Actress Suanne Braun, Stargate SG-1’s “Hathor,” stops by DialtheGate to discuss her Goa’uld character, her YouTube series, “Hathor Hosts,” and take your questions LIVE.

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:27 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:05 – Guest Introduction
03:10 – Suanne and “Hathor Hosts”
11:26 – How David Got Into Stargate
13:07 – Stargate’s Modern Relevance
14:46 – Varying Opinions and Respect for Others
17:30 – Hathor Hosts and The Princess Switch
25:45 – Interviewing Guests on Her Own Show
31:26 – Stargate’s Lasting Popularity
33:46 – Suanne’s Origins in South Africa
41:04 – Inspiring Teachers
45:01 – Season One and “Hathor”
49:49 – Researching Hathor
54:04 – The Spiral Staircase in Stargate Command
55:10 – Did you know you’d come back to the show?
57:48 – Working with the Cast
1:02:52 – Suanne’s Hathor Action Figure
1:08:16 – Suanne’s Fitness Program
1:11:15 – Leap year Babies
1:12:28 – Awkward Moments on Set
1:14:57 – Canon issues with Goa’uld Queens VS Later On
1:16:14 – Characters Suanne has Wanted to Play
1:18:25 – Cliff Simon
1:20:05 – Favorite Accents
1:23:39 – Challenging Roles
1:31:30 – Ra and Hathor
1:32:55 – Working with Michael Shanks
1:36:06 – Playing Villains
1:37:00 – A Transgender Fan
1:37:51 – Guest Thanks
1:39:31 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:42:48 – End Credits

***

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

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome to the show, everyone. Episode 18 of “Dial the Gate.” My name is David Read. Thank you so much for joining me on this fine Saturday, November 14th. We have a special guest waiting in the wings, as we always do, but this one is particularly special, in my opinion. Miss Suanne Braun: will be joining us momentarily. So what’s going to happen with this episode, as with normal episodes, we will have a guest Q&A with myself and the guest. Then we will be inviting the crowd who’s currently in the YouTube live chat to be submitting questions. After that happens, we will be showing you some Stargate art that I have submitted from Miss Sally Whitesides. Then we will have a sign off. So, that’s the normal run of [the] show for this episode. Before I bring in Suanne, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that like button. It really makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and 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. 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. So my moderators are in the YouTube chat and ready to take your questions for Miss Suanne Braun. And by the way, I’ve got her right here, right here. Hello, Miss Hathor.

Suanne Braun:
Hello. I expect you to kneel before your goddess; otherwise, I won’t even speak. Very good, very good. We shall talk, we shall, [inaudible] our company.

David Read:
How are you?

Suanne Braun:
I am really good. I mean, as good as one can be in day 90 million of the pandemic, which seems endless.

David Read:
Just keeps on rolling.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, indeed. But thank God we’re all healthy. You know, it’s gonna be, put it this way, it’s gonna be really odd wearing clothing with elastic waistband again. When we have to, like, get dressed properly.

David Read:
Exactly. It’s like, “these don’t fit anymore!”

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, really. Every now and then, I just go upstairs and try on a suit or something just to make sure. Because, you know, basically I’ve lived in sweatpants and slippers since March.

David Read:
It’s been… I didn’t call this one for 2020, to be perfectly honest. But yeah, the year has had its own difficulties, but also, as you know, presented its own opportunities.

Suanne Braun:
Absolutely. Yeah.

David Read:
Do you want to talk a little about that?

Suanne Braun:
Well, “Hathor Hosts [TV],” I presume you mean?

David Read:
Absolutely. How long have you been wanting to do a talk show?

Suanne Braun:
Do you know, I actually didn’t, and by that, consciously, I didn’t sort of sit down and go, I want to do a talk show. But I have been saying for about two or three years, I would love to do something that combines all my strengths as a performer but also with this background that I have because, you know, I started my career as a…

David Read:
Live TV. Exactly.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. And now I look back… at the time, I was like, “why am I doing this?” You know, now I look back and I’m like, it was such great training and grounding, and it has stood me in good stead for all kinds of things, not just something like a talk show. The idea was serendipitous and that it happened… one night I watched a live Instagram, and it was a particularly bad one. The moderator was terrible. I mean, I so desperately want to say who it was, but I won’t; I will be a lady. But it was terrible, and I was just like, I mean, a five-year-old could have done better. They had all kinds of technical challenges which, having worked on Instagram Live, I now understand, so a little more respect in that department. But I was finding myself really stressed at the beginning of the pandemic. I wasn’t able to sleep, and I was really worried about work, and will I ever work again as a performer? And I watched event after event get shut down, and basically my entire… terrifying… and convention after convention getting shut, and then the West End, well Broadway, then the West End shutting down. And I just lay awake one night and suddenly thought, I literally was like, “Dah!” you know, like, hallelujah music kind of like I had a vision, and I suddenly went, “I know what I can do!” And I went back to sleep, woke up the next day, and I said to my husband, “I’m gonna do a show, and I’m gonna interview actors. I think I should start with Stargate actors because that’s what I’m most known for. I’ve met some amazing people through it, and also the fan base is so supportive. And because the fan base is so supportive and has been so amazing to me for the last 25 years, 23 years, however long it’s been.” I also kind of knew… well, I thought, people will watch this, I think, unless I suck. And I also wanted to try and give back in a minuscule way because professions were being decimated, and people who’d look forward to conventions and appearances the whole year, maybe to meet somebody that they’ve saved their whole lives for, they’re not going to have a chance to do that. And it just seemed like this kind of perfect fit. I was saying in my GateWorld interview: there’s a great expression in Britain called “Charlie Big Bananas,” which is where you’re just like, “yeah, mate, I’m just gonna do it. I’m just gonna be all boulders brass. I’m just gonna write to everybody.” So, I was writing to Richard Dean Anderson. I was like, “I’m gonna write to everybody!” I mean, what’s the worst they can say? “No,” right?

David Read:
Yeah, exactly.

Suanne Braun:
And then, like, one by one, apart from Ric, I’m still working on Ric, but one by one, people were like, yeah, I’ll do it. Yeah, I’m in. And then I was like, “oh shit.”

David Read:
Yeah, now you’re saddled with it.

Suanne Braun:
Now I have to do a good show. Yeah. But I tell you, it was my salvation during certainly the first few months of lockdown because… and this is even before the show was so warmly accepted… it just gave me a sense of purpose, a sense of discipline to get up every day. The more I got into my guests, the more, like all of us, we’re multifaceted human beings, so Stargate was a portion of someone’s life. And then you start to uncover their career, and it’s fascinating. I love that. I absolutely love that. So, I found that immensely rewarding. And then the fact that people just kind of took to it and went, “yeah,” and I really sort of felt people holding me in their hands and nudging me on all the way, you know, really nurturing. It was great.

David Read:
I am a big sci-fi fan, and there are a number of different fandoms out there, some more contentious than others. But for whatever reason, the largest percentage of the Stargate fan base is so well-behaved in all the different forms that you go into. I think part of it is, in my opinion, I think part of it is because they skew a little older than a lot of other sci-fi groups do. Like, the Star Wars crowd, man, it’s a lot of young kids, and I mean, it is adults too, but they get bent out of shape on a lot of things. And there are a lot of Stargate groups that can get a little bit contentious as well, but sooner or later, there’s someone who comes in that slaps them alongside the head and says, “Hey! Get along.” We’re in this situation, especially this year, we’re in this situation together. And to put yourself into a position where you can give something positive out to the community, something that’s not political, like everyone is political now, and everyone has an opinion on the situation that we’re in, obviously, and fair enough, but that’s just pure and positive and reminds us of forms of entertainment that were the most pure and positive, and that’s Stargate.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. And the other thing I felt really strongly about… because initially I hadn’t given it that much thought in terms of like, “it has to be this format…” Obviously, the show grew and developed over the weeks and the months. But a lot of people… I had a few actors initially who were like, “oh, well, if I’m not being paid, I’m not sure I want to do it.” And then a couple of fans were like, “wait, we can’t afford this. How are you doing it? Like, how are we going to pay?” And I was like, “guys, it’s free. I’m not going to ask.” Firstly, I’m sitting in my living room. I’m at home. And it didn’t feel like work. It felt like being able to go: let’s have a chat about this amazing show that clearly, and I’m sure you are discovering in your show… your is weekly as well, right?

David Read:
Yeah.

Suanne Braun:
So, and I know you’ve done lots of stuff before in the the whole kind of fandom, but as I’m sure you’re discovering this is a show… it was a theme that cropped up
multiple times in mine: it has changed people’s lives – both the ones in front of the camera and the ones watching, and the ones writing it, developing it, from props to sets to
costumes – everybody. And I don’t think there are many things you can say that about. You know?

David Read:
It’s a fair point. And the the reverence that the people in front of and behind
the camera place on this franchise… there was a tone that Ric [Dean Anderson] and Michael Greenburg and Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, and then soon after Rob Cooper set.

Suanne Braun:.
Yeah. Absolutely.

David Read:
And it was that; if you’re not having a good time at this, at least trying to have a good time, what are you doing here? We’re all here to create a product that we enjoy and what has… I’m sure you’ve seen this occur… what has happened is that ripple continues to ripple to this
day in the people who are involved in it when they talk about it.

Suanne Braun:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I have to ask you how you got into Stargate. You said you’re a massive sci-fi fan.

