Stargate Atlantis’s Colonel John Sheppard joins David Read while in quarantine on Dial the Gate, where he will be discussing the colonel, his career and a little bit about his next project. He will also take your questions LIVE!

Links
Joe Flanigan’s Official Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/joeflaniganofficial
Joe Flanigan Autographs for RocktheVote ► https://www.cameo.com/flaniganjoe

Share This Video ► https://youtu.be/ZvMMskY6AaU

Visit DialtheGate ► http://www.dialthegate.com
on Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/dialthegate
on Instagram ► https://instagram.com/dialthegateshow
on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/dial_the_gate

SUBSCRIBE!
https://youtube.com/dialthegate/

Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:27 – Welcome and Episode Outline
01:38 – Guest Introduction
05:17 – Tell us about “See” (season 2)
09:54 – Tell us about your formative years
20:50 – How Joe Found Stargate
23:12 – Personal Heroes
33:20 – Elon Musk
34:31 – What was your impression to Stargate before being cast?
37:22 – Filling the lead’s shoes as John Sheppard
41:30 – The first Comic-con (San Diego)
43:13 – An Overwhelming First Season
48:50 – Joe lived with Jason Momoa
52:35 – Stargate and the Hero’s Journey
58:28 – Creating content that changes peoples’ lives
1:00:48 – Coffee or Tea?
1:01:47 – Who do you wish Sheppard hooked up with?
1:05:28 – SGA 4×15 “Outcast”
1:07:24 – Call to Action
1:08:12 – Would you like to come back to Stargate in any form?
1:11:20 – Sheppard’s wristband
1:13:07 – How much ad-lib were you allowed to put in the show?
1:17:33 – SG-1 and Atlantis crossovers
1:23:01 – SGA 1×1 “Rising”
1:24:41 – What do you think John is doing now?
1:25:20 – What’s it like being the lead and a supporting character?
1:29:01 – What’s your favorite adult beverage?
1:29:52 – What was it like working with David Hewlett?
1:35:05 – Guest Thanks
1:37:02 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:39:30 – End Credits

***

“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

#Stargate
#DialtheGate
#TurtleTimeline

 

TRANSCRIPT
Find an error? Submit it here.

David Read
Welcome to episode four of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. I’ve got Joe Flanigan here waiting in the wings. Thanks so much for everyone in the chat for pointing out that I have no sound. But we should be broadcasting right now. There we go. Thank you for everyone who’s online already. We’re at 243 guests and counting. So what’s first going to happen here, is that I’m going to bring Joe in, I’m going to have a line of questioning for him. (That sounds like an interrogation, but it’s not, trust me.) And then we’re going to invite the fan community to ask questions of their own. And then yeah, we’ll see where it goes. One of the things that we must keep in mind yesterday with 150 people simultaneously in the chat is that not everyone got to get their questions asked, and we’re going to fix that with this one as best we can by inviting everyone to only ask one question. So make it good. So when you post it in the chat, one question, and then that’s the last that the moderators are going to take from you. Thank you to Sommer. And thank you to Tracy for being online right now to take care of that. Without further ado, let’s bring in the man of the hour himself. Mr. Joe Flanigan. Sir, how are ya?

Joe Flanigan
Hey, how are you?

David Read
I’m good. How are you dealing with this quarantine?

Joe Flanigan
I mean, you be the judge yourself. You know, I showed up unshaven. Listen, it is I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s far more difficult than I thought. And what occurred to me – and Jason and I both kind of realized this – like, we are, we’re not really adults. We’re in adult bodies, but we’re just children that are, you know, with ADD, we’re like restless children with ADD. So locking us in confined spaces, it’s not advisable. It’s dangerous, maybe.

David Read
Jeez, yeah, you gotta keep yourself occupied with toys and you know, taking interviews and whatever else that you can do, you know, while you’re just dealing with with the madness that is the current reality. How long have you been in confinement for “See”?

Joe Flanigan
Today’s number, day 10. Yeah, so what I’ve been doing, like these type of things help, like a little like window into the world where there’s human beings doing things. But you know, I’ve been doing a live stream every day at 2pm East Coast time just to reach out and I thought it would be…I thought it’d be entertaining to see just, like, the portrait of a man slowly unraveling. And so people will, you know, it might be like watching a car crash, who knows?

David Read
In gradual slow motion, yeah.

Joe Flanigan
So that’s been helping me stay sane. But other than that, you know, I want to say that this is excessive, but then I’m not a medical expert. And you know, when I talk to people who do know what they’re talking about, you know,…

David Read
We don’t know, you know? And if we don’t know, what’s wrong with taking a few precautions? If you’re willing to do the work, I’m just so thankful that production has restarted in so many places, and that we’re trying to find a happy medium to make it work.

Joe Flanigan
That’s exactly right. Because when I said to the lady here in production, I said, “God, 14 day quarantine, that seems excessive,” she said, “Well, you know, we’re working, when you guys aren’t really working down there. So whatever allows us to work…,” and I couldn’t argue with that, couldn’t argue. That’s true.

David Read
I’ve been speaking with a number of your peers, getting ready to start this, and you’ve got people all across the spectrum. “I want to work but I’m having trouble finding work.” In your case, you know, “We’re working, but there’s a holding pattern,” and then others are like, “I just don’t think it’s safe right now.” And so we’re all trying to… Hindsight is 20/20; you know, we’re gonna be looking back on these few years, right, studied for years and years, but where we’re at right now, everyone’s got to be smart, follow their doctor’s instructions based on their own health, and do the best that they can with the information that they’ve been given.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah. Hey, listen, I thought that this pandemic was going to be the unifying element that made us realize we were all in the same boat together. And how wrong was I? didn’t realize it would be politicized. Everybody’s gonna start questioning the science and stuff. So that’s a little unfortunate. But this thing is gonna go on until springtime. So maybe we’ll recalibrate and realize that we are all in it together. So who knows?

David Read
I completely hope that that’s the case. So tell us about “See.” So you’re in day 10 of 14. How long is production for you? And what can you tell us?

Joe Flanigan
I have been told that I can’t tell anybody about anything in “See.” So I really apologize, but they’re very tight lipped about this, and you have to sign you know, nondisclosure agreements and stuff like that. So I can’t really talk about it. But basically, I did a couple episodes before the quarantine. And this is just picking up where that left off.

David Read
So you’ve already been on the show! I have not seen it yet.

Joe Flanigan
Well, I had started on their Season Two, but I don’t know when they give Season Two out. I think they save it all, get it shot, get it in the can and then release it. So, you know, I’ll be doing a few more episodes for… They only shoot six episodes a season, and I do a few more, and then maybe a few more for Season Three. That’s about it.

David Read
Do you like the role?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, it’s fun!

David Read
“No, David, I hate the role. I just do it to get a paycheck and spend time with my buddy.”

Joe Flanigan
Well, I tell you, it is interesting, I can probably talk about this, which is: you have to go through sensory training, because everybody’s blind. And so you realize that your cues are always audible. They’re auditory. So you turn and you look at things, so you have to train yourself to – or they’re visual – but you have to train yourself to turn to auditory cues only. And be like, you know, like you’re hearing things and stuff. So I spent the day with this one guy who’s blind and we went walking around, he had to put a thing on you and you go walking around with him. And it’s, it’s fascinating. What’s fascinating is how they use the sensory elements that they have, with such greater precision than we do.

David Read
The blind?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, he can walk into a room and by tapping, he can kind of tell how big it is, just by the echo and stuff, he can kind of get a feel for… And it’s amazing that we rely really heavily on the senses that come easily to us. So we’re not very auditory, we’re more visual.

David Read
That’s crazy. So how has it been to share this stage, as it were, with Jason again?

Joe Flanigan
Jason and I, actually weirdly enough, haven’t worked together yet.

David Read
Really?

Joe Flanigan
No, that has not happened yet. Which is, I think, kind of interesting.

David Read
So it’s a bigger palette than just him and what he’s seeing and you know, I haven’t seen Season One. So what do you think of the show?

Joe Flanigan
I like the show. It’s a big production. It’s really amazing and impressive, and I recommend anybody, you know, get through the first two or three episodes because it really gets going. And after two or three episodes, you get hooked. And it’s a it’s a big, epic adventure. So yeah, just check it out.

David Read
Leave it to Apple to produce some some top notch quality content. I wouldn’t have expected otherwise.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, they have the pockets to put into production value.

David Read
Did you know that Apple was interested in acquiring SG-1 for a Season 11?

Joe Flanigan
I did not know that.

David Read
Yeah, before Ark of Truth, they were considering picking it up. So before Ark of Truth and Continuum,

Joe Flanigan
That was before they really launched Apple!

David Read
Exactly. That’s right. That was 10 years ago, something like that…

Joe Flanigan
That was before they even had a platform. So that’s kind of interesting. I wonder how they would have done that.

David Read
So with this show – with Dial the Gate – my intention here is to be the Archive of American Television for Stargate. We’re on YouTube. You know, this is humanity’s visual record, probably for the next multiple decades. As new fans discover the show, I want to create a space for them to come to see the the oral history, to watch people discuss episodes from the entire franchise from all aspects of production. So that’s my intent here. So my hope is that after we’re finished with this episode, a few months down the line, you’d be willing to come back and talk about a few more episodes from the show, going through this series. So I really appreciate you being here.

Joe Flanigan
Happy to be of service.

David Read
Did you always know that you… But let’s take a step back before Stargate, let’s specifically focus on you. And I want to focus on the people that made you who you are: your personal heroes, and the people who inspired you to become the guy that you are. But did you always know that you wanted to act?

