“Major Paul Davis” actor Colin Cunningham updates us on his life and career, reminisces about the years on Stargate, and takes fan questions.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:31 – Welcome and Episode Outline
2:09 – Guest Introduction
2.20 – Major Davis and a Promotion!
3:58 – Current Projects
7:43 – Does Stargate’s lasting popularity surprise you?
12:54 – Stargate’s Longevity
16:08 – Colin’s Upbringing
24:26 – Personal Heroes
27:28 – Disappearing into a Character
31:52 – Being a Guidance Counselor
36:34 – Playing Paul Davis
40:26 – Director Peter DeLuise
42:25 – Working with the SG-1 Cast
44:45 – Blood Drive appearance
51:13 – Falling Skies
53:29 – Atmosphere on Atlantis VS SG-1
54:57 – Is it more fun playing the good guy or the bad guy?
55:29 – The Writing on Stargate
57:33 – Today’s Cancel Culture
1:04:28 – SG4 and Beyond
1:05:42 – Guest Thanks
1:06:53 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:09:45 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Welcome to Episode 14 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read, thank you so much for joining me. I took last week off for Hallowe’en and I appreciate those of you who showed up anyway for the live shows with Rob Cooper and Andy Frizzell. It was interesting to see what would happen while there was no technical live stream with the show, but we had new recordings anyway. And I was surprised to see how down the numbers were compared to otherwise, so I’m gonna continue to try and do as many live shows as I can, just gotta take a weekend off here or there, otherwise I’ll go insane. Before I bring in Mr. Colin Cunningham, I want to go and get some housekeeping out of the way here. Before we get started, if you like Stargate and want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal to me if you click that Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. And please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend, and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. This is key if you plan on watching live, and clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several days on both the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. I have definitely been behind on this, but you know what? This week’s a new week and I’m hoping to get that up to speed. So, without further ado, I’d like to bring in the guest of the hour, Mr. Colin Cunningham. Hello, sir.

Colin Cunningham
Hi David, how are you? It’s good to see you.

David Read
It’s good to see you. Major Paul Davis… you’d think after 10 years you think we would have gotten that guy promotion?

Colin Cunningham
Curious though, did it ever officially become Paul?

David Read
Yes, Paul was… yeah.

Colin Cunningham
It did?

David Read
In A Matter of Time it was one of your first words.

Colin Cunningham
No, that’s right, because I’ll tell you, that was purely a fan thing, man, because he had no… there was no first name. It was just Major Davis.

David Read
Are you sure about that?

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, no, there was never… and I believe, I swear to God, sometimes they say that, because for legal purposes, the bigwigs at MGM or the writers and stuff, they can’t say that they’re on there, reading the fan stuff and all that kind of stuff, but obviously they glean some inspiration, and Paul Davis, I think, was one of the names that was bandied about by the fans.

David Read
Really?

Colin Cunningham
Yeah.

David Read
I could have swore that it was… interesting. I could have swore that that was his first name in A Matter of Time, and I guess it wasn’t, I just went there and looked and it’s not the case.

Colin Cunningham
You may be right but I don’t think so. Yeah, I really don’t think so.

David Read
Well, bonus points to anyone in the listening audience who can figure out which episode… It is, yeah, it was put into a… I thought it was put in in A Matter of Time and it clearly wasn’t. But yeah, maybe it was a fan suggestion.

Colin Cunningham
I’m almost positive that’s how it… but years have gone on and our memories are getting a little dusty as we go.

David Read
A little? I can barely remember yesterday. So how are you? How are things going?

Colin Cunningham
I’m well, I’m doing well, man. I’m staying positive and healthy and optimistic. And it’s so good, man, it’s great to be alive.

David Read
What are you working on right now? You’ve been working, busy on a stage production?

Colin Cunningham
Yeah. Oh, God, it’s just so nice to get back on the boards again, because I started as a stage actor, but the one thing that had always eluded me, I mean, I’ve been incredibly blessed, as you know. I mean, I’ve worked with some pretty awesome people, I really, really have, I cannot complain. But the one thing I’ve never done is a musical. I’ve never done one.

David Read
You’ve never done one?

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, I’ve done tons of theater. I’ve done, you name it, every genre, Western, sci-fi, horror, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but I’ve never done a musical. And I’m always very envious of actors that do, that sing and dance and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, long story short, so, where I’m living right now, I’m in St. George, Utah. And…

David Read
Pretty place.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, and it’s beautiful. And I auditioned for Oliver, the stage production musical of Oliver, and I learned very quickly that during the audition, I cannot dance, man. You know what, I think I could. I could if I had enough time, but on audition day… and it was so weird. It was wonderfully humbling, slash humiliating, because here I’m auditioning and I got two left feet, man, and people are looking over saying, “That guy looks a lot like Major Davis!” Or, “Isn’t that John Pope from Falling Skies?”

David Read
Oh God!

Colin Cunningham
Dancing with everybody else. But it was weird, it was kind of fun, in that people didn’t recognize me because it was just the last place you’d ever expect. You know what I mean? It’s context, it’s always context. Anyway, so I auditioned and I got the part, and I’m absolutely blessed to have it. I’m super excited.

David Read
Who are you?

Colin Cunningham
I’m playing Mr. Sowerberry and Bill Sykes. So, I’m playing these incredibly iconic… well, Bill Sykes is certainly a legendary, iconic character from the Dickens novel, and of course, the David Lean film, and then the Carol Reed musical. And I’m loving it, man. So we go up, not this coming Thursday, but the following Thursday, November 19th, I believe it is. Anyway, so I’m super pumped. So I’m working. It’s like, amazing.

David Read
Yeah.

Colin Cunningham
It’s really nice, in that — here in Utah, anyway — they’ve not adopted any particular model, but they’re looking more at the — for the COVID crap anyway — they’re looking at more like Sweden and stuff like that. So people are being safe and respectful, but it’s not like… you won’t be arrested if you’re out on a surfboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you know what I mean? So, there’s a there’s a bit of common sense approach to just living. And I don’t want to call it normal, but it’s pretty close, it’s close enough not to go insane. So, I’m blessed to be in Utah, and I’m blessed that I have been hired to work on this show, and yeah, and it’s a Christmas show, so we go up in another couple of weeks. I’m really excited about it.

David Read
Well, fantastic. How long is it running?

Colin Cunningham
I think we’re gonna run until December 23rd.

David Read
Okay, wow. And I’m assuming that there’s gonna be limited seating available? That’s how they’re gonna get around that.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, I expect it’s in the round… Yeah, I’m not sure if they’re going to do the social distancing, or just wear a mask, and then you can sit anywhere and everywhere, but I think we’re going to be sold out for a good part, if not all of the runs. So, I’m looking forward to it, it’s just great to be back on stage again.