David Read:
Yeah, sure. I was 14 [or] 15, and the first episode, “Children of the Gods,” was syndicated on late-night ABC syndicated television on Saturday nights back in 1997, the fall of ‘97. I was a big fan of “Poltergeist: The Legacy” and “The Outer Limits,” both of which were [inaudible] Studios.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, yes!

David Read:
One of them didn’t come on. One did, and then this “Children of the Gods” thing came on. I was like, “I kind of recognize that ring. Oh, this is a TV show… but… OK.” I’d never seen the movie. The two-hour pilot aired that Saturday night, and then the next night, Sunday, NBC had “Stargate” as a movie of the week. So I fell ass-backward into this thing and started watching. A couple of weeks later, I bought a subscription to Showtime, picked up Season Two, and kind of filled in the pieces. And I’ve been watching ever since.

Suanne Braun:
Great. So you haven’t seen season one? Hello?!

David Read:
I did. I watched them concurrently.

David Read:
Eventually.

David Read:
Yeah. I watched that over the course of the fall. Then the DVDs came out, and… I really have watched it since day one of syndication.

Suanne Braun:
That’s so cool.

David Read:
Yeah, it’s one of those things that just sticks to you like glue. It’s a show that, I think in some respects, is more… and it’s going to be reinterpreted across generations, of course… but is more relevant potentially today than it was when it first came out.

Suanne Braun:
Absolutely. And what is amazing is that it seems to be, as you said, cross-generational. I was saying this when Amanda was on the show. I can’t remember if it was the first or the second time, but we were talking about it that… I remember people coming up to me with their kids who were like six and being like, “I’m not allowed to watch your episode yet.” And now, they are coming up to me, and the guy’s like, “Hey, I’m 32, and this is my kid.” What! It’s amazing. The children who were little are now adults and showing their children… and their kid’s kids. It keeps being passed on, and it’s so fantastic.

David Read:
Brad Wright said it’s an evergreen show. It’s a show that continually remains relevant. There are certain things that are dated about it, of course. That’s just… it’s a product of its time, but it’s also a product of timelessness because the subject matter is humanist.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly.

David Read:
It’s not political, it’s not ideological per se; it is about the human condition and it’s asking questions. It’s just saying, “what about this? And we’re not necessarily going to give you an answer.” The worst sci-fi, in my opinion, says, “what about this? And if you don’t think this way, you’re wrong.” I think that’s a terrible message to set. You should A; be entertaining, and then B; make it a product that makes me want to think about it and trust me to come to my own conclusions about it, for better or for worse.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. I think having varying opinions is good. I feel somewhere along the way, especially this year it’s been really highlighted: we seem to have lost the ability to have a debate and to have a discussion. We don’t all have to have the same opinion, we don’t all have to love everything. But respect my opinion if it’s different from yours. I feel people are… this is a touchy thing.

David Read:
Yeah. It’s true.

Suanne Braun:
I noticed something on Twitter the other day, I can’t even remember what the Tweet was, but I tweeted something, and people just went: [barking]. I was like, “all right, all right! God. I was just saying… it was just my opinion/”

David Read:
I do appreciate, for better or for worse, that people are trying to be more informed because of just the nature of the situation we’re in. We’re sitting around a lot more and have more time to be, but we’re also losing the desire to value one another. Suanne, I was at a friend’s house in California for a six-year-old’s birthday, and a political ad came on the screen. The parent said to the six-year-old, “Who’s that?” The little boy said, “That’s that effing bitch.” I didn’t say anything – I was a guest in their house. But when children are taught… and I’m quoting [Captain] Picard from [Star Trek: The Next Generation]: “when are taught to devalue someone, they can devalue anybody, including their parents.” It’s shows like “Stargate” that… I point to where Peter Williams as Apophis is laying on the table dying in “Serpent’s Song”, and he’s saying to O’Neill and everyone else: “you must be enjoying this.” And they don’t say anything because they’re not enjoying it. You’re watching a living thing suffer. And that’s the kind of mindset that I think we all need to keep in mind, especially right now. There’s so much schadenfreude right now. There’s so much bitterness. One of the things that I’m sure is front and center for you, as well as it is with my show, is that “let’s put this aside, at least for ninety minutes, and talk about things that really have always mattered.”

Suanne Braun:
Absolutely. Amen! Couldn’t agree more.

David Read:
The show “Hathor Hosts” is the reason, and I apologize [to the] audience I’m talking a little bit more than normal… this is kind of like host to host here, I feel this is kind of a special show. it is the chief reason why I started “Dial the Gate.” Suanne, you showed me through this that this process – over the internet, [a] limited view into someone else’s world – can still work. It doesn’t have to be person to person. Because we don’t have that as an option right now. So, thank you so much for forcing me to get up off my butt and create my own show, and showing me what you’re doing works. This is fantastic. You are getting ready to launch season two, when?

Suanne Braun:
Well, I’m struggling at the moment. The original plan was to launch now – mid-November. It’s going to be shorter because I think 24 weeks… that’s nearly six months – it’s a long time. I had a couple of people who were still waiting on dates because people are starting to go back to work. That is potentially tricky, as you know, trying to secure guests.

David Read:
It’s the hardest part about this.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. People’s schedules change. You can be filming something and be like, “oh great! I’m free next week. Let’s do it on Tuesday.” Then on the Sunday get an email going, “oh, actually, we need to reshoot these two scenes”… and so you’re in for the whole of the week. So that’s been a bit of a logistical nightmare. I had two people who I was very keen to do it who both have got quite big filming commitments coming up.

David Read:
Good for them. You can’t feel bad for them!

Suanne Braun:
Great! Exactly! So… sort of a long-winded way of answering your question, sorry, but I’m now thinking that I’m going to put the whole thing on hold until March. I’m meant to be filming from the middle of December right through to early February with a week off after Christmas. So,I’d hate to say to somebody; “please put some time aside” and then I can’t be there… as the host. So, I think we’re looking at March. That seems to be when everyone, currently, who is available and tentatively booked is free. Who knows what will happen by March though. A bit of a longer wait.

David Read:
What are you working on?

Suanne Braun:
I’m working on “The Princess Switch 3.” We’re officially a franchise, I think! The second one starts airing next week, I think, the 19th November?

David Read:
Where’s it going to be shown?

Suanne Braun:
Netflix. Christmas movies! What’s really funny about this, for all of us involved, is we finished filming it in January this year. I remember getting back from Scotland and being like, “Woo! 2020 is gonna be my year! It’s a leap year, and I’m a leap year baby. What could go wrong?”

David Read:
Well… let me tell ya!

Suanne Braun:
“How much time have you got?” The last job I did was “The Princess Switch.” We wrapped mid-January, so to be going back now feels very weird. The second film hasn’t even come out yet, and we’re all like, “what are we doing?”

David Read:
Like you’ve skipped a year yourself, or something.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly! But I am thrilled to be working, and it’s such an amazing team of people. It’s the antithesis of “Hathor” – so she’s like motherly, and calm, and quite severe, and quite pretty. So, it’s lovely. I love it. It’s just nice to be working, [do] you know what I mean?

David Read:
That’s fantastic. Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t expect the talent to be working as much as they [are]. LA is still shut down as far as I know. Most of these folks are Canadian, and those productions are in full swing. Amanda Tapping, as far as I know, is busier than she has ever been. We’re trying to get her, and you’ve gotten her twice. Amanda… it’s fantastic. This is a good thing… Amanda and I go back 20 years. I didn’t expect the engine to be moving as much as it is right now.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly.

David Read:
You cannot blame the talent for wanting to get back to that. It’s like, please go, you know, we’ll find some time at some point. You can’t work forever.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, and also I think the thing is that people are now, in terms of COVID, film companies are starting to become much more sussed about how they can work in this very strange new way that we have, but they are figuring it out. So as you said, the engine is… because that same thing, like 90% of the guests are in Canada, and they’re all working, which is great, but it does make doing a show tricky. So I completely understand. But yes, fingers crossed we can do it in March.

David Read:
Absolutely. Anyone, besides Ric [Dean Anderson], that you want to have on that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

Suanne Braun:
Well, I would love to have Michael Shanks. He has been asked sort of three times, and we did have a discussion early on. At the time, he said to me – this was very early – so the first people I asked were Michael, Chris Judge, Peter Williams, like my buddies, you know, the people that I and Amanda… obviously, the people I knew I could reach out to, and that I have a really good relationship with, and that I know well. So, like Peter Kelamis, I knew I would feel… I felt safe asking them. Oh, he’s amazing. And Michael, at the time, said to me… because I would love to have done him and Alexa [Doig] together, and they were just like, “we’re homeschooling,” it was kind of early April, and everyone I think was just a bit like, “what’s happening? Are we gonna die?”

David Read:
Possibly, you know. It was a scary year.

Suanne Braun:
It really has [been]. I’ve had a few fans get a bit like, “you need to ask this person and you need to ask that person.” And what I think people have to understand is that not everyone responds in the same way to a stressful situation. Some people are like, “hey, yeah, I’m sitting at home, I’ve got nothing else to do, I’d love to chat with you.” Other people are a bit like, “the thought of doing this right now is terrifying because I have to be open and chat, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that because everything is making me feel like I want to curl up in a ball and cry.” You know what I mean? So there are those extremes. But I do think it would be lovely to have them on, and I hope that we can do that in Season Two. Chris [Judge] is definitely somebody. He and I have been trying to get a date together to make it work, but he’s definitely on the list. And then there were a few people that we had to either reschedule or think so I’d definitely love to have Corin Nemec on.

