Our first one-on-one Stargate Universe interview will be with the lovely and talented Julie McNiven, who played Lucian Alliance member “Ginn” in Season Two of the series. She will be taking your questions LIVE!

Julie appeared on the show last month alongside SGU co-star David Blue for the Stargate SG-1 Live Roleplay Session! Link below.

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Stargate SG-1 Live Roleplay Session ► https://youtu.be/oXIOw4r_cCI
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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:27 – Welcome and Episode Outline
1:38 – Call to Action
2:10 – Guest Introduction
7:28 – A Bit About Julie
14:45 – What advice would you like to have known before getting into the industry?
21:20 – Personal Heroes
26:13 – Black Hearted Killer, a Tough and Rewarding Role
33:44 – Any Stargate Before Auditioning?
36:16 – SGU’s Tone
38:51 – Julie on Ginn, Rhona Mitra and Robert Knepper
42:05 – Lucian Alliance Costumes
43:50 – Was the dialogue tough? With whom did you enjoy working?
51:02 – Playing Ginn and a quadriplegic character (Dr.Amanda Perry)
56:37 – How did you play Ginn as non-physical presence? (2×14 Hope)
1:00:09 – What were the writers going to do with Ginn?
1:02:05 – SGU Cancellation and Doom Patrol
1:05:09 – Did you ever compete in a High School Drama festival in Massachusetts?
1:06:20 – Ginn in SG4
1:08:35 – Favorite Sci-Fi Films or Shows
1:11:05 – Do you know of any behind the scenes plans for Ginn that we didn’t get to see?
1:13:14 – Moments with David Blue
1:17:20 – Body Swap With Someone in Real Life
1:20:02 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:25:20 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Welcome everyone to episode 22 of Dial the Gate, my name is David Read. Thank you for being with me. For those of you Stateside, I hope you had a good Turkey Day this past weekend. For those of you everywhere else, I hope that you’re doing well and ready to get into this holiday season. Whatever shape it’s going to be, it’s going to be interesting, but you know what? We’re going to be getting through this together. I have Julie McNiven who played Ginn in Stargate Universe with us this particular episode, but before we bring her in… I’ve still been away, before we bring her in I want to let you know I am getting used to getting back at the controls again. I want to let you know that after Julie we have Stargate Universe artwork that we are going to be showing you in the feed and I will also be making the guest announcements for next week. For our interview with Julie, I will be asking her questions. Our moderators are standing by in the YouTube Live Chat to take your questions for her throughout the show and I will be asking those later on in the episode. Before we bring in Julie I would just like to ask you, if you like Stargate and want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click the Like button. 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. 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 guests changes, this is key if you plan on watching live. All right, Juliee McNiven, welcome.

Julie McNiven
Hi. I feel like I just did this.

David Read
How are you?

Julie McNiven
Time is trippy in these COVID times.

David Read
Yeah, well it’s a Stargate so it makes sense. It’s a Stargate interview.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, I’m doing well, as well as can be. We’re just trying to stay positive here and trying to keep in mind that this is all temporary. Soon we can hug our friends, very soon. I just want to hug them.

David Read
Air hugging sucks. I’m a big hugger so this has been a really hard year for me for that because I really need that physical connection.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, me too, it’s important.

David Read
Have you worked since the lockdown earlier this year?

Julie McNiven
No. My last gig actually was the first weekend in March, it was about a week before we got locked down here in Los Angeles. I had a flight to do an NDA thing up in Seattle and I was like, “hmm, Seattle?” That was where our first outbreak was in America. I was like, “oh, I don’t know if I should be…well, okay, I have a job, I’ve got to do it.”

Julie McNiven
Yeah, but at that point you just didn’t know anything really except that there was this virus. You just didn’t know any of the details of how bad it was. I flew up there and I was actually in a seat next to Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN and I was like, “huh, okay. He’s going to Seattle.”

David Read
You’ve got kids.

David Read
Heading that way.

Julie McNiven
I didn’t probably watch enough CNN to know exactly…I knew he was like a guy, health guy, from Seattle. I didn’t know exactly who he was. After the virus started I was like, “oh no, I know exactly who you are because I’ve seen you enough on CNN.” But at that point someone stopped and said, “Oh, hi. Are you heading up to the stuff happening with Seattle?” He’s like, “Yeah.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” It turns out my hotel up there was less than a mile away from this nursing home that the outbreak was at. I was like, “Cool, cool.” I didn’t touch anyone there. I was already spraying the door handles and just being really careful. That was my last gig and then the next week, Friday 13th, I had a sushi date with David Blue. I got to the restaurant, some woman held the door for me with her arm, with her body, so I didn’t have to touch it. I sat down and I was like “David, I was really close to buying tickets to New Zealand this morning. We just want to get out.” My husband’s from New Zealand, that was why the New Zealand thing. He was like, “No, this is crazy, this is not as big as…you’re overreacting.” I was like, “No, it’s gonna be big. We gotta get to New Zealand, we gotta go.” We didn’t, obviously, but we should have. They’re an island, it’s a lot different.

David Read
It’s a completely different situation in terms of population and everything else.

Julie McNiven
Totally. They also have a very skilled government. They did a really good job, they set everything up that needed to be set up and they’ve been very successful. Since then, I just keep an eye on New Zealand as my “would have, could have, but didn’t.”

David Read
And your husband has got his family there?

Julie McNiven
Oh yeah, we’ve been in touch with them. Normal life down there and movie shows have already gone back into production there, a while back. Basically everything I’m writing now I’m like, “Oh, and this one also takes place in New Zealand. Okay, and this one, this one used to take place in America but now takes place in New Zealand.” I’m just like, “You know what? Why not? Let’s just see if we can do it there.”

David Read
Are you relocating? Are you planning on relocating?

Julie McNiven
No. It’s kind of a daydream but I’m also like, “why not?” Why does it have to take place in California or New England or whatever? It can take place anywhere, those things can also change. The last draft totally changed the location but it’s been kind of fun to figure out ways to be creative in that sense.

David Read
The longer that this goes on, more and more productions are having to wake up to additional options. Vancouver and Toronto have been have been filming, I forget how long now, it’s been a while. They have to make it work how they can. Julie, tell me a little bit about yourself before we really get into the thick of Stargate and your career and everything else. Where are you from and who were you as a young person?