David Read
Exactly.

Colin Cunningham
But I am singing. I’m not doing any dancing, which was smart on their part, but it’s great. I mean, it’s Dickens, man, and it’s London 1850 and it’s dark and there’s love and intrigue and murder and singing and dancing. So I’m excited.

David Read
Well, good for you. That’s fantastic. Does Stargate’s lasting popularity surprise you? That we’re still talking about this thing? We talked, you and I caught up a little bit a couple months back for GateCon, for the 20th anniversary, you were in that roundtable discussion online. This thing just doesn’t go away and it just keeps on sprouting new viewers online. There’s brand new people discovering this thing on all the social media message boards, constantly.

Colin Cunningham
Well, I’m so happy to hear that. Look, I’ve given two opposing answers for that. Am I surprised? No. But you’re asking me now, and yes I am. And I’ll qualify that by saying, when you start doing a show, you hope it’s going to be great. You’re doing everything you can to make it great, you hope it’s going to be able to sustain, but the fact is, they don’t. They truly, often, don’t. I will say, the blessing in sci-fi is that it often… it’s kind of… it can be the exception to that particular rule. But things get old, they get dated, special effects get all the more sophisticated and what was eye popping 5, 10 years ago, looks like cardboard cutouts with today’s technology. But I think the staying power, for sure, is just is it always comes down to the content. It really, really does. It comes down to the scripts, it comes down to the casting — not talking about the acting, per se — but the casting, they really did an exceptional job putting those pieces together and they’re all wonderful actors in their own right, but they also hired the right wonderful actors. And I think that’s what continues to resonate. In so many years, if not already, technology’s advanced and special effects now, and the visual effects now, are are insane. But I think, hopefully, what holds Stargate’s appeal is the universal, “Wow.” It never pandered, it never talked down to its audience and yeah, you have to take a leap of faith. Okay, fine. That comes with anything and you’re tuning in to, give up an hour of your evening, or your day. So, it’s escapism, but it doesn’t have to be stupid. And Stargate, it never was. Or at least it never took the shortcut. It was like, “Hey, look, if we can make it better, how can we make it better?” And that was across the board, man. It really, really was. From the writers, to Peter DeLuise, and all the directors that got together. And you’d see them and as much… look, it was fun and everybody’s joking, we’re having fun on set, but there were also moments, “Okay, well, how can we make it better?” If we took another few minutes, okay, it might be 10, 15 minutes, and man, when the clock’s running, that’s money. But, gotta be so much better if we can just take this 10 minutes, and let’s just… okay, and then you got it. Okay, great. And now it’s forevermore. So… but I’m still surprised. Yes. I’m still surprised. I don’t know what it is, man. If anything, you could probably answer that question better than me, because you’ve asked the question and gotten so many different answers.

David Read
But there’s no wrong answer, though. That’s the thing. It’s contemporary, you’ve got people that are far more relatable than people that are in the future, from a society where every thing is now solved and they don’t deal with the things that we deal with. But I think the thing that continually resonates with me, and a lot of the people that I’ve talked with, is that it’s topical, is that we can we can continually go back and find something that we’re currently dealing with. Socially, politically, economically, one of… all of those things put together. And it continues to resonate, because it’s humanist at its core.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah. Well, I think there’s that, “How do we fix this problem? How do we get these heads together, that are all different, and try and figure out the answer to this problem?” And look, it’s pure drama. It’s wonderful, it’s fantastic, it goes back far further than Stargate. But, you look at a movie like Apollo 13. It’s this massive problem, and they’re coming out with pencils and paper to figure it out. Now, that’s riveting. They’re not getting the answer from an algorithm, or from just talking into the air. “Hey, Alexa, how do we fix this problem?” They’ve got pencils and paper and you’ve got Carter, and you’ve got these incredible characters that they’re using their brains. Or, at least as much as within the story and all that kind of stuff. So, I don’t know maybe that has something to do with it, maybe it doesn’t. That, and everybody was gorgeous. Drop Dead Gorgeous. But do not me, not Major Davis, not so much.

David Read
You look pretty good in uniform.

Colin Cunningham
I’ll tell you, the thing that does surprise me… The thing that surprises me in terms of, “Wow, that it’s lasted this long.” The show went 10 years before it stopped. That’s some miracle in itself, man. Shows don’t do that. Certainly not a show like Stargate where you’re constantly reinventing and constantly… you can’t keep something fresh for 10 friggin’ years. So, I think that’s the two miracles of Stargate, is the fact that they were able to pull it off for a year, and then another, and then another, and then another, all the way to 10. And then the fact that it’s… how long has it been now? Is it 20 years? What’s the exact number since it stopped?

David Read
2008 was…Yeah, so 2008 was when everything wrapped, so it’s been twenty…

Colin Cunningham
And the first episode, ten years ago before…

David Read
1997.

Colin Cunningham
Incredible. But hey, you know what, I’ve been a little bit out of the loop, I have to admit, so when you’re telling me that the show’s being rediscovered online by a new generation, that’s cool, man. That’s very, very cool. Because, I will say, the new generations, they don’t care about anything other than this thumb and where it’s going. This is a tough market to be picking up an audience, man. These generation whatever-the-friggin’-letter we’re up to now, they’re tough.

David Read
I think it speaks hope to the generations that are coming because there are still people out there, young people who are curious and inquisitive, and don’t think that they have it all together and are looking for an ideal standard to live up to. And I think that Stargate is one of those things that offers that.

Colin Cunningham
No, you’re absolutely right. If anything, it really is a metaphor, a seed, for you get… as screwed up and as messed up the world is, or that we think it is, there’s still some 10 year old girl, that’s that’s walking out onto her dad or her mom’s farmers field in Kansas, staring up at the sky and thinking “I got a shot — a legitimate shot — of going there.” And that’s amazing. In the middle of all the chaos, somebody says, “I want to go to Mars,” and that’s where their focus is, or “I want to do this,” or “I want to do that,” or “I want to invent something great.” I mean, when I was five, I got a big wheel. Today, five year olds are getting 3D printers, so it’s just… it’s amazing. So, I don’t know, I certainly think, as ominous as things might feel from time to time, there’s a lot of light out there, there’s a lot of hope and there’s a lot of sparks that are that are ready to ignite and go out into the universe and into the world and take it further than you and I ever could.

David Read
This is true. I want to go back to your origins as an actor. Tell me about Colin Cunningham as a young man. Where’s he from? What were his goals?

