be a problem. And basically thinking that it wasn’t going to work. And it did. They said, “Oh, yeah, that’s all sorted.” I’m like, “I’ve heard this before,” because that’s how we got in trouble before as I told this problem had been sorted. And then Jason was angry, and I didn’t even know it was happening. So, I’m very skeptical when people say, “Oh, yeah, no, no, it’s all handled. It’s all handled.” So we do the first read through of season two and I of course being the nerd that I am. I’m like one of the first people there and there’s Jason there and he’s like, “Hewlett,” I’m like “Momoa.” And then from then on it was like we were totally fine. I got on set. I just said to him, I said, “Look, thank you. Honestly,” I said, “You did not have to let this happen. You did not have to make this happen.” And then he tells me, he says, “Yeah, well, you know, there was there was like a meeting and they’re saying like I want to do this bad guy, and the bad guy he’s like an evil Fraiser Crane, and I said Hewlett.” And I was like, I was just so touched and it was like his, I guess it was kind of like his olive branch and I…

David Read
Of course.

David Read
How about a tree? On his show.

David Hewlett
The kind of gift like and it’s a gift of a role. Like it is a magnificent role. It is speeches and explosions and horses and swords and all the stuff that I just… It’s like if you were to like, imagine what would get you into film and television. Like what made you want to do it, it was all in this thing. And Tropper again, I absolutely love Tropper. The cast is just amazing bunch of people. Truly, honestly I’d have to say it’s like my favorite gig. I mean, I loved Stargate, but Stargate was a hell of a lot of work and a hell of a lot of pressure.

David Read
So it’s a different chapter of your life too.

David Hewlett
Yes. Yeah. This was close to home, a couple of days here or there. Having wonderful speeches and wonderful time and and I just said to him, “Look, thank you, you didn’t have to make this happen. I really, really appreciate it.” And then it was like, we’re back on frickin’ Stargate again. I’m like making fun of his acting. He’s making fun of my acting. It was he’s like, “Same guy. More expensive toys.” And I was like, “All right and I can’t tell you to shut up what I’m trying to learn lines because your music’s too loud.” He’s got like a frickin’ village now that like, it’s unbelievable. Anyways, he is exactly the same guy. He’s absolutely lovely. He’s a giant freaking heart.

David Read
I’m so glad to hear this.

David Hewlett
Oh, my God.

David Read
Detente is a beautiful thing.

David Hewlett
Well, I think that’s one of the reasons why I loved it so much as well, was I think a big part of my loving the show so much was like, “Hey, I got Jason back.”

David Read
Exactly right.

David Hewlett
And again, I know Jason are not going to be hanging out in London together or anything. I mean, we never were those that type of friendship. I feel like now I can walk into a room see Jason say hello. Have a nice conversation with him. And not have to worry about it. And he knows I’m not trying to fuck him over. And he knows that I know. And I know that, frankly, he gave me a gift that I will never ever be able to thank him enough for.

David Read
And to people who are watching. Let me tell you if you know, we’re approaching the holidays. If there is someone out there in your life, that you need to have a conversation with please, please, please.

David Hewlett
Bury the hatchett. Get it done.

David Read
And not in their back, in the ground.

David Hewlett
One of my best friends. That’s right you know the story on this one? One of my best friends now is a guy who I had a horrendous, another one of these horrendous fights. I honestly don’t remember what it was about. But I remember for six years we didn’t speak. And I was in an airport. And by the way I take all responsibility for this stuff. Like I say when I get angry, I get angry. I mean, it’s like my wife and I have the best saying which is, “If it feels good, don’t say it.” And it’s worked very well for our marriage. Because I think in anger, you can say things that make you feel like “Yeah, that’ll get them” and it’s like, you never say that stuff. You never get that back.

David Read
So you can’t un-mistreat someone.

David Hewlett
That’s it. So I’m in an airport, I see this guy. And he’s like, I see him, he sees me. And it’s one of those like, and then I walk off and I get a coffee and something I go, “I can’t remember why I’m angry at him.” I was like, “Why do I hate him?” And so I was like, “Oh, this is stupid.” And I walk up to him. I was like, “I don’t remember why hate you. But I figure if I can’t remember what’s the point?” And he was just like, “Ah!” And both of us all of a sudden, it’s like just this weight, there’s no point in carrying this stuff around.

David Read
Unless it comes back. And it’s like, “Oh, now I remember.” No, you know what?

David Hewlett
Even if I do yeah, at this point, I think it wouldn’t matter. Honestly I don’t think it would matter.

David Read
Good for you.