Joe Flanigan
No, not at all. Acting came almost by accident. So, it was interesting, I worked – some people know this, but I worked in… It’s a backwards trajectory: Where most people kind of grow up and work harder, I actually started working hard and was disciplined, and then I was like, till I finally ended up in Hollywood.

David Read
What did you do?

Joe Flanigan
Well, I was pretty disciplined. So each summer I was… Really, I grew up on this ranch, farm-like environment, and we did a lot of manual labor and stuff, like we’re outdoors all the time. And I went away to school and so forth, but I spent the summers doing internships. So I worked at Dean Witter Reynolds. I worked at Wells Fargo, I worked in… [Phone rings] I apologize, I thought this was turned off.

David Read
Don’t worry about it. Yeah, welcome to my life.

Joe Flanigan
I’m trying to figure out… I should have a kid blocker, because it’s my kids who always call. And I know what they want, they want money. They always want money. “Hey, Dad!” “You want money.” They’re like, “No, I just called to say hi. Can I borrow $50?” Anyways, I worked in Wells Fargo, and then I worked in Washington, DC as an intern. And it kind of culminated in a job that was pretty interesting – short lived, but interesting – which was I was an advanced man for George Bush, Sr. An advance man is somebody who goes out and organizes trips. So if George Bush was going to Los Angeles or London, or whatever, you go in advance, maybe a week, maybe three days, you get everything organized, so that when his plane lands, you then steer him through the entire process. And you work the schedule out by like, literally by 30-second increments. It’s an incredible logistical…

David Read
So, you had to have worked a little bit with Secret Service, then.

Joe Flanigan
Oh we did, but Secret Service worked for us, which is a source of occasional tension, because Secret Service has their own manifest that they have to deal with, which is, protect the president. But then some of us were like, look, this is a great backdrop. He can speak here. And then this is going to make a great front page, you know, you got the president there, you got a flag, you got the buildings in the background. And they’re, you know, Secret Service would come up and say, “Yeah, well, we can get sniper fire from here, sniper fire from there, sniper fire from…” And you’re like, “Yeah, but I can’t keep him in a box.” And they said, “Okay, just remember that when he gets shot, it’s on your head.” That’s a little heavy.

David Read
“So maybe, maybe we can work something out.”

Joe Flanigan
You can override them occasionally. But you try not to work that, you try to always create something that works for everybody. Because they’re in an impossible situation. And if it was up to them, they just keep them in a box all the time. That’s the way they think. But they know that certain things have to be done. So yeah, it was interesting. And the Secret Service, man, they were like, they were such studs. They would go to the bar, whatever hotel bar they’re at, they’re downstairs, girls are just like, “I’m a Secret Service man.”

Joe Flanigan
I gotta turn the…

David Read
Oh they really?! Oh my gosh. You’d think that they wouldn’t be allowed to do that. You think they’d be like the CIA or something. Just flout it.

David Read
They keep interrupting me. What is wrong?

Joe Flanigan
Is it my message? No, FaceTime is shut down.

David Read
The kids are trying to get through?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, I’m going to turn off…

David Read
Take the call if you need to. If they call back, that’s fine. You sound like my dad, it’s fine.

Joe Flanigan
I’ve got FaceTime off, so I don’t think that’s gonna work. Alright, anyway. Anyway, so yeah, I did that, then I really didn’t like the people that I worked with… So it’s really weird, I have the message off and it’s still killing me. They are, you know, when my kids wants something and need something they just won’t stop.

Joe Flanigan
Right now.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, so let me just… You can witness this: I’m going to send a text back to him saying, “I’m in the middle of a live interview-period-Can you patiently sit back for another hour, please.” By the way, I wouldn’t say it so nicely if I wasn’t on live.

David Read
Well, I appreciate that. YouTube doesn’t like swearing.

Joe Flanigan
“Sit your skinny little white ass down, boy!” Anyways. So I got a little tired of that and tired of those people. And I decided that that’s not something I wanted to do, perhaps I wanted to do something like writing. And so I kind of ventured into that kind of realm of things, and I was working at a magazine in New York called Interview magazine, which is a magazine founded by Andy Warhol – Andy Warhol was not there when I was there – and then I ended up getting fired from that job, which was, to me devastating. And I got fired for some really interesting reasons, which is one, I probably wasn’t very good at what I did. There’s always that, but I worked for an art director. And everybody was screaming and yelling all the time, screaming and yelling, there’s drama, drama, drama. Now I had just come… You know, my last job was working for the most powerful man in the world. And what was kind of creepy is that nobody ever yelled. Everybody was like, “Yeah, we’re gonna go through your taxes to make sure you didn’t cheat.” And of course that sent shivers down your spine, but they never raised their voice. They never raised their voice. Now, I’m in a magazine, they think they’re so important, and they’re screaming and yelling and crisis. And I think they could just read on my face that I didn’t totally respect them. That I thought they were a little ridiculous. And I think that that ended up getting me fired.

David Read
Did they know your background, though? I mean, did they know that you just come off working for the most…?

Joe Flanigan
They couldn’t care less, they don’t care.

David Read
Oh, okay.

Joe Flanigan
If anything, by the way, he was a Republican, and they clearly weren’t. So in their mind, there was residue that they didn’t like. They didn’t realize my job’s just organizational…

David Read
Right, has nothing to do with the party.

Joe Flanigan
Nobody’s even wanting my opinion, if I had the opinion they wanted. But so it was purely organizational…nonetheless, I’m fired, I’m in New York, and I’ve got this apartment, and I’m pretty nervous about how I’m gonna pay rent. And my neighbor was an actor. And he was always like, having a good time, you know, he had a Harley Davidson and everything just seemed so fun and easy for him. And I was like, “What do you do?” And he said, “I’m an actor.” I didn’t even know what that really meant, to be honest with you. And I said, “Well, so like, what do you do? And he said, “Well, for me, for my… Basically, I do commercials, and bla bla, bla, bla, bla, and I get paid a lot of money. Bla bla bla bla, yeah, you should try it.” And I said, “Well, that’s interesting, but I am…. I’m between jobs. Maybe I should try that.” But I was shy. I was really shy, like, not shy on a one to one basis, but in front of groups, I just did not want ever to be seen. And so I was terrified by the idea of this. And so I just thought, “Well, look, for no other reason. Maybe it’ll get me over that.” I went to his agent, I had to read a monologue, and I thought it was terrible, and it probably was, but she said, “It’s really interesting, you have a certain quality – you’re not trained, you need to train – but you have a quality.” So I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse, where, it’s a good school, good training. And I gave it a shot. And I got lucky, I came to LA. And I sort of applied certain things. And I said, I’m gonna give myself eight to 12 months, you know, and if I’m not really getting traction after that time, then I’m gonna have to veer into a different direction. Because I really gave myself a limited amount of time. But I also knew that at that age, that’s the age you want to try things. I was in my mid 20s, I think, yeah – 25, 26, something like that. And so I just got lucky, and I started doing commercials. And my big…well, you said it was a break, it’s an initial break, which was, there was a guy who shot a series of Pepsi commercials with Cindy Crawford. And he put me in like seven commercials back to back. So I was able to get my SAG card, I was able to get all that stuff. And then it started rolling. And once people go, “Oh, he’s, he’s in demand for these people,” then they hire you for that. And then pretty soon you’re working and then they give you some speaking parts and it starts to slowly unravel – I should say “unfold”…

David Read
It snowballs, yeah.

David Read
What year is this?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, and then I started getting some shots at some TV shows. And I started doing some stuff… But the real break came with a miniseries for NBC called Family Album, which was written by Danielle Steel. And back then miniseries were huge, they were like a big deal, they were the big epic that people invested in back then. And this was supposed to go up against the World Series. They had to have alternative programming to the World Series. That year, the World Series actually ended up not happening because they went on strike…

Joe Flanigan
I don’t even know.

David Read
80s, 90s?

Joe Flanigan
No, this is 90s. But it ended up being a big hit. And it was a, you know, the character, I don’t know…for whatever reason, people liked it. And suddenly everything changed. Literally, I could get pretty much any appointment I wanted. I was on a shortlist to get cast for various shows. And so, it just started happening. And I ended up doing a lot. I did something like 12 or 13 network pilots. And so when Stargate came along – a lot of people don’t realize this, but I had done a lot of work before that – and it was like my 13th or 14th pilot, Stargate.

David Read
For that season?

Joe Flanigan
It was like my 13th or 14th time that I…

David Read
Total?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah. And I was like, look…

David Read
And the 12 before, the 13 had not aired?

Joe Flanigan
Well, but this was different, because they said this is picked up already for a season. And maybe it’s probably picked up for two. And I said, “I like that idea. I’ve got kids, I’m tired of doing these pilots, the good ones don’t get picked up anyways. Let’s do something that’s like a bird in the basket here.” So it ended up being a great decision.

David Read
Were you in Vancouver at that point? Or was it a move for the family?

Joe Flanigan
Oh, no, I’ve never been in Vancouver except for that show. I’ve been living in LA the whole time. And that was difficult.

David Read
Oh, so you had a so you had a place for yourself while you were up there.

Joe Flanigan
Initially, I moved them up there, I think the first year. And then my wife at the time was pregnant with our third child, and she wanted to be in LA because she needed to get amniocentesis done because she has a genetic predisposition towards certain things. And they actually wouldn’t do them in Canada. So you can’t really travel when you get one of those. So finally, I just bought a house in LA and they lived down there and I travelled back every weekend for four years.