Colin Cunningham
Man, that’s a… I’m trying to think, which Colin Cunningham do I want to talk about.

David Read
The one that led to Davis, and the one that led to being a guidance counselor for at-risk teens. And to this extraordinary man that I call my friend.

Colin Cunningham
I’ll tell you a story, a story I don’t tell. Basically, my childhood was a little interesting. Great family, everybody loved and supported, nobody — thank God — was an alcoholic or beating anybody up, but from the time I was about six months old, I had full blown atopic eczema from my neck, all the way down. And it was bad, man. So, I was in and out of hospitals, in and out of doctors offices, constantly, and incredibly self-conscious about it. So, for the first 13, 12 and a half years of my life, I wore a turtleneck, long-sleeved shirts, long pants. And this is in North Hollywood, alright? Growing up in Van Nuys and Los Feliz in Southern California. The temperatures can hit 103, 104, 105, and I always wore a turtleneck, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. And I never even went into the ocean until I was 13, because the salt in the ocean would be like iodine in a cut. Anyway, so I spent a good 10, 12 years in and out of doctors and all that kind of stuff and the doctors always said, “Once you turn, once he hits puberty, his whole system is going to change and it’s just going to go away.” And sure enough, one day, it all just went away. And I got into other things, became a teenager, you discover girls, you’re in school and all this kind of stuff, and it wasn’t until… I guess I was about 23, 24, that I was just feeling like a fish out of water, I didn’t feel like I quite fit in. I had friends, I was happy, I wasn’t doing anything stupid and I was just… but I just didn’t feel connected. I always felt like I was in a crowd and on my own. But it was funny, it was a friend of mine who said, “Well, like, what about your parents?” I’m like, “Nah, man, nobody’s an alcoholic, I never got beat.” She says, “Was there anything that made you different as a kid?” And I was like, “No, I was a normal kid, I had a bike…” It all came back. It was a trip. [Laughs] Anyway, so I just… it flooded back and I was like, “Holy shit!” Like, “Fuck!” And then all this imagery came flooding back in, of… it’s just so crazy! It’s a great story to tell. But these images would flood back in of this little kid who had to go on a school field trip to the pool, to the local swimming pool. And I would, also, I would rip my skin to shreds, David, with my fingernails, because I was itching all the time and I’d be just stripped, I’d strip myself and I’d go into my mom’s room in the middle of the night and she would run a hot bath for me and I’d get into the bath and at the end of the bath, when I got out of it, it was pink, it was crimson for God’s sake. And I remembered my mom… I could hear the sound of her tearing sheets in the hallway, she’d go to the Salvation Army and buy these cheap sheets, and she tear them up into bandages, and she’d wrapped me up like a friggin’ mummy. So, I was Boris Karloff for the first 12 years of my life, and it was a trip. And when it got hot, when things got hot, you’re playing basketball or whatever, you’d start to unravel, and then you got to make sure kids don’t see anything, so I’m tucking all these bandages in and away. And then going to a school field trip and then having to find a corner to… being the last person on the bus to unravel yourself so that nobody catches you and all this stuff. Anyway, all that said, I guess I discovered acting, it was on a dare and it was just completely different. And I guess I wasn’t afraid of… I can hide within this… whatever walls you build up for yourself. And I was able to take that feeling of not being connected, and use it, or at least use it as a tool. So, discovered acting, wanted to start acting, wanting to start expressing and doing all this kind of stuff and so I did. So I began to pursue this wonderful craft — I won’t call it an art form — of acting and directing and producing and writing and just this whole creative process just really came as an escape to me, because I didn’t quite fit in, in school, and I wasn’t the best student. I was always sketching or doing flip books, making little movies, and dictionaries and all that kind of stuff. So that was, in many ways, my fantasy outlet. So, I really got into the movies and I really got into actors and I really got into these genres and these iconic television programs that I grew up with, because I was kind of a latchkey kid, sitting home watching TV. And so, I don’t know if that… well, of course it shapes you, and I think every decade that passes since, your world is colored all the more from it, you know? And you see, “Oh my God, this colored my life in that way, that colored my life in this way.” And there’s really nothing unique about it. Everybody goes through it. Everybody’s got some kind of something that made them different. And they were different. You’re all different. We’re all different. There’s no ‘we’re all the same.’ No, you’re all individual, sovereign, independent human beings with your own voice and your own form of expression. I’ve never been one to divide people up into things, because there’s not enough divisions. It’s infinite, absolutely infinite. So, I don’t know, at the end of the day, man, I think the person standing in their shoes, that’s the ultimate… I don’t wanna say minority, but that’s it, you’re you and there’s only one of you. And figure it out as best you can, do what you got to do, work as hard as you can to get where you want to get. You get tired and exhausted, go to your corner, man, take a breath. But then you get back out there, and you hit it again, because it’s a journey, it’s really, really a journey. So, yeah, so there’s me and my childhood. Jeezy, where’d you come from? Never told that story, and obviously why, but, holy crap, man, I can’t believe you got that out of me. That’s crazy.

David Read
I appreciate you sharing it. I mean, I’ve had the pleasure of knowing you for well over 10 years now and there’s always been something… I mean, I used the word constitution in the text message that I sent you earlier today. You have always been someone whose constitution I have admired, and it comes… it has to come from a place where you have adversity, and you either overcome it or you don’t, and it sounds like that young man did. Who are your heroes? Both whom you know, personally, and who you also watched and studied? Who helped to shape you into the person you are?

Colin Cunningham
Naturally, we think of our families, I think of my mother and my father. They grew up in… well, the bombs were — Nazi Germany was bombing Northern Ireland and England, and they’re from Belfast — so they grew up in the rubble of all that crap. And there was no money, my mom used to tell us that when she was 12 and 13 they couldn’t afford stockings. So you’d take a ballpoint pen and you’d run it up to the back of your leg. So, that’s humble beginnings. Today, everybody’s walking around and $800 Nikes and $1,200 cell phones, so it’s just a completely different world. So yeah, I think I your parents instill whatever that is in you. For me, it was never… the words that shaped my youth were rarely… what are the words I’m searching for? Just anything related to self, it wasn’t self esteem, it wasn’t how you feel, it wasn’t that kind of stuff. It was words like integrity, character, dignity, honor, contribution, community and respect and all that kind of stuff. You often came last on that list. I think that’s a wonderful thing, in terms of strength, of try not to be a liability to anyone. Very JFK. “Think not of what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” kind of thing, but also as relates to family and as it relates to the planet Earth. So, there’s a little bit of that, but I think growing up, many of my heroes were the actors, the old black-and-white movies, from James Cagney to… look, all the ones I gravitated towards were all the actor-actors, the Alec Guinness’s, and the Peter Lorre and the Lon Chaney and these incredible actors that would completely change from one gig to the next. It’s amazing that we’re doing Oliver right now and I think, Alec Guinness was like 30, maybe 29, 31, when he played Fagan, I’m probably wrong about that, but he certainly wasn’t 60, or 50 for that matter. Anyway, so just actors that are able to shape-shift and really get into that world, it’s an awesome place to be. I never wanted to be an actor because it was cool to do, or because you’d get the girls, or because you’d get a nice table at the restaurant. It was more of you get to do that, you get to disappear, you get to explore that world. But when I’m done with it, I’m always a little weirded out when when someone recognizes me. Like I said, I mean, I should be auditioning for Oliver and trying to dance and instead, it’s like, “Hey, aren’t you Major Davis?”