Julie McNiven
I’m originally from Massachusetts. I grew up in Amherst, Mass, which is in the Pioneer Valley surrounded by some very progressive, creative towns. Five College area so there was a lot of opportunities there for extracurricular activities. I did tons of sports growing up, you’d never know, but I used to be really strong. I swam most of my childhood, did gymnastics, I did softball, soccer. It was about eighth grade that I did the town musical, Oliver. I played the rose seller. She wasn’t big, she came out in the second act and sang a solo and that was pretty much it, I was in the chorus. I think at that point I had already decided I wanted to be on Broadway; that was what I wanted to do. But it wasn’t until eighth grade that I was like, “Okay, I need to stop doing all the sports. I need to pick up five dance classes a week, I need to train my voice.” I just totally shifted my energies from sports over to “how can I prepare myself?” I always knew I wanted to go to college, “how can I prepare myself for a musical theater degree?” My parents have always been very supportive but my dad always jokes that I made it onto the varsity swim team as a seventh grader and the coach was like, “she can get a scholarship for this” and my dad’s like, “cool!” Then the next year I just dropped all my sports, most of them, and just started doing musicals and training and dancing and doing all that. The next shift probably didn’t come till college where I would go to New York several times a year and just do open calls or any auditions I could find, I would do them. I remember sitting outside of an audition room and listening to the girls before me go, and I was kind of like, “Huh.” [pause for thought]. You know, I could train every day with the most amazing teachers and my voice will never sound like that. It wasn’t me being negative, it was me being a realist. My realist probably came from my mother, My realist side of me was like, “Okay, well this isn’t going to work. I don’t want to be one of those people who has a dream and not the means to succeed in the dream.” So I shifted, once again. I was like, “well, film and TV sounds more realistic,” which is kind of laughable now because there’s nothing easy about this career either. As a 19 year old I made that shift and I was like, “okay.” I went and studied Shakespeare and I did some film and TV stuff early on and trained and then started booking in that. I think I had a nice mix of my dad’s dreamer mentality and my mom’s realism to kind of keep my feet grounded without losing that dream. You know, dream and reality.

David Read
I have a lot of friends who want to be in the video game industry. That was my first major job, was in the video game industry starting off on Stargate Worlds which was in production in 2007. As a Stargate fan I got into that business as a consultant, but not as a video game designer. I’ve had a number of friends, since, who have been like, “this is what I want to do with my life.” I’m like, “guys, you don’t understand how competitive this industry is.” It’s unfortunate to watch some of those friends, a decade later, still struggling to try and just get into it. They’re like, “it’s not happening.” I understand where you’re coming from with that point where it’s like, “do I want to tell myself, because Mr. Rogers told me that I can be anything that I want. to try and do that? Or do I want to look at what I am already, or have a really good chance of being exceptional at, and do that? I don’t blame you for that perspective at all.

Julie McNiven
No and I think that there’s good things that come out of whatever choice you make. If you decide “no, this is my dream, this is what I want to do,” there’s nothing that’s going to stop you. Literally no friend could say, “Honey, you’re really good but maybe you’re better at this.” No one’s gonna stop you if you want to do it. If you have that drive and that will, you will find a way to dip your toe in. It depends on how far you can jump in. Maybe I could have been a chorus girl, maybe, if I had really trained with the best teachers. I love to sing and it’s always been something that has been my first passion. I find so much joy in it and so much emotion. you can emote so much with a song and I love that. I can do that in the car and I can do that in the shower and maybe a couple of times on Instagram. That’s great, I can still do it.

David Read
Absolutely, I sing too. I was told when I was younger, “you could do this if you want.” It’s like “it’s not the thing that I think I could be best at” and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Julie McNiven
No, no, because you can also learn a lot, I think, by trying something that somewhere in your heart you know you’re not going to be fully successful at. You can try it and you can build tenacity and you can build confidence and strength even if you end up not doing it forever. There’s always good things that can come from it I think.

David Read
Yeah, there are practical skills that you pull from it. One of the common things that I have fans ask me to ask the talent, more frequently than not, is “what advice would you have given your younger self.” Perhaps, me as a result, someone who was trying to get into that industry, not necessarily in acting, but in one form or another, based on your personal life experiences, what would you have liked to have known as an adult that you as an adult know now could have told someone who was trying to get into the industry?

Julie McNiven
Sometimes I joke that, it’s not totally a joke, it’s partly real, that when people as young 15, 16, 17 years old ask me the advice for getting into the business, I’m like, “Well, is there anything else that you are equal to or more passionate about? Is there? Oh there is, okay, then do that. Do that.”

David Read
It’s almost like you’re telegraphing that there’s an 18 Wheeler heading towards you if you don’t get out of the way.

Julie McNiven
The thing is, if there’s not something that you’re more or equal to in passion, then there’s nothing I’m going to say that’s going to change your mind. There’s not one path to do this, you have to forge your own path. I always suggest to people, “don’t try to do someone else’s path. It won’t work because you’re not that person.” I use the analogy of “everyone and their sibling, or friend, is lining up at the front door to get into this business. Don’t go in the front door, find a window, break in the back. Whatever it is, without being illegal, get in a different way. You have to change the way you’re thinking if you want to even have a chance at getting into this business, you can’t wait in line. The thing is, no one’s answering the front door.”

David Read
Especially not right now.

Julie McNiven
And mostly never because most of the people that get in have a connection. “Oh my cousin, my friend, my uncle, my uncle’s friend.” Whatever it is, there’s always someone that gets in before you so you can’t just wait in line, you need to figure out a way to get in. Make a Venn diagram, put five people in that you have a goal to have a meeting with or that you want to send your footage to or whatever it is. Just focus on those five people, see how you can get your Venn diagram, your circle, closer to their circle, instead of just doing a mass mailing or going to an open call. I could go to an open call right now and have a resume like I have and not get noticed at all. That’s not how it works, it’s just not. I don’t think anything or anyone could have stopped me, I was very goal oriented. Every single day I woke up and I did things for my career, little things, little steps. I tried to figure out new ways to get in to this door and use any and every resource I had to to do it.

David Read
You’re not waiting for lightning to strike.

Julie McNiven
No. The tricky part is, as your career goes on, “you have agents now, you don’t need to do all that footwork,” but then you feel like you’re just waiting. You can’t just wait, right? I mentioned David Blue, David and I have been writing together for three or four years maybe. I don’t know, a while. It was like, “You know what? We can’t just wait.” Whether anything comes of these projects or not, it doesn’t matter. We have a creative need we have to express and we have to keep going. I am at an age in Hollywood where not as many people are interested in a late 30s, early 40s, character right now, or pretty much ever. If you were already famous before you hit this age, you’re probably fine, but it’s a very difficult age to to continue to work in. Which is why you see a lot of four year olds just go and then maybe come back when they’re older, or maybe not.

David Read
Go off and pursue other interests or have a family and then come back..

Julie McNiven
And it sucks because I think that there’s worthy stories to tell of women who are starting to age. It’s not the end of the world, we don’t all have to get Botoxed. I don’t do it, I don’t have any problem with people doing it, I have a problem with Hollywood thinking that there’s no interesting stories to tell of a woman who has seen things and who’s starting to become an older woman. That’s where my problem lies.

