There are many people responsible for bringing characters like the Asgard puppet to life on screen. One of the Animatronic operators, Morris Chapdelaine, joins Dial the Gate LIVE to share stories from the set, as well as his experience as a Prior, the Orion Tenat, and more!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Splash Screen
00:23 – Opening Credits
00:50 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:02 – Welcoming Morris and Getting into the Industry
05:02 – The Imperfects
07:18 – Getting Started with Stargate and Asgard Puppetteering
13:12 – Thor’s Personality
14:58 – Fans discovering Stargate
16:57 – Being responsible for the Asgard puppets
22:02 – Auctioning the last Asgard puppet
24:29 – Tenat the Oranian in Stargate SG-1
30:52 – A Wraith Warrior in Atlantis and a Prior in SG-1
36:05 – Decompression After a Performance
38:32 – Fan Questions: Personal Favorite Practical Effect
40:23 – The Voice of the Asgard
41:21 – Puppeteer and Actor Collaboration
42:18 – Upcoming Projects
43:55 – Wrapping up with Morris
45:43 – Post-Interview housekeeping
48:08 – End credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 176 of Dial the Gate the Stargate Oral History Project. My name is David Read. Thank you so much for joining us today. We have a great lineup today, Morris Chapdelaine is launching our program. We’re going to delve into some Stargate SG-1 history here in a moment. But before we get started, if you enjoy Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it means a great deal if you click that Like button that helps the show grow its audience. And please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes click the Subscribe icon. And giving the Bell icon to click will notify you the moment new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on both the Dial the Gate and the GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live episode, Morris is joining us live which means that if you are in the YouTube chat you can submit questions to him through our moderating team. I think we’ve got Tracy in there today. And we’ve got, I believe, Antony as well. So I appreciate them joining us and we’re going to go ahead and get the program started here. Morris Chapdelaine, actor, Asgard puppeteer, Producer on Van Helsing. Welcome, sir. How you doing?

Morris Chapdelaine
I’m doing very well. How are you today?

David Read
I am. Well, I appreciate you taking time to join us. Are you in? Are you in Vancouver?

Morris Chapdelaine
I am in Vancouver and we are strangely expecting snow this afternoon.

David Read
Wow. Jeez. All right. Well, I remember being there. It was February I think of 2018 or 17. And you guys got a huge dump of snow and the entire city just came to a grinding halt that no one knew what to do.

Morris Chapdelaine
We don’t. Buses stop, transit stops. Nobody leaves their homes. Schools shut down.

David Read
Mass hysteria!

Morris Chapdelaine
Mass hysteria! But it’s entertaining,

David Read
There is that. I like watching it. But I don’t like driving it, for sure. Morris, did you? When did you know you wanted to be in this industry that this is what you wanted to do?

Morris Chapdelaine
Wow, probably the first time I saw the Wizard of Oz. And I think I was in grade two. And it was just such a magical experience for me as a little boy. And I knew immediately I needed to be involved in film and television in any capacity I could. So it was a lifelong pursuit for me. So it’s never, I’ve never veered from it really. And I’m glad I’ve stayed this path.

David Read
One of the things that I find remarkable about you is your desire to, it’s not just in front of the camera, it’s not just behind the camera, you want to try it all, you know. There’s there’s so much out there that people can do to be a part of any creative process. I think you are an example of the fact that if you want to be involved in something creative and cool and something that’s going to, you know, help shape people that you know, you can do really pretty much anything you want. If you go out there and try it.

Morris Chapdelaine
It’s very true. Sometimes I would think to myself, man, should I just really focus on one thing, which is often you know, good advice to give. But I just have enjoyed all aspects of everything I’ve done in film and television over my career. And I think now that I am a filmmaker and a TV and film producer, all those small things I’ve done in front of and behind the camera has made me better at my job because I understand all the little intricacies, you know, from working with actors and puppeteers and writers to working with camera technicians and all post houses and vis effects and it’s just I mean it’s a massive army that puts together these sorts of creative endeavors. And the more anyone can know about all those, the better you’ll be at, you know, whatever you decide to fall into.

David Read
Exactly. Tell us about The Imperfects. I’m going through your IMDB right now and seeing some of the more interesting… What’s been keeping you busy these recent days?