David Read
That really happened to you in Utah?

Colin Cunningham
It’s a weird thing, but it takes you out. It just takes you out, you know? So it’s weird to constantly be aware of the fact that you may be monitored, you may be being watched, or however the hell you phrase it.

David Read
Or maybe, people know that you come from quality stock and they’re expecting something great from you, too, at the same time.

Colin Cunningham
Well, that’s another thing, you have to be nice to people. And not that that’s bad, that’s a great thing, but sometimes you don’t want to be, man. You’re having a crappy-ass day, you’re miserable, or just moody and you just, “Oh, God!” You gotta… see, you can’t… well, I’ll give you a case in point. I went to get a haircut, I needed a trim, right? So, I went into Happy Cuts or whatever the hell it was, and the gal says, “What’s your phone number?” And I said, “Oh, no phone number, I just want a trim.” She says, “We need your phone number.” And I said, “You need my phone number? Why do you? What’s your phone number?” “Oh, I can’t, I’m not giving you my phone number.” I’m like, “Well, why do I have to give you my phone number, but you don’t? Why is my right to privacy not respected?” But, I mean, it was wasn’t that big, but it was like, “What are you talking about?” And she says, “Well, you know…” So all of a sudden, now, Happy Cuts, you get your beauty diploma and now you’re tracking human beings for the CDC, you know? Anyway, all I’m saying is that I was like, “You know what, nevermind. I don’t need to cut then, if you need my phone number.” Anybody else would have just been ‘a dick’ or ‘a jerk’ or whatever, but when I walked out, it’s like, “Wasn’t that Major Davis? That guy Major Davis is a jerk off.” It’s not, “Hey, that anonymous human being was a dick.” It’s like, “Hey, the guy who played John Pope was in here and he was a total asshole.” So, they’re just two completely different things, you know what I mean? And I don’t like it, I don’t like it. And the opposite is just as bad. When somebody meets you and if they don’t know who you are, that’s honest. And they’re either gonna like you or not like you, and that’s straight up. But if all of a sudden, they’re super happy and nice to see you because you’re on a TV show, it’s just as bad. I don’t want anything and I don’t want anything taken away. I want to kind of just be invisible, you know?

David Read
Yeah. William Shatner said one time, the contract that he made with society, for better or for worse, is that his success at Captain Kirk meant that he had forfeited his privacy and become a public utility.

Colin Cunningham
Wow. It’s interesting, he didn’t say ‘persona’ or ‘celebrity’. Utility, man, you become a tool.

David Read
Where it’s like, you’re sitting eating out and you’re — more or less by default — expected to be pleasant with other people and to autograph things for them and to take pictures with them, almost… like, our mindset is — by default — that’s just normal. Oh, you see a celebrity? “Oh, well, I know them. I’ve watched them on TV and they’ll be happy to take some of their precious time for me.”

Colin Cunningham
David, I have to say this though. It makes you a better person. It does. You don’t want it, you didn’t necessarily ask for it. Then again, look, I’m not getting bombarded, I don’t have people swinging in through the roof or stalking or going through my garbage, thank God. But, if something makes you have to take a step up, to project a little bit more optimism and positivity then all the better. Especially around kids or whatever, you gotta project that too, so it’s a good thing. I’m gonna say it’s a good thing.

David Read
You were a guidance counselor for a while, for at-risk teens.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah.

David Read
Did that change you at all?

Colin Cunningham
You know, what’s weird? Look, I worked for a company and we were out in the desert and we basically took inner-city gang kids that were of threat to a bad lifestyle, or to God knows what else, in the inner cities. We basically took them out into the middle of the desert, and they got around horses and livestock and we all slept in teepees. And we would move and we would do all this stuff, but it was all Bloods and Crips, and the Daniels, or Daniels and all the MS13 guys, but young. They weren’t hardened people yet. And the Aryan’s and the Samoan’s and just, again, the usual crap, right? And it was an incredibly rewarding thing. And it’s weird, because every day I was there, all I could think about was getting the hell out of it. And for at least a good five, six years after I left, all I could think about was going back. It was one of those experiences where everything you do has consequence. Everything. There is no downtime, there’s no filler, there’s no inbetween. Everything you do, everything you say, is a domino.

David Read
That’s intense.

Colin Cunningham
It has tremendous consequence and the stakes are extremely high. So, it was a trip. And they were kids, a lot of times they were kids, and a lot of times they got in the system. They’d done some pretty nasty stuff three days before their 18th birthday and we kept those kids away from the kids, because they weren’t. They were they were pretty hardened dudes, but, for the most part, they were good kids, man, they really, really were. And their parents would come, or somebody would come to visit, and then they’d long for home and then they’d run. They’d literally take off and you’d see a little yellow or a little red shirt, heading off like a gazelle…

David Read
Into the desert?

Colin Cunningham
Into the desert. And there’s nowhere to go. The nearest town would be 30 miles, 26 miles away.