David Hewlett
Because it’s just not worth it. Because I think the only damage you do is to yourself and I think I was someone, I had this saying that I would say as a joke, which is always like, “It’s not enough to succeed, others must fail.” And I realize now that I’m older that as funny as that was in my head, it’s the wrong attitude.

David Read
Yeah, it leaves you really hollow.

David Hewlett
A better one would be like, “A rising tide raises all ships.”

David Read
I use that all the time.

David Hewlett
Because I think that’s more important is the idea that people you know, whether you you like them or not, who do well, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like a zero sum game. You feel like you’ve lost a part because someone’s got it. You’re not in their world. That’s not that, you know what I mean like that’s not, casting is so weird and it’s one of the things that drives me crazy about the film industry, is that casting is such a weird process. There is no science to casting, unless you’re like Jason Momoa is gonna bring in X number of dollars. But anyways, I have never regretted owning up to my mistakes, which are many. And I’ve never regretted saying sorry or thanking people for things that they’ve done. I don’t think you can lose with stuff like that, all year round forget the season.

David Read
I agree. What does it hurt other than potentially your pride?

David Hewlett
It doesn’t? What is pride anyways, it doesn’t mean anything anyways, that’s it. And friends are so much more, I mean, they’re just so much more valuable. So the guy that I didn’t talk to for six years. He now lives like about a block away, and we walk the dog like basically every other day together, and we chat all the time. He’s brilliant, by the way. He’s one of the guys people should check out. He’s got a series of books called the, it’s called the Haunted Library. And it is a series of short stories. And I swear to God, he’s like a modern day Ray Bradbury. He’s fantastic. One of my favorite stories is in the first book, these are all self published books he’s done by the way. He’s like a screenwriter…

David Read
They’re children’s books.

David Hewlett
Yeah. But they’re not children’s books. They’re like children’s books as if written by somebody who wants to torture children with horrific stories.

David Read
Oh, terrific.

David Hewlett
One of my favorite stories is in the first book, it’s called Tad the Monster. And it is about a child who looks like a monster and then learns to become one because of society, because of the world, and it’s just the most. Like the hairs on the back of my neck go up just thinking about it. It’s this beautiful, horrible, wonderful tale of mistreating people and that the monsters aren’t born, they’re created. I mean, and that’s just one of them. There’s like a ton of these amazing ones. He’s got one called Madison Bane Werewolf Detective, which is really fun. Just got a wonderful sense of humor. And he’s also just a brilliant, brilliant writer and a brilliant guy, frankly.

David Read
That’s really cool, man.

David Hewlett
And the books aren’t that expensive. So just pick them up. And then yeah…

David Read
Absolutely. Come back on and say what you thought.

David Hewlett
I’m so much better at selling everyone else’s stuff. I’ve got to get better at like…

David Read
Selling me. That’s funny.

David Read
Martin Paquette, “I’m such a huge fan of McKay, and how you played him in The Shrine. This guy says was your top episode. What research did you do to prepare for that episode?” And I have a follow up to that, doing that with your sister.

David Hewlett
It’s funny, it…

David Read
Levity at the same and at the same time, it’s like putting yourself in the real situation. Man, because she and I have talked about it. It’s like she at certain point, she was bawling. She was inconsolable.

David Hewlett
I think you can only sort of play those things straight. Because can’t mock any of that kind of stuff. I think you can’t. Again, it’s sort of the nature of as well, I think comedians are really better actors than actors. Because if you can make people laugh, they laugh because they connect to something, you know what I mean? Or you shock someone or something, but that was so beautifully written that piece. And also there’s a luxury there, like normally, and it’s something like that you have to go and get to research specifically, what is it? But with in this case, you could just take this sort of story that Brad had put together and just play with different aspects of different conditions.

David Read
Were you aware of how personal that story was for him at the time.

David Hewlett
Yeah, now I do. I didn’t…

David Read
You didn’t then. Okay.

David Hewlett
No. Well, in fact, one of my funny stories, was about doing off, Brad was doing off camera with me, because we shot all of the video stuff at lunch one day, which is again, one of the things I love about film is that, you could spend hours you could spend a week working and crafting these things. I truly believe that the best stuff comes out of accidents and we had a lunchtime to do this. So I sort of came in literally with like a sandwich and then we would do the scenes and he cried. He cried and I was like, “You’re not you’re not crying because of my performance. You’re crying because your lines.” He was like, “It’s so beautiful what I’ve written.” But and again, he’s just a lovely, he’s such a sucker, I love him. And then I heard recently what it was all about. But I think we all know people like this it’s so prevalent now this aging population people who struggle with that stuff and mental health. And mental health is a big part of our family, we’ve had a lot of mental health issues in our family so. So there were just little aspects of everything there. It’s one of those beautiful things that if this had been anything, if it was an ER episode or something like that, you’d have to know everything about that disease. But in this, you could just take the cues from the script and just make them as real as you could. And I just I loved it. And of course, it helps having your sister there.