Morris Chapdelaine
Well, The Imperfects was the last show I did for Netflix, wonderful series with Dennis Heaton as our show runner, you know, really well known for a lot of his genre work. I’ve worked with him a few times before that we did two seasons of a show called The Order, which was about these college-aged magic practitioners and the werewolves among them. And that was a real riot, we had a wonderful fan base for that. And then after we worked on a show together, called The Imperfects, we just did the one season. But it’s a wonderful show, also, you know, genre based about young, college aged, now, people in the Seattle area. And if you haven’t seen it, I would encourage people to see it, it’s still getting a lot of attention on Netflix. They start off, you know, they meet again, the beginning of the show in a hospital, to try to find the doctor that they used to be getting these meds from, and they have this recollection, “Oh, I remember meeting you when I was a little kid. And you know, what’s going on with the doctor? Why are we getting our meds?” And it turns out, they had been experimented upon when they were younger, genetic therapies and whatnot. And as a result, as they stop getting the regular medication, for reasons to be announced, things go awry, and they start having these strange abilities. Powers per se, things happening to them, and it’s just how they’re dealing with that in the modern world.

David Read
That sounds like a cool premise. All right. I yeah, I love the the mutant genre. I remember X-Men coming out in 2000s. It was like, because I had followed the animated series when I was was growing up. And it’s that kind of content, there’s miles to mine that in all kinds of different directions. But these coming of age stories, you know, a lot of us grew up thinking that, you know, we wish that we were something more than we are. And we get to excise that by watching a lot of programming that reflects that. That’s cool. Can you tell me about how you got involved in Stargate?

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah, I mean, we’re going back well, over 20 years now. I was in the late 1990s, I think. I mean, it was obviously a large portion of what was going on in Vancouver at the time, film and television up here. And I was lucky to meet one of the very first producers of Stargate who went on to do the entire franchise, John Lenic. I don’t know if you’ve spoken to him.

David Read
I’ve been trying to get him — good guy.

Morris Chapdelaine
He’s very busy.

David Read
He’s very busy. He’s very talented.

Morris Chapdelaine
Right now he’s got other really cool projects that I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by. So you’ve got all encourage him to reach out to you.

David Read
Please and thank you, I I’ve always loved the man. He’s always been a good guy.

Morris Chapdelaine
He’s really a good guy just doesn’t like doing on camera stuff, but a lot of stories…

David Read
It’s too bad because he’s adorable. John, such good stories to tell I’m sorry, I don’t mean to derail you go ahead.

Morris Chapdelaine
No, all good. Anyway, we became friends and he brought me into the fold early on. Because he knew I had a theatrical background. I was working in television. And he said look, “We’ve got this character, this Asgard, you know, we need some assistance with we’re looking for more people to come in and puppeteer and do some voice work.” And that sort of meant I was in. Suddenly I met Peter DeLuise and Martin Wood and Todd Masters from MastersFX. I just, yeah, suddenly I thought “I need to be here.” And I started in I think an episode, maybe season two, I don’t remember now. And yeah, I was I learned really quickly how to use the animatronic controllers and worked with the puppeteers and apprenticed with them over a few weeks and started doing the voice on set and doing all the face and eye work of Thor, along with the Jeny Cassady who’s another incredible puppeteer, super busy as well. She’s you know, continually in demand. And what I loved about falling into a show like Stargate as a puppeteer working on the Asgards, was that it was such a theatrical aspect of film and television Film and television is such a director’s medium. I mean, it is I think I’ve mentioned it before, it’s a machine and there’s so many technicians involved and so much stuff that needs to be captured on a certain day. But as puppeteers and performers, you need to work really collectively as an ensemble in order to bring this inanimate creature or alien to life. And so, unlike a lot of other people, we would have our stunt people as well but we’d have rehearsal time. And we’d get early copies of the script and say, “Okay, how are we going to accomplish this — practically?” Without having to dive into, you know, you’re going to have to have help us out with VFX or special effects, you know, how are we going to make our little three and a half foot Asgard do what he wants to do, move in the space, and make it easier for the cast to relate to and to have conversations with. So we would spend a lot of time and at any given time, there were four of us working the Asgard in different capacities, puppeteers, as well as an assistant or production assistant, who would make sure batteries were charged and cables were set. And I mean, we had as I said, I worked on often the mouth, and different face facial portions of Thor. Jeny often did the eyes and eyebrows. And so we really had to work together, when I was speaking on set, so that we would be able to match exactly what was being said and have responses to things that were being said to us as well. Otherwise, it just looks stupid. But we also had somebody working with the breathing mechanism. So he had a bladder in his chest, that would allow him to sort of, you know, have that sense of constant movement, and then also somebody on the arms and the body as well. So you could, he could contort and move and reach up his hand and grasp at things. And we got to a point where we were so comfortable working with each other, that we would end up improvising often with Amanda Tapping or with Richard, and they would love it, because we would get so much more from those scenes and from the characters because we had the ability to do that. And it’s only because we were all from a theatrical background, and just had spent a lot of time with the little guy. So.