David Read
Can you see that starting to pivot a little bit, compared to where we were decades ago?

Julie McNiven
I do, but it’s still a very small market. I’m still working on my own work, creating my own projects, letting myself tap into my creative power so that I can feel good and feel worthy and feel like I’m doing something.

David Read
There’s something to be said for expressing yourself in whatever form that it is. I don’t think it’s necessarily for “oh look at me, oh give me praise. Oh, I’ve got praise, now I have self worth, now I can move forward.” Even in the creation of this show, just the the creation of content, whatever form it is, either for your personal enrichment or for someone else, there’s something really to be said for that in the human experience. It’s a powerful thing and it’s something that all of us do in one form or another, whatever industry we happen to be in.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, exactly.

David Read
Julie, who are your heroes? I think you brought up your mom a little bit in terms of your realistic look at what’s expected in your journey. Who are some others personally, professionally? Who encapsulates that Venn Diagram of heroes surrounding you?

Julie McNiven
I don’t know if it’s the Libra in me not wanting favorites. My son is like, “What’s your favorite food?” I’m like, “I cannot commit to one, that would just not be fair.” I’ve never been one to have one person. I think like I said for my mom, I pull her realism. From my dad, he’s a dreamer, I pull his dream. I think that I can see different qualities in lots of people; people I have worked with, people that I haven’t worked with. I can’t say that there’s one or a few, it’s not how I learn, it’s just not how I work so I can’t really answer that question. I think that it’s important to see qualities that you admire and not necessarily try to copy, but try to see how it works with you. Yeah,

David Read
So more unconsciously digested I would suspect?

Julie McNiven
I think so.

David Read
More dense composite than you would normally expect.

Julie McNiven
It’s whoever you hang out with, whoever your friends are. The energy of your friends, depending on your personality, you can either be a sponge and take it in, either unconsciously or subconsciously. If you have friends that aren’t always this positive, “let’s figure it out” kind of mentality, then you have to learn how to put that block so that you’re there to support them but not there to take their energy and have it drop you.

Julie McNiven
Yeah. I think that’s a good quality to have also, because those friends need you to be there and not take their energy but listen to their energy. Just like if you have a group or a person that’s extremely forward thinking and moving and energetic, every single person has a kind of overload moment, right? So then you also can put up you’re “cool, I’m here for you, but you’re a lot right now. I love you.” I think depending on who you’re with and how you’re blocking or reflecting skills are…I don’t know if this is making any sense. It’s about taking in energy and/or listening to energy. I can relate it to like if I was an empath or something. I’m not, but if I was, you see those shows about mediums who are like, “you have to put your wall up. You can’t be there for every ghost.” At some point you gotta say “door’s closed, I’ll be back.”

David Read
Pull you down.

David Read
Some of us really mirror, completely, everyone around us and some of us are completely shut off from that. It really comes down to the person in terms of what your energy is or whatever EM signal you are giving off into the universe, those people that are around you and how they derive life from those who are in their circle as well because we’re all giving and taking from each other constantly. It’s true, birds of a feather flock together. You are identified by who you are most surrounded with so it’s really important to be aware of that because we’re all being watched. We’re all being constantly considered.

Julie McNiven
And sometimes you lose control of what you’re taking in and what you’re giving out and you need to kind of be checked on that, I think.

David Read
Do you have a role that stands out among the others as one of the more difficult or unexpected but rewarding experiences of your life?

Julie McNiven
I find every role I’ve played has been rewarding but I think there’s one in particular that allowed me to kind of heal. It made me heal a little bit or just release some of my grief. I did this movie called Black Hearted Killer [Heart to Heart], it aired on Lifetime last year some time.

David Read
It was a TV movie this year.

Julie McNiven
It was recently, I shot it last November.

David Read
Playing a character named Juley.

Julie McNiven
Yes, that was just coincidence. I was a woman who had lost her daughter in a car accident. It was one of those movies we shot in, I think it was 13 days, it was a really quick shoot. You just know your stuff, a few takes on each angle and we move on. I think there were two out of the 13 days that I wasn’t doing scenes where I had to cry.

Julie McNiven
Totally. I knew the group I was shooting with. I knew everyone, I trusted everyone, so it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. I let myself just really, truly feel all of my grief about my brother’s passing. It’s been several years so it was kind of in a safe place where I knew it wasn’t going to pull me down. After cut, I was okay. I may have been full blown sobbing, but take a deep breath, and okay. It’s far enough away from the actual incident that I could allow myself to do that.

David Read
Draining.

David Read
Was it a sudden loss?

Julie McNiven
No. It was a slow, horrible…

David Read
Prolonged, oh my god.

Julie McNiven
18 months, 16 months loss.

David Read
So you had a lot of emotional range to tap into from a prolonged experience.

Julie McNiven
Yeah. I had allowed myself to go there for several years in auditions but this was the first actual two week experience where I was like, “Okay, here we go.” I kind of think it was a really beautiful experience, I’m tearing up thinking about it. There’s very few jobs in this world where you’re allowed to…It’s hard to go into a data entry job and be like, “these two weeks I’m just gonna be crying about my brother.” You can’t do that, it’s not acceptable and it doesn’t actually help you.

David Read
Yeah, especially with whatever work you’re doing in the data entry.

Julie McNiven
Exactly. I can’t think of another…I suppose a visual artist could do it, a painter.

David Read
Distill art.

Julie McNiven
You can fully express your grief in that way and I feel really lucky that I was able to have this role and that I felt safe enough to just kind of not know what was going to happen, but know that I was going to be safe so it was okay and I could just allow it. It was definitely a really good experience.

David Read
Cathartic?

Julie McNiven
Yeah.

David Read
It’s a couple of things I think. I think it has a lot to do with the people that you are surrounded with in a particular project. “Do I have the freedom to go there?” But also, the tragedies that we experience are things that can either destroy us or help us create a more extraordinary us, in spite of the horrible things that we deal with.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, it’s very true.

David Read
The fact that you are in an industry that allows you to tap into that and exorcise those darker aspects of the things that you’ve dealt with and come away with, “you know what? I went there and I was able to make a product or contribute to a work of art that I’m satisfied with because I had those life experiences, in spite of those life experiences.”

Julie McNiven
Exactly.

David Read
That’s really something.

David Read
This is your brother’s son?

Julie McNiven
I feel really lucky that I was able to have that role. I can’t say that grief is finite, it’s not. There’s not a mass of grief inside of me that I have to let out, it’s a constant entity that will surprise you. I saw a picture of my nephew a few weeks ago and I just was like, “Oh my God, every day he looks more and more like my brother.” I put my phone down and I just had a quick cry. I was like, “okay, but cool. He looks like my brother. Cool.”

Julie McNiven
Yeah.

David Read
So your brother has a legacy.