David Read
I was about to ask. Yeah, with crying right there.

David Hewlett
She cries at the drop of a hat. She starts sobbing away. That was wonderful. It was wonderful having her. I loved having Kate there because we just insult each other the whole time. It’s kind of fun. And she’s also one of the funniest and most talented people I’ve ever met, unfortunately.

David Read
How is motherhood treating her? I haven’t spoken with her.

David Hewlett
Oh my god, they’ve got this freaking perfect child. Just these giant freaking eyes and like, she seems to be I mean, she seems to really be loved. I’m so happy for her because I just don’t know what, I could never imagine her without a kid. Like she’s just such, of all of us, I think she probably is the one that I would most have imagined having a child. And she was the only one who hadn’t. So ya know, the kids, George is just, I call her George of course everyone hates that. But that’s why I say it.

David Read
In your opinion, Goran Andonovski​ wants to know, “Which expedition leader did McKay prefer to work with the most Weir, Carter, or Woolsey? Which do you think he connected with the most?”

David Hewlett
Well Carter I think, I mean, begrudgingly, but I think Carter. You know Weir was always a struggle for him I think because I think the advantage that Carter had was because of the science aspect of it. He was not, I don’t think McKay really understood bureaucracy. He was never good at diplomacy. He never understood any of that kind of stuff. I mean, and if you asked him, he probably thought that he was the team leader anyway. So I think, if you asked McKay who we thought was the best team leader it would be himself. And now a few words on leadership.

David Read
Right? Exactly. And him thinking that before Carter comes in that he’s gonna take, he’s fully convinced that he’s going to take over the expedition. Yeah, just…

David Read
Completely shocked. It’s like yeah, wow.

David Hewlett
Absolutely.

David Hewlett
No, I mean, I think that’s it. I think that that is absolutely McKay. I mean, I think it’s funny thinking back looking at McKay through some of the current lens is fascinating to me, because I’ve found… A little bit of tea. Excuse me. Pardon me while I die. Go on without me David.

David Read
I’ll carry the torch.

David Hewlett
Yeah, You do it. Tell me the story. I forgot. I was saying before I started dying. Was something fascinating I’m sure.

David Read
Talking about for God’s [sake] what is it that happens in our minds?

David Hewlett
It’s because I was, it’s a squirrel. it’s the squirrel factor. Squirrel!

David Read
Absolutely. We were talking about…

David Hewlett
What was the question?

David Read
McKay. Carter, Woolsey or…

David Hewlett
Yes.

David Hewlett
Yeah, he really does assume that he’s going to be put in charge. I think he really does fancy himself a hero. But at the same time and is to some extent, but I think he just doesn’t, again he doesn’t understand diplomacy at all. I remember having an argument with Torri at one point where we all ran for the puddle jumper and we all took seats and she got stuck in the back. And she said, “Don’t you think that you would give up the chair?” I said, “Absolutely. I would.” She said, “Good. Can I have it?” I said, “But McKay wouldn’t.”

David Read
Yeah. That’s funny.

David Read
McKay would not, that’s is a thing

David Hewlett
There’s no way. There’s no way he would give up his seat And she was very frustrated by it and I was like, “Torri it’s not you. It’s not me.

David Read
It’s him.

David Hewlett
It’s McKay and Weir and that’s not to be a dick but I’m a dick.”

David Read
But he’s thinking about himself. And I am responsible for getting us there. And you can diplomacy your way out of it. But I mean…

David Hewlett
I think actors can forget that sometimes. They can get so into their character that they forget it. Either into their character or into their own, they connect so much with their character that they don’t know where they stop, but the other one begins. And I’m not good enough actor to do all that chameleon stuff. So I tend to just pull on stuff that exists for me. So that tiny little ego that I have, you play on that. Sarcasm has always been, always a big fan of sarcasm. So I think you play up those elements of yourself that worked for the character and McKay, unfortunately, there was an awful lot to work with.

David Read
Unfortunately,

David Hewlett
Yeah, yeah. Or fortunately depending on the case. Oh, wait that was the the current lens. That’s what I was talking about. The idea that, I mean, McKay would have been canceled.

David Read
Oh, yeah.

David Hewlett
Absolutely. And that’s not a bad thing. I just think that what’s interesting there is that, in a way Atlantis was about him discovering humanity, if that makes sense. He worked alone for so long, he was so reviled by so many people. That what I loved about McKay was that, instead of being introduced to a character, we were almost sort of pulling him apart, seeing where all the strings lead. You know what I mean? And I think that’s what was so much fun about it.