David Read
Take a n…

David Read
Man, what a grind.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, it was pretty… You know, everybody goes, “Oh, I wish I was the star of the show.” And then finally you’re the star of a show, and you’re working hours that are pretty intense, and then getting on a plane the minute you’re done and flying home for like 36 hours and coming back. So that was…it required a certain level of discipline that I’ve never really had to have about storing my energy and saving my energy. I was having to like, literally, anytime I got a chance to sleep, even if it was for like 15 minutes, I’d just go into my trailer and go “Zzz.”

Joe Flanigan
It was brutal.

David Read
Yeah. Wow. Joe, who were your heroes? Who’s most responsible for making you the man you are? Is it family? Is it someone that you’ve met on your journey?

Joe Flanigan
I grew up in a weirdly non-entertainment environment. There was nobody that we knew who was in Hollywood. So it was free of any of that stuff. My dad was in politics for a long time. But I have to give credit to my dad. He was an older guy, he was my stepdad – I grew up with my mom and my stepdad. And a lot of people don’t know this, but my stepdad and my mom married when I think I was like five or something. And he changed my name to his last name. So the name I was actually born with was Joe Dunnigan. Now going from Dunnigan to Flanigan, I don’t think anybody even noticed it.

Joe Flanigan
It’s an Irish thing, isn’t it?

Joe Flanigan
It was so Irish. I went from one Irish name to another one. But my stepdad probably had the biggest influence on me. And he is a pretty smart guy. He went to MIT, and then fought in the war, came back, graduated from Princeton, and then went to Harvard Business School. And so he was a really well-educated guy. Pretty interesting, pretty smart. And this was the second half of his life. My mom was his third marriage. And he said, “God, I wish I had met your mom earlier, I could have saved some time.” It was his last marriage, and they stayed married the rest of his life. And he was an interesting fellow. And he was pretty old school. And so we didn’t have a lot of television, we had a lot of manual labor, and he had a very, very clear sense of what was right and wrong. And he was not an easy guy. Sometimes he’s pretty challenging. We had dinner every night together at a dinner table, and he would ask you questions about what’s happening in the world, and he’d expect you to know the answer. And if you didn’t, he’d kind of cook you a little. “Well, why don’t you know? Your job is to have an opinion. It’s not okay to not have an opinion. It’s not okay. Your job is to pay attention and have an opinion. And then I will challenge you, on your opinion. And if your information is more interesting than mine, then maybe I’ll change my opinion.” So you had to be on guard, sometimes. It was really interesting. You actually had to be on your toes. It was, it was not personal, which was good. But you learned how to debate issues, pretty passionately, but be able to walk away from it not being personally feeling like you’ve been trespassed. So, that was interesting. And I think it made a big difference. And I realized that when I went away to school – I went away to boarding school and college and stuff – there was a part of me that was more developed the most of the kids, and it was a conversational quality, and my capacity to carry on a conversation at a relatively high level. And I can tell the kids who grew up around adults, and who didn’t grow up around adults. And I tried desperately to raise my kids in the same kind of environment. It’s not that easy. But, you know, so he had an influence on me, you know, and maybe even more so after he passed away, because I think about all the things he said. And one example I want to give this is interesting. I was in college at University of Colorado Boulder, and we’re paying out of state tuition, we had family that lived in Colorado. It was very easy for me to get their address and get in-state tuition, which was a massive reduction in the cost of tuition. And I said, “Look, we can save ourselves all this money.” And he said, “No. No, no, no that’s not okay. Because the people who come in from out of state, they pay more money, so the kids in state who don’t have as much money can afford to go to school.” You know, it showed the way he thought about things. And it was something that some people would look at today and be like, “Wow, you’re a fool. You’re just a fool. Like, those are ethics that just don’t mean anything. Those are those are just dumb.”

Joe Flanigan
Yeah. “Why don’t you take advantage? There’s an in there.”

Joe Flanigan
“You’re just dumb, you’re not doing what everybody else is doing.” And he just didn’t believe in that he. So to me, that was a pretty powerful… It had a lot of resonance, which was, “You do the right thing because it’s the right thing, not because you’re gonna get a reward for it.” And it’s not… The mentality today, “It’s wrong only if you get caught,” those type of things. And no, he wasn’t perfect. I’m not saying he was some guy you could stick on a pedestal who hadn’t made big mistakes in his life. Of course he had. But these were like the larger macroethical concerns about your place in society, and his view of things. And it occurred to me that his experience of fighting in World War Two and seeing the large tableau of America, is what altered his political opinions. So he knew that the situation had to be fundamentally fair. And there was a moderation to everything he did when it came to politics or something. He knew that you had to give people a shot. And once that goes, the whole system falls apart. So I think he would be really upset by what’s happening today, where people feel kind of hopeless, and they don’t feel like they’re getting a fair shot and the rich are only getting richer. And he was a Republican. I’d be really interested to see what his feeling would be with Donald Trump. I’m pretty sure he would dislike him immensely, and wonder what happened to his party. But that type of stuff had a big influence on me because I’m looking at things today and I’m thinking, nobody’s thinking about your larger part. They’re only thinking about your thing, only thinking about how it affects me.

David Read
We’re all connected.

Joe Flanigan
Well it was remarkable the way Donald Trump talked about not wearing a mask, he goes, “No, I mean, lookit, I’m fine. I’m away from these people.” Like, yeah, but that’s only half the equation. How do you affect other people? And sure enough, he infected a lot of people. And so this mentality that, “How am I affected? What is in it for me?” It’s just only half the equation. And so, yeah, he had a big influence on me. And so there were guys like him. I was a history major, so there’s a lot of people historically that I like, you know, I look at Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, JFK… The power to inspire people and make them be constructive members of society is a incredible quality to have. And so I admire those people, people who have gone out there and done things. I really admire Bill Gates – and not for his technical expertise, because I don’t…; and there’s a lot of questions about potentially what dubious ethics were going on to found that company Microsoft; I don’t know, I didn’t want to get into that, because I don’t know much about that – but I’m looking at a guy who has so much money, so much money, more money than some governments have. And he is out there analyzing situations and looking at primary causes. One guy that had a huge influence on me was a Jesuit priest. And he said something to me I’ll never forget. He said, “Intelligence is the ability to find primary causes.” I thought that’s a remarkably interesting way of describing intelligence. A lot of us run around and we get confused by symptoms. So for example, even Donald Trump, we say he’s the cause of…he’s not the cause of problems, he’s the symptom. There’s a deeper cause going on, of why we’re at where we are. And the ability to find primary causes is really, to me, the sign of somebody who’s thoughtful. And he’s looking at what the biggest threats are to mankind, and he knows for children, you know, starvation isn’t the biggest threat to children. And yet, the big charity balls are like, “Feed the Children” and everything else. He knew that diarrhea was. But “diarrhea” just doesn’t have the same ring to it when you’re doing a black tie charity event, “Diarrhea Ball,” but he knows that diarrhea is it. And he gets he goes right to that primary cause, I think that he is a genuinely interesting guy, who his impact outside of Microsoft is extraordinary. And it’s actually probably going to be a model that potentially, rich and powerful people can follow. And if we only applied the same analytics to problems in our government that he applies to problems, I think we’d be in better shape. There are other people that influenced me too.

Joe Flanigan
And I look at Elon Musk, and…

Joe Flanigan
Elon Musk, another fascinating guy. What I like about him is I think he really genuinely doesn’t give a shit. He really doesn’t. He’s kind of like, “I’m gonna smoke weed on this show. I don’t care, Joe Rogan.” Y’know? And I kind of like, “Cool, I like that,” you know. Because you can become so hollowed out by your investors and your advertisers that you’re no longer the person that you were. But the truth is, the person he is, he’s a maverick. He needs that freedom in order to get to where he needs to get. And who would have guessed 10 years ago that Tesla would be bigger than General Motors?

David Read
That too. And I will be there the day that he sends the first manned flight to Mars. So whenever that’s going to be, because if anyone’s going to do it, I think it’s gonna be him.

Joe Flanigan
I might be on that flight, who knows?

David Read
I wouldn’t mind having Colonel Sheppard out there.

Joe Flanigan
One way ticket. One way tickets.

David Read
Had you seen Stargate before auditioning? What were your initial impressions of the franchise? Are you a sci fi fan?

Joe Flanigan
Okay, interesting enough, and this is my admission: I didn’t watch, really, any science fiction television. And in fact, I didn’t really watch any television. And this was a weakness of mine. And I think I approach Hollywood with a kind of like, this false snobbery, which is, “This is kind of a joke, right? Even if I make it, when I’m successful as an actor, like, what difference does it make? I’m just an actor.” And then I really began to respect it and respect the craft, and then suddenly I became really interested in it. And then I realized, it’s like, “Wow, this is really…” The world needs its storytellers, you know, the value of storytelling is so incredible. And I really have tremendous respect for the whole storytelling apparatus. And I love that it’s a cooperative; you know, it’s not like writing or painting. It’s a cooperative. You have people in the art department, the visual effects department, you know, the writers, the gaffes, the grips, the directors, the DPs, it’s an incredible cooperation. And you end up with a product that has been contributed to by so many different people, and they all have a distinct mark on it. And they all have their own particular value. So on that, I started watching more and more, and it really did help.

DTG Account
This is after you got the role?

Joe Flanigan
No. This is what happened. So when Stargate came along, my first thought was like, “Well, I can’t really do that. I don’t see myself being the right person for this.” But I had in my mind Star Trek; I had not watched Stargate. And I was told by my manager, they said, “No, this is not that show, this show has like a sense of humor. It’s self deprecating. It’s kind of a wink of the eye adventure at the same time. And you can probably do whatever you want with the characters, just do something, see what they like, see if they like it.” And I said, “Oh, well in that case…” And then I reread the script in a completely different way. And I’m so glad he said that, because when I read it, I was like, “Unnh, I don’t know.” And so I went in with a very different… I had a specific thing in mind. And I went in and they liked it, and I did it. And so it worked out. It was remarkably simple; it was one of the easiest castings I’ve ever done. It was like went in, read. Next day: offer, done.