David Read
Yeah, they’re cut off.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, and it would be weird. And you’d chase them, and after a while it was like, “Right, who’s gonna go? Who’s gonna go?” It’s like, “Well, you’re closest.” It’s like, “Oh, God, I’m already tired out from the other Thursday.” And it’d be a trip because you go… now, you’re running. And all you hear is your feet scrunching on the dirt, and you’re chasing a t-shirt, and you’re screaming “Just stop!” you know, and they’re screaming back, “No, you’re gonna take me back!” It’s like, “No, I’m not going to take you back. Just stop! Just stop, I’m getting tired, man, you’re driving me crazy! I’m getting tired here.” So, you’re gonna… and you convince the kid while you’re shouting, 100 yards away, 50 yards away, because you’re gaining on them or whatever, and then they get tired. And it’s like, “I’m not going to do nothing!” And you’d literally just show up, and you’d sit with the kid, and he’d tell you about a letter he got, his girlfriend’s seeing someone else or broke up with him, or his mom’s… whatever’s going on, dad beat up mom again, it was all that kind of domestic shit, it was awful. And then you’d say, “Hey, man, you want to go, there it is. But all you got to do is come back here and if you can just finish up three more months, if you can knock out another 12 weeks, and I’ll help you.” “But you’re gonna put this down on the record.” “No, we’re not gonna put anything down on the record, I promise you nothing will go into your file.” And nothing ever did. It was man-on-man kind of stuff. And after the conversation, you’d get up and you’d leave the kid. “Hey, man. What am I gonna do, grab you by the hair? That’s not how life works. You got to volunteer to… you got to warrior up, and you’re going to come back, you’re going to stand tall and face it, where you’re gonna go off into into chaos into Nowheresville.” So I remember these moments, there were a few, there weren’t many, I wasn’t doing it all the time, but being out there in the middle of nowhere, you’re surrounded by Saguaro Cactuses, or yucca or whatever. And there’s beetles walking across the dirt and you’re having a conversation with some young Hispanic kid who’s pondering the rest of his life and what it’s going to be and it’s scary stuff, you know, so it’s a hell of a lot different from lunch and some crackers at the craft service table over at MGM. You know what I mean?

David Read
No, I hear you, absolutely. You were in 15 episodes of SG-1, an episode of Atlantis, you were in Continuum for a cameo. What a stretch of time, you know? And you were mainly there to facilitate the plot, like, to go with Daniel to Russia, or to try and not crash a Goa’uld mothership into the Arctic sea. What was it like playing that character?

Colin Cunningham
Well, I’ll tell you what, when you describe it and you say 15 of this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, the thing that I flashed back to is, I never felt comfortable. And what I mean by that is, I never expected to come back. And I’ve told this story before, I never learned anybody’s name until I’d done, like, nine years worth, because by then it was getting stupid. But the first time I got on the show, I thought, “Well, they’re never… they’re not going to have me back.” I’m gonna just not, you’re an actor, and to book a job is rare. Anyway, and then they did. And it was like, “Wow, well, that’s not going to happen again. I mean, lucky two.” So, instead I focused on the work, I guess, is what I did, I focused on the lines, I focused on the scene, I focused on as much as I could to take advantage of what little I had, or as much as I had, but I didn’t… everybody knew my name after nine years, man, and I’m like, “Okay, you’d better start learning people’s names, because you’ve been on this show for 10 years.” You know? And I swear to God, it’s not like I was aloof or I had attitude, I just never thought I’d be back. Especially after you’ve done 10. Well, that’s it! Then you just regret not learning anybody’s name. And then there’s five more to come, so that was a trip but look, it was just… What was your question again, David, I’m losing track.

David Read
What was it like playing Paul and playing the Pentagon pencil-pusher who’s always getting himself in a weird situation, getting duplicated by an alien, weird things like that.

Colin Cunningham
No, I think… I don’t know whose idea it was, but it was probably just direction from Martin or Peter or somebody saying, “Don’t don’t play him with the twirling moustache. Don’t play him bad.” Because we had that with the other character.

David Read
Oh, with Maybourne, yeah.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah. “So just play him as a guy that sees the logic. He sees what should be done but he’s got his orders, too, and kind of try and show a bit of that, “Oh God, yeah, I know you’re right, but you can’t do that because I’ve got orders and it’s not gonna happen.” So lets just humanize him a little bit.” Which again, it’s just the sophistication of the show, you know? So, that idea was probably given to me and I thought, “Hey, that’s a great idea and I like that.” Because it’s a very straight character for me, you know? It wasn’t John Pope or Julian Slink from Falling Skies or any of this crazy character stuff — which I love to do, because I love to disappear — so there was less to hide behind with Major Davis. But I remember trying to take it as seriously as I could, and respectfully, making sure that I knew what each badge was — if I was going to wear one — or the medals, I should say.

David Read
Who he was.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, so I kind of… I want to say I got into it, but I wanted to… If you’re gonna stand there in uniform, those are big shoes to fill, right?

David Read
Did you know Peter DeLuise before you got…

Colin Cunningham
No.

David Read
Okay. I was under the impression that he had convinced you to try out?

Colin Cunningham
No, no, no, but I do have a Peter story.

David Read
Okay.

Colin Cunningham
I met Peter before Peter met me. I was a waiter at a restaurant called Woo Lae Oak, which was a Korean barbecue place on, I believe, it was La Cienega in Hollywood. And Peter came in one day with a girl, I don’t know, it was his wife, or whoever it was at the time, or his girlfriend at the time. And we’re going way back, man, way back. This has got to be 1989, ’90, something like. Anyway, so I remember recognizing him, “Oh, that’s Peter DeLuise.” Because I was a huge fan of his dad, I’m still a huge fan of his dad. Out of all the DeLuise’s, man, Dom is just the badass, right? But anyway, but I remember — this is gonna sound so cheap and silly, but this is why I remember it — because I was serving a celebrity, and I remember they were discussing whatever they were discussing and I remember the tip went down, and I was like, “Oh, hey, that’s a pretty good tip.” I thought, “Awesome, that’s great.” And then I went away, and they split, I came back and when I came back, the tip had been reduced. So that tip was, like, half of what they’d originally put down. So I often joke that the Peter DeLuise stiffed me at a Korean barbecue restaurant. But what a guy, man, what a guy. Him and Anne Marie. And Peter’s just, I don’t know, I think it’s a DeLuise thing. There’s a… there really is, there’s a magic around those guys and I have to assume it came from their parents, that they had wonderful parents that celebrated humor and laughter and, I mean, Peter will tell you, just sitting around the table, sometimes, the stories that are told within that house and it just sounds like a lot of fun. So I’ve got great respect and admiration for him as a human being, but also just the energy that they all represent, I think it’s wonderful.

David Read
Absolutely. Do you have any particular memories of working with that cast, on SG-1, that stand out over the years?