David Read
And it was also just a different era in television, too. I mean, he would be written differently if it were happening now. I mean, Mobius, in Mobius, he grabs Carter’s butt, and it’s played for laughs. Now, that would not happen that way. No, it’s just…

David Hewlett
Well, there was a lot of that too, because I mean, again, SG-1 started long before people realized that the way we were living our lives was wrong. I think what’s kind of great about what’s going on is that you can definitely get, I think people can get kind of worked up about where things are going, but the reality is, I think what’s most important, is that society is now ready to start considering this stuff.

David Read
We’re just having a larger conversation.

David Hewlett
Yeah, that would just couldn’t even talk about this stuff before.

David Read
And I’m not saying that that scene wouldn’t have happened now. But our reaction to it would be very different. And our reaction to him would be very different. And there would have to be some kind of a, if we are to look at it, continue to look at him as a hero, he has to have that arc so that we can see and connect the dots and go, “Okay, we’re not there anymore. We are here. I buy that.” Because I mean, we can still go back and watch the show and the character is still a huge success, because we have the connective tissue of all of it, of all aspects of him.

David Hewlett
But this is the other thing that I think that people forget. Or maybe people don’t want to know, I don’t know, is that is the good people do bad things, and bad people do good things. And I think that’s what makes interesting characters. And I think we want to be careful not to throw out everything because, that is by no means defending, obviously any kind of…

David Read
Behavior.

David Hewlett
Predatorial behavior, any of that kind of stuff, but it I feel like, I think that that’s part of the problem, and people go like, “How does this happen?” It happens because, some of these assholes are actually nice to people. I don’t mean like, some people are terrible in private and fantastic in public. Or I would hate to see these characters not exist anymore, because I think that that would be false. It would be false to believe that people aren’t, that these people don’t exist.

David Read
The reverse option is scary in my opinion, which is to just delete it altogether. Were you aware of Community, the series?

David Hewlett
I love Community. Yeah,

David Read
There was an episode called, which is one of my favorites, called, it shouldn’t even be getting into this, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

David Hewlett
Oh, yeah.

David Hewlett
I don’t remeber that.

David Read
And Ken Jeong plays an elf in blackface in this episode, but he’s not…

David Read
He’s not playing a character in blackface, he’s playing some kind of shadow elf. And they killed the whole episode because of what it was appearing to be on the surface because people complained. When inside of that story is a story about someone who is being mistreated by someone else. And by the end of that episode, the guy who is mistreated goes to Chevy Chase who has been mistreating this guy who is on the verge of suicide for the entire show. And he goes to Chevy Chase and says, “That was the best game of Dungeons and Dragons I’ve ever played and if you want to play again next weekend, I’ll play.” And Chevy’s like, “Okay, I’ll do it.” But that doesn’t matter, what matters now is the appearance of the Ken Jeong’s character. And so the entire episode has been removed and is not available to be seen online anymore. And I’m looking at those kinds of situations, it’s like we’ve got to be really careful about a) everyone’s feelings, but b) making sure that we understand everything that as best we can, and then making a judgment call based on that. Maybe putting at the beginning an explanation of what’s going on. Or like what Disney is doing. Okay, keep in context what you’re about to watch is a product of its time. And what you’re about to watch may not be implying what you think its meaning as well, as with the elf.

David Hewlett
I think that’s important. I think that’s important. I mean, at the same time I also feel like what I love is that we’re having these discussions now. I think that it’s important. I have only recently realized, this is how privileged I am. Only recently realized, of course, that my perspective on everything is very specific. I mean, this is a huge discussion obviously, but I think…

David Read
We could go for hours on this.

David Hewlett
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I read an amazing book, which I found incredibly uncomfortable called, So You Want to Talk About Race and her position at one point in the book, which got me really upset until I went, “Okay, let’s just say that she’s right.” Which was basically I am white, straight, able bodied. And what else? Anything else? So, but basically, it means I’m racist, sexist, homophobic, and ablest. And I was like, “Oh, come on.” Like, I was like, “Really?” And then I went, “Well, wait a second. What if I am?” Like just for a second what if I step back and go, “I am.” And then I go, “Okay. So I’m going to approach things from that perspective now, from now on.” So when I say the wrong thing, I don’t get defensive. I go, “Thank you. Great. Okay, I have not thought of that.” Because we all have a very specific view of the world. And that is based entirely on how we were raised and what we look like. And that’s unfortunate. But the reality is, if you could step back and realize that racists aren’t all running around, heiling Hitler and wearing white, that racism is something completely different from that. And that, again, you need to sort of step into that role before you understand, before you can start accepting what’s happening right now.