David Read
When it’s right, it’s right. You know, there’s just those circumstances where someone comes in and they click. Christopher Judge had the exact same experience: He walked into the room. Brad and Jonathan were in there, and he said lines and they’re like, “Okay, Teal’c, moving on.” That was it. We also had trouble finding Teal’c. But still, when you got it, you got it.

David Read
Well, it’s the same thing. Apparently, they had gone through everybody and could not find the role of this character. And it was remarkable how many big names they had come in to read for this role. So…

David Read
Yeah, Ben Browder, I think came in as well.

Joe Flanigan
Did he?

David Read
Yeah, he was considered for Sheppard, I’m pretty sure.

Joe Flanigan
I’m amazed at how many people have come up to me and told me that they read for my part. You know, it’s pretty interesting. Apparently, I didn’t realize how competitive it was to get that. So maybe that’s good that I didn’t know. But then the next question, after I got the role was, “How the hell could you fill the role and shoes of Jack O’Neill?” And I was like, “Who’s Jack O’Neill?” I literally didn’t know who it was. When I say I was ignorant, I was genuinely ignorant. And they’re like, “He’s the star of SG-1! You are riding his coattails!” I said, “Oh, will you personally thank him for me?” I did not watch it because I knew that if I watched it, it might affect the way I wanted to do the character. And I wanted to at least get one or two episodes in the can and establish the character before I did that.

David Read
You wanted to provide a fresh interpretation.

Joe Flanigan
Well, yeah, and I didn’t realize you know, how big SG-1 was, and how many followers there were. I was, again, naive to that. And so when the question came up, just consistently, it was the single most-asked question: “How are you going to be like Jack O’Neill? Or are you going to be unlike Jack O’Neill?” Or like, the whole thing was in comparison to Jack O’Neill. And after the first episode there, I was never asked that again. So I feel like that’s a major success, because then when I did start watching, I had so much fun watching it. I loved what Rick did. I mean, Rick was so…

David Read
Unlike anything else out there.

Joe Flanigan
…fabulously incongruous and idiosyncratic, and I was like, “That could have affected me, maybe.” And that’s his deal, and I love it, and our deal was our deal. And it’s really interesting because there is a different tone to our show than the other show. And Martin Wood, who directed a lot of the episodes, he said, “I look at SG-1 like Superman, and Atlantis like Batman.” You know, there was a different vibe to it. And yet, it’s still part of the same…

Joe Flanigan
Universe.

Joe Flanigan
…mythology. Yeah. So, and I would love to… I have to say, Rick… It was hilarious. I loved ribbing those guys nextdoor at SG-1. We filmed… You know, they had their stage, we had our stage, and they were kind of next next to each other in the same building. For some reason, they didn’t have air conditioning and we did, and I’d walk over there and I’d be like, “God, it’s so hot in here! Augh, must be miserable. I think I’m gonna go back to my air conditioned studio.” And so it was just fun to do that. But I also realize my gratitude toward SG-1 is, it was immense. Because I’ve never done a show before where we – quite literally – there was a built-in audience. And they had us fly down, we did the pilot, the pilot broke all these cable records at the time. I think it was the most watched cable.

David Read
It was indeed, that’s true.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah. And so when that happened, you know, all of a sudden, people start making phone calls, and they’re talking to you and everything else. But we go down to Comic-Con. I didn’t even quite know what Comic-Con…

David Read
San Diego, the big one.

Joe Flanigan
And I said, “Why are you flying down to Comic-Con?” Literally, this was a Saturday, our show had aired the night before. I said, “Don’t we need a year or two to build an audience and everything else? This seems, like, a little premature.” And I don’t even know anything because you go through these back entrances under the hotels and into this thing. And then you just hear they’re introducing you and you walk on the stage. And boom, I walk out and…holy crap. It is…I don’t know…

David Read
4000 people fit in ballroom 20.

Joe Flanigan
I don’t know, yeah, somewhere between 3- and 5000 people.

David Read
Yes, correct.

Joe Flanigan
Standing room only, standing ovation, it’s incredible. And I just was like, “Oh my God, we’re on a ride. We’re on a ride.” And by the way, that was the same experience Jason Momoa had when he joined, because he came the second year. And he had never really been on anything that had been watched, or been in front of a group that was that big. And he was like me, he was pretty shy about these things. And I just remember him saying, “I am not talking, so do me a favor and answer all my questions for me.” And I remember that, and I was like, “You’re gonna get used to this, trust me, and it’s amazing.” He was just like me at the beginning, and then look at him, doing skits on Saturday Night Live. It’s a remarkable arc.

David Read
If I may be so bold, when we started talking with you, you were in your first season. And the answers – you’re gonna kill me for saying this – but your answers were often “Yes” and “No.”

David Read
Yeah, you were very clipped and very specific, and you got to the point, and there was there was minimal embellishment. And coming back year after year, we watched you learn the interview process, and move forward in terms of verbally exploring the aspects of the character and production and everything else that went into it, with people who were coming to set and getting in your space and getting in your face when you were trying to memorize your lines for the next scene. You know, it’s intrusive.

Joe Flanigan
Were they?

Joe Flanigan
What was what was particularly hard for me, and it took me a number of years to realize it: that first year was really taxing, because although I had done a lot of shows, and I had been a regular on TV series, I’d never been the star – or the lead I should say, because it’s not fair to say I’m the star of that show, because it’s an ensemble cast – but I’m the lead of this show. I’m number one on the call sheet, which means they they’re going to lean on me the most. And they’re going to put me in the most stuff and I’m working the most hours. And I think that, along with having and moving my family up, it was difficult. I was short on sleep all the time. And it was really taxing and it was very difficult. So at the time, I met Hugh Jackman up there in Vancouver. Our kids started school together one day. And I didn’t even recognize who he was, we were just saying, you know… I heard his accent, so we just started talking. It was our kids’ first day of school, ever. They’d never been to school. So this is the first day of school. And you know, a parent’s first day dropping the kid off at school is like, “Oh my God, this is really nerve racking.” And so we were kind of kvetching together like, “Oh, my God, I hope they’re okay.” Almost like two mothers.

Joe Flanigan
Leave the nest, you know!

Joe Flanigan
And we became friends, and he was shooting X-Men…or yeah, I think it was X-Men. And I started talking to him, I said, “You know, this isn’t fair, you shoot two or three pages a day, I shoot 12 to 14 pages a day, I have more work, I have less rest time, I have less time to work on my material we spend less time shooting the material. And it doesn’t seem fair.” Well, the truth is, no, they’re working just as hard. They just spend more time on a particular thing. I said, “I don’t even have time to work out, you know, I have to get picked up at 6am. If I’m lucky, I get home by 9pm. And you know, it’s really…it’s tiring.” And he said, “You have to get up and work out.” I said, “Yeah, but then you…I wake up, you’re asking me to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and work out.” He said, “Yes, you’re better off working out and being a little tired than not working out and still being tired.” And all of a sudden, I did that for one year. And it changed everything: my ability to talk to journalists, my ability just to be present on set, the energy I had, my overall mood was very different. I was finally getting sleep. And I was just better mentally and physically. And that was what I had to do to handle those type of hours. And it really helped, because when I started flying back and forth between LA and New York, you know, that’s what kept me going. And so it was, you know, he taught me a lot about that. Give it up for Wolverine!

David Read
Absolutely, for Wolverine! Was it difficult on the kids, not being there all the time? Or they handled it well? As adults, have they been like, you know, “Dad, I appreciate your sacrifice.” How’d they handle it?

Joe Flanigan
It’s still pre-FaceTime.

David Read
True! This is phone call only.

Joe Flanigan
Kids don’t really want to be on speakerphone, they don’t get it. So what was happening is that in your head, when you’re a parent, you’re thinking, you know, this is a beautiful thing. I picture myself sitting at the edge of the bed, when it’s nighttime, and they’re going to bed and they’re like, “Daddy, what is God?” or “Daddy, I had a rough day at school, somebody pushed me.” And then you give them a big life lessons, and you have these visualizations about what you’re going to be like as a parent. Suddenly, this stuff is happening, but I’m not there. And I’m trying to talk to them on the phone about it. And I was like, “This is really difficult. Because my impact on these kids is so minimalized by the distance, and everything else.” It was difficult. And yet, those are the sacrifices we make as parents to help our families. So when people are in difficult jobs, you know, I get it. But it is a lesson that when this pandemic hit, I said to myself, “Well, I am spending quality time with my kids that I might not otherwise be having right now.” And so I try to look at it that way. Because pretty soon they’re too old, they’re not going to need you and need to talk to you about all their problems and stuff. So I tried to look at it that way. But that was the most difficult part of it. And you know, Jason and I… Also, Jason helped me a lot, so to Jason… The studio got me a two bedroom suite upstairs in this hotel.

David Read
Yeah, you lived together for a while.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, what was interesting, we weren’t supposed to but he came in…

David Read
Oh, really? Okay.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, he was like, “Joji, dude, can I stay in your room till I find a place?” Yeah, like no problem. You know, one week goes by, two weeks goes by. Now it’s like a month, and I know that the buffalo skins and everything else aren’t leaving. My place looks like a cave now. But that’s okay, because the truth is, I love the company. And I just love him, he’s an awesome guy. And we were able to keep each other pretty sane, and it really made a difference having that companionship. And he was there. I mean, Christ, I had a kid that I couldn’t get to when he was born. My father died while I was on set working with Jason. I mean, having him as my buddy and living together got me through a lot of that. And then he and I would fly down to LA almost every weekend together. And he’d see his family, I’d see my family and, you know, you realize that there’s no way you’re getting through life alone. Like, you need friends and family. And you gotta lean on them.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, absolutely.