David Read
So, there was there was the mouth, the eyes and the eyebrows, the bladder, and then the arms. What controlled like the head movement, there was a lot…

Morris Chapdelaine
So the person who was usually on the ground, working the arms, as needed, and the bladder, also would do the head. Sometimes there were two different versions of Thor. And then after other Asgards, Loki, for example. And they started getting better and better with how they were building them. So controls were simplified. But yeah, there was somebody often behind who would move the head, it was easy, it’s very sort of hand rod puppetry so that he could completely turn his head at who he was speaking to. But yeah, we really had to be in sync at all times. So it took a lot of focus. It was always a stressful thing, I know for production, John as Producer would sort of like, “Oh my gosh, there’s like a big episode coming up again, with the aliens snd it’s all of you guys are here. And it’s costing us so much money.” I mean, they kept on writing in the Asgard because they were such a fan favorite. I mean, everyone wanted to watch an episode when they would arrive.

David Read
And even Rick said it was his favorite character to guest with.

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah. Love it.

David Read
It’s true. And the level of sophistication of them as you went forward also, you know, allows you to infuse, like personality. I remember, I don’t know if, I think it was you that I was talking with. We had that conversation where Thor, you know, early on, his movement was very limited, you know, he could just do a head move. So you guys, I believe worked into that, like that was his personality. Whereas someone like Kvasir way later on or Hermiod. They were, because you had the ability to move the characters as much as you did. They were much more active in their personality. Whereas when Thor came on later, in the later versions of him, he was still stoic and rigid. And that was just his posture. That’s who he was.

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah, it’s who he was. And he kept that from the beginning. But yeah, you’re right. As the technology advanced, and we were able to do more with the the creatures that were built for us. Yeah, we were able to do so much more personality wise. So that made it a lot of fun. We had a lot of wonderful comedic scenes I remember in Stargate Atlantis. So it was just, yeah, it was it was such a treat to see how those characters were able to evolve. And there was one point I think, I think it was a convention in Vancouver that Jeny and I had actually brought our Asgard out. And we did a live demonstration for a packed, packed house. And it was just crazy to us to see the fans that wanted to see him after, to have photos with them, to meet us, to see how it how it worked, how we made him move through the space, and it was really, really a thrill.

David Read
It must be, to recognize that you’re, you know, appreciated for for creating life into something that’s inanimate, you know, not akin to say like Kermit the Frog or Cookie, Cookie Monster, you know, it’s just a level of sophistication is increased and there’s more people perhaps involved but it’s still the same basic kind of technique, it’s gotta be very rewarding.

Morris Chapdelaine
It is so rewarding. And it’s even rewarding today. I had posted on my Instagram, which is a small following. I’m not very huge on social media. But a lot of my colleagues who I’m working with now responded immediately, with, like a costume designer when working with and production designer and camera people. “You worked on Stargate? We didn’t know that.” And I’m sure some of them are watching now. And they were super thrilled and excited. It literally still takes me by surprise when I find the people that are fans of the show.

David Read
Always finding new people in my circles as well. You know, I think that one of the cool things about the franchise is A: It’s perennial nature is just a byproduct of the stories that were told and what they chose to focus on. But, you know, people are still finding the show through streaming, they’re still finding it, you know, on in syndication, and it kind of doesn’t go away. And there’s something to be said for a show that kind of sticks around that way. You know, the stories that were being told, were worthwhile and meant something, in some ways are more relevant now than they were then. With all the technology and everything else that’s happening. It’s a little creepy.

Morris Chapdelaine
Things with the environment. And really, it’s this push to bring it back. Constantly see online which is fun.

David Read
Absolutely. We can, no one can get enough. I sold the first one, puppet that was created for I believe Outer Limits, probably. And the last one that was used in Stargate Atlantis. And I remember the last one had two crates that were basically the size of Asgard caskets, one on top of the other. And when you open the one that has the puppet in it, the inner lining had like planets and stars, it was very casket-like, very unusual. I don’t know whose idea that was. But it was it was great. And then the bottom piece underneath had all of his I’m guessing it was steel parts. How? What was that like to be caring — responsible for all that? I’m sure, you know, the visual effects people were also responsible. But I mean, didn’t you have to, did you have to fly with him somewhere? Or was that a joke that we were telling?