David Read:
Garrett Wang of Voyager fame.

Suanne Braun:
Yes. Exactly! Brilliant Garrett Wang!

David Read:
What a good guy. I’ve never met him, but I’ve always wanted [to]. He’s a good guy.

Suanne Braun:
He is such a lovely guy, and he’s definitely, definitely on, and also Rainbow [Sun Francks], who I know is on later today with you. So Garrett and Rainbow were kind of all set to go, and then things changed, and that’s how I just said to them: “please. Definitely. You’re in it for Season Two.” So, whenever that may be.

David Read:
Have you been surprised at any of the answers that you’ve gotten back from your long-form discussion of Q&A? I had Colin Cunningham on, was it last week?

Suanne Braun:
I love Colin!

David Read:
And he told us… it was just the nature of the conversation… a story that he has never told publicly before at all. It was just like in the spur of the moment, you know, the topic he felt was relevant, and I just assumed that there’s someone out there who needed to hear that. Has there been any conversation that you’ve had where you’ve stepped back and gone… because the intent with all of them is to be like, “wow, I understand this person a lot more than I thought I would and I get this person,” but have any of them been like, I did not expect that?

Suanne Braun:
Yes, David Hewlett. I don’t really know him well. We’ve met a few times at conventions. I had met Kate [Hewlett] last year at Cal Mah and I adored her. Instantly just went, “I love her!” So she’s somebody actually I would love to revisit because I feel my first interview… the whole first interview almost didn’t happen because she got the time zone wrong because I think I’d put 4 PM for her, and it was 9 PM for me, and she read… it’s my fault – I sent the email with my time first. After that, I was like, “from now on, only give the guests their time. They don’t need to know what time it is in your country. It’s not relevant.” So each show, as I’m sure you’re finding too, you learn things. You’re like, “right, note to self, don’t do that again.”

David Read:
Exactly!

Suanne Braun:
Never talk about that again! But yeah, I knew David; we’d met a few times, but I didn’t really “know him” know him, and I didn’t know that much about Atlantis either. That was really interesting, that whole journey. I just found him… I was just completely captivated. I could have talked to him for five hours. He’s so interesting, he’s so genuine, he’s so funny, but he’s also really deep, and bright, and really involved in working with kids, and kids who struggle to learn in a way that everyone else finds normal and acceptable. I just love that. And then he was unbelievably honest, which I didn’t particularly expect, about his…

David Read:
I saw. Yeah. About cast relationships. Those are things you don’t normally share, but at a certain point, some people are just like, “you know what,” especially if they have a frustration in their own lives, sometimes that’s also a potential way to solve it – to air some of these issues a little more publicly.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. It was a really genuine… and his directing experience, with the first film he did, “A Dog’s Breakfast,” was fantastic. He loved that, and then “Debug,” which was meant to be this amazing experience, and ended up being such a trauma for him. I found that really fascinating. I sent him a long letter afterwards saying: “I was so moved by how truthful you were.” because I really respect and I love that. He didn’t say anything untoward or anything like that…

David Read:
He was just honest.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, and I think we’re so used to celebrities or people in interviews going, “Oh my God, it was amazing, everything was amazing, I’m so happy, I love everything and everybody. Like, it’s all awesome! Life is so amazing, it’s just… yeah, it’s great!”

David Read:
It isn’t always.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly!

David Read:
If anyone’s going to give it to you, it’s Hewlett. He’s genuine, but he’s also thoughtful in ways you wouldn’t expect. That person could be no more less like the character [Rodney McKay], at least the way the character began.

Suanne Braun:
Yes. Virtually every single one of them, I came away… I wouldn’t always watch the interviews immediately; I would give it a couple of months because I mainly hate watching myself. But when I would revisit it or go back, primarily for technical things and trying to see what worked and what didn’t, I was constantly surprised by their answers and by people’s careers – how amazing! Sometimes I would finish a show and be like, “I have no career, I’m such a failure,” because they’d all done so brilliantly in the interim, and I’m like, “I’m still in the same place in my career.” But, you know, it’s all good and really, really fascinating to learn more about all of them.

David Read:
Well, congratulations again on the show. YouTube… it is available at Hathor Hosts TV. Like and subscribe.

Suanne Braun:
Yes, please. I gotta catch you up!

David Read:
Well, I had the benefit of GateWorld at my back. GateWorld promotes it, so …

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. That does help.

David Read:
That does help a little bit. So, we will grow together. Absolutely.

Suanne Braun:
I like that.

Suanne Braun:
Does Stargate’s lasting… we touched on this a little bit… does Stargate’s lasting popularity ever surprise you? Being invited back to conventions year after year for a character that was in three episodes, you know…

Suanne Braun:
One, really.

David Read:
Well, yeah.

Suanne Braun:
I’m in the others, but it’s really…

David Read:
There’s something that just stuck in the craw with a lot of these people. It’s like, “you know what, we love her, let’s bring her in.” Does that ever just… “it’s the gift that keeps on giving,” as a lot of the actors continually say. Is it something that ever stops blowing you away?

Suanne Braun:
Never, and it constantly surprises me. Constantly. Because I feel like, also particularly with my career, I’ve had a career that’s had, kind of, three different incarnations. I started in South Africa as a television host, then I went to America and lived in Hollywood, and a lot of American friends and actors didn’t know anything about my life in South Africa. Then I came here [England, UK], and a lot of my English actor friends and friends here didn’t know anything about my life in L.A. My husband and I own a bakery together in London, a kind of [inaudible] bakery, and every now and then some of our staff are like, “Oh my God, like you’re properly famous for Stargate,” it blows their minds.

David Read:
It’s big in Europe.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. They’re just like, “But you’re the boss’s wife and, like, the chef sometimes… what?” They can’t get their heads around it. I totally understand that because every time I’m invited to a convention or something, I just go, “wow!” This year, I think Hathor Hosts has been really interesting too. Because what it has also done is it’s really renewed people’s interest in the character of Hathor and I think of me as a performer, so it’s been a double gift that’s given back to me as well as a performer. But yeah, I’m constantly amazed and ever, ever grateful, you know, I really am. I’m like, I can’t… Hathor has been so, so, so good to me.

David Read:
I want to step back a little bit. You’re from South Africa. I’ve visited both [Johannesburg] and Cape Town.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, lovely.

David Read:
I love the country, at least the tourism aspects of it. We were treated very well. We spent a month there. Tell us a little bit about growing up in South Africa and discovering your passion. And who are your heroes? Who are the people who made Suanne the person she is today? I know that’s a loaded [question]. Let’s dismantle that piece by piece if you don’t mind.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, so growing up in South Africa… I mean it’s a hard question to answer. It’s a bit like when people say to me, “what was your time like in LA?” It’s a very tough question to answer in an easy kind of soundbite. South Africa… my childhood was fantastic. I was utterly unaware as a child… I was sort of vaguely aware of the kind of political atrocities that were happening in my country, which of course sounds naive now, but it is the truth. My parents were liberal, but I don’t think screamingly liberal, and I grew up in apartheid South Africa. My own upbringing was not massively affected by it until I went to university. And it was when I went to university that I kind of went, “hang on a minute, this is, something’s not right here, this can’t be right.” Obviously, then you start reading about South Africa’s position in the world and blah, blah, blah. But I grew up largely as an only child. I have two half-brothers who are quite a lot older than I am, so they didn’t grow up with me. But I had a great upbringing, I went to good schools. My parents always exposed us to theater and film. South Africa didn’t even get television until like 1976 or something, so we would sit as a family and listen to radio shows and things like that. I don’t know exactly where the passion came from, but I have three or four very vivid memories from when I was very young. One of them… this one I don’t remember, but my mom tells the story that; when I was a toddler, so [when] I couldn’t quite speak fluently yet, but I was making sounds and I could definitely move. My family were on holiday somewhere at the seaside, and my mum had dozed off. I don’t know where my dad was in all of this, but my mum had dozed off on the beach and woke up to find I was not there. Looked down along the waterfront and there were all these people crowded around. And, of course, she thought, “oh my god! Oh my god! My child has drowned, she’s dead!” [She] went rushing down to the front of the water, burst through all these people, and there I was sitting holding court in my little frilly bikini – all of two [years old] – playing a game where I was all the characters. Apparently, I was standing going [toddler chatter noises], whatever, I don’t know… but this totally amused people. She said she watched as people were completely engaged in that. I don’t remember that, but the one I do remember, I must have been about seven. I was in a school play, and the girl they’d cast in one of the lead roles, I think she probably got stage fright, didn’t want to do it. Instead of auditioning, like you would, they basically went, “we need someone the same height,” and I was in the back row. I remember standing on my tippy toes, and they went, “uh… you, you, Suanne…” Then they pulled us out and went, ”right, now try and do something.” I mimicked the teacher. But, of course, I didn’t know I knew I was mimicking her, and everybody laughed. I remember thinking, “I like that! Oh, that’s powerful!”