David Read
I think, as long as people are willing to have a conversation, and not say, “No, you are what I think you are, because I said so. And I am going to assert my power over you and period.” As long as we can continue to have a conversation. And as long as it’s in good faith and not in bad faith, because there is a difference. Then absolutely…

David Hewlett
There needs to be offense. There needs to be offense at times, nothing changes. People…

David Read
No, words are tools. We find our boundaries by communicating. And then, Patrick Stewart, admitted once he told a joke that could be inferred as racist. And instead of Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton freaking out about it, they came to him and said, “Look, this is how we feel about what you said”. And he was like, “I had no idea. I am so sorry.” And they’re like, “We love you. And we respect you enough that we came to you in person and told you how we felt, and now you make of it what you will.” And they moved on. And we don’t move on as much anymore. So.

David Hewlett
Well, I think also you got to choose the platform for that. You’re not going to have discussions on Twitter, you’re not going to have those discussions on social media [inaudible]. Yeah, on…

David Read
Yeah, it’s awful.

David Hewlett
And to question it when it comes up. That’s another thing this stuff comes up it’s the reason why us white guys have such a hard, [inaudible] you don’t talk about race. Because we don’t have to, you know what I mean? We haven’t spent our entire life having to have those discussions. So how dare we say, “I don’t want to have these discussions. Why does it have to be about race?” It has to be about race because for other people that’s their entire existence. It’s all learning. I get excited about this because again, we’re just learning new stuff, new perspectives, a new world, new societies. I mean, this is all, it can only be good. Honestly, I think having discussions…

David Read
As long as we keep talking.

David Hewlett
Yeah, as long as you’re talking. That’s it. That’s true.

David Read
The art that you guys get to engage in, in terms of creating a performance helps people immensely. Duja89, “I want to say thank you to David. Depression hit hard a few months ago, and I attempted suicide.” Well, he says, “Afterwards, I ended up rewatching Sunday, and The Shrine, and the scene of McKay and Sheppard on the pier.” And he said that was a big chunk of helping him to begin to recover. So thank you, Duja89

David Hewlett
And keep going buddy. I mean, this is the thing is depression is one of those weird, weird things. I think something else worth talking about. I love, I love that.

David Read
I have suffered from it, myself.

David Hewlett
Absolutely. So I mean, and again, everything’s a spectrum. We found it with light, we found it with electromagnetic, I mean everything. The reality is everything is a spectrum and I think you just sort of got to look at your own stuff and go where am I on these things and learn the sort of the telltale signs. My wife is responsible for fixing a lot of stuff in my life because she said, “Look, I love you, but you are, you are not in a good place”. And your first response is always like, “Screw you.”

David Read
That’s the knee jerk reaction. Sure.

David Hewlett
I’m a guy, I don’t need to do that. And I feel horrible that anyone gets to the point where they want to do that kind of stuff. And again, good for you for vocalizing that, for getting that out there. And look, and it’s wonderful if a show can help like that. But the reality is, thank you but you did that. Not me. I mean, you know what I mean? Like the show I’m sure can be a great thing to watch and a great thing to getcha. One of things I love about science fiction is that it’s fantastic escapism, that’s what I love that, I need that so often. But the reality is you’re still here because of you. So make sure you give yourself some credit on that as well.

David Hewlett
Yeah it comes down to a choice. You can choose to allow your problems to surmount you and destroy you or you can take a chance and say, “You know what, I’m going to try to take a chance on myself, and I’m going to try to be brave.” Because being brave is staying in the fight.

David Hewlett
And it’s also not just you. That’s the other thing is that it’s like, I think there are times when you feel that it isn’t worth it. But that’s generally when you’ve got to such a place that it’s only you. And the reality is we all have, we’re a pebble in the water. Right? I mean, the ripples of effect that we have, I mean, these things lead to other people making bad decisions. And I think there’s a, I’m not saying don’t be irresponsible Don’t be irresponsible stay alive.

David Read
But make good ripples.

David Hewlett
Yeah, that’s it. That’s a good way putting it, make good ripples. I like that? Yeah.

David Read
Absolutely. This is interesting. Ákos.

David Hewlett
We’re like we’re like a self help [inaudible].

David Read
And next in we have Katie from Washington.

David Hewlett
You do not want to take life advice from Rodney McKay. Now a word on leadership

David Read
Weatherswindy, “David, how aware are you of the Stargate Legacy relaunched novels? And did you know what happened with McKay in it?”

David Hewlett
People tell me every so often, I haven’t read them. First off I’m terrible at reading. I think I’m definitely more of an audio book now, but I can’t do fiction.

David Read
Put it this way, think of what would happen if the Wraith did to McKay what Atlantis did to Michael?