Morris Chapdelaine
No, no, no, I mean there were, there was one occasion I think at the beginning of season four. And I can’t remember who came up with him. But there was the MastersFX office in Los Angeles where they had been doing repairs and creating another version of the Asgard of Thor. And he had been shipped up. And one of the artists from there had come up with him. And it had been put on the tarmac and then brought to the studio. And we were preparing to work with him. And the production really wanted to use the new version. And we had rehearsed with the older one which had because of the way that the flesh was made out of rubber and whatnot after a certain amount of time it just would degrade. And so we had rehearsed and done all of our prep with the older version. And then on this first day of this episode we had open the crate and we got them all set up and we were ready to go. And we’re on set. And we as soon as we started everything the servos in his head, like, fried. They had gotten wet apparently they had left it on the tarmac and it had rained here in Vancouver, which often happens, and smoke was coming out of his like eyeballs and ears. And of course when you’re on set time is money and we were just panicked. So, and there is that responsibility to you know, to get things up and set in time. So we raced out with them and it was almost like an emergency medical procedure. There were five of us, opening his face taking things out realizing what had happened, putting in new servos resetting things, calibrating with the controllers. I mean it delayed, I think they pushed things around a couple of hours but we got it back and got him working. And it was great. But yeah, that was that sort of stuff can happen. Especially when we were doing stuff that was not at the studio. It was on a bit of a location or something you had to be so careful. So those giant wood caskets, which is kind of what they were, they were super important, and they weren’t always watertight. But you probably saw when you open them up, there were a lot of different the original version of him and a lot more steel rods and whatnot. And yeah, it was a heavy puppet to work with. And it did have some issues initially, but just got better and better with time.

David Read
Yeah, the technology it just goes that way, you know, and now they’ve got, I remember for Martin Wood was was talking about 200. And the technology that they had to just synchronize the, the mouth with essentially mp3 files you put into it, and it builds a corresponding movement based on the dynamic. There’s something really lost with that, you know, when an artist is no longer involved in making the mouth movements and the facial features and everything else. I think we lose something.

Morris Chapdelaine
Of course, we lose that the ability to perform in a sense. As I said, some of the great stuff that was captured early on would be stuff that wasn’t, you know, that was in between the lines in the script, or after, you know, we’d cut and then we’d continue playing along with the scene a little bit, got some golden moments, you know, 100%. And also, even if they weren’t moments that were usable for the show, they really kept the crew entertained. Hard long days we were doing and it would be just so fun to have such a real real cheeky comment come out of Thor’s mouth after… We did that quite frequently. And we kind of had to we needed to keep up with people like the Pete DeLuises and the Martin Woods.

David Read
Oh my gosh!

Morris Chapdelaine
So quick with all of their responses and whatnot.

David Read
So it allows you to improvise and discover new things. So yes, it’s always a learning process. So, when we, it’s, you were saying like the the material, the rubber, the silicone, you know, it only lasts for so long. When we sold the final Asgard, who still had the the circuitry on him for Atlantis season five, when they came back in the Lost Tribe. This was 2010, September of 2010. And we had worked so hard to keep him pristine, because oxygen destroys, you know, things like this, you unless you’re gonna seal him in a nitrogen container, it was just, that there was nothing that we could do about it. And I saw a photo taken of him a few years ago, it would break your heart. And…

Morris Chapdelaine
Where is he now? where was he sold to?

David Read
A fan, a fan got him. And I was broadcasting in every way that I could, you know, in all the social media that I had, whoever gets him if there’s any way that you can secure him in some kind of way that deprives him of oxygen, you know, so that we can he can be maintained, because he was so gooey and sticky, you know, dries out, and then that’s it. And it just, it broke my heart when I saw the photos to see that, you know, whoever got him was not able to take care of him to that, to that level. And it just reminds me that, you know, life is transitory, we have these things for a little while, they’re preserved on film, you know, and then we, and then they’re gone.

Morris Chapdelaine
That’s why all these museums and whatnot are so important now that they’re, you know, trying to keep these, you know, artifacts of our past. It’s the film and television, you know, archivists, it’s just a really important work. Right, that it’s so nice to see some of the stuff that you’ve got on your shelves there.