David Read
Yeah, absolutely. And it must be just kind of jarring, just watching his stratospheric success. I mean, you must be just tickled pink for him. You know, his success has been tremendous. And well-earned.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, and so I just had never been in a situation where I had to lean on people emotionally, and for the first time in my life… And I was like, “God, I’m lucky. I got good friends.” So…

Joe Flanigan
It’s kind of like watching one of my own kids succeed. It’s that fulfilling. Especially knowing him from the beginning. And especially knowing that he’s a solid guy that really deserves everything. And he’s not going to get disjointed by the fame. If he was getting disjointed by it, I’d be the first person to tell him.

David Read
Slap him down. “Yeah, come on, get real.”

Joe Flanigan
He’s got his feet on the ground. But yes, and… By the way, it comes with a price, it’s really difficult. So this quarantine, he was like, “Oh, I get to spend some time with my family.” I mean, he’s booked out like two or three years in advance, the idea of spending some time with his family was just not on the books. And so the kids would have to get flown to his location. It wasn’t easy, and I saw him a number of time on various sets. I’ve visited him up in Vancouver Island and down in Australia and everything else. It’s a lot. It’s my experience being lead on this show, multiplied by about 100. That’s how much pressure is put on you. You’re now a moneymaker.

Joe Flanigan
You’re making big money for people.

David Read
That’s true!

David Read
Yeah, studios, and…

Joe Flanigan
His movie passed a billion dollars. Your movie passes a billion dollars, you’re in a different level of Hollywood.

David Read
That’s almost, like, dangerous to even think about. You know, you imagine the the insurance policies that are taken out on you and everything. I mean, for a normal show, but now like this, you know, especially with as physical as he is, and I mean, he’s that way anyway, that’s just how he’s oriented, but the stuff that he does and gets to do just… Yeah, it’s got to be very rewarding to watch that. Absolutely.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, it is.

David Read
Years ago, in one of our interviews, you talked about the relationship between Stargate, the circle, and the hero’s journey. And I’ve always thought about this speech that you gave, because I recently read Hero with a Thousand Faces.

David Read
No, it didn’t, it came off as as eye opening, and I front loaded it as the beginning of a new fan series that I did called The Phenomenon, where people were talking about how Stargate had influenced their lives for the better. Can you tell us about Sheppard, and the hero’s journey, and the circle, and the cycle of the hero’s journey as it relates to Stargate. The circle, you said, is the most universal symbol in the world.

David Read
I hope it didn’t come off like a speech.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah it is, interestingly enough. Joseph Campbell came along and decided to kind of synthesize all these mythologies and religions and find out what the patterns were, what were the common themes throughout all religions and all mythologies. And it was very often the same exact paradigm, which is a hero starts in a place, there’s a problem and he has to leave home, and he has to go out into this world. And he is transformed by his experience. And he comes back to share what he has learned, back home, and that enriches life at home. And almost it’s hard to come up with any books, movies or films that might be different, right? I mean, they all pretty much are about a journey. Sometimes they’re very interior, sometimes they’re, you know, physical. But it is the same basic paradigm. And the circle was, in fact, the most common physical symbol in all religions and mythologies. So you kind of come and you’re thinking about this and you’re like, “Wow, there’s a certain genius to the Stargate mythology. They really hit all these sweet spots.” And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Stargate is very popular across the world. These are themes that every culture can relate to. I mean, you can go to Africa and find massive Stargate fan bases. And they were themes in their tribes. So all cultures look outwards and dream of space travel or what what space has to offer, what space means. It’s the big unknown and everything else.

David Read
Yeah, what’s beyond your borders?

Joe Flanigan
Right. And then you add in this one aspect, is that it is an arc show. It’s a physical journey. So it’s an adventure. So that really helps us in terms of translating into different cultures. I think there’s a reason why certain genres do well across cultural boundaries. And action is a big one of them. And we are, in fact, in action film, we are science fiction action, but we’re an action film. And action is easily watchable by anyone. And so what I found interesting is that I’ve heard from almost every type of fan. And one of them, it was like, blind people love the show. Deaf people love the show. It’s interesting, you know, like blind people, what they love is, in their mind, the voices are so distinct they can know exactly what’s going on, exactly who’s talking. And they have a very clear picture of what’s going on. I mean, I can’t tell you, I’ve signed a lot of walking canes, have autographed a lot of walking canes, and so forth. And I’ve talked to mothers and stuff who have introduced me to their kids who are deaf. And they’re like, you know, they love the show. And that’s another thing: How many shows are so cross-generational? I’ve seen grandparents show up with their children and their grandkids who are all fans of the show. That’s really hard to find today, there’s not a lot of shows, they hit very specific demos. But there’s very few shows that grandparents want to watch that their grandkids like and vice versa. To me, that was amazing. Like, that was a remarkable triumph, without watering it down, you know. And so I was kind of proud of that. Yeah. And I just feel like, God, every actor should have the satisfaction of doing work and sending it out there, and it being responded to positively, and you’re getting feedback for it, you get to go to a convention, you get to meet these people, and they get to tell you. Because sometimes I just think, “God, my life is so ridiculous, I’m in a spaceship made of plywood and Styrofoam. This is so ridiculous. You know, what do I do? I mean, there are people who actually do things? I don’t even think I’m doing anything.” And then somebody comes along, and they say, “You know, it’s really interesting. I was in stage three cancer, and I was in the hospital for three months. And I watched your show back to back, and it helped me get through it.” I hear that story so much, about people that are recovering from something, that had been sick, during a tough part of their lives. And the show helped. And then I say, “Wow, I am really proud that I am able to contribute in any way, shape and form to somebody’s life being better.” That’s awesome. That is awesome.

David Read
You are exhausting yourself day in, day out. You’re away from your kids, you’re away from your wife, you are dealing with 150 people on set depending on you and, you’re wearing that on your shirt.

Joe Flanigan
And I’m also having a blast.

David Read
You are having a blast, absolutely. But at the same time you are creating content that changes people’s lives for the better, and that matters to them. And how many people get that gift, you know?

Joe Flanigan
I don’t know, but I’d say this: I have some friends that are more successful than me as actors that still don’t have that. It’s really interesting. They may have a better career, they may be making more money, they may have done more projects, but they don’t have that fan base and the fan feedback that you get specifically from science fiction. And that is something I’m like, “Meh, but you don’t have a science fiction fan base. That’s the greatest thing in the world.”

David Read
They’ll follow you anywhere. They’ll follow you to hell and back.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah.

David Read
Joe, I want to switch to fan questions here, and I have a lot to talk about with you about Sheppard, and about the journey of that character over five years. I would love to have you back in a few months to discuss that further. Guys, I appreciate you in the audience waiting, and I cannot get to every one of these seven pages of questions. I’m going to go through some highlights. Thank you all for submitting. Joe, we have 320 people watching right now.

Joe Flanigan
Nice!

David Read
You broke my records, my friend.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah!

David Read
We’re in the second week and we’re already at 1300 subscribers.

Joe Flanigan
So now I gotta make a plug for my show…

David Read
Yes, please do that right now!

Joe Flanigan
…I’m doing every day. I’m on day number 10 of my 14-day hotel quarantine in Toronto. I’m live streaming every day at 2pm Eastern Time.

David Read
On Instagram?

Joe Flanigan
On Instagram, sorry.

David Read
And what’s the alias?

Joe Flanigan
JoeFlaniganOfficial.

David Read
JoeFlaniganOfficial, F, L, A, N, I,…right there on the screen, folks.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, JoeFlaniganOfficial. Has a little blue checkmark. Yes.

David Read
Claire Cowen says, “As you can’t get your normal coffee, would you ever consider drinking tea?” That’s how we start off the fan questions here: the caffeine.

Joe Flanigan
Well, because I… This is what I said, you know, I’ll clarify. She clearly watched one of my live streams. And I said to everybody, I said, you know, a lot of people are sitting there talking about, “Oh, it’s rough, you know, the actors in a nice hotel room for 14 days.” And I said, “Well, listen, you try drinking a flat white with almond milk for a year, and then suddenly you have to drink regular coffee. It’s tough. It’s rough.”

David Read
First World problems. But no, seriously…

Joe Flanigan
I am experiencing true adversity here. So the tea is… Yeah, I could do tea. You know, maybe now that I’m going to take up meditation, I will get into tea drinking. So we’ll see. But I don’t know, a good slug of oily coffee kind of gets me going.

David Read
Joseph Steinbrenner. Joseph Steinbrenner? Oh, I’m thinking George. I was like, “Wait a second, isn’t he gone?” Who does… Who do you wish… And I was going to ask you this, so I’m glad a fan gets to ask it. “Who do you – or if anyone – do you wish that Shepherd hooked up with? Or do you think he was good flying solo?”

Joe Flanigan
Well, can I ask you why I didn’t hook up with anyone? Well no, I occasionally would have a love interest.

David Read
Right. You know, for a while it was Elizabeth, and then you know, like…

Joe Flanigan
Then we had people like Jill on the show.

David Read
Right, exactly.

Joe Flanigan
I don’t remember the name of her character.