David Read:
Dopamine.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. Then when I was about 13, in my first year in high school, there was a girl who hated me – hated me – and was vile to me, absolutely vile as only girls can be. I took it for about three months. Then we were on a school bus going somewhere on some school expedition. I was in the back, and she was being absolutely hideous and making fun of me and throwing things at me. Again, I got up and I mimicked her, because she had a slightly annoying voice. I mimicked her and was horrible back, but it shut her up and made everybody laugh at her. Suddenly, people were like, “oh.” I’ve always had [an] imagination, we would play games as kids, far-off lands and things like that. That sort of passion… I remember going to see “The Sound of Music” as a little girl. At [the] interval, I didn’t even know what it was, but I said to her, “what are they doing?” She said, “what do you mean?” I said, “well, those children, they’re not really the children of Captain Von Trapp, are they?” She said, “no, they’re acting.” I went, “that’s what I’m going to do when I grow up!” I must have been five. I remember that so clearly. I was like, “that’s what I’m going to do!” and it never changed. Here we are 150 years later, still doing…

David Read:
Come on!

Suanne Braun:
As for my heroes, gosh, this is, you know, I have different people in my life who’ve really influenced me. My family, I know that sounds cheesy but it’s the truth, because they are the people who – through thick and thin… my parents, and then later years when I was in America, my brothers. My one brother now still lives in America. Just to have those support systems and people who pick you up when the going is tough as well, because it’s easy for people to love you when it’s all good and you’re on top. It’s when it’s really tough and you’re at the bottom of the pile, to have your family support, that’s so important. So, my family… who I’ve not seen for a year now! Soon, hopefully.

David Read:
It’s been hard, you know, my parents have are getting up there in years too and when we see each other… I’ve gone to see them a couple of times, but it’s always, like… the precautions that you have to go through, the hoops that you have to jump through, it’s got to be done right now. Any teachers, any instructors that helped put you in a more specific direction in your journey to act?

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, I had a teacher in high school who, funnily enough, was not a drama teacher, she was a history teacher. But I will never forget this because I went to a convent and most of the teachers were Irish nuns, and their teaching style was like this: “Good morning girls, today we’re going to be learning about the First World War which was not the most successful time in history, so just open your books on page 37.” You know, the most bone crushingly boring teachers. In high school… so first year of high school, 13, in South Africa, I was kind of new. My only mate who’d come up from primary school to high school with me, we’d been separated, so she was in another class. This is like week two and you’re still finding your way around the building and stuff. All of a sudden, the classroom door swung open and this briefcase just slid across the floor. In walked this woman in a cape. I mean, I was like, “she had me at the cape.” Cape swooshed around her and she walked up to the board and wrote her name on the board, which was Mrs. Slotnick. She turned around and went, “Right girls, my name is Mrs. Slotnick. We’re here to discuss history. I will not tolerate any bad behavior in my classroom, but we will discover history together!” I was like, “I love her.” Years later, I was on an airplane flying somewhere… at that stage, I was quite successful in South Africa, so I was quite well-known. I was coming back to my seat and did a double take. There was this woman, older but undoubtedly Mrs. Slotnick.

David Read:
Oh my god!

Suanne Braun:
Yeah! I said, “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Slotnick?” and she looked at me. I went, “I’m so sorry, it’s Suanne, you used to teach me at Rosebank Convent.” She said, “oh, for heaven’s sake, please call me Sandra. How lovely, thank you.” But she was exactly the same. She was a massive… I just loved her class because she made me realize you can get people to listen to you when you engage them. She was very dramatic but she was also fascinating. She made history come alive. For two years, I was like, “ah! it was never that interesting before.” She made it come alive to such a degree that I took it as a final year high school subject, only to discover after two years, she only teaches the first two years in that school. So, at 15, walked into the classroom to a teacher going, “Good morning ladies, my name is Mrs. Dube, we’re going to be doing history.” It was back to that.

David Read:
So much of it, about the people who change us, a lot of it is what they have to say, but also a lot of it is how they choose to say it to us and how they engage us specifically.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly.

David Read:
Have you seen Mr. Holland’s Opus?

Suanne Braun: Oh yes! I love that movie!

David Read:
So you know what I’m talking about.

Suanne Braun:e
Yeah, really.

David Read:
It’s one of my favorite films, and I think it’s… there are a few… and I’ve said this on the show before; there are few jobs more important than teaching. Our parents are our greatest teachers of all. That’s why some of us are messed up more than others, including myself, but it starts there.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, absolutely.

David Read:
Season One. “Hathor.” Original airdate: October 24th, 1997. Way back! The show hadn’t even started… the show had only just begun in Season One. Had the show even started filming and been in production when you auditioned, or how early on was this? Tell us what that atmosphere was like for a brand new show.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, it must have been… well, I auditioned in LA because, obviously, I was living there, and it was still the days of good old-fashioned VHS videotapes. So you would go in and be put on tape, and then the tape would get sent to Ric [Dean Anderson] and the producers. But… it must have started airing already because I think I was… it was a guest-starring role. I just remember… I told the story before, so apologies if you’ve heard it before, but I had broken my… I auditioned in July or August; it was very hot, and I had broken my toe, so I couldn’t wear closed shoes. Stupid – I literally slipped on a carpet and my foot went boink into [the wall]. My toes split into the [corner of the] wall. So, I had broken… or I think I broke my toe – who knows? It was really sore [and] I couldn’t wear closed shoes. It had swollen up quite badly. So I was like, “I’m going to have to wear flip-flops,” and flip-flops sort of reduces what you can wear with [them]. Like, you can’t go in a power suit and flip-flops. They had been quite vague about the [dress]; they didn’t really say anything, and you only get sides as an actor. For anyone watching who doesn’t know what sides are, it’s a portion of the script, and very often they change… especially nowadays. If you’re auditioning for a massive franchise like “Stargate,” “Star Wars,” or anything like that, they change the names or they put your name, they brandish your name across the sides so that if there is a leak on the internet, they just have to go “Hm! … Suanne!” But in those days, everyone was a little more “Harry Casual” about everything, I think. So I remember getting the sides and thinking, “why does she…” because there was no indication that she was royal or a goddess, and the audition scene was the first scene where the men come to her and she talks like she’s asking, “Where’s Ra?”

David Read:
Oh, when she wakes up?

Suanne Braun:
No.

David Read:
She’s already at the base.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, and just before she says to lovely Don S. Davis, “You with a crown of marble,” and stuff. I remember thinking,” that’s a cool line,” and there was something about the way it was structured and written that it felt quite formal. The only people I knew who used “we” are royalty, so I was like, “oh, maybe she’s a queen.” I was like, “well, I’m just going to play it like that.” However, I had trousers on, slacks, pants, and flip-flops and a nice top. When I got there, everyone was in sexy, tight dresses, and I remember thinking, “oh God, I have misjudged this one terribly.” Then I went in, and again they were like, “this is a new sci-fi show…” and all I was told was that Richard Dean Anderson was the lead. They didn’t say anything about who the scene would be with, and he was like, “OK, go.” He said to me, “Oh, can you do it in an American accent?” I said, “Yes, sure,” because the casting director I’d read for on numerous occasions, and I knew that I worked in both. Then he was like, “Great, thanks very much, that’s all we need.” Then he said: “is there was anything you’d like to ask?” and I said, “Well, yeah, I’m just curious – is she a queen or royalty or is she mad?” He’s like, “If you were to play her mad, she’s not mad, but they all think she’s mad.” I asked that in my own accent, and he said, “Actually, let’s do another one but use your own accent and really play up the regal thing, and that you know they think you’re mad but you’re not.” So I was like, “OK,” and all I remember is; I sat back in my chair and was very much like, “You [snaps fingers] come. Come to me,” you know, like that. And, yeah, it obviously worked. So that was that.

David Read:
Absolutely. And then you get the script. Did you do any research on Hathor?

Suanne Braun:
I’m ashamed to say very little. I’m much better at research now. Of course, it’s much more helpful now with the internet now [inaudible]

David Read:
Right. Exactly. Wikipedia.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. I knew she was Egyptian, and I knew that she was… because, of course, in Egyptian mythology she is different to Stargate. In Egyptian mythology, she’s much more benevolent and kind, and her earthly form is a cow – which I’ve never gotten over, ever. It’s like, really? She couldn’t be a cat or a tiger? She’s a cow. And she is often depicted as a cow. I was like, “excellent!”

David Read:
A symbol of nourishment.

Suanne Braun:
Yes, yes. Alright. Let’s go with that.

David Read:
Come on. Think of the best aspects of it.

Suanne Braun:
I like to think I was cast for my goddess qualities, not my bovine qualities. I mean, I’m hoping!

David Read:
That’s terrific!

Suanne Braun:
But yeah, so I [did] minimal research, and then I was like, “do I have to sound Egyptian?” And, of course, when they gave me all the Goa’uld dialogue, I was like, “how, what, how does… what now?” And they didn’t really say to me that my voice would be altered. That was a bit of a shock when I saw the finished product. I knew it would be altered to a degree, but I was like, “I sound like a man.”

David Read:
So you’d not seen the film?

Suanne Braun:
I had seen the film, but I don’t remember that in the film, or maybe I saw the film afterwards. I don’t remember.

David Read:
OK.

Suanne Braun:
But yeah, so I get there, and the only other thing I remember from my first day there… I had met Mike Greenburg because he’s married to a South African girl, Nikki [Smook].

David Read:
Yes.