David Hewlett
Oh, nice. Well, I tell you people ask me what is the one thing I miss from Stargate that we didn’t do on Stargate that I would like to have done? And it’s evil McKay. I want an evil McKay. Because it’s so much fun. I mean, See, I’ve been running around basically like an evil McKay, slightly crazier. And it’s just villains are just so much fun. They get all the fun the villains.

David Read
Now were you to do that, I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, that you wouldn’t have, “Yah ha ha, I’m evil McKay!” Had this tension running through of like, serious and intense. Is that how you would have taken that?

David Hewlett
I think so. I mean, I think the the reality is I think that, I mean everyone’s a villain as well. Right? So it’s again, it’s just about playing up those villainous aspects, you go predatorial as opposed to just inappropriate. You take out empathy when it comes to technology you do. I mean, McKay makes a lot of villainous decisions in Atlantis anyways. He gets us into a lot of trouble because he just can’t leave things alone. And I think that that would be really fun to explore if it was somebody who just suddenly doesn’t have that empathy, doesn’t have that humanity. McKay could have gone that way. That’s the reality is that if McKay had been sent to, I don’t know Siberia instead to work for longer periods of time, he could have come back as a truly dangerous and I mean almost, you could almost go tech millionaire with it, could have a tech billionaire with it.

David Read
I’m darkside Tony Stark. Come out with an Ironman suit and God knows what he’s powering it with and I think if McKay was left to his own devices, I think that very few people would be left alive and he would have developed unlimited energy. For no one [inaudible].

David Hewlett
Yeah, I mean, I think and again it would be some kind of like he would have stuck in a world structure where it’s like, either you are a scientist or you are not important. I think, yeah, absolutely could see that. That’d be fun. God, it’d be so much fun to do. Villains are so much fun. Oh my god, I just love, I mean, one of things I loved about McKay was that he was he was wrong a lot of the time, he did do the wrong thing. I mean, it’s so much fun to play characters who would say and do things that you would never do, but you get to sort of, you know…

David Read
Play out those fantasies.

David Hewlett
Yeah, in a very safe way. McKay’s safe word. I don’t know what that would be Zed PM maybe or something.

David Read
Just Thinking wants to know, “Any chance at a guest episode on one of the new Treks?” You’ve been auditioning, right?

David Hewlett
Oh, God. I did. I did for a while. Yeah, I haven’t done anything recently. But okay. Yeah, I went in for a bunch of stuff. Yeah, obviously I’d love to. I’d love to.

David Read
Hyerdahl popped on there. And I was like, yes.

David Hewlett
Oh, God, he’s so good.

David Read
He’s so good. And it was a blip of a performance, but at least it was something.

David Hewlett
And he’s so distinctive to like you just can’t miss him. I could have been on there and people wouldn’t even notice. I’m always terrified. One of these on See is I’ve got a rather extensive prosthetics that they’ve, actually you can see it. I think you can see it’s behind my head.

David Read
Oh, that’s what that is. Okay.

David Hewlett
Yeah. The makeup effects guys, the group tha,t the team, women and men who did it are just absolutely just brilliant. And it was two and a half hours of prosthetics. And I was joking. I said, “Oh, God, I’m gonna be doing like Star Trek soon.” And they’re like, “Oh, you don’t want to do that? Because that’s always like, the full…” And I’ve always been a bit scared of that. But Doug Jones, watching Doug Jones work. I have a new found respect for the creatures. I don’t know that I’d have the patience. I am so, yeah, he was like a saint in Shape of Water. I couldn’t get over what he did.

David Read
And I mean, what he did in Pan’s Labyrinth, I mean, the guy just, he’s a chameleon, you can take on any shape. I suppose there’s just a wire that you have to cut in your brain to let you just be absorbed by whatever it is that’s going to consume your face and your body and everything else and help you develop the personality.

David Hewlett
He is so enthusiastic about it. Like he has, I think we share a certain kind of just unadulterated love of what we do when we get to do it. You know what I mean?

David Read
Absolutely.

David Hewlett
It’s one of the dangers with having a job that is what you love to do is that sometimes you can lose that. There have been times in my career that I’ve lost that excitement about stuff. And I would actually, I would say the del Toro’s is what got it back for me. Because I did Shape of Water and thought, “Okay, great, Guillermo’s on the list. That’s going to help for roles.” But that was sort of my feeling going into it cuz it’s like, “It’s not a very big role, whatever.” And then doing the read through, doing the rehearsals, and I was like,” Oh, God, I hate rehearsals.” And then I didn’t want to leave because it was just such an amazing thing to watch these actors work and to watch Guillermo and his stories about all the different, the time that he got to take with it. And then they couldn’t get me off set because I was just like, “What does that do? What does this do?”And we’re talking to you again, when I talked about comic books and stuff, like…

David Read
I was about to ask how nerdy is he?