Julie McNiven
Oh hello. My son is peeking in the room. Why don’t you stay out there? Can you close the door. He just can’t help it. Anyway, I think that the opportunity to release…It’s like the constantly boiling kettle; you just gotta let out the air in order for it not to explode.

David Read
We don’t all experience grief and tragic circumstances in the same way, but we ignore those feelings to our peril. To be able to deal with them in their proper context and in a way that contributes to something else positively is a good thing.

Julie McNiven
Yeah.

David Read
Julie, did you see the Stargate feature film or SG-1 and Atlantis before joining Stargate Universe?

Julie McNiven
I did, but I wasn’t a regular watcher. When did Stargate start, what year was it?

David Read
The TV series started in ’97.

Julie McNiven
Okay. So I was in high school and my dad is a sci-fi nerd just like me, so he watched it. I didn’t really watch a lot of TV in high school or college because really, who had time? I was too busy trying to get my degree. I definitely remember seeing several episodes but it was the same with Next Generation, Star Trek. I saw a bunch of them but I wasn’t actively viewing it…

David Read
They were on television.

Julie McNiven
…in the same way that my dad was watching. When I got the audition for SGU, there was a monologue, I think my whole audition was the monologue that I say to Ming-Na. When I’m saying “what’s going to happen now? Are you going to keep us all locked up?” That whole monologue in one of my first episodes. I talked about the goa’uld and I looked at the page and I was like, “oh god, I need to call my dad. I don’t know what I’m talking about.” I called my dad and I was like, “okay, so how do we say this? Who are they and why do I not like them?” He gave me the rundown and it was really fun and special that I got to be on this show that he had watched all the way through and was already a big fan of. I don’t remember the question, what was the question?

David Read
How aware were you of Stargate?

Julie McNiven
How aware? So that’s how I was aware.

David Read
Though your dad.

Julie McNiven
My dad. That’s pretty much it.

David Read
Did he enjoy Universe?

Julie McNiven
He did. I think I had watched some episodes before I even auditioned and I think he had watched all of them.

David Read
Okay.

Julie McNiven
I believe, I believe so. I know it’s very different.

David Read
It is very different.

Julie McNiven
It’s a different tone than the other Stargates. I remember fans having a hard time adjusting to the tone and I think it’s too bad because I think that it got canceled too quickly.

David Read
Way too prematurely.

Julie McNiven
Way too quickly. That happens all the time with shows but it’s too bad because it already has such a gigantic built in fan base. If you just give them another year they can prove that…I’m just watching the Dylan documentary from a long time ago and everyone’s so pissed at him when he starts singing anything other than folk. But eventually, they’re like, “oh no, you’re still really cool. We think you’re great.” But it just took them some time because you have to get over your own idea of what you want it to be and just enjoy what’s in front of you and enjoy that it still has the magic of Stargate. It’s just a different point of view or a different experience.

David Read
I don’t blame the fans for having trouble digesting it. I blame fans for being so loyal to previous versions of the show that they weren’t willing to give this one a chance.

Julie McNiven
Which is similar to the Dylan thing; they were so loyal to him being this folk God. They were just mad, they were yelling at him, they were booing him and I’m going, “this is Bob Dylan, you’re booing him? Then six months later you’re gonna be like, ‘let’s listen to that new Bob Dylan record’.”

David Read
But you’re an artist, you understand what he’s trying to achieve in himself.

Julie McNiven
You can’t do the same thing all the time.

David Read
Some can, but not everyone can, you have to grow. The funny thing is I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve met who are discovering the show, the franchise now, and they’re like, “I don’t get what the problem is.” If it were made now, it would have been four seasons of 10 episodes each and people would have thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Look at look at Better Call Saul, it unpacks very slowly and people love this stuff now.

Julie McNiven
I know. It was ahead of its time.

David Read
Yes. So who was Ginn in that breakdown? So your dad told you that she had been probably a slave.

Julie McNiven
I honestly can’t remember. I haven’t watched my episodes since they aired. The Lucian Alliance, we boarded Destiny kind of illegally, right? You take a desperate situation with an egotistical leader and you kind of get forced into these situations and for Ginn I think it was she was really skilled at whatever she did at that podium.

Julie McNiven
I can’t remember.

David Read
The Lucian Alliance.

David Read
The apple core.

Julie McNiven
Look at me. Do I look like I know what I’m doing? Then I remember I saved Lou Diamond Phillips and killed that really bad guy and then we were slowly friends. That’s what I remember. I don’t remember very much.

David Read
That’s okay. Do you remember Rhona Mitra?

Julie McNiven
I never worked with her because she came on at the end of season one, right? Didn’t they board at the end of season one? I wasn’t introduced until beginning of season two.

David Read
Yeah, that’s a fair point.

Julie McNiven
I think they ended up killing her at…

David Read
Yes, Lou Diamond Phillips and Rhona Mitra have a shootout and they both go down. Then it was left hanging at the end season one who won because they were debating whether or not to bring her back and they chose not to. Then they brought in, I’m trying to remember if Simeon in Stargate, if he was in season one.

Julie McNiven
I don’t think so.

David Read
It’s been so long since I’ve seen it.

Julie McNiven
Oh, Simeon.

David Read
Right, fantastic. Robert, is it Robert…?

Julie McNiven
Robert Knepper.

David Read
Fantastic actor.

Julie McNiven
Really good. Yeah, he’s really good. I don’t think he was in the…I think that they kind of…maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe, I wonder if the guy that I ended up killing in season two, the beginning of season two, was he introduced with Rhona at the end of season one?

David Read
I’m trying to see right now. This is so professional of me doing this on the fly.

Julie McNiven
They could have used that opportunity of the season break to be like, “alright, who are going to be our Lucian Alliance regulars?” I think they had that break to kind of hash that out.

David Read
Knepper wasn’t introduced until season two.

Julie McNiven
Yeah and I think Mike Dopud, he’s great too.

David Read
Fantastic actor.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, I think we all came on in season two.

David Read
What was the costume like?

Julie McNiven
This is my favorite costume related story. It was basically head to toe leather. I think I was vegan at the time and the costume designer was so lovely. Actually, I don’t think I wore…there was no fake leather. They resized someone else’s pants or outfit so most of my outfit was reused rather made from new leather. I thought that was really nice to do because I cared about that. There’s one scene of me, David, Elise, maybe Brian, in the commissary where we’re sitting at the table and we’re drinking and eating and stuff. At the very end of the scene, and of course, once you start doing an action on take one, you have to keep doing the same thing so you have to match it up.

David Read
For coverage.

Julie McNiven
I was reaching, you can’t see me, I was reaching for my cup and I took it into sip. The scene would end and it would be complete silence and then you hear [creaking].

David Read
The leather creaking?

Julie McNiven
It was just one of those things, like you couldn’t stop it and then you can’t stop laughing.