Suanne Braun:
I can’t remember how or whatever, and how it came up, but he was like, “Oh, my wife’s South African, and she knows who you are.” I was like, “Oh, right.” He’s like, “Yeah, she remembers you from South African television, yada yada.” I was like, “Oh great.” Then Nikki turns around and says to me, or maybe it was Mike, I can’t even remember who, but basically it transpired that Sharon Stone – the Sharon Stone – was meant to play Hathor. If you guys cast your minds back, there was a little film called “Basic Instinct,” which did quite well at the box office. So she was apparently all set to do Stargate, and then her agents were kind of hedging their bets, as they do, because in those days, film stars didn’t do television, dear. But she obviously wanted to work, and again…

David Read:
I never knew that.

Suanne Braun:
Yep. Sharon Stone was going to do it, and then she got offered “Basic Instinct” and did “Basic Instinct” instead. That, obviously, became a massive hit, so they were like, “right, we have to recast.” I remember very vividly them saying to me, “She’s meant to be the most beautiful woman in the universe and everything,” and I was like, “OK, great. OK…” Then, on my first day, they couldn’t decide if they wanted to use my hair or a wig. They wanted it very straight, and obviously, mine is not. I was sort of half in makeup; I had one eyeball painted and the other’s not. They were playing around with the design, and I had a head full of curlers and had just taken a bite out of a bagel when Ric [Dean Anderson] bounded up to me and said, “Hey, I’m Ric.” I was like, “[mouth full of food] hello.” Oh no! So not glamorous. And I could sort of see them thinking, “Have we made a terrible mistake?” I remember saying to the makeup artist, “Just please make me look amazing,” because the first scene I actually shot was the scene where she comes down into the war room down that spiral staircase, which I just remember thinking, “Please don’t let me fall, please don’t let me fall” because they didn’t want me looking down; they wanted it to look like she was gliding.

David Read:
Gliding down: “we thank you for allowing us into your court.”

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. They didn’t want me holding onto the sides. The dress was really long, and oh my god, I’m not good with props and things like that. I’m quite good when I just have to sit.

David Read:
I think you’re the only person who’s ever used those stairs, but continue.

Suanne Braun:
Oh really?

David Read:
Pretty sure.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, wow!

David Read:
Someone will correct me, but no one goes up there, ever. It’s the top of the set.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly, and they were really narrow stairs, and it was a really steep spiral. I just remember thinking, “Please, god, don’t fall down these stairs, Suanne, because that will just be… you’ll be fired before you’ve even uttered a word.” But yeah, so those are some funny memories that I have.

David Read:
Not to skip ahead a little, but to skip ahead for a minute: you exit through the Stargate at the end of that episode. Was there any murmur on the set that, you know what, we’ll see in the future – you’re out there somewhere – or was it; it could go either way?

Suanne Braun:
No, I remember at the time they were quite tweezer-lipped about it, but we all went out for drinks afterwards, and people were like, “Yeah, the character’s testing really well.” And then the first season happened, and I never heard anything more. Then out of the blue, I got a call saying, “Look, we’ve had this idea, we’re going to bring her back.” And initially, and to this day, I mean, maybe you know because you’ve had so many chats with the powers that be, but I was told that there was a concept that… and they even referenced it, because funny enough, I rewatched it yesterday for the first time in probably 20 years, which was very odd, actually.

David Read:
Well, thank you.

Suanne Braun:
Well, I just thought, just in case you asked me something, and I’m like, “I don’t know.” I have to do my research, you know. And it was really odd. In some ways awful, in many ways really good. But there’s a line in the script which I’d completely forgotten about where Daniel [Jackson] says to her, “Oh, so you’re like the queen bee.” And I remember them saying to me, “We have this idea where we want to have a scene where she has multiple Hathors.” So, a bit like Ba’al and all his clones. Hello! Stole my idea! So, I think there was definitely talk of having her be a recurring character, and then just like that.

David Read:
Frozen.

Suanne Braun:
And then subsequently, you know, yeah, and never to be seen again, which I’m devastated about.

David Read:
Yeah, we never technically see her. I mean, we see her go into the liquid nitrogen, whatever, something similar…

Suanne Braun:
Whatever it is. Yeah. But you don’t see her die, interestingly. So, I mean, if they ever wanted to bring her back, if the show ever came back, you know, I could, we could go back in time, and I could be her mother’s mother, maybe.

David Read:
The whole Goa’uld family tree is just a whole bunch of incest anyway. So…

Suanne Braun:
Exactly, exactly, exactly.

David Read:
What was it like working with the great Don S. Davis, with Richard Dean [Anderson], with Amanda [Tapping], Michael [Shanks], Chris [Judge] in that first episode?

Suanne Braun:
Oh! Do you know, and I’m sure this sounds like people making it up or whatever, but honestly, what a dream team. I remember Amanda bounding up to me on the first day on set going, “Hey, I’m Amanda, welcome.” Teryl [Rothery] was fantastic because Teryl was on the week that I was there. She was on set quite a lot, obviously, in that episode. And then Don was just one of those men where you didn’t feel like you were on set with a colleague; it was on set with a friend. And there are a few things that I sort of remember so vividly and that I’ve taken with me all my life from Stargate. One was that everyone, like from number one on the call sheet right the way through, and the creative team as well, were so welcoming. Everybody had this kind of, like, they joked around a lot, but when we were working, we were working. People weren’t taking the piss and coming in late just because they were a big star. None of that, which you see unfortunately a lot on sets. Everyone was really working their butts off to make the best show possible. And I feel kind of lucky that I arrived at sort of Episode Fourteen because they’d had a while to get into the groove of their characters a little bit, and obviously that just got better and better and better and better. And I think you can sort of see it even when I reappear. In fact, I felt I was more confident. Everything felt a little more like, you know, a bit like when you see a sequel in a movie, and they’re like, “Oh, they got a bigger budget.”
David Read:
Yeah, no, it was a season finale and a season premiere, at that.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. So I have just only happy memories. They were absolutely brilliant. I’m a big prankster on set, and so I like anyone… I love that. I love it if you can work with people who can make you laugh because then it really doesn’t feel like work, you know. And then also, she was such a brilliant character to play because she’s so, I mean, she’s so the opposite of me in many ways – and that’s exactly what being an actor is all about. You know, I don’t want to play what I’m really like. I want to play things that stretch me and make me… that are different to Suanne. And I loved working with them all, and they’re all so different. Everyone had a slightly different thing that they brought to that set and different energy, but somehow collectively, but really it was like stardust. And I remember when I chatted to Joe Mallozzi on the show, who unfortunately I didn’t get to work with because he was after me, after my time on the show, but we were talking about this thing, and I said, “you know, chemistry is such a hard thing to try and define, and you just never know when it is going to work and when it isn’t.” And with actually all three Stargates, I think with SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe, they absolutely nailed the chemistry of those lead actors. And then that sort of sets the tone, I think, for your guest actors to come in, and the guest stars feed off of that energy. So I loved it. I mean, my sort of biggest regret now is that there’s lots of stuff I don’t remember in detail because at the time, you don’t think it’s going to come back 25 years later and that we’ll still be having a chat about it. So I wish I’d kept diaries or taken more photographs. You know, my mom has always been a fastidious photographer of my career and things, but of course, she was in another part of the world, and it wasn’t like today with everyone taking selfies and filming stuff on and behind the scenes and Instagram. There was none of that. So you would have like a little Polaroid and stick that in a scrapbook. And I’ve got kind of one picture that my mom, that I took somewhere, somebody took of me kind of in costume, and it was, I think, a continuity picture with the nails and everything. And I can see I’m all like… I look so young in it too. I was like, “Oh my God, I look like this little girl.” But yeah, it was an incredible experience working with them. Sorry, I’m waffling on.

David Read:
No, you’re fine. I want to get to some fan questions in just a moment here. You’re saying your show comes back in March, potentially?

Suanne Braun:
Yes, potentially.

David Read:
OK. I want to have you back a little bit just before it to preempt Season Two and talk in more specifics about the episodes that you were involved in, if you’re willing.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, sure!

David Read:
But before I get to the fan questions, who do you have standing next to you over there on the mantel?

Suanne Braun:
Well, let me introduce you. This is me. [presents Hathor figurine]

David Read:
Is this a fan creation?

Suanne Braun:
This is a brilliant guy called Daniel. You’re not gonna believe this, his actual name is Daniel Jackson, and he runs a company called Level 28 Toys, and he made this for me. I’m going to try and get her…

David Read:
Wow, look at that detail!

Suanne Braun:
Look at the detail; the hand device, the dress, the face. I don’t know if I can bring her. She’s even got green eyes like me.

David Read:
Oh my gosh.

Suanne Braun:
I’ll take some pictures and send them to you because this is not working.

David Read:
Yes, please.

Suanne Braun:
But yeah, it’s me. Isn’t she spectacular?

David Read:
That is so cool.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, she’s amazing, and her hands move, like everything moves.

David Read:
Oh, she’s opposable. You have an opposable self. That’s a little um…

Suanne Braun:
That’s right. Look… oh my God, I’ve just realized her wrists move as well! “Hello, everybody.” She doesn’t talk like that. I don’t know why I’m just making her talk like that.

David Read:
Oh God, that’s great.

David Read:
How was the costume?

Suanne Braun:
Ugh!

David Read:
You did have a couple, but that first… that initial costume.