David Read
This is fanmade you know, but there are a few of these pieces are original to I think, you know, if we’re lucky enough to own a piece of it, I think that it’s important to recognize stewardship over a lot of these because you want them to survive to the next generation and to someone who’s going to care for them beyond you. So, it’s important and the sophistication of of of archiving, you know, is always improving we’re finding new ways to maintain things so it’s cool to watch

Morris Chapdelaine
And there’s a lot of stuff that’s out there people are really, you know, interested and looking for things there’s still stuff that can be found.

David Read
Absolutely. You played the Oranian, Tenat.

Morris Chapdelaine
Like what? I love to doing the Asgard, but Tenat was such a treat to play because he was such a stupid goofball.

David Read
Really wasn’t anything like the Oranians in the show? These two side characters who are like bumbling idiots who you know, you kind of feel bad for them because you know, the Lucian Alliance, they they kind of just, you kind of know that just fell in with the wrong crowd. Tell us about bringing this character to life under this mask.

Morris Chapdelaine
Oh, that, man, that process of getting into the character was such an ordeal, because the cowl and the mask, which had been built, you know, from my head, the makeup effects artists had like, 3D models of our bodies in order to build them up properly and sculpt them. But it was so heavy and I remember the process, I think probably took three or four hours. So I would arrive on set three in the morning with the makeup artists, and you know, start getting into it and painted and then with the pieces added on. And we would have to go into a bit of a meditative state during that, where it was just, you know, focusing on, you know, when I need to be on camera, these are the words I need to say, this is the action I need to do. And all my energy needs to go into that. You know, everything I’ve got, and then in between takes, it was all about remaining cool and focused and calm because there wasn’t much eating that went on other than through a straw. Breathing had to be very, he was like, it was just like, couldn’t get too worked up.

David Read
You can lose it. You could lose it.

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah, it was I think, I mean, I was lucky, I think because I was able to play a lot of different aliens in the show and some other television programs, because I was kind of fun and theatrical that way, but also was able to just be relaxed and calm and in the moment.

David Read
Not everyone can do it. It’s very easy to have a panic attack. Through, are you claustrophobic at all?

Morris Chapdelaine
No, I, there was a few times where I got a little, if I got into my head too much but I could walk myself out of that, because it would have been a horrifying experience had I had a bit of a panic attack, or started to feel claustrophobic. I remember the one, I remember the name of the episode, and we were out in, somewhere outside of the city where all these mounds of sand were and it was super hot day in Vancouver, Canada here I think was like 31-32 degrees Celsius. So like high 80s and very, very warm conditions. And they had taped like ice packs to us under our costume. But the extreme heat, when you’re also you know all covered up with this, was really a thing to battle through.

David Read
We don’t think of how often the heat leaves our body, but when it can’t go anywhere in there it’s quite extraordinary how fast you heat up.

Morris Chapdelaine
Oh, yeah, when they would remove it at the end, like after a 13 or 14 hour day. That feeling when the big face piece comes off and the steam rises up from the collar in the makeup trailers was just, yeah, it’s hard to describe. But it really is quite a sensation.

David Read
Do you see through the eyes? Because those eyes obviously we’re not your eyes?

Morris Chapdelaine
No, those eyes were sort of up here. So they were small little sort of sinus pinholes that we were able to see through. It was also very difficult to hear. I know at some point playing that character I had been given a little earpiece, so he could hear you know, especially if you were talking to him or had a scene with Chris and he was a distance away. Like okay if I don’t have something in my ear and I have no idea what he’s saying. I can see his lips kind of. Oh, it’s so funny. I mean it’s good that they we were all sort of a family on that show so we could rile each other and get each other going a little bit and but there was a lot of support to make sure that these characters could do what they needed to do. But yeah, back to Tenat and I mean they were such bumbling idiots I love his demise was one of my favorite scenes on the ship. It was just the realization that “oh my gosh, we’ve been duped.” And a…

David Read
Do you remember his last line?

Morris Chapdelaine
Oh my gosh.

David Read
It’s one of my favorite from the show.

Morris Chapdelaine
What is it? I don’t remember.

David Read
“Damn you Cam Mitchell!”

Morris Chapdelaine
Yes, now I recall. Classic, isn’t it? We really spoke that way. The reason the voice that came for Tenat was partially because of the heaviness of the makeup and the teeth. And the teeth are so massive that the only way to sort of vocalize was by speaking way back in the throat and the palate. And it was interesting how it happened. Jeff played my counterpart on that show and, yeah, that was the only way to speak. It was interesting how suddenly these voices would come out of these characters based on what was happening to them physically.