David Read
Because you are expecting it every time.

Julie McNiven
Every single time and you’re just waiting for it. “Try not to do it this time. I can’t stop it.” That’s probably my biggest memory of the costume, was how creaky it was when it was very quiet on set.

David Read
You let in on a little bit of the fact that your character was very technical oriented. Those characters have a very specific place in Stargate because they move the plot forward with their dialogue. You are looking at a screen that is giving out information in Ancient, which is just a font transposition, and having to say that the star is going to explode or the ship is not wanting to go back into Hperspace or whatever. Was the dialogue tough?

Julie McNiven
Oh yeah. I do remember in particular. I haven’t gone back and watched it to remember which one was the worst, the hardest. I’m a very quick memorizer.

David Read
That’s good in your profession, that’s important.

Julie McNiven
It definitely helps. You have to just memorize these words that you don’t really know what they mean. Once they’re in my head I was able to kind of discover more of their meaning. I remember even being on set going [reciting dialogue to myself] and I think I kept my sides right near me so that I could look at them right before. It’s just really hard to do dialogue that…like it would be hard to play a physicist or a surgeon, right? You’re just [constant complex dialogue] all these sentences that are kind of like memorizing another language. It’s hard to say them with meaning.

David Read
It’s not random but you have to take the context of the story in order to decrypt what they’re talking about. We’re dealing with alien technology and the alien technology has its own function, but we have to get somewhere in the story with it.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, so it was definitely challenging. I like playing the nerd. I like those tech techie girls, I like the nerdy characters. I want to do more of that, I’m ready for more.

David Read
One of my favorite lines of Ginn’s and I put it at the beginning of each show, I put a character’s quote. It’s something along the lines of, “I trust numbers more than anything, because numbers don’t lie.” That speaks to a lot of what that character was. As a member of the Lucian Alliance, and I can tell you a little bit of that backstory, they rose up when the goa’uld were defeated across the galaxy. The criminals, the most dodgy underworld elements of the galaxy banded together. She was kind of, as I would imagine, swept along with that and her utility as a scientist became very advantageous. But she had, I would imagine, very little power outside of that. To be in a position across the universe where she was then cut off from the rest of that clan that she was with and with people that she could perhaps make a life with, like with Eli, gave her, I suspect, a fair amount of power. It’s like “now I’m in a place where I can start forming my own destiny,” pardon the pun.

Julie McNiven
And the trouble she’s seen and experienced, coming with her into this new possible ship, it’s life. It makes it even more important to kind of have some routes with nice people.

David Read
Before we get specifically to David, and obviously still sounds like a very important part of your life, the biggest relationship for Ginn on that show was with him. Any of the other cast in particular? You mentioned that long scene of dialogue with Ming when Camille is kind of interviewing the Lucian Alliance, just to see who’s trustworthy and who may have use as a member of the team.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, in terms of my relationship with the actors now or just the experience then?

David Read
Who did you enjoy working off of the most?

Julie McNiven
Oh gosh.

David Read
I apologize for being less specific.

Julie McNiven
No, it’s okay. Honestly, there was not a bad cat in the bunch. Everyone was really fun to work with, kind and made me feel right at home. Once they established me as “I’m going to be on the ship now and I’m going to try to be part of this group,” Ginn’s attraction to Eli, both brain and body, that’s who I did most of my acting with so I spent more time with him. I really, really enjoyed doing it when Chloe and Ginn and Dr…

David Read
Rush?

Julie McNiven
Catherine, Catherine played that role?

David Read
You’re talking the guest star?

Julie McNiven
When we did the triple, we were all in the same outfit and the stone. I sound like such a pro, I’m such an SGU pro.

David Read
Is that the quadriplegic from Earth. Doctor Amanda [Perry].

Julie McNiven
No.

David Read
No, it’s not her?

Julie McNiven
No.

David Read
Who else?

Julie McNiven
She had a relationship with Rush didn’t she?

David Read
Ginn?

Julie McNiven
No, no.

David Read
The actress! Yes. What was her name? It’s been so long since I’ve watched this. Mandy something. She was the quadriplegic scientist from Earth and she was key…Amanda Perry.

Julie McNiven
Yes.

David Read
The actress was Kathleen Monroe.

Julie McNiven
Kathleen, okay. My cat wants to get out.

David Read
That’s fine. Oh, that’s too funny. Cats man. Cat taken care of?

Julie McNiven
Cat’s taken care of, yes.

Julie McNiven
Old. He like 14 now, my first baby. I have a little heating pad on the bed. Basically his life now is sleep and eat, sleep and and eat. All he wants to do is eat and I can’t overfeed him because he’s already old and that’s just dangerous. I have a little heating pad that I put him on in the morning so that he can chill.

David Read
What kind of cat is it?

David Read
When they get up there man, absolutely. Kathleen Munroe played Dr. Amanda Perry, she was the quadriplegic.

Julie McNiven
Oh, she was quadriplegic, okay.

David Read
I wanted to get into that.

Julie McNiven
That triple, that was really fun. One thing I was really impressed with, I’ve been on other shows where they have two cameras shooting at the same time, but there was something unique about SGU where there was always two cameras and they were never still, they were always handheld. Maybe they weren’t always, but that’s my memory of it.

David Read
That sounds about right.

Julie McNiven
These guys were either on stools or just standing and just moving around, it kind of gave you that natural [feeling]. That was another thing that was different. Was that different than the way Stargate Universe, sorry, Stargate…

David Read
The others were? Yes. They were wanting to be more handheld. They were going with a Firefly direction.

Julie McNiven
It gives you a more intimate feeling; you feel more like you’re in the room with the actors. I think it kind of brings you in the scene a little bit more, that style. Because they were so mobile we could kind of get away with sliding in and knowing exactly when to move away and the other actor would come in. It was like a big old dance, it was fun.

David Read
Not just thematically but in terms of production quality the and technique, SGU was very different. I remember being on the set and they were talking about, even lighting, like we would normally light a scene in a certain way and now in this case, now that we’re on SGU, this is a murky ship and there are going to be some places that are just gonna be under lit and we’re going to play them like it’s an under lit location. There were a lot of techniques that were used in that show that were not standard at the time. What was it like being strapped down into a chair and experiencing what it was like to be Amanda Perry back on Earth? To be in a position where you’re in the quadriplegics body?

Julie McNiven
You’re gonna laugh because I don’t remember shooting that.

David Read
Okay.

Julie McNiven
I have no memory, literally. Was that in the chair in the…

David Read
That’s not in the Destiny chair. She uses a stone and connects back to Earth and then she finds herself in the body of a woman who can’t move. That was Amanda Perry on Earth.

Julie McNiven
I don’t remember shooting that…at all.

David Read
At least it wasn’t a traumatic experience.