Suanne Braun:
This costume, let me tell you, I don’t know what it is about me in terms of acting… as an actress. I think there’s something… you know when they always talk about people are… you draw the thing you fear most towards you? I seem to have that with costumes. I have costumes that are the most uncomfortable, the most tricky. I mean, it was incredibly difficult to wear this because this part, it’s so good that we’ve got it [statuette] for show and tell. So this part here, they made out of metal. The straps, these straps here, I just poked her in the booth. Whoops! Sorry… harassment! So they would chafe into me because it was metal. And then after the first day, I had these deep grooves of metal cuts virtually into my neck, and they kind of went, “Oh no, we can’t have that.” So they then kind of cushioned them, but they could only do the back because the front, you could see the cushioning. So I literally would have to move it and then set it before a scene and try not to move. And then the bodice was so tight that I couldn’t sit on set. So, they had a board for me, and I would be lent up against the board like this. And then they’d prop me back up, literally. They would wheel me on this board, and then “whoops,” propped me back up. I mean, crazy, crazy, crazy tight. Going to the loo was a no-no, so it was a nightmare because I’d get back to the hotel in the evening and be completely dehydrated because I would have not drunk any water.

David Read:
Wow!

Suanne Braun:
The costume was a challenge, but as you and I were chatting before the show, when I saw the sketches for what I could have been wearing, I was like, “oh, I love a costume. I love it, I love it!”

David Read:
Are you ready for this one? [question] Go ahead.

Suanne Braun:
Oh my god. Literally, the one sketch I saw looked like a coat hanger. It looked like a coat, a metal coat hanger that had been twisted over her boobs and then sort of nothing in the front. I was like, “um, OK.” And then also the thing that went underneath… and I had to wear that thing with the light on that gives the Goa’uld babies?

David Read:
Yes. On your stomach.

Suanne Braun:
I had to wear that under this. Yes, and that was really uncomfortable because of course it wasn’t light. And then the hand device was really tricky as well because it was actually heavy and metal, and each finger had to be put on individually. So I couldn’t really do anything once it was on. Obviously, I also had the other hand… but it was a very prohibitive costume, let’s put it that way. But it looked fab, so hey, who cares?

David Read:
So you’ve seen the concept art of the back of Hathor coming out. Do you have that image on your phone still to show that to fans?

Suanne Braun:
Yes. Bear with me, bear with me. Yes, here we go. If we can see, let’s get the lights.

David Read:
So that’s one of the originals there.

Suanne Braun:
She’s naked. She’s naked, everybody.

David Read:
She is. Well, if you think that that’s naked, wait until you see this.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, I’m not sure… Oh! Hello! Yes, that is quite, quite naked.

David Read:
Yes! So, the concept art… um… it was show time!

Suanne Braun:
Here I am! Yes, that’s right, get the twins out!

David Read:
Oh my god. So, I guess, costume or no costume?

Suanne Braun:
Maybe when the show comes back.

David Read:
Hey, you never know. Teresa McAllister wants to know; Suanne, do you follow a fitness program? I mean, it’s either that or you’ve got your own sarcophagus.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, that’s very sweet. No, in fact, fitness is an ongoing challenging aspect of my life and my career because I like to eat. I’m an eater.

David Read:
A foodie.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, I’m a foodie, big time. Although I must say, in the last sort of year or so, I’ve had to really just go, “no. I’ve got to be better.” But fitness bores the hell out of me. Standing in a gym and running on a treadmill going nowhere or a bicycle, I can’t get into that. I do love dancing, I absolutely love, love, love dancing. Funny enough, during lockdown, on the days when I’ve felt really blue, I’ve literally got up and danced around the kitchen. Danced for like… I’ll pick a really long track, then put my headphones in and dance. It’s amazing. Five minutes or three minutes, and you kind of go, “I’m out of breath, and I feel a bit better.” And then I’m all right because I can go and do a walk or do stuff.

David Read:
You release endorphins.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly.

David Read:
And it doesn’t take much to do it, and it’s something we all forget about.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, exactly. And then everything else is good lighting, although this isn’t great lighting at the moment, but never mind.

David Read:
It’s a custom-made home set.

Suanne Braun:
I tell you what, David, I bet you’re learning about this too with doing the show, I was learning about lighting.

David Read:
I’ve got a window… oh my god, I’ve not decorated very well… but this, yes, so I’ve got a huge light here, [that] is my key, and it’s so wonderful to have because all I do is just adjust the blinds for the next guest because the sun has gone a little bit. But when it goes, it goes. So I have a light that’s on the floor behind me that I turn on when it gets really dark. Yeah, I mean, it’s what, 10 o’clock, 10:30 there? So, what are you going to do? You got to make it work.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah. Exactly. This changed my life, this little light, which I haven’t needed tonight, but it’s amazing, I got it on Amazon, it’s really lightweight.

David Read:
It’s like a little USB light, or… what is it?

Suanne Braun:
No, it’s not USB. But check this out, it’s amazing how bright… it’s got a little filter on it.

David Read:
OK.

Suanne Braun:
It’s very bright.

David Read:
So it’s like a fill. OK.

Suanne Braun:
So you can have, obviously…

David Read:
Whoa! We’re telling ghost stories.

Suanne Braun:
But, yeah, so thank you for that lovely comment. Lots of water, that is my key. That is the one good thing I’ve always done, is I drink lots of water.

David Read:
Good for you. Claire Cowan; how weird is it… these are a little far afield, some of them, so… how weird is it being born on February 29th? I guess not weird for you, being a leap year baby. I know a few of them.

Suanne Braun:
Do you?

David Read:
Yeah, I know like two or three. So, you’re technically what, eight years old?

Suanne Braun:
You are kind. I’m in double digits now, which is not so much fun. It was really nice when I was like, “oh, I’m seven or eight.” The minute I hit 10, I was like, “I don’t like this anymore.” It’s kind of weird, although it’s also really nice because I only get a birthday once every four years, but then everybody makes a really big fuss. And then when I lived in the States, they tend to celebrate on the first of March. My family always celebrated on the 28th for some weird reason. So in my ten years of living in LA, I would have a two-day birthday for three years in a row because my parents and everyone would make a fuss on the 28th in the Southern Hemisphere, and then everyone in America would be like, “woohoo, happy birthday, Suanne!” I was like, “yeah, that’s great!”

David Read:
LabanTek [asks]: Suanne, have you ever had any awkward moments in terms of humor on set, being South African-British versus dealing often with American-Canadian cast? You said “tweezer” something, like tight-lipped? Little things like that.

Suanne Braun:
Not so much, me personally, but I know lots of people who’ve got into trouble with various colloquialisms and slang from different countries. I remember; when I lived in LA, my roommate, he was American but was dating an Italian South African, and she went to South Africa. Now in South Africa, a “fanny,” as in England, is not your ass, it’s the other side. She was sitting at this very religious Italian family’s dinner, and the grandmother was like, [Italian accent] “so Jennifer, welcome to South Africa. You had a nice trip?” She’s like, [American accent] “yeah, except somebody stole my fanny pack!” Everyone dropped their knives and forks, and she was like, “yeah, I was so pissed because I love my fanny pack!”… “What did she say?” So every now and then, things like that [happen]. Also, actually, when I lived in America, when I was in L.A. I was on the set… I think it might have been “Just Shoot Me,” the sitcom, and we were filming in a set that was an office. They had a whole lot of desk papers, a stapler, desk paraphernalia, and I was like, “oh, can somebody pass me that rubber? I really love rubbers.” The whole crew was like, “what?” I was like, “the rub… [American accent] the eraser, the eraser, not the rubber.” Not the condom!

David Read:
Oh my god!

Suanne Braun:
So there are a couple of things like that that can always be a bit, you know, tricky.

David Read:
Those things are just going to happen every now and then. Sommer – one of my moderators, actually – [asks]: despite you as Hathor having a great character and an iconic episode containing some of the best lines, there are canon issues – I don’t know if you know this – with the queen as she was designed for you and then came later. Have you seen what the Goa’uld queen actually looks like in canon now?

Suanne Braun:
No.

David Read:
So you don’t know what she looks like? You’re going to be probably repulsed.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, OK. Well, it’s sort of a step up from a cow.

David Read:
So that whole sack is the birthing sack.

Suanne Braun:
Wow. Well, yes, that is quite a different look, isn’t it? But I think I could rock that. That looks like a costume I would probably wear, actually. “Hey, Suanne, could you work this?” … “Yeah, sure!” [squirms]

David Read:
Well, that’s her symbiote form. So, yeah, it’s crazy.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, wow! Cool!

David Read:
I’ll send you a more detailed shot of it later so you can have a look… at all of this stuff.

Suanne Braun:
OK. Cool.

David Read:
GateGab [asks]; is there any part or character you have always wanted to play?

Suanne Braun:
I get asked this quite a lot. There isn’t anything specific in terms of… I mean, I have theater roles that I’d quite like to play. But in terms of film work, I think the thing I would really, really, really love to do next is have a recurring role in a series where I was able to build a character from scratch. I’ve been working quite a lot with a writer friend of mine, a screenwriter friend of mine, and it’s fascinating to me. He’ll write something, and we’ll have a discussion – he also writes for one of the biggest series here – sometimes he’ll tell me about an idea for something they’re developing. Obviously, he can’t give away any spoilers. but I’m always amazed at how something can start in one way and then an actor can take it and it becomes something else. Together you create this wonderful character. That’s something that really interests me. I would love it if it was a sci-fi show. I would love to do another sci-fi show. I would love to be on “Doctor Who.” Love, love, love to be on “Doctor Who” because then I feel like I’ve done “Stargate,” “Red Dwarf,” and “Doctor Who.”