David Hewlett
He’s like, I want to say he’s like the Gandalf of Hollywood. He’s like a magician among magicians. I mean, he’s just, he loves, again, he just freaking loves it. But he’s also terrifying. I mean, you don’t want to mess it up because partially you just don’t want to let them down. But also because like he knows what he wants and he demands the best.

David Read
You need to deliver it.

David Hewlett
Oh, yeah, it is without, I’m really excited because I’m gonna be working with him again in January.

David Read
Oh, great.

David Hewlett
So he’s got the show called, like, 10 After Midnight, or 12 After Midnight, or I should probably know the name of it shouldn’t I? But they just announced it and it’s a series of horror, it’s like an anthology show of horror directors basically straight…

David Read
10 After Midnight.

David Hewlett
10 After Midnight.

David Read
Netflix horror anthology.

David Hewlett
So I’m doing one with my very, very old high school friend, Vincenzo Natali who did Cube and Splice, In the Tall Grass, and just done the Peripheral. A brilliant and absolutely wonderful old friend of mine, and Guillermo, and God knows what they’ve got for me. But I know went in, I did a fitting for a tunnel the other day so we’ll see where that leads.

David Read
A tunnel?

David Hewlett
A tunnel. They’re like, “Okay, what’s the smallest you could be in a tunnel?” And I’m like, “Oh God, it’s after Christmas. Add a turkey on either side.”

David Read
It’s great. I feel bad for you though.

David Hewlett
Well, this is the beautiful thing about Vincenzo and Guillermo for the matter. It’s never generally comfortable, but it’s always fantastic.

David Read
Well, that’s the thing. I mean, if you walk away going, “Damn that was good, or that looks good.” then it was worth it.

David Hewlett
It’s that extreme acting sports thing. That was so grueling, but oh my god, how cool is that?

David Read
Dan Ben, “What are your true feelings of Rodney his first name being revealed as Meredith?”

David Hewlett
Oh, I didn’t care. I was so funny people get so, we’re so like, names are so funny because names are, I’ve had this because in the little tiny bit of writing I’ve done I realized that names are one of those things that you can’t argue with people about. If you go under that you can’t use that name, it’s a terrible name. And you’re like, “For you that’s a terrible name, for me it’s got a completely different meaning.” So it’s entirely, Meredith never had any, I never worried about having a girl’s name if that makes sense. Although to be fair, my sisters used to tease me by saying. “Davida,” and that was always there I was like, “Shut up I’m not Davida!” Because they’re like, “Your hair is so long, your Davida.” But that was back in the days when it was, God forbid a man should be called a woman. Now, it’s like whatever.

David Read
My issue was, okay, this just destroys continuity because his name was Rodney Ingram McKay, as a nod to Benjamin Ingram before the show started. And then with the stroke of Martin Gero’s pen, it was erased. And so we had to, then on the Omnipedia we’re like, “Okay, so we’re gonna name him McKay, Meredith.” And Darren is like, “No, it’s still Rodney McKay. We’ll put a forward in for Meredith.” I’m like, “Okay, right. That’s his name.”

David Hewlett
Yeah, it would be hard to change that name. Although, Meridith McKay he’d be did much better as a country singer.

David Read
That’s right. Absolutely. I can see that.

David Read
[Singing] So far from Oh, yeah.

David Read
Dave, it’s been a pleasure.

David Hewlett
Oh, always.

David Read
Oh, man.

David Hewlett
I’m amazed I made it through. I was like, I was a little worried. I was gonna like fall asleep on you or something. Because as I say I’m waiting for my mRNA to kick in.

David Read
Well, to borrow from Jack O’Neill. “Well, you know.”

David Hewlett
That was a surprise. I didn’t know he was popping in on the AI.

David Read
Oh you didn’t? Wasn’t that a trip.

David Hewlett
I was like, “Oh my God,” I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about but it was fantastic to see him. As always, there’s a few people like that, who I absolutely love. One of them is actually a director on on See as well. Who will come up to you and say things to you and I’ll go, “Okay, great. Yeah, fantastic.” And someone would say, “What is that? What is he saying?” I was like, “I have no idea. No idea at all. But I get the sense we’re doing it right.”

David Read
You intuit it.

David Hewlett
Yeah, exactly. Just it’s all about that wonderful energy.

David Read
Exactly.

David Hewlett
You’ve got to be dying. This is like your third, fourth hour of this now. How many?