David Read
We had Chaya Sar, the Ancient in Season One…

Joe Flanigan
Right, but they were just like one-off…

David Read
Then you had Larrin in Travelers. You know, there was something there for a while. But, yeah…

Joe Flanigan
I am convinced that I would go in and – unsolicited – into the writers room and pitch them story ideas, much to their chagrin, and they were patient about it for a couple of years, til I realized that maybe they weren’t crazy about the idea. But I was often… I always thought it was funny to pay homage to other science fiction characters, like Captain Kirk. So I was like, “We gotta get all Kirk about this. I gotta go to a planet, and they got a bunch of six foot tall Amazonian women. And they need help, and I help them.” And they’re like, “Yeah, Joe, that’s a great idea. Okay, we’ll look into that. You’re needed back on set.”

David Read
Hey, you did Epiphany. You know, there was a little bit of romance in Epiphany in Season Two. That was a great show. And that was a spiritual show for Sheppard, if there ever was one, in my opinion.

Joe Flanigan
Well, let me just tell you, there’s actually an interesting dynamic that a lot of people don’t understand, that the consummation of a relationship on a show is a very different thing than the tension of a potential consummation of a relationship. So Moonlighting, for example, they never really got together. We don’t think they did, we don’t know they did. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. We kind of feel like they got together. Yeah, and so…but it’s the tension of unrequited relationships, kind of, like, you know, it’s like… There’s tension and the tension is that it wants to happen, but it’s not happening. That’s really what you need to establish. So it’s less about having the relationship and more about setting up the circumstances where the audience says, “I want it to happen.” So, you know, it was, I think, originally meant to be me and Weir.

David Read
It sure felt like that, yeah.

Joe Flanigan
Well, what I think is I, you know, to be honest with you, it’s nothing that Torri was doing. I honestly think it was the dynamics of the show. We kind of ended up becoming two separate shows in one: those that stayed in the studio and shot in the headquarters…

David Read
The Gatrium, yeah.

Joe Flanigan
…and then those of us who were out in the field. And so we weren’t working together very much. And so they had to change that and figure that out. And then again, I think my character, you know less about his backstory than almost any other character there, which was very interesting. You’ll learn a lot about McGillion, or Beckett, and McKay, and a lot of episodes geared towards their backstories, even Teyla’s, and even Ronon’s, but you don’t really get too much backstory. The one backstory episode I helped write, I can’t remember the name of it, I want to say it was Outcast.

David Read
I think that that’s correct, because we go home and Ronon’s with you, and it’s like, “You remember I told you about my ex wife?” “Yeah.” “Well, here she comes.” Absolutely. And we met his brother Dave. And his father had just passed. I’m assuming your father by Season Four had already passed as well, so there may have been some life-inspiring story.

Joe Flanigan
I don’t know what… What season was Outcast?

David Read
Outcast was Season Four, and that aired in February of 2008.

Joe Flanigan
Well the story is we’re at my dad’s funeral.

David Read
Yeah, exactly.

Joe Flanigan
So yeah.

David Read
Let me see here. I had it up. There we go.

Joe Flanigan
I had originally written that differently.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, and they went a different direction. When I say I helped write it, like, it’s cowritten.

David Read
Really?

David Read
Yeah. Alan McCullough.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, Brad. Oh, yeah. But Brad also decides where the story is going. I like the idea of establishing a father figure. And I wanted to establish some kind of father figure like a George C. Scott type of guy that was a significant presence. And they just went a different direction.

David Read
I’d love to explore that later on in the show. If you were given the choice, would you like to come back to Stargate in both an acting role and/or behind the camera? I suspect Sheppard’s a general now.

Joe Flanigan
Well it’s interesting, because… And by the way, what I have to do is…okay, I have to plug this in.

David Read
Oh, we’re running out of juice?

Joe Flanigan
I am running out of juice. Let me just plug it really fast.

David Read
Sure, absolutely. And while he’s doing that, I’m going to ask you to contribute to our show. So if you like Stargate and want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click the Like button, if you’re enjoying the show. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm, and will help the show grow its audience. It’s already happening – we’re already at 1300 subscribers. So thank you, everyone. But please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. And giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute changes, and this is key to if you’re planning on watching live. And back to Joe Flanigan!

Joe Flanigan
We’re good. So, what were we talking about?

David Read
Would you like to return to Sheppard one day?

Joe Flanigan
Oh, yeah. So here’s the deal: I knew that I really wanted to come off the show with some directing experience. So I was able to renegotiate a little. And I said that I wanted to shoot two or three episodes per season for the remaining seasons. Now, what was really frustrating is that they came up with a reason every year why I couldn’t do it. And the reasons would shift from, “You’re too busy shooting the episode to prep for the following episode.” Or the next excuse would be, “Well, you’re an American, and we only have Canadian directors. We bring one American director and then the entire tax structure changes, and it’s very expensive.” And I each time would have an answer to that, like “Look, I will give up my acting fee, which will more than cover any directing penalty tax, whatever it is we have. And I really want to do this.” I was really frustrated that they didn’t let us do that. They did not want to open that can to any actors. They had done it on Stargate SG-1. And, to me, it’s one of the greatest things you can offer an actor. And I say that because actors very often make very good directors.

David Read
Yeah, look at Amanda. She’s amazing.

Joe Flanigan
They know how to direct… Yeah, it’s not a coincidence she’s a good director. She knows what acting is like, she knows all these things, she’s been thousands of hours on sets. Tens of thousands of hours we’ve sat on set. So it should be a natural fit. And a lot of times in the tradition of Hollywood, is that if you have a show and it’s doing pretty well and you’re on the air for a while and the actor wants to direct, you figure out how to make that happen. And there’s a lot of actors that now just direct. So that was one of my great frustrations, is not being able to do that. And if I went back, I’d really want to try to get that in the can and get it done. And you know, hey, listen, Jason’s doing that. Jason’s directing. They might be commercials, and sometimes they’re films and stuff, but he’s directing his own stuff.

David Read
It’s still experience.

Joe Flanigan
Well, the truth is your, life as an actor is much more capricious. It’s complicated. You don’t have control of anything. You are at the whim of this complex, interdependent web of people. And everything has to come together at the same time. When you are directing, it’s a more stable life. There’s more work, it’s more steady, and, you know, it’s not a bad way as you grow older to contribute.

David Read
Absolutely. And I hope you get that opportunity. So if there’s a chance for more Stargate in the future… Brad’s hoping to get a fourth series off the ground. I would hit him up. Kinvara Devonshire-White. Alright, Joe and I are gonna be winking at one another here. “Why does Sheppard wear the wristband?”

Joe Flanigan
Okay, I just can’t say why. It’s like I can’t reveal everything about this show. There are certain things that have to stay secret.

David Read
You know how much your first wristband went for at PropWorks?

David Read
How much?

David Read
Like two grand.

David Read
Shut up!

David Read
I couldn’t believe it! It was absolutely crazy.

Joe Flanigan
Wow. And you know what, a lot of people come up to me at conventions and say, “Can you sign this? This was yours.” And I can tell if it’s mine or not.

David Read
I probably sold it. Yeah.

Joe Flanigan
I can tell whether it’s mine or not. But PropWorks has sold a number of things that are not mine. I know they’re not mine.

David Read
Really?

Joe Flanigan
Now, they may still be marked as Sheppard. But they’re nothing I wore.

David Read
Interesting.

Joe Flanigan
I can tell. I still have the two watches…or maybe it’s one, I can’t remember if I have one, I think I might have lost one in the fire. But I had the watches, and I always was like, “I’m saving these to sell for charity or something,” and I have yet to do it. So those are the only things I have left.

David Read
Okay, yeah, that was my next question. Someone was about to ask, Ashley Smith: “Did you keep any props from the show?” So you have your own watches? Okay.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, well, I didn’t keep that many props. Unlike some other actors.

David Read
I’ve got your ice cream cone phaser up here from Aurora.

Joe Flanigan
Oh, that’s hilarious.

David Read
And down here I’ve got – you can barely see it – but it’s one of your Game Boys next to the storm trooper helmet.

David Read
Oh my God. I like your blinking Enterprise.

David Read
Oh, thank you! Yeah, a friend of mine made that for me.

Joe Flanigan
Very cool.

David Read
The Fred: “How much improv or ad lib were you allowed on set?” We know a few like, you came up with “Chewie,” which was perfect.

Joe Flanigan
Right…okay, so it was interesting. So basically, if we got the dialogue in the can, then you end up with a tag. They sometimes would write a tag, like, “Okay, got it.” And that’s supposed to be the last line. But then what you do is you leave a little pause, so they got a cut place. And then I’d say, “So make that happen, Rodney,” and that’s the last line. And then he’d be like, wait a beat and he’d be like, “Okay, like, are you yelling at me?” “I’m not yelling at you. Like you’re just sensitive.” And then we’d banter back and forth. And sometimes they keep it, and sometimes they wouldn’t. But it was a way of, you know, you have to establish the dialogue. One thing that’s tricky that a lot of people don’t understand is that, when you shoot, you shoot minimum of your master, and then cover, cover. Okay, so I have to get a shot of both of us. And then I have to get coverage of me and coverage of you. And there’s actually medium shots in between, but you can’t switch the dialogue. Because if I say something, you know, like, “David, you’re just, you know, like, get up,” and then it goes to you, and you change it, you know I’m saying?

David Read
You have to be consistent from shot to shot, because they’re editing it later together.

Joe Flanigan
So you don’t have a lot of room just, you know, logistically, it’s not easy to ad lib. Now, having said that, there are ways to do it, and some TV shows have done it. Friday Night Lights, they started something that was kind of interesting. I thought it would take over a lot of TV shows. They built big sets, they started shooting four cameras simultaneously. Now they’re doing everything all at once: They’re doing their master, their medium shots and their coverage, and no matter what happens, they have it covered.

David Read
Because it’s all in one go.