Julie McNiven
No I guess it wasn’t. I remember there’s a photo of me in Rush’s chair from one of the scenes. I was thinking, “Oh, is it that?” because that picture will come up on IMDb or whatever so I’ll see that, but no. This happens a lot though where there will be scenes or moments that Ive been significant and moving to people and they’ll be like, “what was that like?” I’ll be like, “I’m sure it was great. I have no idea. I don’t know.”

David Read
You did the work on the day and then you moved on.

Julie McNiven
I did it. That’s the life of the actor. Talking about the Black Hearted Killer role, there’s always going to be those roles that are going to feel way more significant than others, but ask me to tell you about the scene in that movie where blah, blah, blah? All I remember is that every day I cried and it felt good. Really, you can’t take everything with you.

David Read
That’s fair. It was in that state that Ginn died because Amanda Perry was in Ginn’s body on Destiny when Robert Knepper’s character, Simeon, comes in and kills her.

Julie McNiven
I do remember shooting the eyes open thing, that was really hard.

David Read
You’re on the floor and you’re dead.

Julie McNiven
Yes. I remember being upset because…

David Read
Brand new in the show.

Julie McNiven
I know. I was kind of like new on the show and I was like, “Why do you have to kill me? It’s not fair, I just died on the show. I just want to be alive.”

David Read
Did you get a call? From Brad and Rob?

Julie McNiven
Right now?

David Read
Did you get a call from production?

Julie McNiven
No, but I did speak to them about it earlier. I think in one of the first few episodes I was talking to Joe and he told me what was going to happen. It wasn’t…

David Read
A shock.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, I knew it was happening. I didn’t know that they were gonna bring me back until they did.

David Read
You didn’t?

Julie McNiven
I didn’t. When I was booked it was for six episodes then they realized they could pull me back as a hologram or consciousness.

David Read
Whatever it was.

Julie McNiven
Whatever I still am somewhere up in Destiny. Those were extra, like, “Yay, I get to come back and be kind of alive.”

David Read
How did you play that? Were you instructed to play that as if you’re not anything in terms of like a higher form; you’re just Ginn as a non physical presence.

Julie McNiven
Story wise, I think it really was used to, maybe I’m wrong, but lengthen the broken heartedness of Eli. Now she’s back but “you can’t touch her, you can talk to her.” That’s cool but is that enough? Maybe not. I mean, maybe, but maybe not. I fortunately had the opportunity to be used in that sense; to come back and kind of just grind that heartbreak a little more for him story wise. I think that’s what it was, it was like “you are Ginn, you’re everything you always were except you can’t touch, you can’t feel physical contact. How much will you change by not getting that? How much can you handle?”

David Read
I remember that episode very vividly, it’s called Hope. We had been beaten over the head so much over the course of that show by such harrowing situations; being clear across the universe cut off from all of our families and everything else that’s important. We had lost Amanda Perry and we had lost Ginn in one blow and then a few episodes later, we find out that their consciousness’ still exist and persist in some form. As a huge fan of that series it is one of the greater unsolved mysteries, in my opinion, about where they were going to go with that and what they had in mind. These personalities were inside the ship and they were drawing power from the ship, that’s why they had to be shut off at the end.

Julie McNiven
I think that it would have been interesting to see a new season, how the temptation of them being right there, for both Rush and for Eli.

David Read
The people they love.

Julie McNiven
Even if it’s just as a voice in the tabletop. Even if it is just a voice, it’s their love. That would have been interesting to see for sure. What lengths they would have gone to, what crazy things they would have done to create a new robot body and import that voice into the body.

David Read
That wasn’t a thing was it?

Julie McNiven
I don’t know. Ask Brad, I have no idea. I probably went there because I’m like, “I want to go back on the show.”

David Read
It’s sci-fi, you can do anything.

Julie McNiven
“How can I go back on the show? Well, I could be a robot body and then my consciousness can be downloaded into my body. It’s really easy.”

David Read
They’d already done it in Stargate, are you kidding me? Replicators!

Julie McNiven
It’s like “whatever! No big.” I don’t know how they would have done it seeing as though the show didn’t star Ginn. I just want to be back so my want comes from something else.

David Read
When you did play that, like, “Okay, so my consciousness persists somewhere,” did you go up to them and ask them “What’s next? Is this it for me? Am I going offline for good? Or do you have aspirations to bring me back again?”

Julie McNiven
I feel like most actors, once we’re killed off a show multiple times, we’re like, “okay, all right, you don’t want to see her anymore? Got it. Or you like killing me, I don’t know, either one.” There’s a fine line you have to ride between showing your interest in returning and speaking freely with the producers and writers about that stuff. I think they know, to this day, that of course I would want to come back. I don’t think I needed to express that. I knew that I wanted to come back but I knew that I wasn’t a main character. You just have to kind of just hope.

David Read
You’re facilitating a larger story.

Julie McNiven
Exactly. Your ego knows you’re not here to be the title card, you are here to help Eli’s story, that was why I was there. I pushed his story along to help him be who he was in the final episode. I think that’s important to know as a guest, as a guest player.

David Read
What’s your purpose, what’s your function?

Julie McNiven
What’s your purpose? What’s your function? Well it’s not usually to be you, it’s usually to move their story along.

David Read
What was it like hearing about the cancellation? Did you hear it from David? Did you read about it online?

Julie McNiven
I’m guessing I heard it from David but I don’t really remember to be honest. I know that sounds like, “why would I not remember that?” I think part of my mentality in this business is to shoot it and forget it; it’s too heartbreaking to hold on to the thought. For instance, I’m on a show right now, I was, I am, I don’t know, been dead since the beginning, once again. A show called Doom Patrol and it’s been amazing, I fucking love it, it’s such a wonderful show. But I like I said, I’ve been dead the whole time so it’s not healthy for me to really put too much hope in me coming back because I’m dead and I’m not a main character. Once my experience for an episode has wrapped and I haven’t been offered a contract for another episode, I try my best to just have enjoyed it and to try to let it go so that you’re not aching for that job. It’s not easy, sometimes I find myself with that little bit of hope and I try to just let it go. It’s not about you, it’s about the main characters so maybe, maybe not, you just don’t know. It’s not healthy to hold on to any hope.

David Read
I think you have a fair point. It’s about proper contextualization and you have to kind of compartmentalize it otherwise you just kill yourself. You can woulda shoulda coulda all of this and it’s like, at the end of the day, I have the work that I did and it’s cool.

Julie McNiven
Exactly and I’m grateful for it and I learned from it. With Doom Patrol, my co-star, all my scenes are with Matt Bomer and he’s just a wonderful scene partner. Honestly, he’s so great, so I’m like, “well, that’s one for the books so if it happens again, awesome. If it doesn’t, look what I’ve already done with that roll that could have just been one scene, and it wasn’t.” I do compartmentalize, I think you have to.