David Read
Yeah, I started. I’m almost hitting five hours. And then I’m gonna work. I have a 10, 11 hour shift right after I end with you. So…

David Hewlett
Dude, I gotta say…

David Read
I’m in the middle of it.

David Hewlett
You are, I think I said this in the chat. But thank you, because I cannot believe how you do this. I can’t believe how you can make this all exciting again, whatever it is, a thousand years after I did it. And then yeah, it’s just fantastic.

David Read
I am absolutely privileged. I’m trying to get more of your colleagues involved. And it’s just a luck of the draw. And I’m so thankful for the cast of Atlantis. They’re tremendous. SG-1 and Universe had been a little bit tougher. But anyone who wants to play.

David Hewlett
It’s harder, because I think some people like to move on, and…

David Read
Can’t blame ’em.

David Hewlett
But I’m a nerd.

David Read
So, absolutely.

David Hewlett
I’m like, I’m like, “No, no, no, I’m not letting McKay go. I frickin love it.”

David Read
And as long as we’re keeping it interesting and fresh, and it’s not the same thing time after time. That’s the important thing to me. And the fact that we’re almost at 20,000 subscribers. Something’s working. Yeah.

David Hewlett
And if I don’t want to do it, I’m not going to do it. So that’s…

David Read
Correct.

David Hewlett
I mean, honestly, so don’t no one needs to say thank you. I enjoy this stuff. So.

David Read
Well, I appreciate you and I look forward to having you in the new year, sir.

David Hewlett
Let’s do it again.

David Read
Yeah, appreciate it brother.

David Hewlett
GimpyG, check them out. Follow him on Twitter

David Read
Fundraiser for Lance…

David Hewlett
Follow him on Twitch.

David Read
for Lance Carr Quad Squad.

David Hewlett
Yeah, he’s absolutely wonderful. And even if you don’t have any money, just go and follow him on Twitch.

David Read
Yeah, share, share the story.

David Hewlett
Yeah, that’d be fantastic. I think you’ll love him. Yeah, he’s quite a character.

David Read
Dave, continued luck with Tech Bandits.

David Hewlett
Thank you much

David Read
Really excited about the del Toro bit we’ll be watching.

David Hewlett
Yeah, start shooting that in January. And Nightmare Alley’s coming out. So if you watch the trailer, David, watching the trailer, you’ll probably recognize some fantastic hand acting.

David Read
Dr. Elrood.

David Hewlett
That was my hand that comes in onto the, yeah, I literally paused it for my son. I was like, “Look, see? That’s my hand.” That’s so lame. That’s my hand. That’s actually really, it’s a very small scene. But it was rather fun to do and it was doubled in length because we shot it before the pandemic. I showed up on my second day of shooting and they said, “Go home.” Longest lunch I’ve ever had it was six months. And then we came back and then shot the rest of the scene.

David Read
Wow, Nightmare Alley.

David Hewlett
So go check that out as well. I think it’s gonna come out, guess December, I believe.

David Read
Okay. Absolutely, sir. We will do that. Thank you again so much again. And check in after the holidays.

David Hewlett
Yeah, try to get some sleep somewhere.

David Read
One of these days brother. Be well.

David Hewlett
Bye.

David Read
Take care of yourself. Bye. Bye. David.

David Hewlett
Thanks, everyone.

David Read
David Hewlett, Rodney McKay on Stargate Atlantis, SG-1. And my light is absolutely gone. I apologize. It’s so dark in here. My name is David Read, and you’re watching Dial the Gate. We have an update on the merchandise portal on the website. So if you go to dialthegate.com. And maybe I should have set this up right before I brought it up. So dialthegate.com. And then you click on Merch, and any one of our items now. It’ll take you to all the items. We’re really, really happy about this. Thank you, Frederick for making that happen. So and that’s my dashboard there. So just ignore that please. So if you really want to support the show, we appreciate anything that you can do, a Like, a Share. But if you want to buy some of our themed swag, we now have that available. T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts all on dialthegate.com/merch. We really appreciate your support. And as always, my team, my amazing team of moderators, Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy Rhys, and Antony, you guys are the best. Big thanks again to Frederick for helping us develop the new dialthegate.com, you can reach him at ConceptsWeb.ca. And thanks to my producer, Linda “GateGabber” Furey as well, they really are pulling out all the stops to make season two possible. We’re gonna get out of here, folks, I do have a couple of episodes scheduled for next week. And then we’re taking the US Thanksgiving weekend off, but that information is going to be coming in the next couple of days here as soon as I can get the time and energy together to assemble that. In the meantime, my thanks once again to David Hewlett. Always a pleasure to have him on and to all of you for tuning in and helping to make season two and the continued growth of Dial the Gate possible. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. You guys have a wonderful week. We’ll see you on the other side.