Joe Flanigan
It’s all in one sequence, boom, it’s in the can, do another sequence it’s in the can, then they can decide which one they like. But there’s nothing I can throw at the other actor that he doesn’t have the opportunity to respond to. Because what you don’t want to do is create one performance for your coverage, and another performance for the other guy’s coverage, and have that emotional mismatch or even verbal mismatch. So you know, that’s one way of doing it. It’s kind of interesting.

David Read
Yeah, you can tell when things you can tell when things are poorly edited in certain movies or TV shows. It’s like, well, not only is is the person with their back to the camera, you can see their mouth moving in a different time, but the reaction sometimes is a little different. And if it doesn’t work, it can really not work.

Joe Flanigan
Well, I’ll tell you one thing amongst actors, there is a singular, singular test of professionalism. And that singular test is how you do reading off camera for the other actor. And if you don’t deliver, and give them the same performance you did for your coverage, it’s really considered unprofessional. It’s really considered not cool. And so part of the, “I’m here to support you, and you’re here to support me,” is “I’m going to read off camera and give you everything you need, even though I’m not on camera right now.” And so, you know, you learn a lot about people. And you know…let me tell you, there’s a lot of younger actors who just don’t understand the levels of professionalism. And invariably, the older actors that we had, and especially the more successful were the ones the most dedicated to that aspect of things. It doesn’t matter. I mean, I was doing a TV show with James Garner. And it only lasted for a year. And you know, this guy is old, he’s been beaten to hell by all the TV shows he’s done. It’ll be midnight, and they’ll like, “You know, you can go home.” I’m like, “You can go home.” And he was like, “No, I’m gonna read off camera for you.”

David Read
“I’m here for you.”

Joe Flanigan
Yeah. And so that’s considered to be, you know – and it’s not like you have to do that every time; there are times you actually don’t need the guy, and you can say, “Go ahead” – but I mean, it’s considered to be a very important part of your professionalism.

David Read
Makes a lot of sense. Do you wish there had been more Atlantis/SG-1 crossovers? You appeared in Season 10 of SG-1. Do you wish that there had been more of that?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, I think I’m owed some residual checks for that. I will say this: I was a little wary of this. And here’s what I was wary about: I was wary that I wanted Stargate Atlantis to be Stargate Atlantis, I didn’t want it to be SG-2. I was a little sensitive to that, and so I made my my opinion known that I thought we shouldn’t do that many crossovers. And I was even nervous when Amanda came on the show, and not because of Amanda – I mean, she’s amazing – it wasn’t at all about qualifications or anything. It was like, well, are we creating something with just a bunch of interchangeable parts? Is this simply an extension of that show? Or does this show kind of stand on its own? And, you know, truth be told, you can achieve both. But I was a little nervous about it at first. I didn’t want to make it just SG-2. And I personally liked the tone we were striking in our show, which I think was a little darker than SG-1.

David Read
More action. But I think there’s a little bit more humor in some respects as well. In some cases. I mean, you didn’t have Rick but…

David Read
But that’s what you were going for.

Joe Flanigan
Well, there’s one thing I wanted to do. I might be saying a little too much by saying this, but what the hell, it was years ago, but there was some frustration amongst some of the writers that Rick wasn’t gauging the danger of the plotline, sometimes to the extent the writers wanted it. In other words, he was like, too playful and too glib, and not being like, “Crap, this is serious. We’re gonna die.” And I thought to myself, well, part of the genius is you know, his ability to kind of be idiosyncratic in those situations. But I was very sensitive to that. So what I was like, “Okay, I’m going to take the stakes of each show very seriously. And I’m also going to be a smartass.” You can do both of those things, one doesn’t take away from the other. And so I tried, you know, to hit that. And so I think there was a little bit of a difference there about the seriousness of our plotlines and the stakes of our plotlines. Sometimes I feel like they felt a little heavier…sometimes. I don’t know.

Joe Flanigan
Well, it was, and I felt that was like, the respectful thing to do, you know. I didn’t want to make light of the fact that the planet just blew up and everybody died.

David Read
Right. I mean, some of the villains, in many respects – I mean, “Nothing can stop us from raining our terror upon you” – they’re comic book villains in many respects. You have to have that ultimate evil every once in awhile. Nowadays it’s a little bit more common to spend more time with the villain and really find out what makes them tick, and find out what parts of them are kind of like you, which is kind of insidious and scary.

Joe Flanigan
Well, it’s really interesting to me. And I’m not saying at all that we were the first people to strike this balance, because we weren’t the first people to strike this balance, but in the world of science fiction, I feel we were one of the first people to strike the balance that is now the predominant tone of like, Guardians of the Galaxy and all these things. Like they are doing what we did. They are goofing off and having fun, and the stakes are serious. And I think, once again, I don’t think we’re responsible for it. But we were doing this before they were doing it. And the truth is, that was the dividing line, in my mind between Star Trek, which is orthodox science fiction television, and what we were…

Joe Flanigan
It’s serious! Yeah, absolutely, takes everything seriously.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, I wanted very much to make sure that I’m, you know, doing this to the audience, like, “I know, we’re having fun.” I wanted everybody to know that there was a level of self-deprecation involved. And there was a lot of discussion about that.

David Read
Well, it’s a tightrope walk.

Joe Flanigan
Before the first episode aired, there was very deep concern among some powers-to-be that I was not taking the show seriously enough, and that it was not good in that regard. And I fought back on that, and I said, “Look, that was my choice. You knew what I wanted to do with the character, and if you didn’t like that, you could have cast a different way. But I’ve done enough pilots to know that I’m sticking to my guns on this one. And that’s the character I want. That’s the tone I want to strike. Because if I take everything seriously, I think it’s going to be earnest and painful.”

David Read
It’s interesting you bring that up. I’m thinking back to when the pilot aired, and you sit back in the chair, and the chair takes off, and the solar system appears on the screen, or above you, and you say, “Did I do that?” And my mother had walked into the room and she said, “Oh, he’s like the other guy.” I was like, “Um, I mean, they’re definitely striking the self deprecating humor and the kind of a little bit of breaking the fourth wall, you know, being aware of that: ‘Yes, this is a TV show, and we’re having a good time.'” But as soon as she said that, I was like, “That’s not fair, Mom, give ’em a chance!”

Joe Flanigan
But once again, lookit, you got the parents and the children watching the show together.

David Read
That’s certainly true. And my dad and I, we have… You discussing your relationship with your father, I heard very similar… I felt a lot of that as well.

Joe Flanigan
The most common thing that I get told is, “My dad and I used to watch this, my mom and I used to watch it,” and everything else. And you know I do these Cameo things. And by the way, here’s another plug: If you come to Cameo, I’m donating proceeds to Rock the Vote, so try to join me at Cameo. But the most common Cameo I give is, “This is for my dad. We watched the show. We watched all 100 episodes together, and there’s some of the greatest memories I’ve ever had. Can you give a shout out to him?”

David Read
That’s great. You’re helping families connect. And mine, a Vietnam veteran and Huey helicopter pilot – a helicopter pilot of 40 years – was really cool on Sheppard, let me tell you.

Joe Flanigan
Oh cool!

David Read
Jonas says, “What do you think John’s doing right now? Is he a general? Is he still out there on missions?”

Joe Flanigan
I’m gonna say he hasn’t gone up the ranks. And I’m saying that because I don’t think he wants to go up the ranks.

Joe Flanigan
Once you go up the ranks too far you don’t get to go in the field.

David Read
Doesn’t want to fly a desk.

David Read
That’s true.

Joe Flanigan
So I think that he purposely keeps himself from being promoted. And he stays at a level where he can still stay on the field. And you know, that’s who he is – he’s a guy on the streets, not in the office.

David Read
I can definitely see that. Becky S.: “How is being the lead different than being a cast member?” I don’t think that that’s her intent.

Joe Flanigan
I think what she means is, what’s it like, being a lead versus a supporting character?

David Read
Yeah, bearing the weight of the show, with the first name to come up is you?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, well, I’ll tell you that there’s more pressure. Pretty much like any other business, everybody’s setting each other up to get the blame. And then everybody’s trying to take all the credit. And if the show does well, it’s great. If the show is not doing well, there’s a lot of pressure. Having said that, all you can do is pay attention to what you have in front of you. And then there’s elements that are out of your control: if they take you off the air for a while and there’s a hiatus on the broadcast schedule, those are out of your control, or they change your broadcast times. Those are out of your control. A lot of the storylines are out of your control. So you can only deal with what’s in your control. When you’re a supporting actor, there’s a certain freedom that it’s kind of amazing. So I had played the supporting actor and a couple different shows. And I remember that one, specifically with James Garner, where it’s about the US Supreme Court, and he’s the Chief Justice, and I’m his clerk. And it started with not that much dialogue. So I had to learn how to be present and make my presence known without speaking. So I learned how to really listen in a scene. I mastered every listening little thing. All of it. It’s great training for an actor, because you really do… And if you give something, and they can tell you’re really present and you do something interesting, it makes the cut, even if you don’t have the dialogue. That’s really good training for every actor, because what a lot of people do is like, “My lines, my lines, my lines,” and then off. Yeah, “My lines finally,” and a lot of times, sometimes the more dialogue you have, there’s a potential for not listening to the other actor, because you’re kind of like, “Oh my gosh…”

David Read
You’re working on the next one.

Joe Flanigan
And again, “Now when’s my cue, when’s my cue?” And so the act of really listening without as much dialogue, it’s great training, and I think it’s really good. And so it’s a fine balance between not popping and taking a scene, which you have to be careful from, and still being interesting enough to be a cutaway. So I would prefer being a lead.