David Read
I have fan questions for you.

Julie McNiven
Sure.

David Read
Thank you for hanging on and thank you fans for hanging on. GateGabber – did you ever compete in the high school drama festival in Massachusetts or did you only do musical theater in high school?

Julie McNiven
I did musical theater. Is she talking ACTF? Oh, it doesn’t say.

David Read
It does say, yeah.

Julie McNiven
I did ACTF in college but I do remember some of my college friends went and taught drama in local high schools in the area and they did these high school drama competitions that I had never heard of. I don’t think my high school…we were in Western Mass. I think a lot of Eastern Mass, maybe Central, but a lot of Eastern Mass around Boston did this high school competition but I didn’t even know about it. Yes, I mostly did musicals through high school. I started doing more straight plays in college when I decided to shift my focus.

David Read
I really regret not having done the number of musicals that I could have done in high school. It’s one of those things where it’s like, “do I go out and work and make money or do I play?” It’s one of those things looking back, it’s like, “I wish I had taken more time to play.” I did a little, but I didn’t do nearly enough. I wanted my own money. The choices we make, right?

Julie McNiven
Yeah.

David Read
Let me contextualize the question. Russell Baldwin wants to know – do you think that Ginn could come out of her isolation to help Eli save the crew of the Destiny? Brad Wright is working on a fourth Stargate series and it will have some kind of a conclusion to the Destiny arc from what I’ve been told.

Julie McNiven
Oh that’s great.

David Read
As far as I know we will discover what happened at the very least.

Julie McNiven
Not that the actors would be back?

David Read
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. It could be. Do you think that Ginn would have a part to play in that?

Julie McNiven
My memory of that last moment is just Eli all alone on the Destiny, right? Who is he going to talk to? Yeah, of course, I definitely do. That’s not me wanting to be back, of course I do want to be back on the show, whatever it is. In whatever aspect, I would happy to be back. I just look at what are his options? To sit there all alone for years and years and years? No. He’s gonna go in to..,where was I put? My consciousness was put in to…

David Read
I think the core.

Julie McNiven
Right, but wasn’t it put into where you’re not…like the trash? Not the trash.

David Read
Yeah. It’s like a secondary memory. Yeah.

Julie McNiven
They put it somewhere else.

David Read
To be safe.

Julie McNiven
Right. I think he’s gonna figure out a way to make safe contact, absolutely. He has nothing else to do and he misses me.

David Read
Nothing to lose at this point, right?

Julie McNiven
We’ll see what Brad comes up with.

David Read
I know, I’m excited. I’m just hoping that MGM gives him the green light. They’ve been working on this for years. Barry Barry – you’re a sci fi fan. What series or films are your favorites from that genre?

Julie McNiven
Um, let’s see. Any sci-fi I will watch and I will probably enjoy it. I loved Fringe, I love this multiverse idea.

David Read
It was a bold show.

David Read
Let’s erase our first three seasons, why the heck not!

Julie McNiven
It was.

Julie McNiven
Right, and I think it worked.

David Read
Yeah, in it’s proper context. Yeah.

Julie McNiven
I loved that show. I was only in one scene of that show but it was such a fun character. I was supposed to come back. The bug girl ended up marrying Scarlie, or the Charlie from the alternate universe. We got married because the actor had booked, what’s his name? Kirk Acevedo, he had booked something somewhere else so he wasn’t there as much but they needed a reason for him to be away so we were on our long honeymoon. That was heartbreaking. I remember one night someone was like, “You were mentioned on it and again” and I was like “what?” They’re like, “Yeah, you’re married.” “What?” I didn’t know any of this but they just needed a reason. So anyway, loved that one. Gosh. I don’t know, give me some ideas.

David Read
Battlestar Galactica, Firefly…

Julie McNiven
Yes. Oh god, yes, Battlestar, I love Battlestar Galactica, absolutely loved it. I’m actually due for a rewatch, I haven’t seen it in this decade.

David Read
I haven’t seen it since it aired and it’s one of my top five. I go back and I watch scenes from it, I have it on my hard drive. But man, what a good show.

Julie McNiven
So good.

David Read
There was a time when Stargate SG-1, Atlantis and Battlestar were all on one night and it was called Sci-Friday. That was really the major launch of Sci-Friday and for years people talked about that lineup; how solid that lineup was with all those three shows.

Julie McNiven
Yeah.

David Read
It was terrific.

Julie McNiven
Yeah. Awesome.

David Read
ThatDudeRightThere – question for Julie, do you know of any behind the scenes plans for Ginn that we didn’t get to see on screen? Maybe even instances where you yourself were able to influence or change something from the scripts? Was there any time in which you offered a suggestion and they were like, “Oh, we’ll see what we can do with that.” Did you feel comfortable?

Julie McNiven
I don’t remember that situation but I do know that I was booked for six episodes. In seeing how well Ginn and Eli got along, they felt comfortable. I sometimes feel like when I book a recurring on a show, even Supernatural was just two episodes and then that was gone. It’s just a little test. “If it’s two episodes and she’s hell to work with, we’ll never see her again. Right? It’s cool.” But if she’s shows up, she does her work well, she gets along with everyone; I think a lot of the times it’s just a way to kind of test out. You never know what you’re gonna get.

David Read
Also is the character interesting? Plays off against the others.

Julie McNiven
Exactly, how is that going? Is there a way to have her come back later? Because we worked really well together and they found a way to move the story along, bringing me back, then I was brought back. But I can promise you, if they didn’t like me they would not have brought me back. There’s definitely those instances where you’re like, “Where did that character go?”

Julie McNiven
Yeah, exactly.

David Read
Scotty0709 – any funny David Blue stories? Anything memorable? We haven’t had any David Blue real anecdotes yet and I’m hoping you can give us some.

David Read
I worked with Christopher Judge on another interview series called Dialing Home and he would talk about situations where there would be actors who would approach the creators, or their agent would, and say “can we get a multi episode deal?” They’re like, “How about no and no, you’re not coming back?” You have to be careful how you approach that.

Julie McNiven
Oh gosh. I know him a lot more now than I did then, right? When was this 2011, 7, 9?

David Read
8, 9, 10, around there. Yeah.

Julie McNiven
That was a while ago. He’s always really fun to work with. He’s one of my most authentic scene partners ever. Even now, doing reading with him, having him help me with an audition or whatnot, he always makes it better. He’s a wonderful actor and a really good friend. Before the quarantine we had written a couple pilots together. There would be days and days and days I’d show up at 11 in the morning, I’d stay till dinnertime, go home, be with my family. That was like my work day, we would work all day. There’s tons of David Blue stories but of course I can’t think of one particular one can. One of my first memories of one of the first jokes he said was a super cheesy dad joke. God, I don’t even know if I’m gonna be able to say it right. “What do you call a fish with no eyes?”