David Read:
Trifecta.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly! I would love to work in Vancouver again. I don’t know if that would ever be a possibility because I’m here in England, but who knows? That is something I would love to do. I would really love to do a police procedural. I love murder cop shows. Love them. That’s kind of like my… putting that out there. My voice has decided to start going. I don’t know what’s going on

David Read:
I’m sorry. I’ll try to keep it brief.

Suanne Braun:
No, no, no.

David Read:
Hey, that’s what you got the water for.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, exactly!

David Read:
Well, you drink and I’ll ask. So, The Fred and Ákos Tamás Nováki [ask]; did you know Cliff Simon before being involved in Stargate fandom and the convention circuit? Obviously, Mr. South Africa before. Were you aware of him? Did you know him before?

Suanne Braun:
I was, yeah. What’s the guy’s name who asked the question?

David Read:
Ákos Tamás Nováki and The Fred.

Suanne Braun:
OK. You guys need to go and watch my interview with Cliff Simon because it’ll answer that question on “Hathor Hosts.” But yes, I did know him. I didn’t know him well. We weirdly worked together at some sort of… because he was massively famous. I think I was hosting an event that he was appearing at. He basically went from being Mr. South Africa to being in South Africa’s biggest soap, a show called “Egoli: [Place of Gold].” It was the first nighttime serialized drama they’d ever done, so it was huge. He played a character called [Gregory] “Mitch” [Mitchel]. So we kind of met then, and I know his wife, Colette, because she used to dance at Sun City.

David Read:
I love Colette.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, she’s fantastic. I’ve done a lot of work as a host, so I sort of knew him through that. At conventions, we’ve always gravitated towards one another because I just really adore him. I don’t know if it’s because we come from the same country, but it just always feels really easy with him. So yeah, I did know him before.

David Read:
Ian wants to know: what is your favorite accent to pull off?

Suanne Braun:
Oh, I love accents, as I’m sure you’ve already seen!

David Read:
You’ve demonstrated. Yes! Lovely.

Suanne Braun:
What’s my favorite? [Southern accent] I do like myself a little Southern accent. There’s something about it. I don’t know what it is, but I do like that. [Georgia accent] If you’re down in Georgia, where suddenly it’s very different in Georgia, it sounds mighty sexy, and pretty. So I love that. I love accents. I’m just really fascinated. I worked in Romania two years ago. They have great [accents]… because [Romanian accent] it’s literally like comic book, you know, bad Russian accent. It was fantastic. They don’t give a – at all. I was working on a show with a really obnoxious American actor – no names will be mentioned – and she was throwing an absolute hissy fit. This was for a series that got into a lot of trouble along the way. I think they just sort of left everybody in Romania and went, “Good luck!” By the time I arrived, the actors, the crew, everyone was just like, “Oh my God, we’ve been here for months. Get us out of here!” I was only in one episode, so I was OK. Anyway, we’re on the set and this actress was like, “excuse me,” she was being really obnoxious, and, like, one of those, like, you know, California, whatever. She turned to the guy and she’s like, “do you understand, like, in my country, like, how rude that would, like, you’re so rude to me!” Without missing a beat, he just looked at her and said, “Yes, but you’re not in your country now. You’re in mine,” and just walked off. She was like, “Oh, my God, like, so rude.” I’m desperate to play a character like that. I keep saying to this writer friend of mine, “Let me play this very… ‘they just don’t care’.” I remember asking in a restaurant… the guy came up and he’s like, “Can I help you?” but it was done like, “Can I help you? Actually, you’re irritating me. Can I help you?” I went, “Oh yes, please. Do you have a wine list?” He looked at me and went, “Of course we have a wine list. We are restaurant.” I was like, “Well, can I see it?” and he’s like, “Yes, all right.”

David Read:
There is something about the Eastern European accents I just always loved. “Boris and Natasha, fooled again by Moose and Squirrel,” you know?

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. Exactly. I have to just say, God, that sounds like I’m slagging off Romanians. I absolutely love their country. Once you are in the fold and in the inner sanctum, [they] could not be warmer. But there is a definite kind of, like: “they just don’t give a shit.”

David Read:
There’s something refreshing… it’s like New Yorkers. “I am who I am. Take it or leave it.” Not just to be rude, but being genuine. There’s something to be said for that. I’d much rather have that than beating around the bush. Just get to your point.

Suanne Braun:
Same. And I’d much rather have someone being like, “Actually, don’t talk to me right now,” than someone being like, “Oh, I’m so happy. Everything’s so lovely.”

David Read:
It’s fake that way, because you’re never going to know who you’re dealing with. I agree.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly.

David Read:
Sophie Stargategirl [asks]: I’d love to know what one of your more challenging roles were, in terms of prep, execution, or maybe just harder to grasp than normal.

Suanne Braun:
I’ve talked about this in the past. I did a stage show about six or seven years ago in South Africa about – a true story – about a South African woman called Alison Berta, who was abducted one evening at about seven or eight PM in her own car. Two guys got in. It was 1996, I think, when it happened. They drove her around for hours. They kept telling her they wouldn’t hurt her, that it was all going to be OK. Eventually, they drove her into this little clearing near the sea. They raped her, and then they stabbed her multiple times, and slit her throat 17 times. They thought she was dead and left her. She regained consciousness, had the presence of mind to write their names because they had obviously talked to each other.
[She] wrote their names in the sand and a message for her mum. She then lay there thinking she was going to die. In her own words, she said, “I had this weird out-of-body experience where her body kind of rose up.” She could see the main road. She said: “I didn’t know what happened, if I went and came back,” but she was aware of being above her body. She could see her bloodied body below and she could see the main road. She knew it wasn’t as far as she had thought it was, and in that moment she decided to fight. Just like that, she was back in her body. She crawled to the main road. It was unreal. Her story… I urge anyone… read her book. It’s called “I Have Life,” and it is unbelievable. A director I know quite well, Marilyn Fenrin, decided it would make a good play. It was incredibly challenging, but I played her.

David Read:
Oh my God.

Suanne Braun:
I got to do it for 12 weeks, so three months, every night, playing this very harrowing role. Ultimately, what’s so extraordinary about the story is that – in spite of all the damage they caused, they missed her carotid artery, her vena cava, they missed her vocal cords. They tried to destroy her womb but didn’t do any long-term damage. She’s obviously got scars there, but she was able to speak. When she woke up the next day in the hospital, she was able to speak and identify them. They were arrested and remain in prison today. She has subsequently gone on to be… she also was really instigative in changing the laws in South Africa to talk about rape victims. She, right away, was like, “I will never be one of those women who is like: ‘it was my fault’,” because… she was in her own car. It’s an amazing story. It happened at a time in South Africa when the country was changing politically.I think her story really resonates with people all over the world. It was a huge challenge to play her, but also it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my entire life. I’ve never done a play – ever – where the audience would get to the point in the show where she comes back into her body and decides “I’m gonna fight” … even talking about it now, I get goosebumps… people would literally be like [gasp] with this kind of reaction. Afterwards, every single night, we would get to the end, and the lights would do this really slow fade to black. By the time the lights were down, people were up out of their chairs, screaming, chanting, going absolutely nuts. For the first week of the run, we had her in the audience every night.

David Read:
Oh my gosh!

Suanne Braun:
So we’d get to the end and I would say,” Ladies and gentlemen, the real Alison,” and she would come on stage, and people would go absolutely nuts. It was an incredible challenge, a massive honor, but really challenging because the subject matter is tricky.

David Read:
Sensitive issue.

Suanne Braun:
Very sensitive, and how to present it in a way on stage… because also the director was like, “I don’t want any nudity. No one needs…”, almost everyone in South Africa knows what happened to her, and if you didn’t know, she was like, “I’m not interested in showing that. I don’t want to give these men any more power than they have.” So it was very, very challenging. And then also, the play is heavily based on a book that she wrote. But in the book, she talks a lot about, for example, there’s a bit in the book where they pull up at a light, and in front of them, there’s a cop car. And she’s driving, thinking, “Oh, please, please help me, help me, help me.” But she’s like – the whole time working out – thinking, “do I have time to get out and signal for help? If I hoot… if I honk the horn, will they see me or will they drive off. If I do [inaudible]

David Read:
Just kill her right there, you know? Yeah.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. And the big challenge was like, how do we show that when it’s… because I said… it became very clear that when I spoke, it didn’t work – when I was speaking her thoughts, I was like, “We have to find a way that we somehow know when Alison is thinking and when she’s actually speaking to the two men in the car.” And we came up with a really simple but massively effective device, which was that the other actors, who all played multiple parts, would become my voice. And at first, you’re like…

David Read:
Wow!

Suanne Braun:
Yeah.

David Read:
You would have to get used to it.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly, but it’s amazing because it happens like that. People go, “Oh, I see, that’s what they’re doing,” and then they’re in the story. You know, and we had almost no props. I was never nude, and in fact, the whole rape scene, because in reality, it happened in the passenger seat… I stood and narrated it, and all you could see were his hands. He was sort of kneeling but in the dark, and you just saw a hand reach up for my [throat] because he throttles her. So we did really kind of clever, simple things that were incredibly effective because I think it made people go, “Oh,” then it’s even more horrific when you hear what she actually had to go through and how she coped. Anyway, so yeah, that was probably the most challenging to date.