David Read
Yeah, there’s only so much that you can get away with you know, when you have this full, this full prosthetic going. Yeah, Jup was Geoff Redknap’s character. And it was, yeah, this set of characters was terrific. I have the other two characters that really required heavy, not as heavy prosthetic for the Prior but definitely for the Wraith. The Prior had to have been a different process as well to deal with.

Morris Chapdelaine
Long process, not as long as Tenat. But you know, you had those really smoky white lenses in your eyes, and a lot of the the white makeup and the big, long, heavy cloaks. They were such crazy cool characters though, sort of like floating, just so much power. Very regal, but horrifying with what they were able to do. It was super fun to play. Super fun to play the Priors. And several of us had that, you know, opportunity to do so. And then of course, yeah, playing a newborn Wraith with Andee. After Andee Frizzell, you know, birthed me. That was, I mean, that was just a real treat that was fun to go on set. I remember the very first time the very first shot of that they had the special effects team had put together, it was a giant bucket of a gel, sort of, I mean it’s almost like it’s KY or something. It was so bloody cold. And I was basically naked. And as I slid down this tube, as I was like, breaking through that rubbery plastic embryo. The scream was real, because it was like, I’m surprised that character did not swear a lot of profanities immediately, because it was brutal. See, then they heated it up for the next couple of takes.

David Read
Oh, man. Well, you have to figure out the temperature. Okay, not that one. We had always wanted to see, or I had certainly, what was underneath the mask for the Warriors. And it’s like, I think that they, I mean, they did quite a bit… They make it look like you have no nose. It’s horrific. And it’s like being born again. You know, and that shot.

Morris Chapdelaine
A really cool thing to do. It was so smart that they did that. Because you’re right, people were really so curious as to what they were, they were under all that. And I remember, yeah, I had like the eyes, no nose, the teeth. The photos of that exist online and they still sometimes come back to haunt me. I think I was wearing like a small little jock strap that was all covered in makeup. And I mean, I had tried to be as skinny as possible leading up to that episode. So I could, you know, be like a newborn, in a sense. And yeah, it was…

David Read
Yeah, they don’t come out bulked up.

Morris Chapdelaine
No they don’t. No they don’t.

David Read
They have to go through Wraith training.

Morris Chapdelaine
There’s a whole other side episode.

David Read
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Andee with a whistle, “Come on! You guys want to be a part of my hive? Give me a break here.”

Morris Chapdelaine
Andee is so great. You know, I…

Morris Chapdelaine
I know you mentioned that I produced several episodes of Van Helsing another TV show for Syfy. And when the opportunity came up, you know, for her to be one of our cast members it was just such a reunion for us. And so lovely to have her back again. She’s a little powerhouse for sure.

David Read
Oh, she’s wonderful.

David Read
She is, she’s a delight.

Morris Chapdelaine
Have you spoken to her on the show?

David Read
Twice, and we’re gonna, I want to have her back because we want to do one with her and James Lafazanos. I’ve yet to ask James but I hope he’ll do it. But yeah, that’s a complicated species to bring to life and they did it with a great deal of poise and she’s just a riot.

Morris Chapdelaine
She is great.

David Read
The Prior contact lenses, you know I appear to be on this like obsession. Could you see through those?

Morris Chapdelaine
No, hardly at all.

David Read
Yeah, they are so foggy,

Morris Chapdelaine
So thick. Everywhere we would move when playing priors. We had a production assistant or a makeup artist with us on our arm sort of setting us into place. You could see maybe six inches in front of your eyes, just very blurry. And I remember one sequence as a Prior I was on a ridge, way up high, and I remember looking up there before the contacts were put in and I thought, “You know, I could fall off of that so easily.” Was crazy but it was perfect for the shot because the sun was coming up behind and I had the glowing staff and it was incredible. But yeah, we could couldn’t move very far with those lenses in the eyes. The lens technology has also gotten a lot better now. But yeah, there… That’s another strange thing to have a giant full lens in your eyeballs and then be moving around speaking.

David Read
Andee would talk about how she would have to be driven home. Because with with her lenses, she would lose depth of field. And she would lose like all peripheral vision. It wasn’t possible after taking them out for hours it would take to reset. You just couldn’t take them off and be able to see again.

Morris Chapdelaine
No, yeah, you know, getting out of any of those makeups. And with the lenses and all that it really is a process of decompression afterwards. Often, you know, we would spend it would be an hour after wrap where you’re getting cleaned up and undressed and changed and showered. And then still there’s a bit of a psychological thing. I mean, any sort of person who performs as an actor in a program, there’s this weird thing where you have to remove yourself personally from what you just played. And when you’re doing something that’s a different species that’s under so much heavy makeup and costume and whatnot. It’s also it’s a whole other, it’s a thing, and it does take a while to to come down from the high. But also just to sort of readjust to being a human it seems a little weird.