Colin Cunningham
The first thing that pops to mind, and I may be exaggerating the story a little bit, but boy, it sure felt like this. I don’t know what the hell it was with me, I was having a hell of a time remembering my lines, it was just… I think I hadn’t done it in a while, hadn’t been on Stargate in a while and then I realized what I was a part of. Anyway, I was nervous as all hell, totally nervous, I had to recite out, put it, and the scene was myself, Amanda, and I forget who else. Anyway, I totally was not getting it and I was starting to get self-conscious. But then Amanda totally screwed up her lines, and I’m like, “Okay, that’s cool.” And it kind of relaxed me a little bit, and I was like, “Okay, everybody here is kind of screwing up a little bit.” And I was settled down enough to get through it and was all good. And it wasn’t until later that I realized, “Amanda never screws up her lines.” And if she did, it was extremely rare, and I thought, “She did that for me. She did it for me.” Now, she may not have, but that’s how I choose to remember the story. Because she screwed up a couple of times, and Amanda doesn’t… she didn’t screw up, man. Well, she’s brilliant and all that kind of stuff, but I just thought it was an incredibly gracious and generous thing to do, to put another actor at ease, and that’s to blow a take. And it just says, “Hey, man, we’re all human, we’re all here doing it.” And it did, it put me at ease and off and forward I went. So, look, all of my stories are all positive, which may sound a bit silly, because life isn’t positive, and people aren’t always positive and I’ll bet you there were some serious battles on that show and stories that nobody’s ever told you. I don’t know what they are, though, because I never saw them. They kept it private, they kept it in the corners where it belongs. And, I mean, I’ve been on some sets, I’ve seen chairs thrown, I’ve seen some crazy shit go down. I didn’t see that on Stargate and if there was tension, nobody was… I don’t know, it just… it never got to the point where it affected things — not for me anyway — it was always a wonderful place to show up and work.

David Read
I’m looking at some of your other projects. This Blood Drive series, I’ve not seen it. And it looks like your character, with the hat and everything else, I mean… This Julian Slink character, tell me about this guy. This looks like a fascinating character.

Colin Cunningham
Well, it was. What a blessing, an absolute blessing. Blood Drive is basically, look, it’s not for everyone. It’s basically a post-apocalyptic death race where the cars run on human blood. And that’s it and that’s the show. Then there’s a show within the show called Blood Drive, which is the show that puts this race on every week. And it’s everything from what the network brass want. “We need more death, we need more dismemberment! There’s not enough blood!” And Julian Slink is the ringmaster, kind of the Barnum and Bailey centerpiece for the show. But he also has to deal with these crazy suits, and the corporate brass and what they need and offering him notes, when he fancies himself as an artist, when in fact, he’s a clone of an Android. It’s so fun! It’s absolute wacko. But it’s a trip. What I loved about it — I think I was telling you this earlier on — it was an absolutely, utterly ridiculous premise for a show. Cars that run on human blood, and it’s definitely not something that you would ever take seriously. I made the choice as an actor to do it like I was doing Arthur Miller, like this was Eugene O’Neill. I was doing Long Day’s Journey Into Night every single day. I took it as serious as I’ve ever taken anything in my life as an actor. It also, the timing was really interesting, David, in that I’ve recently broken up in a relationship that was in for six, seven years, and took a year or so to just kind of just get my bearings and then this was an audition that came up and I got it. And I guess the question I had to myself was, “How good can you be?” In all humility, you’re an actor, you fancy yourself an actor, and how good can you be? Because right now you’re not in the middle of a crappy relationship that’s sucking up all your time and exhausting you. And also, on the other foot, you’re not madly in love with somebody who’s sucking up all your time. So, the fact that it shot in South Africa, I wasn’t on the phone, “I miss you, I love you, come to Cape Town, come to South Africa.” There was none of that. Instead, where I was living — and I didn’t even know what the set would look like — I would position everything I thought, maybe, that the scene might be like, because I wasn’t the lead in the show. I got maybe one, two takes and that was it and then goodbye, right? So, all I did was, I studied all of the live television from the ’50’s, all the Colgate theaters, the Westinghouse’s, everything Rod Serling made pre-Twilight Zone. Incredible pieces of work and you were live, there was no videotape then. There was kinescope. Well, there was video, in the air like a telephone, excuse me. And what they do is, they literally just take a film camera and they would film a monitor, they’d film a television and that’s how they saved it, because there was no such thing as videotape or audio tape, or video tape, anyway. So, I thought, “I’m only gonna get one or two shots at this.” And these actors doing these shows would go live to the entire nation, to anybody with a television, and the stakes, man. Talk about pressure! Because if you blew it, you blew it in front of 10’s of millions of people. Your career was over, man, you were done. That’s it, there was no, “Go back, cut, cut, now I got to do it again.” And it was an incredible time, it’s one of my favorite eras of acting because you had to exit one door then race your ass down the studio, put on a different wardrobe, hop in there, get to your mark and pray to God you got there before the camera. Otherwise the camera’s gonna see you lumbering, flumping through the door. Totally living hell stuff. And not many of them were very good, let alone great, but boy, there were a couple of gems there, man. You check out — for anybody that’s interested — check out The Comedian, Rod Serling’s The Comedian with Mickey Rooney. John Frankenheimer directed it, Martin Manulis produced it, it’s phenomenal. There’s also A Town Has Turned to Dust, again, Rod Serling. Study the history of that before you even see that and the censorship. And I think it was… I forget who it was, CBS were gonna censor it because it was about a Black kid who got lynched, and they totally changed it and they made it about a Mexican kid on a border town and they changed it. And Serling was infuriated, apoplectic that they would screw with his work, but then look what they did. Look what they did when they did it. Because they know that they’re being censored and there’s some moments in there that are… it’s so, so good. Anyway some great, great stuff like that I would check out and I would watch and then come back to Blood Drive, to the show, about intercontinental blood race and then do it, you know? So, I don’t know if I did any good, I don’t know, the show… but it tried, man. I got to hand it to David Straiton and James Roland, the creator of the show. It’s wacko. There’s never been a show attempted like it and I gotta tip my hat to SyFy because they actually bankrolled this thing. And it is, man, it’s batshit wacko. It’s crazy. It’s really, really crazy. Sometimes they pushed the envelope a little bit too much in some places, but other parts are just absolutely divine.

David Read
I’m gonna check it out, I want to see it. I appreciate it.

Colin Cunningham
Alright, go ahead David.

David Read
I got a few fan questions before I let you go. Is that okay?

Colin Cunningham
Mm-hm [gives thumb-up]

David Read
Adam Parra wants to know, can you tell a funny sky story? A funny Falling Skies story? Man, I flubbed that.

Colin Cunningham
Funny Falling Skies story. The things that come up right now, I don’t know if you can see that, but I’ve got a scar [shows thumb to camera] that’s too shadowy. I’ve got a big ol’ slice on my finger and that’s my Falling Skies scar. I was jumping over a thing and I hit Sarah Carter’s M16 and just, boom, exploded it. And I knew because it was instantly warm, really warm and wet. And I thought “That’s not good.” And I remember pinching my thumb so hard because I know that’s bad, man. And I just put it down and went on with the scene. I know that wasn’t so much fun, but it reminds me of when… oh God, Rambo. The Rambo movie when… Oh, God, it was the guy who played the sheriff… Dennehy.