David Read:
How rewarding.

Suanne Braun:
Incredible.

David Read:
And what an honor to be picked to do it. I mean, just being selected right there is almost like, you know… how wonderful.

Suanne Braun:
And amazingly, like the moment… because I obviously knew who she was, and funnily enough, when I read her book when I was living in L.A. like in the early 90’s, and I so wanted to make it into a movie, but I didn’t know how. I was like, “I don’t know how to get the rights,” and I never really pursued it. But like, her book stayed with me for years, so I didn’t know, like when I met, I was like, “Will it be… how will it be?” And it’s so weird, we kind of look similar. We have very similar speech patterns. And she had so many friends come and see the show who were like… because I dyed my hair brown to play her, and there were so many people who were like, would look up, do a double take, and just kind of go, “Is that Ali?” Yeah, so it’s a massive honor, and she’s an incredible woman, and I love her to this day.

David Read:
Morkhan asks: Did you study Ra, at all, in the original film to give you any kind of inspiration for playing his wife/daughter?

Suanne Braun:
No, I’m afraid to say I did not. I was like, “Ra, shmah.”

David Read:
OK. So it wasn’t even like, you know… was it an avoidance of the content to create your own interpretation?

Suanne Braun:
No, it was more, I kind of, as I said, I looked up who Hathor was, and then I think on my second day… because you know they change the script all the time, and you get pink pages, green pages… and somebody came up to me and said, “Don’t get too hung up on the Egyptian mythology, because actually, we’re kind of doing our own thing. She’s not quite the same.” So I allowed that kind of imagination to… and then I knew that, in our version, her relationship with Ra is not good.

David Read:
Yeah.

Suanne Braun:
So I had worked out a little backstory that he’d kind of betrayed her and left her, because I was like, “What’s she doing in that Mayan temple anyway?”

David Read:
He locked her in there.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly, but why? So I was like, “That’s the story I think we should tell.”

David Read:
Do you still have that story?

Suanne Braun:
Oh yeah, tucked away.

David Read:
Well, you may have to hint at it at some point when we have you back.

Suanne Braun:
OK.

David Read:
Guillaume [asks]: what was it like working with Michael Shanks? I mean, in this episode, he’s basically her experiment. Jack [O’Neill] is as well, to make new Jaffa, but she selected him to be the DNA of her new babies.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly. Yeah, I mean, you know, I know I sound like a broken record, but again, I have only wonderful things to say. He was really lovely, warm, welcoming. When I first arrived, we worked together really easily. I felt there was quite good chemistry. I mean, again, it’s quite interesting watching it back, as I said yesterday, because I remember reading quite early on, somebody said something online about, “Oh, I hated the episode because basically she sexually abuses him and everything.” And I was like, “Oh,” I mean, I see that completely.

David Read:
Yeah, he is at her whim.

Suanne Braun:
He is, but I was also a bit like, “Guys, she’s an evil goddess, that of course she’s gonna do whatever.” You know, if it was a man, he may… in this sort of traditional old tropes, that probably would have been through violence or a fight or a duel. She used the tool that she knew would be the most effective, and that was seduction. That was how she got what she needed.

David Read:
Her technology, too, through her mouth.

Suanne Braun:
Exactly, and I sort of think we missed a trick there. And this is something I would have said. I think I would have made her much more ambivalent, sexually, if it was set now. I don’t think the women should have been immune to it, necessarily, which, you know… I don’t know. It might have been a very different show. There was a thing when I… there’s a scene where I’m sort of rubbing something on Amanda’s [Tapping] face, and in one of the scenes we did, I licked her face, and they were all like, “Oh, that’s so evil.” It’s really, it’s a bit Hannibal Lecter. But I think they obviously thought that was one step too far. But I kind of loved that because it made her… you’re just never sure. And when you’re dealing with someone who is sort of a power-hungry megalomaniac, but who’s clever, you’re not sure what they’re gonna do. And it’s that unpredictability I think that makes it quite like, “is she gonna kill them or kiss them?” kind of thing.

David Read:
Yeah, they’re at her mercy.

Suanne Braun:
But I’m sorry, Guillaume, I have not answered your question. So, it was wonderful working with Michael. We got on really, really well. Lots of laughs. I just remember, you know, very often scenes like that are kind of – passionate or love scenes – are often quite awkward when you’re on set. And so if you can laugh about them, which we certainly did, it helps a lot because it just sort of makes everybody go, “Ah,” can breathe a sigh of relief.

David Read:
Exactly. I know we’re running a little bit over. Last question for you, I apologize… William Hostman [asks]: do you like playing villains?

Suanne Braun:
Oh yes. Oh yes, I love playing villains. I think because, again, in real life, I’m much more like… like sort of not really that cool and calculated. And there’s something great about playing a good villain. You know? There’s just something really deeply satisfying, I guess. Maybe it’s because we get to exercise all the things that we don’t get to do in normal life or in everyday life. You know, it’s like when someone’s mean to you and three days later you think, “I should have said that, but I didn’t!”

David Read:
Oh absolutely! Yeah.

Suanne Braun:
When you’re the villain, you get to say that in the moment and then walk away. And there’s something really lovely about that.

David Read:
Emma Bentley just wanted to make a comment: I am transgender, and watching Stargate with the Goa’uld in different people and different bodies, it helped me in the long run to see myself and not to hide.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, that’s so great! That’s really great. See, that’s exactly what we were talking about at the beginning of the show: this series that has truly had life-changing effects on so many people. I mean, there’s not many things you can say that about, and certainly not TV shows.

David Read:
I know. Art is open to the interpretation of the person who is watching it, and we can’t just assume that our way is the [only] way.

Suanne Braun:
Yeah, absolutely. Perfectly put,

David Read:
Suanne, this has been a delight. I have been wanting to have a conversation with you for years now. I’m so privileged to have you on, and I’m really looking forward to watching our two shows grow over the next few years here.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, David, I feel exactly the same. It’s been an absolute privilege to chat to you, and I am so delighted… when you reached out and said to me, “Oh, I’ve been thinking about doing this show, and I’m not quite sure, you kind of gave me the nudge I needed.” I can’t tell you… that is the most rewarding thing. And huge congratulations on your show. It is wonderful. I’ve watched a few of your interviews – I’m a bit behind – but just it’s been great. It’s so wonderful, because you clearly love the show and the genre, and… such respectful, lovely, warm, fantastic interviews. So, I wish you nothing but great success for the future. As you said, it’ll be lovely watching our shows grow together.

David Read:
Absolutely. And thank you for always being there for the fans, being so receptive to them, and continuing to keep the love of this franchise alive. Truly.

Suanne Braun:
Oh, it’s my absolute pleasure. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, and everyone stay ‘til we can hug and meet again.

David Read:
Yes, hopefully sooner rather than later, but it will happen.

Suanne Braun:
Absolutely, it will.

David Read:
Thank you so much, Suanne.

Suanne Braun:
Thank you so much. Bye, guys!

David Read:
Take care of yourself. I’ll be in touch with you real soon. Bye-bye.

Suanne Braun:
You too. OK. Bye.

David Read:
Suanne Braun, everyone: Hathor, and host of Hathor Hosts on the YouTube channel Hathor Hosts TV. Thank you so much to everyone who has tuned in. I do have some fan art to share with everyone. Let me pull this up here… from Sally Whitesides: “The first two pictures are a Stargate centerpiece that I made. The Stargate itself is made out of Styrofoam and all hand-painted, and inside the Stargate are my own drawings. There’s an SG-1 and an SGA side.” – so, that’s the SGA side. Let’s look at the SG-1 side. Oh, how cool. The next picture is a charcoal drawing of Daniel Jackson. It looks like him from “Beneath the Surface,” and Michael has given his blessing on that for sure. “The next is also something I created, a centerpiece… this is created with about 4,000 beads, individually placed and melted together. I created it based off of a picture from reference. The last is my interpretation of the Harmony painting in charcoal.” Wow, in charcoal, that is so cool! Sally also says, “I started creating Stargate art several years ago, and I wasn’t very good at it. I just did it to pass some time. I ended up getting sick, and then art became something that I did in the hospital to help pass the time and keep my mind off things. As I started doing it more and more, I realized I was getting better, and then I started doing it more and more in different things like charcoal and painting. I’m still learning, but I am working at it.” It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we hunker down and put our mind[s] to it. So, thank you, Sally, for submitting those. Before we go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I would really appreciate it if you would 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. If you want to get notified about future episodes, please click that subscribe icon. If you plan on watching live, I recommend giving the bell icon a click so you’ll be the first to know of any schedule changes, which will happen now and again. 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. Speaking of schedule changes; I do have a note from Rainbow [Sun Francks], he sent it to me about 25 minutes ago. We may have a schedule change there. For sure he’s probably not going to be ready in the next 15 minutes. I will be posting a notification of what’s going on there so that we can accommodate his schedule. Thank you, again, so much to Suanne Braun of Hathor Hosts, and thank you to my moderators, Summer, Ian, Tracy, Keith, and Jeremy – you guys are fantastic. Jennifer Kirby and Linda “GateGabber” Furey – that rhyme. Thank you so much everyone for tuning in. We will be seeing you on the other side.