David Read
I mean, you’re not gonna go out and start eating people but at the same time it’s like you’ve been so removed from everything that’s human and natural that you must be in just this other place for a while. “You know, people, I just need some time.”

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah. I’ve been known before to have, you know, left set and be driving home and go through a drive thru or run to get something to eat and realize, oh my god, I’m wearing my little booties or I have, I didn’t have this the gash taken off my neck.

David Read
Oh man. Production stories, you know, I’ve had people who’ve walked home in makeup or in costume and wearing swords and it’s like, you must look like you were an escaped lunatic.

Morris Chapdelaine
Oh, so very true. A movie, Alien vs Predator? Well, which was such a fun project. I did that with Jeny, and a lot of the puppeteers from Stargate. And it was a nuts, crazy show, lots of nights throughout the winter. And there was a couple of times where I remember just having the entire Alien suit in the trunk of my car because I needed to go to another location. And then like opening that up and being somewhere or being at a gas station and people going, “What on earth?” We had to do with the character to the next place, or we had to bring him back to the shop because it needed some mending. And yeah, it was just crazy stuff we ended up doing.

David Read
I have a couple of questions from fans. Lockwatcher wanted to know. Throughout history, there have been some amazing puppets and practical puppet style effects far beyond Thor. What is your personal favorites, puppet or practical effect, that you have seen? Not necessarily on Stargate? Perhaps some Stargate but that really blew you away. As someone, you know, who knows kind of how this works?

Morris Chapdelaine
Wow. I mean, it’s a so, I always have such, it’s so difficult to pick favorites. And interesting, I did just mention Alien vs Predator, or remembering that movie it was AVP 2, what an incredible crazy gigantic puppet was the Predalien. It was the offspring of the Predator and the Alien. And we had a giant… Yes. And we had a scene in a hospital. And this thing was massive. I’m talking it stood 12 feet high. And it needed, we had huge compressors that would work in order to give it the shoulders and chest some movement. I think there were six of us on it at any given time. And it was actually horrifying. We shot that sequence in what used to be an old psychiatric hospital called Riverview. And it’s kind of haunted. I mean, this is a hospital from the 30s and 40s. So being in there at, doing anything, it’s a bit scary at night. But puppeteering this massive Predalien. It was, and sadly you don’t really see too much of it in the movie. But it was magical. And it really freaked out the cast that we were working with, because it was just so massive. So that was one of my favorite practical ones for sure. Yeah.

David Read
Kevin McCabe wanted to know, how would the voice of the Asgard work on set to the screen? Would you say you voiced the the puppet on set? Would they track any of that for the final mix because you’re having to map, match movements? You know, just as much as someone who’s performing a muppet, you know, the same thing is happening the hand and the mouth correspond?

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah, but they would record I mean, of course, I was recorded by sound by the mixture on the day. And then if it was Thor, for example, that would be voiced after in ADR? And yeah, it’s, I mean, just the, you know, the actors needing to then do the final voice would literally watch very carefully and map it out or listen to that guide track that was recorded on set. So, and then sometimes it would be augmented slightly as well, so that it would have, you know, different sort of effects to it.

David Read
Okay, Caroline Ann, wanted to know is there, was there any level of, of cooperation between you and the actor who would be selected? I mean, you had Trevor Devall, you had Michael Shanks, you know, a number of different people were brought into play the different personalities. Would you work with them directly? Or would you provide them just the content on the set to then use in ADR?

Morris Chapdelaine
That’s often what would happen, they would be provided with the content from set, quite frequently, they would be there as well, though. They’re watching what was going on or being in discussions in advance. So if we were having a conversation as Thor with Amanda, Tapping, you know, they would be there think, “Okay, well, let’s, can we do it this way, or have a little bit red?” So we did work together. It was, as I said, it was an ensemble, but it wasn’t always possible to have everyone on set at all times. So yeah, it was just a process that would happen in post, put it together.

David Read
That’s crazy, man. What’s next for you? What are you planning on? What’s in the popper?

Morris Chapdelaine
Well, I actually, put in the popper, I love that question. I actually just finished doing some pickups for a new Netflix show that’s coming out, the next eight months or so, total deviation from any of this genre stuff, but My Life with the Walter Boys. It’s a beautiful story based on a series of books. So I just completed that.