David Read
I’ve not seen it. Okay.

Colin Cunningham
You haven’t seen Rambo? Oh, man, you gotta check out Rambo.

David Read
Okay, I will, I promise.

Colin Cunningham
Brian Dennehy, pulls Rambo’s knife out from behind him and on the take he opens his hand up, bad.

David Read
He actually did it?

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, he did it, because that thing was so sharp. Stallone was crazy with the sharp knife thing and Dennehy just opened it up, and went on with the scene. I don’t know how many stitches it took, but they had to stop production and everything. Ripped his hand right open. Anyway, so I remember that from Falling Skies. I loved Falling Skies, man. I miss Falling Skies. Falling Skies, again, really tried. They really did. The first two seasons… and not that they got it, they nailed 100% of it, but boy, they really, really tried, you really wanted it to be something good. And I think, though, we ended up with six showrunners, six head writers in five years, which is never a healthy thing, and things went the way they went, but I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. Noah Wylie is the most professional, most generous actor, one of the most, for sure, that I’ve ever worked with. He was… I learned a lot from the guy, I really did.

David Read
Michelle Palmer. Your last appearance was actually in Atlantis. Was the atmosphere on Atlantis any different than it was on SG-1? Despite the fact that it was still the SG-1 set, you were actually in the control room? Or, upstairs in the briefing room?

Colin Cunningham
I’m gonna say yes, it was. And not for any fault or blame or anything like that, it’s just the magic of that original cast was the magic of that original cast. And the magic that was those characters was also reflected in the crew around them. They really were a tight-knit group. I mean, they’d go out and have beers together and play softball together and they really, really were. And I think by then, there had been a few changes and they’ve, again, everybody was doing great and still having a great time but they’d also been doing it for a while. So it’s not like you’re part of that three year period with the Yankees, you know, or with the Pittsburgh Steelers, you know what I mean? It’s still a great team, but Lynn Swann’s not catching the balls any more. It’s just different, but it was… look, hey, man, even a bad day on Stargate is better than a great day fishing, right?

David Read
Jack would disagree, but yes. Martin Mollitt. Colin, is it more fun playing the good guy or the bad guy?

Colin Cunningham
They’re the same guy. They really are, they’re the same guy, they’re just… The good guy, people think they know, and the bad guy, people think they don’t know. So it’s… they’re both the same guy, they’re the same guy. One’s a little more misunderstood than the other.

David Read
That’s an interesting point, I’m gonna have to ponder that for a while. That’s pretty deep. Andrew P. What did you think of the writing on Stargate?

Colin Cunningham
Again, I think that’s what, at the end of the day, what really held it up was the writing. So it’s Joe and Brad Wright and those guys, man, they really… I don’t know how they kept doing it! I really don’t. I mean, I’m a Breaking Bad fan.

David Read
Yeah.

Colin Cunningham
And it’s that kind of a thing, when you see something that’s so good for so long, it becomes… it’s not even the point where it’s unique or that it’s an anomaly, it’s just not possible. You start thinking there’s some kind of divine intervention that’s coming in. I think it’s just the wheels of the universe, man, the wheels of the Stargate universe, and there’s hundreds of billions of them, and they all just sometimes just come together. And then they don’t anymore. So if you happen to be writing one of those cogs, as the mechanism’s moving, you get to have these wonderful experiences. And fortunately, with videotape and with film or what have you, you can replay it and the magic’s still there. At least I hope it is, I hope it’s not all nostalgic. I mean, obviously, look, you and I are sitting here talking because there’s fans, and we’re, maybe… way back when, what was your favorite memory and all that kind of stuff, so I don’t want to… I hope we’re not coming off as a couple of old farts, lamenting getting older, you know? But it’s like I said, it’s nice to hear, if there’s new fans that are coming aboard and discovering it, they’re not discovering something different. They’re discovering what we discovered, too. Or anybody that watches it, they’re gonna discover the same thing. So it’s not… it’s nice that it’s not generational. It’s discovery. It’s like, “Hey, this is good. This is smart. It doesn’t talk to me like I’m stupid and it allows me to enjoy the ride, but also reach for something a little, maybe, smarter than myself.”

David Read
It’s fair.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah.

David Read
Rebecca Frost. Do you think the central reason for today’s “cancel culture” that we preach putting self first now as opposed to putting self last?

Colin Cunningham
Say that again?

David Read
Rebecca Frost wanted to know, do you think the central reason for today’s “cancel culture” is that we preach putting self first now as opposed to putting self last?

Colin Cunningham
Yes. But I think if you dig deeper than that, there’s a lot more going on. I mean, this is a big subject, but… and you’re going to attack it from every dynamic, every demographic, I think maybe psychologically, emotionally. A lot of times people will want to cancel things they’re either scared of, or they’re envious of, or they want to control. And where do those things come from? Obviously, some measure of unhappiness. “I’m not happy, and I don’t like the fact that you are. I don’t like… I’m discontented. Therefore you can’t.” You cannot…

David Read
Be content.

Colin Cunningham
Or anything, for that matter. “I am discontented, therefore your existence is offensive, to a degree.” And again, I’m not… don’t want to slap on a big bumper sticker.

David Read
No, I understand.

Colin Cunningham
But, yeah, if you can’t… if you gotta cancel something, if that’s your… if that’s the way you articulate your point of view, you’ve lost. That’s not a debate, that’s… Because look, to cancel something, the way it’s being applied today, if anything — and I mean this and I mean this in all sincerity — this conversation about Stargate could be dangerous. Who’s to say that in 5, 10 years from now, “Well, were you not on that show? David, did you not support that show? Well, we see you’ve interviewed all these actors on that show. Whereas now, that show Stargate is seen as this, and this is not very good today. So, you know all the episodes have been banned, David, and you’ve kind of gone underground, your Twitter account’s been frozen and your Facebook’s been deleted. What do you have to say for yourself?”

David Read
If only. No, I hear you. I hear what you’re saying.

Colin Cunningham
I don’t know what’s going to be…

David Read
What’s next, yeah.

Colin Cunningham
What’s next? It’s terrible, you can’t just enjoy being a human being anymore. I can’t talk about sports, because sports is now politics. I can’t say beautiful… we can’t talk about the weather, because the weather is now politics. I can’t have a waffle and just enjoy some friggin’ syrup without offending diabetics sitting at the next table, I mean, I just want to just have a waffle! And so to constantly be bombarded and reminded and to be sensitive to and respectful of, and sometimes you just want to [points fingers at head] I’m going nuts. I just wanna just be cool. I want to go to the beach and play guitar. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a permit to do it, officer.” You know what I mean? Can I not just sit in the sand and play a song, you know? Or whatever! I don’t know, you know what I’m saying.