David Read
I have no clue.

Julie McNiven
Fsh.

David Read
Oh gosh.

Julie McNiven
I don’t think I did it right. He’d be like “Julie it’s this way?” I don’t know. I feel like he’s always got a dad joke ready. But yeah, he’s just great to work with, he’s a wonderful friend of mine.

David Read
I remember going to San Diego Comic Con before their premiere of season two. The actors were always booked at the hotel Solamar which is in the Gaslamp district. I was attached to MGM for that project for a number of different things. David and the cast came in, he saw me, he knew who I was at that point. I stood up to shake his hand. this is season two so we’ve already known each other for a year at this point, he said, “put that hand back, we’re on hugging territory now.” He is one of the most authentic and genuine people – because with actors you run the whole gamut – and so intelligent and thoughtful.

Julie McNiven
Yes he is. Which makes him a great partner in acting but also in the way we work together, writing wise. We don’t think the same so it’s great. I can come in with these thoughts and then he’ll come in with these thoughts and together, I’m like, “Oh, that’s cool. That made something really cool.”

David Read
As long as you trust each other’s instincts. That’s awesome.

Julie McNiven
Yeah. One thing I love when I work with him is how something that you think would be this crazy idea or like, “I don’t know how this is going to work” and then it will bounce off. He’ll throw something that bounces that off then it will create something totally new that never would have happened had neither of you not trusted that you could just say something really stupid. “Well this isn’t going to work but maybe it will lead us somewhere.” When you have that trust with a writing partner or scene partner or whatever it is, that’s where the fun is; creating.

David Read
Last question for you. Ákos Tamás Nováki – if you could swap bodies for an hour with someone on Earth, from the Stargate Universe or in real life, who would you choose?

Julie McNiven
Oh gosh. I have no idea. Who would I choose. One of them who could fly so that I could fly. I guess Supergirl. There you go, there’s my answer. I don’t know if that really counts but that’s what I’m saying.

David Read
It wasn’t boring. It’s like “Oh, that’s clever.”

Julie McNiven
There we go.

David Read
Julie, it’s been wonderful having you back, it really means a lot to me.

Julie McNiven
Thank you. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.

David Read
The experience from a month and a half ago of playing the game, the role playing game, any takeaways from that now that you’ve had that time to reflect on it? Everyone had so much fun.

Julie McNiven
Yeah, it was really fun and I think I’d be better doing it again. I think that was like, “Okay, I’m kind of getting the idea of this.” I think it would be more fun the more you feel more comfortable, pretending to be this person in this moment. I was nervous. David was like, “it’s just acting, just act.” “But I don’t know who we are, where we are. What was my childhood like? What were the traumas that happened?”

David Read
What’s my motivation?

Julie McNiven
I was like, “how am I supposed to know what to say?” Obviously it doesn’t have to be that serious. I think another round I would feel more comfortable for sure.

David Read
I definitely think that one is in the works in the next few months here so I’ll definitely be hitting you up.

Julie McNiven
Sounds good.

David Read
Thank you so much again and best success to you in your future work. Let’s just get through this situation and see each other out the other side of it.

Julie McNiven
Exactly, all temporary. Thank you so much for having me and thank you all to the fans who have asked questions and watched and supported. You guys are awesome. Thank you.

David Read
We’ll be in touch really soon.

Julie McNiven
All right, sounds good.

David Read
Thank you so much Julie.

Julie McNiven
Bye.

David Read
Bye.

Julie McNiven
Bye everyone.

David Read
You’re good to disconnect. Thanks so much for your time.

Julie McNiven
All right, thank you.

David Read
Bye bye. Julie McNiven, Ginn everyone. Thank you so much to Julie for joining us for another episode. She was originally in the Stargate role playing game tests that we did in October. If you scroll down through our archive or if you type “Stargate SG-1 roleplay test” you will find that. You know what, I will link to it, no need to make you dig. If you want to find it, I will put a link underneath this program. I do have a question for me, John 42 – are you or GateWorld going to establish a Parler handle? I can’t speak to Darren but all I know is that I can barely keep up with the content on the social media that I have right now. I don’t have any expectations currently to add another one to the mix, so that is what I can say about that. I do have artwork for you by Razer 7256. This is a drawing of Ginn and Eli, “a quick sketch that I did” says Razor 7256. “An idea I really can’t wait to finish. I’ve been really caught up with school and everything but almost there.” Apparently this was a work in progress but this is a piece from, I believe, 2011. I think this is the final version that exists, so extremely cool. Before I wrap things down, or wind things down I should say, it’s time to announce our guests for next week. Jay Acovone. All three of these are currently scheduled for Sunday December 6th. Jay Acovone, Major Charles Kowalski, we’ll be bringing him back from the dead. Talk about a guy who would never die. Jay is going to be joining us Sunday December 6th at 11am Pacific time. Then at 1pm, Darren Sumner and moderator Ian will be joining us for episode 2 of Stargate trivia. We had a little bit of Stargate trivia in episode one, our premiere, but I consider this to be technically the second round. We are going to be kind of throwing ourselves off balance a little bit by bringing a third into the mix. Ian, our moderator, has graciously agreed to join us so thank you Ian. That’s going to be an interesting time. On this episode in particular, instead of asking questions for the guests, I am going to be inviting the YouTube live stream audience to submit Stargate questions for us to answer. So Darren, Ian and myself, we will have questions for each other and we’re going to create a system where we can parlay the questions at one another, each, and then get a total. Then the tiebreakers for the questions will be Stargate questions, hopefully hard ones, from the YouTube Live Chat. Sommer will be taking your questions in the live chat and she will be giving those questions to us. We will find out who the winner is with Stargate trivia from your questions. Be thinking of some questions for us if you’re planning on joining us for that episode because those are the ones that are going to be asked to break any tie that may exist and will wrap up the trivia challenge. Then, closing us out on Sunday December 6th at 3pm Pacific time, you asked for him, we’ve got him, David Nykl, Radek Zelenka from Stargate Atlantis will be joining us at 3pm Pacific. Those are the guest announcements that I have for you. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the program and are interested in sharing it with a fellow Stargate fan. Before I let you go, if you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I would really appreciate it if you click that Like button. It 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. If you plan to watch live I recommend giving the bell icon a click so you’kk be the first to know of any schedule changes, which will possibly happen all the time. Bear in mind clips from this live stream will be, eventually, released over the course of the next several days and weeks on the Dial the Gate and Gateworld.net YouTube channels. That’s all that I have for you in this episode. Up next we have the talented, the wonderful, Miss Rachel Luttrell. She’s going to be giving us her insights on Teyla Emmagan and her journey with that character in Stargate Atlantis. My name is David Read, thanks so much for joining us, I’ll see you around on the other side.