David Read
I hear you!

Joe Flanigan
I like being a lead!

David Read
And you have to think about the people who are in the editing room. You want to give them something to play with. You want to don’t want them to be like, “Oh, here’s a scene with Flanigan. Oh, my God, what am I gonna do?”

Joe Flanigan
And by the way, you know, God bless those guys, because, you know, I’m sick of myself all the time. I can’t imagine being stuck looking at me all day long, for five years. I mean, I don’t even want to know what those guys say because of, “Oh, he’s gonna do that thing he always does.”

David Read
They’ve seen it all. But that’s their job!

Joe Flanigan
But those poor guys have to put up with this. It’s incredible. And so God bless them. I don’t think there’s a single person that you would end up really liking after five years of staring at them and trying to cut them together…

David Read
…for hundreds of hours.

Joe Flanigan
You’d get to sick of them.

David Read
Yeah, I can’t say I would blame them. Two more questions, I’m gonna let you go. EtherealNico: “What’s your favorite adult beverage?”

Joe Flanigan
Adult beverage…mezcal Margarita. That’s where I’m at. And I just want to tell you that… So last night, Jason FaceTimed me. And he’s like in a velvet robe, and he’s like, “Yeah, what’s up baby, what’s up?” He’s got a beard, he’s like, “[indistinguisable]”. He’s got a couple of friends that are quarantined with him, a couple of motorcycles in the background, some drums. He’s like, “Oh, man, we’re having a party over here, man, it must suck to be over there in the hotel room!” So I broke down. I had a nervous breakdown. And I made a mezcal Margarita for myself. And you know what? I did feel better after that. That’s my adult beverage.

David Read
You’ve got to give yourself a little comfort food every now and then, even if it’s a comfort beverage. So good for you. And last but not least, I think it’s fitting that Jack O’Neill asks this: “Hey, Joe, what was it like to work with Meredith?”

Joe Flanigan
What was it like to work with Meredith? I’m confused.

David Read
Really?

Joe Flanigan
Yeah.

Joe Flanigan
Oh my God. Oh, I thought you… Like first I was like, “Oh my God, you’re talking about a guest star named Meredith. And I’m so sorry.” That’s like, oh yeah, okay. You know, I forget that his middle name was a woman’s name.

David Read
Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay. Ah, Joe!

David Read
His middle name is Rodney.

Joe Flanigan
I think it’s fitting. What was it like to work with Rodney? Okay, so, I have so much to say about this. First of all, it was like when Rodney and I – when David and I – started working together, something kind of clicked right away. And it was not unlike the road shows with Bob Hope and Fred Astaire. There was just this easy banter, and we were so different that it was really funny. And it was really fun to work with. And David is a really talented actor. And so I have to lay down the context really fast: I’m flying back between LA and Vancouver quite a bit, and I find myself occasionally sitting with Rick on the plane. And I remember sitting next to him, and I said, “So Rick, do you have any advice? You know, now that I’m doing the show,” and he’s like, you know, he can be a little gruff. And he’s like, “Advice, like, what kind of advice. I don’t have any advice.” I was like, “Wow, okay. Okay, MacGyver’s a little grumpy, right?” I didn’t really, it wasn’t about that at all. And like 30 minutes later, he goes, “Oh! Don’t do the gobbledygook.” I was like, “Okay, what is the gobbledygook?” He said, “You know the gobbledygook. The gobbledygook is all the scifi techie language about this and this and that, that you never understand. And you’re sitting there explaining the whole episode. If you do it good, and if you do it well, they will keep giving it to you. And they will keep giving you more and more and more. And if you’re not good at it, somebody else has to do it.” Now, this was probably the best advice I got. So I was given some stuff. And I purposely sabotaged it. And I was like, I think I think Hewlett is probably much better equipped to handle this type of dialogue than I am. I’m not the smart guy. I don’t want to be the smart guy.

David Read
He was in Mensa, or he could have been in Mensa.

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, well, exactly, the whole thing.

David Read
“That’s not cool. I fly helicopters.”

Joe Flanigan
I’m subterranean smart. And so anyways, sure enough, Hewlett was saddled with everything. And it was hilarious. I’ve seen Hewlett laugh and cry and curl into fetal positions and freak out. The amount of work he had to do cracked me up. Now, it stressed him out, and I was literally laughing all the time. Like, “I helped create these conditions for you.”

David Read
Thank you for entertainment for the rest of us.

Joe Flanigan
And yeah, so working with him was was a joy. And actually, kind of thinking to myself, I have no idea how that show would be with without him. I mean, it’s like peanut butter and jelly. Is just a jelly sandwich good? No, I can’t picture the show without those two characters doing…

David Read
He is in many respects the technical propulsion that moves the story along. He mentions the thing of the MacGuffin of this and that, that allows you to go, “That’s crazy. All right, let’s go fight them off.”

Joe Flanigan
Yeah, and by the way, you know, as opposed to science fiction movies, movies are very big productions, and you can show a planet blowing up, okay, you got the money to do it. Well, we don’t quite have that money. So we have to explain the planet blew up for the most part. And so science fiction television, I think, is something every actor should do, because it’s very difficult. You’re having to take a lot of material that’s really complicated and address and say it in some way you’re not going to lose people’s attention. And David was able to do that masterfully. And I knew I couldn’t, I knew I couldn’t. So I was like, “You do it.”

Joe Flanigan
Or like, “What did you say?”

David Read
Right, exactly. And I remember…

David Read
And we were on set for Trinity in Season Two, the episode where he blows up three fourths of a solar system. And we went to his trailer to interview him, and he had no voice. And it was like, “Oh man.” And he’s like, “How about next week we do an episode where Rodney loses his voice.” And he’s saying it like this because he can’t talk. I was like, “You poor guy.” You know, he must have had at least 50% of the dialogue. As fast as he moved through it, he had to have.

Joe Flanigan
Easy.

David Read
He made Michael Shanks look like he was standing still.

Joe Flanigan
Well, Shanks did the same thing.

David Read
Exactly, yeah.

Joe Flanigan
I want to thank Rick for really keeping me out of five years of pain and misery.

David Read
So on Instagram, you are available at JoeFlaniganOfficial. Two o’clock Eastern time – is it every day right now?

Joe Flanigan
Every day till the end of quarantine.

David Read
So four more.

Joe Flanigan
I’ll probably do it every day until I leave Toronto. But it’ll be day number 11 tomorrow, out of 14. I think no…yeah…I…lookit, I’m confused.

David Read
No, it’s cool, I can tell you right now I’ve been I’ve been peeking into the chat, and people have been saying they’ve been loving this thing. So in whatever form that you continue to take that, these guys are in, and we’ve been going for over an hour and a half now, and we’ve got 337 viewers right now. And what was the other one you mentioned? Where you’re donating the proceeds to Rock the Vote?

Joe Flanigan
Oh, it’s Cameo.com. You know, Cameo is this online, autograph or videograph thing that celebrities do, now that you can no longer meet people. You do personalized videograms to people. And there’s a percentage going to Rock the Vote. So it’s a good cause.

David Read
Awesome. Well, I appreciate you plugging that and taking, you know, pushing that toward a good cause. This has meant so much to me to have you on.

Joe Flanigan
You bet. Well, we always said, all of us cast members, you’ve been one of the great journalists for us from the very beginning.

David Read
Really?

Joe Flanigan
Oh, yeah. Easy to deal with. And you ask good questions. I’m just worried about the batteries on your Enterprise thing. I’m wondering if they’re gonna run out.

David Read
The nacelles, my friend are about to fall off. That thing’s been sitting there for five years. And when I leave the house gets up to 120 degrees. They are going. So Joe, best of luck on “See.” I hope to have you back again in 2021. Let’s talk about Sheppard one way or the other. Thank you so much, sir. It’s been a treat.

Joe Flanigan
Thank you.

David Read
Be well.

David Read
Take care, David, bye.

David Read
Bye bye. Folks, that was Joe Flanigan, Major and Colonel John Sheppard on Stargate Atlantis. Thank you again, Joe, for joining us. This was a fantastic time. And thank you, everyone for being involved in the conversation. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to get to everyone’s questions. I tried to get questions from people who hadn’t had a chance to talk last time. So this was absolutely tremendous. Before I let you go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I would really appreciate it if you’d click that Like button, because YouTube’s algorithm is very particular. And if you do like the show, it’s going to help us do more, and grow the audience more, and get wonderful people like Joe back in the saddle for us to talk about Stargate, and about life, and everything else that’s important and going on right now, but also just talk about specific aspects and minutia of this franchise, which is my intent of the show. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. If you plan to watch live, I recommend giving the bell icon a click so you’ll be the first to know of any schedule changes, which will happen all the time. Now bear in mind clips from this live stream will be appearing in the Dial the Gate and Gateworld.net YouTube channels over the course of the next week, of special moments and clips from this show. So Joe was our first guest today. And we are going to be bringing in Brad Ellis and Wesley Walker from Wyvern or Wivern gaming – I’m not exactly sure on the pronunciation, but they’re going to correct me – the Stargate SG-1 roleplaying game Kickstarter is in full swing. And I’ve lost count at what the stretch goal is right now, so that is astounding. And thank you all for contributing to that. I wrote the foreword in that myself. I’m very proud of being invited to do that, and it’s going to be a terrific tabletop game. If you want to stick around for our channel, we’re going to be starting up that discussion in about 15 minutes to explore the upcoming SG-1 roleplaying game. I’ve got nothing else more for you guys here. So I’m going to get the next show ready to go. Hope you’re joining us for that one. I hope you enjoyed the program with Joe. And you know what, we’re gonna see you on the other side.