David Read
I do.

Colin Cunningham
So, it’s where you don’t know what to do or what to say anymore. And it’s such a shame. It’s such a shame. Another thing, interesting point. I was at a… did a film festival here, HorrorScape [HorrorFest –Ed] International here in St. George, Utah. And there was a Q&A and a bit of a talk afterwards. And it was interesting because I had to really watch what I was going to say, not so much because it was a PC thing, but because you’re being recorded. So, if I’m talking to some young actors, if I know people don’t have their phones out, if I know I’m not being videotaped, I will tell you more. I will tell you much more, I will tell you things that can be of great benefit to you. I will tell you tricks, I will tell you things to watch out for, I will tell you better ways of doing things. And I’ll tell you things not to worry about. These are not things I can get into if every single thing I say is going to be uploaded.

David Read
And documented for all time.

Colin Cunningham
And documented for all time. Because number one, you just can’t, you just can’t. And that’s where people are getting their information now. That’s how they get their information. When you go online you are looking for censored info, because that’s all you’re gonna get, man. At least, that’s all you’re gonna get from me. I got to be careful. It’s almost like, look. If I’m giving a lecture, if I was giving my lecture, and I had students come to my studio, it’s going to be a completely different lecture than if I’m invited out to UCLA or USC. And I’m now standing in an academic, in the world of academia. Because if I say something inappropriate, whoever hired me is gone, man. They’re fired. I’m fired. So it’s all about being safe. It’s all about saying the right things, feeling the right things, expressing the right things, being sensitive to the right things. And if you’re focused on that, how the hell can you teach young people how to prepare themselves for the world? So, it’s interesting. Because there’s so much that an actor, well, that I have, I’ve been incredibly blessed, man, I’ve worked with Spielberg. I’ve worked with some of the greats! And I can’t share. I can only tell you that everybody’s wonderful, everybody’s great, we all had a great time and it was a laugh a minute. But nothing was learned and there were never any challenges and there was no need to get through them because nothing wrong ever happened.

David Read
Well, I mean, if that’s the direction that we’re going, and it’s entirely possible…

Colin Cunningham
Well, I’m just saying for me, when I’m invited to speak, I’m no longer focused on what I have to say. I’m now focused on who hired me, and so you… sometimes it gets reduced to just pabulum, to this disposable Styrofoam cup. Anecdotal.

David Read
Well, you have to protect yourself, you know? This is a different world that we live in. And it has been since this thing came online the past several years, called YouTube where everything is there for all time. And we can go back and look and see what people said 10, 15 years ago and take action based on how things are now. But at the same time, I have hope.

Colin Cunningham
Me too.

David Read
You’ve got to.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah.

David Read
So last question for you, Teresa McAllister and Michael wanted to know, Brad Wright is working on trying to get a fourth Stargate series off the ground. Would you be interested in being in the new show and potentially leading a team through the Stargate of your own?

Colin Cunningham
Nah, why would I want to do that? Hell yes! Oh my God. You know, I have to say, though, I mean, first of all, I really hope that happens. That’d be so great, wouldn’t it?

David Read
SG-4, I’m pushing for it.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, and it’s time. I really think that it would be great.

David Read
I think so.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah, I think so too. I think I’d be on a very, very… I’d be at the bottom of a very long list in terms of who they would bring out, to invite to come out there. But you bet, man, sure. Because now I know what it is. So I think any actor that they brought back from from SG-1, it’d be hard to direct them because they just be smiling the whole time.

David Read
Well, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Stargate’s chicken soup, and we could really use some chicken soup.

Colin Cunningham
Yeah. That’s a good way to put it.

David Read
My friend, it has been a pleasure. I went a little bit over time with you, I appreciate you taking the time that you did. And it’s fantastic to see you. And it’s just… this week was gonna be rough for us — everybody — and I put you here on the calendar this weekend, because I knew that you would have some interesting and insightful things to say and I wanted to see a friendly face, so I appreciate you taking the time.

Colin Cunningham
Hey, thank you, David, thank you everybody, for writing in your questions. And look, all I can say is after all this time, it’s just all gratitude. Thank you so much. Thanks for keeping it all going. It’s not just me and Major Davis and stuff. We know what we all belong to and it’s pretty cool, man! Like, wow, how cool is that? So yeah, chicken soup with chocolate ice cream.

David Read
One after the other, not at the same time. Colin…

Colin Cunningham
Thank you, David, thank you very much.

David Read
All the best, take care of yourself, brother. Bye bye. Colin Cunningham, Major Davis, everyone. All right. I do have a couple of questions from the floor that were given to me. JohnFourtyTwo. “Hi, David, could you play some appropriate Stargate elevator music while we wait?” So on that, that would be a copyright violation as far as I am aware. I would not have a problem with reaching out to Mr. Neal Acree and seeing if you know at some point he has some time to to write some loops there for the beginning of the show. That’s something that I’ve considered, but it would have to be original music. Jonathan Shar. “Thank you David for keeping the Stargate dream alive.” You’re welcome, absolutely. “Any chance you or the crew could read some fanfiction as a charity franchise awareness raising event. Be glad to help out.” Email me. Da… um, I almost gave my personal email address! [email protected]. In fact, let me get that on the screen here and we can talk about that as we wrap up. All right. If you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I would appreciate it if you click the Like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and it will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. If you plan to watch live, I recommend giving the Bell icon a click so you’ll be the first to know of any scheduled changes, which will probably happen all the time. And bear in mind, clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several days on, at the very least, the GateWorld.net YouTube channel, hopefully Dial the Gate as well. One of the things that have kind of surprised me, I was planning on doing a lot more clips when we first started the show, week to week stuff to keep the channel alive, as it were. And that’s time consuming. So, I did not expect that to be the case. If anyone out there wants to help me with farming the clips and getting them up on the site, I may have some work for you there. I do appreciate everyone who has tuned in for Colin. Thank you to Sommer, Ian, Tracy and Keith and Jeremy, you guys are fantastic moderators. Could not do this without you. Big thanks to Jennifer and Linda, “The Gate Gabber”, my production assistants. We have a lot of cool stuff heading your way. Neal Acree is coming up this afternoon. Let me double check the time for everyone before I let y’all go. Neal Acree is going to be on at 3pm Pacific Time, 6pm Eastern. That’s all I’ve got for you guys right now, I really appreciate you tuning in. And you know what, we’ll be back in a couple more hours here with more Dial the Gate fun. I’m David Read, and I’ll see you on the other side.