David Read
My Life with the Walter Boys?

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah. Yeah, it’s a YA, it’s fun. And yeah, there’s a lot of other little things in the works. I also anybody that knows my work also knows that I do some documentary work. So I had one called Pat Rocco Dared that finished its festival circuit not long ago. And we’ll be working with Bell Media up here in Canada to do another documentary series and a feature length documentary. These are ones I do, because I love telling these sort of stories about real life. Documentary filmmaking, it’s tough to make a living at that’s why I do all the fun television stuff to afford me the ability do this. Got aa few of those in the works. And and then I’m actually going to start on a new project really soon with a company called Productivity Media Inc, as a production executive. So I’m going to be looking at bringing on a lot of producers to do a lot of film projects and a lot of development. It’s good. It’s a very exciting time for me in my career, and with what’s going on here and in Vancouver in North America. So yeah.

David Read
Vancouver has just exploded compared to where it was in the late 90s when Stargate began. And Stargate played such a huge part in I mean, WB, you know, everything that was was created up there, you know, shows like Battlestar and Stargate, and, you know, Smallville, they all they all were trailblazers for so much of the content that’s there now.

Morris Chapdelaine
Yeah, and now we think we’re at any given time there’s 42 to 45 television series shooting her, and usually a dozen features. We do a lot of MOW’s up here. A lot of Hallmark stuff. Yeah. I haven’t worked on yet. But…

David Read
There’s time.

Morris Chapdelaine
There’s time they need to we need to have like one of those Hallmark love stories, but with an alien genre bend,

David Read
You know, give it time. That’s all.

Morris Chapdelaine
Just time. Just time.

David Read
Sooner or later someone, “You know what? We haven’t done this one yet.”

Morris Chapdelaine
Let’s call up any writers out there watching if you’ve got a script idea.

David Read
ET will be home for Christmas. So…

Morris Chapdelaine
See, looking for love.

David Read
Everyone needs it right. So, Morris this has been so cool man. I have always appreciated your work and been a fan of everything that you brought to bear on that show and it means a lot to have you, so. And yes, please put a bug in John Lenic’s ear. Rob Cooper has also said, “You know who you should interview is John Lenic.” You can’t get the man to sit down he’s just so busy. So.

Morris Chapdelaine
I’ll get him. Of course he’s in Australia with his time zone change now, but I’m going to bug him about it today. I promise you.

David Read
I appreciate that, sir. Thank you so much for stopping by. I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the show on this end. All right.

Morris Chapdelaine
It’s a real pleasure.

David Read
It’s a pleasure, sir. Be well, take care of yourself. Bye bye. Morris Chapdelaine everyone, actor and puppeteer, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis. Really appreciate him taking the time. There’s so many cool stories out there about, you know, the 17 seasons of production that were brought to life over the course of the show and to be able to get to sit down with everyone and share these stories and bring them into a new audience, frankly, is so exciting. So we have Glynis Davies coming up in just one hour here. She played Catherine Langford in 1969, Ambassador Noor in I believe, Homecoming, season seven, and then Eli’s mom, Marian Wallace, in all of Stargate Universe. So we’re going to be bringing her in, in just a little bit hope you can stick around for that. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching but if you want to support the show further, buy yourself a T-shirt, go over to dialthegate.com/merch and thanks so much for your support. We have next week, if I can get my information here correct. Pulling up the shows. Patrick Currie who played Fifth, Chaka and Eamon in Stargate SG-1. He’s going to be joining us Saturday March the fourth at 4pm Pacific Time. And then we have March the 11th at 1pm Pacific Time Stargate and Artificial Intelligence with Google’s AI advocate Laurence Moroney, and Stargate Executive Producer, Robert C. Cooper. We’re going to have a Jack O’Neill Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Q&A, Following up at 3pm Pacific Time on March the 11th. So if you want to talk with AI Jack tune in for that. And on March the 18th at 12 noon Pacific Time, Kate Hewlett will be joining us to discuss her feature film The Swearing Jar, as well as more stories from the set of Stargate Atlantis as Jeannie Miller. My thanks again to Morris for joining us for this episode, my team, Tracy and Antony, Rhys, Jeremy and Sommer, my moderators, for making the show possible. Thank you so much, my producer “GateGabber” Furey, Linda “GateGabber” Furey and my webmaster Frederick Marcoux, you guys make the show possible. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate, and I’ll see you on the other side.